Inclusion and Diversity Contract Job Trends

Inclusion and Diversity
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Inclusion and Diversity in contract job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Inclusion and Diversity over the 6 months leading up to 8 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 208 158 178
Rank change year-on-year -50 +20 -7
Contract jobs citing Inclusion and Diversity 764 608 543
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.40% 1.84% 1.43%
As % of the General category 2.48% 2.91% 2.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 393 235 318
10th Percentile £306 £182 £416
25th Percentile £363 £351 £505
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £600
Median % change year-on-year - -25.00% -
75th Percentile £569 £625 £675
90th Percentile £648 £671 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £405 £506
% change year-on-year +4.94% -20.00% +2.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 14 2
10th Percentile £12.34 £17.48 £24.15
25th Percentile £13.64 £18.64 £28.88
Median hourly rate £14.85 £22.14 £38.00
Median % change year-on-year -32.93% -41.74% -40.16%
75th Percentile £21.22 £22.41 £48.38
90th Percentile £44.57 £67.50 £53.85
UK excluding London median hourly rate £14.05 £22.14 -
% change year-on-year -36.54% - -

All General Skills
UK

Inclusion and Diversity falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring general skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 30,759 20,913 22,159
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.39% 63.27% 58.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,866 13,017 13,104
10th Percentile £313 £275 £281
25th Percentile £420 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £650
90th Percentile £740 £738 £767
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £483
% change year-on-year +5.26% -1.66% -3.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,720 1,230 965
10th Percentile £13.48 £13.57 £14.73
25th Percentile £16.01 £16.19 £17.00
Median hourly rate £27.50 £25.08 £33.00
Median % change year-on-year +9.67% -24.02% +20.00%
75th Percentile £53.75 £45.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £67.00 £71.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £21.39 £31.97
% change year-on-year +28.56% -33.09% +21.79%

Inclusion and Diversity
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Inclusion and Diversity relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Inclusion and Diversity job vacancy trend in the UK

Inclusion and Diversity
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Inclusion and Diversity.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Inclusion and Diversity

Inclusion and Diversity
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Inclusion and Diversity over the 6 months to 8 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Inclusion and Diversity in the UK

Inclusion and Diversity
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Inclusion and Diversity.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Inclusion and Diversity

Inclusion and Diversity
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Inclusion and Diversity over the 6 months to 8 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Inclusion and Diversity in the UK

Inclusion and Diversity
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Inclusion and Diversity within the UK over the 6 months to 8 October 2026. 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
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -53 648 £450 -5.26% 4,750
UK excluding London -12 368 £425 +4.94% 2,570
London -79 313 £505 -8.18% 2,663
Work from Home -43 263 £478 -0.78% 2,300
Midlands -18 112 £425 +1.19% 311
South East -7 92 £425 -4.23% 502
North of England -35 82 £425 +47.83% 656
West Midlands -18 76 £425 +2.41% 204
North East +7 54 £425 +6.25% 104
East Midlands -1 36 £163 -63.59% 107
South West -22 29 £475 -20.83% 271
Scotland -25 27 £210 -30.00% 436
Yorkshire -57 16 £425 +112.50% 177
East of England -35 15 £389 +61.98% 235
North West -48 12 £518 +29.38% 375
Wales -3 8 £413 +24.56% 75
Northern Ireland +9 3 - - 103

