We’ve taken on board feedback that the Sharesave invitation window usually opens during one of the busiest times of year for our colleagues. To improve engagement, we’ve decided to move the next Sharesave invitation to Spring 2026.

Once you’ve joined Sharesave you can’t increase or decrease your payments. However, you can leave the plan at any time, and you’ll always get back the money you put in.

You can miss up to 12 payments and still continue with your Sharesave plan. However, if you miss 13 payments, your savings contract will lapse and you’ll no longer be able to buy shares at the discounted share price. Your savings will be returned to you.

If you miss 12 or fewer payments, you still need to make the maximum number of payments and the date when you could buy shares (also known as the maturity date) will be delayed.

A Sharesave Payment Holiday Form can be found in the Documents section on oursainsburys.co.uk/shares. Colleagues can also obtain the form and further information by emailing shareholder.services@sainsburys.co.uk 

Don’t worry, you’ll always get back the money you put in. If you need to close your account at any time and for any reason, you can do so online by visiting oursainsburys.co.uk/shares. If you close your account before the completion of the Sharesave contract, you lose the opportunity to buy shares at the discounted share price.

For Sharesave 2023 and 2024, if you close your account during the first year, all your savings will be repaid without interest. For Sharesave 2023 and 2024, after the first year, and when Equiniti has successfully received 12 payments, you’ll receive interest on your savings. The level of interest to be paid on early withdrawals (the early leaver rate) is fixed by HMRC at the start of the savings contract. The early leaver rate for Sharesave 2023 is 1.42% and the rate for Sharesave 2024 is 1.17%. This will be tax-free. 

For all Sharesave plans prior to 2023, no interest will be paid.

Your current Sharesave savings are held by Equiniti (the previous share plans administrator). You can log on to https://www.esp-portal.com/clients/sainsburys to see your savings amounts and any pending payments. To log into to the Equiniti portal, you should select J Sainsbury plc as your place of work.

If you are paid every four weeks, there will be 13 deductions each year, but only 12 can be added to your Sharesave plan (one per month). Towards the end of your plan, you will have three pending deductions.

All instructions must be placed on the MUFG Share Plans Portal where you can also see your contribution amounts (excluding any pending payments). 

If you’re receiving enough pay to cover your chosen contribution, your payments will continue to be taken as normal.

If you’re worried that your pay will not cover your contributions or wish to stop your contributions, you’re able to miss up to 12 payments by completing the Sharesave Payment Holiday Form which can be found in the Documents section on oursainsburys.co.uk/shares and returning it to Operations.Payroll@sainsburys.co.uk. For every payment you miss, your maturity date will be delayed by one month. You can also choose to cancel your plan and take back your savings however, if you do this, you’ll no longer be able to buy shares at the discounted price.

If you don’t have enough pay to cover your contributions but still wish to make payments, you can make payments directly to Equiniti via standing order. To request a standing order form, please contact Equiniti on +44 (0)371 384 2040.

If you leave before the maturity date due to redundancy, retirement, TUPE transfer or through a capability dismissal following a period of long-term absence, you can:

•    use your savings at the point of leaving, plus any interest due, to buy shares at the discounted price;
•    add up to six further payments to your savings (depending on how many deductions have been taken from your pay and how many months into the savings contract you are at the point of leaving) then use your savings and bonus or interest due to buy shares at the discounted price; or
•    take your savings and any interest due at any time.

You’ll have six months from your leaving date to decide what to do and MUFG Corporate Markets will write to you to explain your choices.

If you leave before the maturity date for any other reason, you can either get your savings back with any interest due or continue saving and receive any bonus due. However, you’ll lose the right to buy shares at the discounted share price. 
If you leave after the maturity date, the usual maturity choices will apply.

Your savings, which are held with Lloyds Bank plc, are yours and are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS can pay compensation to depositors if a bank is unable to meet its financial obligations. In respect of deposits, an eligible depositor is entitled to claim up to £85,000. For further information about the scheme, refer to the FSCS website www.fscs.org.uk or call the FSCS on telephone number +44 20 7741 4100.

Please visit the Financial Wellbeing page on Our Sainsbury’s to learn more about financial wellbeing.

MiFID II is a financial regulation and has been designed to protect investors such as yourself, by introducing enhanced obligations for firms who provide investment services. Its aim is to increase customer protection and prevent market abuse.

As a result, we’ll have to provide additional information to regulatory bodies about certain transactions, and in order to do this, we may need to collect additional information about you. This mandatory information, which includes confirmation of your nationality or dual nationality and your national client identifier (NIC), such as your NI Number if you’re a UK resident, needs to be provided within the portal if you’re choosing to sell your shares. You’ll be prompted to complete the MiFID II section of the journey. If the mandatory information isn’t received, or is completed incorrectly, we’ll complete your exercise as if you’ve elected to keep all of your shares.

