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• raising awareness of employee ownership through the first national Employee Ownership Day on 4 July 2013
• the allocation of £50 million annually from 2014-15 to introduce tax reliefs for businesses adopting the employee ownership model
• the publication of joint government and industry-led guidance to help businesses adopt the employee ownership model.

As we build a stronger economy, there has never been a more important time to promote successful ways of running a business. Evidence shows that businesses that adopt the employee ownership model can be more profitable, create more jobs and are more resilient to economic shocks.

The Nuttall Review set us an ambitious challenge a year ago but I am delighted to say the government and the sector have risen to meet it. We have made substantial progress in laying the foundations for a thriving and growing employee ownership sector in the UK, but there is more to do to raise awareness.

The Employee Ownership Index will now mean investors can identify thriving employee ownership businesses and be part of their success. I hope more businesses recognise the value of this model and give their employees a greater stake in their future and the success of their company.

I’ve always known that I wanted to work in an employee-owned business. When we set up Gamevy we know building a really brilliant team was going to be the biggest challenge. So employee ownership, where attracting good people is easier, seemed like the right move. We’ve had contact from several people wanting to copy our model and awareness is growing that this is a viable alternative to the traditional approach.

One year on from the government’s response to the Nuttall Review, it is right to say that much has been achieved. I thank all those who have helped make the Nuttall Review recommendations move from the page to reality. However the bar has now been raised and there is more to do if we are all to succeed in making this the decade of employee ownership.

The EOA is the voice of employee owned organisations across the UK and we are very pleased with the momentum achieved since the independent Review we called for in 2012. Awareness is expanding on a daily basis. The priority now is to make even more progress towards the EOA target of growing UK employee ownership to 10% of UK GDP by 2020; a target which has been widely endorsed by our partners.

1. The Report, validated by Graeme Nuttall and representatives of the employee ownership sector, can be found at One Year On Report.

2. The UK Employee Ownership Index provides information on UK public companies quoted on the London Stock Exchange which have 10% or more (or in a different version 3% or more) of their issued share capital held by or for the benefit of employees other than main board directors.The Index is being calculated by FTSE International according to FTSE methodologies.

3. Employee ownership call for evidence is available at ‘Amending the perpetuities rule and simplifying employee ownership’.

4. Graeme Nuttall’s health check is a series of questions for government and others to periodically answer in order to monitor their progress towards making employee ownership a mainstream part of the UK economy. The health check will be published in the Foreword to the One Year On Report.

5. Employee ownership is where all employees have a ‘significant and meaningful’ stake in a business. This means employees must have both a financial stake in the business (eg by owning shares) and a say in how it’s run, known as ‘employee engagement’. Employee ownership can take 1 of 3 forms:

• direct employee ownership - employees hold shares in the business directly, often through a tax-advantaged share scheme
• indirect employee ownership – an employee benefit trust holds shares or other assets on behalf of employees
• a combination of direct and indirect ownership.

• Gamevy – makes online games and is an employee owned tech start-up, created as wholly EO. Started in Old St Tech City earlier this year (2013) and still based in central London (Farringdon)
• Mary Knowles Homecare - Milton Keynes based domiciliary care company. Start-up, wholly employee owned. CEO named the company after his grandma. He used to work for the John Lewis Partnership and wanted to replicate the ethos of staff reward in his own business, which opened in 2013
• Union Industries - Leeds based manufacturer of security roller-doors and contamination units - set up in 1972. Director is Isobel Schofield (Mrs S) who is planning for retirement and has decided on EO. She has found the information on EO, decided on the model, and begun to create an Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) within the past 12 months, working in partnership with Baxendale
• Aspire Sussex – A charitable staff-run social enterprise which leads in planning, promotion and delivery of adult education across Sussex. Annually they provide learning opportunities to over 20,000 adults. CEO Ros Parker was highly commended in the Baxendale Leadership Award 2013, and Aspire were highly commended in the Cabinet Office Mutual of the Year Award

• to create the most competitive tax system in the G20
• to make the UK the best place in Europe to start, finance and grow a business
• to encourage investment and exports as a route to a more balanced economy
• to create a more educated workforce that is the most flexible in Europe