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 14 August 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 128 190 252
Rank change year-on-year +62 +62 -3
Contract jobs citing BPSS Clearance 987 416 314
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.16% 1.51% 0.94%
As % of the Qualifications category 6.83% 4.78% 3.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 682 294 201
10th Percentile £350 £304 £220
25th Percentile £411 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.00% - -9.09%
75th Percentile £576 £597 £575
90th Percentile £676 £705 £634
UK median daily rate £495 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.00% - -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 161 39 42
10th Percentile £19.50 £19.70 -
25th Percentile £37.25 £22.63 -
Median hourly rate £43.96 £28.79 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year +52.69% +79.27% -64.65%
75th Percentile £62.50 £69.36 £53.75
90th Percentile £73.00 £75.25 £76.25
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £27.50 £17.53
% change year-on-year +59.85% +56.87% -61.41%

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 14,456 8,695 10,189
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 31.70% 31.46% 30.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,754 5,449 6,485
10th Percentile £350 £300 £325
25th Percentile £431 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £715 £738
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £525
% change year-on-year - - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,120 671 758
10th Percentile £18.25 £18.13 £15.10
25th Percentile £25.77 £18.87 £21.37
Median hourly rate £55.00 £25.15 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +118.69% -47.05% -13.64%
75th Percentile £75.00 £56.00 £67.50
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £77.65
UK median hourly rate £51.25 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +103.78% -41.51% -21.82%

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 14 August 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 14 August 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 14 August 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 +64 290 £498 -3.16% 103
North of England +17 280 £480 +2.40% 86
Midlands +44 187 £490 -3.92% 50
West Midlands +43 174 £488 -6.25% 47
North West +2 147 £500 +11.11% 60
South East -22 106 £483 -6.12% 78
North East +8 79 £453 -1.52% 23
South West 0 75 £525 +50.00% 56
Yorkshire -4 65 £478 -4.50% 4
East of England -10 30 £604 +184.29% 38
East Midlands -29 12 £600 +21.95% 2
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 42 (4.26%) Confluence
2 24 (2.43%) SharePoint
3 8 (0.81%) Microsoft Exchange
4 6 (0.61%) SAS
5 5 (0.51%) Apache Airflow
5 5 (0.51%) Apache Spark
5 5 (0.51%) WebLogic
6 4 (0.41%) SharePoint Server
7 3 (0.30%) Oracle Workflow
7 3 (0.30%) WordPress
8 2 (0.20%) Apache
8 2 (0.20%) Cloud Foundry
8 2 (0.20%) CMS
8 2 (0.20%) Ethereum
8 2 (0.20%) Hyperledger
8 2 (0.20%) LiveCycle
8 2 (0.20%) OpenROAD
9 1 (0.10%) Appian
9 1 (0.10%) ArcGIS
