BPSS Clearance Contract Job Trends in England

Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) Clearance
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in England with a requirement for BPSS Clearance qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 8 May 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 142 236 236
Rank change year-on-year +94 0 -3
Contract jobs citing BPSS Clearance 723 254 372
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.78% 1.05% 1.01%
As % of the Qualifications category 5.53% 3.34% 3.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 518 169 276
10th Percentile £313 £246 £206
25th Percentile £382 £405 £424
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £513 £503
Median % change year-on-year -7.32% +1.84% -8.50%
75th Percentile £575 £583 £623
90th Percentile £682 £672 £675
UK median daily rate £475 £500 £510
% change year-on-year -5.00% -1.96% -7.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 76 22 52
10th Percentile £20.00 £18.50 £13.99
25th Percentile £23.94 £25.15 -
Median hourly rate £47.25 £53.75 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year -12.08% +234.65% -58.12%
75th Percentile £73.00 £75.00 £35.41
90th Percentile £87.06 £77.38 £76.50
UK median hourly rate £47.00 £45.00 £16.06
% change year-on-year +4.44% +180.20% -49.30%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
England

BPSS Clearance 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 England.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 13,083 7,596 11,497
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 32.29% 31.35% 31.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,792 4,819 7,090
10th Percentile £340 £289 £310
25th Percentile £425 £414 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £621 £626 £650
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK median daily rate £519 £525 £535
% change year-on-year -1.14% -1.87% -2.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 963 440 982
10th Percentile £17.10 £18.13 £14.00
25th Percentile £21.25 £22.27 £18.00
Median hourly rate £48.05 £40.55 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +18.51% +1.36% -23.81%
75th Percentile £72.52 £67.50 £62.25
90th Percentile £85.50 £81.35 £77.45
UK median hourly rate £47.54 £38.27 £40.00
% change year-on-year +24.22% -4.33% -25.93%

BPSS Clearance
Job Vacancy Trend in England

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

BPSS Clearance job vacancy trend in England

BPSS Clearance
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing BPSS Clearance.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing BPSS Clearance

BPSS Clearance
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing BPSS Clearance in England over the 6 months to 8 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for BPSS Clearance in England

BPSS Clearance
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing BPSS Clearance.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing BPSS Clearance

BPSS Clearance
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing BPSS Clearance in England over the 6 months to 8 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for BPSS Clearance in England

BPSS Clearance
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 BPSS Clearance within the England region over the 6 months to 8 May 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 +89 232 £510 -7.15% 44
North of England +21 193 £445 -11.00% 51
North West +17 124 £397 -26.23% 35
Midlands +16 119 £441 +7.62% 29
West Midlands +4 89 £455 +10.85% 25
South East -16 87 £483 -12.50% 58
South West -5 53 £508 +76.52% 57
North East +8 38 £480 +33.33% 15
Yorkshire -23 36 £481 +37.50% 1
East Midlands -1 29 £395 -35.56% 4
East of England -20 27 £450 +111.76% 41
BPSS Clearance
UK

