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 12 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 160 259 240
Rank change year-on-year +99 -19 -13
Contract jobs citing BPSS Clearance 627 238 370
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.72% 0.97% 0.97%
As % of the Qualifications category 5.05% 3.13% 3.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 462 148 272
10th Percentile £307 £220 £313
25th Percentile £393 £347 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £470 £500
Median % change year-on-year +1.06% -6.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £581 £575 £625
90th Percentile £688 £688 £675
UK median daily rate £470 £474 £500
% change year-on-year -0.84% -5.20% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 54 13 54
10th Percentile £20.09 £12.98 £14.00
25th Percentile £22.68 £24.50 -
Median hourly rate £34.25 £54.99 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year -37.72% +242.40% -66.60%
75th Percentile £68.75 £67.50 £42.64
90th Percentile £81.53 £76.25 £74.50
UK median hourly rate £36.00 £45.00 £16.06
% change year-on-year -20.00% +180.20% -66.39%

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 12,412 7,595 11,871
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 34.07% 30.82% 31.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,222 4,799 7,330
10th Percentile £325 £283 £295
25th Percentile £422 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -2.42% -2.18%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £725 £738
UK median daily rate £516 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -1.73% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 981 409 941
10th Percentile £16.30 £19.72 £14.00
25th Percentile £19.54 £25.26 £18.32
Median hourly rate £27.50 £51.50 £39.92
Median % change year-on-year -46.60% +29.01% -20.16%
75th Percentile £67.50 £68.00 £63.00
90th Percentile £84.00 £82.50 £76.53
UK median hourly rate £28.50 £42.50 £39.44
% change year-on-year -32.94% +7.77% -21.13%

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 12 March 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 12 March 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 12 March 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 +76 207 £512 +9.13% 64
North of England +9 186 £450 -7.98% 46
North West +32 145 £413 -20.42% 28
Midlands +4 99 £428 -2.06% 16
West Midlands -21 71 £430 -1.49% 14
South East +1 66 £447 -13.20% 66
South West +14 46 £532 +33.06% 60
East Midlands -5 28 £395 - 2
East of England -16 23 £450 +125.00% 41
Yorkshire -60 22 £480 +118.18% 6
North East -3 20 £475 +32.87% 12
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 (6.70%) Confluence
2 13 (2.07%) SharePoint
3 7 (1.12%) Apache
3 7 (1.12%) Microsoft Exchange
4 5 (0.80%) Apache Spark
4 5 (0.80%) nginx
5 3 (0.48%) CMS
5 3 (0.48%) WebLogic
6 2 (0.32%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.32%) MTS
6 2 (0.32%) Oracle Workflow
6 2 (0.32%) SAS
7 1 (0.16%) Apache Pulsar
7 1 (0.16%) ArcGIS
7 1 (0.16%) Camunda
7 1 (0.16%) CICS
