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

6 months to
5 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 111 182 268
Rank change year-on-year +71 +86 -20
Contract jobs citing BPSS Clearance 1,083 421 282
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.36% 1.54% 0.87%
As % of the Qualifications category 7.40% 4.90% 2.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 760 302 187
10th Percentile £355 £308 £220
25th Percentile £425 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £513 £500
Median % change year-on-year -3.41% +2.50% -9.09%
75th Percentile £599 £621 £588
90th Percentile £675 £706 £635
UK median daily rate £500 £513 £500
% change year-on-year -2.44% +2.50% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 167 36 16
10th Percentile £19.50 £19.25 £15.15
25th Percentile £42.00 £22.63 £20.09
Median hourly rate £43.96 £27.06 £38.85
Median % change year-on-year +62.48% -30.36% -32.92%
75th Percentile £53.75 £68.95 £65.00
90th Percentile £73.00 £75.00 -
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £27.50 £27.30
% change year-on-year +59.85% +0.75% -52.87%

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 14,631 8,584 9,752
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 31.88% 31.33% 30.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,854 5,422 6,119
10th Percentile £350 £300 £325
25th Percentile £440 £413 £426
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £633 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £710 £738
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £525
% change year-on-year - - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,135 661 609
10th Percentile £18.25 £18.22 £16.30
25th Percentile £25.77 £18.87 £25.50
Median hourly rate £52.50 £25.15 £53.00
Median % change year-on-year +108.75% -52.55% -2.86%
75th Percentile £74.00 £50.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £88.00 £73.75 £80.00
UK median hourly rate £47.54 £25.15 £49.00
% change year-on-year +89.03% -48.67% -10.91%

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 5 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 5 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 5 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 +65 316 £507 -1.55% 234
North of England +14 306 £484 +0.62% 187
Midlands +53 230 £490 -6.67% 87
West Midlands +57 220 £490 -6.67% 73
North West 0 168 £500 +11.11% 117
South East -25 97 £483 -6.21% 139
North East +13 82 £452 -1.85% 33
South West +13 79 £525 +16.67% 157
Yorkshire -11 67 £475 -5.00% 40
East of England -5 37 £566 +18.66% 125
East Midlands -31 9 £606 +23.22% 14
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 47 (4.34%) Confluence
2 22 (2.03%) SharePoint
3 7 (0.65%) SAS
4 6 (0.55%) Microsoft Exchange
5 5 (0.46%) Apache Airflow
5 5 (0.46%) CMS
5 5 (0.46%) WebLogic
6 4 (0.37%) Apache Spark
6 4 (0.37%) Headless CMS
6 4 (0.37%) SharePoint Server
7 3 (0.28%) WordPress
8 2 (0.18%) Cloud Foundry
8 2 (0.18%) Ethereum
8 2 (0.18%) Hyperledger
8 2 (0.18%) LiveCycle
8 2 (0.18%) OpenROAD
9 1 (0.092%) Apache
9 1 (0.092%) Apache Superset