Inclusion and Diversity
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 36 (4.71%) SharePoint
2 17 (2.23%) Confluence
3 14 (1.83%) Apache Airflow
4 11 (1.44%) Microsoft Exchange
5 9 (1.18%) CMS
6 8 (1.05%) Apache Spark
6 8 (1.05%) WordPress
7 7 (0.92%) Apache
8 4 (0.52%) Jupyter
8 4 (0.52%) Kentico
9 2 (0.26%) Skype for Business
10 1 (0.13%) JBoss
10 1 (0.13%) nginx
10 1 (0.13%) SAS
Applications
1 30 (3.93%) Microsoft Excel
2 17 (2.23%) Microsoft Office
3 8 (1.05%) Microsoft Project
4 6 (0.79%) Spreadsheet
5 3 (0.39%) AutoCAD
5 3 (0.39%) Trello
6 2 (0.26%) Acrobat
6 2 (0.26%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.13%) Adobe XD
7 1 (0.13%) Autodesk Inventor
7 1 (0.13%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.13%) Sketch
7 1 (0.13%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 21 (2.75%) Dynamics CRM
2 17 (2.23%) NetSuite
3 5 (0.65%) Sage X3
3 5 (0.65%) Salesforce CRM
3 5 (0.65%) SAP S/4HANA
4 4 (0.52%) Dynamics NAV
4 4 (0.52%) Oracle ERP
4 4 (0.52%) Workday HCM
5 1 (0.13%) Dynamics AX
5 1 (0.13%) Hyperion Planning
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Financials
5 1 (0.13%) SAP FI
5 1 (0.13%) SAP FS
5 1 (0.13%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 220 (28.80%) Azure
2 144 (18.85%) AWS
3 85 (11.13%) Azure DevOps
4 83 (10.86%) Power Platform
5 68 (8.90%) Microsoft 365
6 58 (7.59%) GCP
7 50 (6.54%) GitHub
8 48 (6.28%) Serverless
9 46 (6.02%) Dynamics 365
10 38 (4.97%) GitHub Actions
10 38 (4.97%) Power Automate
11 30 (3.93%) Amazon EKS
12 29 (3.80%) Entra ID
13 28 (3.66%) AWS Lambda
14 25 (3.27%) Snowflake
15 21 (2.75%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 21 (2.75%) Azure Data Factory
16 20 (2.62%) Amazon S3
17 18 (2.36%) Azure Functions
17 18 (2.36%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 16 (2.09%) VPN
2 14 (1.83%) Firewall
2 14 (1.83%) Network Security
3 13 (1.70%) DNS
4 10 (1.31%) VLAN
4 10 (1.31%) Wi-Fi
5 9 (1.18%) DHCP
5 9 (1.18%) TCP/IP
5 9 (1.18%) Wireless
6 6 (0.79%) Structured Cabling
6 6 (0.79%) WAN
7 5 (0.65%) 5G
7 5 (0.65%) BGP
7 5 (0.65%) HTTP
7 5 (0.65%) NGN
7 5 (0.65%) OSPF
7 5 (0.65%) Radio Access Network
7 5 (0.65%) SD-WAN
7 5 (0.65%) tcpdump
7 5 (0.65%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 53 (6.94%) Power BI
2 36 (4.71%) PostgreSQL
3 33 (4.32%) SQL Server
4 24 (3.14%) Metadata
5 23 (3.01%) Data Warehouse
5 23 (3.01%) MongoDB
6 14 (1.83%) Power Query
7 11 (1.44%) Amazon RDS
8 10 (1.31%) Data Lake
8 10 (1.31%) Looker
8 10 (1.31%) NoSQL
9 9 (1.18%) Redis
10 8 (1.05%) Big Data
10 8 (1.05%) Relational Database
11 7 (0.92%) Azure SQL Database
11 7 (0.92%) DocumentDB
11 7 (0.92%) Elasticsearch
11 7 (0.92%) Snowflake Schema
11 7 (0.92%) Tableau
12 5 (0.65%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 49 (6.41%) Git
2 47 (6.15%) JIRA
3 34 (4.45%) GitLab
4 31 (4.06%) Jenkins
5 13 (1.70%) Cucumber
5 13 (1.70%) Cypress.io
6 12 (1.57%) Postman
6 12 (1.57%) Selenium
7 11 (1.44%) WebDriver
8 8 (1.05%) fastlane
8 8 (1.05%) JUnit
8 8 (1.05%) Mockito
9 7 (0.92%) Gradle
10 6 (0.79%) JMeter
10 6 (0.79%) Vite
11 5 (0.65%) Gatling
11 5 (0.65%) LoadRunner
