Northern IT salaries on the up

IT wages are growing 30 per cent faster in the North, according to research.
Salaries for technology professionals in northern England grew 4.8 per cent last year, compared with 3.7 per cent in the capital, said sector skills council e-Skills UK.

But with average annual pay of £30,333, Northerners still only take home 69 per cent of a Londoner’s £44,200 average wage. And in the financial services sector the gap is widening: a professional in the North earns just 44 per cent of their southern equivalent’s salary, down from 57 per cent in 2002.

The reduction of London’s dominance reflects the flexibility of the IT sector, according to Jon Butterfield, managing director of ReThink Recruitment.
“So much work can now be accomplished offsite that the IT workforce is becoming increasingly dispersed,” he said.

But past experience suggests wage gaps are likely to swing back again, said John Eary, senior consultant at IT services provider NCC Group.

“There have been decentralisation initiatives in the past but the difference between London and the rest of the county has persisted,” he said.

The lure of remote working is unlikely to be the sole cause of rising wages.
“The increasing prosperity of successful cities such as Manchester is a more likely explanation of the narrowing of the gap,” said Eary. “Capital cities tend to be a magnet for talent in many professions.”

The upward trend may simply reflect a recent surge in IT hiring in the North, according to Philip Virgo, strategic adviser to the Institute for the Management of Information Systems.

“Competition for staff between financial services and NHS functions based in the Leeds area has been a specific blip in a thin market, lifting the averages,” he said.
Across all occupations, the pay gap between London and the North increased by two per cent in 2007.