SC Cleared Contract Job Trends in the West Midlands

Security Check (SC) Clearance
England > West Midlands

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the West Midlands with a requirement for SC Cleared qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 20 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 9 7
Rank change year-on-year +6 -2 +9
Contract jobs citing SC Cleared 548 173 245
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 20.51% 11.91% 12.97%
As % of the Qualifications category 57.93% 38.44% 40.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 422 117 182
10th Percentile £373 £399 £325
25th Percentile £450 £477 £376
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £551 £450
Median % change year-on-year -9.21% +22.44% -16.67%
75th Percentile £575 £689 £584
90th Percentile £675 £725 £650
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -2.22%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 5 13
10th Percentile £17.57 £23.63 £19.70
25th Percentile £18.20 £31.32 £62.50
Median hourly rate £20.17 £35.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -42.39% -46.15% +71.72%
75th Percentile £25.15 - £67.50
90th Percentile - £39.18 £69.75
England median hourly rate £25.15 £60.00 £56.49
% change year-on-year -58.08% +6.21% -5.85%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
West Midlands

SC Cleared falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in the West Midlands.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 946 450 608
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 35.40% 30.99% 32.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 674 292 369
10th Percentile £316 £186 £273
25th Percentile £425 £400 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £518 £450
Median % change year-on-year -3.38% +15.00% -10.00%
75th Percentile £575 £613 £575
90th Percentile £671 £700 £651
England median daily rate £520 £525 £540
% change year-on-year -0.95% -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 45 17 45
10th Percentile £14.00 £16.97 £17.28
25th Percentile £16.30 £18.50 £23.00
Median hourly rate £18.87 £29.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -34.93% -17.14% +79.49%
75th Percentile £25.15 £35.00 £67.50
90th Percentile £33.00 £46.18 £68.25
England median hourly rate £25.15 £47.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year -47.05% +5.56% -1.64%

SC Cleared
Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing SC Cleared relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands.

SC Cleared job vacancy trend in the West Midlands

SC Cleared
Daily Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing SC Cleared.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing SC Cleared

SC Cleared
Daily Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SC Cleared in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 20 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for SC Cleared in the West Midlands

SC Cleared
Hourly Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing SC Cleared.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing SC Cleared

SC Cleared
Hourly Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing SC Cleared in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 20 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for SC Cleared in the West Midlands

SC Cleared
Contract Job Locations in the West Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing SC Cleared within the West Midlands region over the 6 months to 20 February 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
Shropshire +2 248 £495 +0.20% 63
Birmingham +7 99 £478 -30.70% 24
Warwickshire +1 78 £440 -22.91% 9
Worcestershire +10 64 £650 -7.14% 7
Herefordshire +2 47 £625 -10.71% 3
Solihull +1 12 £475 +14.46% 8
Coventry - 5 £488 - 1
Staffordshire - 3 £350 - 9
Wolverhampton 0 2 - -
SC Cleared
England

