Clegg outlines plans to boost employee share ownership

Employees could be given the right to request shares in the organisations they work for under proposals put forward by deputy prime minister Nick Clegg.

During a keynote speech to the CentreForum and the City of London Corporation on 16 January, Clegg outlined plans to boost employee share ownership by giving staff a universal right to request shares in the organisations they work for.

He also said he will set up a commission to investigate the most effective forms of mutual ownership to give organisations a guide to adopting employee shareholding.

Clegg said: “Liberals believe strongly in the virtues of the market but only if it is a market for the many, not a market for the few.

“We need more individuals to have a real stake in their firms. The 80s was the decade of share ownership. I want this to be the decade of employee share ownership.”

Paul Randall, partner at law firm Ashurst, said: “Share plans for all employees are long overdue for a boost. They were immensely popular in the 1980s and 1990s. Under the last government they were made over-complicated and unattractive.

“All the research indicates that employee-share ownership is good for employees, good for organisations and so good for the economy as a whole.”

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