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

6 months to
21 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 4 5 12
Rank change year-on-year +1 +7 +1
Contract jobs citing SC Cleared 286 277 203
As % of all contract jobs in Berkshire 20.69% 17.25% 11.37%
As % of the Qualifications category 51.53% 44.61% 25.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 229 183 121
10th Percentile £219 £315 £350
25th Percentile £325 £414 £456
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £481 £583 £575
Median % change year-on-year -17.45% +1.39% +4.55%
75th Percentile £538 £656 £625
90th Percentile £588 £726 £663
South East median daily rate £500 £545 £550
% change year-on-year -8.30% -0.86% +4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 14 20
10th Percentile £19.40 £50.68 £18.05
25th Percentile £37.69 £56.66 £24.88
Median hourly rate £76.00 £63.90 £56.66
Median % change year-on-year +18.95% +12.77% +3.02%
75th Percentile £95.00 £83.41 £63.29
90th Percentile £97.50 £87.07 £71.06
South East median hourly rate £25.15 £58.17 £60.00
% change year-on-year -56.77% -3.05% -

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 555 621 793
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Berkshire 40.16% 38.67% 44.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 375 337 456
10th Percentile £250 £300 £205
25th Percentile £375 £413 £397
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £567 £520
Median % change year-on-year -13.23% +9.04% -4.88%
75th Percentile £550 £650 £623
90th Percentile £625 £714 £688
South East median daily rate £500 £528 £538
% change year-on-year -5.21% -1.86% +2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 37 51 59
10th Percentile £20.25 £42.88 £29.33
25th Percentile £25.15 £56.20 £51.07
Median hourly rate £65.00 £61.71 £63.29
Median % change year-on-year +5.34% -2.50% +169.32%
75th Percentile £95.00 £80.74 £72.33
90th Percentile £96.00 £100.00 £76.28
South East median hourly rate £25.15 £58.30 £60.00
% change year-on-year -56.86% -2.83% +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 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 21 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 21 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 +2 125 £500 -17.36% 36
Wokingham 0 120 £425 +21.43% 13
Bracknell -3 19 £550 +18.92% 1
Slough -3 1 - -
Maidenhead - 1 - - 3
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 (1.75%) Microsoft Exchange
2 4 (1.40%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.70%) Confluence
4 1 (0.35%) CMS
4 1 (0.35%) Drupal
4 1 (0.35%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.35%) WordPress
Applications
1 4 (1.40%) Microsoft Excel
1 4 (1.40%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.05%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.70%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 5 (1.75%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.70%) SAP EWM
2 2 (0.70%) SAP HCM
2 2 (0.70%) SAP PS
2 2 (0.70%) SAP WM
3 1 (0.35%) Infor CloudSuite Industrial (formerly SyteLine)
3 1 (0.35%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.35%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 79 (27.62%) AWS
1 79 (27.62%) Azure
2 44 (15.38%) GCP
3 15 (5.24%) OneDrive
4 13 (4.55%) OpenShift
5 11 (3.85%) Microsoft 365
6 9 (3.15%) Entra ID
6 9 (3.15%) SaaS
