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 15 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 163 272 238
Rank change year-on-year +109 -34 -14
Contract jobs citing BPSS Clearance 574 224 386
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.68% 0.86% 1.01%
As % of the Qualifications category 4.95% 2.87% 3.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 432 136 294
10th Percentile £313 £220 £319
25th Percentile £395 £347 £421
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £481 £489 £534
Median % change year-on-year -1.71% -8.43% -4.64%
75th Percentile £607 £584 £631
90th Percentile £700 £688 £675
UK median daily rate £475 £500 £525
% change year-on-year -5.00% -4.76% -6.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 9 38
10th Percentile £14.96 £23.30 £14.00
25th Percentile £22.68 £36.00 £20.75
Median hourly rate £33.50 £38.85 £40.28
Median % change year-on-year -13.77% -3.54% -15.21%
75th Percentile £56.69 £67.50 £61.88
90th Percentile £74.26 £73.30 £84.36
UK median hourly rate £33.50 £45.00 £40.28
% change year-on-year -25.56% +11.73% -8.54%

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 11,599 7,817 11,849
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 34.04% 30.08% 31.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,705 4,773 7,330
10th Percentile £320 £296 £300
25th Percentile £419 £416 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -2.78% -1.82%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £725 £738
UK median daily rate £517 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -1.52% -2.42% -2.18%
Number of hourly rates quoted 896 366 879
10th Percentile £15.81 £19.90 £14.16
25th Percentile £18.87 £25.26 £21.34
Median hourly rate £25.15 £47.37 £45.21
Median % change year-on-year -46.91% +4.78% +0.47%
75th Percentile £63.75 £68.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £76.58 £82.85 £78.00
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £39.00 £45.11
% change year-on-year -35.51% -13.54% +0.23%

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 15 February 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 15 February 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 15 February 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
North of England +15 186 £455 -9.00% 56
London +82 184 £512 -4.96% 55
North West +41 143 £434 -16.43% 41
Midlands +5 89 £438 +0.23% 17
West Midlands -5 65 £475 +8.82% 14
South East -4 50 £514 -0.19% 81
South West +7 41 £529 +11.32% 48
Yorkshire -63 25 £481 +118.75% 4
East Midlands -3 24 £394 - 3
East of England -10 20 £450 -5.26% 42
North East -1 19 £475 +32.87% 11
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 40 (6.97%) Confluence
2 11 (1.92%) SharePoint
3 6 (1.05%) Apache
4 5 (0.87%) Microsoft Exchange
4 5 (0.87%) nginx
5 4 (0.70%) Apache Spark
6 3 (0.52%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.35%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.35%) CMS
7 2 (0.35%) MTS
8 1 (0.17%) Apache Pulsar
8 1 (0.17%) Camunda
8 1 (0.17%) CICS