There is no impact on your plan and your contributions will continue to be deducted as normal, but you should check your payslip.

You’ll need to download the MUFG Investor Centre App from the App store or Google Play, alternatively you can go to https://uk.investorcentre.mpms.mufg.com/employee/sbry.

Make sure you have your Investor Code (IVC) to hand which is within your welcome letter, you’ll also need your post code and surname. You can register using any email address* and password. If you don’t have your IVC, call MUFG Corporate Markets on +44 371 664 0555 and they’ll happily assist you.
 
Handy tips for registration:
•    Issuer name - Type J or SBRY and then select SBRY – J Sainsbury plc from the dropdown list
•    You will need to enter your name and address (your address and postcode should be for your home address)
•    You may need to fill in your bank details and provide some personal information

The email address you register in the share plans portal will only be used for portal related functions such as logging in, re-setting your password and for confirmation messages of actions that you take within the portal.
 
The email address you register in MyHR will be used for all communications related to the Sharesave Plan including Sharesave invitations, Sharesave maturity notifications and other plan-related mailings. Please check MyHR to make sure we have the most up-to-date email address for you.

Your Investor Code (IVC) is within your SAYE maturity letter. Not received it yet? Call MUFG Corporate Markets on +44 371 664 0555 and they’ll happily assist you.

Shortly before the end of the three years (around mid-February), you’ll receive information explaining the choices available to you and the action you need to take. You’ll then be able to buy shares at the discounted share price or have your savings returned to you. If you don’t make a decision within six months, all of your savings will be returned to you automatically.

We’ll be in touch when your Sharesave is due to mature detailing your options and how you can make your choice.

When you submit a sale instruction, your shares will be sold on your behalf. You’ll be asked to submit your bank account details via oursainsburys.co.uk/shares when you submit your instruction. Once the shares have been sold your sale proceeds will be sent directly to that bank account. More details will be made available at the time of the maturity. 

A £15 dealing fee is charged on the sale of your shares if you choose to buy and sell your shares. This will be deducted from the proceeds of your sale before you receive the funds.

If you choose to buy and keep your shares and sell at a later date, the following dealing fees will apply.

If your shares are held in the Corporate Sponsored Nominee (CSN):
Online/Telephone: 0.3%, minimum fee £15
Postal dealing: 1.9%, minimum fee £65

If you have a share certificate for your shares:
Telephone: 1.45%, minimum fee £60
Online: 1.45%, minimum fee £45
Postal dealing: 1.9%, minimum fee £65

Rates shown were current at the time of publication of this FAQ..

Under normal circumstances, you won’t have to pay income tax when you buy shares at the discounted share price. If you sell your shares and your profit means your total capital gains exceed the annual allowance, you may need to pay Capital Gains Tax (CGT). Watch the WEALTH at work webinar for more information.

The annual CGT allowance for the 2025/26 tax year is £3,000 (please visit www.gov.uk/tax-sell-shares for the most up to date CGT allowances as these may be subject to change). You should consult a qualified independent financial advisor if you would like advice on Capital Gains Tax, or tax more generally.

If you’ve received an email notification informing you that you’re unable to deal in Sainsbury’s shares, you must wait until you receive an email lifting this restriction before you buy, sell or transfer shares. You’re also unable to join a new Sharesave or cancel an existing plan if you’re restricted from dealing.

You can choose how to hold your shares at the point of exercise via  https://uk.investorcentre.mpms.mufg.com/employee/sbry. Your shares can be held electronically (in a Nominee account) or as a paper share certificate.

The MUFG Corporate Markets Corporate Sponsored Nominee (CSN) service is an online account that is set up to hold your shares electronically on your behalf and is available to all Sainsbury’s colleagues based in the United Kingdom. It allows you to hold your shares safely and securely without the need for paper certificates and gives you access to an online share dealing service, where you can sell your shares and receive the funds direct to your bank account.

If you wish to keep your shares and transfer them into the CSN, you will be required to accept the terms and conditions of the CSN account via the Share Plans Portal or the Investor Centre App.

If you’d like to receive a paper certificate, you’ll need to select to keep all of your shares and request a share certificate to be sent to you. A share certificate will be sent to you by post to your registered address. Please note that your share certificate will be posted at your own risk. Refer to the Sharesave 2022 Maturity Booklet if you need help to make your choice.

