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 18 November 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 4 4 11
Rank change year-on-year 0 +7 +2
Contract jobs citing SC Cleared 253 276 206
As % of all contract jobs in Berkshire 18.95% 17.40% 11.44%
As % of the Qualifications category 49.03% 44.30% 25.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 211 183 123
10th Percentile £238 £315 £351
25th Percentile £333 £414 £459
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £485 £583 £575
Median % change year-on-year -16.81% +1.39% +4.55%
75th Percentile £537 £656 £625
90th Percentile £575 £726 £663
South East median daily rate £500 £540 £550
% change year-on-year -7.41% -1.82% +4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 14 19
10th Percentile £18.66 £50.68 £17.60
25th Percentile £20.87 £56.66 £24.75
Median hourly rate £35.27 £63.90 £56.00
Median % change year-on-year -44.80% +14.10% +1.82%
75th Percentile £58.91 £83.41 £63.29
90th Percentile £65.70 £87.07 £71.62
South East median hourly rate £25.15 £58.30 £60.00
% change year-on-year -56.86% -2.83% -

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 516 623 799
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Berkshire 38.65% 39.28% 44.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 357 336 460
10th Percentile £255 £291 £205
25th Percentile £380 £411 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £562 £520
Median % change year-on-year -12.38% +7.98% -4.88%
75th Percentile £550 £650 £623
90th Percentile £625 £715 £676
South East median daily rate £500 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 52 58
10th Percentile £19.09 £43.20 £28.79
25th Percentile £20.79 £56.36 £50.51
Median hourly rate £30.11 £61.65 £63.29
Median % change year-on-year -51.16% -2.59% +169.32%
75th Percentile £65.00 £78.07 £72.33
90th Percentile £88.55 £100.00 £76.37
South East median hourly rate £25.15 £58.38 £60.00
% change year-on-year -56.92% -2.71% +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 18 November 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 18 November 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 18 November 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
Reading +2 106 £500 -17.36% 44
Wokingham 0 105 £425 +21.43% 18
Bracknell -1 19 £550 +18.92% 2
Slough -4 1 - -
Maidenhead - 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 4 (1.58%) SharePoint
2 3 (1.19%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.79%) Confluence
4 1 (0.40%) CMS
4 1 (0.40%) Drupal
4 1 (0.40%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.40%) WordPress
Applications
1 4 (1.58%) Microsoft Excel
1 4 (1.58%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.19%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.79%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 5 (1.98%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.79%) SAP EWM
2 2 (0.79%) SAP HCM
2 2 (0.79%) SAP PS
2 2 (0.79%) SAP WM
3 1 (0.40%) Infor CloudSuite Industrial (formerly SyteLine)
3 1 (0.40%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.40%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 57 (22.53%) AWS
1 57 (22.53%) Azure
2 33 (13.04%) GCP
3 15 (5.93%) OneDrive
4 13 (5.14%) OpenShift
5 8 (3.16%) Microsoft 365
6 7 (2.77%) Entra ID
6 7 (2.77%) SaaS
7 5 (1.98%) IaaS