SC Cleared
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the West Midlands 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
1 104 (18.98%) SAS
2 48 (8.76%) Confluence
3 26 (4.74%) WebLogic
4 7 (1.28%) Tuxedo
5 6 (1.09%) Apache
6 4 (0.73%) nginx
7 2 (0.36%) SharePoint
8 1 (0.18%) Apache Airflow
Applications
1 9 (1.64%) Microsoft Project
2 8 (1.46%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (1.09%) Microsoft Excel
4 5 (0.91%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.55%) Mozilla Thunderbird
5 3 (0.55%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.36%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.18%) AutoCAD
7 1 (0.18%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 2 (0.36%) SAP PP
1 2 (0.36%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.18%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.18%) Oracle Assets
2 1 (0.18%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 107 (19.53%) AWS
2 102 (18.61%) Azure
3 33 (6.02%) GitHub
4 31 (5.66%) OpenShift
5 25 (4.56%) GCP
6 23 (4.20%) Amazon EC2
6 23 (4.20%) Amazon S3
7 18 (3.28%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 17 (3.10%) Serverless
9 16 (2.92%) Azure Data Factory
10 13 (2.37%) AWS KMS
10 13 (2.37%) Azure DevOps
10 13 (2.37%) GitHub Actions
10 13 (2.37%) SaaS
11 11 (2.01%) Amazon ELB
11 11 (2.01%) Microsoft 365
11 11 (2.01%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 10 (1.82%) Power Platform
13 9 (1.64%) Azure Key Vault
13 9 (1.64%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 29 (5.29%) Firewall
2 25 (4.56%) VPN
3 23 (4.20%) WAN
4 19 (3.47%) IPsec
5 18 (3.28%) BGP
5 18 (3.28%) MPLS
6 16 (2.92%) DNS
7 14 (2.55%) Network Security
8 10 (1.82%) Intrusion Detection
8 10 (1.82%) Wireless
9 7 (1.28%) LAN
9 7 (1.28%) SMTP
9 7 (1.28%) SSL
10 6 (1.09%) HTTP
11 5 (0.91%) Cisco IPT
11 5 (0.91%) DMVPN
11 5 (0.91%) FTP
11 5 (0.91%) SSH
12 4 (0.73%) Unified Communications
12 4 (0.73%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 48 (8.76%) Pentaho
2 36 (6.57%) PostgreSQL
3 34 (6.20%) Oracle Database
3 34 (6.20%) SAS Enterprise Guide
4 25 (4.56%) Amazon RDS
5 22 (4.01%) Metadata
6 19 (3.47%) Data Warehouse
7 16 (2.92%) Elasticsearch
8 12 (2.19%) Metadata Repository
9 11 (2.01%) MongoDB
10 9 (1.64%) Redis
11 8 (1.46%) Amazon Aurora
12 6 (1.09%) Relational Database
13 5 (0.91%) DynamoDB
13 5 (0.91%) MySQL
13 5 (0.91%) Power BI
14 4 (0.73%) InfluxDB
14 4 (0.73%) SAS Visual Analytics
15 2 (0.36%) Amazon Redshift
15 2 (0.36%) Data Hub
Development Applications
1 90 (16.42%) Git
2 77 (14.05%) Jenkins
3 73 (13.32%) JIRA
4 46 (8.39%) GitLab
5 36 (6.57%) JUnit
6 30 (5.47%) Selenium
7 15 (2.74%) SonarQube
8 12 (2.19%) Cucumber
8 12 (2.19%) Mockito
9 11 (2.01%) Maven
10 7 (1.28%) JMeter
10 7 (1.28%) MSI
11 6 (1.09%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 6 (1.09%) WebDriver
12 5 (0.91%) Vagrant
13 4 (0.73%) DbUnit
13 4 (0.73%) jMock
14 3 (0.55%) NeoLoad
15 2 (0.36%) Bitbucket Server
15 2 (0.36%) Postman
General
1 134 (24.45%) Social Skills
2 68 (12.41%) Public Sector
3 50 (9.12%) Analytical Skills
4 22 (4.01%) Finance
5 16 (2.92%) Documentation Skills
6 12 (2.19%) Telecoms
7 9 (1.64%) Aeronautics
8 8 (1.46%) Presentation Skills
9 7 (1.28%) Legal
10 5 (0.91%) Organisational Skills
11 3 (0.55%) Advertising
11 3 (0.55%) Influencing Skills
12 2 (0.36%) Electronics
12 2 (0.36%) Manufacturing
13 1 (0.18%) Aerospace
13 1 (0.18%) Automotive
13 1 (0.18%) Banking
13 1 (0.18%) Marketing
13 1 (0.18%) Military
13 1 (0.18%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 74 (13.50%) Data Engineer
2 49 (8.94%) Senior
3 45 (8.21%) Developer
4 44 (8.03%) Architect
5 36 (6.57%) Analyst
6 24 (4.38%) Platform Engineer
7 22 (4.01%) Test Specialist
8 21 (3.83%) Tester
9 19 (3.47%) Data Architect
9 19 (3.47%) Java Developer
9 19 (3.47%) Support Engineer
10 17 (3.10%) Business Analyst
11 15 (2.74%) AWS Engineer
11 15 (2.74%) Consultant
11 15 (2.74%) Lead
12 14 (2.55%) Release Manager
12 14 (2.55%) Senior Data Engineer
13 13 (2.37%) Engagement Manager
13 13 (2.37%) Senior Developer
13 13 (2.37%) Senior Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (6.57%) REST
2 35 (6.39%) Spring
3 30 (5.47%) Spring Boot
4 20 (3.65%) pytest
5 13 (2.37%) Keycloak
6 12 (2.19%) FastAPI
6 12 (2.19%) Flask
6 12 (2.19%) Kafka
7 11 (2.01%) JPA
8 10 (1.82%) Middleware
8 10 (1.82%) YAML
9 9 (1.64%) GraphQL
