Save As You Earn bonus rates to change on 23 May 2025

Following the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England's decision made on May 8 2025 to reduce the Bank Base Rate from 4.5% to 4.25%, HMRC has confirmed that the 3-year and 5-year bonus rates for SAYE Share Option Schemes will also reduce with the lower rates to take effect on 23 May 2025 (being the 15th day following the announcement of the change in the Bank Base Rate).

HMRC's mechanism for calculating bonus rates for participants in Save As You Earn (SAYE or "Sharesave") schemes is explained in our previous post here.

From 23 May 2025, SAYE launches will need to refer to the new bonus rates of 0.7 monthly contributions for a 3-year savings arrangement and 1.9 monthly contributions for a 5-year savings arrangement.  Employees who are already saving under existing SAYE savings arrangements are not affected by these rate changes.

 

Paul Ellerman Mark Ife Niall Crean Chris White Alexandra Bunge Alanna Gardella