9 1 (0.10%) Smallworld
Applications
1 35 (3.55%) Microsoft Excel
2 22 (2.23%) Microsoft Office
3 13 (1.32%) Microsoft Project
4 11 (1.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 4 (0.41%) MS Visio
6 3 (0.30%) Simulink
6 3 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.20%) Chatbot
7 2 (0.20%) Navisworks
7 2 (0.20%) Trello
8 1 (0.10%) AutoCAD
8 1 (0.10%) Autodesk Inventor
8 1 (0.10%) CATIA
8 1 (0.10%) InVision
8 1 (0.10%) MicroStation
8 1 (0.10%) ProjectWise
8 1 (0.10%) Revit
8 1 (0.10%) Sketch
8 1 (0.10%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 25 (2.53%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (1.01%) SAP HR
3 9 (0.91%) SAP IBP
3 9 (0.91%) SAP PSCD
4 6 (0.61%) SAP BRIM
5 5 (0.51%) SAP EWM
6 4 (0.41%) SAP Convergent Charging
7 3 (0.30%) Dynamics CRM
7 3 (0.30%) iTrent
7 3 (0.30%) Primavera
7 3 (0.30%) SAP CO
7 3 (0.30%) SAP FI
7 3 (0.30%) SAP FI/CO
7 3 (0.30%) SAP MM
7 3 (0.30%) SAP Payroll
7 3 (0.30%) Shopify
8 2 (0.20%) Exchequer
8 2 (0.20%) Quorum
8 2 (0.20%) R3 Corda
8 2 (0.20%) Ripple
Cloud Services
1 146 (14.79%) Azure
2 141 (14.29%) AWS
3 56 (5.67%) Power Platform
4 35 (3.55%) Azure DevOps
4 35 (3.55%) Serverless
5 29 (2.94%) GitHub
6 26 (2.63%) Amazon S3
6 26 (2.63%) AWS Lambda
7 25 (2.53%) Microsoft 365
8 23 (2.33%) GCP
9 20 (2.03%) GitHub Actions
10 18 (1.82%) Entra ID
11 17 (1.72%) SuccessFactors
12 10 (1.01%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 10 (1.01%) Amazon ECS
12 10 (1.01%) Azure Data Factory
12 10 (1.01%) Azure Monitor
13 9 (0.91%) PowerApps
14 8 (0.81%) OneDrive
14 8 (0.81%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 14 (1.42%) DNS
2 12 (1.22%) WebEx
3 7 (0.71%) Intranet
3 7 (0.71%) Network Security
4 6 (0.61%) SSL
4 6 (0.61%) WAN
5 5 (0.51%) Cisco IPT
5 5 (0.51%) Ethernet
5 5 (0.51%) Firewall
6 4 (0.41%) DHCP
6 4 (0.41%) HTTPS
6 4 (0.41%) Internet
6 4 (0.41%) TCP/IP
7 3 (0.30%) MQTT
7 3 (0.30%) VPN
8 2 (0.20%) MPLS
8 2 (0.20%) NAS
8 2 (0.20%) SAN
8 2 (0.20%) SMTP
8 2 (0.20%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 38 (3.85%) Power BI
2 21 (2.13%) SQL Server
3 20 (2.03%) Data Warehouse
4 19 (1.93%) Metadata
4 19 (1.93%) PostgreSQL
5 15 (1.52%) Amazon RDS
6 14 (1.42%) MySQL
7 13 (1.32%) MongoDB
8 12 (1.22%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 10 (1.01%) Amazon Redshift
9 10 (1.01%) DynamoDB
10 9 (0.91%) Amazon Athena
11 8 (0.81%) Amazon Aurora
11 8 (0.81%) Data Lake
12 7 (0.71%) SAP BW
13 6 (0.61%) Big Data
13 6 (0.61%) BigQuery
13 6 (0.61%) Power Query
14 5 (0.51%) NoSQL
14 5 (0.51%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 73 (7.40%) JIRA
2 44 (4.46%) Git
3 35 (3.55%) GitLab
4 24 (2.43%) Jenkins
5 14 (1.42%) Selenium
6 12 (1.22%) Cucumber
7 11 (1.11%) Maven
8 10 (1.01%) Team Foundation Server
8 10 (1.01%) Visual Studio
9 9 (0.91%) Atlassian Bamboo
10 8 (0.81%) Bitbucket
10 8 (0.81%) Cypress.io
10 8 (0.81%) Gatling
10 8 (0.81%) JUnit
10 8 (0.81%) SonarQube
11 5 (0.51%) Postman
11 5 (0.51%) Rational DOORS
12 4 (0.41%) Artifactory
12 4 (0.41%) REST Assured
12 4 (0.41%) WebDriver
