The job interview question you don’t have to answer

When interviewing or deciding on new staff, employers must not discriminate against an applicant based on so-called protected characteristics, including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

Sometimes it feels like interviewers, and interviewees, tip-toe around the subject of money.

But Louise Rudd, a senior adviser at the workplace advice and conciliation service Acas, says there are no regulations that prevent employers from asking interviewees about their current salary, or their salary expectations.

She says employers, if they do want to know, should ask each applicant the same questions to ensure they are treated fairly.

A few years ago, a campaign was launched urging employers to stop asking new recruits how much they were paid in their previous jobs. It had its own hashtag – #EndSalaryHistory.

The Fawcett Society, which campaigns for women and gender equality, said that asking the question risked maintaining historic unfair differences in pay due to gender, race and disability inequality.

Rather than offering a salary based on skills, experience and performance, it meant employers rewarded an individual’s perceived worth and negotiating skills instead, the society said.