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 4 May 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 240 149 159
Rank change year-on-year -91 +10 +58
Contract jobs citing Inclusion and Diversity 474 559 655
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.00% 1.91% 1.52%
As % of the General category 1.85% 3.02% 2.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 221 260 481
10th Percentile £185 £195 £400
25th Percentile £353 £400 £513
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £438 £525 £600
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% -12.50% -
75th Percentile £594 £650 £688
90th Percentile £675 £738 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £401 £463 £511
% change year-on-year -13.30% -9.45% -1.97%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 7 22
10th Percentile £15.21 - £11.37
25th Percentile £16.84 - £12.56
Median hourly rate £18.00 £22.14 £21.99
Median % change year-on-year -18.70% +0.68% -43.62%
75th Percentile £24.38 - £47.50
90th Percentile £98.25 £36.28 £58.58
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.84 £22.14 £19.62
% change year-on-year -23.94% +12.84% +41.41%

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 25,584 18,500 25,090
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 54.23% 63.16% 58.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,735 11,804 15,823
10th Percentile £306 £300 £275
25th Percentile £406 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £641 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £766
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £495
% change year-on-year - -4.04% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,631 792 1,939
10th Percentile £13.72 £14.00 £12.77
25th Percentile £17.66 £17.49 £15.50
Median hourly rate £30.00 £27.50 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -10.14%
75th Percentile £60.60 £56.00 £52.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £65.01
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £25.00 £28.25
% change year-on-year +10.00% -11.50% -2.59%

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 4 May 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 4 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Inclusion and Diversity in the UK

Inclusion and Diversity
Top 15 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 4 May 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 -106 418 £450 -16.28% 1,693
London -65 222 £550 -8.33% 696
Work from Home -49 207 £525 -8.70% 559
UK excluding London -126 195 £401 -13.30% 1,141
Midlands -64 58 £533 +18.33% 123
South East -54 55 £394 -22.41% 354
North of England -96 40 £400 -11.11% 352
West Midlands -60 34 £540 +17.39% 44
East Midlands -26 24 £155 -65.56% 78
East of England -31 23 £520 +71.90% 147
North East -9 15 £425 -10.53% 12
North West -52 15 £325 -27.78% 253
South West -60 11 £438 -16.67% 105
Yorkshire -80 10 £275 -31.25% 88
Scotland -19 9 £250 -45.95% 50

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 16 (3.38%) Apache Spark
1 16 (3.38%) SharePoint
2 14 (2.95%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (1.90%) Confluence
4 6 (1.27%) Apache Airflow
4 6 (1.27%) CMS
5 3 (0.63%) Apache
5 3 (0.63%) Jupyter
5 3 (0.63%) WordPress
6 2 (0.42%) Kentico
7 1 (0.21%) Appian
7 1 (0.21%) Drupal
7 1 (0.21%) nginx
7 1 (0.21%) Oracle Application Server
7 1 (0.21%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 20 (4.22%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (2.32%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.84%) Trello
4 3 (0.63%) InVision
4 3 (0.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.63%) Sketch
5 2 (0.42%) Adobe After Effects
5 2 (0.42%) Adobe XD
5 2 (0.42%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.42%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.21%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (1.27%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (0.84%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (0.63%) Oracle ERP
4 2 (0.42%) FLEXCUBE
4 2 (0.42%) NetSuite
4 2 (0.42%) SAP Business One
4 2 (0.42%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
5 1 (0.21%) Advent Geneva
