More than half of digital businesses based in northern England admit they have turned away work because they don’t have enough skilled people to complete the job.

That’s according to Manchester Digital, an independent trade association for digital businesses operating in the North.

Its Digital Skills Audit found that 57% of businesses have been forced to refuse contracts, with 29% admitting the work was valued at more than £50,000.

The research involved 100 businesses and also looked to uncover which were the hardest roles to fill within digital firms.

Half of respondents said good developers were hard to come by; a big number but fewer than in the 2014 version of the audit in which 61% said the same.

Sales and business development positions were cited as hardest to fill by 38% of respondents, followed by designers.

Just over half said they had “inflated” salaries in order to hang on to top talent and remain competitive.

Katie Gallagher, managing director at Manchester Digital, said: “The results of our digital skills audit highlight that we need some short term solutions to the skills shortage and a way of accelerating access to talent.

“It shows that there is still a need for industry and education to work much more closely together and for SMEs to have much more support in building and developing those relationships.”