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 7 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 10 8
Rank change year-on-year +7 -2 +7
Contract jobs citing SC Cleared 480 167 246
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 19.18% 11.12% 12.86%
As % of the Qualifications category 55.81% 35.84% 40.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 367 114 185
10th Percentile £363 £398 £325
25th Percentile £450 £474 £378
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £550 £450
Median % change year-on-year -6.36% +22.22% -16.67%
75th Percentile £580 £658 £588
90th Percentile £688 £700 £650
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -2.22%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 5 12
10th Percentile - £23.63 £44.50
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 - £67.81
90th Percentile - £39.18 £69.88
England median hourly rate £25.15 £60.00 £56.49
% change year-on-year -58.08% +6.21% -6.63%

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 860 466 614
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 34.36% 31.03% 32.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 608 302 374
10th Percentile £305 £175 £263
25th Percentile £422 £400 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £518 £475
Median % change year-on-year -3.38% +8.95% -5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £575
90th Percentile £675 £700 £654
England median daily rate £520 £525 £545
% change year-on-year -0.95% -3.67% -0.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 44 17 44
10th Percentile £14.00 £16.97 £18.68
25th Percentile £16.30 £18.50 £23.00
Median hourly rate £18.87 £29.00 £31.50
Median % change year-on-year -34.93% -7.94% +61.54%
75th Percentile £25.15 £35.00 £67.50
90th Percentile £32.23 £52.50 £68.38
England median hourly rate £25.15 £50.00 £46.18
% change year-on-year -49.70% +8.27% +2.62%

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 7 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 7 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 7 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 +2 206 £502 +1.77% 26
Birmingham +5 95 £475 -31.06% 25
Warwickshire +1 74 £400 -27.93% 10
Worcestershire +13 63 £650 +85.71% 7
Herefordshire +2 47 £625 +13.64% 4
Solihull -4 4 £435 +8.75% 2
Coventry - 4 £325 -
Staffordshire - 4 £270 - 8
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 85 (17.71%) SAS
2 34 (7.08%) Confluence
3 19 (3.96%) WebLogic
4 7 (1.46%) Apache
4 7 (1.46%) Tuxedo
5 6 (1.25%) nginx
6 3 (0.63%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.21%) NetWeaver
7 1 (0.21%) SAP EP
7 1 (0.21%) SharePoint
Applications
1 9 (1.88%) Microsoft Project
2 5 (1.04%) Mozilla Thunderbird
3 4 (0.83%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (0.63%) Microsoft Excel
5 2 (0.42%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.42%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.21%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.21%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.42%) SAP PP
1 2 (0.42%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.21%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.21%) Oracle Assets
2 1 (0.21%) SAP CRM
2 1 (0.21%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 91 (18.96%) Azure
2 83 (17.29%) AWS
3 29 (6.04%) GitHub
4 27 (5.63%) OpenShift
5 20 (4.17%) GCP
6 18 (3.75%) Amazon EC2
6 18 (3.75%) Amazon S3
7 17 (3.54%) Serverless
8 16 (3.33%) Azure Data Factory
9 13 (2.71%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 13 (2.71%) Microsoft 365
9 13 (2.71%) SaaS
10 11 (2.29%) Azure DevOps
11 10 (2.08%) Power Platform
12 9 (1.88%) Amazon ELB
12 9 (1.88%) AWS KMS
