Cyber Essentials Contracts in England

Cyber Essentials
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in England requiring Cyber Essentials skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Cyber Essentials over the 6 months leading up to 6 July 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Jul 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 436 487 527
Rank change year-on-year +51 +40 +146
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 62 65 113
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 0.23% 0.17% 0.23%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 1.42% 1.30% 1.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 36 45 85
10th Percentile £285 £274 £374
25th Percentile £439 £475 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £505 £575
Median % change year-on-year +8.91% -12.17% +15.00%
75th Percentile £675 £600 £703
90th Percentile £688 £658 £800
UK median daily rate £550 £515 £545
% change year-on-year +6.80% -5.50% +9.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 0 1
10th Percentile £27.93 - -
25th Percentile £28.52 - £30.75
Median hourly rate £31.49 - £31.50
75th Percentile £34.16 - £32.25
90th Percentile £34.58 - -
UK median hourly rate £31.49 - £31.50
% change year-on-year - - +14.55%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
England

Cyber Essentials falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 4,381 5,019 6,555
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 16.50% 13.49% 13.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,830 3,140 4,446
10th Percentile £275 £300 £313
25th Percentile £400 £405 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £530
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -0.94% +0.95%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £760
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 196 377 236
10th Percentile £15.13 £11.00 £15.21
25th Percentile £19.31 £13.31 £20.00
Median hourly rate £31.88 £24.43 £41.77
Median % change year-on-year +30.50% -41.51% +60.65%
75th Percentile £65.00 £53.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £83.19 £70.00 £80.00
UK median hourly rate £30.00 £24.00 £37.75
% change year-on-year +25.00% -36.42% +39.81%

Cyber Essentials
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings citing Cyber Essentials as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for Cyber Essentials in England

Cyber Essentials
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Cyber Essentials in England.

Daily rate trend for Cyber Essentials in England

Cyber Essentials
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Cyber Essentials in England over the 6 months to 6 July 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Cyber Essentials in England

Cyber Essentials
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Cyber Essentials in England.

Hourly rate trend for Cyber Essentials in England

Cyber Essentials
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 Cyber Essentials within the England region over the 6 months to 6 July 2025. 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 +33 28 £575 +9.52% 179
South East +39 9 £550 +65.41% 83
Midlands +15 6 £650 +4.00% 55
North of England +1 6 £575 +15.00% 77
East of England - 6 £249 - 35
South West +35 4 £350 -39.13% 68
East Midlands +4 4 £650 +30.00% 20
North West +6 3 £225 -65.38% 34
West Midlands +6 2 - - 35
Yorkshire +4 2 £575 +15.00% 39
North East - 1 £775 - 4
Cyber Essentials
UK

