IT contractors have been assured that they are unlikely to face legal action if they are too ill to complete an agreed contract.

According to Contractor Calculator, IT contractors working through an agency or limited company has no direct contract with the client, so cannot be sued directly for breach of contract should a serious illness prevent them from honouring the agreement.

In practice, the website suggests, the majority of clients would be more interested in finding a replacement to do the job than in pursuing an ill contractor for compensation.

"Most clients and agencies accept that people sometimes fall ill and that the contractor is not trying to deliberately sabotage a client's project, and so are unlikely to take a contractor to court for non-delivery," the site notes.

The Monster Employment Index noted earlier this week that the number of IT contractor vacancies has risen by six per cent in the last month.