9 1 (0.092%) Appian
9 1 (0.092%) CICS
Applications
1 33 (3.05%) Microsoft Excel
2 22 (2.03%) Microsoft Office
3 15 (1.39%) Microsoft Project
4 10 (0.92%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.28%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.28%) Simulink
5 3 (0.28%) Spreadsheet
5 3 (0.28%) Trello
5 3 (0.28%) Windchill
6 2 (0.18%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.18%) Navisworks
7 1 (0.092%) AutoCAD
7 1 (0.092%) Autodesk Inventor
7 1 (0.092%) CATIA
7 1 (0.092%) InVision
7 1 (0.092%) MicroStation
7 1 (0.092%) ProjectWise
7 1 (0.092%) Revit
7 1 (0.092%) Siemens NX
7 1 (0.092%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 32 (2.95%) SAP S/4HANA
2 16 (1.48%) SAP HR
3 9 (0.83%) SAP IBP
3 9 (0.83%) SAP PSCD
4 6 (0.55%) SAP BRIM
5 5 (0.46%) SAP Payroll
6 4 (0.37%) SAP Convergent Charging
6 4 (0.37%) SAP EWM
6 4 (0.37%) SAP FI
6 4 (0.37%) SAP HCM
6 4 (0.37%) SAP PP
7 3 (0.28%) Exchequer
7 3 (0.28%) iTrent
7 3 (0.28%) Primavera
7 3 (0.28%) SAP CO
7 3 (0.28%) SAP FI/CO
7 3 (0.28%) SAP MM
7 3 (0.28%) SAP Travel Management
7 3 (0.28%) Shopify
7 3 (0.28%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 160 (14.77%) Azure
2 155 (14.31%) AWS
3 55 (5.08%) Power Platform
4 41 (3.79%) Azure DevOps
5 37 (3.42%) GitHub
6 32 (2.95%) Serverless
7 31 (2.86%) Microsoft 365
8 28 (2.59%) Amazon S3
9 26 (2.40%) AWS Lambda
10 24 (2.22%) GCP
10 24 (2.22%) GitHub Actions
11 20 (1.85%) Entra ID
11 20 (1.85%) SuccessFactors
12 12 (1.11%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 12 (1.11%) Azure Monitor
12 12 (1.11%) Power Automate
12 12 (1.11%) PowerApps
13 9 (0.83%) Amazon ECS
13 9 (0.83%) Azure Data Factory
13 9 (0.83%) Figma
Communications & Networking
1 12 (1.11%) DNS
2 10 (0.92%) SSL
2 10 (0.92%) WebEx
3 8 (0.74%) Intranet
3 8 (0.74%) Network Security
4 6 (0.55%) 5G
4 6 (0.55%) Cisco IPT
4 6 (0.55%) Firewall
4 6 (0.55%) Radio Access Network
4 6 (0.55%) WAN
4 6 (0.55%) Wireshark
5 5 (0.46%) 3GPP
6 4 (0.37%) DHCP
6 4 (0.37%) HTTPS
6 4 (0.37%) Internet
6 4 (0.37%) NGN
6 4 (0.37%) tcpdump
7 3 (0.28%) Ethernet
7 3 (0.28%) MQTT
7 3 (0.28%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 38 (3.51%) Power BI
2 27 (2.49%) SQL Server
3 25 (2.31%) Metadata
4 22 (2.03%) Data Warehouse
5 21 (1.94%) MySQL
6 20 (1.85%) MongoDB
6 20 (1.85%) PostgreSQL
7 16 (1.48%) Amazon RDS
7 16 (1.48%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 11 (1.02%) Amazon Redshift
9 10 (0.92%) Amazon Athena
9 10 (0.92%) Amazon Aurora
9 10 (0.92%) Oracle Database
10 9 (0.83%) DynamoDB
10 9 (0.83%) NoSQL
11 8 (0.74%) Data Lake
12 7 (0.65%) Big Data
12 7 (0.65%) SAP BW
13 6 (0.55%) Relational Database
13 6 (0.55%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 84 (7.76%) JIRA
2 57 (5.26%) Git
3 51 (4.71%) GitLab
4 28 (2.59%) Jenkins
5 20 (1.85%) Selenium
6 19 (1.75%) JUnit
7 18 (1.66%) Cucumber
7 18 (1.66%) Maven
8 13 (1.20%) SonarQube
9 12 (1.11%) Gatling
10 10 (0.92%) Atlassian Bamboo
10 10 (0.92%) Team Foundation Server
11 9 (0.83%) Bitbucket
12 8 (0.74%) Cypress.io
12 8 (0.74%) Mockito
12 8 (0.74%) Visual Studio
13 6 (0.55%) Postman
