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 19 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 103 184 263
Rank change year-on-year +81 +79 -16
Contract jobs citing BPSS Clearance 1,166 435 291
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.50% 1.56% 0.88%
As % of the Qualifications category 7.81% 4.97% 2.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 830 318 182
10th Percentile £360 £310 £213
25th Percentile £430 £403 £393
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £513 £500
Median % change year-on-year -3.56% +2.65% -9.09%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £588
90th Percentile £675 £713 £642
UK median daily rate £500 £510 £500
% change year-on-year -1.96% +2.00% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 174 45 15
10th Percentile £17.86 £20.00 £14.48
25th Percentile £41.00 £22.63 £20.06
Median hourly rate £43.96 £33.50 £38.85
Median % change year-on-year +31.22% -13.77% -34.43%
75th Percentile £53.22 £52.50 £64.38
90th Percentile £72.61 £74.50 £65.00
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £30.89 £21.59
% change year-on-year +42.33% +43.05% -63.56%

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 14,931 8,759 9,798
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 32.08% 31.49% 29.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,006 5,575 6,037
10th Percentile £350 £301 £325
25th Percentile £443 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £528 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year +0.57% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £715 £738
UK median daily rate £527 £525 £525
% change year-on-year +0.38% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,220 691 572
10th Percentile £18.25 £18.13 £17.51
25th Percentile £25.77 £18.87 £27.00
Median hourly rate £52.60 £25.15 £54.00
Median % change year-on-year +109.15% -53.43% -
75th Percentile £74.32 £47.31 £70.00
90th Percentile £89.08 £73.75 £80.00
UK median hourly rate £47.77 £25.15 £49.00
% change year-on-year +89.94% -48.67% -9.26%

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 19 September 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 19 September 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 19 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
London +85 338 £523 +3.67% 243
North of England +15 325 £488 - 142
Midlands +57 267 £488 -7.14% 115
West Midlands +63 257 £488 -7.14% 85
North West +4 176 £500 +6.61% 85
South East -20 93 £483 -6.21% 159
North East +11 90 £453 -1.52% 29
South West +6 79 £525 - 139
Yorkshire -4 72 £488 -2.50% 29
East of England +3 47 £578 +0.17% 135
East Midlands -27 9 £606 +23.22% 30
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 49 (4.20%) Confluence
2 24 (2.06%) SharePoint
3 8 (0.69%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (0.60%) SAS
5 6 (0.51%) CMS
5 6 (0.51%) SharePoint Server
5 6 (0.51%) WebLogic
6 5 (0.43%) Headless CMS
7 4 (0.34%) Apache Airflow
7 4 (0.34%) Apache Spark
8 3 (0.26%) WordPress
9 2 (0.17%) Cloud Foundry
