'Rights for shares' plans are reinstated

17 Apr 2013

The Government’s plan to introduce a new employee ownership scheme has been reinstated, following its previous rejection by the House of Lords.

Under the scheme, employees will exchange some of their existing employment rights for the right to own shares in the business.

The scheme offers owner-employees between £2,000 and £50,000 of shares, which will be exempt from capital gains tax. However, in return, employees must give up some of their key employment rights.

The plans proved controversial among politicians and business groups, and were defeated in a House of Lords vote last month.

However, the House of Commons has now decided to reinstate the measure.

Commenting on the news, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said, ‘Employment rights should not be for sale. Employers do not want to buy them, and employees will not want to sell them. We will continue to lobby peers to defeat this proposal again in the next round of parliamentary ping-pong’.