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

6 months to
1 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 251 153 154
Rank change year-on-year -98 +1 +55
Contract jobs citing Inclusion and Diversity 480 560 660
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.02% 1.91% 1.52%
As % of the General category 1.86% 3.03% 2.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 222 263 484
10th Percentile £186 £195 £400
25th Percentile £353 £400 £507
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £431 £538 £600
Median % change year-on-year -19.77% -10.42% -
75th Percentile £588 £650 £688
90th Percentile £675 £738 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £401 £463 £508
% change year-on-year -13.30% -8.87% -0.98%
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 25,741 18,474 25,363
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 54.47% 63.13% 58.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,879 11,799 16,004
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 £640 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £495
% change year-on-year - -4.04% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,642 793 1,943
10th Percentile £13.95 £14.00 £12.78
25th Percentile £17.69 £17.44 £15.50
Median hourly rate £30.00 £27.50 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -14.29%
75th Percentile £60.56 £56.00 £52.20
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.37 £24.76 £28.42
% change year-on-year +10.54% -12.88% -6.94%

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 1 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 1 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 1 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 -103 424 £438 -20.45% 811
London -59 226 £528 -12.08% 340
Work from Home -46 212 £525 -8.70% 495
UK excluding London -117 197 £401 -13.30% 637
Midlands -64 59 £533 +17.03% 92
South East -54 55 £394 -22.41% 208
North of England -101 40 £400 -11.11% 144
West Midlands -60 34 £540 +17.39% 40
East Midlands -22 25 £155 -64.57% 52
East of England -20 24 £520 +71.90% 42
North East -8 15 £425 -10.53% 15
North West -56 15 £325 -27.78% 80
South West -56 11 £438 -16.67% 69
Yorkshire -85 10 £275 -31.25% 50
Scotland -16 9 £250 -45.95% 71

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 (3.33%) Apache Spark
1 16 (3.33%) SharePoint
2 14 (2.92%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (1.88%) Confluence
4 7 (1.46%) CMS
5 6 (1.25%) Apache Airflow
6 4 (0.83%) WordPress
7 3 (0.63%) Apache
7 3 (0.63%) Jupyter
8 2 (0.42%) Kentico
9 1 (0.21%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 1 (0.21%) Appian
9 1 (0.21%) Drupal
9 1 (0.21%) nginx
9 1 (0.21%) Oracle Application Server
9 1 (0.21%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 20 (4.17%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (2.29%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.83%) 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 (1.25%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (0.83%) 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
1 104 (21.67%) Azure
2 85 (17.71%) AWS
3 32 (6.67%) Microsoft 365
3 32 (6.67%) Power Platform
4 25 (5.21%) GitHub
5 23 (4.79%) Azure DevOps
6 21 (4.38%) GitHub Actions
7 17 (3.54%) GCP
8 16 (3.33%) Azure Data Factory
8 16 (3.33%) Entra ID
9 14 (2.92%) dbt
10 10 (2.08%) Amazon EKS
10 10 (2.08%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 10 (2.08%) SaaS
10 10 (2.08%) Serverless
