Employee Incentives

Whether you are considering granting shares or share options to employees, would like to use cash to replicate a share or share option scheme, have an existing scheme you don’t understand or would like to better understand employee ownership of an entire business, our Employee Incentives Team can help.

Employee Incentives

Employee incentives offer many advantages: they provide an alternative reward to salary (which can be conditional upon certain criteria being met), they align employees’ interests with the growth and success of the business, they offer a plan for succession and a way of achieving and passing on tax efficiency.

Our specialist team guides employers on the design and implementation of incentive arrangements and advises on the consequences of leavers and other changes in circumstances (both from a legal and tax perspective) in relation to all forms of employee incentive schemes, including: 

  • Enterprise Management Incentive Schemes (EMI)
  • Company Share Option Plans (CSOP)
  • Share Incentive Plans (SIP)
  • Save As You Earn Plans (SAYE)
  • Long Term Incentive Plans (LTIP)
  • Growth Share Schemes
  • Phantom Schemes
  • Employee Ownership Trusts

Our Employee Incentives Team offer an end-to-end service which enables our clients to identify:

  • the most appropriate incentive model to implement for their business
  • the best way to communicate it to participants therefore ensuring the maximum incentive value is achieved
  • the necessary administration and compliance steps with HMRC including scheme registration and annual returns.

We also regularly advise executives and employees in relation to their participation in share incentive schemes, whether at the time of grant or on exit, or as part of employment-related disputes (including associated tax issues).

If you would like any more information about the legal services we offer, please contact our team.

I think the people are the biggest asset at Birketts, everyone I have worked with has been professional, helpful and knowledgeable. The Birketts team is very responsive and always ensure advice given is clear and practical. They always make themselves available when matters are urgent.

Legal 500 [UK 2022]

Member of Employee Ownership Association
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For general enquiries please call +44 (0)808 169 4320 or send a message from our Contact us page.