The organisers plan to raise £500,000 for Action for Children, by expanding the number of people taking part in its annual sleep out event.

Organisers of the event, which is supported by a variety of top names from the IT and business worlds, hope to recruit over 700 sleepers to take part in the nationwide campaign.

Senior executives from Dell, Intel, The Talk Talk Group and BT have pledged to take part and to encourage their staff to join them; with the organisers hoping 700 IT professionals will take part in the fund raiser.

Isaac George, Offshore Director at Steria and one of the organising board members said, "It goes without saying that budget cuts and recession fears are affecting the way in which people spend - and donate - their money. We're all experiencing belt-tightening and cutbacks, but we must not let the charities suffer.

"After ten years of hugely successful Byte Night campaigns, the technology sector is now synonymous with CSR, charitable giving and helping youth homelessness. It's never been a case of simply paying lip service to the cause. Those who take part genuinely care about the people they are helping.