UK Government to Require Pay Details in Job Adverts
Applicants in Britain may soon stop guessing what a job pays. Prime minister Andy Burnham has announced that employers will be legally required to publish salaries in job adverts.
What the rule would change
Today many adverts leave pay out. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development looked at current practice. Fewer than half of employers always put salary ranges in their adverts, and fewer than a fifth always name a specific salary.
Experts say hidden pay leaves young people unsure which roles are worth applying for. They also say it lets employers offer some candidates, women among them, less.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said: “Anyone who’s searched for a job knows how frustrating it is to read ‘competitive salary’.”
Why Burnham says it matters
The government says the aim is to empower both employees and jobseekers. Burnham argued that applying without knowing the pay is a source of frustration.
He put it plainly: “we will make it a legal requirement for all employers to say what you pay.” Removing barriers is only part of the task, he added. Businesses, he said, also need to open more doors and give young people the experience and confidence to take a first step into work.
Officials say published pay will also help people already in work judge whether they are paid fairly against others. Campaigners for workers’ rights say young people and women stand to benefit most, through pay that is more equal.
Where it sits in Burnham’s early agenda
Since taking office Burnham has announced several “small fixes” to daily life and promised bigger change later. So far they are no VAT on electricity bills, lower bus fares and a £100 council-tax rebate.
Bigger change is tied to a 10-year plan for ending what he calls “40 years of neoliberalism”. It is meant to carry deeper changes, among them bringing utilities under public control. This week he said publication could slip to next year, after an earlier expectation of next month.
Equal pay law is a separate track. Ministers first consulted in July on ways to improve how those laws work. That paper also floated extra safeguards on equality for disabled people and ethnic minorities. Final plans on those points are still unpublished.
Young people are another thread. Further policy to help them into work is promised in response to a review by former minister Alan Milburn, due in the coming weeks.
Details still undecided
The government says 93% of businesses reacted positively to the consultation. Still undecided are the exact details to be published, the size of company that must comply and the way the rule will be enforced.
Source: The Guardian