The majority of UK employers have been found to be underprepared for pay transparency, according to new findings by Aon.
The global professional services firm surveyed 123 UK organisations with over two million employees for its 2025 Global pay transparency study.
It found that only 10% of respondents said they are fully ready for pay transparency, while 66% are still in the process of getting ready. The remaining 24% said they were not ready and half admitted they are taking a geographically targeted approach, implementing transparency measures only where they are legally required.
Only 18% of UK organisations have conducted an independent pay equity analysis in the past 12 to 18 months, compared to 26% globally, and 18% have never conducted one. Despite this, 71% who identified pay equality and equity gaps had taken corrective action, such as year-end reviews or recruitment checks.
Just 23% have developed a communication strategy for pay transparency. Among those, 89% include training for line managers, and 68% have an organisation-wide plan to explain pay transparency to employees. However, 77% have no formal communication strategy in place and 59% have yet to develop a compliance calendar or internal reporting plan.
Anthony Poole, partner in talent solutions at Aon in the UK, said: “Many employers are reacting to compliance pressures rather than proactively embedding transparency into their broader people strategy. To address pay disparities effectively, organisations will need to identify the underlying factors contributing to wage inequalities. This understanding will enable them to develop and implement comprehensive strategies that prevent such disparities from re-emerging throughout their workforce.
“It is also important to recognise that addressing or closing the gap is only one part of the challenge. Pay transparency is a major change for organisations, so communicating it clearly is a key element of the process. While regulatory compliance is the top driver for UK organisations, there is a clear opportunity to align pay transparency with talent attraction, retention and organisational values. Effective communication is essential to building trust and ensuring employees understand how pay decisions are made. With the EU Pay Transparency Directive requiring gender pay gap reporting from 2027, UK employers, especially those with European Union operations, will need to act now to build robust, data-driven frameworks.”
