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 31 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 239 151 167
Rank change year-on-year -88 +16 +52
Contract jobs citing Inclusion and Diversity 482 525 647
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.08% 1.81% 1.46%
As % of the General category 1.92% 2.88% 2.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 207 272 471
10th Percentile £173 £219 £375
25th Percentile £350 £425 £513
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £575 £600
Median % change year-on-year -21.74% -4.17% -
75th Percentile £609 £657 £688
90th Percentile £675 £766 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £413 £500 £511
% change year-on-year -17.50% -2.10% -0.83%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 7 22
10th Percentile £14.94 - £11.37
25th Percentile £16.16 - £12.56
Median hourly rate £17.42 £22.14 £21.99
Median % change year-on-year -21.32% +0.68% -16.82%
75th Percentile £50.38 - £47.50
90th Percentile £108.65 £36.28 £58.70
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.84 £22.14 £21.64
% change year-on-year -23.94% +2.31% +55.96%

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 25,049 18,249 25,765
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.25% 62.77% 58.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,606 11,703 16,405
10th Percentile £300 £300 £268
25th Percentile £406 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £644 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £500
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,562 716 1,848
10th Percentile £13.69 £15.00 £12.78
25th Percentile £17.12 £19.00 £15.38
Median hourly rate £25.38 £29.07 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -12.69% +11.81% -25.71%
75th Percentile £59.00 £58.46 £50.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.13 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.00 £27.57 £25.00
% change year-on-year -12.95% +10.28% -18.71%

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 31 March 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 31 March 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 31 March 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 -97 440 £475 -20.83% 780
Work from Home -26 228 £537 -10.50% 357
London -59 226 £550 -10.57% 340
UK excluding London -104 208 £413 -17.50% 663
Midlands -51 64 £495 +3.13% 78
South East -53 53 £375 -26.11% 265
West Midlands -48 42 £540 +2.86% 46
North of England -89 42 £425 -5.56% 143
East of England -19 27 £520 +235.48% 48
North West -38 24 £375 -16.67% 65
East Midlands -30 22 £155 -64.57% 32
South West -46 18 £539 +2.57% 70
Yorkshire -69 10 £275 -39.73% 58
North East -12 8 £425 -5.56% 21
Scotland -6 6 £250 -45.95% 46

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 18 (3.73%) SharePoint
2 14 (2.90%) Microsoft Exchange
3 13 (2.70%) Apache Spark
4 12 (2.49%) Confluence
5 6 (1.24%) Apache Airflow
5 6 (1.24%) CMS
6 4 (0.83%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 4 (0.83%) WordPress
7 2 (0.41%) Apache
7 2 (0.41%) HCL Notes
7 2 (0.41%) Jupyter
8 1 (0.21%) Appian
