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 21 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 3 6 13
Rank change year-on-year +3 +7 -1
Contract jobs citing SC Cleared 338 224 176
As % of all contract jobs in Berkshire 22.85% 15.15% 10.27%
As % of the Qualifications category 54.78% 41.18% 23.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 261 145 117
10th Percentile £255 £279 £356
25th Percentile £340 £350 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £583 £600
Median % change year-on-year -18.52% -2.83% +5.26%
75th Percentile £537 £660 £638
90th Percentile £588 £723 £663
South East median daily rate £500 £540 £550
% change year-on-year -7.41% -1.82% +4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 6 16
10th Percentile £19.38 £37.59 £27.71
25th Percentile £26.39 £57.74 £51.63
Median hourly rate £76.00 £67.70 £60.82
Median % change year-on-year +12.27% +11.30% +94.63%
75th Percentile £95.00 £83.41 £63.29
90th Percentile £98.75 £86.08 £73.30
South East median hourly rate £25.15 £57.81 £60.00
% change year-on-year -56.50% -3.65% -

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 617 544 756
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Berkshire 41.72% 36.78% 44.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 424 297 449
10th Percentile £255 £245 £205
25th Percentile £363 £380 £335
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £550 £500
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% +10.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £538 £656 £619
90th Percentile £625 £704 £675
South East median daily rate £500 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 29 53
10th Percentile £19.38 £41.20 £45.85
25th Percentile £20.79 £55.87 £55.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £61.50 £63.00
Median % change year-on-year +5.70% -2.39% +168.09%
75th Percentile £95.00 £64.73 £68.63
90th Percentile £98.00 £74.97 £76.01
South East median hourly rate £25.15 £56.75 £60.00
% change year-on-year -55.68% -5.43% +33.33%

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 21 December 2025.

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 21 December 2025.

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 21 December 2025. 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
Wokingham 0 149 £425 +21.43% 10
Reading +5 143 £500 -21.41% 26
Bracknell -4 18 £550 +11.39% 1
Maidenhead -2 1 - - 3
Slough -4 1 - -
Thatcham - 1 - - 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 5 (1.48%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (0.89%) Confluence
3 2 (0.59%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.30%) CMS
4 1 (0.30%) Drupal
4 1 (0.30%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.30%) WordPress
Applications
1 12 (3.55%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (3.25%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (2.07%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.89%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 5 (1.48%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.59%) SAP EWM
2 2 (0.59%) SAP HCM
2 2 (0.59%) SAP PS
2 2 (0.59%) SAP WM
3 1 (0.30%) Infor CloudSuite Industrial (formerly SyteLine)
3 1 (0.30%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 98 (28.99%) Azure
2 90 (26.63%) AWS
3 48 (14.20%) GCP
4 15 (4.44%) Entra ID
4 15 (4.44%) OneDrive
5 13 (3.85%) OpenShift
6 10 (2.96%) Microsoft 365
7 9 (2.66%) SaaS
8 5 (1.48%) IaaS
8 5 (1.48%) Power Automate
