“I hope these changes, alongside the announcement of an Employee Ownership Day on 4 July, will raise awareness of the benefits of employee owned companies and lead to an increase in the number of direct employee owned firms across the UK.” Under a separate announcement BIS have also published draft ‘off the shelf’ model documentation for setting up an employee owned company. Further details can be found at GOV.UK website on making employee ownership more accessible. It would also appear that no-one can accuse government of not being prepared to put in to practice employee lead schemes as a further announcement is made that sees the government’s Behavioural Insights Team take its first step to becoming a profit-making joint venture as the Cabinet Office launches a competition to find a commercial partner for the business. Less than three years after it was set up in the Cabinet Office the team is the first policy unit set to spin off from central government. This has been employee-led as the staff of the BIT have driven the process and will continue to run the organisation.
GOVERNMENT TO PROVIDE TWO NEW TAX RELIEFS TO ENCOURAGE EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP
4 July 2013
Views sought on providing tax reliefs to encourage employee ownership.
The government has launched a consultation on providing two new tax reliefs to encourage and support the creation and growth of employee-owned companies.
First is a capital gains tax relief which would apply when the controlling share of a business is sold into an indirect employee ownership structure. This would encourage individuals wishing to sell their business to consider an indirect employee ownership structure, leading to the creation of new indirect employee ownership structures. The second tax relief being considered is an income tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) exemption. This would allow indirectly employee owned companies to pay their employees a certain amount per annum, free of income tax and NICs. There would also be an employer NICs exemption for the company. Launched on Employee Ownership Day , this consultation is focused on indirect employee ownership forms; this is where shares are held collectively on behalf of the employees – for instance in an employee benefit trust. The government is seeking views on from people both inside and outside of the employee ownership sector. The CIPP Policy Team will review this consultation and issue a survey to collect member views if appropriate.
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, INNOVATION & SKILLS PRODUCES GUIDANCE ON EMPLOYEE OWNED COMPANIES
9 July 2013
To further demonstrate the government commitment to employee owned business the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills have recently published model documentation and guidance for businesses on the subject of moving to employee ownership.
The model documentation and guidance on moving to employee ownership model documentation can be found at GOV.UK website.
CIPP Policy News Journal
16/04/2014, Page 267 of 519
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