7 5 (1.75%) IaaS
7 5 (1.75%) Power Automate
7 5 (1.75%) Power Platform
8 4 (1.40%) Azure Storage
9 2 (0.70%) AWS CloudFormation
9 2 (0.70%) PowerApps
9 2 (0.70%) Slack
10 1 (0.35%) Azure Data Factory
10 1 (0.35%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 1 (0.35%) SAP Commerce Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 23 (8.04%) DNS
2 16 (5.59%) DHCP
3 15 (5.24%) Network Security
4 11 (3.85%) Firewall
4 11 (3.85%) SAN
4 11 (3.85%) TCP/IP
5 10 (3.50%) Wi-Fi
6 9 (3.15%) 4G
6 9 (3.15%) VLAN
7 8 (2.80%) Unified Communications
8 6 (2.10%) Wireshark
9 5 (1.75%) WebEx
10 4 (1.40%) Internet
10 4 (1.40%) Intrusion Detection
10 4 (1.40%) NAS
11 3 (1.05%) DWDM
11 3 (1.05%) LAN
11 3 (1.05%) SDH
11 3 (1.05%) WAN
12 2 (0.70%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (2.80%) NoSQL
2 3 (1.05%) Power BI
3 2 (0.70%) SAP HANA
3 2 (0.70%) SQL Server
4 1 (0.35%) MongoDB
4 1 (0.35%) MySQL
4 1 (0.35%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 12 (4.20%) JIRA
2 6 (2.10%) Burp Suite
2 6 (2.10%) Jenkins
2 6 (2.10%) Metasploit
3 2 (0.70%) Rational DOORS
3 2 (0.70%) Visual Studio
4 1 (0.35%) GitLab
4 1 (0.35%) NeoLoad
General
1 125 (43.71%) Social Skills
2 61 (21.33%) Public Sector
3 59 (20.63%) Analytical Skills
4 17 (5.94%) Documentation Skills
5 10 (3.50%) Telecoms
6 6 (2.10%) Finance
7 4 (1.40%) Aerospace
7 4 (1.40%) Influencing Skills
8 3 (1.05%) Legal
8 3 (1.05%) Manufacturing
9 2 (0.70%) Electronics
9 2 (0.70%) Marketing
9 2 (0.70%) Military
9 2 (0.70%) Presentation Skills
10 1 (0.35%) Banking
Job Titles
1 42 (14.69%) Consultant
2 32 (11.19%) Network Consultant
3 22 (7.69%) Architect
4 21 (7.34%) Lead
4 21 (7.34%) Network Engineer
5 20 (6.99%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 18 (6.29%) Support Engineer
7 17 (5.94%) Analyst
8 15 (5.24%) Infrastructure Support
8 15 (5.24%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
9 14 (4.90%) Senior
10 13 (4.55%) Administrator
11 12 (4.20%) Cisco Engineer
11 12 (4.20%) Cisco Network Engineer
11 12 (4.20%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 11 (3.85%) Juniper Engineer
13 9 (3.15%) SIEM Engineer
13 9 (3.15%) Site Engineer
13 9 (3.15%) Site Reliability Engineer
14 8 (2.80%) Cloud Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (4.20%) LDAP
2 8 (2.80%) Loki
3 4 (1.40%) RFC 2544
4 2 (0.70%) .NET
4 2 (0.70%) RESTful
5 1 (0.35%) .NET Core
5 1 (0.35%) 802.1X
5 1 (0.35%) CSS
5 1 (0.35%) HTML
5 1 (0.35%) OAuth
5 1 (0.35%) OAuth2
5 1 (0.35%) OpenID
5 1 (0.35%) SAML
5 1 (0.35%) Spring
5 1 (0.35%) Spring Boot
5 1 (0.35%) Vue
5 1 (0.35%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 13 (4.55%) Cloud Native
2 12 (4.20%) Onboarding
3 11 (3.85%) Analytical Mindset
4 10 (3.50%) Data Centre
5 9 (3.15%) Management Information System
6 8 (2.80%) Cyber Security Posture
6 8 (2.80%) Virtual Team
7 7 (2.45%) Enterprise Storage
8 6 (2.10%) Distributed Systems
8 6 (2.10%) Driving Licence
8 6 (2.10%) PMI
9 5 (1.75%) Fibre Optics
9 5 (1.75%) Handset
9 5 (1.75%) PKI
10 4 (1.40%) CSOC
10 4 (1.40%) Security Operations Centre
11 3 (1.05%) Enterprise Software
11 3 (1.05%) Legacy Systems
11 3 (1.05%) SCADA
12 2 (0.70%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 46 (16.08%) Windows
2 44 (15.38%) Linux
3 15 (5.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 14 (4.90%) Windows 10
