EHRC urges UK pay transparency overhaul for equal pay enforcement
The UK is considering changes to equal pay rules as concerns persist over gender-based wage disparities across sectors. The Equality and Human Rights Commission says workers should be able to access colleagues’ pay details when they suspect unequal treatment, alongside limits on salary history questions in hiring.
Highlights
- EHRC urges UK government to grant workers a legal right to request salary and job information of colleagues in similar roles.
- The EHRC recommends employers face a mandatory deadline for pay data requests and a ban on asking applicants about current pay during recruitment.
- UK's median gender pay gap for full-time workers is 6.8% as of April, with finance sector gaps at 24% (mean) and 22% (median), about double the national average.
Proposed disclosure rights and hiring limits
As reported by The Guardian, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has urged the government to give workers a legal right to know what colleagues doing similar work are paid, as ministers review equal pay laws.The watchdog says staff should be able to request details including annual salary, hours worked, bonuses, overtime and job descriptions for comparable roles. It also says employers should disclose any job evaluation information, such as grades, salary benchmarks, internal scores and final evaluation records.
The EHRC says employers should have to respond within a specified timeframe, arguing that a mandatory deadline would reduce the risk of delayed or evasive answers. It also recommends banning employers from asking job applicants about their current pay during recruitment, saying that combining that restriction with transparency measures would likely reduce discrimination against women.
Potential effect on disputes and the gender pay gap
The commission says greater pay transparency could help employers and staff resolve disputes earlier and reduce the need for employment tribunals. It argues that clearer access to pay information would strengthen enforcement of equal pay protections and support efforts to narrow persistent wage gaps.In the UK, the median gender pay gap for full-time workers stands at 6.8% as of April this year, with women earning less on average than men. The gap is wider in some industries, including finance, where mean and median pay gaps of 24% and 22% are about double the national average for UK companies.
In our earlier article on early-career job-hopping and wage growth, we examined research showing that changing jobs in the first years of a career can account for a substantial share of workers’ pay increases and lead to better long-term job matches. The piece also highlighted the gap between cultural skepticism about frequent moves and evidence that labor mobility can strengthen earnings progression and career stability.
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