Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP)
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for MCP qualifications. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months to 19 May 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
19 May 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 511 557 660
Rank change year-on-year +46 +103 -32
Contract jobs citing MCP 73 139 188
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.17% 0.24% 0.21%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.57% 0.89% 0.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 33 68 86
10th Percentile £140 £122 £123
25th Percentile £175 £159 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £248 £241 £288
Median % change year-on-year +2.91% -16.57% +31.02%
75th Percentile £350 £479 £538
90th Percentile £501 £502 -
UK excluding London median daily rate £290 £235 £160
% change year-on-year +23.40% +46.88% -17.95%
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 57 78
10th Percentile - £13.29 -
25th Percentile £14.00 £13.41 £13.25
Median hourly rate £14.16 £13.66 £13.66
Median % change year-on-year +3.66% - -17.21%
75th Percentile £15.41 £18.75 £18.75
90th Percentile £21.46 £20.56 £20.56
UK excluding London median hourly rate £14.16 £13.66 £13.66
% change year-on-year +3.66% - -17.21%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

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

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 12,790 15,583 18,921
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 30.06% 27.20% 21.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,972 10,403 12,543
10th Percentile £308 £330 £340
25th Percentile £425 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £533 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.09% +4.76% +7.14%
75th Percentile £646 £650 £630
90th Percentile £738 £743 £706
UK excluding London median daily rate £533 £525 £500
% change year-on-year +1.52% +5.00% +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,057 772 766
10th Percentile £13.69 £15.21 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.72 £21.18 £19.77
Median hourly rate £40.00 £54.99 £44.23
Median % change year-on-year -27.26% +24.34% +21.16%
75th Percentile £61.60 £68.25 £58.27
90th Percentile £76.25 £79.19 £67.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.33 £50.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -19.35% +42.86% +5.26%

MCP
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Job vacancy trend for MCP in the UK

MCP
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing MCP.

Daily rate trend for MCP in the UK

MCP
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing MCP over the 6 months to 19 May 2024.

Daily rate histogram for MCP in the UK

MCP
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing MCP.

Hourly rate trend for MCP in the UK

MCP
Top 13 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing MCP within the UK over the 6 months to 19 May 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
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England +44 62 £290 +16.00% 51
UK excluding London 0 62 £290 +23.40% 51
East of England -7 36 £505 +258.16% 1
London +87 11 £200 -20.00% 12
Scotland +42 11 £186 +59.66% 12
South West +13 7 £400 +220.00% 16
North of England +31 5 £466 +43.46% 14
North West +15 4 £466 - 9
Midlands +14 3 £178 -21.11% 3
Work from Home +95 2 - - 11
West Midlands +16 2 £225 +20.00% 2
East Midlands +17 1 £130 -72.92% 1
Yorkshire - 1 - - 3