11 5 (0.65%) Visual Studio
12 4 (0.52%) CircleCI
12 4 (0.52%) Crashlytics
General
1 324 (42.41%) Social Skills
2 237 (31.02%) Public Sector
3 194 (25.39%) Finance
4 121 (15.84%) Analytical Skills
5 38 (4.97%) Organisational Skills
6 31 (4.06%) Manufacturing
7 27 (3.53%) Local Government
8 24 (3.14%) Banking
9 21 (2.75%) Documentation Skills
9 21 (2.75%) Influencing Skills
10 17 (2.23%) Law
10 17 (2.23%) Retail
11 16 (2.09%) Marketing
12 14 (1.83%) Legal
12 14 (1.83%) Telecoms
13 10 (1.31%) Back Office
14 8 (1.05%) Japanese Language
14 8 (1.05%) Presentation Skills
15 7 (0.92%) Pharmaceutical
15 7 (0.92%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 127 (16.62%) Developer
2 109 (14.27%) Analyst
3 105 (13.74%) Senior
4 80 (10.47%) Lead
5 58 (7.59%) Architect
6 39 (5.10%) Consultant
7 33 (4.32%) Senior Developer
8 29 (3.80%) Business Analyst
9 28 (3.66%) Administrator
10 27 (3.53%) Data Engineer
11 26 (3.40%) DevOps Engineer
12 24 (3.14%) Data Analyst
12 24 (3.14%) Software Developer
13 22 (2.88%) Dynamics 365 Developer
14 21 (2.75%) Support Engineer
15 19 (2.49%) Coordinator
16 18 (2.36%) IT Engineer
16 18 (2.36%) Project Manager
17 17 (2.23%) Senior Analyst
18 16 (2.09%) IT Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 86 (11.26%) Terraform
2 50 (6.54%) RESTful
3 31 (4.06%) .NET
3 31 (4.06%) React
4 29 (3.80%) Node.js
5 27 (3.53%) CSS
5 27 (3.53%) HTML
5 27 (3.53%) Kafka
6 26 (3.40%) GraphQL
6 26 (3.40%) JSON
6 26 (3.40%) REST
7 21 (2.75%) Spring
7 21 (2.75%) Spring Boot
8 17 (2.23%) Django
9 15 (1.96%) PySpark
9 15 (1.96%) XML
10 14 (1.83%) XSLT
11 13 (1.70%) Gherkin
11 13 (1.70%) OAuth
11 13 (1.70%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 75 (9.82%) Onboarding
2 49 (6.41%) Product Ownership
3 43 (5.63%) Cloud Native
4 28 (3.66%) Management Information System
5 22 (2.88%) Distributed Systems
6 20 (2.62%) Legacy Systems
7 18 (2.36%) Data Structures
8 15 (1.96%) AI Agents
9 13 (1.70%) Data Centre
10 12 (1.57%) Enterprise Software
10 12 (1.57%) Taxonomies
11 11 (1.44%) Virtual Team
12 10 (1.31%) Self-Motivation
13 9 (1.18%) Driving Licence
13 9 (1.18%) Mobile App
13 9 (1.18%) NHS
14 8 (1.05%) Blog
15 7 (0.92%) Replication
16 6 (0.79%) EPoS
17 5 (0.65%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 78 (10.21%) Windows
2 21 (2.75%) Linux
3 17 (2.23%) Windows 10
3 17 (2.23%) Windows Server
4 13 (1.70%) Apple iOS
5 12 (1.57%) Android
6 9 (1.18%) Mac OS
7 5 (0.65%) Unix
8 4 (0.52%) Windows 7
9 3 (0.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (0.26%) AIX
10 2 (0.26%) Windows Server 2008
11 1 (0.13%) VMS
11 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 275 (35.99%) Agile
2 181 (23.69%) Problem-Solving
3 170 (22.25%) DevOps
4 169 (22.12%) CI/CD
5 159 (20.81%) Stakeholder Management
6 136 (17.80%) Continuous Improvement
7 135 (17.67%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
8 128 (16.75%) AI
9 122 (15.97%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 104 (13.61%) Decision-Making
11 99 (12.96%) Analytics
12 87 (11.39%) Mentoring
13 81 (10.60%) Test Automation
14 75 (9.82%) Technical Leadership
15 73 (9.55%) Infrastructure as Code
