A form of employee who has received at least £2,000 worth of shares in their employer (or a parent company of their employer), with certain tax advantages attaching to those shares, in return for giving up some employment rights (in particular the right to claim unfair dismissal in most cases and the right to a statutory redundancy payment).

The tax reliefs associated with employee shareholder status ceased to be available for shares acquired on or after 1 December 2016, and the government announced in its Autumn Statement 2016 its intention to change the law so that it is not possible to become an employee shareholder.

For more information, see Practice note, Employee shareholders.