Cyber Essentials Contract Job Trends in England

Cyber Essentials
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring Cyber Essentials skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 29 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 448 413 483
Rank change year-on-year -35 +70 +61
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 152 61 58
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.36% 0.25% 0.16%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.17% 1.58% 1.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 107 35 41
10th Percentile £355 £295 £250
25th Percentile £475 £459 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.82% +4.76% -11.02%
75th Percentile £600 £628 £600
90th Percentile £675 £688 £663
UK median daily rate £540 £550 £500
% change year-on-year -1.82% +10.00% -9.05%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 4 0
10th Percentile £53.40 £28.12 -
25th Percentile £56.64 £29.02 -
Median hourly rate £63.14 £52.55 -
Median % change year-on-year +20.15% - -
75th Percentile £67.84 £79.60 -
90th Percentile - £81.76 -
UK median hourly rate £63.14 £73.60 -
% change year-on-year -14.22% - -

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 7,001 3,869 5,123
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 16.74% 16.17% 13.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,536 2,504 3,284
10th Percentile £344 £263 £300
25th Percentile £413 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £505 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.99% -3.81% -
75th Percentile £607 £625 £638
90th Percentile £700 £729 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £509
% change year-on-year - -1.72% -3.10%
Number of hourly rates quoted 451 151 361
10th Percentile £14.00 £17.35 £10.95
25th Percentile £18.50 £22.21 £13.18
Median hourly rate £33.98 £34.50 £23.00
Median % change year-on-year -1.51% +50.00% -41.92%
75th Percentile £67.38 £67.50 £45.00
90th Percentile £81.90 £80.00 £68.88
UK median hourly rate £36.00 £32.66 £21.38
% change year-on-year +10.24% +52.75% -38.92%

Cyber Essentials
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Cyber Essentials relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Cyber Essentials job vacancy trend in England

Cyber Essentials
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Cyber Essentials.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Cyber Essentials

Cyber Essentials
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Cyber Essentials in England over the 6 months to 29 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Cyber Essentials in England

Cyber Essentials
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Cyber Essentials.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Cyber Essentials

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 29 May 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 -36 62 £575 +9.52% 34
South East -15 49 £525 -12.50% 39
East of England -19 14 £475 +90.76% 6
North of England -68 11 £540 -6.09% 18
South West -27 8 £538 -10.42% 14
North West -30 6 £558 +147.78% 7
Midlands -57 6 £540 +66.15% 20
West Midlands -57 6 £540 +66.15% 12
Yorkshire -51 5 £540 -6.09% 9
Cyber Essentials
UK

