British employees could soon gain the power to uncover what their co-workers earn under sweeping workplace reforms proposed by the country's equalities regulator. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has called on ministers to make salary transparency compulsory, warning that secrecy across UK workplaces continues to entrench gender and racial disparities. The watchdog also wants a total ban on companies asking job applicants about their salary history, aiming to break the cycle where past underpayment follows staff throughout their careers.
The Story at a Glance
In recommendations submitted to a government review of equal pay legislation, the Equality and Human Rights Commission called for a return to statutory questionnaires that compel employers to disclose compensation details when staff suspect unequal treatment. Under current rules, firms face no legal requirement to answer questions regarding peer remuneration, leaving staff to guess whether their pay is fair.
Alongside pay inquiries, the watchdog wants a strict ban on hiring managers asking prospective employees for their previous earnings. The combination of mandatory disclosures and recruitment curbs aims to dismantle persistent pay gaps, most notably in sectors where disparities remain substantial.
How the Story Developed
The right for staff to submit formal pay questionnaires to their employers was originally abolished in 2014 during a drive to reduce business administration. Over the decade that followed, equal pay campaigners warned that scrapping the measure made it harder for workers to identify unlawful pay disparities without launching formal legal proceedings.
With ministers currently reviewing workplace equality rules, the watchdog presented formal advice outlining how new transparency requirements should operate. The commission insisted that responses must be legally binding rather than optional, warning that voluntary guidelines allow employers to delay or evade disclosures.
Official data published in April showed that the UK's median gender pay gap for full-time employees stood at 6.8%. In specific industries, disparities are far higher; figures for the financial services sector reveal a mean gap of 24% and a median gap of 22%, more than double the wider economy.
Key People and Details
The proposals outline extensive disclosure requirements for businesses operating across Great Britain. Under the proposed statutory framework, employees doing similar work could request comprehensive details from management.
The EHRC recommends that disclosure requirements cover several distinct workplace metrics:
- Basic annual salaries and contracted working hours for staff in comparable roles
- Detailed breakdowns of bonuses, overtime, shift premiums, and performance-related awards
- Job descriptions, internal evaluation scores, grades, and salary benchmarks
- Anonymised team rankings based on basic annual remuneration and hours worked
- Mandatory response periods to stop firms delaying disclosure
Regulators also want recruitment practices overhauled. John Kirkpatrick, chief executive of the EHRC, highlighted the dangers of benchmarking new offers against past salaries.
When they do, what tends to happen is that can embed a history of disadvantage or discrimination in future salaries.
EHRC chairwoman Mary-Ann Stephenson stated that greater openness would allow staff to spot discrimination early and prevent costly tribunal disputes.
Reaction and Response
The recommendations drew immediate backing from pay equality groups, alongside debate over their practical execution. Research by the gender equality campaign group the Fawcett Society found that more than 50% of workers believe that disclosing previous earnings leads directly to lower job offers.
Penny East, chief executive officer of the Fawcett Society, argued that basing pay on past earnings traps workers in historical pay inequities caused by career breaks or existing workplace gaps. East maintained that compensation should reflect objective assessments of skill and responsibility rather than an applicant's negotiating leverage.
Industry voices have voiced questions about unintended consequences during recruitment. Scott Winter, co-founder of Agility EOR, suggested that banning salary history inquiries might prompt higher-earning candidates, particularly men, to volunteer their pay history voluntarily, potentially putting candidates who stay silent at an interview disadvantage.
What to Watch
Ministers are considering the watchdog's submission as part of their wider review of equal pay legislation. Key questions remain over how short the mandatory response timeframe will be and whether exemptions might apply to smaller businesses.
Observers will also be watching whether the government introduces binding legislation to compel firms to include clear salary ranges on all job adverts, a separate step championed by equality campaigners to level the playing field before interviews begin.