UK firms urged to publish salaries in job adverts before new law

The UK government has urged employers to publish salary information in job adverts ahead of new legislation, saying a consultation found "overwhelming support" for greater pay transparency.

The Cabinet Office launched the consultation into pay and reducing discrimination in the summer, and the government said 94% of respondents backed the move.

"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," Burnham said.

Linked to youth unemployment

The government said the measure formed part of attempts to reduce the nearly one million young people not in education, employment or training - known as "Neet" - and comes ahead of the final report of the Milburn Review into youth inactivity, which is due in the coming weeks.

Publishing salary details upfront could "expose unjustified differences in pay, give workers greater confidence to challenge discrimination and prevent disagreements over pay escalating into disputes", the government said.

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.

How many adverts show pay

Data from the UK jobs website Adzuna shows 51% of adverts on its site in September included salary information, but the proportion has been falling in recent years.

Adzuna co-founder Andrew Hunter said being open about pay "should be the norm, not the exception". He added that employers who put a salary on a job advert "attract more applicants, and better-suited ones".

Previous research from the CIPD, an industry body for human resources managers, indicated that the public sector and charities are more likely to reveal pay information than private firms, and that pay ranges were more common than specific salaries. It found not all employers were "fully transparent", with pay ranges sometimes wider than £10,000.

CIPD chief executive Neil Carberry said that while, in principle, giving salary details was "a good thing", in practice it was "more complicated".

"There isn't always a single fixed figure, and employers will want to set pay based on a candidate's skills, experience and potential," he said, adding that drafting job adverts is "best left to good employer practice rather than government regulation".

Watchdog backs change

The government has said it will set out further details on what information will be required and how the legislation will be enforced "in due course".

Last week, the Equality and Human Rights Commission said publishing salaries in job adverts would be a "positive step", and that bosses should be required to respond to questionnaires about colleagues' pay to cut pay discrimination. At present, employers do not have to respond to employee requests for salary information about their co-workers.

The EHRC also said employers should be prevented from asking about current salary when offering a job, to stop a history of discrimination from continuing. UK employers are currently allowed to ask applicants how much they are paid in their current role, but applicants are under no obligation to tell them.

Source: BBC Business.