15 73 (9.55%) Validation
16 70 (9.16%) Data Modelling
17 69 (9.03%) Migration
18 67 (8.77%) Digital Transformation Programme
19 64 (8.38%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 111 (14.53%) Python
2 105 (13.74%) SQL
3 81 (10.60%) JavaScript
4 54 (7.07%) C#
5 45 (5.89%) Java
6 34 (4.45%) TypeScript
7 15 (1.96%) Kotlin
8 14 (1.83%) Scala
9 13 (1.70%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 12 (1.57%) Bash
10 12 (1.57%) PowerShell
11 10 (1.31%) Go
12 9 (1.18%) Ruby
12 9 (1.18%) Swift
13 8 (1.05%) Bicep
14 6 (0.79%) Groovy
14 6 (0.79%) PL/SQL
15 5 (0.65%) PHP
16 4 (0.52%) C++
16 4 (0.52%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 173 (22.64%) Security Cleared
2 164 (21.47%) SC Cleared
3 69 (9.03%) Degree
4 37 (4.84%) Microsoft Certification
5 31 (4.06%) BPSS Clearance
6 29 (3.80%) Azure Certification
7 27 (3.53%) DBS Check
8 26 (3.40%) Computer Science Degree
9 15 (1.96%) Master's Degree
10 13 (1.70%) ISTQB
11 8 (1.05%) AWS Certification
11 8 (1.05%) CISSP
12 6 (0.79%) ACCA
12 6 (0.79%) CIMA
12 6 (0.79%) CISM
12 6 (0.79%) ITIL Certification
13 5 (0.65%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 5 (0.65%) PhD
13 5 (0.65%) PMP
14 4 (0.52%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 107 (14.01%) Accessibility
2 57 (7.46%) QA
3 52 (6.81%) WCAG
4 49 (6.41%) GDPR
5 47 (6.15%) Data Quality
6 21 (2.75%) SLA
7 20 (2.62%) NCSC
8 18 (2.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 11 (1.44%) PMO
10 9 (1.18%) NIST
11 5 (0.65%) Actionable Recommendations
11 5 (0.65%) COBIT
11 5 (0.65%) GRC
12 4 (0.52%) Cyber Essentials
13 3 (0.39%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 3 (0.39%) Disclosure Scotland
14 2 (0.26%) Def Stans
14 2 (0.26%) DICOM
14 2 (0.26%) HL7
14 2 (0.26%) SOC 2
System Software
1 64 (8.38%) Docker
2 42 (5.50%) Active Directory
3 10 (1.31%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (1.05%) Hyper-V
5 5 (0.65%) VMware ESXi
6 3 (0.39%) BitLocker
6 3 (0.39%) Firmware
7 2 (0.26%) Apache ZooKeeper
7 2 (0.26%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.26%) Virtual Servers
7 2 (0.26%) vSphere
8 1 (0.13%) KVM
8 1 (0.13%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 70 (9.16%) Kubernetes
2 37 (4.84%) Grafana
3 28 (3.66%) Prometheus
4 20 (2.62%) Microsoft Intune
5 17 (2.23%) Ansible
6 14 (1.83%) SCCM
7 7 (0.92%) Kibana
7 7 (0.92%) Single Sign-On
8 5 (0.65%) Consul
9 4 (0.52%) Rancher
10 3 (0.39%) Packer
11 2 (0.26%) HP ALM
11 2 (0.26%) HP Quality Center
11 2 (0.26%) ITRS Geneos
11 2 (0.26%) Jamf Pro
11 2 (0.26%) ZABBIX
11 2 (0.26%) Zipkin
12 1 (0.13%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 1 (0.13%) Kustomize
12 1 (0.13%) VxRail
Vendors
1 185 (24.21%) Microsoft
2 31 (4.06%) Google
3 29 (3.80%) Dynatrace
4 27 (3.53%) Databricks
5 23 (3.01%) ServiceNow
6 22 (2.88%) Oracle
7 19 (2.49%) Salesforce
8 15 (1.96%) SAP
9 14 (1.83%) Splunk
10 12 (1.57%) VMware
11 11 (1.44%) Apple
11 11 (1.44%) CyberArk
11 11 (1.44%) Sage
12 10 (1.31%) OpenAI
13 9 (1.18%) Cisco
13 9 (1.18%) PagerDuty
14 8 (1.05%) Qualys
14 8 (1.05%) UiPath
15 7 (0.92%) CA Agile Central
15 7 (0.92%) Confluent