IT skills gap set to grow

We haven't seen anything yet in terms of how the shortage of skilled IT workers in the UK is affecting businesses.

So says almost three-quarters (72 per cent) of respondents polled in a survey by the IT Job Board, who believe that the gap will continue to get bigger year on year.

The biggest blame factors cited are a clear lack of professionals available and the dynamic and fast moving nature of the IT industry.

Offshore outsourcing is seen as the solution to the problem by 44.5 per cent of survey respondents, while 70 per cent believe that better workplace training would help.

"The IT sector is a rapidly evolving one, and it is down to employers to invest in their staff, both via systems and training, to ensure they stay up-to-speed with the changes," said Alex Farrell, managing director of The IT Job Board, in a statement.

"If the UK is to stay ahead, it needs to attract high quality staff both nationally and internationally. And, it needs to tackle the ever-growing skills gap."

If it makes UK plc feel any better about things, the majority (88 per cent) of those surveyed agreed that the skills gap is not just confined to our shores.

Maggie Holland

Maggie has been a journalist since 1999, starting her career as an editorial assistant on then-weekly magazine Computing, before working her way up to senior reporter level. In 2006, just weeks before ITPro was launched, Maggie joined Dennis Publishing as a reporter. Having worked her way up to editor of ITPro, she was appointed group editor of CloudPro and ITPro in April 2012. She became the editorial director and took responsibility for ChannelPro, in 2016.

Her areas of particular interest, aside from cloud, include management and C-level issues, the business value of technology, green and environmental issues and careers to name but a few.