Employee share schemes – I’m not convinced.

Chancellor George Osborne’s announcement on proposals to allow employees to exchange their legal employment rights for tax free shares in their employer leaves me cold and left me uncertain whether to raise it on my council blog or my Tolhurst Fisher blog so for the first time I thought I would put it on both! I don’t know why all the major parties continue to fall foul of conference-itis when in power and feel the need to announce initiatives which often seem incomplete, ill thought out and raise more questions than answers. I remain very sceptical as to whether the Government will be able to formulate plans which are attractive enough to entice many employees to risk something as fundamental as their ongoing job and income protection in exchange for the possibility of un quantified benefits in the future – and how many private companies will want to create potential issues with their share structure. As usual I did not attend the party conference this year – I was given the choice to either attend or walk over hot coals and the blisters are starting to heal!!