IT contractors want EU freedom of movement

Almost three-quarters of IT contractors want the UK to stay in the single market and avoid a hard Brexit, a survey shows.

In fact, 73% of temporary IT professionals favour retaining the free movement of workers between Britain and the European Union, found ClearSky Accounting.

It means that just over a fifth (21%) of IT contractors want the opposite -- a hard Brexit, defined in the survey as leaving both the single market and the jurisdiction of EU institutions.

Such a move would likely limit opportunities for EU nationals to work in the UK, which could create more openings for UK-based contractors, pointed out ClearSky’s CEO Derek Kelly.

But referring to the 300 contractors surveyed, he said many more fear that opportunities for UK nationals to work in the EU could be ‘dislocated’ and hit by lower business investment.

Six per cent of the IT contractors were indifferent, giving no preferred outcome to the Brexit negotiations. All survey respondents either work or worked in the EU, typically on £500 a day.