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Reward and retain your best people

Boost retention, attract top talent, and align your team with your company’s long-term success. Azets specialises in employee share schemes that are tax-efficient, compliant and tailored to your goals.

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Employee Share Schemes

Employee share schemes are a powerful way to reward and retain your key team members while driving long-term business growth. By offering employees a stake in your company, you create a stronger sense of ownership, motivation, and alignment with your success. At Azets, we specialise in designing and implementing HMRC-approved schemes (as well as bespoke share schemes outside of the approved frameworks) that are tax-efficient, commercially effective, and fully compliant.

What is an Employee Share Scheme?

An employee share scheme allows your staff to acquire shares or share options in your business, often with tax advantages. These schemes are used to:

  • Motivate and incentivise performance
  • Retain essential team members
  • Reward and show appreciation for loyalty
  • Align employees with company value growth

Professional support

Our experts steer through challenging HMRC guidelines and offer straightforward, applicable recommendations.

Full compliance

We perform an initial assessment to confirm whether approved scheme requirements are met. We manage share valuation and approval to ensure complete compliance and ensure HMRC filings are completed once the scheme is set up.

Tailored solutions

Each scheme is personalised to assist your business objectives and employee organisation.

End-to-end delivery

From initial design through to implementation and ongoing support, we manage every stage of your scheme to ensure it works smoothly in practice and continues to meet your commercial and compliance needs.

Our services include:

  • Advising on suitable schemes for your size, structure and sector
  • Modelling the commercial impact and potential tax savings
  • Securing HMRC valuations and tax clearances
  • Supporting employee communications and engagement
  • Ensuring ongoing compliance and annual reporting
  • Preparing for events such as exit, IPO or succession

Types of Employee Share Schemes

We advise on all share schemes, each offering different benefits depending on your size, structure, and goals.

The EMI scheme is a common option for small and medium-sized businesses looking for a flexible and tax-efficient way to reward their employees. It's especially favoured by high-growth companies that want to motivate and keep their top talent on board.

Key features

  • Designed for companies with gross assets under £30 million (£120 million from 6 April 2026) and fewer than 250 full-time employees (500 employees from 6 April 2026).
  • Up to £250,000 in qualifying EMI options can be granted per eligible employee.
  • No Income Tax or National Insurance applies on grant or exercise when certain conditions are met.
  • Ideal for growth-oriented businesses aiming to attract senior or strategically important staff.

A Share Incentive Plan makes it possible for employees to receive shares in a tax-advantaged way. SIPs are designed to promote long-term commitment and loyalty among employees, making them an ideal choice for companies looking to engage their broader workforce.

Key features

  • Employers can grant free shares up to the annual limit of £3,600 per employee.
  • Employees can purchase partnership shares, and employers may also provide matching shares.
  • If shares are held for five years, they may be exempt from Income Tax and National Insurance contributions.
  • Fosters a sense of long-term commitment and ownership among employees.

The CSOP is a discretionary share option scheme͏ designed for companies of different sizes. It is often incorporated as part of the reward packages for senior leadership or key talents.

Key features

  • Employees may be granted options over shares with a value of up to £60,000͏
  • No Income Tax or National Insurance will be applicable on exercise if the scheme conditions are satisfied͏.
  • Available to most companies, including some that do not qualify for EMI.
  • Effective for incentivising key individuals without significant dilution.

SAYE is a savings-related share option scheme͏. Under this scheme, employees are allowed to save on a monthly basis for a specified period and are granted the option to purchase shares at a discounted price at the end of the savings contract.

Key features

  • Employees may save up to £500 monthly over a term of either three or five years.
  • At the end of the term, accumulated savings may be used to acquire shares with up to a 20% discount.
  • Interest and bonuses accrued on the savings (where applicable) are exempt from tax.
  • This scheme promotes regular saving habits among employees and fosters long-term commitment.

Unapproved Share Schemes

There can be a number of reasons why an HMRC-approved share scheme may not be the best fit - possibly due to company eligibility, such as company size, or the inclusion of overseas employees. A SIP, which is outside of the HMRC-approved schemes outlined above, could be an attractive alternative. Under this option, there is total flexibility as to how these can be structured, although there are tax implications to be aware of.

Contact a specialist

If you’re considering how to use share schemes and employee incentives to drive performance and engagement, we’d be happy to help.

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