8 1 (0.17%) JBoss
8 1 (0.17%) LiveCycle
8 1 (0.17%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.17%) Palantir Foundry
8 1 (0.17%) SAS
8 1 (0.17%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 20 (3.48%) Microsoft Excel
2 12 (2.09%) MS Visio
3 10 (1.74%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (1.57%) Microsoft Office
5 8 (1.39%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.35%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.35%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.17%) PTC Creo
7 1 (0.17%) Trello
7 1 (0.17%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 47 (8.19%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (1.74%) SAP Travel Management
3 8 (1.39%) SAP EHS
4 5 (0.87%) SAP QM
4 5 (0.87%) SAP VC
5 4 (0.70%) Loan IQ
5 4 (0.70%) Payment Gateway
5 4 (0.70%) SAP BRIM
5 4 (0.70%) SAP EWM
5 4 (0.70%) SAP HCM
5 4 (0.70%) SAP Hybris
5 4 (0.70%) SAP PSCD
6 3 (0.52%) Exchequer
6 3 (0.52%) Oracle EBS
6 3 (0.52%) ProductWriter
6 3 (0.52%) SAP MM
6 3 (0.52%) SAP Payroll
7 2 (0.35%) BASE24
7 2 (0.35%) Primavera
7 2 (0.35%) SAP FI
Cloud Services
1 100 (17.42%) AWS
2 83 (14.46%) Azure
3 32 (5.57%) Power Platform
4 26 (4.53%) GCP
4 26 (4.53%) GitHub
5 23 (4.01%) Azure DevOps
6 21 (3.66%) Serverless
7 15 (2.61%) AWS CloudFormation
8 14 (2.44%) AWS Lambda
8 14 (2.44%) GitHub Actions
8 14 (2.44%) Microsoft 365
9 12 (2.09%) Power Automate
10 10 (1.74%) PowerApps
11 9 (1.57%) Amazon SQS
11 9 (1.57%) Entra ID
12 6 (1.05%) Apigee
12 6 (1.05%) Azure Data Factory
12 6 (1.05%) PaaS
12 6 (1.05%) SaaS
12 6 (1.05%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 11 (1.92%) Firewall
2 10 (1.74%) Network Security
3 7 (1.22%) DNS
4 5 (0.87%) SSH
4 5 (0.87%) WAN
5 4 (0.70%) DHCP
5 4 (0.70%) MPLS
5 4 (0.70%) Reverse Proxy
5 4 (0.70%) VPN
5 4 (0.70%) VSAN
6 3 (0.52%) 5G
6 3 (0.52%) LAN
6 3 (0.52%) Radio Access Network
6 3 (0.52%) Unified Communications
6 3 (0.52%) VoIP
6 3 (0.52%) WebEx
6 3 (0.52%) Wireless
7 2 (0.35%) Broadband
7 2 (0.35%) LTE
7 2 (0.35%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (4.36%) Power BI
2 16 (2.79%) PostgreSQL
3 15 (2.61%) NoSQL
4 14 (2.44%) SQL Server
5 13 (2.26%) Data Warehouse
5 13 (2.26%) MongoDB
6 11 (1.92%) Metadata
7 10 (1.74%) Redis
8 8 (1.39%) DocumentDB
8 8 (1.39%) Tableau
9 6 (1.05%) Delta Lake
10 5 (0.87%) DynamoDB
10 5 (0.87%) Relational Database
11 4 (0.70%) BigQuery
11 4 (0.70%) DataStage
11 4 (0.70%) Geospatial Data
12 3 (0.52%) Aerospike
12 3 (0.52%) Data Lake
12 3 (0.52%) GIS
12 3 (0.52%) Spark SQL
Development Applications
1 66 (11.50%) JIRA
2 46 (8.01%) Git
3 25 (4.36%) GitLab
4 15 (2.61%) Jenkins
5 9 (1.57%) JUnit
5 9 (1.57%) Mockito
5 9 (1.57%) Selenium
6 7 (1.22%) SonarQube
7 6 (1.05%) Cucumber
8 5 (0.87%) Cypress.io
9 3 (0.52%) Bitbucket
9 3 (0.52%) Gatling
9 3 (0.52%) JMeter
9 3 (0.52%) Toad
10 2 (0.35%) Android Studio
10 2 (0.35%) ERwin
10 2 (0.35%) Grunt
10 2 (0.35%) gulp
10 2 (0.35%) Maven
10 2 (0.35%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 191 (33.28%) Social Skills
2 108 (18.82%) Finance
