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 5 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 442 427 480
Rank change year-on-year -15 +53 +55
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 149 57 59
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.36% 0.24% 0.16%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.11% 1.46% 1.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 106 31 42
10th Percentile £388 £275 £256
25th Percentile £475 £441 £394
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £550 £513
Median % change year-on-year -1.82% +7.32% -14.58%
75th Percentile £586 £613 £600
90th Percentile £675 £688 £661
UK median daily rate £540 £550 £500
% change year-on-year -1.82% +10.00% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 3 0
10th Percentile £53.40 £27.93 -
25th Percentile £56.64 £28.52 -
Median hourly rate £63.14 £31.49 -
Median % change year-on-year +100.49% - -
75th Percentile £67.84 £55.94 -
90th Percentile - £69.41 -
UK median hourly rate £63.14 £52.55 -
% change year-on-year +20.15% - -

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 7,049 3,911 5,066
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 16.80% 16.24% 13.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,569 2,515 3,215
10th Percentile £350 £263 £300
25th Percentile £413 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £504 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.79% -4.00% -
75th Percentile £601 £625 £638
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £510
% change year-on-year - -1.96% -2.86%
Number of hourly rates quoted 452 162 370
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.55 £10.95
25th Percentile £18.64 £22.14 £13.18
Median hourly rate £35.00 £34.50 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year +1.45% +44.96% -44.00%
75th Percentile £67.50 £67.50 £48.75
90th Percentile £81.99 £80.00 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £36.07 £32.50 £23.00
% change year-on-year +10.98% +41.30% -39.07%

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 5 June 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 5 June 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 -29 63 £575 +9.52% 37
South East -29 44 £525 -8.70% 38
East of England -19 14 £475 +90.76% 12
North of England -72 12 £540 -6.09% 26
South West -26 8 £538 -10.42% 17
North West -33 6 £558 +147.78% 10
Yorkshire -47 6 £540 -6.09% 13
Midlands -50 6 £540 +66.15% 21
West Midlands -52 6 £540 +66.15% 14
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 (10.07%) SharePoint
2 8 (5.37%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (2.01%) Confluence
4 1 (0.67%) Anypoint
Applications
1 9 (6.04%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.68%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.67%) AutoCAD
3 1 (0.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (1.34%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 67 (44.97%) Azure
2 62 (41.61%) Microsoft 365
3 30 (20.13%) Microsoft Purview
4 27 (18.12%) Entra ID
5 21 (14.09%) Mimecast
6 11 (7.38%) SaaS
7 9 (6.04%) AWS
7 9 (6.04%) IaaS
7 9 (6.04%) PaaS
8 8 (5.37%) Azure Sentinel
9 5 (3.36%) GitHub
10 4 (2.68%) OCI
11 3 (2.01%) Amazon GuardDuty
11 3 (2.01%) AWS Control Tower
11 3 (2.01%) Azure DevOps
11 3 (2.01%) Azure Logic Apps
11 3 (2.01%) Serverless
12 2 (1.34%) Amazon EKS
12 2 (1.34%) Azure AKS
12 2 (1.34%) Azure ExpressRoute
Communications & Networking
1 21 (14.09%) Firewall
2 17 (11.41%) VPN
3 16 (10.74%) Network Security
4 5 (3.36%) VSAN
5 4 (2.68%) BGP
5 4 (2.68%) Cisco ASA
5 4 (2.68%) Cisco IOS
5 4 (2.68%) MPLS
5 4 (2.68%) TACACS
6 3 (2.01%) Wireless
7 2 (1.34%) DHCP
7 2 (1.34%) DNS
7 2 (1.34%) VLAN
7 2 (1.34%) Wi-Fi
8 1 (0.67%) HTTP
8 1 (0.67%) Intrusion Detection
8 1 (0.67%) LAN
8 1 (0.67%) SAN
8 1 (0.67%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (2.01%) Metadata
2 2 (1.34%) Azure SQL Database
3 1 (0.67%) Amazon RDS
3 1 (0.67%) DynamoDB
3 1 (0.67%) MongoDB
3 1 (0.67%) Oracle Reports
3 1 (0.67%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 1 (0.67%) MSI
General
1 68 (45.64%) Social Skills
2 26 (17.45%) Public Sector
3 25 (16.78%) Finance
4 11 (7.38%) Analytical Skills
5 7 (4.70%) Aerospace
5 7 (4.70%) Organisational Skills
6 6 (4.03%) Local Government
7 5 (3.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 5 (3.36%) Influencing Skills
8 4 (2.68%) Legal
9 1 (0.67%) Documentation Skills
9 1 (0.67%) Financial Institution
9 1 (0.67%) Military
Job Titles
1 29 (19.46%) Security Engineer
2 21 (14.09%) Architect
3 19 (12.75%) Cybersecurity Engineer
4 17 (11.41%) Senior
5 15 (10.07%) Security Specialist
6 14 (9.40%) Cybersecurity Specialist
7 12 (8.05%) Analyst
8 10 (6.71%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 10 (6.71%) Technical Architect
9 8 (5.37%) Security Analyst
9 8 (5.37%) Security Manager
10 7 (4.70%) Lead