5 1 (0.21%) Bloomberg AIM
5 1 (0.21%) Bloomberg TOMS
5 1 (0.21%) Fidessa
5 1 (0.21%) SAP ERP
5 1 (0.21%) SAP FI
5 1 (0.21%) SAP FS
5 1 (0.21%) thinkFolio
5 1 (0.21%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 102 (21.52%) Azure
2 84 (17.72%) AWS
3 32 (6.75%) Microsoft 365
3 32 (6.75%) Power Platform
4 25 (5.27%) GitHub
5 22 (4.64%) Azure DevOps
6 21 (4.43%) GitHub Actions
7 16 (3.38%) Azure Data Factory
7 16 (3.38%) Entra ID
7 16 (3.38%) GCP
8 14 (2.95%) dbt
9 10 (2.11%) Amazon EKS
9 10 (2.11%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 10 (2.11%) Serverless
10 9 (1.90%) Google Workspace
10 9 (1.90%) SaaS
10 9 (1.90%) Snowflake
11 7 (1.48%) AWS Lambda
12 6 (1.27%) Figma
13 5 (1.05%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 18 (3.80%) TCP/IP
2 15 (3.16%) Ethernet
3 11 (2.32%) Firewall
4 8 (1.69%) Network Security
4 8 (1.69%) VLAN
5 6 (1.27%) DNS
5 6 (1.27%) HTTP
5 6 (1.27%) VSAN
5 6 (1.27%) Wi-Fi
6 5 (1.05%) DHCP
7 4 (0.84%) WAN
8 3 (0.63%) AMQP
8 3 (0.63%) VPN
9 2 (0.42%) Intranet
9 2 (0.42%) LAN
9 2 (0.42%) MPLS
10 1 (0.21%) ADSL
10 1 (0.21%) SMTP
10 1 (0.21%) VoIP
10 1 (0.21%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (5.91%) Power BI
2 24 (5.06%) Data Warehouse
3 20 (4.22%) SQL Server
4 14 (2.95%) Big Data
5 13 (2.74%) Hadoop
5 13 (2.74%) PostgreSQL
6 8 (1.69%) DB2
6 8 (1.69%) Snowflake Schema
7 7 (1.48%) Azure SQL Database
7 7 (1.48%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
7 7 (1.48%) Metadata
8 6 (1.27%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 6 (1.27%) Tableau
9 4 (0.84%) Amazon RDS
9 4 (0.84%) Looker
9 4 (0.84%) Metadata Repository
9 4 (0.84%) NoSQL
9 4 (0.84%) SAP Data Services
10 3 (0.63%) Elasticsearch
10 3 (0.63%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 19 (4.01%) Git
2 18 (3.80%) JIRA
3 11 (2.32%) GitLab
3 11 (2.32%) Jenkins
4 7 (1.48%) JMeter
4 7 (1.48%) SonarQube
5 5 (1.05%) Gatling
5 5 (1.05%) LoadRunner
6 4 (0.84%) Artifactory
7 3 (0.63%) Maven
7 3 (0.63%) Snyk
8 2 (0.42%) Axure RP
8 2 (0.42%) CircleCI
8 2 (0.42%) fastlane
8 2 (0.42%) JUnit
8 2 (0.42%) Selenium
8 2 (0.42%) Vite
9 1 (0.21%) Team Foundation Server
9 1 (0.21%) TestNG
9 1 (0.21%) Xcode
General
1 151 (31.86%) Social Skills
2 102 (21.52%) Finance
3 93 (19.62%) Public Sector
4 54 (11.39%) Analytical Skills
5 18 (3.80%) Banking
6 17 (3.59%) Presentation Skills
7 14 (2.95%) Local Government
8 10 (2.11%) Influencing Skills
8 10 (2.11%) Legal
8 10 (2.11%) Organisational Skills
9 9 (1.90%) Fire and Rescue
10 7 (1.48%) Manufacturing
11 5 (1.05%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (1.05%) Marketing
11 5 (1.05%) Pharmaceutical
11 5 (1.05%) Retail
12 4 (0.84%) Aerospace
12 4 (0.84%) General Ledger
13 3 (0.63%) Law
13 3 (0.63%) Military
Job Titles
1 69 (14.56%) Analyst
2 37 (7.81%) Senior
3 35 (7.38%) Developer
3 35 (7.38%) Lead
4 32 (6.75%) Architect
4 32 (6.75%) Data Engineer
5 27 (5.70%) Support Engineer
6 24 (5.06%) Consultant
7 23 (4.85%) Data Analyst
8 20 (4.22%) DevOps Engineer
9 19 (4.01%) IT Engineer
10 18 (3.80%) Cloud Engineer
11 17 (3.59%) IT Support
12 16 (3.38%) Systems Engineer
13 15 (3.16%) Business Analyst
13 15 (3.16%) Technical Engineer
14 13 (2.74%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 13 (2.74%) Service Analyst
15 12 (2.53%) Data Scientist
15 12 (2.53%) IT Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (2.74%) React
2 12 (2.53%) EDI
3 10 (2.11%) YAML
4 9 (1.90%) .NET
4 9 (1.90%) PySpark
5 7 (1.48%) Middleware
6 6 (1.27%) REST
7 5 (1.05%) AngularJS
7 5 (1.05%) GraphQL
7 5 (1.05%) HTML
7 5 (1.05%) Kafka
7 5 (1.05%) RESTful
7 5 (1.05%) Spring
7 5 (1.05%) Spring Boot
8 4 (0.84%) CSS
9 3 (0.63%) Django
9 3 (0.63%) JSON
9 3 (0.63%) Keycloak
9 3 (0.63%) Web Services
9 3 (0.63%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 26 (5.49%) Cloud Native
2 25 (5.27%) Onboarding
3 15 (3.16%) Industry 4.0
3 15 (3.16%) Management Information System
3 15 (3.16%) Robotics
4 13 (2.74%) Legacy Systems
5 12 (2.53%) Data Centre
6 10 (2.11%) Product Ownership
6 10 (2.11%) Replication
7 8 (1.69%) Distributed Systems
8 7 (1.48%) Data Structures
8 7 (1.48%) Linux Command Line
9 6 (1.27%) Operational Technology
