REC Backs UK Pay Transparency Push as 'Win-Win' for Labour Market

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation has endorsed the UK Government's push for businesses to publish salaries in job adverts, calling the approach a 'win-win' for the labour market. The endorsement came in response to the Prime Minister's stated view that employers should disclose pay in job adverts.

Maxine Bligh, Interim Chief Executive at the REC, said the policy would improve hiring outcomes on both sides of the transaction. "It leads to better recruitment because candidates know what is on offer and employers attract applicants whose expectations match the role," Bligh said.

Her comments signal that a major industry body — representing recruitment and employment businesses across the UK — will not resist the principle of pay transparency, but will press for careful design of the rules.

What does REC want from the rules?

Bligh set out specific conditions for making transparency work in practice. Salary ranges, she argued, must be realistic and meaningful rather than nominal or misleading.

"Salary ranges should be realistic and meaningful, with clear information about bonuses and commission," she said. "Candidates should use that information to compare opportunities and make informed decisions."

That framing points to a practical distinction HR teams will recognise: publishing a range is not the same as publishing a credible one. Adverts that show wide or unrepresentative bands may satisfy a disclosure requirement on paper while failing to change candidate behaviour — the outcome the policy is meant to produce.

For employers, the REC's position implies several people-process decisions if disclosure becomes a formal requirement:

• Reviewing advertised ranges against actual offer levels, so published figures match what candidates can realistically expect.
• Deciding how bonuses and commission are described in adverts, since Bligh explicitly identified variable pay information as part of meaningful transparency.
• Aligning internal pay structures with external messaging, because ranges that look credible externally will invite comparison internally.

How does this connect to the NEET challenge?

Bligh also linked the transparency debate to a wider labour-market problem: reducing the number of young people who are NEET — not in education, employment or training. She said progress on that front will ultimately require broader action on careers advice, skills and employability support, positioning pay disclosure as one measure within a larger agenda rather than a standalone fix.

The message for HR leaders is that pay transparency addresses information gaps at the point of application, but it does not itself build the skills pipeline or the careers infrastructure that determines who reaches the application stage at all.

What happens next?

Bligh indicated the REC intends to shape the detail of any requirements rather than oppose them. "Recruiters are experts in how pay information is communicated in the labour market and look forward to working with government to ensure any new requirements deliver for jobseekers without creating unnecessary complexity or duplication for employers and recruitment businesses," she concluded.

The closing phrase — complexity and duplication — identifies the compliance watchpoints. If the government follows through on the Prime Minister's position, employers and recruitment firms will face questions about how new advertising disclosure duties interact with existing reporting obligations and with the way agencies currently present pay information on behalf of hiring clients.

For now, no implementation date or draft rules have been announced. What exists is a direction of travel from the Prime Minister and a broadly supportive industry response, conditioned on ranges that carry real information and requirements that do not duplicate what employers already publish. HR and talent acquisition teams advertising UK roles will want to watch whether that direction hardens into a formal obligation — and begin testing now whether their advertised ranges would withstand the credibility test the REC has set.