History of the Centre

The first Esop in the United Kingdom was launched at the trade union bank, Unity in 1987, based upon two familiar British mechanisms – a profit sharing trust and an employee benefit trust (EBT). Centre chairman, Malcolm Hurlston had been instrumental in bringing this about by visiting the US to see how Esops had been used in the airlines there.  A year later the Employee Share Ownership Centre was formed by Malcolm to promote the growth of the idea.

Shortly afterwards, the European Centre for Employee Ownership was established as a sister organisation to spread the benefits of Esops throughout Europe. To reflect its growing horizons and ambitions, following a successful conference in Dubai in 2008, the European Centre changed its name to the World Centre for Employee Ownership.

Since its inception the Centre has helped to establish a large number of Esops through constant lobbying activities and initiative plans. We have been at the forefront of all major developments in the industry, playing a key role in the introduction of the first government-approved scheme – the Statutory Esop – and every other since then, including Company Share Option Plans (CSOPs), Enterprise Management Incentives (EMIs) and Share Incentive Plans (SIPs). The Centre’s members have also helped to develop non-approved schemes such as Long-term Incentive Plans (L-TIPs) and Joint Share Option Plans (JSOPs).

The centre is now governed by a select steering committee consisting of leading experts from practitioner (legal, accountancy) issuer and administrator camps.

We use our contacts within the major political parties and at European level to enact legislative change for the benefit of employee ownership and to increase its wider profile. Two recent speakers at the Esop Centre Awards Dinner, Mark Hoban and David Gauke, are both government ministers.