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

6 months to
7 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 127 185 245
Rank change year-on-year +58 +60 +17
Contract jobs citing BPSS Clearance 977 404 321
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.14% 1.46% 0.96%
As % of the Qualifications category 6.74% 4.68% 3.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 673 287 208
10th Percentile £350 £290 £218
25th Percentile £410 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% - -9.09%
75th Percentile £576 £602 £575
90th Percentile £676 £709 £634
UK median daily rate £492 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.60% - -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 156 38 44
10th Percentile £19.50 £19.55 £14.62
25th Percentile £34.75 £22.63 -
Median hourly rate £43.96 £28.52 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year +54.16% +77.55% -66.10%
75th Percentile £62.50 £69.76 £57.50
90th Percentile £74.26 £75.38 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £27.50 £17.53
% change year-on-year +59.85% +56.87% -63.00%

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 14,495 8,639 10,197
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 31.76% 31.31% 30.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,767 5,446 6,482
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 1,116 646 767
10th Percentile £17.97 £18.13 £15.01
25th Percentile £25.77 £18.87 £21.37
Median hourly rate £54.25 £25.15 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year +115.71% -45.54% -16.04%
75th Percentile £75.00 £56.93 £67.50
90th Percentile £88.00 £76.02 £78.30
UK median hourly rate £51.75 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +105.77% -41.51% -22.77%

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 7 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 7 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 7 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 +63 290 £492 -4.47% 84
North of England +20 283 £476 +3.48% 80
Midlands +34 178 £490 -3.26% 54
West Midlands +37 166 £489 -1.86% 48
North West +10 150 £498 +10.56% 55
South East -17 108 £483 -6.12% 71
North East +9 79 £450 -2.17% 22
South West +11 74 £525 +50.00% 47
Yorkshire -2 65 £475 -2.81% 4
East of England -18 25 £604 +202.06% 39
East Midlands -22 11 £600 +9.89% 5
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 44 (4.50%) Confluence
2 25 (2.56%) SharePoint
3 9 (0.92%) 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 (0.31%) Oracle Workflow
7 3 (0.31%) WordPress
8 2 (0.20%) Apache
8 2 (0.20%) CICS
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
Applications
1 37 (3.79%) Microsoft Excel
2 21 (2.15%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (1.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (1.02%) Microsoft Project
5 6 (0.61%) MS Visio
6 3 (0.31%) Simulink
6 3 (0.31%) 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
Business Applications
1 22 (2.25%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (0.92%) SAP IBP
2 9 (0.92%) SAP PSCD
3 7 (0.72%) SAP HR
4 6 (0.61%) SAP BRIM
5 5 (0.51%) SAP EWM
6 4 (0.41%) SAP Convergent Charging
7 3 (0.31%) Dynamics CRM
7 3 (0.31%) iTrent
7 3 (0.31%) Primavera
7 3 (0.31%) SAP CO
7 3 (0.31%) SAP FI
7 3 (0.31%) SAP FI/CO
7 3 (0.31%) SAP MM
7 3 (0.31%) SAP Travel Management
7 3 (0.31%) Shopify
8 2 (0.20%) Quorum
8 2 (0.20%) R3 Corda
8 2 (0.20%) Ripple
8 2 (0.20%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 152 (15.56%) Azure
2 140 (14.33%) AWS
3 59 (6.04%) Power Platform
4 34 (3.48%) Azure DevOps
5 32 (3.28%) Serverless
6 31 (3.17%) GitHub
7 26 (2.66%) Microsoft 365
8 25 (2.56%) GCP
9 24 (2.46%) Amazon S3
9 24 (2.46%) AWS Lambda
10 20 (2.05%) GitHub Actions
11 19 (1.94%) Entra ID
