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

6 months to
21 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 7 5
Rank change year-on-year +4 -2 +10
Contract jobs citing SC Cleared 630 191 236
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 19.89% 13.77% 12.48%
As % of the Qualifications category 60.81% 42.92% 39.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 470 132 167
10th Percentile £351 £300 £295
25th Percentile £416 £434 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £525 £450
Median % change year-on-year -10.57% +16.67% -21.23%
75th Percentile £527 £629 £538
90th Percentile £634 £700 £641
England median daily rate £525 £525 £525
% change year-on-year - - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 51 4 6
10th Percentile £18.20 - £13.25
25th Percentile £25.15 £18.51 £13.44
Median hourly rate £63.14 £27.58 £14.00
Median % change year-on-year +128.94% +96.98% -49.09%
75th Percentile £67.84 £46.48 £20.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £54.59 £29.75
England median hourly rate £52.50 £35.00 £48.56
% change year-on-year +50.00% -27.92% -15.55%

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 1,036 445 601
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 32.70% 32.08% 31.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 723 304 382
10th Percentile £325 £150 £275
25th Percentile £408 £312 £360
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £498 £475
Median % change year-on-year -5.53% +4.74% -11.50%
75th Percentile £544 £589 £575
90th Percentile £650 £700 £687
England median daily rate £525 £525 £538
% change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 70 19 34
10th Percentile £18.11 £17.55 £14.00
25th Percentile £22.19 £18.51 £21.44
Median hourly rate £52.50 £28.18 £27.25
Median % change year-on-year +86.30% +3.41% +39.74%
75th Percentile £67.84 £47.00 £43.44
90th Percentile £75.00 £59.20 £58.75
England median hourly rate £47.52 £37.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year +28.43% -7.50% -24.42%

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 21 May 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 21 May 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 21 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
Shropshire +2 374 £469 -8.93% 26
Birmingham -2 82 £475 -17.39% 23
Warwickshire -7 65 £394 -21.24% 4
Solihull +2 30 £463 +6.32%
Herefordshire 0 29 £550 -21.43% 6
Worcestershire +6 24 £675 -3.57% 7
Staffordshire +1 4 £388 -21.72% 5
Wolverhampton -6 1 - - 1
Coventry -17 1 £650 - 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 99 (15.71%) SAS
2 93 (14.76%) Confluence
3 24 (3.81%) WebLogic
4 13 (2.06%) Tuxedo
5 11 (1.75%) Apache Airflow
6 8 (1.27%) SharePoint
7 4 (0.63%) Apache
8 3 (0.48%) Oracle Workflow
9 1 (0.16%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.16%) NetWeaver
9 1 (0.16%) SAP EP
Applications
1 10 (1.59%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (1.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 9 (1.43%) Microsoft Project
3 5 (0.79%) Microsoft Office
4 4 (0.63%) Notepad++
5 2 (0.32%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.16%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 1 (0.16%) Oracle EBS
1 1 (0.16%) Oracle ERP
1 1 (0.16%) SAP CRM
1 1 (0.16%) SAP EWM
1 1 (0.16%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 159 (25.24%) AWS
2 79 (12.54%) Azure
3 37 (5.87%) Amazon S3
4 34 (5.40%) Amazon CloudWatch
5 33 (5.24%) GitHub
6 32 (5.08%) Amazon EC2
7 25 (3.97%) GitHub Actions
8 24 (3.81%) GCP
9 20 (3.17%) Serverless
10 18 (2.86%) AWS KMS
11 17 (2.70%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 15 (2.38%) Amazon SQS
12 15 (2.38%) AWS Lambda
12 15 (2.38%) Power Platform
13 14 (2.22%) Route 53
