Salaries for IT pros rising faster than UK average

Salaries for highly-skilled IT professionals are reportedly rising faster than the UK average, according to recruitment firm Morgan McKinley.

The organisation's 2014 salary survey reveals that pay for IT workers, at all levels of experience, is increasing faster than average salaries across the UK.

Those with skills in social, mobile, analytics and cloud are most in demand at the moment, the report's findings show, as enterprises rush to tap into these industry megatrends.

"We have seen an increase in demand for highly-skilled IT professionals in almost every sub-sector," said Cem Baris, associate director for Morgan McKinley IT.

"Cyber-security, big data, business intelligence and application development are all in high demand. While two years ago, hirers were demanding skills as well as corporate experience, now we see a focus on skills irrespective of age and track record."

Looking ahead, Baris said the growth in salaries for UK IT professionals looks set to continue for some time to come.

"Technologies are moving fast and companies are keen to ensure they take advantage of the new opportunities these offer," he said.

"While there are not enough STEM graduates coming into the workplace from UK universities to fulfil these opportunities... the result will be higher remuneration for those with the IT skills most in demand."

The Morgan McKinley report was compiled using feedback from employees and line managers from a wide range of industries within the permanent and contract recruitment market.

This was used by the company to compare the salaries of thousands of new jobs over the past year, which were then compared to similar offers made in the 12 months prior to that.

Within its pages, the growth of the UK's technology start-up scene was also flagged, with Morgan McKinley pointing to the growing demand for skilled developers. However, it seems they too are in short supply.

"Not only are entrepreneurs increasing the demand for IT skills, but also the supporting ecosystem of venture capitalists, private equity houses, financial advisers and bankers that support the start-up community," the organisation said, in a statement.

"At the supply end, there are not enough technologists with high-level skills to meet this growing demand... leading to salary inflation."