Hamleys has had to slash its IT budget and reduce the department’s headcount as part of a restructuring plan at the world-famous London toy store. Technology spend has been cut by about five to 10 per cent, while about 30 per cent of the firm’s IT staff were made redundant

Click here to read the full story: Hamleys cuts IT budget and staff

A third of UK IT professionals are doing unpaid overtime – the equivalent of 34 days free work every year, according to trade union body the TUC.

The figures are based on a survey carried out in autumn 2008 – before many IT departments faced further cost cuts and lay-offs as a result of the recession. The amount of overtime increased by 1.2 per cent on the previous year.

Click here to read the full story: IT workers giving away free time

The government has begun to advertise for an independent commissioner to oversee the £4.7bn National Identity Scheme.

The post is intended to reassure the public that the scheme will not be subject to function creep and impinge further on civil liberties.

Home secretary Jacqui Smith said the commissioner will be formally independent and have a high public profile as a defendant of citizens' interests.

Click here to read the full story: Government advertises for ID card watchdog

Researchers in the US have discovered that using the internet can increase the power of the human brain.

A team of scientists from the University of California Los Angeles found that internet use among the middle aged stimulates certain sections of the brain and can counteract the natural slowing of thought processes that occurs with age.

Click here to read the full story: Internet use boosts brain power

Market turmoil is expected to result in IT budgets in the financial services industry taking a hammering. But many of those under the cosh will face additional pressures, as a result of some shotgun mergers.

Market research company TowerGroup is already predicting a fall in technology spending by the financial services industry, as firms move to save costs and readjust for lower demand.

Click here to read the full story: City in pressing need of skilled IT matchmakers

IT graduates have been warned not to sell themselves short after a panel of experts said their employment prospects would be harmed if they raised the issue of salaries in an interview.

The advice was given in a web-cast run by recruitment web site ITjobsforgraduates.com, which included comments from accountancy firm KPMG and financial systems supplier Fidessa.

The online discussion participants said graduates should not ask about salaries in an interview, saying that large companies will pay the market rate. But other groups, including unions and rival recruiters, have told graduates not to sell themselves short.

Click here to read the full story: Should you mention money?

Women working in technology face a wide range of problems that conspire to obstruct their career development or drive them out of the industry altogether, according to three separate studies.

Ninety per cent of female technology professionals feel that the industry discriminates against them and one in three has been the victim of sexism, according to a survey of 284 women carried out by IT recruitment group InterQuest.

Separate research by the information systems unit at University of Salford said key issues included intolerant attitudes towards working mothers, pay discrimination and a reluctance to address specific incidents of sexism or hostility.

Click here to read the full story: Nine in 10 women say IT sector is biased

UK IT market is in danger of losing a huge portion of its workforce to overseas rivals as companies fail to evoke staff loyalty.

Almost two-thirds (66 per cent) of IT staff are looking for employment opportunities outside the UK, according to a survey of 4,967 UK professionals by recruitment firm Computer People.

Click here to read the full story: UK market losing skilled workforce

Salaries for IT contractors in the financial services sector are at their highest level in two years, despite uncertainty sparked by the credit crunch.

Hourly rates have gone up by 11 per cent in the past six months ­ leading to pay of between £45 and £50 per hour, according to research by the Association of Technology Staffing Companies (Atsco) and recruitment specialist SkillsMarket.

Click here to read full story: Crunch raises contractors' pay

Universities and employers are teaming up to offer a Masters degree programme to fast track the careers of IT graduates from September this year.

The scheme is designed to run in parallel with an employee’s day job, and students will be able to add credits at their own pace using a modular system. It aims to help answer the skills crisis facing the technology industry.

The problem is that entry-level jobs are increasingly sent offshore, which leaves people at the start of their careers unable to get on the bottom rungs of the ladder, said Karen Price, chief executive of sector skills council e-Skills UK, the main architect of the qualification.

Click here to read the full story: Masters to plug the skills gap