Employers to be required to state pay in job adverts under 'say what you pay' law
Jobseekers would see the salary before they apply under Government plans to make publishing pay in job adverts a legal requirement, announced alongside a Siemens Mobility programme offering work experience to 10,000 young people in engineering and technology.
Applying for a job without knowing what it pays would become a thing of the past under plans announced by the Prime Minister on Thursday. The Government intends to make it a legal requirement for employers to publish salaries in job adverts, a change ministers present as help for young people applying for a first job and as a step against the pay inequalities that can disadvantage women. Until the law changes, stating pay remains a choice for each employer.
That choice is exercised unevenly. The Government cites figures from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development showing that less than half of employers, 41 per cent, always publish salary ranges, and that only one in five, 18 per cent, always publish a specific salary. The rest of the announcement rests on the same gap: applicants are routinely expected to spend time on an application, and sometimes to negotiate, without knowing the pay on offer.
Andy Burnham, the Prime Minister, 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. That's why we will make it a legal requirement for all employers to say what you pay." He called on businesses to adopt the practice on their adverts now rather than wait for the law to change, and to open more doors by offering young people work experience.
You should know what a job pays before spending your time and effort applying for itAndy Burnham, Prime Minister
The proposal follows the Government's consultation on equal pay and pay discrimination, published by the Cabinet Office in July, which proposed a statutory requirement for employers to publish information about pay and conditions in job adverts. Ministers say early analysis of the responses shows overwhelming support for greater transparency, with 94 per cent of respondents backing the requirement, including 93 per cent of businesses. Ministers argue that stating pay upfront can surface gaps that cannot be justified, make discrimination easier to contest, and head off arguments about pay before they harden into disputes.
Bridget Phillipson, the Minister for Women and Equalities, said: "What a job pays is rightly at the forefront of people's minds when looking for work - it shouldn't be a guessing game." She said a stated salary would let applicants judge a role properly before applying, narrow the gap between men's and women's pay, and remove an everyday deterrent to applying at all. The Fawcett Society welcomed the decision: its chief executive, Penny East, said salary secrecy had left women negotiating in the dark and made unfair pay harder to challenge, and that requiring salaries in adverts was a significant step towards fairer work.
The youth case for the change was put by the Youth Futures Foundation, whose director of employer engagement and partnerships, Nishi Mayor, noted that one in eight people aged 16 to 24 is currently not in education, employment or training. Knowing the salary upfront, the Government argues, helps young applicants focus on suitable opportunities and apply with greater confidence, and can bring employers more applications from better matched candidates.
The announcement was paired with a work experience commitment from industry. The Government wants 200,000 additional work experience placements for pupils aged 14 to 16, and Siemens Mobility has launched a programme offering more than 3,300 opportunities a year, reaching 10,000 young people over three years, combining digital learning with hands on experience of engineering and technology on Britain's railways. The company points to 360 million pounds of investment in the UK, including its Rail Technology Centre in Wiltshire and its Goole Rail Village in Yorkshire. Research cited by the Government from University College London found that engineering aspirations diverge early: by the age of ten, 11 per cent of girls aspire to engineering careers, compared with 44 per cent of boys.
None of this is law yet. The Government says it will bring forward legislation as soon as possible, with the scope of the duty, the information employers must provide, its implementation and its enforcement all to be set out in due course. Further reforms are promised once the Milburn Review into youth inactivity reports, which ministers expect in the coming weeks.
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