12 15 (1.54%) SuccessFactors
13 12 (1.23%) Azure Data Factory
14 11 (1.13%) Azure Monitor
15 10 (1.02%) Amazon ECS
15 10 (1.02%) Google Workspace
16 9 (0.92%) Amazon CloudWatch
17 8 (0.82%) Amazon EC2
17 8 (0.82%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 15 (1.54%) DNS
2 13 (1.33%) WebEx
3 7 (0.72%) Intranet
3 7 (0.72%) Network Security
4 6 (0.61%) Firewall
4 6 (0.61%) SSL
5 5 (0.51%) Cisco IPT
5 5 (0.51%) WAN
6 4 (0.41%) DHCP
6 4 (0.41%) Ethernet
6 4 (0.41%) HTTPS
6 4 (0.41%) TCP/IP
7 3 (0.31%) Internet
7 3 (0.31%) MQTT
7 3 (0.31%) VPN
8 2 (0.20%) NAS
8 2 (0.20%) SAN
8 2 (0.20%) SMTP
8 2 (0.20%) SSH
8 2 (0.20%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 42 (4.30%) Power BI
2 23 (2.35%) Data Warehouse
3 21 (2.15%) SQL Server
4 20 (2.05%) PostgreSQL
5 19 (1.94%) Metadata
6 15 (1.54%) MongoDB
7 14 (1.43%) MySQL
8 12 (1.23%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 11 (1.13%) Amazon RDS
10 10 (1.02%) Amazon Redshift
10 10 (1.02%) DynamoDB
11 9 (0.92%) Amazon Athena
12 8 (0.82%) Data Lake
13 7 (0.72%) NoSQL
14 6 (0.61%) Amazon Aurora
14 6 (0.61%) Big Data
14 6 (0.61%) BigQuery
14 6 (0.61%) Geospatial Data
14 6 (0.61%) Power Query
14 6 (0.61%) SAP BW
Development Applications
1 76 (7.78%) JIRA
2 47 (4.81%) Git
3 37 (3.79%) GitLab
4 22 (2.25%) Jenkins
5 14 (1.43%) Selenium
6 12 (1.23%) Cucumber
7 11 (1.13%) Maven
8 10 (1.02%) Team Foundation Server
9 9 (0.92%) Atlassian Bamboo
9 9 (0.92%) JUnit
9 9 (0.92%) Visual Studio
10 8 (0.82%) Gatling
10 8 (0.82%) SonarQube
11 7 (0.72%) Cypress.io
12 6 (0.61%) Bitbucket
13 5 (0.51%) Rational DOORS
14 4 (0.41%) Artifactory
14 4 (0.41%) Mockito
14 4 (0.41%) WebDriver
15 3 (0.31%) REST Assured
General
1 308 (31.53%) Social Skills
2 237 (24.26%) Public Sector
3 152 (15.56%) Finance
4 101 (10.34%) Analytical Skills
5 69 (7.06%) Legal
6 65 (6.65%) Organisational Skills
7 42 (4.30%) Aerospace
8 22 (2.25%) Banking
8 22 (2.25%) Influencing Skills
8 22 (2.25%) Presentation Skills
9 21 (2.15%) Documentation Skills
10 14 (1.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 13 (1.33%) Billing
11 13 (1.33%) Manufacturing
12 12 (1.23%) Local Government
13 11 (1.13%) Telecoms
14 10 (1.02%) Aviation
15 9 (0.92%) Law
16 7 (0.72%) Avionics
16 7 (0.72%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 127 (13.00%) Senior
2 111 (11.36%) Lead
3 91 (9.31%) Analyst
4 82 (8.39%) Developer
5 67 (6.86%) Architect
6 66 (6.76%) Consultant
7 57 (5.83%) Designer
8 45 (4.61%) SAP Consultant
9 43 (4.40%) Data Engineer
10 39 (3.99%) Business Analyst
11 28 (2.87%) User Researcher
12 26 (2.66%) Administrator
12 26 (2.66%) Delivery Manager
13 23 (2.35%) Product Manager
14 21 (2.15%) DevOps Engineer
14 21 (2.15%) Solutions Architect
15 20 (2.05%) Service Designer
15 20 (2.05%) Software Engineer
16 19 (1.94%) Senior Manager
16 19 (1.94%) Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (2.76%) Node.js
2 26 (2.66%) REST
3 25 (2.56%) Spring
4 24 (2.46%) Spring Boot
5 23 (2.35%) React
6 20 (2.05%) HTML
7 19 (1.94%) RESTful
8 18 (1.84%) Playwright
9 16 (1.64%) .NET
9 16 (1.64%) Kafka
10 14 (1.43%) PySpark
11 13 (1.33%) CSS
12 11 (1.13%) Play Framework
13 10 (1.02%) SOAP
13 10 (1.02%) Web Services
13 10 (1.02%) XML
14 9 (0.92%) SAML
15 8 (0.82%) AngularJS
15 8 (0.82%) JSON
16 7 (0.72%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 64 (6.55%) Onboarding
2 59 (6.04%) Web Conferencing
3 57 (5.83%) Virtual Team
4 56 (5.73%) Product Ownership
5 49 (5.02%) Podcast
6 37 (3.79%) Cloud Native
7 23 (2.35%) NHS
8 18 (1.84%) Management Information System
9 15 (1.54%) BYOD
10 14 (1.43%) Legacy Systems
11 12 (1.23%) Mobile App
12 11 (1.13%) Self-Motivation
13 10 (1.02%) Algorithms
13 10 (1.02%) Video Conferencing
14 8 (0.82%) Data Centre
14 8 (0.82%) Replication
