The Equality and Human Rights Commission has put forward recommendations aimed at increasing pay transparency in UK workplaces as part of government consultations on updating equal pay legislation. The watchdog advocates for employees to have a statutory right to access information about their colleagues’ compensation when they suspect potential pay disparities, particularly in cases involving suspected discrimination based on gender.
Under the proposed framework, workers would be able to request details about colleagues performing similar roles, including annual salaries, hours worked, bonuses, overtime payments, and job descriptions. The EHRC also suggests that workers should have access to job evaluation records, internal salary grades, benchmarks, and scoring systems used by employers. Additionally, staff members would be permitted to request rankings of workers within comparable teams based on annual basic pay and hours, with the ability to seek clarification if provided information appears inaccurate or incomplete.
A key element of the recommendation involves imposing mandatory response timeframes on employers. The watchdog warned that without such requirements, companies might delay responses, provide incomplete answers, or avoid responding altogether. The EHRC emphasized this should be a compulsory measure rather than an optional one to ensure the policy objectives are met.
The commission also recommends that employers be prohibited from requesting salary history or salary expectations from job applicants during the recruitment process. Currently, companies are permitted to ask for this information, though applicants are not obligated to disclose it.
The EHRC argues that enhanced pay transparency mechanisms could facilitate early resolution of compensation disputes and reduce employment tribunal cases. The watchdog contends that combining mandatory response requirements with restrictions on salary history inquiries would likely help narrow pay disparities and decrease discrimination affecting women, citing data showing women in full-time work earned 6.8% less on average than men, with significantly wider gaps in sectors such as finance.
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