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 12 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 488 429 462
Rank change year-on-year -59 +33 +25
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 151 82 64
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.33% 0.29% 0.19%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 1.84% 1.71% 1.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 106 58 36
10th Percentile £374 £318 £225
25th Percentile £443 £430 £453
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £575 £500
Median % change year-on-year -8.70% +15.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £631 £650 £591
90th Percentile £719 £688 £613
UK median daily rate £513 £575 £511
% change year-on-year -10.87% +12.48% -2.63%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 3 0
10th Percentile £56.28 £27.93 -
25th Percentile £58.43 £28.52 -
Median hourly rate £63.14 £31.49 -
Median % change year-on-year +100.49% - -
75th Percentile £71.00 £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 8,208 4,786 4,318
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 17.71% 17.20% 13.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,174 3,121 2,605
10th Percentile £329 £300 £300
25th Percentile £413 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.00% -4.76% -2.78%
75th Percentile £610 £625 £638
90th Percentile £713 £720 £757
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £508
% change year-on-year - -1.53% -3.29%
Number of hourly rates quoted 578 230 220
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.13 £12.24
25th Percentile £17.03 £17.96 £15.13
Median hourly rate £33.98 £32.25 £29.50
Median % change year-on-year +5.36% +9.32% -15.71%
75th Percentile £67.84 £62.25 £63.75
90th Percentile £77.50 £82.96 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £33.00 £30.00 £26.68
% change year-on-year +10.00% +12.44% -23.77%

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 12 September 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 12 September 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 12 September 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 -39 73 £564 -9.54% 89
South East -27 41 £500 -16.67% 55
North of England -60 20 £450 - 30
North West -41 10 £438 +45.83% 18
Yorkshire -36 9 £520 -5.45% 7
Midlands -51 9 £525 +3.70% 26
West Midlands -45 7 £550 - 16
South West -45 3 £615 +75.71% 16
East Midlands -22 2 £500 +8.11% 10
East of England -25 2 £455 +82.73% 15
North East -46 1 £500 -29.82% 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 15 (9.93%) SharePoint
2 6 (3.97%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (1.32%) Confluence
4 1 (0.66%) Anypoint
Applications
1 4 (2.65%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.99%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (1.32%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (1.32%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 73 (48.34%) Azure
2 70 (46.36%) Microsoft 365
3 41 (27.15%) Entra ID
4 14 (9.27%) SaaS
5 13 (8.61%) Microsoft Purview
6 12 (7.95%) GitHub
7 10 (6.62%) Azure Sentinel
7 10 (6.62%) Mimecast
8 9 (5.96%) AWS
9 7 (4.64%) Azure DevOps
9 7 (4.64%) GitHub Actions
9 7 (4.64%) IaaS
9 7 (4.64%) Power Platform
10 6 (3.97%) PaaS
11 5 (3.31%) Microsoft Copilot
12 4 (2.65%) Azure Logic Apps
13 3 (1.99%) Azure Event Grid
13 3 (1.99%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 3 (1.99%) Azure Monitor
13 3 (1.99%) Azure Service Bus
Communications & Networking
1 17 (11.26%) Firewall
2 11 (7.28%) Network Security
3 10 (6.62%) VPN
4 5 (3.31%) Intranet
4 5 (3.31%) WAN
5 4 (2.65%) DHCP
5 4 (2.65%) DNS
5 4 (2.65%) VLAN
5 4 (2.65%) Wi-Fi
6 3 (1.99%) DMZ
6 3 (1.99%) LAN
6 3 (1.99%) VSAN
6 3 (1.99%) Wireless
7 2 (1.32%) NAS
7 2 (1.32%) SAN
7 2 (1.32%) SSL
8 1 (0.66%) Cisco ISE
8 1 (0.66%) Intrusion Detection
8 1 (0.66%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.99%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.66%) Data Lake
2 1 (0.66%) Data Warehouse
2 1 (0.66%) Metadata
2 1 (0.66%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 3 (1.99%) GitLab
1 3 (1.99%) Jenkins
2 1 (0.66%) Git
2 1 (0.66%) JIRA
2 1 (0.66%) MSI
2 1 (0.66%) Visual Studio
General
1 71 (47.02%) Social Skills
2 26 (17.22%) Public Sector
3 21 (13.91%) Analytical Skills
4 15 (9.93%) Finance
5 8 (5.30%) Local Government
6 7 (4.64%) Legal
7 5 (3.31%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 5 (3.31%) Organisational Skills
8 4 (2.65%) Aerospace
8 4 (2.65%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (1.32%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (1.32%) Manufacturing
9 2 (1.32%) Military
9 2 (1.32%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.66%) Automotive
10 1 (0.66%) Banking
10 1 (0.66%) Financial Institution
10 1 (0.66%) Law
10 1 (0.66%) Retail
Job Titles