3 92 (16.03%) Public Sector
4 63 (10.98%) Analytical Skills
5 39 (6.79%) Banking
6 17 (2.96%) Aerospace
6 17 (2.96%) Organisational Skills
6 17 (2.96%) Telecoms
7 13 (2.26%) Influencing Skills
8 12 (2.09%) Documentation Skills
9 10 (1.74%) Legal
10 9 (1.57%) Presentation Skills
11 8 (1.39%) Billing
12 7 (1.22%) Local Government
12 7 (1.22%) Retail
13 5 (0.87%) Marketing
13 5 (0.87%) Publishing
14 4 (0.70%) Advertising
14 4 (0.70%) Financial Institution
14 4 (0.70%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 84 (14.63%) Developer
2 80 (13.94%) Analyst
3 66 (11.50%) Senior
4 56 (9.76%) Architect
5 55 (9.58%) Consultant
6 41 (7.14%) Lead
7 37 (6.45%) Business Analyst
8 36 (6.27%) SAP Consultant
9 20 (3.48%) Java Developer
10 18 (3.14%) Data Engineer
10 18 (3.14%) Solutions Architect
11 17 (2.96%) Administrator
11 17 (2.96%) Management Consultant
12 15 (2.61%) Senior Analyst
12 15 (2.61%) Senior Developer
13 14 (2.44%) Project Manager
14 12 (2.09%) Senior Business Analyst
14 12 (2.09%) Test Engineer
15 10 (1.74%) Information Security Advisor
15 10 (1.74%) Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (4.88%) Node.js
2 24 (4.18%) React
3 23 (4.01%) REST
4 20 (3.48%) Spring
5 19 (3.31%) JSON
5 19 (3.31%) Kafka
6 18 (3.14%) RESTful
6 18 (3.14%) Spring Boot
7 15 (2.61%) XML
8 13 (2.26%) SAP Fiori
9 12 (2.09%) Middleware
10 11 (1.92%) HTML
10 11 (1.92%) OpenAPI
10 11 (1.92%) SAP TM
11 10 (1.74%) AngularJS
11 10 (1.74%) Jest
11 10 (1.74%) Swagger
12 9 (1.57%) .NET
12 9 (1.57%) OAuth
13 7 (1.22%) CSS
Miscellaneous
1 39 (6.79%) Product Ownership
2 33 (5.75%) Onboarding
3 28 (4.88%) Cloud Native
4 25 (4.36%) Management Information System
5 15 (2.61%) Legacy Systems
6 13 (2.26%) Distributed Systems
7 11 (1.92%) Security Posture
8 10 (1.74%) NHS
8 10 (1.74%) Public Cloud
9 8 (1.39%) Enterprise Software
9 8 (1.39%) Self-Motivation
10 7 (1.22%) Linux Command Line
10 7 (1.22%) Tandem
11 6 (1.05%) Data Centre
11 6 (1.05%) Replication
12 5 (0.87%) AI Agents
12 5 (0.87%) Cyber Threat
12 5 (0.87%) Hybrid Cloud
13 4 (0.70%) Driving Licence
13 4 (0.70%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 55 (9.58%) Linux
2 27 (4.70%) Windows
3 19 (3.31%) Unix
4 8 (1.39%) Windows Server
5 7 (1.22%) Android
6 6 (1.05%) Mac OS X
7 5 (0.87%) Apple iOS
8 3 (0.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 3 (0.52%) Ubuntu
9 2 (0.35%) Debian
9 2 (0.35%) VMS
10 1 (0.17%) AIX
10 1 (0.17%) CentOS
10 1 (0.17%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.17%) Solaris
10 1 (0.17%) VME
10 1 (0.17%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.17%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 166 (28.92%) Agile
2 110 (19.16%) Problem-Solving
3 96 (16.72%) Stakeholder Management
4 88 (15.33%) CI/CD
5 80 (13.94%) DevOps
6 59 (10.28%) Test Automation
7 57 (9.93%) Continuous Improvement
8 54 (9.41%) Microservices
9 52 (9.06%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 47 (8.19%) Data Modelling
11 46 (8.01%) Roadmaps
12 44 (7.67%) Analytics
13 43 (7.49%) Validation
14 41 (7.14%) AI
