Source · Select Committees · Treasury Committee
Recommendation 23
23
Rejected
Introduce legislation to mandate salary bands on job adverts and ban salary history requests
Recommendation
While we recognise the Government’s plans for a pay transparency pilot as a first step to exploring these issues, we are concerned by the lack of progress since the pilot was announced two years ago. Given the very clear case for action, the Government should act now rather than await the outcome of a pilot scheme that will include just a single organisation. We recommend that the Government introduces legislation to mandate the inclusion of salary band information on job advertisements, and to ban prospective employers from asking for salary history as part of the job application process. (Paragraph 110) Sexual Harassment
Government Response Summary
The government rejects legislating to mandate salary band inclusion in job advertisements and ban salary history requests, stating it is not appropriate at this time due to potential employer difficulties, risk of backlash, and unknown negative impacts, preferring to learn from other countries' experiences first.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
We do not believe that moving directly to legislation is appropriate at this time as it would not give organisations sufficient time to work through historic pay arrangements in a way that is fair for all staff, and increases the risk of a backlash to what should be a positive measure. Pay transparency is often the end rather than the beginning of a process. We know that many employers will be contending with historic pay decisions, may not have agreed pay scales, and could have legitimate reasons why they do not include pay information on job adverts. Pay transparency is still an emerging area, and we do not yet know whether there could be unintended negative impacts; we are aware that several countries are exploring legislative options, and therefore believe it makes sense to first learn from their experience.