12 9 (1.88%) Azure Key Vault
12 9 (1.88%) Datadog
12 9 (1.88%) GitHub Actions
12 9 (1.88%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 31 (6.46%) Firewall
2 28 (5.83%) VPN
3 26 (5.42%) WAN
4 21 (4.38%) IPsec
5 20 (4.17%) BGP
5 20 (4.17%) MPLS
6 17 (3.54%) DNS
7 13 (2.71%) Network Security
8 10 (2.08%) Wireless
9 9 (1.88%) SMTP
10 8 (1.67%) Intrusion Detection
11 7 (1.46%) FTP
11 7 (1.46%) HTTP
11 7 (1.46%) LAN
11 7 (1.46%) SSH
12 6 (1.25%) SSL
13 5 (1.04%) IMAP
13 5 (1.04%) OpenLDAP
13 5 (1.04%) Wi-Fi
14 4 (0.83%) Cisco IPT
Database & Business Intelligence
1 36 (7.50%) Pentaho
2 35 (7.29%) SAS Enterprise Guide
3 30 (6.25%) Oracle Database
4 29 (6.04%) PostgreSQL
5 19 (3.96%) Amazon RDS
5 19 (3.96%) Metadata
6 16 (3.33%) Elasticsearch
7 15 (3.13%) Data Warehouse
8 11 (2.29%) Metadata Repository
9 9 (1.88%) Redis
10 8 (1.67%) MongoDB
11 7 (1.46%) Amazon Aurora
12 6 (1.25%) Relational Database
13 5 (1.04%) MySQL
13 5 (1.04%) Power BI
13 5 (1.04%) SAS Visual Analytics
14 4 (0.83%) InfluxDB
15 2 (0.42%) Amazon Redshift
15 2 (0.42%) Data Hub
15 2 (0.42%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 65 (13.54%) Git
2 60 (12.50%) Jenkins
3 57 (11.88%) JIRA
4 36 (7.50%) GitLab
5 23 (4.79%) JUnit
6 20 (4.17%) Selenium
7 13 (2.71%) SonarQube
8 9 (1.88%) Mockito
9 8 (1.67%) Maven
10 7 (1.46%) MSI
10 7 (1.46%) Vagrant
11 6 (1.25%) Cucumber
12 3 (0.63%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 3 (0.63%) NeoLoad
13 2 (0.42%) DbUnit
13 2 (0.42%) jMock
13 2 (0.42%) Postman
14 1 (0.21%) JMeter
14 1 (0.21%) TestDirector
14 1 (0.21%) Zephyr
General
1 119 (24.79%) Social Skills
2 54 (11.25%) Public Sector
3 42 (8.75%) Analytical Skills
4 23 (4.79%) Finance
5 13 (2.71%) Documentation Skills
6 9 (1.88%) Aeronautics
6 9 (1.88%) Telecoms
7 7 (1.46%) Legal
8 5 (1.04%) Presentation Skills
9 2 (0.42%) Electronics
9 2 (0.42%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (0.42%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.21%) Advertising
10 1 (0.21%) Aerospace
10 1 (0.21%) Automotive
10 1 (0.21%) Banking
10 1 (0.21%) Marketing
10 1 (0.21%) Military
10 1 (0.21%) Organisational Skills
10 1 (0.21%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 53 (11.04%) Data Engineer
2 44 (9.17%) Senior
3 37 (7.71%) Architect
4 32 (6.67%) Developer
5 28 (5.83%) Analyst
6 25 (5.21%) Platform Engineer
7 21 (4.38%) Support Engineer
8 18 (3.75%) Test Specialist
9 16 (3.33%) AWS Engineer
9 16 (3.33%) Data Architect
9 16 (3.33%) Release Manager
9 16 (3.33%) Tester
10 14 (2.92%) Business Analyst
11 13 (2.71%) Engagement Manager
11 13 (2.71%) Senior Data Engineer
11 13 (2.71%) Senior Developer
12 12 (2.50%) Consultant
12 12 (2.50%) Python Developer
12 12 (2.50%) Senior Manager
13 11 (2.29%) DevOps Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (6.88%) REST
2 18 (3.75%) Spring
2 18 (3.75%) Spring Boot
3 16 (3.33%) pytest
4 13 (2.71%) Keycloak
5 12 (2.50%) FastAPI
5 12 (2.50%) Flask
5 12 (2.50%) Kafka
6 11 (2.29%) LDAP
6 11 (2.29%) YAML
7 10 (2.08%) Middleware
8 9 (1.88%) GraphQL
8 9 (1.88%) WebSockets
9 8 (1.67%) gRPC
9 8 (1.67%) JPA
9 8 (1.67%) React
10 7 (1.46%) JSON
11 6 (1.25%) Elastic Stack
11 6 (1.25%) Node.js
11 6 (1.25%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 22 (4.58%) Onboarding
2 20 (4.17%) Cloud Native
3 17 (3.54%) PKI
4 16 (3.33%) Data Centre
5 11 (2.29%) Driving Licence
5 11 (2.29%) Enterprise Software
5 11 (2.29%) Hybrid Cloud
6 8 (1.67%) Legacy Systems
6 8 (1.67%) Product Ownership
6 8 (1.67%) Replication
6 8 (1.67%) SCADA
7 7 (1.46%) FPGA
8 6 (1.25%) VHDL
9 5 (1.04%) Algorithms
9 5 (1.04%) Data Protection Act
9 5 (1.04%) Security Operations Centre
9 5 (1.04%) Security Posture
