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 3 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 464 433 494
Rank change year-on-year -31 +61 +37
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 151 61 62
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.34% 0.23% 0.17%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.02% 1.42% 1.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 110 35 42
10th Percentile £398 £276 £256
25th Percentile £463 £450 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.82% +4.76% -8.70%
75th Percentile £575 £675 £600
90th Percentile £676 £688 £661
UK median daily rate £538 £563 £525
% change year-on-year -4.44% +7.14% -3.67%
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 £34.16 -
90th Percentile - £34.58 -
UK median hourly rate £63.14 £31.49 -
% change year-on-year +100.49% - -

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 7,486 4,301 5,042
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 17.05% 16.48% 13.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,813 2,782 3,167
10th Percentile £350 £270 £300
25th Percentile £413 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.00% -4.76% -
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £713 £725 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £509
% change year-on-year - -1.82% -3.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 509 188 379
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.13 £11.00
25th Percentile £19.33 £20.69 £13.28
Median hourly rate £36.00 £32.00 £24.43
Median % change year-on-year +12.50% +30.99% -42.52%
75th Percentile £67.84 £65.00 £52.13
90th Percentile £80.38 £83.96 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £36.07 £30.00 £23.90
% change year-on-year +20.23% +25.52% -38.26%

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 3 July 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 3 July 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 -26 70 £550 -4.35% 23
South East -27 42 £525 -4.55% 36
North of England -63 14 £540 -6.09% 24
South West -20 9 £538 +53.57% 13
Yorkshire -46 8 £540 -6.09% 10
West Midlands -57 7 £540 - 7
Midlands -60 7 £540 -16.92% 18
East of England -22 6 £306 +22.88% 12
North West -40 5 £540 +140.00% 10
North East -37 1 £500 -35.48% 6
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 21 (13.91%) SharePoint
2 9 (5.96%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (1.99%) Confluence
4 1 (0.66%) Anypoint
Applications
1 9 (5.96%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.65%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.66%) AutoCAD
3 1 (0.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (1.32%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 69 (45.70%) Azure
2 66 (43.71%) Microsoft 365
3 33 (21.85%) Entra ID
4 27 (17.88%) Microsoft Purview
5 18 (11.92%) Mimecast
6 13 (8.61%) SaaS
7 9 (5.96%) Azure Sentinel
7 9 (5.96%) IaaS
7 9 (5.96%) PaaS
8 6 (3.97%) AWS
8 6 (3.97%) GitHub
9 4 (2.65%) Azure Logic Apps
10 3 (1.99%) Azure DevOps
10 3 (1.99%) Azure Event Grid
10 3 (1.99%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 3 (1.99%) Azure Monitor
10 3 (1.99%) Azure Service Bus
10 3 (1.99%) GitHub Actions
10 3 (1.99%) Serverless
11 2 (1.32%) AWS Control Tower
Communications & Networking
1 21 (13.91%) Firewall
2 17 (11.26%) VPN
3 14 (9.27%) Network Security
4 5 (3.31%) VSAN
5 4 (2.65%) BGP
5 4 (2.65%) Cisco ASA
5 4 (2.65%) Cisco IOS
5 4 (2.65%) DHCP
5 4 (2.65%) DNS
5 4 (2.65%) MPLS
5 4 (2.65%) TACACS
5 4 (2.65%) Wi-Fi
5 4 (2.65%) Wireless
6 3 (1.99%) DMZ
6 3 (1.99%) LAN
6 3 (1.99%) SAN
6 3 (1.99%) VLAN
7 2 (1.32%) NAS
7 2 (1.32%) SSL
7 2 (1.32%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.99%) Azure SQL Database
1 3 (1.99%) Metadata
2 1 (0.66%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 1 (0.66%) MSI
General
1 69 (45.70%) Social Skills
2 28 (18.54%) Public Sector
3 19 (12.58%) Finance
4 13 (8.61%) Analytical Skills
5 8 (5.30%) Local Government
6 7 (4.64%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (2.65%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 4 (2.65%) Legal
8 3 (1.99%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (1.32%) Aerospace
9 2 (1.32%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (0.66%) Financial Institution
10 1 (0.66%) Military
Job Titles
1 25 (16.56%) Security Engineer
2 18 (11.92%) Architect
3 15 (9.93%) Cybersecurity Engineer
3 15 (9.93%) Security Specialist
3 15 (9.93%) Senior
4 14 (9.27%) Analyst
4 14 (9.27%) Cybersecurity Specialist
4 14 (9.27%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 10 (6.62%) Security Analyst
6 9 (5.96%) Lead
7 8 (5.30%) Security Manager
8 7 (4.64%) IT Engineer
