Higher National Certificate (HNC)
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies with a requirement for HNC qualifications. Included is a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months to 2 June 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
2 Jun 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 474 655 828
Rank change year-on-year +181 +173 -91
Permanent jobs citing HNC 505 300 468
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 0.48% 0.32% 0.28%
As % of the Qualifications category 1.81% 0.94% 1.02%
Number of salaries quoted 251 126 162
10th Percentile £27,500 £27,750 £26,989
25th Percentile £34,000 £31,791 £31,133
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £33,000 £41,963
Median % change year-on-year +36.36% -21.36% -2.18%
75th Percentile £55,675 £44,500 £53,750
90th Percentile £68,000 £51,375 £62,629
UK excluding London median annual salary £45,000 £37,315 £40,500
% change year-on-year +20.60% -7.87% +1.25%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

HNC is in the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies with a requirement for academic qualifications or professional certifications.

Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 27,942 32,039 45,768
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 26.55% 33.80% 27.07%
Number of salaries quoted 17,249 14,523 19,205
10th Percentile £28,668 £32,000 £30,932
25th Percentile £38,524 £42,500 £40,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £53,818 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -10.30% +9.09% -
75th Percentile £71,000 £77,500 £73,750
90th Percentile £87,500 £95,000 £91,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -

HNC
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing HNC as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for HNC in the UK

HNC
Salary Trend

3-month moving average salary quoted in jobs citing HNC.

Salary trend for HNC in the UK

HNC
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing HNC over the 6 months to 2 June 2024.

Salary histogram for HNC in the UK

HNC
Top 17 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing HNC within the UK over the 6 months to 2 June 2024. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England +225 472 £45,500 +37.88% 736
UK excluding London +111 452 £45,000 +20.60% 712
North of England +137 131 £42,500 +49.12% 193
South East -2 109 £51,350 +26.24% 159
North West +38 67 £35,000 +16.67% 98
Midlands +23 67 £47,500 +18.75% 137
South West +1 67 £40,000 +0.29% 108
East of England +40 61 £38,500 +35.09% 86
Yorkshire +115 60 £52,750 +85.09% 63
Work from Home +13 58 £43,750 +25.00% 136
London +89 35 £51,196 +55.14% 69
West Midlands -10 32 £42,500 - 82
East Midlands +15 31 £47,500 +18.75% 55
Scotland -87 8 £50,625 +36.35% 52
Wales - 7 £45,000 - 13
North East -8 4 £41,500 +3.90% 36
Northern Ireland - 2 £34,628 - 4