Cyber Essentials
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 3 (4.84%) SharePoint
2 1 (1.61%) CMS
2 1 (1.61%) Headless CMS
Applications
1 1 (1.61%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 2 (3.23%) Infor CloudSuite
2 1 (1.61%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 19 (30.65%) Azure
2 10 (16.13%) Microsoft 365
3 9 (14.52%) AWS
4 8 (12.90%) GitHub
5 7 (11.29%) GCP
6 4 (6.45%) SaaS
6 4 (6.45%) Tricentis Tosca
7 3 (4.84%) Azure Sentinel
7 3 (4.84%) Entra ID
7 3 (4.84%) OneDrive
8 2 (3.23%) Azure Stack
8 2 (3.23%) Cloud Computing
9 1 (1.61%) Azure Key Vault
9 1 (1.61%) Azure Monitor
9 1 (1.61%) Dynamics 365
9 1 (1.61%) IaaS
9 1 (1.61%) Microsoft Purview
9 1 (1.61%) Mimecast
9 1 (1.61%) PaaS
9 1 (1.61%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 6 (9.68%) VLAN
2 5 (8.06%) DHCP
2 5 (8.06%) DNS
2 5 (8.06%) Firewall
2 5 (8.06%) IP Telephony
2 5 (8.06%) TCP/IP
3 3 (4.84%) Network Security
3 3 (4.84%) VPN
4 1 (1.61%) Intrusion Detection
4 1 (1.61%) Kerberos
4 1 (1.61%) NAS
4 1 (1.61%) SAN
4 1 (1.61%) SD-WAN
4 1 (1.61%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.61%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 8 (12.90%) Burp Suite
1 8 (12.90%) Metasploit
1 8 (12.90%) SonarQube
General
1 23 (37.10%) Social Skills
2 12 (19.35%) Public Sector
3 5 (8.06%) Manufacturing
4 3 (4.84%) Finance
4 3 (4.84%) Legal
4 3 (4.84%) Military
5 2 (3.23%) Analytical Skills
5 2 (3.23%) Documentation Skills
6 1 (1.61%) Banking
6 1 (1.61%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 1 (1.61%) Local Government
6 1 (1.61%) Presentation Skills
6 1 (1.61%) Retail
Job Titles
1 12 (19.35%) Analyst
2 10 (16.13%) Cybersecurity Engineer
2 10 (16.13%) Security Engineer
3 8 (12.90%) Security Manager
4 7 (11.29%) Consultant
5 6 (9.68%) Senior
6 5 (8.06%) Cybersecurity Manager
6 5 (8.06%) Developer
6 5 (8.06%) Lead
6 5 (8.06%) Security Consultant
6 5 (8.06%) Support Analyst
7 4 (6.45%) Applications Developer
7 4 (6.45%) Information Manager
7 4 (6.45%) Senior Applications Developer
7 4 (6.45%) Senior Developer
8 3 (4.84%) Information Security Consultant
8 3 (4.84%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 3 (4.84%) Project Manager
8 3 (4.84%) Risk Analyst
8 3 (4.84%) Security Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (6.45%) .NET
2 2 (3.23%) OAuth
2 2 (3.23%) OpenID
2 2 (3.23%) SAML
3 1 (1.61%) ADO
3 1 (1.61%) LDAP
3 1 (1.61%) Next.js
3 1 (1.61%) Node.js
3 1 (1.61%) React
Miscellaneous
1 11 (17.74%) Security Posture
2 7 (11.29%) Security Operations Centre
3 5 (8.06%) iPad
3 5 (8.06%) iPhone
3 5 (8.06%) Video Conferencing
4 4 (6.45%) Management Information System
5 2 (3.23%) Cyber Threat
5 2 (3.23%) Low-Code
6 1 (1.61%) Industry 4.0
6 1 (1.61%) NHS
6 1 (1.61%) Onboarding
6 1 (1.61%) PKI
6 1 (1.61%) Reinsurance
Operating Systems
1 14 (22.58%) Windows
2 6 (9.68%) Mac OS
3 5 (8.06%) Android
3 5 (8.06%) Windows 10
3 5 (8.06%) Windows 7
4 4 (6.45%) Windows Server
5 1 (1.61%) Linux
5 1 (1.61%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 36 (58.06%) Cybersecurity
2 23 (37.10%) Information Security
3 16 (25.81%) Incident Response
4 13 (20.97%) Data Protection
4 13 (20.97%) Security Operations
5 12 (19.35%) Cloud Security
6 11 (17.74%) OWASP
7 10 (16.13%) Infrastructure as Code
7 10 (16.13%) Penetration Testing
7 10 (16.13%) Risk Management
7 10 (16.13%) Vulnerability Assessment
7 10 (16.13%) Vulnerability Management
8 9 (14.52%) CI/CD
9 8 (12.90%) DevSecOps
9 8 (12.90%) Dynamic Application Security Testing
9 8 (12.90%) Secure Coding
9 8 (12.90%) Security Management
9 8 (12.90%) Security Testing
9 8 (12.90%) Static Application Security Testing
9 8 (12.90%) Threat Modelling
Programming Languages
1 8 (12.90%) Bash
1 8 (12.90%) Python
2 4 (6.45%) SQL
3 2 (3.23%) ActionScript
3 2 (3.23%) PowerShell
4 1 (1.61%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 19 (30.65%) Security Cleared
2 17 (27.42%) SC Cleared
3 13 (20.97%) CISSP
4 12 (19.35%) CISM
5 11 (17.74%) OSCP
6 9 (14.52%) CREST Certified
7 8 (12.90%) CHECK Team Member
7 8 (12.90%) Tigerscheme
8 4 (6.45%) CISA
8 4 (6.45%) CRISC
9 3 (4.84%) DV Cleared
9 3 (4.84%) GIAC
10 2 (3.23%) Degree
10 2 (3.23%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 1 (1.61%) CEH
11 1 (1.61%) Computer Science Degree
11 1 (1.61%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (43.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 23 (37.10%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 21 (33.87%) NIST
4 12 (19.35%) GDPR
5 10 (16.13%) NCSC
6 9 (14.52%) GRC
7 5 (8.06%) PCI DSS
8 4 (6.45%) SOC 2
9 3 (4.84%) Accessibility
9 3 (4.84%) COBIT
10 2 (3.23%) ISO 9001
11 1 (1.61%) HIPAA
11 1 (1.61%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 1 (1.61%) JSP 440
11 1 (1.61%) NIST 800
11 1 (1.61%) PMO
11 1 (1.61%) SLA
System Software
1 9 (14.52%) Active Directory
2 1 (1.61%) Hyper-V
2 1 (1.61%) VMware ESXi
2 1 (1.61%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 8 (12.90%) Nmap
2 5 (8.06%) Microsoft Intune
3 2 (3.23%) FortiGate
3 2 (3.23%) Single Sign-On
4 1 (1.61%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (1.61%) SCCM
4 1 (1.61%) Terraform
4 1 (1.61%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 16 (25.81%) Microsoft
2 8 (12.90%) Veracode
3 3 (4.84%) Qualys
4 2 (3.23%) Cisco
4 2 (3.23%) Infor
4 2 (3.23%) VMware
5 1 (1.61%) Citrix
5 1 (1.61%) Dell
5 1 (1.61%) EMC
5 1 (1.61%) Fortinet
5 1 (1.61%) Google
5 1 (1.61%) Meraki
5 1 (1.61%) OneTrust
5 1 (1.61%) Palo Alto
5 1 (1.61%) Ping Identity
5 1 (1.61%) Progress
5 1 (1.61%) Proofpoint
5 1 (1.61%) SonicWALL
5 1 (1.61%) Sophos
5 1 (1.61%) Zscaler