How to write an inclusive job ad (UK)

Inclusive job ads aren't a compliance chore. They're recruitment economics. Every needlessly narrow phrase shrinks your applicant pool, and small employers can't afford to scare off good people with sloppy wording.

The legal floor (UK)

The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful to discriminate in recruitment on protected characteristics, age, sex, race, disability, religion, and others. You almost certainly wouldn't do that on purpose. The trap is doing it by phrasing:

• "Young and dynamic team": age discrimination in four words.
• "Salesman", "handyman": gendered titles. Use salesperson, maintenance technician.
• "Recent graduate": age-coded unless genuinely justified.
• "Must-have: 10+ years' experience": often a proxy for age; ask for the capability instead ("proven experience managing accounts end to end").

Wording that widens the field

• Capability over biography. "You can run a client meeting solo" beats "5 years in client services".
• Trim the wish list. Research consistently shows many candidates, disproportionately women, will skip ads where they don't meet every bullet. Separate genuine must-haves from nice-to-haves, ruthlessly.
• Show the salary. UK ads with visible salaries get significantly more applicants, and salary secrecy quietly disadvantages people who've been underpaid before. A range is fine.
• Say how you flex. Hybrid patterns, part-time openness, "happy to talk about adjustments", one sentence, big signal.

Structure that works on UK job boards

About the company → the role → responsibilities (bullets) → what you'll need → nice to have → benefits → how to apply. Omit sections you can't fill honestly rather than padding them.

The fast way

Vizivo's Job Description Generator writes in this structure with inclusive-language guardrails built in. It won't use coded phrasing, never invents salary or benefits you didn't provide, and writes the company section from what it already knows about your business.