Insurance roles are among those with the widest advertised salary bands in the UK, raising fresh questions over pay transparency and equity at a time when regulators are tightening expectations on remuneration and workplace culture.
Employee experience platform Reward Gateway | Edenred analysed 9,646 UK job adverts and the salary information they contained to assess how openly employers advertise pay and how often basic legal entitlements are presented as “perks”.
The findings come amid pressure on the UK government to strengthen pay transparency and equal pay enforcement, and as insurers face closer supervision from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) on culture, diversity and fair treatment under frameworks including the Consumer Duty.
The study found that 30% of advertised roles provided no salary information at all, despite strong evidence that candidates expect clarity on pay. According to the research, 64% of jobseekers said they will not apply for a role unless the salary is listed, yet many employers still ask candidates to complete lengthy application processes without disclosing even a range.
The sectors most likely to omit pay were strategy and consultancy, with 205 adverts carrying no salary information, followed by estate agents on 154 and manufacturing on 143. In strategy and consultancy, pay is often closely tied to billable rates and negotiated individually, which can deter firms from publishing figures. Estate agency roles are frequently commission-heavy rather than salary-led. In manufacturing, base salary is often combined with shift premia, skills-related pay and location allowances, making employers more likely to push detailed pay discussions to later stages.
By contrast, retail, catering, social care and charity were among the sectors most likely to publish pay ranges or fixed salaries, reflecting factors such as union influence, public scrutiny and recruitment pressure in lower-paid roles.
Of the 9,646 adverts in the sample, 17% offered a fixed salary while 53% published a salary range. Across all job levels, the average gap between the bottom and top of advertised bands was £9,887. That scope can allow employees in the same role and grade to be paid markedly different amounts for reasons unrelated to performance, such as negotiation confidence or timing, which can make progression opaque and undermine perceptions of fairness.
This is not only an HR concern. Larger UK groups must publish gender pay gap data annually, and many now also report voluntarily on ethnicity pay gaps. Where internal differences within grades are not clearly linked to objective criteria, wide external bands can complicate efforts to demonstrate that pay decisions are consistent and evidence-based.
The analysis showed that estate agents, law and insurance had the widest advertised salary bands in job listings. Estate agency roles had an average band width of £43,274, law £30,103 and insurance £20,921.
In insurance, the breadth of roles appears to be a major driver, with entry-level claims and customer service positions typically paying around £20,000 to £30,000, while technical specialists such as actuaries, speciality underwriters and senior pricing or data leaders can receive six-figure packages. Variable bonuses, regional differences between London and other locations, and competition for scarce technical skills all contribute to broad ranges.
The structure of the insurance market also influences pay, with differing strategies between regional brokers, mutuals, MGAs, global carriers and Lloyd’s syndicates, even where job titles look similar on paper. Cyclical profitability and line-of-business performance can further affect bonus pools and total compensation.
The study also found that almost one in five job adverts promoted at least one basic legal or baseline entitlement as a “perk”. Water was described as a perk in 1,009 adverts, and coffee in 553. Training was framed as a benefit in 457 adverts, despite being essential in many roles.
More significantly, 336 companies listed 28 days of annual leave – the minimum legal entitlement for full-time UK workers including public holidays – as a perk. Charity, social care and sales roles were most likely to do this. Overall, 18% of adverts in the study presented basic legal rights, such as statutory holiday entitlement or lunch breaks, as benefits.
For insurance employers, which often promote more developed benefit structures – including pensions, protection benefits, professional development and hybrid working – overemphasising statutory minima or office amenities risks weakening their message on culture and fairness.
Chris Britton, people experience director at Reward Gateway | Edenred, said it was “surprising that nearly one in five job ads still promote basic legal entitlements as perks and that salary transparency remains limited, with 30% of adverts providing no pay information”. He argued that improving transparency is vital for both employers and employees because it enables candidates to make informed career decisions while helping organisations attract and retain talent.
In his view, businesses should focus on benefits that genuinely support financial, physical and emotional wellbeing, rather than repackaging minimum standards to make roles appear more attractive.
The data underscored that pay transparency is shifting from a peripheral issue to one that goes to competitiveness, credibility and alignment with regulatory expectations on culture and fair treatment. Clearer salary information and more straightforward presentation of benefits could help firms demonstrate consistency between their internal policies, regulatory commitments and the messages they send to current and prospective employees.