General
1 313 (31.71%) Social Skills
2 232 (23.51%) Public Sector
3 156 (15.81%) Finance
4 100 (10.13%) Analytical Skills
5 76 (7.70%) Legal
6 73 (7.40%) Organisational Skills
7 43 (4.36%) Aerospace
8 22 (2.23%) Presentation Skills
9 21 (2.13%) Influencing Skills
10 20 (2.03%) Banking
11 17 (1.72%) Documentation Skills
12 16 (1.62%) Manufacturing
13 14 (1.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 13 (1.32%) Billing
15 12 (1.22%) Telecoms
16 10 (1.01%) Local Government
17 9 (0.91%) Aviation
17 9 (0.91%) Law
18 7 (0.71%) Avionics
19 6 (0.61%) Police
Job Titles
1 123 (12.46%) Senior
2 110 (11.14%) Lead
3 86 (8.71%) Analyst
4 85 (8.61%) Developer
5 69 (6.99%) Architect
6 68 (6.89%) Consultant
7 56 (5.67%) Designer
8 45 (4.56%) SAP Consultant
9 35 (3.55%) Business Analyst
10 34 (3.44%) Data Engineer
11 30 (3.04%) Delivery Manager
12 28 (2.84%) User Researcher
13 24 (2.43%) DevOps Engineer
14 23 (2.33%) Product Manager
15 22 (2.23%) Administrator
16 21 (2.13%) Solutions Architect
17 20 (2.03%) Senior Manager
17 20 (2.03%) Service Designer
17 20 (2.03%) Software Engineer
18 19 (1.93%) Data Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (2.74%) REST
2 26 (2.63%) Node.js
3 24 (2.43%) Spring
4 22 (2.23%) Spring Boot
5 20 (2.03%) HTML
5 20 (2.03%) React
6 19 (1.93%) Playwright
7 17 (1.72%) .NET
7 17 (1.72%) RESTful
8 13 (1.32%) CSS
9 12 (1.22%) Kafka
10 11 (1.11%) Play Framework
10 11 (1.11%) PySpark
11 10 (1.01%) SAML
11 10 (1.01%) SOAP
11 10 (1.01%) Web Services
11 10 (1.01%) XML
12 8 (0.81%) JSON
13 7 (0.71%) AngularJS
13 7 (0.71%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 67 (6.79%) Onboarding
2 66 (6.69%) Web Conferencing
3 64 (6.48%) Virtual Team
4 56 (5.67%) Podcast
5 55 (5.57%) Product Ownership
6 35 (3.55%) Cloud Native
7 23 (2.33%) NHS
8 16 (1.62%) Management Information System
9 14 (1.42%) BYOD
10 13 (1.32%) Legacy Systems
11 12 (1.22%) Mobile App
12 11 (1.11%) Algorithms
13 10 (1.01%) Video Conferencing
14 9 (0.91%) Enterprise Software
14 9 (0.91%) Replication
14 9 (0.91%) Self-Motivation
15 8 (0.81%) Data Centre
16 6 (0.61%) Legacy Applications
16 6 (0.61%) Low-Code
16 6 (0.61%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 45 (4.56%) Windows
2 44 (4.46%) Linux
3 19 (1.93%) Unix
4 11 (1.11%) Android
4 11 (1.11%) Windows Server
5 9 (0.91%) Windows 10
6 7 (0.71%) Mac OS
7 6 (0.61%) Apple iOS
8 5 (0.51%) VMS
9 1 (0.10%) AIX
9 1 (0.10%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 1 (0.10%) Robot Operating System
9 1 (0.10%) Solaris
9 1 (0.10%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 300 (30.40%) Agile
2 172 (17.43%) Stakeholder Management
3 136 (13.78%) CI/CD
4 133 (13.48%) DevOps
5 117 (11.85%) Continuous Improvement
6 114 (11.55%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 104 (10.54%) Problem-Solving
8 83 (8.41%) Decision-Making
8 83 (8.41%) Roadmaps
9 81 (8.21%) Scrum
10 79 (8.00%) Analytics
11 75 (7.60%) Customer Service
12 70 (7.09%) User Research
13 60 (6.08%) Mentoring
14 59 (5.98%) Migration
15 56 (5.67%) Software Engineering
16 55 (5.57%) AI
