We call on the UK Government to introduce legislation requiring all employers in the public sector to use blind recruitment at the initial application stage. This means removing names, dates of birth, schools, and other identifying details before shortlisting candidates.

We think mandatory blind recruitment by law could ensure every applicant gets a fair chance to succeed based on merit alone, regardless of their ethnicity, age, gender, disability, or socioeconomic background. Research shows that blind recruitment can reduce bias, widen talent pools, and increase workplace diversity. Yet there is currently no legal requirement for employers to adopt this practice. We think this means thousands of applicants are judged on their personal background rather than their skills and experience.