14 12 (1.90%) Azure DevOps
15 11 (1.75%) Microsoft 365
15 11 (1.75%) OpenShift
16 10 (1.59%) Amazon ECS
16 10 (1.59%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 20 (3.17%) Firewall
2 12 (1.90%) WAN
3 10 (1.59%) LAN
4 9 (1.43%) VPN
5 8 (1.27%) Network Security
6 7 (1.11%) BGP
6 7 (1.11%) Intrusion Detection
6 7 (1.11%) SSL
7 6 (0.95%) VLAN
7 6 (0.95%) Wireless
8 5 (0.79%) DNS
8 5 (0.79%) IPsec
8 5 (0.79%) MPLS
8 5 (0.79%) OSPF
8 5 (0.79%) WLAN
9 4 (0.63%) 5G
9 4 (0.63%) Internet
9 4 (0.63%) PuTTY
9 4 (0.63%) SD-WAN
9 4 (0.63%) WinSCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 67 (10.63%) Pentaho
2 54 (8.57%) Data Warehouse
3 45 (7.14%) PostgreSQL
4 33 (5.24%) Amazon RDS
5 28 (4.44%) Oracle Database
6 26 (4.13%) MySQL
7 25 (3.97%) Oracle Reports
8 20 (3.17%) Amazon Redshift
9 19 (3.02%) Metadata
9 19 (3.02%) SAS Enterprise Guide
10 17 (2.70%) DynamoDB
11 15 (2.38%) Power BI
12 14 (2.22%) Amazon Aurora
13 13 (2.06%) BusinessObjects
14 11 (1.75%) SAS Visual Analytics
15 9 (1.43%) MongoDB
16 6 (0.95%) Data Lake
17 5 (0.79%) Elasticsearch
17 5 (0.79%) Relational Database
17 5 (0.79%) SAS Data Integration Studio
Development Applications
1 117 (18.57%) JIRA
2 83 (13.17%) Git
3 74 (11.75%) GitLab
4 71 (11.27%) Jenkins
5 33 (5.24%) JUnit
6 25 (3.97%) Zephyr
7 24 (3.81%) Selenium
8 23 (3.65%) Postman
9 16 (2.54%) Maven
9 16 (2.54%) Mockito
10 15 (2.38%) Bitbucket
11 14 (2.22%) SonarQube
12 13 (2.06%) Cucumber
12 13 (2.06%) JMeter
13 12 (1.90%) WebDriver
14 10 (1.59%) DbUnit
14 10 (1.59%) jMock
15 9 (1.43%) MSI
16 8 (1.27%) Atlassian Bamboo
16 8 (1.27%) Bitbucket Server
General
1 154 (24.44%) Social Skills
2 103 (16.35%) Public Sector
3 65 (10.32%) Analytical Skills
4 33 (5.24%) Finance
5 17 (2.70%) Documentation Skills
6 9 (1.43%) Influencing Skills
6 9 (1.43%) Presentation Skills
7 8 (1.27%) Organisational Skills
7 8 (1.27%) Telecoms
8 6 (0.95%) Advertising
9 5 (0.79%) Legal
10 4 (0.63%) Aerospace
11 2 (0.32%) Electronics
12 1 (0.16%) Aeronautics
12 1 (0.16%) Banking
12 1 (0.16%) Military
12 1 (0.16%) Police
12 1 (0.16%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 147 (23.33%) Data Engineer
2 63 (10.00%) Architect
3 49 (7.78%) Analyst
4 44 (6.98%) Developer
5 42 (6.67%) Senior
6 36 (5.71%) Tester
7 31 (4.92%) Java Developer
8 26 (4.13%) Lead
9 22 (3.49%) SAS Engineer
9 22 (3.49%) Support Engineer
10 21 (3.33%) Business Analyst
11 18 (2.86%) Project Manager
12 17 (2.70%) Scrum Master
12 17 (2.70%) Software Engineer
13 16 (2.54%) Administrator
13 16 (2.54%) Data Manager
13 16 (2.54%) Delivery Manager
13 16 (2.54%) Test Analyst
14 15 (2.38%) Consultant
14 15 (2.38%) Data Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (6.98%) Spring
2 32 (5.08%) Spring Boot
3 22 (3.49%) REST
4 16 (2.54%) JPA
5 15 (2.38%) AngularJS
6 14 (2.22%) ActiveMQ
6 14 (2.22%) Hibernate
6 14 (2.22%) SOAP
6 14 (2.22%) Spring Batch
6 14 (2.22%) Spring Cloud
6 14 (2.22%) Spring Integration
6 14 (2.22%) Web Services
7 12 (1.90%) Node.js
7 12 (1.90%) WireMock
8 10 (1.59%) Middleware
8 10 (1.59%) PowerMock
9 8 (1.27%) AWS CDK
9 8 (1.27%) Bootstrap
9 8 (1.27%) RESTful
10 6 (0.95%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 31 (4.92%) Cloud Native
2 22 (3.49%) Distributed Systems
3 19 (3.02%) Product Ownership
4 17 (2.70%) Onboarding
5 14 (2.22%) Data Centre
6 13 (2.06%) Enterprise Software
6 13 (2.06%) Legacy Systems
7 8 (1.27%) Distributed Architecture
8 7 (1.11%) Analytical Mindset
9 6 (0.95%) Driving Licence
9 6 (0.95%) Private Cloud
10 5 (0.79%) Linux Command Line
10 5 (0.79%) Security Operations Centre
11 4 (0.63%) CSOC
11 4 (0.63%) Cyber Threat
11 4 (0.63%) Data Structures
11 4 (0.63%) Enterprise Cloud
11 4 (0.63%) Robotics
11 4 (0.63%) SCADA
11 4 (0.63%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 56 (8.89%) Unix
