Desirable skills for new contractors
Sign up for a residential hardware, networking, and CCNA course with JBC training in Coventry or Koenig in India, gain an MCSA / MCSE 2003.
The qualifications and experience outlined above will enable a contractor to earn between £20 - 25 per hour or up to £200 a day at current rates.
I was told a couple of years ago, by an agency, that CCNA will guarantee £25ph for a contractor.
HOTT are USA based and organise their courses in the UK from the States - they do not have a UK office I found this off putting YMMV. GB Direct are a broker who sell spare seats on other people's courses around the UK at £700 a week plus VAT.
Get security cleared if possible, you'll earn more money, be in a smaller pool of potential employees and therefore be more likely to find work. However you'll need to be sponsored by a company first, visit DVA for the rules.
Finding jobs and new career paths
Although primarily aimed at resettling ex-forces, the two magazines linked above, Pathfinder and Quest, provide a wealth of useful information for job hunting and courses of all descriptions, not just I.T. They are well worth a look for any job seeker because of the wide variety of experience that goes into the articles relating to recruitment and C.V. writing.