The perennial skills crisis in the IT sector is showing few signs of improving.

Software engineers, technical support staff and systems designers are in particularly short supply, according to a quarterly report by sector skills body e-Skills UK.

And shortages in senior programming positions are likely to occur continue over the coming six months.

‘Pinch points in the future are likely for recruiters seeking permanant staff for senior programmers with C#, VOIP, OSPF, PHP, Flash, Swing, .Net, Python and Prince,’ says the report.

Paradoxically, British IT workers are the second most likely in Europe to receive job-related education or training.

One in six (15%) European IT staff had been trained in the past four weeks, rising to more than one in four in the UK.