Full-time IT positions down by nearly 10 per cent at London boroughs since 2012

Local authorities offer fewer permanent ICT jobs as cuts bite

The number of full-time IT professionals employed by London boroughs has fallen by more than nine per cent over the past two years, according to a freedom of information (FoI) request.

Twenty-one out of a total of 32 London borough councils responded. Out of these more than half (11 councils) said the number of full-time IT employees has fallen since 2012, whereas five mentioned an increase in numbers; three councils said there had been no change; and three were unable to provide comparative figures.

Among those London boroughs able to provide figures, the total number of full-time IT employees has dropped from 1,055 in 2012 to 955 today, a fall of 9.5 per cent. The numbers of part-time IT staff across the boroughs rose over the same period from 122 to 141, an insufficient figure to make up for the loss of full-time posts.

A combination of cuts in funding from central government and local taxation, shared services initiatives and outsourcing probably account for most of the drop in employment.

Newham (99 permanent IT staff in 2012 to 65 in 2014), Sutton (47 to 22) and Croydon (42 to 28) were among the boroughs seeing the greatest fall in numbers, while Camden (184 to 186), Greenwich (29 to 31) and Havering (43 to 48) all registered slight rises.

The biggest proportional increase, albeit from a very low base, was Harrow, which employed five IT staff in 2012 and now has nine on its books.

Harrow is one of the boroughs in which almost all IT functions have been outsourced, in this case to Capita, with a small number of staff dedicated to "the development and maintenance of the council's IT infrastructure," which are those that Harrow counts in its response.

Likewise with Bexley's 15-strong IT team. "Bexley ICT is fully outsourced to Steria. There is a small Bexley-side client unit which is responsible for corporate ICT strategy and policy, overall management of the ICT contract, and a range of essential corporate ICT matters," a council spokesperson said.

Under financial pressure from the government's programme of austerity, local authorities are being forced to make cutbacks in many areas, so the figures should come as no surprise. There is a danger, though, that by cutting too much councils can be left with a skeleton IT staff lacking sufficient skills or experience to grasp either the bigger picture or the fine detail, and ramping up costs and complexity in the long term.

Commenting on the findings, Paul Braham, director of IT services company Ricoh UK, said:

"Local government organisations must continue to invest in IT talent to reduce operational overheads and improve critical processes which underpin the delivery of public services. The digital by default agenda is already driving huge transformational change in central government and by harnessing technology skillsets in the workforce, local councils can continue to increase information sharing to deliver added value to taxpayers."