Most companies would love to employ more female IT contractors and other technology staff but suffer from a lack of applicants, according to career networking site womenintechnology.co.uk.

Maggie Berry, managing director of the website, said at the 360 Degree IT conference that there has generally been a decrease in the number of jobs available, which has had a knock-on effect in the number of positions available to women.

"It's been tough all round and the advice I've been giving to people is that if you don't necessarily need to look for a new job right now, maybe it's still not the best moment in time, but hopefully next year will be better," she said.

The comments come shortly after e-skills UK announced the launch of the new Girls in IT steering group, which aims to collaborate with employers in order to address the gender imbalance in the IT sector.