Acceptance Criteria Contract Job Trends in England

Acceptance Criteria
UK > England

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

6 months to
6 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 179 263 274
Rank change year-on-year +84 +11 -15
Contract jobs citing Acceptance Criteria 734 271 276
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.58% 0.98% 0.86%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.87% 1.07% 0.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 479 172 182
10th Percentile £362 £313 £358
25th Percentile £413 £356 £430
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £460 £532
Median % change year-on-year +8.70% -13.45% +1.24%
75th Percentile £588 £545 £600
90th Percentile £668 £638 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £450 £525
% change year-on-year +11.11% -14.29% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 19 4
10th Percentile £49.25 - £35.52
25th Percentile £52.75 £52.50 £39.21
Median hourly rate £67.50 £55.00 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year +22.73% +4.76% -32.26%
75th Percentile £92.92 £57.50 £64.57
90th Percentile £102.50 - £66.04
UK median hourly rate £67.50 £55.00 £52.50
% change year-on-year +22.73% +4.76% -34.38%

All Process & Methodology Skills
England

Acceptance Criteria falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 39,251 25,237 27,768
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 84.73% 90.91% 86.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,728 16,010 16,947
10th Percentile £325 £297 £313
25th Percentile £425 £404 £419
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £642
90th Percentile £738 £725 £750
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,965 1,563 1,177
10th Percentile £13.82 £14.50 £15.00
25th Percentile £17.57 £17.87 £20.30
Median hourly rate £40.00 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +59.05% -41.51% -3.37%
75th Percentile £67.47 £45.75 £66.61
90th Percentile £78.75 £67.25 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £38.50 £25.15 £41.08
% change year-on-year +53.08% -38.77% -3.91%

Acceptance Criteria
Job Vacancy Trend in England

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

Acceptance Criteria job vacancy trend in England

Acceptance Criteria
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Acceptance Criteria.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Acceptance Criteria

Acceptance Criteria
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Acceptance Criteria in England over the 6 months to 6 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Acceptance Criteria in England

Acceptance Criteria
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Acceptance Criteria.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Acceptance Criteria

Acceptance Criteria
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Acceptance Criteria in England over the 6 months to 6 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Acceptance Criteria in England

Acceptance Criteria
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Acceptance Criteria within the England region over the 6 months to 6 October 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
London +99 433 £525 +5.00% 425
South East -25 89 £468 -5.32% 171
North of England -23 86 £463 +12.80% 123
Midlands 0 71 £450 +26.85% 87
West Midlands +1 55 £450 - 62
Yorkshire +3 46 £450 +1.98% 47
South West -9 34 £500 +42.86% 48
North West -44 30 £474 +18.50% 66
East Midlands -13 16 £460 +31.43% 25
North East -29 11 £408 -22.38% 11
East of England -24 9 £475 -2.06% 55
Acceptance Criteria
UK

