IT contractors in the financial services sector have experienced a surge in confidence over the last 12 months, new research shows.

According to recruiter.co.uk findings by giant group and published on recruiter.co.uk, 36.7 per cent of IT contractors believe that the most IT jobs will be created in the financial services sector during 2011 as opposed to 22 per cent this time last year.

However, confidence in the public sector has dropped to a low of 4.5 per cent of contractors who believe that the sector will create the most jobs during the year compared to a more substantial 24.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Matthew Brown, managing director of giant, said: "The banking sector in particular is growing at the fastest rate since before the financial crisis and those same team leaders who were told to let contractors go at the start of the recession are being instructed to start hiring again."

This comes after Simon Noakes, chair of the REC's Construction Group said that contractors are important to the demand-led industry and do not jeopardise the delivery of large scale construction products, as some critics have said.