SC Cleared Contract Job Trends in Berkshire

Security Check (SC) Clearance
South East > Berkshire

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

6 months to
6 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 12 12
Rank change year-on-year +9 0 -1
Contract jobs citing SC Cleared 476 146 222
As % of all contract jobs in Berkshire 26.56% 11.70% 11.17%
As % of the Qualifications category 58.69% 34.03% 24.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 349 87 147
10th Percentile £255 £305 £350
25th Percentile £322 £378 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £525 £605
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% -13.22% +3.24%
75th Percentile £538 £616 £650
90th Percentile £607 £663 £688
South East median daily rate £500 £540 £556
% change year-on-year -7.41% -2.92% +3.01%
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 9 18
10th Percentile £21.78 £23.43 £28.79
25th Percentile £79.17 £60.75 £52.90
Median hourly rate £82.50 £74.00 £62.07
Median % change year-on-year +11.49% +19.22% +10.96%
75th Percentile £95.00 £80.00 £66.68
90th Percentile £97.50 £87.96 £74.67
South East median hourly rate £27.50 £61.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year -54.92% +1.66% +1.90%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
Berkshire

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 Berkshire.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 811 429 904
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Berkshire 45.26% 34.38% 45.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 541 223 451
10th Percentile £255 £251 £205
25th Percentile £350 £400 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £525 £513
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% +2.44% -9.09%
75th Percentile £538 £650 £615
90th Percentile £625 £700 £675
South East median daily rate £514 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -2.00% -4.55% +3.77%
Number of hourly rates quoted 91 26 78
10th Percentile £20.79 £41.25 £41.25
25th Percentile £72.70 £55.87 £52.37
Median hourly rate £83.00 £61.50 £61.60
Median % change year-on-year +34.97% -0.17% -4.75%
75th Percentile £88.00 £73.03 £70.50
90th Percentile £97.50 £86.56 £85.65
South East median hourly rate £31.25 £56.75 £58.30
% change year-on-year -44.93% -2.66% +26.05%

SC Cleared
Job Vacancy Trend in Berkshire

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

SC Cleared job vacancy trend in Berkshire

SC Cleared
Daily Rate Trend in Berkshire

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Berkshire citing SC Cleared.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Berkshire citing SC Cleared

SC Cleared
Daily Rate Histogram in Berkshire

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SC Cleared in Berkshire over the 6 months to 6 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for SC Cleared in Berkshire

SC Cleared
Hourly Rate Trend in Berkshire

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Berkshire citing SC Cleared.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Berkshire citing SC Cleared

SC Cleared
Hourly Rate Histogram in Berkshire

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing SC Cleared in Berkshire over the 6 months to 6 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for SC Cleared in Berkshire

SC Cleared
Contract Job Locations in Berkshire

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 Berkshire region over the 6 months to 6 March 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
Reading +15 237 £500 -16.67% 27
Wokingham 0 193 £395 -1.25% 15
Bracknell +8 27 £550 - 2
Maidenhead 0 1 - -
Slough -2 1 - - 3
Thatcham - 1 - -
SC Cleared
South East