5 7 (2.45%) Windows Server
6 6 (2.10%) Kali Linux
7 4 (1.40%) Windows Server 2012
7 4 (1.40%) Windows Server 2016
7 4 (1.40%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (0.70%) SUSE
8 2 (0.70%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
9 1 (0.35%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 67 (23.43%) Problem-Solving
2 59 (20.63%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 47 (16.43%) Roadmaps
4 46 (16.08%) ITIL
5 44 (15.38%) CI/CD
5 44 (15.38%) Service Management
6 43 (15.03%) Migration
7 40 (13.99%) Collaborative Working
8 37 (12.94%) Cybersecurity
9 35 (12.24%) Continuous Improvement
10 31 (10.84%) Disaster Recovery
11 30 (10.49%) ITSM
12 28 (9.79%) Change Management
13 27 (9.44%) DevOps
13 27 (9.44%) SIEM
14 25 (8.74%) Agile
15 24 (8.39%) Infrastructure Engineering
16 22 (7.69%) DevSecOps
17 21 (7.34%) Performance Metrics
18 19 (6.64%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 60 (20.98%) Python
2 35 (12.24%) PowerShell
3 23 (8.04%) Bash
4 9 (3.15%) Java
5 7 (2.45%) SQL
6 6 (2.10%) Go
7 5 (1.75%) Kusto Query Language
7 5 (1.75%) Shell Script
8 4 (1.40%) C#
9 2 (0.70%) Ada
9 2 (0.70%) Assembly Language
9 2 (0.70%) C
9 2 (0.70%) MATLAB
10 1 (0.35%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 286 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 26 (9.09%) CISSP
3 19 (6.64%) AWS Certification
3 19 (6.64%) Azure Certification
3 19 (6.64%) Degree
4 17 (5.94%) CISM
5 16 (5.59%) CEH
6 11 (3.85%) Microsoft Certification
7 10 (3.50%) CCNP
7 10 (3.50%) Cisco Certification
7 10 (3.50%) Network+ Certification
8 9 (3.15%) GIAC
8 9 (3.15%) PMP
8 9 (3.15%) Server+ Certification
9 8 (2.80%) CCNA
9 8 (2.80%) PMI Certification
10 6 (2.10%) DV Cleared
10 6 (2.10%) GPEN
10 6 (2.10%) OSCP
11 5 (1.75%) MAPM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (7.69%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 17 (5.94%) NIST
3 16 (5.59%) GDPR
4 9 (3.15%) QA
5 6 (2.10%) PMO
6 1 (0.35%) Def Stans
6 1 (0.35%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
6 1 (0.35%) SLA
System Software
1 39 (13.64%) Active Directory
2 26 (9.09%) VMware Infrastructure
3 13 (4.55%) vSphere
4 12 (4.20%) Hyper-V
5 9 (3.15%) Docker
6 5 (1.75%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.35%) NFS
7 1 (0.35%) Terminal Services
7 1 (0.35%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.35%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 26 (9.09%) Kubernetes
2 13 (4.55%) Argo
3 12 (4.20%) SCCM
4 10 (3.50%) Ansible
5 9 (3.15%) Terraform
6 8 (2.80%) Grafana
6 8 (2.80%) Kustomize
6 8 (2.80%) Prometheus
7 7 (2.45%) NetBackup
8 6 (2.10%) Kibana
8 6 (2.10%) Nmap
9 5 (1.75%) QRadar
9 5 (1.75%) vCenter Server
10 4 (1.40%) Cisco CUCM
11 3 (1.05%) Microsoft Intune
11 3 (1.05%) Single Sign-On
12 2 (0.70%) Red Hat Satellite
13 1 (0.35%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 1 (0.35%) Amdocs OSS
13 1 (0.35%) Cisco UCCE
Vendors
1 63 (22.03%) Cisco
2 46 (16.08%) Microsoft
3 34 (11.89%) VMware
4 32 (11.19%) Aruba
5 23 (8.04%) ServiceNow
6 22 (7.69%) Google
7 19 (6.64%) Red Hat
8 17 (5.94%) Juniper
9 13 (4.55%) CyberArk
10 12 (4.20%) BeyondTrust
11 11 (3.85%) SAP
12 10 (3.50%) NetApp
12 10 (3.50%) Splunk
13 9 (3.15%) Pure Storage
14 8 (2.80%) HP
14 8 (2.80%) Workday
15 7 (2.45%) 3PAR
15 7 (2.45%) Veritas
16 6 (2.10%) FireEye
16 6 (2.10%) Nimble Storage