The key facts

  • The UK government is preparing legislation to mandate salary disclosure in job postings and urges companies to adopt the practice early
  • 94% of respondents to the summer Cabinet consultation supported greater pay transparency
  • Similar rules are being introduced in the EU, requiring employers to publish salary ranges or specific figures before interviews

Call to publish salaries before the law comes into force

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has urged companies to publish salaries in job advertisements now, without waiting for legislation that would make it mandatory, BBC News reports. The legislation is planned to be introduced 'as soon as possible'. According to the government, this change will help job seekers, especially those looking for their first job, and could prevent pay discrimination. 'Whether you are starting your career or a parent supporting a family, you should know how much is paid before spending time and effort applying,' stated Andy Burnham.

Support and goal: reduce the number of young people not in employment

The summer Cabinet consultation on pay transparency and reducing discrimination showed, according to the government, 'overwhelming support': 94% of respondents voted for greater openness. The measure is presented as part of efforts to reduce the nearly one million young people not engaged in education or work, ahead of the publication of the final Milburn Review report on youth inactivity, expected in the coming weeks. The government estimates that publishing salaries in advance could 'reveal unjustified pay differences, give workers confidence to challenge discrimination, and prevent salary disagreements from escalating into disputes'. The proposals are similar to measures being introduced in the European Union: employers there will be required to disclose starting pay or a salary range — either in the job advertisement itself or before the interview.

Market practice and business objections

According to data from the UK job site Adzuna, in September salary information was included in 51% of advertisements on its platform, with the proportion declining in recent years. Adzuna co-founder Andrew Hunter considers pay transparency the norm rather than the exception and notes that employers who disclose salaries 'attract more applications and more suitable candidates'. A study by CIPD, the industry body for HR managers, showed that the public sector and charitable organizations are more likely to disclose pay than private firms, and salary ranges are more common than specific figures; however, not all employers are 'fully transparent', and ranges sometimes exceed 10,000 pounds. CIPD head Neil Carberry described publishing salaries as 'a good thing' in principle but 'more complex' in practice: a single fixed amount does not always exist, and employers want to set pay based on skills, experience, and candidate potential. According to him, drafting job advertisements 'should be left to good employer practices rather than government regulation'. Details on the required information and the enforcement mechanism of the law will be revealed by the government 'in due course'.

Context: recommendations from the equality regulator

A week earlier, the UK equality regulator EHRC stated that employees should have a legal right to find outhow much their colleagues earn, and that publishing salaries in job ads would be 'a positive step'. Currently, employers are not obliged to respond to employee requests regarding colleagues' salaries. EHRC also proposed banning employers from asking about current salaries during hiring to avoid perpetuating discrimination history. In the UK, an employer may ask about your current pay, but the job seeker is not obliged to answer.

A man and a woman sitting around a table during a job interviewImage source, Getty Images