Employment News Update – Employee Shareholder status

The introduction of Employee Shareholder status has been approved in the Growth and Infrastructure Bill which has now received Royal Assent. BIS intends to implement this type of employment status in Autumn 2013. However an additional concession has been made to the requirements to enable an individual to have Employee Shareholder status. The agreement for them to hold this status will be invalid unless, before entering into the agreement, the individual has received advice from a relevant independent adviser, such a lawyer or union representative, and the employer has to pay the reasonable costs of this advice whether or not the employee accepts the offer, if the fees would otherwise be payable by the employee. If they do not receive this independent advice they will be an ordinary employee.

This legal update is provided for general information purposes only and should not be applied to specific circumstances without prior consultation with us.

For further details on any of the issues covered in this update please contact Gemma Ospedale, Partner in Employment on 020 7583 2222.