9 2 (0.17%) Ethereum
9 2 (0.17%) Hyperledger
9 2 (0.17%) LiveCycle
9 2 (0.17%) OpenROAD
10 1 (0.086%) Apache Superset
10 1 (0.086%) Appian
10 1 (0.086%) Oracle Workflow
10 1 (0.086%) SAP EP
Applications
1 35 (3.00%) Microsoft Excel
2 26 (2.23%) Microsoft Office
3 15 (1.29%) Microsoft Project
4 9 (0.77%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.43%) Windchill
6 3 (0.26%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.17%) AutoCAD
7 2 (0.17%) Chatbot
7 2 (0.17%) MS Visio
7 2 (0.17%) Navisworks
7 2 (0.17%) Trello
8 1 (0.086%) InVision
8 1 (0.086%) ProjectWise
8 1 (0.086%) Revit
8 1 (0.086%) Siemens NX
8 1 (0.086%) Simulink
8 1 (0.086%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 41 (3.52%) SAP S/4HANA
2 20 (1.72%) SAP HR
3 12 (1.03%) SAP PSCD
4 10 (0.86%) SAP Payroll
5 9 (0.77%) SAP BRIM
5 9 (0.77%) SAP HCM
5 9 (0.77%) SAP IBP
6 6 (0.51%) SAP PP
7 5 (0.43%) Exchequer
7 5 (0.43%) Teamcenter
8 4 (0.34%) SAP Convergent Charging
8 4 (0.34%) SAP FI
8 4 (0.34%) SAP Hybris
9 3 (0.26%) iTrent
9 3 (0.26%) SAP CO
9 3 (0.26%) SAP EWM
9 3 (0.26%) SAP FI/CO
9 3 (0.26%) SAP Travel Management
9 3 (0.26%) Shopify
10 2 (0.17%) SAP PLM
Cloud Services
1 170 (14.58%) AWS
2 165 (14.15%) Azure
3 58 (4.97%) Power Platform
4 42 (3.60%) GitHub
5 40 (3.43%) Azure DevOps
6 35 (3.00%) Microsoft 365
7 31 (2.66%) Serverless
8 30 (2.57%) GCP
9 27 (2.32%) Amazon S3
10 26 (2.23%) GitHub Actions
11 25 (2.14%) AWS Lambda
12 24 (2.06%) SuccessFactors
13 22 (1.89%) Entra ID
14 14 (1.20%) Power Automate
14 14 (1.20%) PowerApps
15 13 (1.11%) Azure Monitor
16 12 (1.03%) Amazon CloudWatch
17 11 (0.94%) OneDrive
18 10 (0.86%) GitHub Copilot
19 9 (0.77%) Azure AI
Communications & Networking
1 11 (0.94%) DNS
2 10 (0.86%) SSL
2 10 (0.86%) WebEx
3 9 (0.77%) Network Security
4 8 (0.69%) Cisco IPT
4 8 (0.69%) Intranet
5 7 (0.60%) 5G
5 7 (0.60%) Firewall
5 7 (0.60%) Radio Access Network
5 7 (0.60%) Wireshark
6 6 (0.51%) WAN
7 5 (0.43%) 3GPP
7 5 (0.43%) Ethernet
7 5 (0.43%) NGN
7 5 (0.43%) TCP/IP
7 5 (0.43%) tcpdump
7 5 (0.43%) VPN
8 4 (0.34%) DHCP
8 4 (0.34%) HTTPS
9 3 (0.26%) MQTT
Database & Business Intelligence
1 38 (3.26%) Power BI
2 27 (2.32%) SQL Server
3 25 (2.14%) Metadata
4 23 (1.97%) Data Warehouse
5 22 (1.89%) MongoDB
6 20 (1.72%) MySQL
6 20 (1.72%) PostgreSQL
7 16 (1.37%) Amazon RDS
7 16 (1.37%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 14 (1.20%) Oracle Database
9 11 (0.94%) Amazon Redshift
10 10 (0.86%) Amazon Aurora
10 10 (0.86%) NoSQL
11 9 (0.77%) Amazon Athena
12 8 (0.69%) Data Lake
12 8 (0.69%) DynamoDB
13 7 (0.60%) Big Data
13 7 (0.60%) SAP BW
14 6 (0.51%) Relational Database
14 6 (0.51%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 88 (7.55%) JIRA
2 64 (5.49%) Git
3 61 (5.23%) GitLab
4 28 (2.40%) Jenkins
5 25 (2.14%) JUnit
6 24 (2.06%) Selenium
7 22 (1.89%) Cucumber
8 21 (1.80%) Maven
9 17 (1.46%) SonarQube
10 16 (1.37%) Gatling
11 10 (0.86%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 10 (0.86%) Mockito
11 10 (0.86%) Team Foundation Server
11 10 (0.86%) Visual Studio
