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 12 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 7 14
Rank change year-on-year +4 +7 -3
Contract jobs citing SC Cleared 344 189 176
As % of all contract jobs in Berkshire 23.69% 13.85% 10.30%
As % of the Qualifications category 56.77% 38.26% 22.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 267 120 122
10th Percentile £248 £245 £356
25th Percentile £306 £361 £474
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £461 £578 £605
Median % change year-on-year -20.17% -4.55% +5.22%
75th Percentile £525 £660 £650
90th Percentile £597 £688 £688
South East median daily rate £500 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% +2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 6 16
10th Percentile £19.38 £37.59 £27.71
25th Percentile £27.63 £57.74 £51.63
Median hourly rate £80.00 £67.70 £59.48
Median % change year-on-year +18.18% +13.81% +8.15%
75th Percentile £95.00 £83.41 £63.29
90th Percentile £108.71 £86.08 £73.30
South East median hourly rate £25.15 £58.38 £60.00
% change year-on-year -56.92% -2.71% -

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 606 494 769
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Berkshire 41.74% 36.19% 45.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 428 261 454
10th Percentile £239 £239 £205
25th Percentile £340 £380 £328
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £550 £501
Median % change year-on-year -15.91% +9.89% -9.00%
75th Percentile £538 £656 £615
90th Percentile £635 £700 £675
South East median daily rate £500 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +0.47%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 27 55
10th Percentile £19.43 £41.15 £42.50
25th Percentile £21.79 £51.00 £51.72
Median hourly rate £72.00 £61.50 £61.65
Median % change year-on-year +17.08% -0.24% +39.31%
75th Percentile £95.00 £65.17 £68.63
90th Percentile £101.20 £75.08 £75.93
South East median hourly rate £25.15 £45.06 £60.00
% change year-on-year -44.19% -24.90% +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 12 January 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 12 January 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 12 January 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
Wokingham 0 156 £380 +8.68% 12
Reading +7 148 £500 -21.57% 18
Bracknell -2 15 £550 +4.76% 1
Maidenhead -1 1 - - 3
Slough - 1 - - 15
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 (1.45%) Confluence
1 5 (1.45%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (0.58%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.29%) CMS
3 1 (0.29%) Drupal
3 1 (0.29%) Skype for Business
3 1 (0.29%) WordPress
Applications
1 18 (5.23%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (4.36%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (3.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.87%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 5 (1.45%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.58%) SAP EWM
2 2 (0.58%) SAP HCM
2 2 (0.58%) SAP PS
2 2 (0.58%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 108 (31.40%) Azure
2 97 (28.20%) AWS
3 49 (14.24%) GCP
4 19 (5.52%) Entra ID
5 15 (4.36%) OneDrive
6 13 (3.78%) OpenShift
7 10 (2.91%) Datadog
7 10 (2.91%) Microsoft 365
8 9 (2.62%) SaaS
9 7 (2.03%) IaaS
10 5 (1.45%) Power Automate
10 5 (1.45%) Power Platform
11 4 (1.16%) AWS CloudFormation
