'Rates to remain flat for testing and support contractors'

Support and testing contractors in London have been warned that they will come to regard 2015 as the year of static pay.

Issuing the alert, agents at Robert Walters UK predicted that such IT contractors and "the likes of" would "continue" to be on "flat rates" this year.

The recruiter said that BI, ERP, CRM, security and development contractors should find themselves at the opposite end of London’s demand spectrum, as will Project Coordinators.

These six – some of the capital’s “top talent” in IT – were told to expect many offers and counter-offers, especially if they have a track record of “bridging the gap” between IT and business.

The City’s appetite for the six was said to be strong because availability of their skills is less than in previous years, partly due to tougher controls on skilled, non-EU migrants.

“Hiring managers will need to move fast and decisively to secure [these skills],” said Robert Walters, which also advised pay for the six contractors to be set “in line with market rates.”

If it’s not, then clients in London risk not getting (or losing) the IT skills they need. But offer too much, and end-users were suggested to be at risk of creating a rod for their own back.

Writing about the UK’s capital in its Global Salary Survey 2015, the IT staffing firm warned: “Pressure will grow on salaries as numbers of lucrative contract opportunities increase.”

And it is lucrative already in IT infrastructure where, thanks to confidence improving, greater investment has resulted in “double digit rises in contract rates,” the agency said.

Yet a host of other IT contractors (also in the vicinity at commerce and industry clients) are reporting static rates right now, including for architects, administrators, BAs, PMs, Java developers, network engineers, SAP consultants and IT managers at SMEs.

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27th January, 2015