7 1 (0.16%) LiveCycle
7 1 (0.16%) Palantir Foundry
7 1 (0.16%) SharePoint 2013
7 1 (0.16%) Smallworld
Applications
1 30 (4.78%) Microsoft Excel
2 13 (2.07%) MS Visio
3 12 (1.91%) Microsoft Office
4 11 (1.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 9 (1.44%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.32%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.32%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.16%) Autodesk Inventor
7 1 (0.16%) MicroStation
7 1 (0.16%) PTC Creo
7 1 (0.16%) Simulink
7 1 (0.16%) Trello
7 1 (0.16%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 42 (6.70%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (1.91%) SAP Travel Management
3 5 (0.80%) SAP QM
3 5 (0.80%) SAP VC
4 4 (0.64%) Loan IQ
4 4 (0.64%) Payment Gateway
4 4 (0.64%) SAP EWM
4 4 (0.64%) SAP MM
5 3 (0.48%) Exchequer
5 3 (0.48%) Primavera
5 3 (0.48%) ProductWriter
5 3 (0.48%) SAP BRIM
5 3 (0.48%) SAP HCM
5 3 (0.48%) SAP Hybris
5 3 (0.48%) SAP Payroll
5 3 (0.48%) SAP PSCD
6 2 (0.32%) BASE24
6 2 (0.32%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.32%) SAP FI
6 2 (0.32%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 107 (17.07%) AWS
2 86 (13.72%) Azure
3 42 (6.70%) Power Platform
4 28 (4.47%) GitHub
4 28 (4.47%) Serverless
5 25 (3.99%) Azure DevOps
5 25 (3.99%) GCP
6 17 (2.71%) AWS Lambda
7 16 (2.55%) GitHub Actions
8 15 (2.39%) AWS CloudFormation
8 15 (2.39%) Microsoft 365
9 12 (1.91%) Power Automate
10 10 (1.59%) Amazon SQS
10 10 (1.59%) PowerApps
11 9 (1.44%) Azure Data Factory
12 8 (1.28%) Entra ID
13 6 (0.96%) Amazon ECS
13 6 (0.96%) Azure AI
13 6 (0.96%) Azure Functions
13 6 (0.96%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 10 (1.59%) Firewall
1 10 (1.59%) Network Security
2 9 (1.44%) DNS
3 5 (0.80%) SSH
3 5 (0.80%) WAN
3 5 (0.80%) WebEx
4 4 (0.64%) Reverse Proxy
4 4 (0.64%) VSAN
5 3 (0.48%) DHCP
5 3 (0.48%) LAN
5 3 (0.48%) MPLS
5 3 (0.48%) TETRA
5 3 (0.48%) Unified Communications
5 3 (0.48%) VoIP
5 3 (0.48%) VPN
5 3 (0.48%) Wireless
6 2 (0.32%) Broadband
6 2 (0.32%) Ethernet
6 2 (0.32%) SDH
6 2 (0.32%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (5.26%) Power BI
2 18 (2.87%) PostgreSQL
3 15 (2.39%) SQL Server
4 13 (2.07%) Data Warehouse
4 13 (2.07%) NoSQL
5 11 (1.75%) Metadata
5 11 (1.75%) MongoDB
6 10 (1.59%) Redis
7 9 (1.44%) DocumentDB
8 8 (1.28%) DynamoDB
9 7 (1.12%) Geospatial Data
9 7 (1.12%) Tableau
10 6 (0.96%) Delta Lake
11 5 (0.80%) BigQuery
12 4 (0.64%) DataStage
12 4 (0.64%) Relational Database
12 4 (0.64%) Spark SQL
13 3 (0.48%) GIS
13 3 (0.48%) SAP HANA
13 3 (0.48%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 67 (10.69%) JIRA
2 49 (7.81%) Git
3 25 (3.99%) GitLab
4 14 (2.23%) Jenkins
5 8 (1.28%) JUnit
5 8 (1.28%) Selenium
6 7 (1.12%) Mockito
7 5 (0.80%) Cucumber
7 5 (0.80%) SonarQube
8 4 (0.64%) Cypress.io
9 3 (0.48%) Bitbucket
9 3 (0.48%) Eclipse
9 3 (0.48%) Gatling
9 3 (0.48%) JMeter
9 3 (0.48%) Rational DOORS
9 3 (0.48%) Toad
10 2 (0.32%) Maven
10 2 (0.32%) Mocha
10 2 (0.32%) Postman
10 2 (0.32%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 201 (32.06%) Social Skills
