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Dear fellow EO Nation members
The main schemes are :-
Approved Profit Sharing Scheme (APS) where a percentage of
pre tax profit is used to allocate shares evenly to every qualifying employee.
these shares have to be held in an Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) for 2 years and
a further 1 year if the shares are to be tax free.
Save As You Earn (SAYE) Share Option
Scheme is a savings scheme for 3, 5 or 7 years with
salary deductions held in a bank or Building Society and after the agreed
savings period there is an option to buy shares at a pre determined discount
price.
The proposed New All Employee Share Plan (which I have
sent you details of earlier) has an aim to double the number
of companies using Employee Ownership. It combines the 2 present plans
with some major changes.
As far as employees are concerned I believe it is a
retrograde step for although there are some improvements i.e. salary used
to invest in shares is exempt from Income Tax and National Insurance
Contributions and It also allows employees to give 2 shares for every one an
employee buys, on the swings and roundabout balance an employee loses his
equality status in share distribution, if they leave the company some allocated
shares could be forfeited and shares have to be
held in trust for 5 years before they become free
of Income Tax.
The reason for this imbalance is quite simple. it is the
fact that Trade Unions have all but abstained from putting forward proposals or
passing comments on the new plan, which have meant the main contributions have
come from employers and their organisations, hence the shift towards the
employer's needs.
The hope I have is that they let all the schemes run and
then I think we will be able to see which is better for the
employees.
Dave Wheatcroft
01246 233438
-Tel
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