Cyber Essentials
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 15 (9.87%) SharePoint
2 8 (5.26%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (1.97%) Confluence
4 1 (0.66%) Anypoint
Applications
1 9 (5.92%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.63%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.66%) AutoCAD
3 1 (0.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 1 (0.66%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 68 (44.74%) Azure
2 63 (41.45%) Microsoft 365
3 33 (21.71%) Entra ID
4 29 (19.08%) Microsoft Purview
5 21 (13.82%) Mimecast
6 14 (9.21%) AWS
7 10 (6.58%) SaaS
8 9 (5.92%) IaaS
8 9 (5.92%) PaaS
9 8 (5.26%) Amazon GuardDuty
9 8 (5.26%) AWS Control Tower
9 8 (5.26%) Azure Sentinel
10 7 (4.61%) AWS CloudTrail
11 6 (3.95%) AWS CloudFormation
11 6 (3.95%) AWS KMS
11 6 (3.95%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 5 (3.29%) GitHub
13 3 (1.97%) Azure DevOps
13 3 (1.97%) Azure Logic Apps
13 3 (1.97%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 20 (13.16%) Firewall
2 17 (11.18%) VPN
3 14 (9.21%) Network Security
4 5 (3.29%) VSAN
5 4 (2.63%) BGP
5 4 (2.63%) Cisco ASA
5 4 (2.63%) Cisco IOS
5 4 (2.63%) MPLS
5 4 (2.63%) TACACS
6 3 (1.97%) DHCP
6 3 (1.97%) DNS
6 3 (1.97%) VLAN
6 3 (1.97%) Wi-Fi
6 3 (1.97%) Wireless
7 1 (0.66%) HTTP
7 1 (0.66%) Intrusion Detection
7 1 (0.66%) LAN
7 1 (0.66%) SAN
7 1 (0.66%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.97%) Metadata
2 2 (1.32%) Azure SQL Database
3 1 (0.66%) Amazon RDS
3 1 (0.66%) DynamoDB
3 1 (0.66%) MongoDB
3 1 (0.66%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 1 (0.66%) MSI
General
1 67 (44.08%) Social Skills
2 30 (19.74%) Public Sector
3 29 (19.08%) Finance
4 11 (7.24%) Analytical Skills
5 7 (4.61%) Aerospace
5 7 (4.61%) Organisational Skills
6 6 (3.95%) Local Government
7 5 (3.29%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 5 (3.29%) Influencing Skills
8 4 (2.63%) Legal
9 1 (0.66%) Documentation Skills
9 1 (0.66%) Financial Institution
9 1 (0.66%) Military
Job Titles
1 28 (18.42%) Security Engineer
2 26 (17.11%) Architect
3 18 (11.84%) Cybersecurity Engineer
4 17 (11.18%) Senior
5 15 (9.87%) Security Specialist
6 14 (9.21%) Cybersecurity Specialist
7 12 (7.89%) Analyst
8 10 (6.58%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 10 (6.58%) Technical Architect
9 9 (5.92%) Lead
10 8 (5.26%) Security Analyst
10 8 (5.26%) Security Manager
11 7 (4.61%) Project Manager
12 6 (3.95%) Cloud Architect
12 6 (3.95%) Solutions Architect
13 5 (3.29%) 3rd Line Support
13 5 (3.29%) Cybersecurity Manager
13 5 (3.29%) Infrastructure Manager
13 5 (3.29%) Infrastructure Project Manager
13 5 (3.29%) IT Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (2.63%) LDAP
1 4 (2.63%) OAuth
2 3 (1.97%) Oracle Fusion
3 2 (1.32%) Microsoft Graph
4 1 (0.66%) .NET
4 1 (0.66%) JSON
4 1 (0.66%) JWT
4 1 (0.66%) Node.js
4 1 (0.66%) OAuth2
4 1 (0.66%) OpenAPI
4 1 (0.66%) OpenID
4 1 (0.66%) RAML
4 1 (0.66%) React
4 1 (0.66%) RESTful
4 1 (0.66%) Software Packaging
4 1 (0.66%) STL
4 1 (0.66%) Swagger
4 1 (0.66%) XML
4 1 (0.66%) XML Schema
4 1 (0.66%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 21 (13.82%) Operational Technology
2 14 (9.21%) Onboarding
3 11 (7.24%) Hybrid Cloud
3 11 (7.24%) SCADA
4 9 (5.92%) PKI
5 7 (4.61%) Cloud Native
5 7 (4.61%) Cyber Defence
5 7 (4.61%) Driving Licence
6 6 (3.95%) Management Information System
7 5 (3.29%) BYOD
7 5 (3.29%) Public Cloud
7 5 (3.29%) Security Posture
8 4 (2.63%) Analytical Mindset
8 4 (2.63%) Cyber Threat
8 4 (2.63%) NHS
8 4 (2.63%) Security Operations Centre
9 3 (1.97%) Data Centre
9 3 (1.97%) Taxonomies
