A SIP is UK tax-advantaged “all employee” plan available to listed companies and to independent private companies (ie, those not under the control of another company).
A SIP is UK tax-advantaged “all employee” plan available to listed companies and to independent private companies (ie, those not under the control of another company). All qualifying employees and directors must be permitted to take part in a SIP on similar terms, though no employee is obliged to participate.
Under the plan the employer can make up to three different types of award to each participant each year:
If any dividends are declared on any of the above shares while they remain in the Plan, those dividends can be either paid out in cash to the employee or reinvested (free of tax) in further “Dividend Shares” in the Plan.
The employer can choose to offer only Free Shares, or only Partnership Shares, or only Partnership and Matching Shares, or any combination of these awards, on any one occasion and can vary the selection offered from year to year.
So the maximum value of shares that an employee may receive each year from an employer who wishes to provide the greatest possible benefit, is £3,600 (in Free Shares) plus £1,800 (in Partnership Shares) and a further £3,600 (in Matching Shares), ie a total of £9,000, plus the value of any reinvested dividends.
However, in practice, the majority of employers providing SIPs wish to concentrate the value of shares awarded on those employees who most readily appreciate the value of the offer and who are prepared to invest some of their earnings in order to do so. For that reason, the most common offering is of Partnership and Matching Shares.
The Shares awarded under a SIP are held by trustees of a dedicated UK resident employee benefit trust which must be created for the purpose of the Plan.
Free Shares must be offered to employees on “similar terms”, ie they can be awarded on a basis which is proportionate to each participant’s rate of pay and/or length of service and/ or hours worked, but the amount offered cannot be varied by reference to other factors.
The employer is permitted to attach further conditions to Free Shares and Matching Shares:
This is a brief summary and should not be relied on alone.
Web enabled, 24/7 access to all plan information for company stakeholders
Information updated in real-time
Ability to view and filter all participants
Access to suite of pre arranged, Business Intelligence reporting
Complete management oversight and control for company
Ability to create and schedule your own reporting
"Fiduchi's Online Share Plan Administration portal, has saved time, money and paper, and [it] allows us to become more efficient in the managing of our employees share awards. It's really fantastic what an impact this platform has made."
Micheal S
Head of People - Tech startup company.
Onboarding of your data to our online platform is easy regardless if you choose a fully-managed or self-service in-house solution. By making the switch to our platform, you can upgrade from having to manage your share plan data on complicated spreadsheets. Plus to make the process as simple as possible, our experts will guide you every step of the way and we also provide helpful guides.
For businesses who opt for our fully managed solution, our platform is able to deal with each business's unique requirements. When it comes to dealing with exact legal and regulatory issues, our platform will be able to automatically determine the actions required for each award or vesting, specific to the country in which the company operates. Therefore minimising the risks and allowing full compliance from a legal and regulatory position.
Our platform uses the highest standards to protect the valuable data and assets we hold on behalf of our clients. We have a team of in-house cyber security and IT professionals to protect our system and carry out security audits, due diligence, penetration testing and to oversee potential threats. We are fully regulated, accredited and certified by a range of statutory and non-statutory bodies including the US Department of Commerce’s Privacy Shield.
Our platform can be branded to match your company's own brand, therefore becoming a professional extension of your employee benefits. You can set role-based access and let your employees and shareholders log into their own online branded share platform anytime, anywhere and see exactly what shares they have and how much they are worth. They can also easily accept grants, exercise options, calculate potential payouts and more.
Our experienced Private Wealth and Family Office teams are here to answer any questions you may have. With a wealth of knowledge and expertise, they will be able to advise you on right solutions to meet your needs. You can rest assured that core to the Fiduchi principles are how your interests should best be met.
Our experienced Corporate team are here to answer any questions you may have. With a wealth of knowledge and expertise, they will be able to advise you on right solutions to meet your needs. You can rest assured that core to the Fiduchi principles are how your interests should best be met.
Our experienced Funds team are here to answer any questions you may have. With a wealth of knowledge and expertise, they will be able to advise you on right solutions to meet your needs. You can rest assured that core to the Fiduchi principles are how your interests should best be met.
Our experienced team are here to answer any questions you may have. With a wealth of knowledge and expertise, they will be able to advise you on right solutions to meet your needs. You can rest assured that core to the Fiduchi principles are how your interests should best be met.
Our experienced employee services team are here to answer any questions you may have regarding all types of employee incentive plans. With a wealth of knowledge and expertise, they will be able to advise you on the best solution that meets your business needs.