10 4 (0.83%) Management Information System
11 3 (0.63%) Handset
11 3 (0.63%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 54 (11.25%) Linux
2 51 (10.63%) Windows
3 25 (5.21%) Unix
4 8 (1.67%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 8 (1.67%) Windows Server
5 7 (1.46%) Amazon Linux
5 7 (1.46%) Ubuntu
5 7 (1.46%) VMS
6 3 (0.63%) Windows 10
7 2 (0.42%) CentOS
8 1 (0.21%) AIX
8 1 (0.21%) Android
8 1 (0.21%) Embedded Linux
8 1 (0.21%) Solaris
8 1 (0.21%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 133 (27.71%) CI/CD
2 127 (26.46%) DevOps
3 111 (23.13%) Agile
4 76 (15.83%) Problem-Solving
5 72 (15.00%) Analytics
6 71 (14.79%) Stakeholder Management
7 59 (12.29%) Scrum
8 58 (12.08%) Containerisation
8 58 (12.08%) Continuous Improvement
9 55 (11.46%) Test Automation
10 50 (10.42%) ETL
11 48 (10.00%) Migration
12 46 (9.58%) Data Pipeline
13 45 (9.38%) Business Intelligence
13 45 (9.38%) Data Integration
14 42 (8.75%) Data Modelling
15 37 (7.71%) Change Management
16 34 (7.08%) Configuration Management
17 32 (6.67%) Platform Engineering
18 30 (6.25%) Microservices
Programming Languages
1 103 (21.46%) SQL
2 84 (17.50%) Python
3 36 (7.50%) Java
4 29 (6.04%) PowerShell
5 24 (5.00%) Go
6 20 (4.17%) Shell Script
7 17 (3.54%) Bash
8 7 (1.46%) Groovy
8 7 (1.46%) JavaScript
9 6 (1.25%) MATLAB
9 6 (1.25%) PL/SQL
10 5 (1.04%) Perl
10 5 (1.04%) TypeScript
11 2 (0.42%) C++
11 2 (0.42%) Kusto Query Language
12 1 (0.21%) Bicep
12 1 (0.21%) C
12 1 (0.21%) COBOL
12 1 (0.21%) Search Processing Language
12 1 (0.21%) SystemVerilog
Qualifications
1 480 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 31 (6.46%) DV Cleared
3 24 (5.00%) Azure Certification
4 16 (3.33%) BPSS Clearance
5 12 (2.50%) AWS Certification
6 10 (2.08%) Degree
7 7 (1.46%) CISSP
7 7 (1.46%) IIBA
8 6 (1.25%) Cisco Certification
8 6 (1.25%) Microsoft Certification
9 5 (1.04%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 5 (1.04%) CCNP
10 4 (0.83%) CCIE
10 4 (0.83%) CEH
10 4 (0.83%) CISM
11 2 (0.42%) CCNA
11 2 (0.42%) DBS Check
11 2 (0.42%) GCIH
11 2 (0.42%) ISTQB
11 2 (0.42%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (4.38%) Data Quality
2 17 (3.54%) NCSC
2 17 (3.54%) QA
3 13 (2.71%) NIST
4 11 (2.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 8 (1.67%) Accessibility
6 6 (1.25%) GDPR
7 4 (0.83%) WCAG
8 3 (0.63%) FATCA
9 2 (0.42%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.42%) PMO
10 1 (0.21%) IEC 61131
10 1 (0.21%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.21%) SLA
System Software
1 97 (20.21%) Docker
2 13 (2.71%) Active Directory
3 9 (1.88%) Postfix
4 7 (1.46%) DFS Replication
5 5 (1.04%) Dovecot
5 5 (1.04%) Squid
6 3 (0.63%) VMware Infrastructure
6 3 (0.63%) VMware NSX
7 2 (0.42%) Terminal Services
8 1 (0.21%) Snort
Systems Management
1 112 (23.33%) Kubernetes
2 40 (8.33%) Grafana
3 34 (7.08%) Terraform
4 32 (6.67%) Prometheus
5 15 (3.13%) Ansible
6 10 (2.08%) Kibana
7 8 (1.67%) Progress Chef
8 5 (1.04%) Nessus
8 5 (1.04%) Proxmox
9 4 (0.83%) logstash
10 3 (0.63%) FortiGate
11 2 (0.42%) Docker Swarm
11 2 (0.42%) QRadar
12 1 (0.21%) CSIRT
12 1 (0.21%) Fluentd
12 1 (0.21%) Host Intrusion Detection System
12 1 (0.21%) HP ALM
12 1 (0.21%) NetBackup
12 1 (0.21%) Puppet
12 1 (0.21%) Rsyslog
Vendors
1 84 (17.50%) Oracle
2 48 (10.00%) Microsoft
3 40 (8.33%) Talend
4 34 (7.08%) ServiceNow
5 33 (6.88%) Cisco
6 30 (6.25%) Splunk
7 28 (5.83%) Denodo
8 27 (5.63%) Dynatrace
9 25 (5.21%) Juniper
10 17 (3.54%) AppDynamics
11 14 (2.92%) Informatica
12 13 (2.71%) CyberArk
12 13 (2.71%) SAP
13 10 (2.08%) F5
14 9 (1.88%) CheckPoint
15 7 (1.46%) Jaspersoft
16 6 (1.25%) Fujitsu
17 5 (1.04%) Atlassian
17 5 (1.04%) Remedy
17 5 (1.04%) Xilinx