September 2026 UK Market Update: IT & Tech Trends
By James Toovey, Founder, Langley James
As an Official Panel Member of the KPMG and REC, UK Report on Jobs, Langley James contributes data to the benchmark that tracks the UK labour market each month. Here’s what August’s figures mean for IT, Tech and AI hiring.
Permanent placements across the UK rose in August for the first time in nearly four years — a genuinely significant shift after a prolonged downturn in hiring. Temporary billings grew at their second-quickest pace in over three years, and starting salaries saw their strongest increase since January. For IT and tech specifically, the signal is even clearer: IT & Computing was named among the leading sectors driving temporary vacancy demand, alongside Blue Collar — and skills shortages were reported across AI/ML Engineering, Cyber Security, Cloud Transformation, Data Engineering and Software Development, both for permanent and contract roles.
- Permanent hiring is genuinely recovering, not just stabilising. The Permanent Placements Index hit 50.5 in August — the first reading above the neutral 50 mark since September 2022. London led the recovery at 53.6, the fastest of any tracked region.
- Contract hiring is accelerating faster than permanent. Temporary Billings hit 52.4 nationally, with the North of England posting its strongest rate in over four years at 58.9 — read alongside our own salary guide data, where contractor day rates for AI roles are catching up to permanent pay increases almost point for point.
- IT skills shortages are now explicit in the official data. AI/ML Engineers, Cyber Security, Cloud Transformation and Full-Stack Developers all appear on the short-supply list for both permanent and temporary hiring — confirming what our own September salary guide already shows in the numbers.
For an up-to-date look at market rate movements across permanent salaries and interim day rates, view our September 2026 IT, Tech & AI Salary Guides. To discuss your specific team structure or benchmark upcoming roles, contact James Toovey and the team at Langley James.
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