The UK’s Most Transparent Employers for Pay in 2025

Most pay transparent employers

HC-One, University of Edinburgh, EdEx and MHA all disclose salaries on virtually every job ad. Care and education providers dominate the top of the ranking, reflecting high-volume frontline recruitment and intense competition for talent.

Least transparent employers

At the other end of the scale, some major brands never disclose pay on their job ads. And several large NHS trusts also publish salary information on under 1% of job postings, despite being part of a system where pay bands are well-defined.

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Survey finds a correlation between seniority and less transparent pay 

We also conducted a pay survey, which found that just 39% of companies reported publishing Director-level pay ranges compared with 67% for frontline roles. The correlation between seniority and less transparent pay suggests greater pay inequality at senior levels.

UK industries ranked by pay transparency

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Why pay transparency matters

While there is currently no law requiring UK firms to publicly disclose pay information, companies that resist implementing pay transparency practices may lag behind market expectations and fail to attract top talent to competitors who are seen to be more transparent.

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A Gartner study reported that 44% of candidates did not apply to a job where a salary was not advertised upfront. For employers, withholding pay can mean a smaller, less engaged talent pool and a weaker employer brand.

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The EU Pay Transparency Directive, which will affect all companies with operations in the EU from June 2026, exists to address the gender pay gap and promote equal pay for equal work by enforcing greater transparency in pay structures. UK pay practices will likely be heavily influenced by this directive.

Make smarter pay decisions with HR Datahub

HR Datahub’s salary benchmarking tool uses salary data from 30+ million UK job ads to give companies insights into what they should be paying their employees to remain market-competitive. 

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Study methodology: 

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HR Datahub analysed 2,792,230 job adverts posted on all the major UK job boards, such as Total Jobs, Reed and others, between 21 November 2024 and 21 November 2025. 
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The biggest employers are defined by the number of jobs they advertised across this time frame. Salary disclosure rate is based on the proportion of job ads that include a salary or salary range.HR Datahub analysed 2,792,230 unique job adverts posted on all the major UK job boards, such as Total Jobs, Reed and others, between 21 November 2024 and 21 November 2025. 
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The biggest employers are defined by the number of jobs they advertised across this period. Salary disclosure is defined as job adverts that disclose salary ranges and single figures, including hourly rates, day rates and annual rates. 
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HR Datahub ran a survey from 1 - 30 September asking HR leaders about their pay transparency practices and views. There were 205 respondents.