12 9 (0.77%) Bitbucket
13 7 (0.60%) Cypress.io
13 7 (0.60%) Postman
14 6 (0.51%) Rational DOORS
15 4 (0.34%) Artifactory
15 4 (0.34%) WebDriver
General
1 392 (33.62%) Social Skills
2 297 (25.47%) Public Sector
3 195 (16.72%) Finance
4 111 (9.52%) Analytical Skills
5 98 (8.40%) Organisational Skills
6 91 (7.80%) Legal
7 31 (2.66%) Aerospace
8 28 (2.40%) Manufacturing
9 26 (2.23%) Documentation Skills
10 25 (2.14%) Influencing Skills
11 24 (2.06%) Presentation Skills
12 22 (1.89%) Banking
13 19 (1.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 19 (1.63%) Telecoms
14 15 (1.29%) Billing
15 13 (1.11%) Military
16 11 (0.94%) Local Government
17 8 (0.69%) Law
18 7 (0.60%) Avionics
18 7 (0.60%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 139 (11.92%) Senior
2 118 (10.12%) Lead
3 116 (9.95%) Developer
4 104 (8.92%) Architect
5 87 (7.46%) Analyst
6 82 (7.03%) Consultant
7 56 (4.80%) Designer
7 56 (4.80%) SAP Consultant
8 40 (3.43%) Business Analyst
9 37 (3.17%) Delivery Manager
10 36 (3.09%) Data Engineer
11 34 (2.92%) Solutions Architect
12 29 (2.49%) Java Developer
12 29 (2.49%) Product Manager
13 26 (2.23%) Administrator
13 26 (2.23%) User Researcher
14 24 (2.06%) DevOps Engineer
15 22 (1.89%) Java Engineer
16 21 (1.80%) Senior Manager
16 21 (1.80%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 64 (5.49%) Terraform
2 54 (4.63%) Spring
3 42 (3.60%) Spring Boot
4 34 (2.92%) React
5 33 (2.83%) REST
6 32 (2.74%) Playwright
7 30 (2.57%) Node.js
8 27 (2.32%) HTML
9 22 (1.89%) OpenAPI
10 21 (1.80%) Kafka
10 21 (1.80%) RESTful
11 19 (1.63%) CSS
12 15 (1.29%) .NET
12 15 (1.29%) OAuth
13 14 (1.20%) Swagger
14 13 (1.11%) Web Services
14 13 (1.11%) XML
15 12 (1.03%) Gherkin
15 12 (1.03%) OAuth2
15 12 (1.03%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 83 (7.12%) Onboarding
2 80 (6.86%) Web Conferencing
3 79 (6.78%) Virtual Team
4 70 (6.00%) Podcast
5 63 (5.40%) Product Ownership
6 40 (3.43%) Cloud Native
7 17 (1.46%) BYOD
7 17 (1.46%) Mobile App
7 17 (1.46%) NHS
8 15 (1.29%) Management Information System
8 15 (1.29%) Replication
9 14 (1.20%) Legacy Systems
10 13 (1.11%) Enterprise Software
11 12 (1.03%) Self-Motivation
12 11 (0.94%) Algorithms
13 10 (0.86%) Taxonomies
13 10 (0.86%) Video Conferencing
14 9 (0.77%) Clustering
15 8 (0.69%) Data Centre
15 8 (0.69%) Driving Licence
Operating Systems
1 51 (4.37%) Windows
2 42 (3.60%) Linux
3 22 (1.89%) Unix
4 14 (1.20%) Android
4 14 (1.20%) Windows Server
5 10 (0.86%) Apple iOS
6 9 (0.77%) Windows 10
7 7 (0.60%) Mac OS
8 6 (0.51%) VMS
9 1 (0.086%) AIX
9 1 (0.086%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 1 (0.086%) Robot Operating System
9 1 (0.086%) Solaris
9 1 (0.086%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 366 (31.39%) Agile
2 240 (20.58%) Stakeholder Management
3 164 (14.07%) CI/CD
4 142 (12.18%) DevOps
5 141 (12.09%) Continuous Improvement
6 133 (11.41%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 130 (11.15%) Problem-Solving
8 117 (10.03%) Scrum
9 94 (8.06%) Customer Service
9 94 (8.06%) Decision-Making