MCP
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 15 (20.55%) Microsoft Exchange
2 4 (5.48%) Exchange Server 2000
2 4 (5.48%) Exchange Server 2003
2 4 (5.48%) Exchange Server 2007
2 4 (5.48%) Exchange Server 2010
2 4 (5.48%) Exchange Server 2013
3 3 (4.11%) SharePoint
4 1 (1.37%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 5 (6.85%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (1.37%) Acrobat
Business Applications
1 2 (2.74%) Eikon
Cloud Services
1 17 (23.29%) Microsoft 365
2 6 (8.22%) Azure
3 2 (2.74%) Cloud Computing
3 2 (2.74%) Mimecast
4 1 (1.37%) Entra ID
4 1 (1.37%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 4 (5.48%) VPN
1 4 (5.48%) Wi-Fi
2 3 (4.11%) SMTP
3 1 (1.37%) Firewall
3 1 (1.37%) LAN
3 1 (1.37%) Skype
3 1 (1.37%) WAN
General
1 48 (65.75%) Social Skills
2 11 (15.07%) Public Sector
3 7 (9.59%) Finance
3 7 (9.59%) Retail
4 3 (4.11%) Banking
5 1 (1.37%) Analytical Skills
5 1 (1.37%) Local Government
5 1 (1.37%) Presentation Skills
5 1 (1.37%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 45 (61.64%) Analyst
2 35 (47.95%) Service Analyst
2 35 (47.95%) Service Desk Analyst
3 13 (17.81%) Call Centre Analyst
3 13 (17.81%) Customer Analyst
3 13 (17.81%) Customer Service Analyst
4 11 (15.07%) Technical Analyst
5 9 (12.33%) Technical Services Analyst
6 8 (10.96%) Desktop Analyst
7 7 (9.59%) Support Analyst
8 6 (8.22%) IT Support
8 6 (8.22%) Support Engineer
9 5 (6.85%) Desktop Support
10 4 (5.48%) 2nd Line Support
10 4 (5.48%) Desktop Support Analyst
10 4 (5.48%) Infrastructure Support
10 4 (5.48%) Messaging Engineer
11 3 (4.11%) 1st Line Service Desk Analyst
11 3 (4.11%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 3 (4.11%) Junior Analyst
Miscellaneous
1 10 (13.70%) Driving Licence
2 3 (4.11%) Management Information System
3 2 (2.74%) Blackberry
3 2 (2.74%) iPad
3 2 (2.74%) iPhone
3 2 (2.74%) NHS
4 1 (1.37%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 38 (52.05%) Windows
2 5 (6.85%) Windows Server
3 4 (5.48%) Windows 10
3 4 (5.48%) Windows 2000
3 4 (5.48%) Windows Server 2003
4 3 (4.11%) Mac OS
5 2 (2.74%) Android
6 1 (1.37%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 51 (69.86%) ITIL
2 49 (67.12%) Customer Service
3 25 (34.25%) Incident Management
4 23 (31.51%) Problem-Solving
4 23 (31.51%) Service Delivery
5 17 (23.29%) Mathematics
6 16 (21.92%) Problem Management
7 15 (20.55%) ITSM
8 7 (9.59%) Service Management
9 5 (6.85%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 4 (5.48%) Asset Management
10 4 (5.48%) Network Management
10 4 (5.48%) Software Asset Management
11 3 (4.11%) Hardware Maintenance
11 3 (4.11%) Supplier Management
12 2 (2.74%) DevOps
12 2 (2.74%) Mobile Device Management
12 2 (2.74%) Server Management
12 2 (2.74%) Service Asset and Configuration Management
12 2 (2.74%) Ticket Management
Programming Languages
1 1 (1.37%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 36 (49.32%) Microsoft Certification
2 21 (28.77%) Security Cleared
3 16 (21.92%) SC Cleared
4 15 (20.55%) Degree
5 14 (19.18%) A+ Certification
6 12 (16.44%) CCNA
6 12 (16.44%) Cisco Certification
7 11 (15.07%) MCSE
8 8 (10.96%) MCSA
9 2 (2.74%) DV Cleared
9 2 (2.74%) MOS
10 1 (1.37%) CEH
10 1 (1.37%) CREST Certified
10 1 (1.37%) DBS Check
10 1 (1.37%) GIAC
10 1 (1.37%) GPEN
10 1 (1.37%) ITIL Certification
10 1 (1.37%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 1 (1.37%) MCDST
10 1 (1.37%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (2.74%) Disclosure Scotland
2 1 (1.37%) SLA
System Software
1 19 (26.03%) Active Directory
2 2 (2.74%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 17 (23.29%) SCCM
2 4 (5.48%) Microsoft Intune
2 4 (5.48%) WSUS
3 3 (4.11%) MAILsweeper
4 1 (1.37%) EMC NetWorker
Vendors
1 41 (56.16%) Microsoft
2 21 (28.77%) Citrix
3 6 (8.22%) Cisco
3 6 (8.22%) ServiceNow
4 5 (6.85%) Sophos
5 4 (5.48%) NetApp
6 3 (4.11%) Dell
6 3 (4.11%) HP
6 3 (4.11%) IronPort
6 3 (4.11%) Trend Micro
7 2 (2.74%) Bloomberg
7 2 (2.74%) Reuters
7 2 (2.74%) Sun
7 2 (2.74%) VMware
8 1 (1.37%) Adobe
8 1 (1.37%) Apple
8 1 (1.37%) SolarWinds
8 1 (1.37%) Veeam