UK employees saved an additional £40m through their company share schemes over the past year. These are the latest findings from the Sharesave (SAYE) and Share Incentive.
Plan (SIP) Survey, carried out each year by ifs ProShare, which is the voice for the employee share ownership industry. Boosted by the increased maximum monthly savings allowances in Sharesave schemes from £250 to £500, more than 1.4m employees are now saving an average of £122.94 a month by investing in the company they work for, which is up from 1.25m saving £107.76 the previous year. Following the Government’s decision to raise monthly saving allowances, more than a fifth (20.7 per cent) of employees have increased their contributions to SAYE or SIP, while the total number of employees joining a SAYE scheme also rose to 576,538 from 378,420, the previous year.
The findings also reveal greater levels of staff retention among companies offering employee share schemes. The percentage of employees choosing to join a five year contract has also risen at the expense of a three year contract, with the former rising from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent, while the latter fell from 82.5 per cent to 80 per cent in the same time frame.
Commenting on the findings, Gabbi Stopp, Head of Employee Share Ownership at ifs ProShare said: “These findings once again demonstrate the inherent value of employee share ownership to the economy, to productivity and to levels of savings throughout the UK.
2014: £122.94 (average saved) x 1,4,34,831 Sharesave schemes = £176,398,123.14; 2013: £107.76 (average saved) x 1,245,413 Sharesave schemes = £134,205,704.88; £176,398,123.14 – £134,205,704.88 = £42,192,418.26 saved.
