SAYE Employee Share Option - About To Mature

[Muskythedog]

Just short of 3 years ago I registered for my works SAYE share scheme that gives us the option to purchase shares in the company at the October 2012 price less a 10% discount. Luckily the shares have risen from £2.26 to (present market turbulence accepted) hovering around the £7 mark so our £9k savings are worth just over £28k as things stand at the moment.

We really don't know the first thing about stocks and shares and capital gains tax, how do we go about getting a reputable independent financial adviser, is word of mouth /personal reccomendation the only real way?

From the limited amount of reading I have done it appears that I will be liable for CTG on anything over £11,100 - is this only on the profit or the total value of the shares? Do I have any options for the balance of the shares, or is it a question of sitting tight and hoping they hold their value until April 2016 when I can sell another batch without paying tax? If the option was somehow available to sell the majority/all of the shares as I have enrolled again in a new scheme last year so am already exposed to the shares so don't need to worry about missing out on any further potential gains.

Any advise/thoughts would be welcome.

Thanks

[Muskythedog]

Thanks for all the replies, it's really appreciated. The scheme is an approved scheme administered by Barclays so I am assuming the most sensible port of call would be to sell as many shares as I can before hitting the £10k CTG threshold, open Barclays Share ISA, transfer the remainder of the shares into it within 90 days and sell from there, thus avoiding any further tax?