Employers could be forced to tell workers what their colleagues earn under a new government pay transparency plan

Employers could soon be forced to tell workers what their colleagues earn under new government plans to boost pay transparency.
Ministers are consulting on how to end pay discrimination by looking at measures that would make salaries clearer even before the recruitment process has started.
In a radical overhaul of equality laws, the government is considering measures such as making it mandatory to publish salary brackets on job descriptions and forcing companies to publish pay structures and progression criteria.
Also thought to be on the table is increasing fines for firms that fall foul of equal pay rulings, the Times reports.
Equal pay rulings could also be expanded to include race and disability equality, rather than just gender, and employers may be banned from asking about a candidate's salary history.
In a consultation the government said it was committed to 'ending pay discrimination at work and tackling the gender pay gap'.
It added it would 'examine the broadest possible range of potential options to achieve this, including pay transparency measures' and listed a number of initiatives employers could undertake.
The overhaul to equality laws would also make public authorities personally responsible for socioeconomic disadvantages in their decisions.
A spokesperson for the Conservatives told the Times the new measures would penalist the middle classes and those who are prviately educated.
A government spokesperson rubbished the claim, adding: 'Positive discrimination is not permissible under the Equality Act, and this remains the case with the socioeconomic duty.
'What our duty will do is require specified public bodies to consider how their choices might tackle socioeconomic inequality of outcome.'
The new equal pay rules could be enforced by a new governmental body, the Equal Pay Regulatory and Enforcement Unit, which would be given the power to isues fines, injunctions and change employee contracts.
Tina McKenzie, policy chair at the Federation of Small Businesses, told the Times: 'Encouraging greater pay transparency is a good thing in principle but some of the measures being suggested simply don't fit the reality of small business life. It's also important to remember that many small firms don't formally advertise roles at all; they hire through word of mouth or their own networks.
'This is a clear case where it would be excessive for government to impose detailed regulatory rules on small employers who simply don't have HR departments.'
A government spokesperson said: 'This government is pro-business and many businesses already go well beyond the requirements of the law in order to support pay equality.
'We are seeking to build the evidence base before deciding whether any changes in relation to pay transparency are necessary. By collecting evidence on how best to tackle pay disparities, we will be able to make sure that we maximise the benefits to both workers and employers.'

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