UK Share Schemes Compared: SIP, SAYE, EMI and CSOP
The UK has four tax-advantaged share schemes: SIP, SAYE, EMI and CSOP. Two must be offered to every employee, two are handed out selectively, and only one lets you take your money back if the share price falls. Which one you are offered is your employer’s decision, not yours.
The difference that decides everything
Most comparisons lead with contribution limits. The more useful question is what happens when the share price goes the wrong way.
- SAYE is the only one where you cannot lose your money. You save between £5 and £500 a month from post-tax pay across a three or five year contract. At the end you choose. If the shares are worth more than your fixed option price, you buy. If they are not, you take your savings back along with the tax-free bonus and buy nothing.
- SIP commits real money as you go. Partnership shares are purchased month by month, so a falling price hits shares you already own.
- EMI and CSOP are options. You commit no cash until exercise, but if the share price never clears the exercise price they are worth nothing.
| Scheme | Your cash at risk | Discount allowed | Minimum hold for relief |
|---|---|---|---|
| SIP | Yes, from gross pay | Not applicable, bought at market value | 5 years |
| SAYE | No, savings returned on request | Up to 20% off the grant-day price | 3 or 5 year contract |
| EMI | None until exercise | Yes, may be granted below market value | 2 years from grant for BADR |
| CSOP | None until exercise | No, price must be at least market value | 3 years from grant |
The two schemes everyone gets offered
SIP and SAYE both have to go to all qualifying employees on similar terms. They pull in opposite directions.
SIP takes money from gross pay, so the relief lands immediately and the shares are yours the moment they are bought. Timing then governs the exit, which is set out under partnership shares.
SAYE takes money from net pay, so nothing is relieved on the way in. The advantage sits at the far end: your option price is fixed at up to 20% below the share price on the invitation date, and no Income Tax or NIC arises on that gain when you exercise.
Two SAYE details people miss.
Your monthly amount is fixed when the contract starts and cannot be altered afterwards.
Your CGT base cost is the option price you actually paid, not the market value at exercise. A large paper gain at maturity becomes a large chargeable gain later, which is why the 90-day ISA transfer matters as much for SAYE shares as it does for SIP shares.
The two you have to be chosen for
EMI and CSOP are discretionary. Your employer picks who receives them.
CSOP is the broader scheme. No company size limit, no qualifying trade test, and it works for listed groups and for UK subsidiaries of overseas parents. The trade-offs are a £60,000 per-person cap measured at grant, an exercise price that cannot sit below market value, and a wait of at least three years before exercise qualifies for Income Tax relief. Anyone with a material interest above 30% is excluded.
EMI is aimed at independent private companies and is more generous where it fits: £250,000 per person, options that may be granted at a discount, and more flexible leaver treatment.
The sharpest divergence is the Business Asset Disposal Relief clock. BADR needs a two-year holding period. For CSOP and unapproved options that runs from exercise, so you would need to exercise two full years before a sale. For EMI it runs from the grant date, which means you can exercise immediately before an exit and still qualify. The usual requirement to hold 5% of the company does not apply to EMI shares either.
For anyone weighing an offer at a company heading for a sale, that single rule can be worth more than every other difference combined.
What changed in April 2026
Two updates most comparison pages have not caught.
- BADR is now 18%. It was 10% until April 2025 and 14% through 2025/26. The £1 million lifetime limit is unchanged.
- EMI eligibility widened. Up to 500 full-time equivalent employees, gross assets up to £120 million, £6 million of unexercised options across the company, and a maximum option life of 15 years.
If a page still quotes 10% BADR or a 250-employee EMI test, it predates both.
Which one is best?
You cannot choose, but you can judge what you have been given. For no downside, SAYE is the only scheme that returns your money on request.
Where your employer matches, SIP usually wins per pound, because the match is a return before the share price moves at all. Run your own ratio through the calculator rather than assuming. For EMI granted at a low strike price in a company approaching an exit, the BADR position makes it the most valuable of the four.
CSOP sits between the two: safer and cleaner than unapproved options, capped well below EMI. None of this answers the concentration question. All four tie your savings to the employer that already pays your salary, and being offered two of them at once doubles that exposure rather than spreading it.