8 5 (1.48%) Power Platform
9 4 (1.18%) AWS CloudFormation
9 4 (1.18%) Azure Storage
10 2 (0.59%) Amazon GuardDuty
10 2 (0.59%) AWS CloudTrail
10 2 (0.59%) AWS Control Tower
10 2 (0.59%) AWS KMS
10 2 (0.59%) PowerApps
10 2 (0.59%) Slack
10 2 (0.59%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 29 (8.58%) DNS
2 22 (6.51%) DHCP
2 22 (6.51%) Network Security
3 17 (5.03%) Firewall
4 14 (4.14%) TCP/IP
5 12 (3.55%) VLAN
6 11 (3.25%) SAN
7 10 (2.96%) Wi-Fi
7 10 (2.96%) Wireless
8 9 (2.66%) 4G
9 8 (2.37%) Unified Communications
10 7 (2.07%) Intrusion Detection
11 6 (1.78%) LAN
11 6 (1.78%) Wireshark
12 5 (1.48%) FTP
12 5 (1.48%) VPN
12 5 (1.48%) WAN
12 5 (1.48%) WebEx
12 5 (1.48%) WLAN
13 4 (1.18%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.78%) NoSQL
2 3 (0.89%) Power BI
3 2 (0.59%) SAP HANA
3 2 (0.59%) SQL Server
4 1 (0.30%) MongoDB
4 1 (0.30%) MySQL
4 1 (0.30%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 13 (3.85%) Burp Suite
1 13 (3.85%) Metasploit
2 12 (3.55%) JIRA
3 7 (2.07%) Jenkins
4 2 (0.59%) Visual Studio
5 1 (0.30%) Android Studio
5 1 (0.30%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.30%) Git
5 1 (0.30%) GitLab
5 1 (0.30%) NeoLoad
5 1 (0.30%) Rational DOORS
5 1 (0.30%) Subversion
General
1 142 (42.01%) Social Skills
2 69 (20.41%) Analytical Skills
3 63 (18.64%) Public Sector
4 21 (6.21%) Documentation Skills
5 10 (2.96%) Telecoms
6 8 (2.37%) Finance
7 4 (1.18%) Influencing Skills
8 3 (0.89%) Aerospace
8 3 (0.89%) Legal
8 3 (0.89%) Manufacturing
9 2 (0.59%) Electronics
9 2 (0.59%) Marketing
9 2 (0.59%) Military
9 2 (0.59%) Presentation Skills
10 1 (0.30%) Banking
Job Titles
1 43 (12.72%) Consultant
2 32 (9.47%) Network Consultant
3 27 (7.99%) Analyst
4 24 (7.10%) Architect
5 23 (6.80%) Lead
5 23 (6.80%) Network Engineer
6 21 (6.21%) Support Engineer
7 20 (5.92%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 15 (4.44%) Infrastructure Support
8 15 (4.44%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
9 14 (4.14%) Administrator
9 14 (4.14%) Penetration Tester
9 14 (4.14%) Senior
9 14 (4.14%) SIEM Engineer
9 14 (4.14%) Tester
10 13 (3.85%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 12 (3.55%) Cisco Engineer
11 12 (3.55%) Cisco Network Engineer
12 11 (3.25%) Juniper Engineer
13 10 (2.96%) Data Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (3.85%) LDAP
2 8 (2.37%) Loki
3 2 (0.59%) .NET
3 2 (0.59%) OAuth
3 2 (0.59%) OAuth2
3 2 (0.59%) OpenID
3 2 (0.59%) RESTful
3 2 (0.59%) SAML
4 1 (0.30%) .NET Core
4 1 (0.30%) 802.1X
4 1 (0.30%) CSS
4 1 (0.30%) Elastic Stack
4 1 (0.30%) HTML
4 1 (0.30%) Middleware
4 1 (0.30%) RFC 2544
4 1 (0.30%) Spring
4 1 (0.30%) Spring Boot
4 1 (0.30%) Vue
4 1 (0.30%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 16 (4.73%) Onboarding
2 14 (4.14%) Cloud Native
3 12 (3.55%) Analytical Mindset
3 12 (3.55%) Cyber Security Posture
3 12 (3.55%) Data Centre
4 10 (2.96%) Management Information System
5 8 (2.37%) Virtual Team
6 7 (2.07%) Enterprise Storage
7 6 (1.78%) Distributed Systems
7 6 (1.78%) Driving Licence
7 6 (1.78%) PMI
7 6 (1.78%) Security Posture
8 5 (1.48%) Handset
8 5 (1.48%) PKI
9 4 (1.18%) CSOC
9 4 (1.18%) Enterprise Software
9 4 (1.18%) Security Operations Centre
10 3 (0.89%) Legacy Systems
10 3 (0.89%) SCADA
11 2 (0.59%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 58 (17.16%) Windows
2 51 (15.09%) Linux
3 18 (5.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 13 (3.85%) Windows 10