11 9 (1.88%) Google Workspace
11 9 (1.88%) Snowflake
12 7 (1.46%) AWS Lambda
13 6 (1.25%) Figma
14 5 (1.04%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 18 (3.75%) TCP/IP
2 15 (3.13%) Ethernet
3 11 (2.29%) Firewall
4 8 (1.67%) Network Security
4 8 (1.67%) VLAN
5 6 (1.25%) DNS
5 6 (1.25%) HTTP
5 6 (1.25%) VSAN
5 6 (1.25%) Wi-Fi
6 5 (1.04%) DHCP
7 4 (0.83%) 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 (5.83%) Power BI
2 25 (5.21%) Data Warehouse
3 21 (4.38%) SQL Server
4 14 (2.92%) Big Data
4 14 (2.92%) PostgreSQL
5 13 (2.71%) Hadoop
6 8 (1.67%) DB2
6 8 (1.67%) Snowflake Schema
7 7 (1.46%) Azure SQL Database
7 7 (1.46%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
7 7 (1.46%) Metadata
8 6 (1.25%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 6 (1.25%) Tableau
9 4 (0.83%) Amazon RDS
9 4 (0.83%) Looker
9 4 (0.83%) Metadata Repository
9 4 (0.83%) NoSQL
9 4 (0.83%) SAP Data Services
10 3 (0.63%) Elasticsearch
10 3 (0.63%) InfluxDB
Development Applications
1 21 (4.38%) Git
2 18 (3.75%) JIRA
3 11 (2.29%) GitLab
3 11 (2.29%) Jenkins
4 7 (1.46%) JMeter
4 7 (1.46%) SonarQube
5 5 (1.04%) Gatling
5 5 (1.04%) LoadRunner
6 4 (0.83%) 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%) Chocolatey
9 1 (0.21%) Crashlytics
9 1 (0.21%) ER Studio
General
1 154 (32.08%) Social Skills
2 102 (21.25%) Finance
3 95 (19.79%) Public Sector
4 56 (11.67%) Analytical Skills
5 18 (3.75%) Banking
6 17 (3.54%) Presentation Skills
7 15 (3.13%) Local Government
8 10 (2.08%) Fire and Rescue
8 10 (2.08%) Influencing Skills
8 10 (2.08%) Legal
8 10 (2.08%) Organisational Skills
9 7 (1.46%) Manufacturing
10 6 (1.25%) Marketing
10 6 (1.25%) Retail
11 5 (1.04%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (1.04%) Pharmaceutical
12 4 (0.83%) Aerospace
12 4 (0.83%) General Ledger
13 3 (0.63%) Investment Banking
13 3 (0.63%) Law
Job Titles
1 69 (14.38%) Analyst
2 37 (7.71%) Developer
3 36 (7.50%) Senior
4 35 (7.29%) Lead
5 33 (6.88%) Data Engineer
6 32 (6.67%) Architect
7 27 (5.63%) Support Engineer
8 25 (5.21%) Consultant
9 23 (4.79%) Data Analyst
10 20 (4.17%) DevOps Engineer
11 19 (3.96%) IT Engineer
12 18 (3.75%) Cloud Engineer
13 17 (3.54%) IT Support
14 16 (3.33%) Systems Engineer
15 15 (3.13%) Business Analyst
15 15 (3.13%) Technical Engineer
16 13 (2.71%) Infrastructure Engineer
16 13 (2.71%) Service Analyst
17 12 (2.50%) Data Scientist
17 12 (2.50%) IT Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (2.92%) EDI
1 14 (2.92%) React
2 11 (2.29%) YAML
3 9 (1.88%) .NET
3 9 (1.88%) PySpark
4 7 (1.46%) Middleware
5 6 (1.25%) AngularJS
5 6 (1.25%) HTML
5 6 (1.25%) REST
5 6 (1.25%) RESTful
5 6 (1.25%) Spring
5 6 (1.25%) Spring Boot
6 5 (1.04%) GraphQL
6 5 (1.04%) Kafka
7 4 (0.83%) CSS
7 4 (0.83%) JSON
7 4 (0.83%) XML
8 3 (0.63%) Akka
8 3 (0.63%) Django
8 3 (0.63%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 26 (5.42%) Cloud Native
2 25 (5.21%) Onboarding
3 16 (3.33%) Management Information System
4 15 (3.13%) Industry 4.0
4 15 (3.13%) Legacy Systems
4 15 (3.13%) Robotics
5 12 (2.50%) Data Centre
6 10 (2.08%) Product Ownership
6 10 (2.08%) Replication
7 7 (1.46%) Data Structures
7 7 (1.46%) Distributed Systems
7 7 (1.46%) Linux Command Line
8 6 (1.25%) Operational Technology
8 6 (1.25%) Virtual Team
9 5 (1.04%) Algorithms
9 5 (1.04%) Analytical Mindset
9 5 (1.04%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (0.83%) Security Posture
11 3 (0.63%) Public Cloud
11 3 (0.63%) Team-Oriented Environment
Operating Systems
