NCSC Contract Job Trends in the East of England

National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)
England > East of England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the East of England requiring NCSC skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 5 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 112 80 96
Rank change year-on-year -32 +16 +12
Contract jobs citing NCSC 6 16 2
As % of all contract jobs in the East of England 0.27% 1.26% 0.13%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 1.52% 7.55% 1.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 2 5 0
10th Percentile £444 £86 -
25th Percentile £454 £86 -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £249 -
Median % change year-on-year +92.77% - -
75th Percentile £502 £500 -
90th Percentile £510 - -
England median daily rate £588 £650 £588
% change year-on-year -9.50% +10.64% -16.07%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 10 1
10th Percentile - £83.18 -
25th Percentile £82.50 £87.19 -
Median hourly rate £85.00 £91.00 £80.00
Median % change year-on-year -6.59% +13.75% +45.45%
75th Percentile £87.50 £91.50 -
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £85.40 £87.50 £80.00
% change year-on-year -2.40% +9.38% -4.08%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
East of England

NCSC falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills in the East of England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 394 212 139
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the East of England 17.50% 16.64% 9.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 147 95 64
10th Percentile £350 £209 £224
25th Percentile £425 £354 £306
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £388
Median % change year-on-year - +29.03% -20.51%
75th Percentile £600 £575 £550
90th Percentile £675 £645 £618
England median daily rate £510 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +2.00% -4.76% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 165 41 20
10th Percentile £12.91 £13.50 £14.27
25th Percentile £15.25 £16.45 £14.85
Median hourly rate £30.58 £31.64 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year -3.35% +26.56% +25.31%
75th Percentile £67.50 £88.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £80.00 £91.50 £68.08
England median hourly rate £36.07 £32.50 £28.00
% change year-on-year +10.98% +16.07% -20.00%

NCSC
Job Vacancy Trend in the East of England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing NCSC relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the East of England.

NCSC job vacancy trend in the East of England

NCSC
Daily Rate Trend in the East of England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the East of England citing NCSC.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the East of England citing NCSC

NCSC
Hourly Rate Trend in the East of England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the East of England citing NCSC.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the East of England citing NCSC

NCSC
Contract Job Locations in the East of England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing NCSC within the East of England region over the 6 months to 5 September 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
Bedfordshire -10 3 £510 +73.62% 8
Suffolk - 3 £450 -
NCSC
England

NCSC
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the East of England 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 1 (16.67%) Confluence
Communications & Networking
1 3 (50.00%) Firewall
1 3 (50.00%) VPN
2 2 (33.33%) ADSL
2 2 (33.33%) Cisco ISE
2 2 (33.33%) IPsec
2 2 (33.33%) Network Security
Development Applications
1 1 (16.67%) JIRA
General
1 2 (33.33%) Manufacturing
1 2 (33.33%) Military
2 1 (16.67%) Aerospace
2 1 (16.67%) Influencing Skills
2 1 (16.67%) Social Skills
Job Titles
1 5 (83.33%) Security Engineer
2 3 (50.00%) Cybersecurity Engineer
3 2 (33.33%) Firewall Engineer
3 2 (33.33%) Product Engineer
4 1 (16.67%) 3rd Line Engineer
4 1 (16.67%) 3rd Line Support
4 1 (16.67%) 3rd Line Support Engineer
4 1 (16.67%) IT Engineer
4 1 (16.67%) IT Support
4 1 (16.67%) IT Support Engineer
4 1 (16.67%) Support Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 4 (66.67%) Operational Technology
2 3 (50.00%) SCADA
3 2 (33.33%) Management Information System
3 2 (33.33%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 3 (50.00%) Linux
2 1 (16.67%) Windows
2 1 (16.67%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 5 (83.33%) Cybersecurity
2 4 (66.67%) Incident Response
3 2 (33.33%) Collaborative Working
3 2 (33.33%) Cryptography
3 2 (33.33%) GAP Analysis
3 2 (33.33%) Incident Management
3 2 (33.33%) Information Security
3 2 (33.33%) Key Management
3 2 (33.33%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
3 2 (33.33%) Patch Management
3 2 (33.33%) Risk Management
3 2 (33.33%) Security Management
3 2 (33.33%) Threat Intelligence
4 1 (16.67%) Change Management
4 1 (16.67%) ITIL
4 1 (16.67%) ITSM
4 1 (16.67%) Penetration Testing
4 1 (16.67%) Project Management
4 1 (16.67%) Service Delivery
4 1 (16.67%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 2 (33.33%) PowerShell
1 2 (33.33%) Python
Qualifications
1 5 (83.33%) Security Cleared
2 4 (66.67%) SC Cleared
3 3 (50.00%) Degree
4 2 (33.33%) CCNA
4 2 (33.33%) Cisco Certification
4 2 (33.33%) ISACA
5 1 (16.67%) CCIE
5 1 (16.67%) CCNP
5 1 (16.67%) DV Cleared
5 1 (16.67%) MCSE
5 1 (16.67%) Microsoft Certification
5 1 (16.67%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (83.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 2 (33.33%) ISA99
2 2 (33.33%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
2 2 (33.33%) NIST
2 2 (33.33%) NIST 800
3 1 (16.67%) Cyber Essentials
System Software
1 3 (50.00%) VMware Infrastructure
2 2 (33.33%) Firmware
Vendors
1 3 (50.00%) Cisco
1 3 (50.00%) Fortinet
1 3 (50.00%) VMware
2 2 (33.33%) Microsoft
3 1 (16.67%) Barracuda Networks
3 1 (16.67%) Dell
3 1 (16.67%) Palo Alto
3 1 (16.67%) ServiceNow