SC Cleared
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Berkshire 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 8 (1.68%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (1.47%) Confluence
2 7 (1.47%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.21%) Apache
3 1 (0.21%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 20 (4.20%) Microsoft Excel
1 20 (4.20%) Microsoft Office
2 16 (3.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (0.63%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.21%) CATIA
4 1 (0.21%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.21%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 7 (1.47%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.42%) SAP HCM
2 2 (0.42%) SAP PS
2 2 (0.42%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 126 (26.47%) Azure
2 99 (20.80%) AWS
3 52 (10.92%) GCP
4 27 (5.67%) Entra ID
5 17 (3.57%) OneDrive
6 16 (3.36%) OpenShift
7 13 (2.73%) Microsoft 365
8 11 (2.31%) Power Platform
9 10 (2.10%) Datadog
10 9 (1.89%) Azure DevOps
11 8 (1.68%) IaaS
12 7 (1.47%) Power Automate
13 6 (1.26%) Azure Sentinel
14 4 (0.84%) AWS CloudFormation
14 4 (0.84%) PowerApps
14 4 (0.84%) SaaS
15 3 (0.63%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 3 (0.63%) Azure Monitor
15 3 (0.63%) PaaS
15 3 (0.63%) Viva Engage
Communications & Networking
1 34 (7.14%) Firewall
2 30 (6.30%) Network Security
3 29 (6.09%) DNS
4 22 (4.62%) DHCP
4 22 (4.62%) Wireless
5 15 (3.15%) LAN
6 14 (2.94%) TCP/IP
7 11 (2.31%) Unified Communications
7 11 (2.31%) WAN
8 10 (2.10%) VLAN
8 10 (2.10%) Wi-Fi
8 10 (2.10%) WLAN
9 9 (1.89%) 4G
9 9 (1.89%) BGP
9 9 (1.89%) OSPF
9 9 (1.89%) VPN
10 8 (1.68%) FTP
10 8 (1.68%) Wireshark
11 7 (1.47%) Intrusion Detection
12 6 (1.26%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (1.89%) Power BI
1 9 (1.89%) SQL Server
2 8 (1.68%) Oracle Database
3 5 (1.05%) Oracle Database 12c
4 4 (0.84%) NoSQL
5 3 (0.63%) Data Warehouse
5 3 (0.63%) Tableau
6 2 (0.42%) SAP HANA
7 1 (0.21%) Amazon RDS
7 1 (0.21%) MongoDB
7 1 (0.21%) MySQL
7 1 (0.21%) Oracle Database 11g
7 1 (0.21%) Oracle Reports
7 1 (0.21%) PostgreSQL
7 1 (0.21%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 21 (4.41%) Burp Suite
1 21 (4.41%) Metasploit
2 13 (2.73%) Jenkins
2 13 (2.73%) JIRA
3 10 (2.10%) Rational DOORS
4 7 (1.47%) Subversion
5 4 (0.84%) Bitbucket
5 4 (0.84%) Eclipse
5 4 (0.84%) Maven
6 3 (0.63%) Android Studio
7 2 (0.42%) Balsamiq
7 2 (0.42%) GitLab
7 2 (0.42%) HP UFT
8 1 (0.21%) Git
8 1 (0.21%) NeoLoad
General
1 178 (37.39%) Social Skills
2 72 (15.13%) Analytical Skills
3 65 (13.66%) Public Sector
4 26 (5.46%) Aerospace
5 25 (5.25%) Documentation Skills
6 16 (3.36%) Finance
7 11 (2.31%) Telecoms
8 6 (1.26%) Advertising
8 6 (1.26%) Influencing Skills
9 4 (0.84%) Legal
10 3 (0.63%) Manufacturing
10 3 (0.63%) Marketing
10 3 (0.63%) Military
11 2 (0.42%) Local Government
12 1 (0.21%) Avionics
12 1 (0.21%) Banking
12 1 (0.21%) Billing
12 1 (0.21%) Electronics
12 1 (0.21%) Law
12 1 (0.21%) Police
Job Titles
1 54 (11.34%) Consultant
2 37 (7.77%) Analyst
3 36 (7.56%) Network Engineer
4 33 (6.93%) Lead
5 32 (6.72%) Network Consultant
6 31 (6.51%) Architect
6 31 (6.51%) Senior
7 22 (4.62%) Penetration Tester
7 22 (4.62%) SIEM Engineer
8 20 (4.20%) Support Engineer
8 20 (4.20%) Tester
9 18 (3.78%) Cisco Engineer
9 18 (3.78%) Cisco Network Engineer
10 17 (3.57%) Project Manager
10 17 (3.57%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 16 (3.36%) Developer
11 16 (3.36%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 13 (2.73%) Delivery Manager
12 13 (2.73%) Juniper Engineer
12 13 (2.73%) Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (3.36%) LDAP
2 9 (1.89%) Loki
3 8 (1.68%) Oracle GoldenGate
4 5 (1.05%) Middleware
5 4 (0.84%) Elastic Stack
5 4 (0.84%) XML
6 3 (0.63%) ARM Templates
7 2 (0.42%) ADO
7 2 (0.42%) OAuth
7 2 (0.42%) OAuth2
7 2 (0.42%) OpenID
7 2 (0.42%) SAML
8 1 (0.21%) 802.1X
8 1 (0.21%) LAMP
8 1 (0.21%) MERN Stack
8 1 (0.21%) RFC 2544
8 1 (0.21%) WPF
8 1 (0.21%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 27 (5.67%) Data Centre
2 23 (4.83%) Onboarding
3 17 (3.57%) Cloud Native
4 15 (3.15%) Security Posture
5 11 (2.31%) Cyber Security Posture
5 11 (2.31%) Management Information System