5 10 (2.96%) Windows Server
6 6 (1.78%) Kali Linux
7 5 (1.48%) Android
8 4 (1.18%) Windows Server 2012
8 4 (1.18%) Windows Server 2016
8 4 (1.18%) Windows Server 2019
9 2 (0.59%) SUSE
9 2 (0.59%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
10 1 (0.30%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.30%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 73 (21.60%) Problem-Solving
2 60 (17.75%) ITIL
2 60 (17.75%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 49 (14.50%) Cybersecurity
4 48 (14.20%) Roadmaps
5 47 (13.91%) CI/CD
5 47 (13.91%) Migration
6 46 (13.61%) Service Management
7 40 (11.83%) Collaborative Working
8 37 (10.95%) Continuous Improvement
9 34 (10.06%) SIEM
10 32 (9.47%) ITSM
11 31 (9.17%) Change Management
12 30 (8.88%) DevOps
13 28 (8.28%) Disaster Recovery
14 27 (7.99%) Agile
14 27 (7.99%) DevSecOps
15 26 (7.69%) Infrastructure Engineering
16 23 (6.80%) Performance Metrics
17 22 (6.51%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 67 (19.82%) Python
2 44 (13.02%) PowerShell
3 24 (7.10%) Bash
4 10 (2.96%) Kusto Query Language
5 9 (2.66%) Java
6 6 (1.78%) Go
7 5 (1.48%) Shell Script
7 5 (1.48%) SQL
8 4 (1.18%) C#
9 2 (0.59%) Ada
9 2 (0.59%) Assembly Language
9 2 (0.59%) C
9 2 (0.59%) MATLAB
10 1 (0.30%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 338 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 32 (9.47%) CISSP
3 24 (7.10%) Degree
4 20 (5.92%) CEH
5 19 (5.62%) AWS Certification
5 19 (5.62%) Azure Certification
6 17 (5.03%) CISM
7 13 (3.85%) GIAC
7 13 (3.85%) Network+ Certification
8 12 (3.55%) CCNP
8 12 (3.55%) Cisco Certification
9 11 (3.25%) Microsoft Certification
10 9 (2.66%) PMP
10 9 (2.66%) Server+ Certification
11 8 (2.37%) DV Cleared
11 8 (2.37%) PMI Certification
12 7 (2.07%) CCNA
12 7 (2.07%) CHECK Team Member
13 6 (1.78%) BPSS Clearance
13 6 (1.78%) GPEN
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (8.58%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 24 (7.10%) GDPR
3 18 (5.33%) NIST
4 11 (3.25%) QA
5 10 (2.96%) PMO
6 7 (2.07%) PCI DSS
7 3 (0.89%) NCSC
8 2 (0.59%) Cyber Essentials
8 2 (0.59%) SLA
9 1 (0.30%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.30%) Def Stans
9 1 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
System Software
1 46 (13.61%) Active Directory
2 28 (8.28%) VMware Infrastructure
3 13 (3.85%) vSphere
4 11 (3.25%) Hyper-V
5 10 (2.96%) Docker
6 5 (1.48%) VMware NSX
7 2 (0.59%) Terminal Services
7 2 (0.59%) Virtual Desktop
8 1 (0.30%) NFS
8 1 (0.30%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 28 (8.28%) Kubernetes
2 13 (3.85%) Ansible
2 13 (3.85%) Argo
2 13 (3.85%) Nmap
2 13 (3.85%) SCCM
3 11 (3.25%) Terraform
4 10 (2.96%) Grafana
4 10 (2.96%) Kibana
4 10 (2.96%) Prometheus
5 8 (2.37%) Kustomize
6 7 (2.07%) NetBackup
7 6 (1.78%) Microsoft Intune
8 5 (1.48%) QRadar
8 5 (1.48%) Red Hat Satellite
8 5 (1.48%) vCenter Server
9 4 (1.18%) Cisco CUCM
10 3 (0.89%) Nagios
10 3 (0.89%) Single Sign-On
11 2 (0.59%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 1 (0.30%) Amdocs OSS
Vendors
1 63 (18.64%) Cisco
2 48 (14.20%) Microsoft
3 39 (11.54%) VMware
4 32 (9.47%) Aruba
5 26 (7.69%) ServiceNow
6 24 (7.10%) Google
7 22 (6.51%) Red Hat
8 20 (5.92%) Juniper
9 16 (4.73%) CyberArk
10 14 (4.14%) BeyondTrust
11 12 (3.55%) SAP
12 11 (3.25%) Splunk
12 11 (3.25%) Tanium
13 10 (2.96%) FireEye
13 10 (2.96%) NetApp
14 9 (2.66%) Pure Storage
15 8 (2.37%) Citrix
15 8 (2.37%) HP
15 8 (2.37%) Workday
16 7 (2.07%) Veritas