8 1 (0.21%) Camunda
8 1 (0.21%) IIS
8 1 (0.21%) nginx
8 1 (0.21%) Oracle Application Server
8 1 (0.21%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 25 (5.19%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (2.90%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.83%) Spreadsheet
3 4 (0.83%) Trello
4 3 (0.62%) Adobe Captivate
4 3 (0.62%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 3 (0.62%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.41%) Adobe After Effects
5 2 (0.41%) Adobe XD
5 2 (0.41%) InVision
5 2 (0.41%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.41%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.41%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 4 (0.83%) Dynamics CRM
1 4 (0.83%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.41%) CODA-Financials
2 2 (0.41%) FLEXCUBE
2 2 (0.41%) NetSuite
2 2 (0.41%) SAP Business One
2 2 (0.41%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
3 1 (0.21%) Advent Geneva
3 1 (0.21%) Bloomberg AIM
3 1 (0.21%) Bloomberg TOMS
3 1 (0.21%) Fidessa
3 1 (0.21%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.21%) ResourceLink
3 1 (0.21%) thinkFolio
3 1 (0.21%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 113 (23.44%) Azure
2 80 (16.60%) AWS
3 34 (7.05%) Power Platform
4 33 (6.85%) Microsoft 365
5 22 (4.56%) GitHub
6 20 (4.15%) Azure DevOps
7 19 (3.94%) GitHub Actions
8 18 (3.73%) dbt
8 18 (3.73%) GCP
9 16 (3.32%) SaaS
10 15 (3.11%) Entra ID
11 14 (2.90%) Azure Data Factory
12 12 (2.49%) Snowflake
13 10 (2.07%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 10 (2.07%) Google Workspace
13 10 (2.07%) Serverless
14 9 (1.87%) Amazon EKS
15 8 (1.66%) Figma
16 7 (1.45%) AWS Lambda
16 7 (1.45%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 18 (3.73%) TCP/IP
2 15 (3.11%) Ethernet
3 12 (2.49%) Firewall
4 8 (1.66%) Network Security
4 8 (1.66%) Wi-Fi
5 7 (1.45%) WAN
6 6 (1.24%) DHCP
6 6 (1.24%) DNS
7 5 (1.04%) HTTP
7 5 (1.04%) LAN
7 5 (1.04%) VLAN
7 5 (1.04%) VPN
7 5 (1.04%) VSAN
8 3 (0.62%) AMQP
9 2 (0.41%) Intranet
9 2 (0.41%) MPLS
9 2 (0.41%) SD-WAN
10 1 (0.21%) iSCSI
10 1 (0.21%) Reverse Proxy
10 1 (0.21%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (6.02%) Power BI
2 25 (5.19%) Data Warehouse
3 22 (4.56%) SQL Server
4 14 (2.90%) PostgreSQL
5 11 (2.28%) Big Data
6 10 (2.07%) Hadoop
7 8 (1.66%) Snowflake Schema
8 7 (1.45%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
8 7 (1.45%) Metadata
9 6 (1.24%) Azure SQL Database
9 6 (1.24%) DB2
9 6 (1.24%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 6 (1.24%) Tableau
10 5 (1.04%) Amazon Aurora
10 5 (1.04%) Relational Database
11 4 (0.83%) Data Lake
11 4 (0.83%) Looker
11 4 (0.83%) Metadata Repository
11 4 (0.83%) SAP Data Services
12 3 (0.62%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 24 (4.98%) Git
2 20 (4.15%) JIRA
3 9 (1.87%) Jenkins
4 6 (1.24%) GitLab
4 6 (1.24%) JMeter
5 5 (1.04%) Gatling
5 5 (1.04%) LoadRunner
5 5 (1.04%) SonarQube
6 3 (0.62%) Artifactory
6 3 (0.62%) Cucumber
6 3 (0.62%) Maven
6 3 (0.62%) Selenium
6 3 (0.62%) Team Foundation Server
7 2 (0.41%) Axure RP
