A surge in demand for AI professionals has helped tech job vacancies throughout the UK to develop by 21% in a yr, with the UK increasing its tech expertise pool to its highest stage since 2019, in accordance with new knowledge from consultancy agency Accenture’s UK Tech Expertise Tracker.
The analysis, which tracks the UK’s expertise sector vacancies and abilities, signifies an almost 200% year-on-year improve in demand for AI abilities throughout UK cities. Regardless of efforts to advertise tech innovation in different areas, almost two-thirds (65%) of expertise vacancies are in London – with the capital accounting for 80% of demand for AI abilities throughout all UK cities.
Different UK cities have proven promising development in demand for AI abilities, together with Glasgow (150%), Liverpool (125%) and Leeds (83%). With ambitions set for an Oxford-Cambridge tech hall, demand for AI abilities has grown at a steadier tempo within the cities of Oxford and Cambridge at 54% and 62%, respectively.
Whereas London continues to drive development, the UK has expanded its expertise expertise pool by 53% in a yr, leading to almost 1.69m professionals reporting abilities in disciplines, together with cyber, knowledge, and robotics. Manchester is rising as a quantum computing expertise hub, with a 66% improve in quantum abilities.
Regional upskilling hole emerges
Extra analysis signifies that organisations primarily based in London are forward in getting ready for the influence of generative AI, investing extra in coaching and expertise. Roughly 58% of companies in London have elevated their funding in upskilling in generative AI, in comparison with 40% of corporations outdoors London.
Whereas each area has vastly elevated their AI investments in comparison with final yr, London-based corporations plan to allocate almost a fifth of their expertise budgets to AI this yr. This compares to 13% within the Northeast and Yorkshire, Scotland, Wales, and the Southeast.
Emma Kendrew, Accenture’s Expertise Lead within the UK, stated, “The UK has a golden alternative to ascertain itself as a worldwide AI chief, and London is on the epicentre. The UK is seeing hotspots of tech expertise emerge which we count on to develop as AI is extra broadly adopted. Nonetheless, to completely capitalise on the financial potential of AI, areas outdoors of London may also must compete for expertise and infrastructure to realize sustainable development and unlock alternatives. The disparity in regional upskilling in AI raises considerations a couple of rising digital divide within the UK and will harm long-term competitiveness.”
Minister for AI, Feryal Clark, stated: “We’re seeing rising demand for tech abilities in cities up and down the nation, with communities hungry to understand the potential that generation-defining applied sciences like AI and Quantum can ship. Expertise has big potential to drive development and ship actual alternative for communities proper throughout the UK – the founding ideas of our Plan for Change. This authorities is dedicated to provide everybody a stake in our tech-driven future – from London and Yorkshire to Merseyside and past via our AI Alternatives Motion Plan.”
Methodology
Developed by Accenture Analysis, the Accenture UK Tech Expertise Tracker queried rising expertise key phrases on the LinkedIn Skilled Community within the first and second week of February 2025. The tracker assesses abilities of each present roles and open positions, querying for 9 applied sciences: knowledge analytics, synthetic intelligence, prolonged actuality, blockchain, quantum computing, cyber safety, robotics, cloud computing, and moral/accountable expertise. The analysis lined all the UK, with a give attention to the next cities: London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Bristol, Liverpool, Glasgow, Cardiff, Brighton, Cambridge, Birmingham, Leeds, Oxford and Newcastle.
For the supplementary Gen AI analysis, Accenture Analysis partnered with YouGov to conduct two surveys of 1,085 executives and three,752 workers in July– August 2024. The worker survey examined UK employees’ experiences and perceptions of gen AI, whereas the chief survey explored executives’ views on the AI ecosystem, their investments in gen AI, their AI methods and their evaluations of the abilities of their workforce.
