Workers ought to have a legal entitlement to access information about their colleagues' salaries to help prevent pay discrimination, particularly affecting women, according to the UK's human rights watchdog. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has recommended sweeping reforms to equal pay legislation, arguing that staff deserve transparency when they suspect others are earning more for equivalent roles.
According to The Guardian, the watchdog has also called for legislation preventing employers from requesting information about applicants' previous salaries during recruitment. Although companies currently retain this ability, job candidates are under no obligation to disclose such details.
The government is currently examining the possibility of requiring employers to respond to staff questionnaires regarding colleagues' compensation—reinstating a mechanism that was eliminated in 2014 as part of efforts to reduce regulatory burdens on businesses. The EHRC's proposal goes further, insisting that such questionnaires should grant staff the ability to request specific information about a colleague performing similar work, encompassing annual salary, hours of employment, bonuses, overtime payments and job descriptions.
Additionally, workers should be permitted to seek details concerning job evaluations conducted by management, including job grades, salary benchmarks, internal assessment scores and copies of final evaluation records. Staff should also have access to rankings of each worker within a comparable team, organised by annual basic pay and hours worked. Importantly, employees should retain the right to challenge employers for additional information if they believe the data provided is inaccurate or incomplete.
A critical element of the EHRC's recommendation is that employers must be obligated to respond within a defined timeframe. The watchdog stated:
"Without such a requirement, employers may delay, provide evasive responses or avoid responding. We suggest this should be introduced as a mandatory measure, rather than an 'optional' one, to adequately meet the policy aims of this consultation."
Beyond pay questionnaires, the EHRC also called for employers to publish salary information in job adverts, strengthening transparency at the recruitment stage itself. EHRC chief executive John Kirkpatrick said employers should not be able to ask candidates about salary history when setting pay, a practice that research suggests disadvantages workers.
Research from the Fawcett Society, cited by the EHRC, found that 58% of women and 54% of men reported that being questioned about previous earnings resulted in a lower wage offer. This evidence underscores why preventing such inquiries could meaningfully reduce pay discrimination from the outset of employment.
How could this tackle the gender pay gap?
Enhanced pay transparency could help organisations avoid costly employment tribunals by enabling earlier resolution of pay disputes, the EHRC suggested. More fundamentally, it could help address the UK's persistent gender pay gap, where women historically earn considerably less than men. As of April 2026, the median gender pay gap showed that women in full-time work earned 6.8% less on average than men across the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics. However, this disparity widens significantly in certain sectors, where the mean and median pay gaps reach 24% and 22% respectively—double the national average for UK companies.
The EHRC stated:
"Introducing a requirement that prevents employers from asking about salary history or expectations, alongside the proposed pay transparency measures in this consultation, will likely reduce pay gaps and discrimination against women."
What is the current legal framework?
The government's existing gender pay gap reporting rules apply only to employers with 250 or more employees, according to official guidance. The separate legal requirement for equal pay is established under the Equality Act 2010, which sets out workers' rights to equal treatment in compensation. However, these existing mechanisms have not fully eliminated pay disparities, prompting calls for stronger transparency requirements.
What is the government's position?
A key tension exists between the EHRC's recommendations and the government's approach. While the government has proposed making employer responses to revived pay questionnaires voluntary, the EHRC argues they should be mandatory to ensure genuine compliance and prevent employers from evading disclosure through delay or evasion.
What happens next?
The government's 2026–27 gender pay gap reports are due by 30 March 2027, providing a deadline by which employers with 250 or more staff must submit their latest figures. The consultation on pay questionnaires and broader pay transparency reforms remains ongoing, with the EHRC's recommendations now formally part of that policy discussion.
