By Priya Raman

The UK government will bring forward legislation making it compulsory for every employer to show salary in job adverts before candidates apply, while Andy Burnham urged businesses to publish pay rather than wait.

The government said on Thursday it would bring forward the legislation as soon as possible. Under the plan, salary disclosure would become a legal requirement for all employers, not a practice some companies can choose to follow.

The government said the change would tackle what it considers a common frustration among job-seekers, particularly people applying for a job for the first time. It also said the policy may help address gender pay inequality (unequal pay between men and women).

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.”

Burnham said transparency would break down only one barrier. He also called on businesses to open more doors for young people and give them the experience and confidence needed for their first step into the world of work.

Chancellor John Healey had already told his Autumn Budget that the government planned to address calls for mandatory pay transparency in job adverts and to tackle gender pay gaps at firms.

What does the planned law change?

Under the government’s proposal, the mechanism is straightforward: salary appears before the application, giving applicants the information they need to decide whether a role merits their time and effort. The government identifies first-time job-seekers and parents supporting their families as central beneficiaries.

For employers, the proposal puts disclosure at the recruitment stage. Companies would have to state what a job pays in the advert itself, making the figure visible when candidates decide whether to apply.

Under the planned rule, every employer would fall within scope. The government says the policy may also help address gender pay inequality, linking salary visibility to its wider effort on gender pay gaps.

Burnham’s intervention asks companies to make the disclosure change before the legal requirement arrives. Publishing salary now would align practice with the announced direction; waiting would leave disclosure to future legislation.

Why do EU pay rules complicate matters?

The UK proposal comes as British businesses continue to face a compliance headache over complicated EU pay transparency laws, introduced through a delayed and fragmented rollout across the bloc.

The EU directive requires member states to mandate that companies disclose starting salaries and pay ranges in job listings. Some companies must also report gender pay gaps. The rules seek equal pay for equal work, or work of equal value, between men and women across all 27 EU countries.

The UK does not belong to the EU, so the directive does not apply domestically. Exposure instead comes through British companies that operate as multinational employers and employ staff across the continent.

Amy Bird, a top partner at Magic Circle law firm Clifford Chance, previously told City AM that compliance can be difficult because implementation is “patchwork”: some businesses have managed to put the rules into operation, while many others have delayed implementation or not implemented them.

For a British group with EU operations, the practical issue is not whether the EU rules apply at home, because they do not, but how its listing and reporting practices meet the requirements in each country where it hires. The UK’s planned rule would add a domestic requirement at the recruitment stage: the job advert.

The immediate choice for employers is straightforward. Burnham has asked companies to state pay now, while the government has promised to make that practice law. Applicants would gain the same core information before applying; employers would gain a clearer national standard in the UK but retain the separate challenge of EU compliance across 27 countries.

For multinational employers, the two regimes meet at job listings but do not erase jurisdictional differences. The EU framework requires salary and pay-range disclosure across all 27 countries and adds gender-gap reporting for some companies, while the UK plan centers on a universal salary-in-advert requirement at home.