Government is top user of IT contract staff

The government is now the biggest employer of freelance IT staff in the UK.

A survey of 2,500 freelance IT staff by supplier Giant Group reveals that the proportion of IT contractors working in the public sector has doubled to 27% in the past two years.

The financial sector comes second, employing 24% of IT contractors, up from 19% in 2003.

Of the IT contractors surveyed, 28% believe financial services will offer the most opportunities, with 21% favouring the public sector.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

Email(Required)

OptOut

From time to time, we will send you emails about selected products, events and services from Personnel Today and OHW+ - but you can choose to opt-out at any time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please tick this box.

Comments

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ

Matthew Brown, managing director at Giant Group, warned that government employers must compete with City employers.

“If key IT staff are poached by the City, there could be serious consequences for the government’s IT agenda,” he said.