15 7 (0.72%) Distributed Systems
15 7 (0.72%) Enterprise Software
15 7 (0.72%) PMI
16 6 (0.61%) Legacy Applications
Operating Systems
1 50 (5.12%) Linux
2 47 (4.81%) Windows
3 23 (2.35%) Unix
4 13 (1.33%) Windows Server
5 12 (1.23%) Android
6 8 (0.82%) Apple iOS
6 8 (0.82%) Mac OS
6 8 (0.82%) Windows 10
7 3 (0.31%) VMS
8 2 (0.20%) AIX
8 2 (0.20%) Solaris
9 1 (0.10%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.10%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 1 (0.10%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 303 (31.01%) Agile
2 167 (17.09%) Stakeholder Management
3 138 (14.12%) CI/CD
4 133 (13.61%) DevOps
5 114 (11.67%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 113 (11.57%) Continuous Improvement
7 110 (11.26%) Problem-Solving
8 86 (8.80%) Decision-Making
8 86 (8.80%) Roadmaps
9 85 (8.70%) Analytics
10 81 (8.29%) Scrum
11 69 (7.06%) User Research
12 68 (6.96%) Customer Service
13 60 (6.14%) Mentoring
13 60 (6.14%) Migration
14 58 (5.94%) AI
14 58 (5.94%) Test Automation
15 55 (5.63%) Workshop Facilitation
16 54 (5.53%) Software Engineering
17 53 (5.42%) SFIA
Programming Languages
1 101 (10.34%) SQL
2 100 (10.24%) Python
3 86 (8.80%) Java
4 42 (4.30%) JavaScript
5 26 (2.66%) Scala
6 22 (2.25%) PowerShell
7 18 (1.84%) TypeScript
8 13 (1.33%) Bash
8 13 (1.33%) C#
9 12 (1.23%) C++
9 12 (1.23%) Shell Script
9 12 (1.23%) VB
10 11 (1.13%) PL/SQL
10 11 (1.13%) VB6
11 7 (0.72%) C
11 7 (0.72%) T-SQL
11 7 (0.72%) VBA
12 6 (0.61%) ABAP
13 5 (0.51%) Ada
14 4 (0.41%) COBOL
Qualifications
1 362 (37.05%) Security Cleared
2 261 (26.71%) SC Cleared
3 60 (6.14%) Degree
4 11 (1.13%) Azure Certification
4 11 (1.13%) DV Cleared
5 10 (1.02%) A+ Certification
5 10 (1.02%) Microsoft Certification
6 9 (0.92%) AWS Certification
7 7 (0.72%) CTC Cleared
7 7 (0.72%) PMI Certification
8 5 (0.51%) CompTIA CySA+
8 5 (0.51%) DBS Check
9 4 (0.41%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
9 4 (0.41%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 4 (0.41%) CCA
9 4 (0.41%) CCNA
9 4 (0.41%) Cisco Certification
9 4 (0.41%) GIAC
9 4 (0.41%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 3 (0.31%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 61 (6.24%) Data Quality
2 51 (5.22%) QA
3 44 (4.50%) Accessibility
4 22 (2.25%) GDPR
5 20 (2.05%) PMO
6 19 (1.94%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 16 (1.64%) NIST
8 13 (1.33%) WCAG
9 10 (1.02%) SLA
10 5 (0.51%) GRC
11 4 (0.41%) NCSC
11 4 (0.41%) PERC
12 3 (0.31%) Actionable Recommendations
12 3 (0.31%) Def Stans
12 3 (0.31%) HL7
13 2 (0.20%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 2 (0.20%) DICOM
13 2 (0.20%) GMP
13 2 (0.20%) GxP
13 2 (0.20%) Solvency II
System Software
1 44 (4.50%) Docker
2 31 (3.17%) Active Directory
3 12 (1.23%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (0.92%) Virtual Machines
5 7 (0.72%) 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 65 (6.65%) Terraform
2 47 (4.81%) Kubernetes
3 18 (1.84%) Grafana
4 9 (0.92%) Kibana
4 9 (0.92%) Prometheus
4 9 (0.92%) Single Sign-On
5 8 (0.82%) Ansible
6 7 (0.72%) SCCM
7 6 (0.61%) Argo
8 5 (0.51%) SCOM
9 4 (0.41%) HAProxy
9 4 (0.41%) Microsoft Intune
9 4 (0.41%) Podman
10 3 (0.31%) Istio
10 3 (0.31%) Puppet
11 2 (0.20%) Packer
12 1 (0.10%) Jamf Pro
12 1 (0.10%) PTC Integrity
12 1 (0.10%) SELinux
12 1 (0.10%) systemd
Vendors
1 130 (13.31%) Microsoft
2 86 (8.80%) SAP
3 44 (4.50%) Oracle
4 37 (3.79%) ServiceNow
5 29 (2.97%) Google
6 14 (1.43%) Databricks
7 13 (1.33%) Splunk
8 12 (1.23%) BeyondTrust
8 12 (1.23%) VMware
9 11 (1.13%) CyberArk
10 10 (1.02%) Atlassian
10 10 (1.02%) Cisco
11 8 (0.82%) IBM
12 7 (0.72%) Workday
13 6 (0.61%) Apple
13 6 (0.61%) Informatica
13 6 (0.61%) Pega
13 6 (0.61%) Qualtrics
13 6 (0.61%) Talend
14 5 (0.51%) Tenable