2 114 (18.18%) Finance
3 102 (16.27%) Public Sector
4 74 (11.80%) Analytical Skills
5 41 (6.54%) Banking
6 35 (5.58%) Aerospace
7 17 (2.71%) Telecoms
8 14 (2.23%) Presentation Skills
9 13 (2.07%) Influencing Skills
9 13 (2.07%) Legal
10 12 (1.91%) Documentation Skills
11 11 (1.75%) Organisational Skills
12 9 (1.44%) Aviation
13 8 (1.28%) Publishing
14 7 (1.12%) Local Government
14 7 (1.12%) Retail
15 6 (0.96%) Billing
16 5 (0.80%) Advertising
16 5 (0.80%) Manufacturing
16 5 (0.80%) Military
Job Titles
1 93 (14.83%) Analyst
2 80 (12.76%) Developer
3 66 (10.53%) Senior
4 57 (9.09%) Architect
5 56 (8.93%) Lead
6 48 (7.66%) Consultant
7 42 (6.70%) Business Analyst
8 34 (5.42%) SAP Consultant
9 26 (4.15%) Administrator
10 23 (3.67%) Data Engineer
11 16 (2.55%) Java Developer
11 16 (2.55%) Senior Analyst
11 16 (2.55%) Solutions Architect
12 13 (2.07%) Delivery Manager
12 13 (2.07%) Designer
13 12 (1.91%) Senior Business Analyst
13 12 (1.91%) Senior Developer
13 12 (1.91%) Systems Engineer
13 12 (1.91%) Test Engineer
14 11 (1.75%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (4.78%) Node.js
2 25 (3.99%) REST
3 23 (3.67%) React
4 20 (3.19%) Spring
5 18 (2.87%) Spring Boot
6 17 (2.71%) Kafka
6 17 (2.71%) RESTful
7 15 (2.39%) JSON
8 14 (2.23%) XML
9 13 (2.07%) SAP TM
10 12 (1.91%) .NET
10 12 (1.91%) Middleware
11 11 (1.75%) HTML
12 10 (1.59%) OpenAPI
13 9 (1.44%) AngularJS
13 9 (1.44%) Swagger
14 8 (1.28%) Jest
14 8 (1.28%) LangChain
14 8 (1.28%) OAuth
14 8 (1.28%) OpenTelemetry
Miscellaneous
1 45 (7.18%) Product Ownership
2 34 (5.42%) Onboarding
3 33 (5.26%) Cloud Native
4 25 (3.99%) Management Information System
5 15 (2.39%) Distributed Systems
5 15 (2.39%) Legacy Systems
6 14 (2.23%) NHS
7 10 (1.59%) Public Cloud
8 8 (1.28%) Linux Command Line
8 8 (1.28%) Security Posture
8 8 (1.28%) Self-Motivation
9 7 (1.12%) Enterprise Software
9 7 (1.12%) Tandem
10 6 (0.96%) Replication
11 5 (0.80%) AI Agents
11 5 (0.80%) Data Centre
11 5 (0.80%) Data Structures
11 5 (0.80%) Fat Client
11 5 (0.80%) Hybrid Cloud
11 5 (0.80%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 54 (8.61%) Linux
2 29 (4.63%) Windows
3 14 (2.23%) Unix
4 7 (1.12%) Android
4 7 (1.12%) Windows Server
5 5 (0.80%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.48%) Mac OS X
6 3 (0.48%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.32%) Debian
7 2 (0.32%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (0.32%) VMS
8 1 (0.16%) AIX
8 1 (0.16%) CentOS
8 1 (0.16%) Mac OS
8 1 (0.16%) Solaris
8 1 (0.16%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 180 (28.71%) Agile
2 110 (17.54%) Problem-Solving
3 104 (16.59%) Stakeholder Management
4 96 (15.31%) CI/CD
5 91 (14.51%) DevOps
6 62 (9.89%) Continuous Improvement
7 59 (9.41%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 57 (9.09%) Test Automation
9 52 (8.29%) Microservices
10 51 (8.13%) Data Modelling
11 50 (7.97%) Roadmaps
12 48 (7.66%) Analytics
13 45 (7.18%) Validation
14 44 (7.02%) Change Management
14 44 (7.02%) Migration
