Employment related securities bulletin 70 (November 2026)
Read about accessibility improvements to the employment related securities (ERS) end of year templates, guidance and technical notes.
Employment related securities (ERS) end of year template accessibility improvements
In bulletin 67 we told you that HMRC were reviewing the employment related securities (ERS) end of year return templates, guidance and technical notes.
This review has now completed and the following timetable shows that HMRC plan to publish the new versions of the ERS end of year return templates on GOV.UK alongside the current versions.
Both versions will remain until 6 April 2027, when the current versions will be removed.
The new templates must be used to submit all ERS activity on or after 6 April 2027, including late activity for previous years. Old templates will be rejected from this date.
Timetable for the changes
The planned timetable for this update is as follows (these dates may be subject to change).
2 November 2026
The following new versions of the ERS end of year return templates have been published on GOV.UK alongside the current versions. From 6 April 2027, we’ll remove the current versions.
| Template | Current version | New version |
|---|---|---|
| Company Share Option Plan — before the 2023 to 2024 tax year | Version 4 | Version 6 |
| Company Share Option Plan — from the 2023 to 2024 tax year | Version 5 | Version 7 |
| Enterprise Management Incentives | Version 4 | Version 7 |
| Share Incentive Plan | Version 4 | Version 7 |
| Save As You Earn | Version 4 | Version 7 |
| Non-tax advantaged share schemes — previously known as ‘Other’ | Version 4 | Version 7 |
The guidance notes and technical notes for the new end of year return templates have also been published.
From 28 October 2026, the CSOP scheme has been rebranded as EMI2. When completing a return for CSOP (also known as EMI2), please continue to use the CSOP template.
1 February 2027
We’ll update the ERS checking service to allow employers to check the new versions of the ERS end of year return templates. You will not be able to check new templates before this date.
You’ll still be able check the current templates in the service until 5 April 2027.
6 April 2027
We’ll remove the current end of year return templates, supporting guidance and technical notes from GOV.UK.
From this date:
- you must submit any ERS activity for any tax year on the new templates
- we will not accept any reports using older templates
New templates cannot be submitted before 6 April 2027.
From 6 April 2027, employers must submit any ERS activity for any tax year, on the new end of year return templates. Any submissions on the previous end of year return templates will be rejected.
Changes to the ERS end of year templates
Examples of the changes being made include:
- sheet titles have been simplified
- sheets have been formatted as a table with appropriate headers
- guidance notes in the templates will be removed and a link to the relevant GOV.UK page inserted
- abbreviations have been removed, replacing ‘e.g.’ with ‘for example’, and ‘£’ with ‘pound’
- the font size will be standardised to ‘Arial 12’
- line spacing between the question number and question removed
Changes to the ERS guidance and technical notes
The guidance and technical notes have been updated following accessibility changes made in the end of year templates.
Open Document Source (ODS) spreadsheets created by employers must have template headings that match the relevant technical notes. To prevent the template from being rejected, this includes making sure:
- upper and lower case lettering matches the template
- date formats are shown in the same format as the template
- abbreviations are not used instead of the wording shown in the template
- all words are spelled correctly
More information about these changes will be published in future bulletins.