IT contractors enjoyed biggest pay rises of 2013

As many an IT contractor in London looks ahead to 2014, so many will be able to look back on a lucrative 2013 compared to other temporary professionals, if a rate review of seven sectors is anything to go by. The Contractor UK website reports that the average IT contractor saw a 10 per cent boost to their pay packet over the course of last year, significantly higher than predicted increases of 7.5 per cent.

Although this 10 per cent or more average rise in salary was by no means exclusive to an IT contractor in London, also being seen among freelancers in other sectors, no sector saw the rises of as much as 20 per cent witnessed among temporary IT professionals. This may be especially unsurprising if the workers in question were senior professionals, such as directors. The findings back up earlier reports of increasing demand for temporary IT workers driving up pay, such as data released by Computer People in July 2013 showing that seven areas of IT contracting were offering between 7.6 per cent and 26.8 per cent more than they had a year earlier.

Referring back to the overall 2013 pay review, even the best contract engineers could not match the rate rises seen among temporary IT practitioners, with their wages seeing increases of up to 17 per cent. The equivalent figure among banking temps was 11 per cent, perhaps a surprise given this sector's traditional association with the highest wages. An IT contractor in London may also be heartened by their sector being revealed by the review as the best at putting aside cash for the taxman. However, such good intentions didn't translate into superior avoidance of tax penalties, with IT contractors being the most likely of the surveyed freelancers to have incurred one as a result of a late or inaccurate filing.

Nonetheless, the review was largely a good one for the average IT contractor in London, who will also be encouraged by a 9 per cent rise in spending on IT infrastructure among British businesses over the last 12 months. According to independent finance provider Syscap, the period had seen £1.5 billion of IT investment via leasing, compared to 1.37 billion a year earlier. The heightened spending on IT equipment was attributed to the increasingly widespread practice of companies supplying staff with tablets, the booming popularity of cloud storage and even the switch to Windows 8.

It is another development signalling an improvement in prospects for the ambitious IT contractor in London, Syscap observing: "Investment in IT by British businesses can be a huge catalyst for economic growth. It has a massive impact on how efficient and globally competitive UK plc can be."

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