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Freelance IT contractors working in the City of London are enjoying the highest hourly rates since the end of the dot com boom. Buoyed by the city’s ongoing need for compliance and security expertise, temporary IT professionals can now charge £50 an hour, according to the latest ATSCo/iProfileStats survey. It found that the prospect of even higher rates for London-based IT contractors looks “robust,” after 12 months of “bumper profits” for the capital's companies and institutions. The Association of Staffing Technology Companies, which commissioned the survey, said city clients are hiking their IT budgets allocated for security and compliance. Such buoyancy for contractors contrasts the gloomy picture seen after the dot com boom, when a slump in merger and acquisitions activity reduced the call for freelance practitioners. ATSCo pointed out IT contractors working in London were last paid the current £50 an hour in June 2001, three months before the 9/11 terror attacks sank some rates as low as £30 an hour. “Pay for City IT contractors has reached a psychologically significant milestone,” said Anne Swain, company chief executive. “2006 could be the year when the ghosts of the dot com era are finally laid to rest and IT pay in the city tops the £54 per hour record set during the height of the boom.” Pipeline projects for financial clients, including a new chip and pin card system to authenticate telephone and online transactions, will help ramp up demand for temporary security experts, ATSCo said. In addition, contracted work realigning IT systems or making way and managing new regulatory regimes, like Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel 2, will boost demand for contractors in banks and institutions. Ann Swain commented: “The Basel II regime requires sophisticated risk models to be developed using data extending back many years, and the task for IT departments is huge. “2006 will be a year of frenetic activity as the 2007 deadline looms nearer.” She said as IT plays an even bigger role implementing and managing the systems of the UK’s financial hub, contractors are earning the "kind of premiums reminiscent of Java programmers during the dot com boom." Feb 14, 2006 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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