Junior Labour colleagues who were forced to take a pay cut upon entering government were reportedly angered by the news, the Guardian reported on 19 September, alongside other advisers who believed they were being underpaid.
In a separate report on 19 September, the BBC political editor Chris Mason claimed the story “painted a picture of fractious relationships at the heart of government”.
Senior ministers and peers have spoken out in defence of Gray following backlash about her salary, and Keir Starmer has claimed he is “in control” of the conflict.
Employers should be transparent about pay when pay decisions have been made, Charles Cotton, senior rewards adviser at the CIPD, told HR magazine.
Read more: Majority of UK companies plan increased pay transparency
“However, when disclosing [pay information] employers should be open and transparent about the rationale, for example that this is what’s been deemed appropriate by the job evaluation scheme,” he said.
“Before you start being open about pay, you should have a policy in place that explains to staff what you’re doing and why, so transparency doesn’t come as a shock. There may also be external stakeholders pushing for wage transparency, such as customers, investors or donors.”
HR could publish pay information for senior staff to prevent conflict arising when an employee's pay is disclosed, Cotton continued.
He added: “In many large employers, in both the public and private sectors, pay for senior staff is routinely published, so publishing pay for senior staff should not cause conflict, as long as the decisions can be justified."
Communicating with staff about why pay decisions have been made could stop employees feeling they are unfairly compensated, Jim Moore, employee relations expert at HR consultants Hamilton Nash, commented.
Speaking to HR magazine, he said: "Regular pay reviews and feedback sessions can help employees understand where they stand and what they need to do to progress. This can prevent feelings of unfairness or favouritism when colleagues receive pay increases.
"In cases where an individual's pay significantly outstrips their peers, as seems to be the case with Sue Gray, HR needs to be prepared to explain the exceptional circumstances that justify this. This might include unique expertise, critical importance to the organisation, or market scarcity for certain skills."
Read more: Equal pay claims rise for third consecutive year
The number of equal pay claims has risen for the third consecutive year, research by money.co.uk, published on 18 September, showed. Meanwhile, the number of job postings that feature salary information declined from 49.5% in May 2024 to 47.7% in July 2024, job postings site Adzuna found.
Speaking to HR magazine about the research on 19 September, Liz Sebag-Montefiore, founder of consultancy 10Eighty, said pay transparency could prevent further conflict with equal pay claims being raised against employers.
She said: "It promotes fairness, enables fair comparisons and the identification of disparities.
“Pay transparency can help employers to identify and address pay discrimination that might otherwise negatively affect organisational reputation.
“The downside for employers is that pay transparency may afford workers the information and evidence needed to negotiate pay rates and challenge potential pay discrimination.”