HNC
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 5 (0.99%) Office Communications Server
2 4 (0.79%) Moodle
3 2 (0.40%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.20%) JBoss
4 1 (0.20%) WebSphere
4 1 (0.20%) WinCC
Applications
1 82 (16.24%) AutoCAD
2 52 (10.30%) Microsoft Office
3 51 (10.10%) Microsoft Excel
4 31 (6.14%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 18 (3.56%) Revit
6 10 (1.98%) Microsoft Project
7 4 (0.79%) EPLAN
7 4 (0.79%) Solid Edge
7 4 (0.79%) SOLIDWORKS
8 2 (0.40%) Simulink
9 1 (0.20%) MS Visio
9 1 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
9 1 (0.20%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 10 (1.98%) NEC Housing
2 6 (1.19%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 12 (2.38%) Microsoft 365
2 6 (1.19%) AWS
3 5 (0.99%) Azure
3 5 (0.99%) Azure DevOps
3 5 (0.99%) Google Workspace
3 5 (0.99%) PaaS
3 5 (0.99%) SaaS
4 2 (0.40%) Dynamics 365
4 2 (0.40%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 18 (3.56%) Internet
2 13 (2.57%) Ethernet
2 13 (2.57%) LAN
3 8 (1.58%) Firewall
3 8 (1.58%) Network Security
4 5 (0.99%) OSPF
4 5 (0.99%) TCP/IP
4 5 (0.99%) WAN
4 5 (0.99%) Wireless
5 4 (0.79%) DHCP
5 4 (0.79%) DNS
5 4 (0.79%) Multicast
6 3 (0.59%) Remote Desktop
6 3 (0.59%) RS-232
7 2 (0.40%) Broadband
7 2 (0.40%) RS-422
7 2 (0.40%) RS-485
8 1 (0.20%) SDH
8 1 (0.20%) SMS
8 1 (0.20%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (4.95%) Data Vault
2 10 (1.98%) SQL Server
3 7 (1.39%) EDMS
4 6 (1.19%) QlikView
5 5 (0.99%) Relational Database
6 2 (0.40%) RDBMS
7 1 (0.20%) MySQL
7 1 (0.20%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 13 (2.57%) Visual Studio
2 11 (2.18%) JIRA
3 5 (0.99%) Postman
3 5 (0.99%) Rational DOORS
3 5 (0.99%) SoapUI
4 4 (0.79%) Git
5 3 (0.59%) Subversion
6 2 (0.40%) LabVIEW
6 2 (0.40%) Team Foundation Server
7 1 (0.20%) ClearCase
General
1 182 (36.04%) Social Skills
2 115 (22.77%) Legal
3 112 (22.18%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 76 (15.05%) Manufacturing
5 64 (12.67%) Finance
6 54 (10.69%) Aerospace
6 54 (10.69%) Retail
7 52 (10.30%) Local Government
8 42 (8.32%) Telecoms
9 40 (7.92%) Analytical Skills
10 36 (7.13%) Electronics
11 30 (5.94%) Publishing
12 24 (4.75%) Presentation Skills
13 22 (4.36%) Automotive
14 20 (3.96%) Military
15 16 (3.17%) Law
16 15 (2.97%) Marketing
17 12 (2.38%) Public Sector
18 11 (2.18%) Organisational Skills
19 8 (1.58%) Police
Job Titles
1 96 (19.01%) Project Manager
2 53 (10.50%) Senior
3 43 (8.51%) Systems Engineer
4 42 (8.32%) Coordinator
4 42 (8.32%) Technical Coordinator
4 42 (8.32%) Technical Engineer
5 36 (7.13%) Technical Support
6 34 (6.73%) Support Engineer
7 31 (6.14%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 30 (5.94%) Technical Support Engineer
9 26 (5.15%) Author
9 26 (5.15%) Technical Author
10 24 (4.75%) Technical Manager
11 21 (4.16%) Senior Systems Engineer
12 18 (3.56%) Software Engineer
13 17 (3.37%) Technical Specialist
14 16 (3.17%) Manufacturing Engineer
15 15 (2.97%) Quantity Surveyor
15 15 (2.97%) Support Specialist
15 15 (2.97%) Technical Support Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (5.94%) XML
2 14 (2.77%) .NET
3 8 (1.58%) MFC
4 5 (0.99%) .NET Core
4 5 (0.99%) .NET Framework
4 5 (0.99%) ASP.NET
4 5 (0.99%) JSON
4 5 (0.99%) RESTful
4 5 (0.99%) SOAP
4 5 (0.99%) WCF
4 5 (0.99%) Web Services
4 5 (0.99%) XML Schema
5 4 (0.79%) Akka
5 4 (0.79%) DAO
6 2 (0.40%) EDI
7 1 (0.20%) Node-RED
7 1 (0.20%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 65 (12.87%) Management Information System
2 57 (11.29%) Housing Association
3 43 (8.51%) Driving Licence