10 7 (4.70%) Project Manager
11 6 (4.03%) Solutions Architect
12 5 (3.36%) 3rd Line Support
12 5 (3.36%) Consultant
12 5 (3.36%) Infrastructure Manager
12 5 (3.36%) Infrastructure Project Manager
12 5 (3.36%) Infrastructure Security Engineer
12 5 (3.36%) Senior Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (2.68%) LDAP
1 4 (2.68%) OAuth
2 3 (2.01%) Oracle Fusion
3 2 (1.34%) Microsoft Graph
4 1 (0.67%) .NET
4 1 (0.67%) JSON
4 1 (0.67%) JWT
4 1 (0.67%) Node.js
4 1 (0.67%) OAuth2
4 1 (0.67%) OpenAPI
4 1 (0.67%) OpenID
4 1 (0.67%) RAML
4 1 (0.67%) React
4 1 (0.67%) RESTful
4 1 (0.67%) Software Packaging
4 1 (0.67%) STL
4 1 (0.67%) Swagger
4 1 (0.67%) XML
4 1 (0.67%) XML Schema
4 1 (0.67%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 21 (14.09%) Operational Technology
2 13 (8.72%) Onboarding
3 11 (7.38%) Hybrid Cloud
3 11 (7.38%) SCADA
4 9 (6.04%) PKI
5 7 (4.70%) Cloud Native
5 7 (4.70%) Cyber Defence
5 7 (4.70%) Management Information System
6 6 (4.03%) Driving Licence
6 6 (4.03%) Security Operations Centre
6 6 (4.03%) Security Posture
7 5 (3.36%) BYOD
7 5 (3.36%) Public Cloud
8 4 (2.68%) Analytical Mindset
8 4 (2.68%) Cyber Threat
8 4 (2.68%) NHS
9 3 (2.01%) Data Centre
9 3 (2.01%) Taxonomies
10 2 (1.34%) Cybercrime
10 2 (1.34%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 27 (18.12%) Linux
2 24 (16.11%) Windows
3 11 (7.38%) Windows Server
4 7 (4.70%) Unix
5 6 (4.03%) Ubuntu
6 2 (1.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (1.34%) Windows 10
6 2 (1.34%) Windows Server 2012
7 1 (0.67%) Android
7 1 (0.67%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.67%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 93 (62.42%) Cybersecurity
2 37 (24.83%) Data Loss Prevention
3 31 (20.81%) Risk Management
4 30 (20.13%) Information Security
5 28 (18.79%) SIEM
5 28 (18.79%) Vulnerability Management
6 24 (16.11%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 21 (14.09%) CI/CD
7 21 (14.09%) ITSM
8 20 (13.42%) Incident Response
8 20 (13.42%) Zero Trust
9 18 (12.08%) Risk Register
10 16 (10.74%) RBAC
10 16 (10.74%) Risk Assessment
10 16 (10.74%) Security Architecture
11 15 (10.07%) Change Control
11 15 (10.07%) Security Operations
12 14 (9.40%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 14 (9.40%) Migration
12 14 (9.40%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 14 (9.40%) PowerShell
2 10 (6.71%) Python
3 5 (3.36%) Bash
3 5 (3.36%) Kusto Query Language
3 5 (3.36%) SQL
4 4 (2.68%) PHP
5 1 (0.67%) C#
5 1 (0.67%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 52 (34.90%) Security Cleared
2 49 (32.89%) SC Cleared
3 22 (14.77%) CISSP
4 16 (10.74%) CISM
5 15 (10.07%) Degree
6 12 (8.05%) Cisco Certification
7 11 (7.38%) DV Cleared
8 10 (6.71%) GIAC
9 8 (5.37%) CESG Certified Professional
9 8 (5.37%) SSCP
10 7 (4.70%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 7 (4.70%) CRISC
10 7 (4.70%) GSEC
11 5 (3.36%) CCNA
11 5 (3.36%) CompTIA Security+
11 5 (3.36%) Microsoft Certification
11 5 (3.36%) SANS
12 4 (2.68%) APMG
12 4 (2.68%) Azure Certification
12 4 (2.68%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 78 (52.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 60 (40.27%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 57 (38.26%) NIST
4 31 (20.81%) NCSC
5 26 (17.45%) GDPR
6 16 (10.74%) PCI DSS
7 13 (8.72%) GRC
8 12 (8.05%) ISO 31000
9 10 (6.71%) NIST 800
10 7 (4.70%) Def Stans
10 7 (4.70%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 6 (4.03%) IASME
12 4 (2.68%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 4 (2.68%) SLA
13 3 (2.01%) ISO 22301
13 3 (2.01%) ISO/IEC 27005
14 2 (1.34%) COBIT
14 2 (1.34%) Government Security Classifications
15 1 (0.67%) Actionable Recommendations
15 1 (0.67%) JSP 440
System Software
1 17 (11.41%) Active Directory
2 15 (10.07%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (3.36%) Hyper-V
3 5 (3.36%) VMware NSX
4 4 (2.68%) VMware ESXi
5 3 (2.01%) Docker
6 1 (0.67%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.67%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 17 (11.41%) Microsoft Intune
2 12 (8.05%) Kubernetes
3 7 (4.70%) AirWatch
4 6 (4.03%) Terraform
5 4 (2.68%) vCenter Server
6 3 (2.01%) Ansible
6 3 (2.01%) Podman
6 3 (2.01%) SCOM
6 3 (2.01%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (1.34%) Nessus
8 1 (0.67%) CASB
8 1 (0.67%) Grafana
8 1 (0.67%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 74 (49.66%) Microsoft
2 24 (16.11%) Cisco
3 23 (15.44%) VMware
4 19 (12.75%) CrowdStrike
5 16 (10.74%) Netskope
6 15 (10.07%) CyberArk
7 13 (8.72%) ServiceNow
8 9 (6.04%) Palo Alto
9 5 (3.36%) Barracuda Networks
10 4 (2.68%) Oracle
11 3 (2.01%) Atlassian
11 3 (2.01%) Tenable
12 2 (1.34%) Qualys
12 2 (1.34%) Snow
12 2 (1.34%) Sophos
13 1 (0.67%) AlienVault
13 1 (0.67%) CloudEndure
13 1 (0.67%) Freshdesk
13 1 (0.67%) OneTrust
13 1 (0.67%) Zscaler