11 4 (1.16%) Azure DevOps
12 3 (0.87%) Azure Sentinel
13 2 (0.58%) Amazon GuardDuty
13 2 (0.58%) AWS KMS
13 2 (0.58%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 2 (0.58%) Azure Monitor
13 2 (0.58%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 29 (8.43%) DNS
2 24 (6.98%) Firewall
3 22 (6.40%) DHCP
3 22 (6.40%) Network Security
4 14 (4.07%) TCP/IP
4 14 (4.07%) Wireless
5 12 (3.49%) VLAN
6 9 (2.62%) 4G
6 9 (2.62%) Wi-Fi
7 8 (2.33%) Unified Communications
8 7 (2.03%) Intrusion Detection
9 6 (1.74%) LAN
9 6 (1.74%) Wireshark
10 5 (1.45%) FTP
10 5 (1.45%) VPN
10 5 (1.45%) WAN
10 5 (1.45%) WebEx
10 5 (1.45%) WLAN
11 3 (0.87%) BGP
11 3 (0.87%) DWDM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.74%) NoSQL
2 3 (0.87%) Power BI
3 2 (0.58%) SAP HANA
4 1 (0.29%) MongoDB
4 1 (0.29%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 19 (5.52%) Burp Suite
1 19 (5.52%) Metasploit
2 12 (3.49%) JIRA
3 9 (2.62%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.87%) Android Studio
4 3 (0.87%) Bitbucket
4 3 (0.87%) Subversion
5 2 (0.58%) Visual Studio
6 1 (0.29%) Git
6 1 (0.29%) GitLab
6 1 (0.29%) NeoLoad
6 1 (0.29%) Rational DOORS
General
1 143 (41.57%) Social Skills
2 70 (20.35%) Analytical Skills
3 60 (17.44%) Public Sector
4 21 (6.10%) Documentation Skills
5 9 (2.62%) Telecoms
6 7 (2.03%) Finance
7 4 (1.16%) Influencing Skills
8 3 (0.87%) Legal
9 2 (0.58%) Aerospace
9 2 (0.58%) Manufacturing
9 2 (0.58%) Marketing
9 2 (0.58%) Military
9 2 (0.58%) Presentation Skills
10 1 (0.29%) Banking
10 1 (0.29%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 47 (13.66%) Consultant
2 32 (9.30%) Network Consultant
3 27 (7.85%) Analyst
4 24 (6.98%) Architect
5 22 (6.40%) Network Engineer
6 21 (6.10%) Lead
7 20 (5.81%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 20 (5.81%) Penetration Tester
7 20 (5.81%) Support Engineer
8 18 (5.23%) Tester
9 15 (4.36%) Infrastructure Support
9 15 (4.36%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
10 14 (4.07%) SIEM Engineer
11 13 (3.78%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 13 (3.78%) Senior
12 12 (3.49%) Cisco Engineer
12 12 (3.49%) Cisco Network Engineer
13 11 (3.20%) Juniper Engineer
14 10 (2.91%) Cloud Engineer
14 10 (2.91%) Data Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (3.78%) LDAP
2 8 (2.33%) Loki
3 4 (1.16%) Middleware
4 2 (0.58%) ARM Templates
4 2 (0.58%) OAuth
4 2 (0.58%) OAuth2
4 2 (0.58%) OpenID
4 2 (0.58%) SAML
5 1 (0.29%) 802.1X
5 1 (0.29%) Elastic Stack
5 1 (0.29%) RESTful
5 1 (0.29%) RFC 2544
5 1 (0.29%) Spring
5 1 (0.29%) Spring Boot
5 1 (0.29%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 18 (5.23%) Onboarding
2 17 (4.94%) Cloud Native
3 12 (3.49%) Analytical Mindset
3 12 (3.49%) Cyber Security Posture
4 10 (2.91%) Data Centre
4 10 (2.91%) Management Information System
4 10 (2.91%) Security Posture
5 8 (2.33%) Virtual Team
6 7 (2.03%) Enterprise Software
7 6 (1.74%) Distributed Systems
7 6 (1.74%) Driving Licence
7 6 (1.74%) PMI
8 5 (1.45%) Handset
8 5 (1.45%) PKI
9 4 (1.16%) CSOC
9 4 (1.16%) Security Operations Centre
10 3 (0.87%) Mobile App
11 2 (0.58%) Clustering
11 2 (0.58%) Legacy Systems
11 2 (0.58%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 59 (17.15%) Windows
2 46 (13.37%) Linux
3 13 (3.78%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 13 (3.78%) Windows 10
4 10 (2.91%) Windows Server
5 7 (2.03%) Android
