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 17 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
17 Aug 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 475 431 473
Rank change year-on-year -44 +42 +17
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 149 81 60
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.33% 0.29% 0.18%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 1.87% 1.70% 1.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 103 57 43
10th Percentile £375 £325 £210
25th Percentile £450 £444 £444
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £575 £500
Median % change year-on-year -6.09% +15.00% -5.66%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £600
90th Percentile £745 £688 £650
UK median daily rate £525 £588 £505
% change year-on-year -10.64% +16.34% -3.81%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 3 0
10th Percentile £55.56 £27.93 -
25th Percentile £58.43 £28.52 -
Median hourly rate £63.14 £31.49 -
Median % change year-on-year +100.49% - -
75th Percentile £69.42 £34.16 -
90th Percentile £71.00 £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 7,974 4,774 4,357
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 17.45% 17.17% 13.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,092 3,110 2,723
10th Percentile £340 £281 £300
25th Percentile £413 £400 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.00% -4.76% -1.87%
75th Percentile £610 £622 £638
90th Percentile £715 £725 £755
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £513
% change year-on-year - -2.44% -2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 539 227 270
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.13 £10.95
25th Percentile £18.50 £18.87 £14.10
Median hourly rate £38.72 £31.64 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +22.38% +15.05% -21.99%
75th Percentile £70.00 £65.00 £62.54
90th Percentile £80.00 £87.35 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £38.11 £28.18 £26.62
% change year-on-year +35.24% +5.86% -23.94%

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 17 August 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
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Cyber Essentials in England over the 6 months to 17 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram 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 17 August 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 -41 70 £575 -8.00% 42
South East -30 44 £525 -4.55% 41
North of England -58 18 £450 -18.18% 26
Yorkshire -26 9 £520 -5.45% 4
Midlands -44 9 - - 21
North West -35 8 £425 +47.83% 18
West Midlands -46 8 - - 13
South West -44 4 £525 +50.00% 18
East of England -24 2 £455 +82.73% 17
East Midlands -20 1 - - 8
North East -43 1 £500 -29.82% 4
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 16 (10.74%) SharePoint
2 6 (4.03%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (2.01%) Confluence
4 1 (0.67%) Anypoint
Applications
1 4 (2.68%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (2.01%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (1.34%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 67 (44.97%) Microsoft 365
2 64 (42.95%) Azure
3 32 (21.48%) Entra ID
4 15 (10.07%) Microsoft Purview
5 12 (8.05%) Mimecast
6 11 (7.38%) SaaS
7 9 (6.04%) AWS
7 9 (6.04%) Azure Sentinel
7 9 (6.04%) GitHub
8 7 (4.70%) IaaS
8 7 (4.70%) PaaS
9 5 (3.36%) Azure DevOps
9 5 (3.36%) GitHub Actions
10 4 (2.68%) Azure Logic Apps
11 3 (2.01%) Azure Event Grid
11 3 (2.01%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 3 (2.01%) Azure Monitor
11 3 (2.01%) Azure Service Bus
11 3 (2.01%) Power Platform
11 3 (2.01%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 18 (12.08%) Firewall
2 12 (8.05%) VPN
3 8 (5.37%) Network Security
4 5 (3.36%) VSAN
5 4 (2.68%) Intranet
5 4 (2.68%) Wi-Fi
5 4 (2.68%) Wireless
6 3 (2.01%) DHCP
6 3 (2.01%) DMZ
6 3 (2.01%) DNS
6 3 (2.01%) LAN
6 3 (2.01%) VLAN
7 2 (1.34%) NAS
7 2 (1.34%) SAN
7 2 (1.34%) SSL
7 2 (1.34%) WAN
8 1 (0.67%) Cisco ISE
8 1 (0.67%) Intrusion Detection
8 1 (0.67%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (2.01%) Azure SQL Database
2 2 (1.34%) Metadata
3 1 (0.67%) Data Lake
3 1 (0.67%) Data Warehouse
3 1 (0.67%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 2 (1.34%) GitLab
1 2 (1.34%) Jenkins
2 1 (0.67%) JIRA
2 1 (0.67%) MSI
General
1 65 (43.62%) Social Skills
2 26 (17.45%) Public Sector
3 19 (12.75%) Analytical Skills
4 16 (10.74%) Finance
5 8 (5.37%) Local Government
6 6 (4.03%) Legal
7 5 (3.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 5 (3.36%) Organisational Skills
8 4 (2.68%) Aerospace
8 4 (2.68%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (1.34%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (1.34%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.67%) Automotive
10 1 (0.67%) Banking
10 1 (0.67%) Financial Institution
10 1 (0.67%) Law
10 1 (0.67%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.67%) Military
10 1 (0.67%) Retail
Job Titles