15 39 (6.79%) Migration
16 38 (6.62%) Change Management
17 36 (6.27%) Infrastructure as Code
17 36 (6.27%) Risk Management
17 36 (6.27%) Scrum
18 34 (5.92%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 83 (14.46%) Python
2 74 (12.89%) SQL
3 62 (10.80%) Java
4 22 (3.83%) JavaScript
5 15 (2.61%) PowerShell
6 13 (2.26%) Scala
7 11 (1.92%) Ruby
8 9 (1.57%) PL/SQL
9 8 (1.39%) TypeScript
10 7 (1.22%) ABAP
11 6 (1.05%) Bash
11 6 (1.05%) Bicep
11 6 (1.05%) C#
11 6 (1.05%) COBOL
12 4 (0.70%) Shell Script
13 3 (0.52%) Apex Code
13 3 (0.52%) C
13 3 (0.52%) R
14 2 (0.35%) CLIST
14 2 (0.35%) Go
Qualifications
1 247 (43.03%) Security Cleared
2 195 (33.97%) SC Cleared
3 57 (9.93%) Degree
4 26 (4.53%) Computer Science Degree
5 21 (3.66%) Master's Degree
6 16 (2.79%) DV Cleared
7 10 (1.74%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
8 7 (1.22%) PMI Certification
9 6 (1.05%) AWS Certification
9 6 (1.05%) Azure Certification
9 6 (1.05%) ISTQB
9 6 (1.05%) PMP
10 5 (0.87%) DBS Check
11 4 (0.70%) CompTIA Security+
11 4 (0.70%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 3 (0.52%) Cisco Certification
12 3 (0.52%) CompTIA CySA+
12 3 (0.52%) GIAC
12 3 (0.52%) ISEB
12 3 (0.52%) MBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (5.75%) QA
2 28 (4.88%) Data Quality
3 22 (3.83%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 19 (3.31%) Accessibility
5 16 (2.79%) NIST
6 14 (2.44%) GRC
7 11 (1.92%) SLA
8 10 (1.74%) Def Stans
9 7 (1.22%) ISO 20022
9 7 (1.22%) PCI DSS
10 6 (1.05%) GDPR
10 6 (1.05%) NCSC
10 6 (1.05%) PMO
10 6 (1.05%) WCAG
11 5 (0.87%) IFRS
11 5 (0.87%) IFRS 17
11 5 (0.87%) PSD2
12 4 (0.70%) SEPA
13 3 (0.52%) ISO 8583
13 3 (0.52%) P3O
System Software
1 43 (7.49%) Docker
2 14 (2.44%) Active Directory
3 12 (2.09%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (1.22%) vSphere
5 4 (0.70%) GPFS
5 4 (0.70%) NFS
5 4 (0.70%) VMware ESXi
6 3 (0.52%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.35%) ACF2
7 2 (0.35%) QEMU
7 2 (0.35%) RACF
7 2 (0.35%) Time Sharing Option
7 2 (0.35%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.35%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.17%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 45 (7.84%) Kubernetes
2 42 (7.32%) Terraform
3 8 (1.39%) Ansible
4 7 (1.22%) vRealize
5 5 (0.87%) Grafana
5 5 (0.87%) Prometheus
5 5 (0.87%) Single Sign-On
5 5 (0.87%) VxRail
6 4 (0.70%) Istio
6 4 (0.70%) Podman
7 3 (0.52%) Argo
7 3 (0.52%) Kibana
7 3 (0.52%) Packer
8 2 (0.35%) CA Endevor
8 2 (0.35%) Kubeflow
8 2 (0.35%) Microsoft Intune
8 2 (0.35%) Puppet
8 2 (0.35%) SCCM
8 2 (0.35%) Tivoli
8 2 (0.35%) Tivoli Storage Manager
Vendors
1 80 (13.94%) SAP
2 60 (10.45%) Microsoft
3 36 (6.27%) Oracle
4 16 (2.79%) Cisco
5 15 (2.61%) IBM
5 15 (2.61%) VMware
6 14 (2.44%) Google
7 12 (2.09%) Databricks
8 9 (1.57%) ServiceNow
9 8 (1.39%) Atlassian
10 7 (1.22%) CyberArk
10 7 (1.22%) Splunk
11 6 (1.05%) Salesforce
12 5 (0.87%) Adobe
12 5 (0.87%) webMethods
13 4 (0.70%) AppDynamics
13 4 (0.70%) Dell
13 4 (0.70%) Foundry
13 4 (0.70%) HP
13 4 (0.70%) MuleSoft