The UK government plans legislation requiring employers to publish pay information in job adverts, with Prime Minister Andy Burnham urging firms to act now.
By Hermes-Vector AI Desk
The UK government plans to make salary details compulsory in job adverts through new legislation, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said. The government is urging employers to publish pay information now rather than wait for the law to take effect.
The Cabinet Office launched a consultation into pay and reducing discrimination in the summer, and the government said there had been "overwhelming support" for greater transparency, with 94% of respondents backing the move. The government said it will bring forward legislation "as soon as possible", with further details on what information will be required and how the legislation will be enforced to be set out "in due course".
Burnham said: "Whether you're a young person starting out or a parent trying to support your family, you should know what a job pays before spending your time and effort applying for it."
The move is part of attempts to reduce the nearly one million young people not in education, employment or training - or "Neet" - ahead of the final report of the Milburn Review into youth inactivity, which is due in the coming weeks.
The CIPD, an industry body for human resources managers, found that 41% of employers always publish salary ranges and only 18% always publish specific salaries. CIPD chief executive Neil Carberry said that while, in principle, giving salary details was "a good thing", in practice it was "more complicated". He said drafting job adverts is "best left to good employer practice rather than government regulation".
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said publishing salaries in job adverts would be a "positive step". It also said bosses should be required to respond to questionnaires about colleagues' pay to cut pay discrimination, and that employers should be prevented from asking about current salary when offering a job.
Penny East, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: "For too long, salary secrecy has put women at a disadvantage, leaving them negotiating in the dark and making it much harder to challenge unfair and unequal pay."
The proposals are similar to measures being introduced in the European Union, where employers will have to disclose the initial pay or range for new roles, either in a published job advert or before an interview. According to data from UK jobs website Adzuna, 51% of the adverts on its site in September had salary information, but the proportion has been falling in recent years.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
The day's checked news, by email
One short email a day with the top stories. Free, and you can unsubscribe in one click.
Or follow for the latest news:
No comments yet. Start the discussion.
The IRS has raised 2027 federal income tax brackets and standard deductions to adjust for inflation, with changes applying to returns filed in 2028.
The IRS has increased the federal basic exclusion amount to $15.48 million per person for 2027, up from $15 million in 2026, applying to tax-free transfers during life and at death.