BPSS Clearance
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 36 (4.98%) Confluence
2 14 (1.94%) SharePoint
3 9 (1.24%) Apache Spark
4 7 (0.97%) Apache
4 7 (0.97%) Apache Airflow
5 4 (0.55%) Microsoft Exchange
6 3 (0.41%) CMS
6 3 (0.41%) LiveCycle
6 3 (0.41%) Oracle Workflow
6 3 (0.41%) SAS
7 2 (0.28%) CICS
8 1 (0.14%) Apache Pulsar
8 1 (0.14%) ArcGIS
8 1 (0.14%) Camunda
8 1 (0.14%) Palantir Foundry
8 1 (0.14%) SharePoint 2013
8 1 (0.14%) Smallworld
8 1 (0.14%) WebLogic
Applications
1 36 (4.98%) Microsoft Excel
2 14 (1.94%) MS Visio
3 13 (1.80%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 12 (1.66%) Microsoft Office
4 12 (1.66%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.41%) Simulink
6 2 (0.28%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.28%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.28%) Trello
7 1 (0.14%) Autodesk Inventor
7 1 (0.14%) CATIA
7 1 (0.14%) InVision
7 1 (0.14%) MicroStation
7 1 (0.14%) PTC Creo
7 1 (0.14%) Sketch
7 1 (0.14%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 29 (4.01%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (1.66%) SAP Travel Management
3 10 (1.38%) SAP IBP
4 8 (1.11%) SAP PSCD
5 7 (0.97%) SAP EWM
6 5 (0.69%) SAP HR
7 4 (0.55%) iTrent
7 4 (0.55%) Loan IQ
7 4 (0.55%) Payment Gateway
7 4 (0.55%) SAP BRIM
8 3 (0.41%) Exchequer
8 3 (0.41%) Primavera
8 3 (0.41%) ProductWriter
8 3 (0.41%) SAP HCM
8 3 (0.41%) SAP Payroll
9 2 (0.28%) BASE24
9 2 (0.28%) Oracle EBS
9 2 (0.28%) SAP FI-AR
9 2 (0.28%) SAP MM
9 2 (0.28%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 122 (16.87%) AWS
2 101 (13.97%) Azure
3 42 (5.81%) Power Platform
4 33 (4.56%) GitHub
5 29 (4.01%) Azure DevOps
6 28 (3.87%) Serverless
7 23 (3.18%) GCP
8 22 (3.04%) GitHub Actions
9 21 (2.90%) AWS Lambda
10 13 (1.80%) Microsoft 365
11 12 (1.66%) Amazon ECS
11 12 (1.66%) AWS CloudFormation
12 11 (1.52%) Azure Data Factory
13 10 (1.38%) Amazon S3
13 10 (1.38%) Entra ID
14 9 (1.24%) Amazon SQS
15 8 (1.11%) SuccessFactors
16 7 (0.97%) Google Workspace
16 7 (0.97%) Power Automate
17 6 (0.83%) Figma
Communications & Networking
1 14 (1.94%) DNS
2 11 (1.52%) Firewall
3 10 (1.38%) Network Security
4 6 (0.83%) DHCP
5 5 (0.69%) HTTPS
5 5 (0.69%) Reverse Proxy
6 4 (0.55%) VSAN
6 4 (0.55%) WAN
6 4 (0.55%) WebEx
7 3 (0.41%) Ethernet
7 3 (0.41%) Internet
7 3 (0.41%) LAN
7 3 (0.41%) SSH
7 3 (0.41%) TCP/IP
8 2 (0.28%) NAS
8 2 (0.28%) SAN
8 2 (0.28%) SNMP
8 2 (0.28%) VPN
8 2 (0.28%) Wireless
9 1 (0.14%) Modbus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (4.70%) Power BI
2 23 (3.18%) PostgreSQL
3 21 (2.90%) SQL Server
4 16 (2.21%) Data Warehouse
5 11 (1.52%) NoSQL
6 10 (1.38%) DynamoDB
6 10 (1.38%) Metadata
6 10 (1.38%) MongoDB
7 8 (1.11%) DocumentDB
7 8 (1.11%) Redis
8 7 (0.97%) Big Data
8 7 (0.97%) Delta Lake
8 7 (0.97%) Geospatial Data
9 6 (0.83%) Relational Database
9 6 (0.83%) Tableau
10 5 (0.69%) DataStage
10 5 (0.69%) Spark SQL
11 4 (0.55%) BigQuery
11 4 (0.55%) MySQL
11 4 (0.55%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 68 (9.41%) JIRA
2 45 (6.22%) Git
3 25 (3.46%) GitLab
4 24 (3.32%) Jenkins
5 11 (1.52%) Selenium
6 10 (1.38%) JUnit
7 7 (0.97%) Cucumber
8 6 (0.83%) Gatling
9 5 (0.69%) Cypress.io
