Helping turn Shared Success into a Practical Growth Strategy

HMRC’s Employee Share Schemes statistics commentary, published on 3 July 2026, provides a timely reminder that employee share ownership is not a niche reward tool: it is a mainstream way for UK companies to attract, retain and motivate people. The commentary explains that Employee Share Schemes are used by companies either to award shares directly to employees or to grant options to buy shares, and it focuses on the UK’s four tax-advantaged schemes: Save As You Earn (SAYE), Share Incentive Plans (SIP), Company Share Option Plans (CSOP) and Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI).

For employers, the case for putting an employee share plan in place is compelling. A well-designed plan aligns employees with shareholders by giving staff a direct stake in the company’s long-term success. That can be especially powerful for growth businesses competing for talent against larger employers with deeper cash resources: equity can help bridge the reward gap, encourage loyalty and focus everyone on the same commercial outcome.

The HMRC commentary is also useful because it spells out the breadth of data now reported: the number of companies using schemes, the number of employees receiving awards or the number of awards made, values awarded, the number of employees exercising options or taking options out of plan and estimates of Income Tax and National Insurance contributions relief. In other words, the statistics do not simply describe a policy area; they show how share plans are actually being used in practice across the UK economy.

It is worth noting HMRC’s caveat that the 3 July 2026 release relates only to tax years ending 2022 to 2025, following the withdrawal of estimates for earlier affected years while HMRC reviews the robustness of historic data. Even with that qualification, the publication reinforces a clear point for employers: tax-advantaged share plans remain a significant and closely monitored part of the UK reward landscape.

Otherwise, specific points of note are as follows:

• The total number of companies operating employee share schemes increased 1.4% in the tax year ended 2024.
• The vast majority (90%) of these companies operate an EMI plan.
• There was a decrease of 4.7% on tax relief for the 2024 tax year.  SIPs were the largest contributor to the total cost of tax relief.
• SIP has the largest total gains (that can be tax relieved). However, EMI has the largest average gains per exit event (largely due the fact that the maximum value of EMI options that can be granted is much higher at £250,000 per employee).

For companies considering how to compete for talent, drive performance and build a culture of shared ambition, the message is clear: now is an excellent time to review the options. Whether the right answer is an all-employee SAYE or SIP, a targeted EMI or CSOP arrangement, or a combination of schemes, the virtues of employee ownership are increasingly difficult to ignore.

If you have any questions on any of HMRC’s tax-advantaged share schemes we would be happy to answer them.  Drop us a line at enquiries@rm2.co.uk and one of our expert advisers will be happy to arrange a call.