10 2 (1.32%) Cybercrime
10 2 (1.32%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 27 (17.76%) Linux
2 25 (16.45%) Windows
3 11 (7.24%) Windows Server
4 7 (4.61%) Unix
5 6 (3.95%) Ubuntu
6 3 (1.97%) Windows 10
7 2 (1.32%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (1.32%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.66%) Android
8 1 (0.66%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.66%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 90 (59.21%) Cybersecurity
2 36 (23.68%) Data Loss Prevention
3 30 (19.74%) Risk Management
4 27 (17.76%) Information Security
4 27 (17.76%) Vulnerability Management
5 26 (17.11%) SIEM
6 24 (15.79%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 21 (13.82%) CI/CD
7 21 (13.82%) ITSM
8 20 (13.16%) RBAC
8 20 (13.16%) Zero Trust
9 19 (12.50%) Incident Response
9 19 (12.50%) Migration
9 19 (12.50%) Roadmaps
10 18 (11.84%) Risk Register
11 17 (11.18%) ITIL
12 16 (10.53%) Risk Assessment
12 16 (10.53%) Security Architecture
13 15 (9.87%) Change Control
14 14 (9.21%) Infrastructure Engineering
Programming Languages
1 14 (9.21%) PowerShell
2 10 (6.58%) Python
3 5 (3.29%) Bash
3 5 (3.29%) Kusto Query Language
3 5 (3.29%) SQL
4 4 (2.63%) PHP
5 1 (0.66%) C#
5 1 (0.66%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 54 (35.53%) Security Cleared
2 51 (33.55%) SC Cleared
3 21 (13.82%) CISSP
4 15 (9.87%) CISM
4 15 (9.87%) Degree
5 12 (7.89%) Cisco Certification
6 10 (6.58%) DV Cleared
6 10 (6.58%) GIAC
7 8 (5.26%) SSCP
8 7 (4.61%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 7 (4.61%) CESG Certified Professional
8 7 (4.61%) CRISC
8 7 (4.61%) GSEC
9 6 (3.95%) AWS Certification
9 6 (3.95%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 5 (3.29%) CCNA
10 5 (3.29%) CompTIA Security+
10 5 (3.29%) Microsoft Certification
10 5 (3.29%) SANS
11 4 (2.63%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 76 (50.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 58 (38.16%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 57 (37.50%) NIST
4 35 (23.03%) NCSC
5 25 (16.45%) GDPR
6 14 (9.21%) PCI DSS
7 12 (7.89%) GRC
7 12 (7.89%) ISO 31000
8 10 (6.58%) NIST 800
9 7 (4.61%) Def Stans
9 7 (4.61%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 6 (3.95%) IASME
11 4 (2.63%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 4 (2.63%) SLA
12 3 (1.97%) ISO 22301
12 3 (1.97%) ISO/IEC 27005
13 2 (1.32%) COBIT
13 2 (1.32%) Government Security Classifications
14 1 (0.66%) Actionable Recommendations
14 1 (0.66%) JSP 440
System Software
1 18 (11.84%) Active Directory
2 15 (9.87%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (3.95%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (3.29%) Hyper-V
4 5 (3.29%) VMware NSX
5 4 (2.63%) VMware ESXi
6 3 (1.97%) Docker
7 1 (0.66%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 18 (11.84%) Microsoft Intune
2 12 (7.89%) Kubernetes
3 11 (7.24%) Terraform
4 7 (4.61%) AirWatch
5 4 (2.63%) vCenter Server
6 3 (1.97%) Ansible
6 3 (1.97%) Podman
6 3 (1.97%) SCOM
6 3 (1.97%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (1.32%) Nessus
8 1 (0.66%) CASB
8 1 (0.66%) Grafana
8 1 (0.66%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 74 (48.68%) Microsoft
2 23 (15.13%) Cisco
2 23 (15.13%) VMware
3 19 (12.50%) CrowdStrike
4 16 (10.53%) Netskope
5 15 (9.87%) CyberArk
6 13 (8.55%) ServiceNow
7 9 (5.92%) Palo Alto
8 6 (3.95%) Citrix
8 6 (3.95%) CloudEndure
9 5 (3.29%) Barracuda Networks
10 3 (1.97%) Atlassian
10 3 (1.97%) Oracle
10 3 (1.97%) Tenable
11 2 (1.32%) Qualys
11 2 (1.32%) Snow
11 2 (1.32%) Sophos
12 1 (0.66%) Freshdesk
12 1 (0.66%) OneTrust
12 1 (0.66%) Zscaler