9 9 (1.64%) LDAP
9 9 (1.64%) Node.js
9 9 (1.64%) WebSockets
10 8 (1.46%) gRPC
10 8 (1.46%) React
11 7 (1.28%) JSON
11 7 (1.28%) WireMock
12 6 (1.09%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 24 (4.38%) Cloud Native
2 21 (3.83%) Onboarding
3 19 (3.47%) Data Centre
4 14 (2.55%) PKI
5 11 (2.01%) Driving Licence
5 11 (2.01%) Enterprise Software
5 11 (2.01%) Hybrid Cloud
6 10 (1.82%) Distributed Systems
7 8 (1.46%) Legacy Systems
7 8 (1.46%) Product Ownership
7 8 (1.46%) SCADA
8 7 (1.28%) FPGA
9 6 (1.09%) Private Cloud
9 6 (1.09%) Replication
9 6 (1.09%) Security Operations Centre
9 6 (1.09%) VHDL
10 5 (0.91%) Algorithms
10 5 (0.91%) Data Protection Act
10 5 (0.91%) Security Posture
11 4 (0.73%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 57 (10.40%) Linux
2 49 (8.94%) Windows
3 24 (4.38%) Unix
4 11 (2.01%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 8 (1.46%) Windows Server
6 5 (0.91%) Amazon Linux
6 5 (0.91%) Ubuntu
6 5 (0.91%) VMS
7 2 (0.36%) AIX
7 2 (0.36%) Android
7 2 (0.36%) CentOS
7 2 (0.36%) Solaris
7 2 (0.36%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.18%) Embedded Linux
8 1 (0.18%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 150 (27.37%) Agile
1 150 (27.37%) CI/CD
2 135 (24.64%) DevOps
3 95 (17.34%) Problem-Solving
4 87 (15.88%) Stakeholder Management
5 84 (15.33%) Analytics
6 83 (15.15%) Continuous Improvement
7 77 (14.05%) Scrum
8 71 (12.96%) Test Automation
9 68 (12.41%) Containerisation
10 66 (12.04%) ETL
11 61 (11.13%) Data Pipeline
12 59 (10.77%) Data Modelling
13 56 (10.22%) Data Integration
14 54 (9.85%) Business Intelligence
15 48 (8.76%) Change Management
15 48 (8.76%) Migration
16 43 (7.85%) Microservices
17 33 (6.02%) Test Strategy
18 32 (5.84%) Cybersecurity
Programming Languages
1 139 (25.36%) SQL
2 81 (14.78%) Python
3 59 (10.77%) Java
4 25 (4.56%) Shell Script
5 24 (4.38%) Go
6 22 (4.01%) PowerShell
7 21 (3.83%) Bash
8 20 (3.65%) PL/SQL
9 8 (1.46%) Perl
10 7 (1.28%) JavaScript
11 6 (1.09%) MATLAB
12 5 (0.91%) Groovy
12 5 (0.91%) TypeScript
13 4 (0.73%) Kusto Query Language
14 2 (0.36%) Bicep
14 2 (0.36%) C#
14 2 (0.36%) C++
15 1 (0.18%) C
15 1 (0.18%) COBOL
15 1 (0.18%) R
Qualifications
1 548 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 31 (5.66%) DV Cleared
3 22 (4.01%) Azure Certification
4 16 (2.92%) BPSS Clearance
5 10 (1.82%) AWS Certification
5 10 (1.82%) Degree
6 8 (1.46%) Cisco Certification
7 7 (1.28%) IIBA
8 6 (1.09%) CCNP
8 6 (1.09%) Microsoft Certification
9 5 (0.91%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 4 (0.73%) CCIE
10 4 (0.73%) CISSP
11 3 (0.55%) CCNA
11 3 (0.55%) CEH
11 3 (0.55%) CISM
11 3 (0.55%) ISTQB
12 2 (0.36%) CAPM
12 2 (0.36%) CBAP
12 2 (0.36%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (5.66%) Data Quality
2 17 (3.10%) NCSC
2 17 (3.10%) QA
3 13 (2.37%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 13 (2.37%) NIST
4 8 (1.46%) Accessibility
5 7 (1.28%) GDPR
6 4 (0.73%) WCAG
7 3 (0.55%) FATCA
8 2 (0.36%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.36%) PMO
8 2 (0.36%) SOC 2
9 1 (0.18%) Government Security Classifications
9 1 (0.18%) IEC 61131
9 1 (0.18%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 110 (20.07%) Docker
2 12 (2.19%) Active Directory
3 9 (1.64%) Postfix
4 5 (0.91%) DFS Replication
5 4 (0.73%) Snort
6 3 (0.55%) Dovecot
6 3 (0.55%) Squid
6 3 (0.55%) VMware Infrastructure
6 3 (0.55%) VMware NSX
7 2 (0.36%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 134 (24.45%) Kubernetes
2 46 (8.39%) Grafana
3 35 (6.39%) Prometheus
4 31 (5.66%) Terraform
5 15 (2.74%) Ansible
6 10 (1.82%) Kibana
7 8 (1.46%) Progress Chef
8 4 (0.73%) CSIRT
8 4 (0.73%) logstash
9 3 (0.55%) FortiGate
9 3 (0.55%) Nessus
9 3 (0.55%) Proxmox
10 2 (0.36%) Docker Swarm
11 1 (0.18%) Fluentd
11 1 (0.18%) Host Intrusion Detection System
11 1 (0.18%) HP ALM
11 1 (0.18%) Podman
11 1 (0.18%) Puppet
11 1 (0.18%) QRadar
11 1 (0.18%) Rsyslog
Vendors
1 101 (18.43%) Oracle
2 57 (10.40%) Talend
3 51 (9.31%) Microsoft
4 44 (8.03%) ServiceNow
5 35 (6.39%) Denodo
6 32 (5.84%) Cisco
7 31 (5.66%) Splunk
8 26 (4.74%) Dynatrace
9 24 (4.38%) Informatica
10 22 (4.01%) Juniper
11 16 (2.92%) AppDynamics
12 12 (2.19%) SAP
13 11 (2.01%) F5
14 10 (1.82%) CheckPoint
15 9 (1.64%) CyberArk
16 8 (1.46%) Jaspersoft
17 7 (1.28%) Atlassian
17 7 (1.28%) Red Hat
18 6 (1.09%) Fujitsu
18 6 (1.09%) Remedy