Workers should have a legal right to know their colleagues’ pay to help prevent pay discrimination, particularly against women, the UK’s human rights watchdog has said.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) made the recommendation in response to government proposals to overhaul equal pay laws, saying workers deserved a right to transparency if they suspected other staff were being paid more for similar work.

The watchdog also said bosses should be banned from asking about applicants’ existing salaries when recruiting staff. Companies are currently allowed to request that information, but potential recruits do not have to respond.

Ministers are considering forcing bosses to respond to staff questionnaires about their colleagues’ pay, reintroducing a right that was abolished in 2014 as part of a drive to cut bureaucracy for businesses.

The EHRC said those forms should allow staff to request information about a colleague doing similar work, including annual salary and hours worked, as well as…