4 35 (6.93%) Self-Motivation
5 24 (4.75%) Onboarding
6 11 (2.18%) IoT
7 10 (1.98%) Mobile App
8 9 (1.78%) Fibre Optics
8 9 (1.78%) FMCG
9 6 (1.19%) CCTV
9 6 (1.19%) Robotics
10 5 (0.99%) Data Structures
10 5 (0.99%) Distributed Applications
11 4 (0.79%) Analogue Electronics
11 4 (0.79%) EPoS
11 4 (0.79%) Linux Command Line
11 4 (0.79%) Operational Technology
11 4 (0.79%) SCADA
12 3 (0.59%) Clustering
12 3 (0.59%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 48 (9.50%) Windows
2 24 (4.75%) Windows 10
3 23 (4.55%) Linux
4 18 (3.56%) Windows Server 2016
4 18 (3.56%) Windows Server 2019
5 17 (3.37%) Windows 7
5 17 (3.37%) Windows Server 2012
6 8 (1.58%) Windows Server
7 5 (0.99%) VMS
8 2 (0.40%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.40%) Ubuntu
8 2 (0.40%) Unix
9 1 (0.20%) Debian
9 1 (0.20%) Fedora
9 1 (0.20%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.20%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 134 (26.53%) Problem-Solving
2 116 (22.97%) Agile
3 84 (16.63%) Project Management
3 84 (16.63%) Time Management
4 68 (13.47%) Mathematics
5 62 (12.28%) Continuous Improvement
6 59 (11.68%) Customer Service
7 47 (9.31%) Decision-Making
8 46 (9.11%) Project Delivery
9 45 (8.91%) Mentoring
10 35 (6.93%) Document Management
11 34 (6.73%) Cybersecurity
12 33 (6.53%) Collaborative Working
13 30 (5.94%) Data Analysis
14 29 (5.74%) Software Engineering
15 27 (5.35%) CAD
15 27 (5.35%) Computer Science
16 26 (5.15%) Stakeholder Management
17 25 (4.95%) Impact Assessments
17 25 (4.95%) Mechatronics
Programming Languages
1 28 (5.54%) C#
2 23 (4.55%) Python
3 20 (3.96%) SQL
4 18 (3.56%) PowerShell
5 17 (3.37%) Java
6 14 (2.77%) C
7 10 (1.98%) VB
8 8 (1.58%) Assembly Language
9 5 (0.99%) JavaScript
10 3 (0.59%) C++
10 3 (0.59%) Embedded C
10 3 (0.59%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.40%) Bash
11 2 (0.40%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 282 (55.84%) Degree
2 272 (53.86%) HND
3 56 (11.09%) Security Cleared
4 15 (2.97%) SC Cleared
5 10 (1.98%) DV Cleared
6 8 (1.58%) Chartered Engineer
7 7 (1.39%) MRICS
8 6 (1.19%) RIBA
9 5 (0.99%) Cisco Certification
10 4 (0.79%) APMP
10 4 (0.79%) Computer Science Degree
11 3 (0.59%) BPSS Clearance
12 2 (0.40%) DBS Check
13 1 (0.20%) Master's Degree
13 1 (0.20%) MCSE
13 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Certification
13 1 (0.20%) NVQ Level 3
13 1 (0.20%) NVQ Level 4
13 1 (0.20%) PRINCE2 Certification
13 1 (0.20%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (4.55%) QA
2 20 (3.96%) NEBOSH
3 12 (2.38%) SLA
4 9 (1.78%) ISO 9001
5 4 (0.79%) COSHH
6 3 (0.59%) ISO 14001
6 3 (0.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 2 (0.40%) PMO
8 1 (0.20%) GDPR
8 1 (0.20%) MISRA
8 1 (0.20%) NCSC
8 1 (0.20%) NIST
System Software
1 23 (4.55%) Active Directory
2 20 (3.96%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (0.79%) Firmware
4 2 (0.40%) VMware ESXi
4 2 (0.40%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 17 (3.37%) SCCM
2 7 (1.39%) Functional Safety
3 3 (0.59%) Failover Clustering
3 3 (0.59%) Microsoft Clustering
4 2 (0.40%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
5 1 (0.20%) BMC PATROL
5 1 (0.20%) Wonderware InTouch
Vendors
1 93 (18.42%) Microsoft
2 36 (7.13%) SAP
3 23 (4.55%) VMware
4 17 (3.37%) Siemens
5 14 (2.77%) NEC
6 13 (2.57%) Google
7 9 (1.78%) Allen-Bradley
8 7 (1.39%) Oracle
9 6 (1.19%) Cisco
10 5 (0.99%) Thales
11 4 (0.79%) Citrix
11 4 (0.79%) Sage
12 3 (0.59%) Apple
12 3 (0.59%) Dell
12 3 (0.59%) EMC
12 3 (0.59%) Epicor
12 3 (0.59%) Sun
13 2 (0.40%) Altera
13 2 (0.40%) Cadence
13 2 (0.40%) Rockwell