The way in which money is controlled for ICT contractors has moved focus from rates to benefits, according to the latest SkillsMatch Contractor Rates Trend Analysis report released this week.

Information Technology Contract and Recruitment Association (ITCRA) CEO Julie Mills says the findings support recent claims by contractors that hourly rates appear to have found a floor.

“This stabilisation appears, at first glance, to have come at the expense of contract duration with core roles such as project management benefitting from longer contracts while almost all other roles are now short-term," she says.

“Contracts of less than one year in duration account for 94% of all initial agreements and this has increased from 90% six months ago with a negligible number of contracts of two years or longer.

"The greatest numbers of contracts over 24 months were issued for Business Intelligence Consultants but these still only accounted for 2%.”

Roles in strong demand are Desktop/Network Support, Business Intelligence Consultants and Project Managers; while the weakest demand was for Account Managers, Systems Analysts and Communications Managers.

ICT contracting remains a positive business centre for contract and recruitment companies with its varied industry and career opportunities, but it is important to be aware of the trends as movements in the various roles and sectors are much stronger than in other recruitment specialisations.