North-south pay gap widens for techies

The north-south divide is widening for English IT professionals, with tech staff in the north of England taking home more than a third less in their pay packets than their counterparts in London, according to new figures.

The data from e-Skills shows that the north-south pay gap is actually increasing in IT compared to most other professions where it is narrowing.

In some respects London has become a victim of its own success. The cost of doing business in the capital is high and technology-utilising companies... are asking whether they really need to be there.

-- Jon Butterfield, MD, ReThink Recruitment

The IT pay gap has increased by two per cent over the past five years. Tech staff in the north can now expect to earn on average around £27,248 per year compared to the average London take home IT salary of £41,860, a difference of 35 per cent.

But this contrasts sharply with a booming IT sector in the north where annual revenue has grown 108 per cent from £2.3bn to £4.8bn since 1998 compared to an increase of just 30 per cent in London to £10.5bn, according to figures from the Office of National Statistics.

Evidence of this can be seen in the decisions of major public and private sector organisations, including the BBC, the Cabinet Office and the Bank of New York, to move significant parts of their back-office IT operations from London to the northwest of England.

Jon Butterfield, MD of ReThink Recruitment, claims the north-south IT pay gap will begin to narrow as more firms take advantage of the lower costs of relocating out of London.

He said: "In some respects London has become a victim of its own success. The cost of doing business in the capital is high and technology-utilising companies, who are not constrained by location, are asking whether they really need to be there."