7 2 (0.41%) fastlane
7 2 (0.41%) Snyk
8 1 (0.21%) Chocolatey
8 1 (0.21%) Crashlytics
8 1 (0.21%) Gradle
8 1 (0.21%) MLflow
General
1 158 (32.78%) Social Skills
2 112 (23.24%) Finance
3 69 (14.32%) Public Sector
4 58 (12.03%) Analytical Skills
5 22 (4.56%) Banking
6 17 (3.53%) Presentation Skills
7 13 (2.70%) Local Government
8 10 (2.07%) Fire and Rescue
8 10 (2.07%) Marketing
8 10 (2.07%) Organisational Skills
9 9 (1.87%) Pharmaceutical
9 9 (1.87%) Retail
10 8 (1.66%) Influencing Skills
10 8 (1.66%) Legal
11 6 (1.24%) Manufacturing
12 4 (0.83%) Aerospace
12 4 (0.83%) General Ledger
12 4 (0.83%) Military
12 4 (0.83%) Publishing
13 3 (0.62%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 75 (15.56%) Analyst
2 39 (8.09%) Data Engineer
3 34 (7.05%) Lead
3 34 (7.05%) Senior
4 33 (6.85%) Architect
5 30 (6.22%) Support Engineer
6 28 (5.81%) Developer
7 25 (5.19%) Consultant
8 20 (4.15%) Data Analyst
8 20 (4.15%) IT Engineer
9 18 (3.73%) IT Support
10 17 (3.53%) Systems Engineer
11 16 (3.32%) Cloud Engineer
11 16 (3.32%) DevOps Engineer
11 16 (3.32%) Project Manager
12 15 (3.11%) Business Analyst
12 15 (3.11%) IT Analyst
12 15 (3.11%) Technical Engineer
13 14 (2.90%) Service Analyst
14 12 (2.49%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (3.53%) EDI
2 13 (2.70%) YAML
3 11 (2.28%) Middleware
4 10 (2.07%) PySpark
5 8 (1.66%) HTML
5 8 (1.66%) React
6 7 (1.45%) .NET
7 6 (1.24%) AngularJS
8 5 (1.04%) REST
8 5 (1.04%) RESTful
9 4 (0.83%) CSS
9 4 (0.83%) Spring
9 4 (0.83%) Spring Boot
10 3 (0.62%) Akka
10 3 (0.62%) Kafka
10 3 (0.62%) PyTorch
10 3 (0.62%) scikit-learn
10 3 (0.62%) TensorFlow
10 3 (0.62%) Web Services
10 3 (0.62%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 23 (4.77%) Cloud Native
1 23 (4.77%) Onboarding
2 19 (3.94%) Management Information System
3 16 (3.32%) Data Centre
4 15 (3.11%) Industry 4.0
4 15 (3.11%) Robotics
5 9 (1.87%) Legacy Systems
6 8 (1.66%) Product Ownership
7 7 (1.45%) Distributed Systems
7 7 (1.45%) Replication
7 7 (1.45%) Virtual Team
8 6 (1.24%) Linux Command Line
9 5 (1.04%) Algorithms
9 5 (1.04%) Analytical Mindset
9 5 (1.04%) Mobile App
9 5 (1.04%) Operational Technology
10 4 (0.83%) Data Structures
10 4 (0.83%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (0.83%) Learning Management System
11 3 (0.62%) Cyber Defence
Operating Systems
1 36 (7.47%) Windows
2 17 (3.53%) Windows 10
3 11 (2.28%) Windows Server
4 10 (2.07%) Linux
5 6 (1.24%) AIX
5 6 (1.24%) Unix
6 3 (0.62%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.21%) Android
7 1 (0.21%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.21%) Oracle Linux
7 1 (0.21%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.21%) Windows 7
7 1 (0.21%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 126 (26.14%) Problem-Solving
2 73 (15.15%) Agile
3 69 (14.32%) CI/CD
3 69 (14.32%) Decision-Making
4 65 (13.49%) DevOps
5 60 (12.45%) Analytics
6 47 (9.75%) Stakeholder Management
7 42 (8.71%) Continuous Improvement
8 41 (8.51%) Migration
9 39 (8.09%) Data Modelling
10 37 (7.68%) Infrastructure as Code
11 36 (7.47%) Data Pipeline
12 32 (6.64%) Customer Service