17 54 (5.47%) Test Automation
17 54 (5.47%) Workshop Facilitation
18 53 (5.37%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
Programming Languages
1 94 (9.52%) SQL
2 89 (9.02%) Python
3 82 (8.31%) Java
4 42 (4.26%) JavaScript
5 28 (2.84%) Scala
6 20 (2.03%) PowerShell
7 19 (1.93%) TypeScript
8 14 (1.42%) C#
9 13 (1.32%) C++
10 12 (1.22%) Bash
10 12 (1.22%) Shell Script
10 12 (1.22%) VB
11 11 (1.11%) PL/SQL
11 11 (1.11%) VB6
12 7 (0.71%) C
12 7 (0.71%) T-SQL
12 7 (0.71%) VBA
13 6 (0.61%) ABAP
14 5 (0.51%) Ada
14 5 (0.51%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 363 (36.78%) Security Cleared
2 264 (26.75%) SC Cleared
3 57 (5.78%) Degree
4 13 (1.32%) DV Cleared
5 11 (1.11%) AWS Certification
6 10 (1.01%) A+ Certification
6 10 (1.01%) Azure Certification
6 10 (1.01%) Microsoft Certification
7 7 (0.71%) CTC Cleared
8 6 (0.61%) DBS Check
8 6 (0.61%) PMI Certification
9 5 (0.51%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 5 (0.51%) CompTIA CySA+
10 4 (0.41%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
10 4 (0.41%) CCA
10 4 (0.41%) CCNA
10 4 (0.41%) Cisco Certification
10 4 (0.41%) GIAC
10 4 (0.41%) ISTQB
10 4 (0.41%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 55 (5.57%) Data Quality
2 52 (5.27%) QA
3 43 (4.36%) Accessibility
4 22 (2.23%) GDPR
4 22 (2.23%) PMO
5 17 (1.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 14 (1.42%) NIST
7 12 (1.22%) SLA
7 12 (1.22%) WCAG
8 5 (0.51%) GRC
9 4 (0.41%) NCSC
9 4 (0.41%) PERC
10 3 (0.30%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.30%) Def Stans
10 3 (0.30%) HL7
11 2 (0.20%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 2 (0.20%) DICOM
11 2 (0.20%) GMP
11 2 (0.20%) GxP
11 2 (0.20%) IEC 61508
System Software
1 42 (4.26%) Docker
2 31 (3.14%) Active Directory
3 11 (1.11%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (0.91%) Virtual Machines
5 7 (0.71%) Virtual Desktop
6 4 (0.41%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.20%) vSphere
8 1 (0.10%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.10%) GPFS
8 1 (0.10%) NFS
8 1 (0.10%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.10%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 64 (6.48%) Terraform
2 46 (4.66%) Kubernetes
3 19 (1.93%) Grafana
4 11 (1.11%) Single Sign-On
5 10 (1.01%) Kibana
6 9 (0.91%) Prometheus
6 9 (0.91%) SCCM
7 7 (0.71%) Ansible
7 7 (0.71%) Argo
8 5 (0.51%) Microsoft Intune
8 5 (0.51%) SCOM
9 4 (0.41%) HAProxy
10 3 (0.30%) Istio
10 3 (0.30%) Packer
10 3 (0.30%) Podman
10 3 (0.30%) Puppet
11 2 (0.20%) Functional Safety
12 1 (0.10%) Amdocs OSS
12 1 (0.10%) PTC Integrity
12 1 (0.10%) vRealize
Vendors
1 132 (13.37%) Microsoft
2 89 (9.02%) SAP
3 43 (4.36%) Oracle
4 38 (3.85%) ServiceNow
5 27 (2.74%) Google
6 14 (1.42%) Databricks
7 13 (1.32%) BeyondTrust
8 12 (1.22%) Atlassian
9 11 (1.11%) VMware
10 10 (1.01%) Cisco
10 10 (1.01%) Splunk
11 9 (0.91%) CyberArk
12 8 (0.81%) Workday
13 6 (0.61%) IBM
13 6 (0.61%) Informatica
13 6 (0.61%) Qualtrics
13 6 (0.61%) Talend
14 5 (0.51%) Apple
14 5 (0.51%) Pega
14 5 (0.51%) Salesforce