Acceptance Criteria
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in 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
1 123 (16.76%) Confluence
2 21 (2.86%) SharePoint
3 12 (1.63%) CMS
4 3 (0.41%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 2 (0.27%) IIS
5 2 (0.27%) Microsoft Exchange
5 2 (0.27%) SAS
6 1 (0.14%) Apache Superset
6 1 (0.14%) Cloud Foundry
6 1 (0.14%) Drupal
6 1 (0.14%) Headless CMS
6 1 (0.14%) Jupyter
Applications
1 27 (3.68%) MS Visio
2 24 (3.27%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (1.36%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (1.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (1.23%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.68%) Notion
6 3 (0.41%) Chatbot
6 3 (0.41%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.27%) Productboard
7 2 (0.27%) Windchill
8 1 (0.14%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 13 (1.77%) Dynamics CRM
1 13 (1.77%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (0.82%) Salesforce CRM
3 4 (0.54%) HFM
3 4 (0.54%) Oracle EBS
3 4 (0.54%) ResourceLink
4 3 (0.41%) NetSuite
4 3 (0.41%) Oracle ERP
4 3 (0.41%) PeopleSoft HCM
4 3 (0.41%) Teamcenter
5 2 (0.27%) Dynamics AX
5 2 (0.27%) Dynamics GP
5 2 (0.27%) Dynamics SL
5 2 (0.27%) Infor CloudSuite
5 2 (0.27%) IntelliMatch
5 2 (0.27%) Oracle Payables
5 2 (0.27%) Oracle Receivables
5 2 (0.27%) Sage X3
5 2 (0.27%) SAP PLM
5 2 (0.27%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 157 (21.39%) Azure
2 94 (12.81%) Azure DevOps
3 67 (9.13%) AWS
4 63 (8.58%) Power Platform
5 36 (4.90%) SaaS
6 31 (4.22%) GCP
7 27 (3.68%) GitHub
8 22 (3.00%) Entra ID
9 20 (2.72%) Dynamics 365
9 20 (2.72%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
10 19 (2.59%) Salesforce Service Cloud
11 15 (2.04%) PaaS
12 13 (1.77%) Figma
13 12 (1.63%) Microsoft 365
13 12 (1.63%) Power Automate
14 11 (1.50%) Lucidchart
15 10 (1.36%) Microsoft Copilot
16 9 (1.23%) Miro
17 8 (1.09%) Google Kubernetes Engine
18 7 (0.95%) Azure Monitor
Communications & Networking
1 7 (0.95%) Intranet
2 5 (0.68%) Network Security
3 4 (0.54%) Wireless
4 3 (0.41%) Firewall
5 2 (0.27%) Internet
5 2 (0.27%) Unified Communications
6 1 (0.14%) 5G
6 1 (0.14%) 802.11
6 1 (0.14%) Cisco ISE
6 1 (0.14%) CTI
6 1 (0.14%) HTTP
6 1 (0.14%) HTTPS
6 1 (0.14%) LAN
6 1 (0.14%) NFC
6 1 (0.14%) PBX
6 1 (0.14%) VLAN
6 1 (0.14%) VoIP
6 1 (0.14%) WAN
6 1 (0.14%) Wi-Fi
6 1 (0.14%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 48 (6.54%) Power BI
2 30 (4.09%) Data Warehouse
3 27 (3.68%) Relational Database
4 16 (2.18%) SQL Server
5 15 (2.04%) Metadata
6 8 (1.09%) Tableau
7 7 (0.95%) Oracle Reports
8 5 (0.68%) BigQuery
8 5 (0.68%) Data Hub
8 5 (0.68%) Data Lake
8 5 (0.68%) MongoDB
8 5 (0.68%) Power Query
9 4 (0.54%) Azure SQL Database
9 4 (0.54%) Big Data
9 4 (0.54%) PostgreSQL
10 3 (0.41%) Amazon RDS
10 3 (0.41%) Oracle BI Publisher
10 3 (0.41%) Qlik Sense
10 3 (0.41%) QlikView
11 2 (0.27%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 201 (27.38%) JIRA
2 31 (4.22%) Selenium
3 27 (3.68%) Git
4 13 (1.77%) Postman
5 11 (1.50%) Jenkins
6 10 (1.36%) Cucumber
7 9 (1.23%) Cypress.io
7 9 (1.23%) JMeter
8 7 (0.95%) Bitbucket
8 7 (0.95%) Zephyr
9 6 (0.82%) Gatling
10 5 (0.68%) LoadRunner
10 5 (0.68%) REST Assured
11 4 (0.54%) Claude Code
11 4 (0.54%) JetBrains Rider
11 4 (0.54%) SpecFlow
11 4 (0.54%) Visual Studio
12 3 (0.41%) Burp Suite
12 3 (0.41%) GitLab
12 3 (0.41%) Protractor
General
1 281 (38.28%) Social Skills
2 225 (30.65%) Finance
3 198 (26.98%) Analytical Skills
4 99 (13.49%) Banking
5 96 (13.08%) Public Sector
6 60 (8.17%) Documentation Skills
7 46 (6.27%) Influencing Skills
8 38 (5.18%) Retail
9 34 (4.63%) Legal
10 29 (3.95%) Telecoms
11 21 (2.86%) Investment Banking
12 19 (2.59%) Marketing
13 16 (2.18%) Presentation Skills
14 15 (2.04%) Manufacturing
14 15 (2.04%) Organisational Skills
14 15 (2.04%) Retail Banking
15 14 (1.91%) Front Office
15 14 (1.91%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 11 (1.50%) Back Office
17 9 (1.23%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 345 (47.00%) Analyst
2 300 (40.87%) Business Analyst
3 93 (12.67%) Senior
4 75 (10.22%) Product Owner
5 62 (8.45%) Senior Analyst
6 56 (7.63%) Senior Business Analyst
7 54 (7.36%) Lead
8 49 (6.68%) Technical Analyst
9 39 (5.31%) Product Manager
10 35 (4.77%) Technical Business Analyst
11 25 (3.41%) Project Manager
12 24 (3.27%) Consultant
13 23 (3.13%) Architect
13 23 (3.13%) Developer
