Here’s What Employers Need to Know
For years, publishing salary information on job adverts has been a choice. Some employers did it to attract talent or demonstrate transparency. Many chose not to.
That choice is about to change.
The UK government has confirmed plans to amend anti-discrimination legislation so employers will be legally required to include salary information when advertising roles. The exact format is still under consultation – whether that’s a fixed salary, a salary range or a benchmark rate – but the direction of travel is clear. Employers who don’t advertise roles publicly will also be required to provide salary information to candidates in writing before interview. The changes are expected to apply across England, Wales and Scotland, with the consultation running until October and Northern Ireland’s position still to be confirmed.
The headlines suggest salary transparency will fundamentally change hiring. In reality, it won’t.
What it will do is expose problems that already exist – unrealistic salary expectations, poor market benchmarking and misaligned hiring strategies – much earlier in the recruitment process.
Transparency Is the Right Direction
The government’s reasoning is sound.
Its own policy papers reference evidence showing that opaque pay practices can contribute to unequal outcomes, with salary decisions potentially influenced by bias relating to gender, ethnicity or disability. Greater transparency should also reduce the number of recruitment processes that break down simply because employer and candidate expectations were never aligned.
Both of those outcomes are positive.
But from a recruitment perspective, salary transparency solves the information gap. It doesn’t solve the decision-making behind the number itself.
Publishing a Salary Doesn’t Automatically Mean You’re Transparent
Pay transparency isn’t a new concept – it’s simply been voluntary.
Research from the CIPD shows salary disclosure is already common across the public and charity sectors, but significantly less so in private businesses. The same research also highlights an important point: disclosure isn’t always meaningful. Salary ranges can span £10,000 or more, giving candidates very little indication of what they might realistically earn.
That distinction matters.
The forthcoming legislation requires employers to publish salary information. As currently proposed, it doesn’t necessarily require that information to be genuinely useful.
A broad range or loosely defined benchmark may satisfy the legal requirement without improving the candidate experience. Employers who approach transparency as a compliance exercise rather than a strategic one may technically meet the new rules while changing very little about the quality of their hiring process.
The Challenge the Legislation Doesn’t Address
In specialist recruitment and executive search, compensation is rarely fixed the moment a role is approved.
It evolves throughout the hiring process based on market benchmarking, competing opportunities, a candidate’s existing package and the commercial value they bring to a business.
The legislation can require employers to disclose a starting point.
It can’t remove the commercial judgement that follows.
Nor should it.
Hiring exceptional talent has never been a one-size-fits-all exercise, and treating an advertised salary as immovable could make it harder—not easier—to secure the right person.
There’s also a practical consideration.
Salary information often increases application volumes because candidates can quickly identify opportunities that meet their expectations. While that’s positive from an accessibility perspective, higher application numbers don’t always translate into higher-quality shortlists. In specialist recruitment, we frequently see salary-led adverts generate significantly more interest, but a substantial proportion of applicants still lack the niche experience, technical expertise or industry background required for the role.
For employers, transparency may reduce one type of inefficiency while creating another: more applications to review, without necessarily increasing the number of genuinely suitable candidates.
The View From the Search Desk
Ozge Gurbuz, Legal, Compliance & Risk Specialist at EC1 Partners, has seen this challenge play out repeatedly across fintech hiring.
“The businesses that get caught out aren’t the ones with unreasonable budgets – they’re the ones who haven’t done the work before the search starts. They think they know what a role is worth, but they haven’t actually checked it against what competitors are paying for the same seat, or what the candidate they want is already earning. Once transparency is a legal requirement, that gap becomes visible immediately, not three interviews in.”
She points to a familiar pattern: a business sets a budget based on historic internal salary bands, a strong candidate is identified, and the process stalls once market realities become clear.
“We’ve had searches where the difference between winning and losing a candidate came down to a gap that could have been resolved in week one if the client had benchmarked the market before we started, rather than discovering halfway through the process that their assumptions were out of date.”
Her view is that the legislation doesn’t create this problem.
It simply removes the option of discovering it later.
“Today, businesses can often adjust salary expectations privately as a search progresses. Once compensation is published from day one, there’s far less room to course-correct without damaging candidate confidence. That’s why benchmarking needs to happen before recruitment begins, not during it.”
Three Questions Employers Should Be Asking Now
Rather than waiting for the legislation to come into force, employers should use this period to review how compensation decisions are made.
Ask yourself:
- Have we benchmarked this role against today’s market, rather than relying on historic salary bands?
- Would we be comfortable explaining and defending this salary range to every candidate who applies?
- Do we have enough flexibility built into our hiring strategy to secure exceptional talent if the right candidate sits outside our initial expectations?
Answering these questions now will make compliance significantly easier later—and improve hiring outcomes regardless of what the final legislation looks like.
What This Means in Practice
The most effective response isn’t simply adding a salary to a job advert.
It’s ensuring the number you’re publishing is backed by robust market intelligence.
That means developing a clear, evidence-based understanding of what a role is worth, taking into account external market rates, internal pay equity and the level of investment genuinely required to attract the right talent.
It also means recognising that transparency changes where the challenge sits.
Instead of spending time aligning salary expectations later in the process, employers will need to spend more time identifying candidates who are genuinely qualified. As application volumes increase, screening for capability, cultural fit and long-term potential becomes even more important.
That’s where specialist recruiters continue to add value—not by relying solely on inbound applications, but by proactively identifying, engaging and assessing the right people before introducing them to clients.
The Bigger Picture
Salary transparency is the right direction of travel, and these changes will bring the UK more closely into line with legislation already being introduced across parts of Europe.
But transparency alone won’t solve every hiring challenge—and it isn’t designed to.
What it will do is move compensation strategy to the forefront much earlier in the recruitment process.
Businesses with accurate market intelligence, realistic salary structures and clearly defined hiring strategies will be well positioned to adapt. Those relying on outdated assumptions may find that greater transparency exposes issues they previously had time to resolve behind closed doors.
Salary transparency makes competitive benchmarking more important than ever.
Whether you’re reviewing compensation for a critical hire, planning future headcount or assessing how your organisation compares with competing firms, having an informed view of today’s market will help you attract and retain the right talent.
If you’d like to discuss benchmarking for a specific role or gain deeper insight into compensation trends across fintech, our team would be happy to have a confidential conversation.
Managing Director (EMEA)
Sales & Commercial Director (EMEA)
Product, Operations & Professional Services Director (EMEA)
2026 Fintech Salary Benchmarking
Find out how much you should be paying your employees, or how your pay compares to others this year, based on our industry benchmarks.
Covering core functional roles & market intel for Buyside, Capital Markets, Etrading, RegTech, Payments, ESG & ClimateTech, Crypto, Blockchain & Digital Assets, and Data, Research & Analytics.