10 91 (7.80%) Roadmaps
11 83 (7.12%) AI
12 81 (6.95%) Analytics
13 79 (6.78%) Digital Transformation Programme
14 71 (6.09%) Mentoring
14 71 (6.09%) Test Automation
15 69 (5.92%) Migration
16 68 (5.83%) User Research
17 63 (5.40%) Infrastructure as Code
17 63 (5.40%) Microservices
Programming Languages
1 120 (10.29%) Java
2 112 (9.61%) SQL
3 94 (8.06%) Python
4 49 (4.20%) JavaScript
5 31 (2.66%) Scala
6 27 (2.32%) PowerShell
7 22 (1.89%) Shell Script
8 20 (1.72%) TypeScript
9 16 (1.37%) Bash
10 15 (1.29%) C#
11 14 (1.20%) PL/SQL
12 12 (1.03%) VB
13 11 (0.94%) VB6
14 10 (0.86%) ABAP
14 10 (0.86%) T-SQL
15 8 (0.69%) C++
16 7 (0.60%) VBA
17 6 (0.51%) Kotlin
18 5 (0.43%) Ada
18 5 (0.43%) R
Qualifications
1 419 (35.93%) Security Cleared
2 319 (27.36%) SC Cleared
3 67 (5.75%) Degree
4 17 (1.46%) Azure Certification
5 16 (1.37%) Microsoft Certification
6 13 (1.11%) DBS Check
7 11 (0.94%) A+ Certification
7 11 (0.94%) AWS Certification
7 11 (0.94%) DV Cleared
8 8 (0.69%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 7 (0.60%) PMI Certification
10 6 (0.51%) Master's Degree
10 6 (0.51%) PhD
11 5 (0.43%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 5 (0.43%) CTC Cleared
11 5 (0.43%) HNC
11 5 (0.43%) HND
12 4 (0.34%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
12 4 (0.34%) CCA
12 4 (0.34%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 74 (6.35%) QA
2 64 (5.49%) Accessibility
3 48 (4.12%) Data Quality
4 31 (2.66%) WCAG
5 26 (2.23%) GDPR
6 20 (1.72%) PMO
7 16 (1.37%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 13 (1.11%) NIST
9 10 (0.86%) SLA
10 5 (0.43%) IEC 61508
10 5 (0.43%) PERC
11 4 (0.34%) GRC
12 3 (0.26%) Cyber Essentials
12 3 (0.26%) Def Stans
12 3 (0.26%) NCSC
13 2 (0.17%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 2 (0.17%) Actionable Recommendations
13 2 (0.17%) GMP
13 2 (0.17%) ISO/IEC 17025
13 2 (0.17%) Solvency II
System Software
1 56 (4.80%) Docker
2 28 (2.40%) Active Directory
3 13 (1.11%) Virtual Machines
4 10 (0.86%) VMware Infrastructure
5 7 (0.60%) Virtual Desktop
6 4 (0.34%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.086%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 67 (5.75%) Kubernetes
2 27 (2.32%) Grafana
3 19 (1.63%) Kibana
4 15 (1.29%) Prometheus
5 12 (1.03%) Single Sign-On
6 11 (0.94%) SCCM
7 9 (0.77%) SCOM
8 8 (0.69%) Ansible
9 7 (0.60%) Microsoft Intune
10 6 (0.51%) Argo
11 5 (0.43%) Functional Safety
12 4 (0.34%) HAProxy
13 3 (0.26%) Packer
13 3 (0.26%) Podman
13 3 (0.26%) Puppet
14 2 (0.17%) Cilium
14 2 (0.17%) Istio
15 1 (0.086%) Amdocs OSS
15 1 (0.086%) PTC Integrity
15 1 (0.086%) systemd
Vendors
1 155 (13.29%) Microsoft
2 115 (9.86%) SAP
3 54 (4.63%) Oracle
4 43 (3.69%) ServiceNow
5 31 (2.66%) Google
6 20 (1.72%) BeyondTrust
7 16 (1.37%) Atlassian
8 13 (1.11%) Databricks
9 12 (1.03%) Talend
10 11 (0.94%) CyberArk
11 10 (0.86%) Splunk
11 10 (0.86%) VMware
12 9 (0.77%) IBM
13 8 (0.69%) Informatica
14 7 (0.60%) Siemens
15 6 (0.51%) Cisco
15 6 (0.51%) Salesforce
16 5 (0.43%) Apple
16 5 (0.43%) Dell
16 5 (0.43%) Workday