1 20 (13.25%) Analyst
2 19 (12.58%) Architect
3 17 (11.26%) Senior
4 16 (10.60%) Security Analyst
5 14 (9.27%) Security Specialist
6 13 (8.61%) Security Engineer
7 12 (7.95%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 11 (7.28%) Cybersecurity Engineer
8 11 (7.28%) Cybersecurity Specialist
9 10 (6.62%) Lead
9 10 (6.62%) Security Manager
10 9 (5.96%) IT Manager
10 9 (5.96%) Solutions Architect
11 7 (4.64%) Technical Architect
12 6 (3.97%) Consultant
12 6 (3.97%) Cybersecurity Manager
12 6 (3.97%) IT Analyst
12 6 (3.97%) IT Engineer
12 6 (3.97%) Project Manager
12 6 (3.97%) Senior Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (5.96%) Terraform
2 3 (1.99%) 802.1X
2 3 (1.99%) ARM Templates
3 2 (1.32%) EDI
3 2 (1.32%) Microsoft Graph
3 2 (1.32%) OAuth
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%) Swagger
4 1 (0.66%) XML
4 1 (0.66%) XML Schema
Miscellaneous
1 16 (10.60%) Operational Technology
2 13 (8.61%) Onboarding
3 12 (7.95%) Security Posture
4 11 (7.28%) Management Information System
4 11 (7.28%) Security Operations Centre
5 9 (5.96%) Cyber Threat
5 9 (5.96%) Hybrid Cloud
6 8 (5.30%) Cyber Defence
7 6 (3.97%) Cloud Native
7 6 (3.97%) SCADA
8 4 (2.65%) Analytical Mindset
9 3 (1.99%) BYOD
9 3 (1.99%) Driving Licence
9 3 (1.99%) PKI
10 2 (1.32%) CESG
10 2 (1.32%) Data Centre
10 2 (1.32%) Data Protection Act
10 2 (1.32%) Enterprise Software
10 2 (1.32%) NHS
10 2 (1.32%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 34 (22.52%) Windows
2 17 (11.26%) Linux
3 16 (10.60%) Windows Server
4 7 (4.64%) Unix
5 5 (3.31%) Windows 10
6 2 (1.32%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.66%) Android
7 1 (0.66%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 102 (67.55%) Cybersecurity
2 48 (31.79%) Vulnerability Management
3 34 (22.52%) SIEM
3 34 (22.52%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 32 (21.19%) Incident Response
4 32 (21.19%) Information Security
4 32 (21.19%) Risk Management
5 25 (16.56%) Security Operations
6 24 (15.89%) CI/CD
6 24 (15.89%) RBAC
7 22 (14.57%) Security Architecture
7 22 (14.57%) Stakeholder Management
8 20 (13.25%) Continuous Improvement
9 19 (12.58%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
9 19 (12.58%) Incident Management
9 19 (12.58%) Risk Register
9 19 (12.58%) Threat Intelligence
10 18 (11.92%) ITSM
11 17 (11.26%) Enterprise Architecture
11 17 (11.26%) Remediation Plan
Programming Languages
1 19 (12.58%) PowerShell
2 8 (5.30%) Python
3 7 (4.64%) Bash
4 3 (1.99%) Bicep
4 3 (1.99%) SQL
Qualifications
1 44 (29.14%) Security Cleared
2 42 (27.81%) SC Cleared
3 32 (21.19%) CISSP
4 22 (14.57%) CISM
5 18 (11.92%) Cisco Certification
6 13 (8.61%) Degree
7 11 (7.28%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 10 (6.62%) CESG Certified Professional
9 9 (5.96%) Azure Certification
9 9 (5.96%) CRISC
9 9 (5.96%) DV Cleared
10 8 (5.30%) GIAC
11 7 (4.64%) Microsoft Certification
12 6 (3.97%) CCNA
12 6 (3.97%) CompTIA Security+
13 5 (3.31%) MCSE
13 5 (3.31%) SANS
13 5 (3.31%) TOGAF Certification
14 4 (2.65%) SSCP
14 4 (2.65%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 91 (60.26%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 78 (51.66%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 56 (37.09%) NIST
4 32 (21.19%) NCSC
5 23 (15.23%) GRC
6 22 (14.57%) GDPR
7 17 (11.26%) PCI DSS
8 10 (6.62%) ISO 31000
8 10 (6.62%) NIST 800
9 7 (4.64%) IASME
9 7 (4.64%) PMO
10 6 (3.97%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 5 (3.31%) SLA
12 3 (1.99%) Def Stans
12 3 (1.99%) Government Security Classifications
12 3 (1.99%) ISO/IEC 27005
13 2 (1.32%) Actionable Recommendations
13 2 (1.32%) COBIT
13 2 (1.32%) HMG Security Policy Framework
14 1 (0.66%) JSP 440
System Software
1 33 (21.85%) Active Directory
2 14 (9.27%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (3.31%) Docker
3 5 (3.31%) Hyper-V
4 3 (1.99%) VMware ESXi
4 3 (1.99%) VMware NSX
5 2 (1.32%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (1.32%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (1.32%) vSphere
6 1 (0.66%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 17 (11.26%) Kubernetes
2 16 (10.60%) Microsoft Intune
3 7 (4.64%) Ansible
4 6 (3.97%) SCCM
5 4 (2.65%) Podman
6 3 (1.99%) FortiGate
6 3 (1.99%) Nessus
6 3 (1.99%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (1.99%) vCenter Server
7 2 (1.32%) QRadar
8 1 (0.66%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 80 (52.98%) Microsoft
2 18 (11.92%) VMware
3 17 (11.26%) ServiceNow
4 16 (10.60%) Cisco
5 9 (5.96%) CrowdStrike
6 7 (4.64%) CyberArk
6 7 (4.64%) Netskope
7 5 (3.31%) Tenable
8 4 (2.65%) Atlassian
8 4 (2.65%) Fortinet
9 3 (1.99%) Citrix
9 3 (1.99%) Palo Alto
9 3 (1.99%) Splunk
9 3 (1.99%) Zscaler
10 2 (1.32%) Oracle
10 2 (1.32%) Sophos
11 1 (0.66%) Apple
11 1 (0.66%) Dell
11 1 (0.66%) Juniper
11 1 (0.66%) SAP