Share, reward and incentivisation

Offering a stake in the business can help you attract and retain the best talent and develop committed and incentivised staff.

There are many ways to achieve this including share and reward plans that qualify for tax reliefs.

It can be hard to decide what is best for your company. Is your current plan still competitive and effective, taking account of current tax rules, coronavirus, Brexit and other changes?

RSM’s experienced share scheme professionals have worked on hundreds of schemes. We will listen and understand your business and its needs. Our wealth of experience enables you to deliver exactly the right type of scheme – considering your business size, aspirations and objectives.

The following table and key explain the types of scheme that are available, and the kinds of scenario that they can be suitable for.

Key issues	Type of scheme
The company is not under the control (<50%) of any other company	EMI, SIP, SAYE, EOT, CSOP, USOP, PPS, Growth, LTIP
The company is under the control (>50%) of another company	USOP, PPS, Growth, LTIP
Discretion to benefit one or more employees	EMI, CSOP, PPS, Growth, LTIP
Participation offered to all employees	SIP, SAYE, EOT, EMI, CSOP, USOP
Participation offered to non-UK persons (subject to local laws and taxes)	USOP, PPS, Growth (possibly EMI, SAYE and EOT with adaptations), LTIP
Participation offered to non-executive directors, contractors and other non-employees	PPS, Growth, LTIP
Shares offered at a discount	EMI, SIP, SAYE, LTIP
Shares offered for free	SIP, EMI, LTIP
Simple and flexible	EMI, USOP
Most tax reliefs	EMI, SIP
Transfer to full employee ownership	Mostly EOT but could also have EMI, SIP and USOP
International employees	SAYE, SIP, USOP, EMI, LTIP

Key
CSOP	Company Share Option Plan
EMI	Enterprise Management Incentive Scheme
EOT	Employee Ownership Trust
Growth	Growth shares
LTIP	Long-term incentive plan (broad term usually involving nil or nominal cost options, conditional or restricted shares and/or an employee benefit trust)
PPS	NII or partly paid shares
SAYE	Savings Related Share Option Plan
SIP	Share Incentive Plan
USOP	Unapproved Share Option Plan

Find out more about the share schemes available:

To find out more about employee shares schemes and how we can help you with the tax and compliance aspects, please contact Fiona Bell, Simon Adams or Martin Cooper.