6 10 (2.10%) Analytical Mindset
7 9 (1.89%) Virtual Team
8 8 (1.68%) Enterprise Software
8 8 (1.68%) Product Ownership
9 7 (1.47%) Driving Licence
9 7 (1.47%) PMI
9 7 (1.47%) Self-Motivation
10 6 (1.26%) Data Protection Act
10 6 (1.26%) PKI
11 5 (1.05%) Distributed Systems
11 5 (1.05%) Handset
12 4 (0.84%) Greenfield Project
12 4 (0.84%) Video Conferencing
13 3 (0.63%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 63 (13.24%) Windows
2 60 (12.61%) Linux
3 21 (4.41%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 13 (2.73%) Windows 10
4 13 (2.73%) Windows Server
5 7 (1.47%) Android
5 7 (1.47%) Kali Linux
5 7 (1.47%) Unix
6 2 (0.42%) Mac OS
6 2 (0.42%) SUSE
6 2 (0.42%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
7 1 (0.21%) OpenVMS
7 1 (0.21%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 82 (17.23%) ITIL
1 82 (17.23%) Problem-Solving
2 69 (14.50%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 67 (14.08%) CI/CD
4 66 (13.87%) Cybersecurity
5 64 (13.45%) Roadmaps
6 63 (13.24%) Migration
7 54 (11.34%) Continuous Improvement
8 51 (10.71%) Service Management
9 50 (10.50%) DevOps
10 48 (10.08%) Collaborative Working
11 45 (9.45%) Agile
12 44 (9.24%) Change Management
12 44 (9.24%) SIEM
13 43 (9.03%) Stakeholder Management
14 42 (8.82%) ITSM
15 39 (8.19%) DevSecOps
16 26 (5.46%) Performance Metrics
17 25 (5.25%) Validation
18 24 (5.04%) Infrastructure Engineering
Programming Languages
1 85 (17.86%) Python
2 62 (13.03%) PowerShell
3 30 (6.30%) Bash
4 20 (4.20%) Kusto Query Language
5 12 (2.52%) SQL
6 8 (1.68%) Java
6 8 (1.68%) Korn
6 8 (1.68%) Shell Script
7 5 (1.05%) Bicep
8 4 (0.84%) Go
9 2 (0.42%) VBScript
10 1 (0.21%) C#
10 1 (0.21%) C++
10 1 (0.21%) JavaScript
10 1 (0.21%) Perl
10 1 (0.21%) PHP
Qualifications
1 476 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 38 (7.98%) Degree
3 35 (7.35%) CISSP
4 20 (4.20%) CEH
5 19 (3.99%) CISM
6 16 (3.36%) Azure Certification
6 16 (3.36%) PMP
7 15 (3.15%) AWS Certification
8 14 (2.94%) CHECK Team Member
9 13 (2.73%) DV Cleared
9 13 (2.73%) PMI Certification
10 12 (2.52%) CREST Certified
10 12 (2.52%) Cyber Scheme
10 12 (2.52%) GIAC
11 11 (2.31%) CCNP
11 11 (2.31%) Cisco Certification
11 11 (2.31%) Network+ Certification
12 10 (2.10%) BPSS Clearance
12 10 (2.10%) Postgraduate
13 7 (1.47%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 44 (9.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 34 (7.14%) NIST
3 31 (6.51%) GDPR
4 17 (3.57%) QA
5 15 (3.15%) PMO
6 14 (2.94%) PCI DSS
7 13 (2.73%) NCSC
8 4 (0.84%) NIST 800
9 3 (0.63%) Accessibility
9 3 (0.63%) DO-254
9 3 (0.63%) IEC 61508
9 3 (0.63%) ISO 26262
10 2 (0.42%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.42%) JSP 440
10 2 (0.42%) SLA
11 1 (0.21%) Actionable Recommendations
11 1 (0.21%) Data Quality
11 1 (0.21%) Def Stans
11 1 (0.21%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 56 (11.76%) Active Directory
2 30 (6.30%) VMware Infrastructure
3 13 (2.73%) vSphere
4 12 (2.52%) Docker
5 8 (1.68%) Oracle RAC
6 7 (1.47%) Hyper-V
7 5 (1.05%) VMware NSX
8 2 (0.42%) Firmware
8 2 (0.42%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.21%) NFS
9 1 (0.21%) Terminal Services
9 1 (0.21%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 34 (7.14%) Kubernetes
2 21 (4.41%) Nmap
3 16 (3.36%) Ansible
3 16 (3.36%) Terraform
4 14 (2.94%) Argo
4 14 (2.94%) Grafana
4 14 (2.94%) Prometheus
4 14 (2.94%) SCCM
5 12 (2.52%) Kibana
6 11 (2.31%) Microsoft Intune
7 9 (1.89%) Kustomize
7 9 (1.89%) Oracle RMAN
8 8 (1.68%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
8 8 (1.68%) Red Hat Satellite
9 5 (1.05%) Nagios
9 5 (1.05%) vCenter Server
10 4 (0.84%) Cisco CUCM
11 3 (0.63%) Single Sign-On
11 3 (0.63%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
12 2 (0.42%) Active Directory Federation Services
Vendors
1 76 (15.97%) Cisco
2 56 (11.76%) Microsoft
3 43 (9.03%) VMware
4 35 (7.35%) ServiceNow
5 33 (6.93%) Aruba
6 28 (5.88%) Google
7 25 (5.25%) Red Hat
8 24 (5.04%) Juniper
9 20 (4.20%) CyberArk
10 17 (3.57%) BeyondTrust
11 15 (3.15%) Tanium
12 12 (2.52%) FireEye
12 12 (2.52%) SAP
12 12 (2.52%) Splunk
13 10 (2.10%) AppDynamics
13 10 (2.10%) Citrix
13 10 (2.10%) Dynatrace
14 9 (1.89%) Oracle
15 7 (1.47%) Atlassian
16 6 (1.26%) SolarWinds