Government trails private sector in IT wages

Government IT staff are still being paid less than their private-sector counterparts, according to research from the National Computing Centre.

The findings are part of the National Computing Centre's (NCC's) latest Benchmark of Salaries and Employment Trends in IT survey. It shows that the salary paid by government is less than other sectors for virtually all types of IT role.

For example, a systems developer with three years' experience would earn an average of £29,665 in government, compared with £32,329 in manufacturing, £37,099 in transport and utilities, and an average figure of £32,001.

The balance is different for IT managers. Those in government actually earn a little more than their manufacturing counterparts: £47,840, compared with £47,424. However, they are still paid much less than those in the financial sector, who pull in £62,841. The average figure is £49,847.

Michael Dean, group marketing manager for the NCC, told GC News that government staff also do not do well on fringe benefits, such as company cars, health insurance and share options, but they do have some advantages. Ninety-six percent of government organisations offer flexible working (compared with 63 percent of organisation in the financial sector) and government staff get 27.6 holiday days annually, compared to 25.3 for financial sector workers.

"Last year we saw a large increase in the number of government staff who earned a bonus, and this has been maintained this year at 36 percent of respondents, as government rewards performance improvements and seeks to retain staff. This does contrast with the finance sector however, where 79 percent report a bonus scheme," Dean said.

"Government employees benefit from more flexible working, pensions, more holidays and increasingly, bonus schemes — all of which could prove attractive to the younger generation who are increasingly valuing quality of life in their preferred remuneration packages," Dean added.

"Nevertheless, it will be hard for some government organisations to retain staff where the market will pay substantially more for the same roles. The irony is that some of these workers will be working for outsourcing companies whose clients will include the public sector," said Dean.

About 40 percent of government organisations predicted a growth in the number of IT staff, while the figure for the health and education sectors was 60 percent.

On a broader scale, the NCC said that salaries are growing steadily in the sector, with a median increase of 3.7 percent, in line with average earnings reported by the government. However, the number of individuals receiving performance-related bonuses is on the increase, up six percent to 44 percent, and those that receive a bonus have seen them rise in overall value from 7.5 percent to 8.3 percent.