There has been a marked drop in the number of young people looking to a career in computing, which could have a knock-on effect on small businesses in IT, it has been explained.

Karen Price, the chief executive officer at e-skills UK, said that each year, there is a smaller number of individuals in education looking towards a job in IT.

She continued: "Less than one in five of the IT workforce is female and UK applicants to computing degrees have fallen by 50 per cent in the last five years."

However, Ms Price emphasised that many are still seeing it as their career of choice in the same vein as accountancy or law, explaining that her organisation is "delighted" to see that the sector is both inspiring and rewarding.

In its capacity as the Sector Skills Council for business and information technology as designated by the government, e-skills UK is a not-for-profit, employer-led organisation.

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent).