How to Conduct Job Interviews Legally in the UK

A job interview that feels informal and conversational can still create serious legal liability. Every question you ask — and every assumption that influences your hiring decision — is subject to the Equality Act 2010 and broader employment law. One poorly worded question about family plans or health conditions can result in a discrimination claim before the candidate has even started work.

This guide explains exactly what you can and cannot ask during interviews, how to structure a legally compliant process, and how to protect your business from claims.

The legal framework

The Equality Act 2010 prohibits discrimination in recruitment based on nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

Discrimination can be direct (treating someone less favourably because of a protected characteristic), indirect (applying a provision, criterion, or practice that disadvantages a group), or arising from something connected to a protected characteristic.

Questions you must never ask

Certain questions are either unlawful or so closely linked to protected characteristics that they create an unacceptable legal risk. Avoid these entirely.

Health and disability

Under Section 60 of the Equality Act, you must not ask about a candidate's health or disability before making a job offer, except in very limited circumstances. This includes questions about sickness absence history, medications, whether they have any health conditions, and whether they consider themselves disabled.

The limited exceptions are: asking whether the candidate needs reasonable adjustments for the interview or selection process, asking about health conditions only to the extent necessary for an inherent requirement of the role (such as physical fitness for manual labour), or monitoring diversity.

Family and personal life

Questions about family plans, childcare arrangements, marital status, and pregnancy are high-risk. While not technically unlawful in every case, they strongly suggest that decisions are being influenced by protected characteristics.

Age-related questions

Asking a candidate's age, when they graduated, or when they started their career can suggest age discrimination. Focus on the skills and experience needed for the role, not the timeline.

Criminal convictions

Since the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, spent convictions do not need to be disclosed for most roles. You can ask about unspent convictions, but you must be clear about what you are asking. For roles exempt from the Act (such as working with children or vulnerable adults), you can ask about all convictions and use DBS checks — see our background checks guide for details.

Structuring a compliant interview process

The best protection against discrimination claims is a structured, consistent process that treats every candidate equally.

Step 1: Define the assessment criteria before interviewing

Write down the specific skills, experience, qualifications, and competencies you are assessing. Every question you ask should map directly to one of these criteria. This creates a defensible record showing that decisions were based on job-relevant factors.

Step 2: Use the same questions for every candidate

Prepare a standard set of questions and ask them to all candidates for the same role. You can ask follow-up questions based on individual responses, but the core structure should be consistent. This prevents unconscious bias from steering the conversation in different directions for different candidates.

Step 3: Score responses against pre-defined criteria

Use a scoring matrix where each answer is rated against the competency it tests. This creates an objective, auditable record of your assessment and makes it much easier to defend your hiring decision if challenged.

Step 4: Have more than one interviewer

Where possible, have at least two people involved in the interview. This provides a witness, reduces the impact of individual biases, and leads to better-rounded assessments. If a panel interview is not practical, have a second person review the scored notes and input their own assessment.

Step 5: Document your decision

Record why the successful candidate was chosen and why others were not. Base your reasoning on the assessment criteria. Vague notes like "not a good fit" are difficult to defend — specific notes like "did not demonstrate sufficient experience with X" are much stronger.

Reasonable adjustments for disabled candidates

If a candidate has a disability (or you could reasonably be expected to know they do), you have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to the interview process. Failing to do so is itself an act of discrimination.

Common reasonable adjustments include providing interview questions in advance, allowing extra time for tests or assessments, ensuring the interview location is wheelchair accessible, offering the interview in a quiet room for candidates with anxiety or sensory conditions, providing a sign language interpreter, and allowing a support person to attend.

Right to work checks during recruitment

You can ask candidates to confirm they have the right to work in the UK at any stage, including the interview. However, you must ask this of all candidates, not just those you suspect may not be British or Irish. Asking selectively based on appearance or accent is race discrimination.

The formal document check should take place before the start date, not during the interview. See our complete guide on right to work checks for the full process.

Unconscious bias and how to mitigate it

Unconscious bias affects every interviewer. Research consistently shows that interviewers favour candidates who are similar to themselves, make snap judgements within the first few minutes, and overweight likeability versus competence.

Practical steps to reduce bias:

• Blind screening: Remove names, ages, and photos from CVs before shortlisting where practical
• Structured interviews: As described above — same questions, scored consistently
• Diverse interview panels: Different perspectives reduce groupthink
• Bias awareness training: Ensure everyone involved in hiring understands common biases such as affinity bias, halo effect, and confirmation bias
• Work sample tests: Practical tasks or case studies assess actual ability rather than interview performance

What to do if a candidate volunteers protected information

Candidates sometimes volunteer information about their health, family situation, religion, or other protected characteristics during an interview. You are not obligated to ignore what they say, but you must not use it in your decision-making.

The safest approach is to acknowledge what they have said politely and steer the conversation back to job-relevant topics. Do not explore the topic further. In your scoring notes, record only the job-relevant aspects of their responses.

Record keeping and data protection

Interview records are personal data under UK GDPR. You must handle them appropriately.

Keep interview notes, scorecards, and any test results for at least six months after the hiring decision — this covers the three-month time limit for bringing a tribunal claim (plus the time it takes for papers to be served). Many employers keep records for 12 months to be safe.

For unsuccessful candidates, inform them that you will retain their data for a specified period and then securely delete it. For successful candidates, interview records become part of their personnel file. See our guide on UK GDPR and employee data for broader data protection obligations.

Remote and video interviews

Video interviews are subject to the same legal requirements as in-person interviews. Additional considerations include ensuring that any recording is disclosed to the candidate in advance (and ideally with their consent), making sure the technology platform is accessible to candidates with disabilities, providing alternatives for candidates who do not have reliable internet access, and being aware that AI-powered interview tools may introduce bias if not properly validated.

Frequently asked questions

Next steps

Key takeaways

Legal interviewing is not about memorising a list of prohibited questions — it is about building a structured, consistent process where every question maps to a job-relevant criterion and every decision is documented. Use standardised scorecards, ask the same core questions to every candidate, and make reasonable adjustments proactively. The effort you invest in a compliant process protects your business and, critically, helps you make better hiring decisions.

Once you have made your hire, follow through with a compliant right to work check and a properly drafted employment contract to complete your onboarding process.