Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 Schedule 2 paragraph 15

The employment requirement

Schedule 2 paragraph 15 sets out the employment conditions that an individual must satisfy in order to be eligible to participate in an award of shares under a Share Incentive Plan (SIP).

• The SIP must require that only individuals who meet the employment requirement are eligible to participate in a share award.
• The individual must be an employee of the company operating the plan, or in the case of a group plan, a constituent company within the group.
• Where the plan includes a qualifying period, the individual must have been continuously employed by a qualifying company throughout that entire period.
• These conditions are collectively referred to as "the employment requirement" in the SIP legislation, with further rules on qualifying periods and the meaning of "qualifying company" set out separately.