8 4 (1.58%) Azure Storage
9 3 (1.19%) Power Automate
9 3 (1.19%) Power Platform
10 2 (0.79%) PowerApps
10 2 (0.79%) Slack
11 1 (0.40%) Azure Data Factory
11 1 (0.40%) Azure Synapse Analytics
11 1 (0.40%) SAP Commerce Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 19 (7.51%) DNS
2 15 (5.93%) Network Security
3 12 (4.74%) DHCP
4 11 (4.35%) SAN
5 10 (3.95%) Firewall
5 10 (3.95%) Wi-Fi
6 9 (3.56%) 4G
6 9 (3.56%) TCP/IP
6 9 (3.56%) VLAN
7 8 (3.16%) Unified Communications
8 6 (2.37%) Wireshark
9 5 (1.98%) WebEx
10 4 (1.58%) Internet
10 4 (1.58%) Intrusion Detection
10 4 (1.58%) NAS
11 3 (1.19%) DWDM
11 3 (1.19%) LAN
11 3 (1.19%) SDH
11 3 (1.19%) WAN
12 2 (0.79%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (3.16%) NoSQL
2 3 (1.19%) Power BI
3 2 (0.79%) SAP HANA
3 2 (0.79%) SQL Server
4 1 (0.40%) MongoDB
4 1 (0.40%) MySQL
4 1 (0.40%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 10 (3.95%) JIRA
2 6 (2.37%) Burp Suite
2 6 (2.37%) Jenkins
2 6 (2.37%) Metasploit
3 2 (0.79%) Rational DOORS
3 2 (0.79%) Visual Studio
4 1 (0.40%) GitLab
4 1 (0.40%) NeoLoad
General
1 104 (41.11%) Social Skills
2 61 (24.11%) Public Sector
3 54 (21.34%) Analytical Skills
4 13 (5.14%) Documentation Skills
5 11 (4.35%) Telecoms
6 3 (1.19%) Aerospace
6 3 (1.19%) Finance
6 3 (1.19%) Influencing Skills
6 3 (1.19%) Manufacturing
7 2 (0.79%) Electronics
7 2 (0.79%) Marketing
7 2 (0.79%) Military
7 2 (0.79%) Presentation Skills
8 1 (0.40%) Banking
8 1 (0.40%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 43 (17.00%) Consultant
2 32 (12.65%) Network Consultant
3 22 (8.70%) Network Engineer
4 18 (7.11%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 18 (7.11%) Support Engineer
5 16 (6.32%) Lead
6 15 (5.93%) Infrastructure Support
6 15 (5.93%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
7 14 (5.53%) Analyst
8 13 (5.14%) Administrator
8 13 (5.14%) Architect
8 13 (5.14%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 12 (4.74%) Cisco Engineer
9 12 (4.74%) Cisco Network Engineer
9 12 (4.74%) Senior
10 11 (4.35%) Juniper Engineer
11 9 (3.56%) Site Engineer
11 9 (3.56%) Site Reliability Engineer
12 8 (3.16%) Cloud Engineer
12 8 (3.16%) SIEM Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (3.16%) LDAP
1 8 (3.16%) Loki
2 5 (1.98%) RFC 2544
3 2 (0.79%) .NET
3 2 (0.79%) RESTful
4 1 (0.40%) .NET Core
4 1 (0.40%) 802.1X
4 1 (0.40%) CSS
4 1 (0.40%) HTML
4 1 (0.40%) OAuth
4 1 (0.40%) OAuth2
4 1 (0.40%) OpenID
4 1 (0.40%) SAML
4 1 (0.40%) Spring
4 1 (0.40%) Spring Boot
4 1 (0.40%) Vue
4 1 (0.40%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 11 (4.35%) Analytical Mindset
1 11 (4.35%) Data Centre
2 9 (3.56%) Management Information System
3 8 (3.16%) Cloud Native
3 8 (3.16%) Cyber Security Posture
3 8 (3.16%) Onboarding
3 8 (3.16%) Virtual Team
4 7 (2.77%) Enterprise Storage
5 6 (2.37%) Distributed Systems
5 6 (2.37%) Driving Licence
5 6 (2.37%) Fibre Optics
6 5 (1.98%) Handset
7 4 (1.58%) CSOC
7 4 (1.58%) Security Operations Centre
8 3 (1.19%) Enterprise Software
8 3 (1.19%) SCADA
9 2 (0.79%) Clustering
9 2 (0.79%) Data Protection Act
9 2 (0.79%) Greenfield Project
9 2 (0.79%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 42 (16.60%) Linux
2 41 (16.21%) Windows
3 15 (5.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 14 (5.53%) Windows 10
5 6 (2.37%) Kali Linux