8 7 (4.64%) Solutions Architect
8 7 (4.64%) Technical Architect
9 6 (3.97%) Project Manager
9 6 (3.97%) Senior Architect
10 5 (3.31%) Cybersecurity Manager
10 5 (3.31%) Information Security Engineer
11 4 (2.65%) Governance Manager
11 4 (2.65%) Infrastructure Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (2.65%) LDAP
1 4 (2.65%) OAuth
2 3 (1.99%) 802.1X
3 2 (1.32%) Microsoft Graph
4 1 (0.66%) EDI
4 1 (0.66%) JSON
4 1 (0.66%) JWT
4 1 (0.66%) Middleware
4 1 (0.66%) OAuth2
4 1 (0.66%) OpenAPI
4 1 (0.66%) OpenID
4 1 (0.66%) RAML
4 1 (0.66%) RESTful
4 1 (0.66%) SAML
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
Miscellaneous
1 15 (9.93%) Operational Technology
2 14 (9.27%) Onboarding
3 12 (7.95%) Hybrid Cloud
4 9 (5.96%) PKI
5 7 (4.64%) BYOD
5 7 (4.64%) Management Information System
5 7 (4.64%) SCADA
5 7 (4.64%) Security Operations Centre
5 7 (4.64%) Security Posture
6 6 (3.97%) Cloud Native
6 6 (3.97%) Cyber Defence
7 5 (3.31%) Driving Licence
7 5 (3.31%) Public Cloud
8 4 (2.65%) Analytical Mindset
8 4 (2.65%) Cyber Threat
8 4 (2.65%) NHS
9 3 (1.99%) Taxonomies
10 2 (1.32%) CESG
10 2 (1.32%) Cybercrime
10 2 (1.32%) Data Centre
Operating Systems
1 26 (17.22%) Windows
2 22 (14.57%) Linux
3 12 (7.95%) Windows Server
4 7 (4.64%) Unix
5 6 (3.97%) Ubuntu
6 3 (1.99%) Windows 10
7 2 (1.32%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (1.32%) Windows Server 2012
7 2 (1.32%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.66%) Android
8 1 (0.66%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.66%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 98 (64.90%) Cybersecurity
2 32 (21.19%) Data Loss Prevention
2 32 (21.19%) Information Security
3 30 (19.87%) Risk Management
4 29 (19.21%) SIEM
4 29 (19.21%) Vulnerability Management
5 28 (18.54%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 21 (13.91%) CI/CD
7 20 (13.25%) Incident Response
7 20 (13.25%) ITSM
7 20 (13.25%) Risk Register
8 17 (11.26%) RBAC
8 17 (11.26%) Risk Assessment
8 17 (11.26%) Security Architecture
8 17 (11.26%) Security Operations
9 16 (10.60%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 15 (9.93%) Change Control
10 15 (9.93%) Service Delivery
10 15 (9.93%) Zero Trust
11 14 (9.27%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 15 (9.93%) PowerShell
2 9 (5.96%) Python
3 5 (3.31%) Bash
3 5 (3.31%) SQL
4 4 (2.65%) Kusto Query Language
4 4 (2.65%) PHP
Qualifications
1 45 (29.80%) Security Cleared
2 42 (27.81%) SC Cleared
3 23 (15.23%) CISSP
4 16 (10.60%) CISM
4 16 (10.60%) Degree
5 12 (7.95%) DV Cleared
6 11 (7.28%) Cisco Certification
7 10 (6.62%) CESG Certified Professional
7 10 (6.62%) GIAC
8 8 (5.30%) SSCP
9 7 (4.64%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 7 (4.64%) CRISC
9 7 (4.64%) GSEC
10 6 (3.97%) CompTIA Security+
11 5 (3.31%) Azure Certification
11 5 (3.31%) SANS
12 4 (2.65%) APMG
12 4 (2.65%) CCNA
12 4 (2.65%) Microsoft Certification
13 3 (1.99%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 86 (56.95%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 63 (41.72%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 55 (36.42%) NIST
4 31 (20.53%) NCSC
5 27 (17.88%) GDPR
6 20 (13.25%) PCI DSS
7 17 (11.26%) GRC
8 12 (7.95%) ISO 31000
9 10 (6.62%) NIST 800
10 7 (4.64%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 6 (3.97%) IASME
12 5 (3.31%) SLA
13 4 (2.65%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 4 (2.65%) ISO/IEC 27005
14 3 (1.99%) Def Stans
14 3 (1.99%) ISO 22301
15 2 (1.32%) COBIT
15 2 (1.32%) Government Security Classifications
16 1 (0.66%) Actionable Recommendations
16 1 (0.66%) JSP 440
System Software
1 27 (17.88%) Active Directory
2 17 (11.26%) VMware Infrastructure
3 7 (4.64%) VMware ESXi
4 5 (3.31%) VMware NSX
5 4 (2.65%) Hyper-V
6 3 (1.99%) Docker
7 2 (1.32%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (1.32%) vSphere
8 1 (0.66%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 22 (14.57%) Microsoft Intune
2 13 (8.61%) Kubernetes
3 7 (4.64%) vCenter Server
4 5 (3.31%) AirWatch
4 5 (3.31%) Nessus
4 5 (3.31%) Single Sign-On
5 4 (2.65%) Terraform
6 3 (1.99%) Ansible
6 3 (1.99%) FortiGate
6 3 (1.99%) Podman
6 3 (1.99%) SCCM
6 3 (1.99%) SCOM
7 1 (0.66%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 81 (53.64%) Microsoft
2 25 (16.56%) Cisco
3 19 (12.58%) VMware
4 16 (10.60%) CrowdStrike
5 13 (8.61%) CyberArk
5 13 (8.61%) Netskope
5 13 (8.61%) ServiceNow
6 6 (3.97%) Tenable
7 5 (3.31%) Palo Alto
8 4 (2.65%) Zscaler
9 3 (1.99%) Atlassian
9 3 (1.99%) Citrix
10 2 (1.32%) Oracle
10 2 (1.32%) Snow
10 2 (1.32%) Sophos
11 1 (0.66%) Freshdesk
11 1 (0.66%) Google
11 1 (0.66%) OneTrust
11 1 (0.66%) Planon
11 1 (0.66%) Qualys