Should the Interview Question “What is your current salary?” be Banned in the UK?

As of 31st October 2017, New York City made it illegal for any employer (public or private sector) to ask the question “what is your current salary” during a job interview.

Now, this doesn’t directly impact me since I run all of my businesses within the UK however the concept of this has really stuck in my mind and I think it’s a great idea, one which should be implemented within the UK as well.

The reason for doing this is because many times the situation would occur where someone trying to get a better job would go for the interview, do really well and prove they were the ideal candidate…but then the dreaded question would arise, “what is your current salary?”. If this unfortunate person just happens to be on a lower-paid role than the newly advertised job, then immediately the new employer can negotiate down the new salary. This is unbelievably unfair, especially if the candidate has proven they are the perfect person for the job and have all the relevant skills etc. What’s even worse, in a world where discrimination still happens in the workplace (ESPECIALLY with unfair pay!) then this simple question “what is your current salary” can have a vicious circle in which the employee can simply go from one unfairly-paid role to another, without being able to get the pay rise they rightly deserve.

Therefore my thoughts on this matter are that New York City is ahead of the curve and we in the UK should take note and implement this law. It’s a truly unfair interview question and should be banned so that the new employee can negotiate salary based on skills, experience and overall merit of the candidate – NOT on what they currently earn. If the role is advertised for a certain amount and the candidate ‘ticks all the boxes’ then they should be paid that advertised amount and not a figure that’s JUST above what they currently earn.

Well that’s my 2 cents anyhow! What do you think? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below and let’s get the discussion going!