I f there’s one thing that Brits are uncomfortable talking about, it’s money . A hangover from a class system that branded the subject “vulgar” and “gauche”, the stigma has persisted well into the 21st century. Research from Barclays earlier this year found that 50 per cent of people regard money as a taboo subject in the UK; an estimated 2.8 million adults would rather “do anything” than talk about it.

This unhelpful notion of gentility bleeds into every area of life, including salaries – there remains a cloak-and-dagger secrecy around how much we earn, both inside and outside of the workplace. But such squeamishness about sharing our pay is about to be tested under new proposals from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) .

Following a consultation, Britain’s equality watchdog is recommending that workers should have the legal right to demand to know their colleagues’ earnings if they suspect they’re being paid more for comparable work.…