2 55 (8.73%) Linux
3 40 (6.35%) Windows
4 9 (1.43%) Windows Server
5 6 (0.95%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 5 (0.79%) Android
7 2 (0.32%) AIX
7 2 (0.32%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.32%) Embedded Linux
7 2 (0.32%) Solaris
8 1 (0.16%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 195 (30.95%) Agile
2 125 (19.84%) CI/CD
3 122 (19.37%) DevOps
4 116 (18.41%) ETL
5 107 (16.98%) Test Automation
6 103 (16.35%) Scrum
7 100 (15.87%) Continuous Improvement
8 86 (13.65%) Migration
9 84 (13.33%) Analytics
9 84 (13.33%) Stakeholder Management
10 81 (12.86%) Problem-Solving
11 65 (10.32%) Data Integration
12 62 (9.84%) Data Modelling
13 60 (9.52%) Data Pipeline
14 56 (8.89%) Containerisation
15 55 (8.73%) Business Intelligence
16 50 (7.94%) Microservices
17 43 (6.83%) Change Management
18 42 (6.67%) Problem Management
19 40 (6.35%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 199 (31.59%) SQL
2 65 (10.32%) Java
3 47 (7.46%) Python
4 44 (6.98%) PL/SQL
5 24 (3.81%) Shell Script
6 17 (2.70%) Bash
7 16 (2.54%) PowerShell
8 9 (1.43%) Go
9 5 (0.79%) Perl
10 4 (0.63%) Kusto Query Language
11 3 (0.48%) C++
11 3 (0.48%) HiveQL
11 3 (0.48%) Kotlin
12 2 (0.32%) Bicep
12 2 (0.32%) C
12 2 (0.32%) SystemVerilog
13 1 (0.16%) ABAP
13 1 (0.16%) C#
13 1 (0.16%) JavaScript
13 1 (0.16%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 630 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 18 (2.86%) BPSS Clearance
3 17 (2.70%) ISTQB
4 13 (2.06%) DV Cleared
5 11 (1.75%) Cisco Certification
6 10 (1.59%) Azure Certification
6 10 (1.59%) SAFe Agilist
7 8 (1.27%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
7 8 (1.27%) Degree
8 7 (1.11%) CCNP
8 7 (1.11%) IIBA
8 7 (1.11%) Microsoft Certification
8 7 (1.11%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 5 (0.79%) AWS Certification
9 5 (0.79%) CCIE
9 5 (0.79%) CCNA
9 5 (0.79%) CISSP
10 4 (0.63%) CISM
10 4 (0.63%) OCP
10 4 (0.63%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (5.08%) QA
2 31 (4.92%) Data Quality
3 17 (2.70%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 14 (2.22%) NIST
5 11 (1.75%) Accessibility
6 9 (1.43%) FATCA
6 9 (1.43%) GDPR
7 5 (0.79%) NCSC
8 4 (0.63%) PMO
9 3 (0.48%) Cyber Essentials
9 3 (0.48%) GRC
10 2 (0.32%) Government Security Classifications
10 2 (0.32%) SOC 2
11 1 (0.16%) P3O
11 1 (0.16%) PCI DSS
11 1 (0.16%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 1 (0.16%) SLA
11 1 (0.16%) WCAG
System Software
1 87 (13.81%) Docker
2 10 (1.59%) Postfix
2 10 (1.59%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (1.27%) Active Directory
4 6 (0.95%) VMware ESXi
4 6 (0.95%) vSphere
5 4 (0.63%) Hyper-V
5 4 (0.63%) Snort
6 3 (0.48%) HDFS
6 3 (0.48%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.32%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.16%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 88 (13.97%) Kubernetes
2 63 (10.00%) Grafana
3 31 (4.92%) Prometheus
4 24 (3.81%) Terraform
5 17 (2.70%) Ansible
6 5 (0.79%) Podman
6 5 (0.79%) Progress Chef
7 4 (0.63%) CSIRT
7 4 (0.63%) PowerCLI
7 4 (0.63%) vMotion
8 3 (0.48%) Kibana
9 2 (0.32%) Docker Swarm
9 2 (0.32%) QRadar
9 2 (0.32%) SCCM
9 2 (0.32%) vCenter Server
10 1 (0.16%) Backup Exec
10 1 (0.16%) Control-M
10 1 (0.16%) Data Guard
10 1 (0.16%) Puppet
10 1 (0.16%) WMI
Vendors
1 161 (25.56%) Oracle
2 99 (15.71%) Talend
3 55 (8.73%) Denodo
4 51 (8.10%) Informatica
5 38 (6.03%) Microsoft
6 23 (3.65%) Atlassian
7 22 (3.49%) ServiceNow
8 20 (3.17%) Splunk
9 17 (2.70%) Cisco
10 16 (2.54%) SAP
10 16 (2.54%) VMware
11 15 (2.38%) Dynatrace
12 14 (2.22%) Jaspersoft
13 12 (1.90%) Sage
14 9 (1.43%) AppDynamics
15 8 (1.27%) Fujitsu
16 7 (1.11%) HP
17 6 (0.95%) Juniper
18 5 (0.79%) Cloudera
18 5 (0.79%) Red Hat