6 6 (1.74%) Kali Linux
7 2 (0.58%) SUSE
7 2 (0.58%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
8 1 (0.29%) Mac OS
8 1 (0.29%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 71 (20.64%) Problem-Solving
2 61 (17.73%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 59 (17.15%) ITIL
4 55 (15.99%) CI/CD
5 53 (15.41%) Cybersecurity
6 47 (13.66%) Roadmaps
6 47 (13.66%) Service Management
7 45 (13.08%) Migration
8 42 (12.21%) Collaborative Working
9 38 (11.05%) Continuous Improvement
10 37 (10.76%) Change Management
10 37 (10.76%) DevOps
11 35 (10.17%) ITSM
12 34 (9.88%) SIEM
13 29 (8.43%) DevSecOps
14 27 (7.85%) Agile
15 26 (7.56%) Infrastructure Engineering
16 25 (7.27%) Performance Metrics
17 22 (6.40%) Stakeholder Management
18 21 (6.10%) Penetration Testing
Programming Languages
1 70 (20.35%) Python
2 47 (13.66%) PowerShell
3 26 (7.56%) Bash
4 10 (2.91%) Kusto Query Language
5 9 (2.62%) Java
6 6 (1.74%) Go
7 5 (1.45%) SQL
8 4 (1.16%) Bicep
9 3 (0.87%) C#
10 2 (0.58%) Ada
10 2 (0.58%) Assembly Language
10 2 (0.58%) C
10 2 (0.58%) MATLAB
11 1 (0.29%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 344 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 32 (9.30%) CISSP
3 27 (7.85%) Degree
4 20 (5.81%) CEH
5 17 (4.94%) Azure Certification
5 17 (4.94%) CISM
6 15 (4.36%) AWS Certification
7 13 (3.78%) CHECK Team Member
7 13 (3.78%) GIAC
7 13 (3.78%) Network+ Certification
8 11 (3.20%) CREST Certified
8 11 (3.20%) Cyber Scheme
8 11 (3.20%) Microsoft Certification
9 9 (2.62%) CCNP
9 9 (2.62%) Cisco Certification
9 9 (2.62%) DV Cleared
9 9 (2.62%) PMP
9 9 (2.62%) Postgraduate
9 9 (2.62%) Server+ Certification
10 8 (2.33%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (9.01%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 26 (7.56%) GDPR
3 18 (5.23%) NIST
4 14 (4.07%) PMO
4 14 (4.07%) QA
5 13 (3.78%) PCI DSS
6 7 (2.03%) NCSC
7 2 (0.58%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.58%) SLA
8 1 (0.29%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.29%) Def Stans
8 1 (0.29%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
System Software
1 46 (13.37%) Active Directory
2 28 (8.14%) VMware Infrastructure
3 13 (3.78%) Docker
3 13 (3.78%) vSphere
4 11 (3.20%) Hyper-V
5 5 (1.45%) VMware NSX
6 2 (0.58%) Terminal Services
6 2 (0.58%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.29%) NFS
7 1 (0.29%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 33 (9.59%) Kubernetes
2 19 (5.52%) Nmap
3 15 (4.36%) Terraform
4 13 (3.78%) Ansible
4 13 (3.78%) Argo
4 13 (3.78%) Grafana
4 13 (3.78%) Prometheus
4 13 (3.78%) SCCM
5 10 (2.91%) Kibana
6 8 (2.33%) Kustomize
7 6 (1.74%) Microsoft Intune
8 5 (1.45%) QRadar
8 5 (1.45%) Red Hat Satellite
8 5 (1.45%) vCenter Server
9 4 (1.16%) Cisco CUCM
10 3 (0.87%) Nagios
10 3 (0.87%) Single Sign-On
10 3 (0.87%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
11 2 (0.58%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 1 (0.29%) NetBackup
Vendors
1 62 (18.02%) Cisco
2 50 (14.53%) Microsoft
3 39 (11.34%) VMware
4 32 (9.30%) Aruba
5 27 (7.85%) ServiceNow
6 26 (7.56%) Google
7 20 (5.81%) Splunk
8 18 (5.23%) Juniper
9 17 (4.94%) Red Hat
10 16 (4.65%) CyberArk
11 14 (4.07%) BeyondTrust
12 11 (3.20%) SAP
12 11 (3.20%) Tanium
13 10 (2.91%) AppDynamics
13 10 (2.91%) Dynatrace
13 10 (2.91%) FireEye
14 8 (2.33%) Citrix
14 8 (2.33%) Workday
15 5 (1.45%) Pure Storage
16 4 (1.16%) Nokia