Public sector IT Contractor numbers drop

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Public sector IT Contractor numbers drop

Posted Jun 14, 2006

The share of IT contractors working on public sector IT projects has declined for the first time in three years, reveals research by giant group plc, the contractor services provider. 26% of all IT contractors work in the public sector, compared to 27% six months ago.

Meanwhile, the financial services industry, for so long the bellwether of the IT contractor market, has stepped up its use of flexible IT skills. 26% of IT contractors now work in financial services, a rise of 2% in six months.

Matthew Brown, Managing Director, giant group, comments: "With City institutions now so profitable it is no surprise to see the public sector lose out in the war for IT talent."

According to giant, the decline in the percentage of IT contractors in the public sector is also due to the completion of projects associated with the e-government programme - designed to make public services accessible online.

"The e-government programme was scheduled for completion by the end of 2005, and with most government services now available electronically, demand for flexible IT skills has stabilised."

"New public sector IT programmes have recycled some of the skills from e-government projects that have wound down, but whether that will be enough to prevent the Government's share of the IT contractor market slipping further remains to be seen."

The Ministry of Defence recently started its £10bn project to design and build a single IT infrastructure for the armed forces, for example.

Matthew Brown points out that despite being an easy target for ministers, IT budgets have not been trimmed by recent public sector belt tightening.

He says: "The NHS central IT budget has not suffered as a result of the organisation's cash crisis at Trust level, but Trusts have their own budgets for IT projects, and it will interesting to see where on the priority list IT sits if further cuts have to be made."

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