Satnam Brar, managing director of specialist IT recruiter, Maximus, said, “The public sector has provided employment for a huge number of IT contractors since 2001, thanks to the Government’s keenness to develop and supplement new systems and processes, particularly via packages such as Oracle.

Departments such as the Home Office, the Ministry of Defence and the NHS are spending hundreds of millions of pounds here. There is simply more demand for skills than the market can supply and little sign that the situation will change in the foreseeable future.”