You can choose to transfer all or part of your shares to your spouse or civil partner. Refer to the Sharesave 2022 Maturity Booklet for more information on how to make your choice.

If you choose to transfer your shares to your spouse of civil partner, a paper certificate will be sent to your spouse or civil partner at the address you provide.  
Please note that your share certificate will be posted at your own risk.

Your spouse or civil partner will not be able to sell their shares until they have received a share certificate. See Can I transfer shares into an ISA?  for information on how your spouse or civil partner can then transfer the shares into an ISA.

To transfer your shares into an ISA you’ll need to select to keep all of your shares and then request for a share certificate to be sent to you. Refer to the Sharesave 2022 Maturity Booklet for more information.

You may transfer some or all of your shares within 90 days of placing your exercise instruction into an ISA of your choice, provided you have not already used your ISA allowance for the year in which the transfer takes place. Refer to the WEALTH at work webinar for more information.  

If you wish to transfer your shares into an ISA, your ISA provider may require a Letter of Appropriation. This letter will be available in the ‘Documents’ section of the Share Plans Portal up to 10 working days after you submit your instruction. Please note you won’t be able to see this via the App.
 

If you wish to transfer your shares into an ISA, you will require a Letter of Appropriation. This letter will be available in the ‘Documents’ section of the Share Plans Portal up to 10 working days after you submit your instruction. Please note you won’t be able to see this via the App.

If you’d like to transfer your shares into your own brokerage account, you will need to select to keep all of your shares. You can either choose to hold your shares electronically in the Corporate Sponsored Nominee (CSN) or request for a share certificate to be sent to you. A share certificate will be sent to you by post to your registered address. Please note that your share certificate will be posted at your own risk.

If you transfer your shares into the CSN, you will need to complete a transfer form to transfer the shares to your broker.

If you receive a paper share certificate, you’ll need to speak to your broker to arrange for the shares to be transferred to your account. 

If you decide to buy shares, there will usually be a very small amount of money left over (less than the discounted share price). This will be donated to Comic Relief on your behalf unless you select to have the money returned to you. If you do request to have the residue money returned to you, this will be paid to your bank account that you provided on oursainsburys.co.uk/shares and will be a separate payment to any sales proceeds if you requested to sell your shares.

If you’ve missed payments, deductions from your pay will continue until all payments have been made and the maturity date will be postponed by one month for each missed payment. Your maturity date and last exercise date can be found under the Plan Summary on oursainsburys.co.uk/shares and the’ Award’ section of your Sharesave tile in the App.

If you don't submit your choice on https://uk.investorcentre.mpms.mufg.com/employee/sbry within six months of your maturity date, you'll no longer be able to buy shares at the discounted share price, and all your savings will automatically be returned to you.

If you haven’t provided your bank details in the Share Plans Portal at: https://uk.investorcentre.mpms.mufg.com/employee/sbry your savings will be returned to you by Equiniti via cheque.

If you choose to buy and sell your shares, your sale proceeds will be sent to the bank account that you submitted on oursainsburys.co.uk/shares when you made your instruction. It can take up to five days to reach your account once payment has been sent.

If you choose to buy and keep your shares, it will take four working days for the shares to be available in your CSN.

If you take back your savings, your savings will be returned within ten working days. You will receive your savings to the bank account that you submitted on oursainsburys.co.uk/shares when you made your instruction.

Once you make an instruction (including a pre-election instruction), you can’t change your mind.  However, if the share price falls below the discounted share price between placing your instruction and the allocation date, MUFG Corporate Markets will cancel all “buy and sell” and “buy and keep” instructions and contact you to confirm you can place a new instruction.

If you submit a maturity instruction to buy and sell your shares, you will not be able to specify a price at which your shares are sold and your sales instruction may be combined with other colleagues’ sales. Shares will be sold at the first available opportunity and there is no guarantee given to the date, time, or price that the shares will be sold.

Refer to the Sharesave 2022 Maturity Booklet for estimated time frames for your instruction to be completed. 

No interest will be paid on Sharesave schemes from 2022 or earlier.

For Sharesave 2023 and 2024, if you close your account during the first year, all your savings will be repaid without interest. For Sharesave 2023 and 2024, after the first year, and when Equiniti has successfully received 12 payments, you will receive interest on your savings. The level of interest to be paid on early withdrawals (the early leaver rate) is fixed by HMRC at the start of the savings contract. The early leaver rate for Sharesave 2023 is 1.42% and for Sharesave 2024 the rate is 1.17%. This will be tax free.

No, you don’t. We all know that share prices can go down as well as up, so you can take back all of your savings as cash. We’ll inform you of all of your choices when you’ve finished saving.