Glass Lewis has published its 2023 Policy Guidelines (“Guidelines“) for the UK, setting out the factors it considers when determining proxy voting recommendations. The following changes to the Guidelines relevant to remuneration and incentives have been made, all of which are clarificatory in nature: Combined incentive (omnibus) plans: Omnibus plans are plans that have a … Read more

Following on from the reversal of much of the mini-budget on 17 October, in today’s Autumn Statement the Chancellor announced a number of measures which are relevant to remuneration and incentives. In particular there will be a reduction to the threshold at which the 45% additional rate of income tax applies, the freezing of other … Read more

The Investment Association (the “IA“) has published its 2023 Principles of Remuneration (“Principles“) and annual letter to Remuneration Committee chairs. The IA updates its guidance and writes to Remuneration Committees annually to highlight the key areas of focus it expects Remuneration Committees to consider when approaching remuneration. There are no substantial changes to the Principles … Read more

The FRC recently published its 2022 annual review of corporate governance assessing the quality of reporting against the UK Corporate Governance Code. Section E (which starts on page 51) covers remuneration reporting.  Key points on remuneration reporting highlighted by the FRC include: reporting on how remuneration aligns with the company’s strategy, purpose and values should … Read more

LGIM has recently issued an updated version of its UK Principles of Executive Pay. The Principles remain largely unchanged, however, there are a few changes of note including: impact of the cost-of living crisis increases – companies which have given low-paid employees a significant pay increase to assist them during the current crisis should exercise … Read more

As highlighted in ERS Bulletin 46, HMRC has published updated guidance in the Employee Tax Advantaged User Manual on enterprise management incentives (EMI) options which should clarify how EMI option plans should be drafted and operated. ERS Bulletin 46 also refers to the updated guidance published by HMRC in July 2022 on section 431 elections.  … Read more

The new Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, today announced a number of revisions to proposals put forward in the mini-budget of 23 September 2022. The key changes relevant to remuneration and incentives are: the income tax basic rate will remain at 20% until economic conditions allow for it to be cut; as already announced, the 45% income … Read more

Changes to the CSOP scheme The government is introducing two changes to the Company Share Option Plan (CSOP) scheme, effective from 6 April 2023, announced as part of the government’s ‘mini budget’ last week: the maximum value of options that can be awarded to each employee under a CSOP scheme will double from £30,000 per … Read more