14 22 (3.00%) Transition Manager
15 20 (2.72%) Service Manager
16 19 (2.59%) Service Transition Manager
17 16 (2.18%) Technical Manager
17 16 (2.18%) Test Analyst
18 15 (2.04%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (4.36%) REST
2 25 (3.41%) JSON
3 20 (2.72%) Oracle Fusion
4 18 (2.45%) SOAP
5 15 (2.04%) .NET
5 15 (2.04%) Middleware
5 15 (2.04%) Playwright
6 13 (1.77%) XML
7 12 (1.63%) Kafka
8 11 (1.50%) ADO
9 10 (1.36%) Gherkin
9 10 (1.36%) Swagger
10 9 (1.23%) Web Services
11 8 (1.09%) OpenAPI
12 7 (0.95%) React
12 7 (0.95%) RESTful
13 6 (0.82%) .NET Framework
13 6 (0.82%) HTML
13 6 (0.82%) SailPoint
13 6 (0.82%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 215 (29.29%) Product Ownership
2 46 (6.27%) Onboarding
3 22 (3.00%) Management Information System
4 19 (2.59%) Virtual Team
5 18 (2.45%) Data Protection Act
6 17 (2.32%) Cloud Native
7 15 (2.04%) Data Structures
8 14 (1.91%) Analytical Mindset
9 13 (1.77%) CMDB
10 12 (1.63%) Legacy Systems
11 11 (1.50%) Data Fabric
12 10 (1.36%) Operational Technology
13 9 (1.23%) Enterprise Software
13 9 (1.23%) Self-Motivation
14 8 (1.09%) AI Agents
14 8 (1.09%) Derivative
14 8 (1.09%) IoT
15 7 (0.95%) FMCG
15 7 (0.95%) NHS
15 7 (0.95%) Reference Data
Operating Systems
1 8 (1.09%) Linux
1 8 (1.09%) Windows
2 4 (0.54%) Unix
3 1 (0.14%) Android
3 1 (0.14%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 452 (61.58%) Agile
2 427 (58.17%) User Stories
3 330 (44.96%) Stakeholder Management
4 208 (28.34%) User Acceptance Testing
5 198 (26.98%) Workshop Facilitation
6 187 (25.48%) Requirements Gathering
7 180 (24.52%) Business Analysis
8 174 (23.71%) Validation
9 154 (20.98%) Scrum
10 144 (19.62%) DevOps
11 143 (19.48%) Problem-Solving
12 142 (19.35%) Continuous Improvement
13 138 (18.80%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 119 (16.21%) Backlog Prioritisation
15 118 (16.08%) Sprint Planning
16 112 (15.26%) Product Backlog
17 111 (15.12%) Roadmaps
18 110 (14.99%) Backlog Refinement
19 103 (14.03%) Decision-Making
20 101 (13.76%) Backlog Management
Programming Languages
1 111 (15.12%) SQL
2 48 (6.54%) Python
3 27 (3.68%) Java
4 16 (2.18%) JavaScript
5 15 (2.04%) C#
6 9 (1.23%) PL/SQL
7 6 (0.82%) Scala
7 6 (0.82%) TypeScript
8 5 (0.68%) C++
8 5 (0.68%) Kotlin
9 4 (0.54%) C
9 4 (0.54%) Rust
10 3 (0.41%) Apex Code
10 3 (0.41%) Korn
10 3 (0.41%) Ruby
11 2 (0.27%) Groovy
11 2 (0.27%) ProC
11 2 (0.27%) VBA
12 1 (0.14%) MATLAB
12 1 (0.14%) R
Qualifications
1 151 (20.57%) Security Cleared
2 105 (14.31%) SC Cleared
3 71 (9.67%) Degree
4 30 (4.09%) DV Cleared
5 21 (2.86%) BPSS Clearance
6 20 (2.72%) PMI Certification
7 18 (2.45%) CBAP
8 17 (2.32%) PMP
9 16 (2.18%) ISTQB
10 11 (1.50%) CISM
10 11 (1.50%) CISSP
10 11 (1.50%) IIBA
11 9 (1.23%) CRISC
11 9 (1.23%) CSPO
12 8 (1.09%) CISA
13 7 (0.95%) Computer Science Degree
13 7 (0.95%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
14 5 (0.68%) Cisco Certification
14 5 (0.68%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
14 5 (0.68%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 121 (16.49%) QA
2 65 (8.86%) Data Quality
3 26 (3.54%) Accessibility
4 15 (2.04%) NIST
5 14 (1.91%) GRC
5 14 (1.91%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 12 (1.63%) GDPR
7 10 (1.36%) SLA
8 9 (1.23%) WCAG
9 8 (1.09%) ISO 20022
10 7 (0.95%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 6 (0.82%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 6 (0.82%) GxP
12 5 (0.68%) COBIT
12 5 (0.68%) IFRS
13 4 (0.54%) Actionable Recommendations
13 4 (0.54%) ISO 15022
13 4 (0.54%) PMO
13 4 (0.54%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 4 (0.54%) SEPA
System Software
1 14 (1.91%) Docker
2 13 (1.77%) Active Directory
3 8 (1.09%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 20 (2.72%) Kubernetes
2 3 (0.41%) HP ALM
3 2 (0.27%) Single Sign-On
4 1 (0.14%) Ansible
4 1 (0.14%) Argo
4 1 (0.14%) Autotask
4 1 (0.14%) Grafana
4 1 (0.14%) HP Quality Center
4 1 (0.14%) Iperf
4 1 (0.14%) Kibana
4 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 100 (13.62%) Microsoft
2 45 (6.13%) Salesforce
3 42 (5.72%) SAP
4 36 (4.90%) ServiceNow
5 31 (4.22%) Oracle
6 16 (2.18%) Google
7 11 (1.50%) Databricks
8 7 (0.95%) Workday
8 7 (0.95%) Zscaler
9 6 (0.82%) IBM
9 6 (0.82%) Pega
10 5 (0.68%) Anaplan
10 5 (0.68%) Atlassian
10 5 (0.68%) CyberArk
10 5 (0.68%) ION Trading
10 5 (0.68%) Planview
11 4 (0.54%) DocuSign
11 4 (0.54%) Kronos
11 4 (0.54%) Sitecore
11 4 (0.54%) Splunk