6 5 (1.98%) Windows Server
7 4 (1.58%) Windows Server 2012
7 4 (1.58%) Windows Server 2016
7 4 (1.58%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (0.79%) SUSE
8 2 (0.79%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 57 (22.53%) Problem-Solving
2 50 (19.76%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 43 (17.00%) Migration
4 40 (15.81%) Collaborative Working
5 38 (15.02%) CI/CD
6 37 (14.62%) Roadmaps
7 36 (14.23%) ITIL
8 31 (12.25%) Disaster Recovery
9 29 (11.46%) Service Management
10 26 (10.28%) Continuous Improvement
11 25 (9.88%) Cybersecurity
12 22 (8.70%) Change Management
12 22 (8.70%) DevOps
12 22 (8.70%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 20 (7.91%) SIEM
14 19 (7.51%) High Availability
15 17 (6.72%) Agile
15 17 (6.72%) Test Automation
16 16 (6.32%) Stakeholder Management
17 15 (5.93%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 52 (20.55%) Python
2 28 (11.07%) PowerShell
3 21 (8.30%) Bash
4 9 (3.56%) Java
5 7 (2.77%) SQL
6 6 (2.37%) Go
7 5 (1.98%) Kusto Query Language
7 5 (1.98%) Shell Script
8 4 (1.58%) C#
9 2 (0.79%) Ada
9 2 (0.79%) Assembly Language
9 2 (0.79%) C
9 2 (0.79%) MATLAB
10 1 (0.40%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 253 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 20 (7.91%) CISSP
3 15 (5.93%) CEH
3 15 (5.93%) Degree
4 14 (5.53%) Azure Certification
5 13 (5.14%) CISM
6 11 (4.35%) AWS Certification
6 11 (4.35%) Microsoft Certification
7 10 (3.95%) CCNP
7 10 (3.95%) Cisco Certification
7 10 (3.95%) Network+ Certification
8 9 (3.56%) Server+ Certification
9 8 (3.16%) CCNA
9 8 (3.16%) GIAC
10 6 (2.37%) DV Cleared
10 6 (2.37%) GPEN
10 6 (2.37%) OSCP
11 5 (1.98%) BPSS Clearance
12 4 (1.58%) JNCIA
13 3 (1.19%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (6.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 12 (4.74%) GDPR
2 12 (4.74%) NIST
3 9 (3.56%) QA
4 2 (0.79%) PMO
5 1 (0.40%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
5 1 (0.40%) SLA
System Software
1 29 (11.46%) Active Directory
2 22 (8.70%) VMware Infrastructure
3 13 (5.14%) vSphere
4 10 (3.95%) Hyper-V
5 7 (2.77%) Docker
6 5 (1.98%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.40%) Terminal Services
7 1 (0.40%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.40%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 24 (9.49%) Kubernetes
2 13 (5.14%) Argo
3 12 (4.74%) SCCM
4 8 (3.16%) Ansible
4 8 (3.16%) Grafana
4 8 (3.16%) Kustomize
4 8 (3.16%) Prometheus
5 7 (2.77%) NetBackup
5 7 (2.77%) Terraform
6 6 (2.37%) Nmap
7 5 (1.98%) Kibana
7 5 (1.98%) QRadar
7 5 (1.98%) vCenter Server
8 4 (1.58%) Cisco CUCM
9 3 (1.19%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.79%) Red Hat Satellite
11 1 (0.40%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 1 (0.40%) Amdocs OSS
11 1 (0.40%) Cisco UCCE
11 1 (0.40%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 60 (23.72%) Cisco
2 41 (16.21%) Microsoft
3 32 (12.65%) Aruba
4 26 (10.28%) VMware
5 20 (7.91%) ServiceNow
6 19 (7.51%) Red Hat
7 17 (6.72%) Juniper
8 15 (5.93%) Google
9 11 (4.35%) SAP
10 10 (3.95%) NetApp
10 10 (3.95%) Splunk
11 9 (3.56%) CyberArk
11 9 (3.56%) Pure Storage
12 8 (3.16%) BeyondTrust
12 8 (3.16%) HP
12 8 (3.16%) Workday
13 7 (2.77%) 3PAR
13 7 (2.77%) Veritas
14 6 (2.37%) Nimble Storage
15 5 (1.98%) FireEye