1 21 (14.09%) Architect
2 20 (13.42%) Analyst
3 16 (10.74%) Security Analyst
4 15 (10.07%) Security Specialist
4 15 (10.07%) Senior
5 13 (8.72%) Security Engineer
6 12 (8.05%) Cybersecurity Specialist
7 11 (7.38%) Cybersecurity Engineer
7 11 (7.38%) Lead
8 10 (6.71%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 9 (6.04%) Security Manager
10 7 (4.70%) Senior Architect
10 7 (4.70%) Solutions Architect
10 7 (4.70%) Technical Architect
11 6 (4.03%) Cybersecurity Manager
11 6 (4.03%) IT Engineer
12 5 (3.36%) Consultant
12 5 (3.36%) Governance Manager
12 5 (3.36%) IT Manager
12 5 (3.36%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (2.01%) 802.1X
2 2 (1.34%) ARM Templates
2 2 (1.34%) EDI
2 2 (1.34%) Microsoft Graph
2 2 (1.34%) OAuth
3 1 (0.67%) JSON
3 1 (0.67%) JWT
3 1 (0.67%) Middleware
3 1 (0.67%) OAuth2
3 1 (0.67%) OpenAPI
3 1 (0.67%) OpenID
3 1 (0.67%) RAML
3 1 (0.67%) RESTful
3 1 (0.67%) SAML
3 1 (0.67%) Swagger
3 1 (0.67%) XML
3 1 (0.67%) XML Schema
Miscellaneous
1 17 (11.41%) Operational Technology
2 14 (9.40%) Hybrid Cloud
3 13 (8.72%) Onboarding
4 11 (7.38%) Security Posture
5 10 (6.71%) Security Operations Centre
6 9 (6.04%) Management Information System
7 8 (5.37%) Cyber Defence
7 8 (5.37%) Cyber Threat
8 7 (4.70%) BYOD
9 6 (4.03%) Cloud Native
9 6 (4.03%) SCADA
10 5 (3.36%) Analytical Mindset
10 5 (3.36%) PKI
10 5 (3.36%) Public Cloud
11 3 (2.01%) Driving Licence
11 3 (2.01%) Legacy Systems
12 2 (1.34%) CESG
12 2 (1.34%) Data Protection Act
12 2 (1.34%) Enterprise Software
12 2 (1.34%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 25 (16.78%) Windows
2 18 (12.08%) Linux
3 10 (6.71%) Windows Server
4 7 (4.70%) Unix
5 4 (2.68%) Windows 10
6 2 (1.34%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.67%) Android
7 1 (0.67%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 102 (68.46%) Cybersecurity
2 42 (28.19%) Vulnerability Management
3 35 (23.49%) Information Security
4 33 (22.15%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 32 (21.48%) SIEM
6 31 (20.81%) Risk Management
7 28 (18.79%) Incident Response
8 25 (16.78%) CI/CD
9 23 (15.44%) Security Operations
10 21 (14.09%) Security Architecture
11 20 (13.42%) RBAC
12 19 (12.75%) Continuous Improvement
12 19 (12.75%) Risk Register
13 17 (11.41%) Containerisation
13 17 (11.41%) Data Loss Prevention
13 17 (11.41%) Incident Management
13 17 (11.41%) ITSM
13 17 (11.41%) Roadmaps
14 16 (10.74%) Remediation Plan
14 16 (10.74%) Threat Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 13 (8.72%) PowerShell
2 6 (4.03%) Bash
2 6 (4.03%) Python
3 3 (2.01%) SQL
4 2 (1.34%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 44 (29.53%) Security Cleared
2 42 (28.19%) SC Cleared
3 30 (20.13%) CISSP
4 20 (13.42%) CISM
5 17 (11.41%) Cisco Certification
6 10 (6.71%) (ISC)2 CCSP
6 10 (6.71%) CESG Certified Professional
6 10 (6.71%) Degree
6 10 (6.71%) DV Cleared
7 9 (6.04%) CRISC
8 7 (4.70%) Azure Certification
8 7 (4.70%) GIAC
9 6 (4.03%) CCNA
9 6 (4.03%) CompTIA Security+
9 6 (4.03%) Microsoft Certification
10 5 (3.36%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
10 5 (3.36%) MCSE
10 5 (3.36%) SANS
11 4 (2.68%) SSCP
11 4 (2.68%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 90 (60.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 69 (46.31%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 61 (40.94%) NIST
4 36 (24.16%) NCSC
5 27 (18.12%) GDPR
6 23 (15.44%) GRC
7 17 (11.41%) PCI DSS
8 11 (7.38%) ISO 31000
9 10 (6.71%) NIST 800
10 8 (5.37%) IASME
11 7 (4.70%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 5 (3.36%) SLA
13 4 (2.68%) ISO/IEC 27005
13 4 (2.68%) PMO
14 3 (2.01%) Government Security Classifications
15 2 (1.34%) Actionable Recommendations
15 2 (1.34%) COBIT
15 2 (1.34%) Def Stans
15 2 (1.34%) HMG Security Policy Framework
15 2 (1.34%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 26 (17.45%) Active Directory
2 14 (9.40%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (3.36%) VMware NSX
4 4 (2.68%) Docker
4 4 (2.68%) Hyper-V
5 3 (2.01%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (1.34%) Virtual Desktop
6 2 (1.34%) vSphere
7 1 (0.67%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 15 (10.07%) Kubernetes
2 14 (9.40%) Microsoft Intune
3 7 (4.70%) Terraform
4 6 (4.03%) Ansible
5 4 (2.68%) Podman
6 3 (2.01%) FortiGate
6 3 (2.01%) Nessus
6 3 (2.01%) SCCM
6 3 (2.01%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (2.01%) vCenter Server
7 2 (1.34%) QRadar
8 1 (0.67%) AirWatch
8 1 (0.67%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 74 (49.66%) Microsoft
2 17 (11.41%) Cisco
3 15 (10.07%) VMware
4 14 (9.40%) ServiceNow
5 11 (7.38%) CrowdStrike
6 9 (6.04%) CyberArk
6 9 (6.04%) Netskope
7 5 (3.36%) Palo Alto
8 4 (2.68%) Atlassian
8 4 (2.68%) Tenable
9 3 (2.01%) Citrix
9 3 (2.01%) Splunk
9 3 (2.01%) Zscaler
10 2 (1.34%) Oracle
10 2 (1.34%) Sophos
11 1 (0.67%) Barracuda Networks
11 1 (0.67%) Google
11 1 (0.67%) Juniper
11 1 (0.67%) MuleSoft
11 1 (0.67%) SAP
147 Cyber Essentials jobs in England