15 43 (6.86%) AI
15 43 (6.86%) Scrum
16 40 (6.38%) Decision-Making
16 40 (6.38%) Infrastructure as Code
17 36 (5.74%) Workshop Facilitation
Programming Languages
1 87 (13.88%) Python
2 82 (13.08%) SQL
3 57 (9.09%) Java
4 25 (3.99%) JavaScript
5 17 (2.71%) PowerShell
6 13 (2.07%) Scala
7 12 (1.91%) Ruby
8 10 (1.59%) TypeScript
9 8 (1.28%) Bicep
9 8 (1.28%) C#
10 7 (1.12%) ABAP
10 7 (1.12%) PL/SQL
11 6 (0.96%) Bash
11 6 (0.96%) C++
11 6 (0.96%) COBOL
12 5 (0.80%) C
13 4 (0.64%) Shell Script
14 3 (0.48%) Apex Code
15 2 (0.32%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 2 (0.32%) Go
Qualifications
1 259 (41.31%) Security Cleared
2 197 (31.42%) SC Cleared
3 56 (8.93%) Degree
4 21 (3.35%) Computer Science Degree
5 16 (2.55%) DV Cleared
6 15 (2.39%) Master's Degree
7 9 (1.44%) AWS Certification
8 7 (1.12%) DBS Check
8 7 (1.12%) PMI Certification
9 6 (0.96%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 6 (0.96%) ISTQB
9 6 (0.96%) PMP
10 5 (0.80%) Azure Certification
10 5 (0.80%) CompTIA CySA+
10 5 (0.80%) CompTIA Security+
11 4 (0.64%) GIAC
11 4 (0.64%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 3 (0.48%) CTC Cleared
12 3 (0.48%) ISEB
12 3 (0.48%) MBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (6.06%) QA
2 36 (5.74%) Data Quality
3 22 (3.51%) Accessibility
4 20 (3.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 17 (2.71%) NIST
6 13 (2.07%) SLA
7 11 (1.75%) GRC
8 8 (1.28%) NCSC
8 8 (1.28%) PCI DSS
9 7 (1.12%) GDPR
9 7 (1.12%) ISO 20022
9 7 (1.12%) PMO
10 6 (0.96%) Def Stans
11 5 (0.80%) IFRS
11 5 (0.80%) IFRS 17
11 5 (0.80%) PSD2
11 5 (0.80%) WCAG
12 4 (0.64%) SEPA
13 3 (0.48%) ISO 8583
13 3 (0.48%) P3O
System Software
1 43 (6.86%) Docker
2 17 (2.71%) Active Directory
3 13 (2.07%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (1.28%) vSphere
5 5 (0.80%) GPFS
5 5 (0.80%) NFS
5 5 (0.80%) VMware ESXi
6 3 (0.48%) Hyper-V
6 3 (0.48%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.32%) ACF2
7 2 (0.32%) QEMU
7 2 (0.32%) RACF
7 2 (0.32%) Time Sharing Option
7 2 (0.32%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.16%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 50 (7.97%) Terraform
2 46 (7.34%) Kubernetes
3 9 (1.44%) Ansible
4 8 (1.28%) vRealize
5 6 (0.96%) Prometheus
6 5 (0.80%) Grafana
6 5 (0.80%) Istio
6 5 (0.80%) VxRail
7 4 (0.64%) Packer
7 4 (0.64%) Podman
8 3 (0.48%) Argo
8 3 (0.48%) Kibana
9 2 (0.32%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 2 (0.32%) CA Endevor
9 2 (0.32%) Consul
9 2 (0.32%) Kubeflow
9 2 (0.32%) SCCM
9 2 (0.32%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.32%) Tivoli
9 2 (0.32%) Tivoli Storage Manager
Vendors
1 81 (12.92%) SAP
2 69 (11.00%) Microsoft
3 35 (5.58%) Oracle
4 18 (2.87%) Cisco
5 17 (2.71%) IBM
6 15 (2.39%) Google
6 15 (2.39%) VMware
7 13 (2.07%) Databricks
8 10 (1.59%) ServiceNow
9 9 (1.44%) Atlassian
10 8 (1.28%) Splunk
10 8 (1.28%) Twitter
11 6 (0.96%) Salesforce
11 6 (0.96%) Workday
12 5 (0.80%) Adobe
12 5 (0.80%) Citrix
12 5 (0.80%) CyberArk
12 5 (0.80%) webMethods
13 4 (0.64%) Foundry
13 4 (0.64%) Pega