Despite the wave of redundancies affecting all industry sectors, the number of UK companies looking to hire IT staff still outweighs those looking to lose them, according to research.

A survey of 89 UK IT directors by recruitment specialist ReThink suggests that 34 per cent plan to expand their IT department over the next year, compared to 20 per cent who plan to cut jobs.

The remaining 46 per cent of IT directors expect headcount freezes will remain in place over the next year.

“On balance, IT directors remain reasonably optimistic about taking on new staff and skills – very few expect a repeat of the job cut carnage that followed the 2001-2 post-dot com downturn,” said Michael Bennett, director at ReThink Recruitment.

The survey also revealed 22 per cent of the IT directors polled fear the delivery of IT support and projects may be compromised under their new restricted budgets. Similarly, 18 per cent of heads of IT are also worried that further headcount reductions would have a direct impact on the quality of their work.

“IT departments are much leaner now and many IT directors feel they have already cut down to the bone,” said Bennett.

“In fact, the real and growing concern is that further cuts in their budgets will start to jeopardise the quality of work and support they provide to rest of the organisation that they serve,” he said.