Employers could be forced to reveal what their colleagues earn

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.