1 39 (8.13%) Windows
2 16 (3.33%) Windows 10
3 13 (2.71%) Linux
3 13 (2.71%) Windows Server
4 8 (1.67%) Unix
5 6 (1.25%) 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
1 119 (24.79%) Problem-Solving
2 88 (18.33%) Agile
3 81 (16.88%) CI/CD
4 75 (15.63%) DevOps
5 73 (15.21%) Decision-Making
6 60 (12.50%) Analytics
7 49 (10.21%) Infrastructure as Code
8 48 (10.00%) Migration
9 46 (9.58%) Stakeholder Management
10 42 (8.75%) Continuous Improvement
11 39 (8.13%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
12 38 (7.92%) AI
13 35 (7.29%) Data Modelling
14 34 (7.08%) Test Automation
15 33 (6.88%) Business Intelligence
16 32 (6.67%) Data Pipeline
16 32 (6.67%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 31 (6.46%) Roadmaps
18 30 (6.25%) Customer Service
18 30 (6.25%) Data Governance
Programming Languages
1 76 (15.83%) SQL
2 73 (15.21%) Python
3 20 (4.17%) Java
4 18 (3.75%) PowerShell
5 14 (2.92%) JavaScript
6 13 (2.71%) Bash
7 12 (2.50%) R
8 9 (1.88%) TypeScript
9 6 (1.25%) C#
9 6 (1.25%) Scala
10 5 (1.04%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 5 (1.04%) VBA
11 4 (0.83%) Groovy
11 4 (0.83%) PL/SQL
12 3 (0.63%) Go
12 3 (0.63%) Ruby
13 2 (0.42%) Apex Code
13 2 (0.42%) COBOL
13 2 (0.42%) Shell Script
13 2 (0.42%) Swift
Qualifications
1 87 (18.13%) Security Cleared
2 78 (16.25%) SC Cleared
3 41 (8.54%) Degree
4 16 (3.33%) DBS Check
5 14 (2.92%) AWS Certification
6 11 (2.29%) Azure Certification
7 6 (1.25%) Computer Science Degree
8 5 (1.04%) BPSS Clearance
8 5 (1.04%) DV Cleared
9 4 (0.83%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
9 4 (0.83%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 3 (0.63%) CTC Cleared
10 3 (0.63%) Microsoft Certification
10 3 (0.63%) Oracle Certification
11 2 (0.42%) CIPD
11 2 (0.42%) OCP
12 1 (0.21%) HND
12 1 (0.21%) ISTQB
12 1 (0.21%) MCSE
12 1 (0.21%) OCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (6.46%) Accessibility
1 31 (6.46%) Data Quality
2 16 (3.33%) QA
3 13 (2.71%) GDPR
4 10 (2.08%) Actionable Recommendations
5 6 (1.25%) WCAG
6 5 (1.04%) Cyber Essentials
6 5 (1.04%) SLA
7 4 (0.83%) GRC
7 4 (0.83%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 3 (0.63%) PMO
9 2 (0.42%) Def Stans
9 2 (0.42%) ISO 22301
9 2 (0.42%) NCSC
9 2 (0.42%) NIST
9 2 (0.42%) PSD2
10 1 (0.21%) GMP
10 1 (0.21%) GxP
10 1 (0.21%) ISO 9001
10 1 (0.21%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 37 (7.71%) Active Directory
2 22 (4.58%) Docker
3 14 (2.92%) Hyper-V
4 11 (2.29%) Virtual Machines
5 8 (1.67%) VMware Infrastructure
6 6 (1.25%) KVM
6 6 (1.25%) VMware NSX
6 6 (1.25%) vSphere
7 4 (0.83%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.42%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 51 (10.63%) Terraform
2 28 (5.83%) Kubernetes
3 22 (4.58%) Grafana
4 14 (2.92%) Ansible
4 14 (2.92%) Prometheus
5 9 (1.88%) Microsoft Intune
6 8 (1.67%) Kibana
7 6 (1.25%) IBM BigFix
7 6 (1.25%) vCenter Server
8 4 (0.83%) 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%) vRealize
11 1 (0.21%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 78 (16.25%) Microsoft
2 28 (5.83%) Databricks
3 19 (3.96%) Oracle
3 19 (3.96%) SAP
3 19 (3.96%) ServiceNow
4 17 (3.54%) Google
5 16 (3.33%) VMware
6 15 (3.13%) Dynatrace
6 15 (3.13%) Siemens
7 12 (2.50%) Salesforce
8 7 (1.46%) IBM
9 6 (1.25%) Atlassian
10 4 (0.83%) Adobe
10 4 (0.83%) Cisco
11 3 (0.63%) Acronis
11 3 (0.63%) AppDynamics
11 3 (0.63%) Dell
11 3 (0.63%) Meraki
11 3 (0.63%) MuleSoft
12 2 (0.42%) CyberArk