At the end of each accounting period, manufacturing companies would have their SET payments refunded, along with a 7s 6d bounty or premium per employee (SEP).

The premium was withdrawn outside assisted areas (United Kingdom) in 1967, while a Regional Employment Premium was introduced payable at fixed amounts for employees still eligible for SEP.[1] SET was designed to be a tax on those companies that did not boost UK exports.

High-street bookmakers used the introduction of this tax as a reason to reduce the payout on some each-way bets (where a horse is placed in the first two or three, depending on the number of runners) from a quarter the odds to a fifth the odds.

This tax was introduced during the first Wilson ministry in 1966, by means of the Selective Employment Payments Act 1966 (c. 32).

[2] Regional Employment Premiums were withdrawn as part of the response to the 1976 sterling crisis.