14 5 (0.46%) Rational DOORS
15 4 (0.37%) Artifactory
15 4 (0.37%) WebDriver
General
1 357 (32.96%) Social Skills
2 265 (24.47%) Public Sector
3 186 (17.17%) Finance
4 108 (9.97%) Analytical Skills
5 92 (8.49%) Organisational Skills
6 90 (8.31%) Legal
7 35 (3.23%) Aerospace
8 25 (2.31%) Documentation Skills
9 23 (2.12%) Influencing Skills
9 23 (2.12%) Manufacturing
10 22 (2.03%) Banking
11 19 (1.75%) Presentation Skills
12 18 (1.66%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 17 (1.57%) Telecoms
14 13 (1.20%) Billing
15 11 (1.02%) Local Government
16 9 (0.83%) Law
17 7 (0.65%) Avionics
17 7 (0.65%) Military
17 7 (0.65%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 134 (12.37%) Senior
2 118 (10.90%) Lead
3 107 (9.88%) Developer
4 89 (8.22%) Architect
5 84 (7.76%) Analyst
6 72 (6.65%) Consultant
7 57 (5.26%) Designer
8 48 (4.43%) SAP Consultant
9 35 (3.23%) Data Engineer
10 34 (3.14%) Business Analyst
11 31 (2.86%) Solutions Architect
12 28 (2.59%) Delivery Manager
13 25 (2.31%) Java Developer
13 25 (2.31%) User Researcher
14 24 (2.22%) DevOps Engineer
15 21 (1.94%) Product Manager
16 20 (1.85%) Java Engineer
17 19 (1.75%) Service Designer
18 18 (1.66%) Data Architect
18 18 (1.66%) Senior Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 61 (5.63%) Terraform
2 45 (4.16%) Spring
3 37 (3.42%) Spring Boot
4 33 (3.05%) React
5 30 (2.77%) REST
6 27 (2.49%) HTML
6 27 (2.49%) Playwright
7 26 (2.40%) Node.js
8 19 (1.75%) CSS
8 19 (1.75%) Kafka
8 19 (1.75%) RESTful
9 16 (1.48%) OpenAPI
10 14 (1.29%) .NET
11 13 (1.20%) OAuth
12 11 (1.02%) SAML
12 11 (1.02%) SOAP
13 10 (0.92%) OAuth2
13 10 (0.92%) OpenID
13 10 (0.92%) Play Framework
13 10 (0.92%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 80 (7.39%) Web Conferencing
2 79 (7.29%) Virtual Team
3 75 (6.93%) Onboarding
4 70 (6.46%) Podcast
5 57 (5.26%) Product Ownership
6 36 (3.32%) Cloud Native
7 18 (1.66%) NHS
8 16 (1.48%) BYOD
8 16 (1.48%) Management Information System
9 14 (1.29%) Legacy Systems
10 13 (1.20%) Mobile App
10 13 (1.20%) Replication
11 11 (1.02%) Algorithms
11 11 (1.02%) Enterprise Software
11 11 (1.02%) Self-Motivation
12 10 (0.92%) Video Conferencing
13 9 (0.83%) Clustering
13 9 (0.83%) Data Centre
13 9 (0.83%) Taxonomies
14 7 (0.65%) Driving Licence
Operating Systems
1 48 (4.43%) Windows
2 40 (3.69%) Linux
3 22 (2.03%) Unix
4 15 (1.39%) Windows Server
5 12 (1.11%) Android
6 10 (0.92%) Windows 10
7 7 (0.65%) Apple iOS
7 7 (0.65%) Mac OS
8 6 (0.55%) VMS
9 1 (0.092%) AIX
9 1 (0.092%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 1 (0.092%) Robot Operating System
9 1 (0.092%) Solaris
9 1 (0.092%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 335 (30.93%) Agile
2 207 (19.11%) Stakeholder Management
3 148 (13.67%) CI/CD
4 140 (12.93%) DevOps
5 131 (12.10%) Continuous Improvement
6 127 (11.73%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 116 (10.71%) Problem-Solving
8 100 (9.23%) Scrum
9 90 (8.31%) Customer Service
10 89 (8.22%) Decision-Making
11 82 (7.57%) Roadmaps
12 79 (7.29%) Analytics
13 71 (6.56%) AI
14 69 (6.37%) Mentoring
14 69 (6.37%) User Research