9 6 (1.27%) Virtual Team
10 5 (1.05%) Algorithms
10 5 (1.05%) Enterprise Software
11 4 (0.84%) Analytical Mindset
11 4 (0.84%) Security Posture
12 3 (0.63%) Greenfield Project
12 3 (0.63%) Team-Oriented Environment
Operating Systems
1 39 (8.23%) Windows
2 16 (3.38%) Windows 10
3 13 (2.74%) Linux
3 13 (2.74%) Windows Server
4 8 (1.69%) Unix
5 6 (1.27%) AIX
6 3 (0.63%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.42%) Android
7 2 (0.42%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.42%) VMS
8 1 (0.21%) Windows 7
8 1 (0.21%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 115 (24.26%) Problem-Solving
2 87 (18.35%) Agile
3 81 (17.09%) CI/CD
4 74 (15.61%) DevOps
5 73 (15.40%) Decision-Making
6 60 (12.66%) Analytics
7 49 (10.34%) Infrastructure as Code
8 48 (10.13%) Stakeholder Management
9 47 (9.92%) Migration
10 41 (8.65%) Continuous Improvement
11 38 (8.02%) AI
11 38 (8.02%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
12 35 (7.38%) Data Modelling
13 34 (7.17%) Test Automation
14 33 (6.96%) Business Intelligence
15 32 (6.75%) Data Pipeline
15 32 (6.75%) Roadmaps
15 32 (6.75%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 30 (6.33%) Customer Service
16 30 (6.33%) Data Governance
Programming Languages
1 73 (15.40%) SQL
2 72 (15.19%) Python
3 19 (4.01%) Java
4 18 (3.80%) PowerShell
5 13 (2.74%) Bash
5 13 (2.74%) JavaScript
6 12 (2.53%) R
7 9 (1.90%) TypeScript
8 6 (1.27%) C#
8 6 (1.27%) Scala
9 5 (1.05%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 5 (1.05%) VBA
10 4 (0.84%) Groovy
10 4 (0.84%) PL/SQL
11 3 (0.63%) Go
11 3 (0.63%) Ruby
12 2 (0.42%) Apex Code
12 2 (0.42%) COBOL
12 2 (0.42%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.42%) Swift
Qualifications
1 86 (18.14%) Security Cleared
2 77 (16.24%) SC Cleared
3 41 (8.65%) Degree
4 16 (3.38%) DBS Check
5 14 (2.95%) AWS Certification
6 11 (2.32%) Azure Certification
7 6 (1.27%) Computer Science Degree
8 5 (1.05%) BPSS Clearance
8 5 (1.05%) DV Cleared
9 4 (0.84%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
9 4 (0.84%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 3 (0.63%) CTC Cleared
10 3 (0.63%) Microsoft Certification
11 2 (0.42%) CIPD
11 2 (0.42%) Oracle Certification
12 1 (0.21%) ACCA
12 1 (0.21%) CISA
12 1 (0.21%) PMI Certification
12 1 (0.21%) PMP
12 1 (0.21%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (6.54%) Data Quality
2 30 (6.33%) Accessibility
3 16 (3.38%) QA
4 13 (2.74%) GDPR
5 10 (2.11%) Actionable Recommendations
6 6 (1.27%) WCAG
7 5 (1.05%) Cyber Essentials
7 5 (1.05%) SLA
8 4 (0.84%) GRC
8 4 (0.84%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 3 (0.63%) PMO
10 2 (0.42%) Def Stans
10 2 (0.42%) ISO 22301
10 2 (0.42%) NCSC
10 2 (0.42%) NIST
10 2 (0.42%) PSD2
11 1 (0.21%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.21%) ISO 31000
11 1 (0.21%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.21%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 37 (7.81%) Active Directory
2 22 (4.64%) Docker
3 14 (2.95%) Hyper-V
4 11 (2.32%) Virtual Machines
5 8 (1.69%) VMware Infrastructure
6 6 (1.27%) KVM
6 6 (1.27%) VMware NSX
6 6 (1.27%) vSphere
7 4 (0.84%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.42%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 51 (10.76%) Terraform
2 28 (5.91%) Kubernetes
3 22 (4.64%) Grafana
4 14 (2.95%) Ansible
4 14 (2.95%) Prometheus
5 9 (1.90%) Microsoft Intune
6 8 (1.69%) Kibana
7 6 (1.27%) IBM BigFix
7 6 (1.27%) vCenter Server
8 4 (0.84%) SCCM
9 3 (0.63%) Argo
9 3 (0.63%) Rancher
9 3 (0.63%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.42%) Consul
10 2 (0.42%) Jamf Pro
10 2 (0.42%) Packer
11 1 (0.21%) EMC VPLEX
11 1 (0.21%) PaperCut
11 1 (0.21%) RSA Archer
11 1 (0.21%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 78 (16.46%) Microsoft
2 28 (5.91%) Databricks
3 19 (4.01%) SAP
3 19 (4.01%) ServiceNow
4 18 (3.80%) Oracle
5 17 (3.59%) Google
6 16 (3.38%) VMware
7 15 (3.16%) Dynatrace
7 15 (3.16%) Siemens
8 12 (2.53%) Salesforce
9 7 (1.48%) IBM
10 6 (1.27%) Atlassian
11 4 (0.84%) Cisco
12 3 (0.63%) Acronis
12 3 (0.63%) Adobe
12 3 (0.63%) AppDynamics
12 3 (0.63%) Dell
12 3 (0.63%) Meraki
12 3 (0.63%) MuleSoft
13 2 (0.42%) CyberArk