10 4 (0.55%) Mockito
10 4 (0.55%) Rational DOORS
10 4 (0.55%) SonarQube
11 3 (0.41%) Artifactory
11 3 (0.41%) Maven
12 2 (0.28%) ClearCase
12 2 (0.28%) Eclipse
12 2 (0.28%) JMeter
12 2 (0.28%) Team Foundation Server
12 2 (0.28%) TestNG
12 2 (0.28%) Visual Studio
General
1 222 (30.71%) Social Skills
2 130 (17.98%) Finance
3 113 (15.63%) Public Sector
4 99 (13.69%) Analytical Skills
5 40 (5.53%) Banking
6 37 (5.12%) Aerospace
7 17 (2.35%) Documentation Skills
8 16 (2.21%) Legal
9 15 (2.07%) Presentation Skills
10 13 (1.80%) Influencing Skills
11 12 (1.66%) Telecoms
12 10 (1.38%) Organisational Skills
13 9 (1.24%) Aviation
13 9 (1.24%) Billing
13 9 (1.24%) Manufacturing
14 7 (0.97%) Law
14 7 (0.97%) Local Government
14 7 (0.97%) Publishing
14 7 (0.97%) Retail
15 6 (0.83%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 116 (16.04%) Analyst
2 83 (11.48%) Senior
3 76 (10.51%) Developer
4 72 (9.96%) Lead
5 68 (9.41%) Architect
6 59 (8.16%) Consultant
7 54 (7.47%) Business Analyst
8 45 (6.22%) SAP Consultant
9 30 (4.15%) Administrator
10 29 (4.01%) Data Engineer
11 25 (3.46%) Designer
11 25 (3.46%) Senior Analyst
12 23 (3.18%) Delivery Manager
13 21 (2.90%) Senior Business Analyst
14 18 (2.49%) Senior Manager
15 17 (2.35%) Solutions Architect
16 14 (1.94%) Project Manager
16 14 (1.94%) Service Designer
16 14 (1.94%) Technical Analyst
16 14 (1.94%) Technical Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (3.60%) Node.js
2 19 (2.63%) React
2 19 (2.63%) REST
2 19 (2.63%) RESTful
2 19 (2.63%) Spring
2 19 (2.63%) Spring Boot
3 18 (2.49%) .NET
4 14 (1.94%) HTML
4 14 (1.94%) Kafka
5 12 (1.66%) Middleware
5 12 (1.66%) SAP TM
6 11 (1.52%) CSS
6 11 (1.52%) OAuth
6 11 (1.52%) Playwright
7 10 (1.38%) AngularJS
7 10 (1.38%) JSON
7 10 (1.38%) XML
8 8 (1.11%) OpenAPI
8 8 (1.11%) OpenTelemetry
8 8 (1.11%) PySpark
Miscellaneous
1 57 (7.88%) Product Ownership
2 42 (5.81%) Onboarding
3 33 (4.56%) Cloud Native
4 19 (2.63%) Management Information System
5 15 (2.07%) Distributed Systems
5 15 (2.07%) Legacy Systems
5 15 (2.07%) NHS
6 10 (1.38%) Algorithms
7 9 (1.24%) Public Cloud
8 7 (0.97%) Data Centre
8 7 (0.97%) Enterprise Software
8 7 (0.97%) Linux Command Line
9 6 (0.83%) Hybrid Cloud
9 6 (0.83%) Replication
9 6 (0.83%) Self-Motivation
10 5 (0.69%) Data Structures
10 5 (0.69%) Mainframe
10 5 (0.69%) Tandem
11 4 (0.55%) Enterprise Cloud
11 4 (0.55%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 54 (7.47%) Linux
2 33 (4.56%) Windows
3 15 (2.07%) Unix
4 11 (1.52%) Windows Server
5 10 (1.38%) Android
6 6 (0.83%) Apple iOS
6 6 (0.83%) Mac OS
7 3 (0.41%) Ubuntu
7 3 (0.41%) Windows 10
8 2 (0.28%) AIX
8 2 (0.28%) Debian
8 2 (0.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 2 (0.28%) Solaris
9 1 (0.14%) CentOS
9 1 (0.14%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.14%) VME
9 1 (0.14%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 220 (30.43%) Agile
2 124 (17.15%) Problem-Solving
3 114 (15.77%) CI/CD
4 112 (15.49%) Stakeholder Management
5 106 (14.66%) DevOps
6 76 (10.51%) Continuous Improvement
6 76 (10.51%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 64 (8.85%) Roadmaps
8 59 (8.16%) Test Automation
9 54 (7.47%) Analytics
9 54 (7.47%) Data Modelling
