United Kingdom: Executive Remuneration

From 1 January 2027, the UK will remove the statutory cap on unfair dismissal compensatory awards and reduce the qualifying period to six months. For senior executives with valuable equity incentives, this fundamental shift transforms previously theoretical losses into real settlement leverage. How should employers prepare their share plans, documentation, and dismissal processes to manage this new exposure?

Equity incentive plans are frequently described to participants as a means of aligning them with the long-term success of the business. In practice, many plans do little more than measure the length of time an individual remains employed.

For eligible companies, EMI options and growth shares each offer distinct advantages in employee equity incentives. But what happens when you combine them? This analysis explores how EMI can wrap contingent growth-share interests, the valuation principles that must be respected, and why the hurdle, exercise price and performance conditions need to be designed together to avoid accidentally over-gearing management's participation.

This year's AGM season comes amid debate over whether the UK market's current approach to both the structure and quantum of executive packages undermines UK-listed...

In May 2025, the European Commission launched a major public consultation on its review of the EU horizontal and non-horizontal merger guidelines ("Guidelines")...

The Investment Association (IA) published the long-awaited update to its Principles of Remuneration (Principles) in October 2024.

It is worth noting that investors do not speak with a unified voice. While there are areas of consensus, there are different views on important points, such as the extent to which investors...

This report provides a review of the UK IPO executive compensation trends through our research on companies who have listed on the United Kingdom Main Market between January 2019...

Following on from the two administrative changes to simplify the process for granting enterprise management incentive (EMI) options introduced earlier this year...