15 68 (6.28%) Test Automation
16 67 (6.19%) Digital Transformation Programme
17 66 (6.09%) Migration
18 59 (5.45%) Workshop Facilitation
19 58 (5.36%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 106 (9.79%) SQL
2 105 (9.70%) Java
3 93 (8.59%) Python
4 46 (4.25%) JavaScript
5 29 (2.68%) Scala
6 24 (2.22%) PowerShell
7 20 (1.85%) TypeScript
8 18 (1.66%) Shell Script
9 13 (1.20%) Bash
9 13 (1.20%) PL/SQL
10 12 (1.11%) C#
10 12 (1.11%) VB
11 11 (1.02%) T-SQL
11 11 (1.02%) VB6
12 8 (0.74%) C++
13 7 (0.65%) VBA
14 6 (0.55%) ABAP
14 6 (0.55%) C
15 5 (0.46%) Ada
15 5 (0.46%) R
Qualifications
1 389 (35.92%) Security Cleared
2 292 (26.96%) SC Cleared
3 65 (6.00%) Degree
4 16 (1.48%) Azure Certification
4 16 (1.48%) Microsoft Certification
5 13 (1.20%) DV Cleared
6 11 (1.02%) A+ Certification
7 10 (0.92%) AWS Certification
8 9 (0.83%) DBS Check
9 8 (0.74%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 7 (0.65%) PMI Certification
11 6 (0.55%) CTC Cleared
11 6 (0.55%) HNC
11 6 (0.55%) HND
12 5 (0.46%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
12 5 (0.46%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 5 (0.46%) Master's Degree
12 5 (0.46%) PhD
13 4 (0.37%) Cisco Certification
13 4 (0.37%) CompTIA CySA+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 71 (6.56%) QA
2 59 (5.45%) Accessibility
3 54 (4.99%) Data Quality
4 27 (2.49%) WCAG
5 24 (2.22%) GDPR
6 22 (2.03%) PMO
7 17 (1.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 13 (1.20%) NIST
9 11 (1.02%) SLA
10 5 (0.46%) IEC 61508
11 4 (0.37%) GRC
11 4 (0.37%) PERC
12 3 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials
12 3 (0.28%) Def Stans
13 2 (0.18%) 21 CFR Part 11
13 2 (0.18%) Actionable Recommendations
13 2 (0.18%) GMP
13 2 (0.18%) ISO/IEC 17025
13 2 (0.18%) NCSC
13 2 (0.18%) Solvency II
System Software
1 48 (4.43%) Docker
2 28 (2.59%) Active Directory
3 14 (1.29%) Virtual Machines
4 10 (0.92%) VMware Infrastructure
5 8 (0.74%) Virtual Desktop
6 4 (0.37%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.092%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.092%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.092%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 55 (5.08%) Kubernetes
2 25 (2.31%) Grafana
3 15 (1.39%) Kibana
4 12 (1.11%) Prometheus
4 12 (1.11%) Single Sign-On
5 10 (0.92%) SCCM
6 9 (0.83%) SCOM
7 8 (0.74%) Ansible
8 7 (0.65%) Argo
8 7 (0.65%) Microsoft Intune
9 5 (0.46%) Functional Safety
10 4 (0.37%) HAProxy
11 3 (0.28%) Packer
11 3 (0.28%) Podman
11 3 (0.28%) Puppet
12 2 (0.18%) Istio
13 1 (0.092%) Amdocs OSS
13 1 (0.092%) Cilium
13 1 (0.092%) PTC Integrity
13 1 (0.092%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 141 (13.02%) Microsoft
2 98 (9.05%) SAP
3 48 (4.43%) Oracle
4 44 (4.06%) ServiceNow
5 28 (2.59%) Google
6 19 (1.75%) BeyondTrust
7 16 (1.48%) Atlassian
8 15 (1.39%) Databricks
9 11 (1.02%) Splunk
9 11 (1.02%) Talend
10 10 (0.92%) CyberArk
10 10 (0.92%) VMware
11 8 (0.74%) Informatica
12 7 (0.65%) Cisco
13 6 (0.55%) Apple
13 6 (0.55%) IBM
13 6 (0.55%) Salesforce
14 5 (0.46%) Qualtrics
14 5 (0.46%) Siemens
14 5 (0.46%) Workday