How to publish salary ranges in job adverts

Before you start

Legal basis. Under the Equality Act 2010, women and men doing equal work are entitled to equal terms. Equal work is like work, work rated as equivalent under job evaluation, or work of equal value (section 65). A pay difference can be defended only by a material factor that is not sex; if the factor disadvantages one sex, it must be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim (section 69).

Under section 77, a term restricting pay discussions cannot be enforced against an employee who makes, or seeks from a colleague, a "relevant pay disclosure": one made to find out whether pay is connected with a protected characteristic. Seeking, making or receiving one is protected from victimisation.

The Office for Equality and Opportunity's consultation (opened 14 July 2026) proposes a requirement for all employers to publish pay information in job adverts, and asks whether a range, a specific salary or a benchmark rate should be required [5].

Who to involve. Reward, talent acquisition, hiring managers, finance, legal, communications and employee representatives; local advisers for EU-based roles.

What you need. Grades and ranges, the job evaluation method behind them, current pay by grade with equality data, recruitment forms and approval rules.

Step 1: Check your pay structure is fit to publish

Before any advert carries a range, check that:

• every advertised role sits in a grade, placed by a consistent method such as job evaluation;
• every grade has a written minimum, maximum and review date;
• you know each range's width. Range spread = (maximum − minimum) ÷ minimum. A wide range tells applicants little; a narrow one leaves little room for experience.

Acas advises employers to keep one pay structure and to limit who can decide salaries for new staff.

In the lumi reward benchmark, 72.6% of organisations have a formal policy describing pay progression within bands (n = 259). On readiness, 17.2% have completed a pay transparency readiness assessment and 69.3% have one in progress (n = 267). See the full findings.

Step 2: Run an internal equity check first

For each grade you will advertise:

1. List current pay and each person's position in range: (pay − minimum) ÷ (maximum − minimum).
2. Flag anyone below the minimum, or below the top of the range you plan to advertise.
3. Compare the flags by sex, and by ethnicity and disability where you hold data. Test any gap between women and men doing equal work against section 69.
4. Agree adjustments with finance before the advert is published.

Worked example (illustrative: index values, not salaries). Grade C runs from 100 to 130. Calculated in Python:

In the lumi reward benchmark, 8.3% of organisations have fully grouped roles into "work of equal value" categories, 20.8% partially, 36.7% are in progress and 34.1% have not (n = 264). 50.0% do not run proactive equal-pay audits (n = 268).

Step 3: Choose what to publish

In the lumi reward benchmark, 46.8% of organisations do not publish pay ranges on job adverts (common), 33.3% do for some roles (alternative) and 19.9% for all roles (rare) (n = 267).

In every advert, state the pay basis (annual, hourly or full-time equivalent), any location differentials or extras, and whether pay is negotiable, as government guidance suggests. Keep job titles gender-neutral.

Step 4: Set rules for negotiation and offers outside the range

Write down who can approve an offer at each point in the range, and on what grounds.

For any offer above the range, record the reason and check it against current staff in the grade. If exceptions keep occurring in one grade, review the range.

Step 5: Remove salary-history questions

Take questions about current or previous pay out of application forms, applicant tracking systems, interview guides and agency briefs, and tell agencies in writing. Ask about pay expectations instead if you need to.

No UK law bans the question as at 20 September 2026, and the July 2026 consultation does not propose a ban. But basing pay on previous pay can import earlier differences, and any resulting gap would need a material factor defence. For a role in an EU country, Article 5(2) of the Directive bars it, through that country's transposing law [8].

In the lumi reward benchmark, 72.1% of organisations have not removed salary-history questions from their hiring process (common) and 27.9% have (alternative) (n = 265).

Step 6: Prepare hiring managers

Before the first advert, brief managers on how the range was set, where new starters are placed, the approval rules, and how to answer questions about pay. Remind them that section 77 protects staff who discuss pay. Give them a short script and a reward contact.

Step 7: Tell staff before the first advert is published

Explain the grades, how pay progresses, what the equity check changed, and how staff can ask about their own pay.

In the lumi reward benchmark, 47.6% of organisations do not give employees access to pay ranges for their grade or role family, 35.2% do and 17.2% partially (n = 267).

Reword any contract or handbook term suggesting staff cannot make a relevant pay disclosure.

Step 8: Check obligations for staff in EU countries

Directive (EU) 2023/970 applies through national law in each Member State, not to UK-based roles. Take local advice. Its main duties:

• Applicants: the initial pay or its range, on objective, gender-neutral criteria, for example in the advert or before interview; no pay-history questions (Article 5).
• Pay criteria: the criteria for pay and progression must be accessible to workers; Member States may exempt employers with fewer than 50 workers from the progression part (Article 6).
• Right to information: workers may request their own pay and average pay by sex for the same work or work of equal value, answered within two months. They must be reminded of this right yearly (Article 7).
• Reporting: first reports by 7 June 2027 (250 or more workers, then yearly; 150 to 249, then three-yearly) and by 7 June 2031 (100 to 149, then three-yearly) (Article 9).
• Joint pay assessment with worker representatives where an unjustified gap of at least 5% in any category of workers is not remedied within six months (Article 10).

In the lumi reward benchmark, 33.8% of organisations have not started preparing for the Directive (common), 32.3% are assessing, 18.4% planning, 13.5% implementing and 1.9% compliant (n = 266).

Step 9: Monitor and review

After each recruitment round, track where offers land in the range (by sex and other characteristics), offers above the range, staff paid below new starters in their grade, and declines citing pay. Repeat Step 2 at each pay review and feed results into your equal pay audit.

In the lumi reward benchmark, 19.9% of organisations have a documented pay transparency approach or policy (rare; n = 267).

Checklist

• Every advertised role graded, with a written minimum, maximum and review date
• Equity check done and adjustments agreed
• Disclosure format and role coverage recorded
• Advert template states pay basis, extras and negotiability
• Offer approval and exception rules written down
• Salary-history questions removed everywhere, agencies told
• Managers briefed, with a script and contact
• Staff told first; confidentiality terms reviewed
• EU obligations checked country by country
• Monitoring measures and review date set

Related

• Pay transparency and equal pay: UK benchmark 2026 — the benchmark findings behind the figures in this guide.
• How to prepare and publish your gender pay gap report
• How to run an annual pay review: process and governance
• How lumi works: methodology — how these figures are collected and calculated.