Following a great deal of debate and ‘Parliamentary Ping-Pong’, the House of Lords on 24 April 2013 finally approved legislation creating a new type of employment status: the ‘employee shareholder’, due to become law on an undetermined date this autumn.

The construction of this new status is that in return for a minimum of £2,000 worth of company shares the newly minted employee shareholder gives up certain key rights, most notably the right to claim unfair dismissal, a statutory redundancy payment and to apply for flexible working.