13 31 (6.43%) AI
13 31 (6.43%) Business Intelligence
13 31 (6.43%) Data Engineering
14 29 (6.02%) Test Automation
15 28 (5.81%) Data Governance
15 28 (5.81%) Mentoring
16 27 (5.60%) Machine Learning
Programming Languages
1 77 (15.98%) SQL
2 65 (13.49%) Python
3 19 (3.94%) PowerShell
4 16 (3.32%) Java
5 14 (2.90%) JavaScript
6 10 (2.07%) Bash
6 10 (2.07%) R
7 8 (1.66%) C#
8 6 (1.24%) TypeScript
9 5 (1.04%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 5 (1.04%) VBA
10 3 (0.62%) Go
10 3 (0.62%) Scala
11 2 (0.41%) Apex Code
11 2 (0.41%) AWK
11 2 (0.41%) Groovy
11 2 (0.41%) PL/SQL
11 2 (0.41%) Ruby
11 2 (0.41%) Rust
12 1 (0.21%) C++
Qualifications
1 72 (14.94%) Security Cleared
2 61 (12.66%) SC Cleared
3 44 (9.13%) Degree
4 17 (3.53%) DBS Check
5 14 (2.90%) AWS Certification
6 9 (1.87%) Azure Certification
7 8 (1.66%) Computer Science Degree
8 6 (1.24%) DV Cleared
9 4 (0.83%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
9 4 (0.83%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 4 (0.83%) CISSP
9 4 (0.83%) CTC Cleared
10 3 (0.62%) ACCA
10 3 (0.62%) CIMA
10 3 (0.62%) CompTIA CySA+
10 3 (0.62%) Network+ Certification
10 3 (0.62%) Oracle Certification
10 3 (0.62%) SANS
11 2 (0.41%) Cisco Certification
11 2 (0.41%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (5.81%) Data Quality
2 27 (5.60%) Accessibility
3 19 (3.94%) QA
4 10 (2.07%) GDPR
5 8 (1.66%) Actionable Recommendations
6 6 (1.24%) PMO
7 5 (1.04%) Cyber Essentials
7 5 (1.04%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 5 (1.04%) SLA
7 5 (1.04%) WCAG
8 3 (0.62%) GRC
9 2 (0.41%) ISO 22301
9 2 (0.41%) NIST
9 2 (0.41%) PSD2
9 2 (0.41%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.21%) Def Stans
10 1 (0.21%) GMP
10 1 (0.21%) GxP
10 1 (0.21%) ISO 9001
10 1 (0.21%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 35 (7.26%) Active Directory
2 15 (3.11%) Docker
3 10 (2.07%) Hyper-V
4 7 (1.45%) Virtual Machines
5 6 (1.24%) KVM
6 5 (1.04%) VMware NSX
6 5 (1.04%) vSphere
7 4 (0.83%) VMware Infrastructure
8 2 (0.41%) Firmware
9 1 (0.21%) Oracle RAC
9 1 (0.21%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.21%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 36 (7.47%) Terraform
2 20 (4.15%) Kubernetes
3 15 (3.11%) Grafana
4 14 (2.90%) Microsoft Intune
5 9 (1.87%) Ansible
6 8 (1.66%) Prometheus
7 6 (1.24%) IBM BigFix
7 6 (1.24%) Kibana
7 6 (1.24%) SCCM
7 6 (1.24%) vCenter Server
8 5 (1.04%) Jamf Pro
9 3 (0.62%) Argo
9 3 (0.62%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.41%) Rancher
11 1 (0.21%) Data Guard
11 1 (0.21%) EMC VPLEX
11 1 (0.21%) PaperCut
11 1 (0.21%) RSA Archer
11 1 (0.21%) vRealize
11 1 (0.21%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 75 (15.56%) Microsoft
2 29 (6.02%) Databricks
3 21 (4.36%) ServiceNow
4 18 (3.73%) Oracle
5 17 (3.53%) Google
6 15 (3.11%) SAP
6 15 (3.11%) Siemens
7 13 (2.70%) Dynatrace
8 12 (2.49%) VMware
9 11 (2.28%) Salesforce
10 10 (2.07%) Cisco
11 9 (1.87%) Adobe
12 7 (1.45%) Atlassian
13 6 (1.24%) IBM
14 5 (1.04%) Meraki
15 4 (0.83%) Dell
15 4 (0.83%) MuleSoft
15 4 (0.83%) Talend
16 3 (0.62%) Citrix
16 3 (0.62%) Commvault