By Andy McCue, 10 March 2006 12:25
NEWS
UK bosses have raised questions about the extent of the country's IT skills shortage, claiming they haven't yet been forced to recruit IT staff from overseas in order to plug skills gaps in their IT departments.
Earlier this week the UK government announced an overhaul of the system for granting work permits and visas to overseas migrants seeking employment in the UK.Under the new five-tier, points-based system, it will be easier for IT workers from countries such as India to get a work permit or visa to come to the UK. The IT industry here welcomed the system as a way to plug the shortage of certain IT skills in the UK.
But 11 out of the 12 IT chiefs on silicon.com's CIO Jury IT user panel said they haven't found it necessary to recruit IT workers from abroad in order to plug IT skills gaps here in the UK.
Jacques Rene, director of IT and projects at Airclaims, was the only one on the panel to disagree. "Sadly there is still a skills shortage in the UK and Indian nationals are that much better trained," he said.
Others said they still manage to recruit their IT staff from the UK but admitted they do get applicants from overseas.
David Supple, head of IT and creative services at Ecotec, said: "Whilst we don't get the large numbers of applicants we perhaps had three years ago for posts, the quality of the applications makes up for the smaller numbers. However we are still seeing applications coming from Eastern Europe and as far away as the Middle East."
Kevin Swindin, CIO at London's City University, agreed. "Up until now, we have been able to recruit domestically, though this sometimes has involved multiple iterations through a recruitment exercise which make the cost of recruitment higher than I would like," he said.
Although the NHS is known for recruiting doctors and nurses from abroad to fill shortages in the UK, the same does not seem to apply to IT departments in the health service, according to Ted Woodhouse, director of IT strategy at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
He said: "Our IT strategy is, amongst other things, trying to move towards requiring skills only in those areas where they are relatively plentiful."
What is the state of the UK workforce? silicon.com would like to know and to find out we have launched our eighth annual Skills Survey. Take part in one of the biggest studies of its type in the UK and, if you're lucky, you could land yourself a half case of champagne.
Today's CIO Jury was...
Neil Bath, IT director, Brewin Dolphin Securities
Peter Birley, IT director, Browne Jacobson
Les Boggia, IT division head, Carole Nash Insurance
Paul Haley, head of IS operations, The British Library
Adrian Hughes, head of IS, Amlin
John Keeling, director of computer services, John Lewis
Andy Pepper, director of business information systems, Tetley
Jacques Rene, director of IT and projects, Airclaims
Peter Ryder, head of ICT, Preston City Council
David Supple, head of IT and creative services, Ecotec
Kevin Swindin, CIO, City University
Ted Woodhouse, director of IT strategy, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
If you are a CIO, IT director or equivalent at a large or small company in the private or public sector and you want to be part of silicon.com's CIO Jury pool, or you know an IT chief who should be, then drop us a line at editorial@silicon.com.
Comments
There are 4 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
I took on a foreign worker with database skills. After 3 years he left taking my clients with him and the Home Office did absolutely nothing. I even tried through my MP and still go nowhere. He now resides here with UK rights. Beware.....
2. John Rutter
There really isn't a skills shortage, it is just that UK companies no longer want to pay UK salaries for experienced staff.
The flood of offshore workers at low quoted daily rates has seriously affected the 'price point' at which companies expect to pay for IT staff.
So, if a company tries to get cheap UK staff, they will see an apparent 'skills shortage'. But letting in overseas workers is really not the answer.
An increase in in-house training would be good, but most IT companies are notoriously poor at investing in this way - albeit due to the equally-notorious manner in which recently trained staff will often leave for more money.
3. Jason
There is no skill shortage. The IT sector has convinced itself that great savings are possible if it hires lower paid foreign staff. Sounds right in theory but it won't stop projects running over budget or incurring fines for late delivery. IT staff must be encouraged to continue skills enhancement without waiting for a training course, either in-house or external. Reuse considerations are not given the attention required.
4. anonymous
No, there is not an IT skills shortage in the UK.
Perhaps some IT consultants have skills that are 'out of date' owing to being made redundant in the last recession... but they are still out there. The UK seems to be reluctant to lure ex IT staff back into the industry and instead import cheaper foreign workers who have more recent skills.
The aforementioned situation is going to continue unless the govenment crack down on the amount of visas that are granted to companies who wish to hire from overseas.
I am glad I left the IT industry because it is a 'hire and fire' industry and not suitable for someone who wishes to have a regular income.
An awful lot female IT staff were fired in the recession and numbers fell from 100,000 to 53,000 in just two years !
Just shows you that the IT industry is not only ageist but also sexist.