10 53 (7.33%) Migration
11 51 (7.05%) Decision-Making
11 51 (7.05%) Infrastructure as Code
11 51 (7.05%) Scrum
12 50 (6.92%) Workshop Facilitation
13 45 (6.22%) Validation
14 43 (5.95%) Change Management
15 42 (5.81%) AI
15 42 (5.81%) Microservices
Programming Languages
1 101 (13.97%) Python
2 87 (12.03%) SQL
3 61 (8.44%) Java
4 32 (4.43%) JavaScript
5 25 (3.46%) Scala
6 18 (2.49%) PowerShell
7 13 (1.80%) C#
8 11 (1.52%) PL/SQL
9 10 (1.38%) TypeScript
10 8 (1.11%) Bicep
10 8 (1.11%) C
10 8 (1.11%) C++
10 8 (1.11%) Ruby
11 7 (0.97%) COBOL
12 5 (0.69%) VB
13 4 (0.55%) ABAP
13 4 (0.55%) Bash
13 4 (0.55%) MATLAB
13 4 (0.55%) Shell Script
13 4 (0.55%) VB6
Qualifications
1 257 (35.55%) Security Cleared
2 184 (25.45%) SC Cleared
3 51 (7.05%) Degree
4 13 (1.80%) DV Cleared
5 12 (1.66%) Computer Science Degree
6 9 (1.24%) Master's Degree
7 8 (1.11%) AWS Certification
8 7 (0.97%) PMI Certification
9 6 (0.83%) CompTIA CySA+
9 6 (0.83%) PMP
10 5 (0.69%) Azure Certification
10 5 (0.69%) GIAC
11 4 (0.55%) CompTIA Security+
11 4 (0.55%) CTC Cleared
11 4 (0.55%) DBS Check
12 3 (0.41%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 3 (0.41%) MBA
12 3 (0.41%) Microsoft Certification
12 3 (0.41%) TOGAF Certification
13 2 (0.28%) SAFe Agilist
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 49 (6.78%) Data Quality
2 43 (5.95%) QA
3 25 (3.46%) Accessibility
4 17 (2.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 16 (2.21%) NIST
6 14 (1.94%) PMO
7 12 (1.66%) SLA
8 8 (1.11%) PCI DSS
9 6 (0.83%) GDPR
10 5 (0.69%) GRC
10 5 (0.69%) IFRS
10 5 (0.69%) IFRS 17
10 5 (0.69%) ISO 20022
11 4 (0.55%) NCSC
11 4 (0.55%) PSD2
11 4 (0.55%) WCAG
12 3 (0.41%) Actionable Recommendations
12 3 (0.41%) HL7
12 3 (0.41%) ISO 8583
12 3 (0.41%) SEPA
System Software
1 40 (5.53%) Docker
2 24 (3.32%) Active Directory
3 22 (3.04%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (1.24%) vSphere
5 6 (0.83%) Hyper-V
6 5 (0.69%) GPFS
6 5 (0.69%) NFS
6 5 (0.69%) Virtual Machines
6 5 (0.69%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.41%) VMware NSX
8 2 (0.28%) ACF2
8 2 (0.28%) QEMU
8 2 (0.28%) RACF
8 2 (0.28%) Time Sharing Option
8 2 (0.28%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.14%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 62 (8.58%) Terraform
2 41 (5.67%) Kubernetes
3 12 (1.66%) Grafana
4 11 (1.52%) Ansible
5 8 (1.11%) vRealize
6 7 (0.97%) Kibana
6 7 (0.97%) Prometheus
7 5 (0.69%) Istio
7 5 (0.69%) VxRail
8 4 (0.55%) Argo
8 4 (0.55%) HAProxy
8 4 (0.55%) Podman
9 3 (0.41%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.28%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 2 (0.28%) CA Endevor
10 2 (0.28%) Kubeflow
10 2 (0.28%) Microsoft Intune
10 2 (0.28%) Packer
10 2 (0.28%) Tivoli
10 2 (0.28%) Tivoli Storage Manager
Vendors
1 89 (12.31%) SAP
2 68 (9.41%) Microsoft
3 43 (5.95%) Oracle
4 23 (3.18%) VMware
5 17 (2.35%) Databricks
6 16 (2.21%) Cisco
6 16 (2.21%) IBM
6 16 (2.21%) ServiceNow
7 15 (2.07%) Google
8 13 (1.80%) Splunk
9 7 (0.97%) CyberArk
9 7 (0.97%) Salesforce
9 7 (0.97%) Workday
10 5 (0.69%) Apple
10 5 (0.69%) Atlassian
10 5 (0.69%) BeyondTrust
11 4 (0.55%) Citrix
11 4 (0.55%) HP
11 4 (0.55%) Informatica
11 4 (0.55%) Pega