HNC Contract Job Trends in Cheshire

Higher National Certificate (HNC)
North West > Cheshire

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in Cheshire citing HNC qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 3 November 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

	6 months to 3 Nov 2026	Same period 2025	Same period 2024
Rank	66	-	-
Rank change year-on-year	-	-	-
Contract jobs citing HNC	7	0	0
As % of all contract jobs in Cheshire	0.93%	-	-
As % of the Qualifications category	3.48%	-	-
Number of daily rates quoted	1	0	0
Median daily rate (50^th Percentile)	£600	-	-
North West median daily rate	£525	-	-
Number of hourly rates quoted	5	0	0
10^th Percentile	-	-	-
25^th Percentile	£18.49	-	-
Median hourly rate	£22.00	-	-
75^th Percentile	£72.75	-	-
90^th Percentile	-	-	-
North West median hourly rate	£37.00	£26.50	£34.75
% change year-on-year	+39.62%	-23.74%	-22.78%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
Cheshire

HNC 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 citing academic qualifications or professional certifications in Cheshire.

	6 months to 3 Nov 2026	Same period 2025	Same period 2024
Contract vacancies citing academic qualifications or professional certifications	201	254	123
As % of all contract jobs advertised in Cheshire	26.69%	36.03%	24.02%
Number of daily rates quoted	110	190	80
10^th Percentile	£258	£270	£356
25^th Percentile	£404	£359	£420
Median daily rate (50^th Percentile)	£500	£475	£538
Median % change year-on-year	+5.26%	-11.71%	+2.48%
75^th Percentile	£588	£638	£580
90^th Percentile	£630	£716	£641
North West median daily rate	£525	£500	£500
% change year-on-year	+5.00%	-	-4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted	28	16	2
10^th Percentile	£16.62	-	£24.02
25^th Percentile	£17.25	£15.50	£24.05
Median hourly rate	£24.25	£19.00	£24.10
Median % change year-on-year	+27.63%	-21.15%	-34.95%
75^th Percentile	£66.38	£44.38	£24.14
90^th Percentile	£83.75	£79.88	£24.17
North West median hourly rate	£40.00	£35.00	£37.00
% change year-on-year	+14.29%	-5.41%	-19.88%

HNC Job Vacancy Trend in Cheshire

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing HNC relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire.

HNC Daily Rate Trend in Cheshire

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing HNC.

HNC Hourly Rate Trend in Cheshire

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing HNC.

HNC Hourly Rate Histogram in Cheshire

Hourly rate distribution for jobs citing HNC in Cheshire over the 6 months to 3 November 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for HNC in Cheshire

HNC Contract Job Locations in Cheshire

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing HNC within the Cheshire region over the 6 months to 3 November 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	Job Ads Past 6 Months	Median Daily Rate Past 6 Months	Median Daily Rate % Change on Same Period Last Year	Live Jobs
Congleton	-	4	-	-
Warrington	-	3	£600	-	3
HNC North West

HNC Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Cheshire

For the 6 months to 3 November 2026, contractor job vacancies citing HNC also mentioned the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the Cheshire region citing HNC.

Rank	Skill	Share	Job Ads
1	HND	100.0%	7
2	Problem-Solving	71.4%	5
3	AI	57.1%	4
3	Continuous Improvement	57.1%	4
3	Lean Manufacturing	57.1%	4
3	Predictive Maintenance	57.1%	4
3	Preventative Maintenance	57.1%	4
3	Root Cause Analysis	57.1%	4
9	Collaborative Working	42.9%	3
10	Analytics	28.6%	2
10	BPSS Clearance	28.6%	2
10	Chartered Engineer	28.6%	2
10	Collaborative Engineering	28.6%	2
10	Data Analytics	28.6%	2
10	Degree	28.6%	2
10	Functional Safety	28.6%	2
10	Generative AI	28.6%	2
10	IEC 61508	28.6%	2
10	Security Cleared	28.6%	2
10	Stakeholder Engagement	28.6%	2
10	Systems Engineering	28.6%	2
10	Validation	28.6%	2
10	Verification and Validation	28.6%	2
24	4G	14.3%	1
24	5G	14.3%	1
24	Cybersecurity	14.3%	1
24	Data Protection	14.3%	1
24	Data-Driven Decision Making	14.3%	1
24	Decision-Making	14.3%	1
24	Feasibility Study	14.3%	1

HNC Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Cheshire by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

Qualifications

Rank	Skill	Share	Job Ads
1	HND	100.0%	7
2	BPSS Clearance	28.6%	2
2	Chartered Engineer	28.6%	2
2	Degree	28.6%	2
2	Security Cleared	28.6%	2