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 vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 16 September 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 432 464 466
Rank change year-on-year +32 +2 +228
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 82 64 127
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 0.30% 0.20% 0.30%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 1.73% 1.51% 2.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 58 36 93
10th Percentile £318 £225 £365
25th Percentile £430 £453 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +15.00% -4.76% +5.00%
75th Percentile £650 £591 £700
90th Percentile £688 £613 £800
UK median daily rate £575 £511 £525
% change year-on-year +12.48% -2.63% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 0 7
10th Percentile £27.93 - £37.65
25th Percentile £28.52 - £42.25
Median hourly rate £31.49 - £44.50
75th Percentile £34.16 - £47.88
90th Percentile £34.58 - £49.00
UK median hourly rate £31.49 - £44.50
% change year-on-year - - +71.15%

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 4,753 4,248 5,981
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 17.26% 13.07% 14.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,097 2,534 4,079
10th Percentile £300 £300 £325
25th Percentile £400 £406 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £539
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.60% +2.67%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £656
90th Percentile £725 £756 £775
UK median daily rate £500 £512 £525
% change year-on-year -2.39% -2.43% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 230 216 230
10th Percentile £15.13 £12.24 £15.00
25th Percentile £17.96 £15.20 £20.00
Median hourly rate £32.50 £30.56 £36.75
Median % change year-on-year +6.35% -16.84% +61.54%
75th Percentile £60.00 £63.99 £65.00
90th Percentile £82.78 £70.00 £79.25
UK median hourly rate £30.00 £27.09 £35.57
% change year-on-year +10.74% -23.83% +45.16%

Cyber Essentials
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings citing Cyber Essentials as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for Cyber Essentials 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 16 September 2025.

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 16 September 2025. 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 +34 37 £624 +18.76% 31
South East +20 11 £565 +12.44% 27
Midlands -3 10 £506 +64.63% 28
North of England -14 8 £450 -10.00% 39
East Midlands +1 7 £463 +50.41% 5
South West +26 6 £350 -39.13% 16
East of England +8 6 £249 +111.91% 8
North West -9 5 £300 -41.46% 17
West Midlands -8 3 £550 - 21
North East - 2 £713 - 6
Yorkshire -19 1 £550 +10.00% 16
Cyber Essentials
UK

Cyber Essentials
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 4 (4.88%) SharePoint
2 1 (1.22%) CMS
2 1 (1.22%) Confluence
2 1 (1.22%) Headless CMS
2 1 (1.22%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 3 (3.66%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (1.22%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 28 (34.15%) Azure
2 18 (21.95%) AWS
3 13 (15.85%) Microsoft 365
4 12 (14.63%) Azure Sentinel
5 8 (9.76%) GCP
5 8 (9.76%) GitHub
6 6 (7.32%) Entra ID
7 4 (4.88%) OneDrive
7 4 (4.88%) Power Platform
8 2 (2.44%) Azure API Management
8 2 (2.44%) Azure DevOps
8 2 (2.44%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 2 (2.44%) Cloud Computing
8 2 (2.44%) Kong
8 2 (2.44%) Microsoft Purview
9 1 (1.22%) Azure Data Factory
9 1 (1.22%) Azure Monitor
9 1 (1.22%) Dynamics 365
9 1 (1.22%) Microsoft Copilot
9 1 (1.22%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 6 (7.32%) TCP/IP
1 6 (7.32%) VLAN
2 5 (6.10%) DHCP
2 5 (6.10%) DNS
2 5 (6.10%) IP Telephony
2 5 (6.10%) Network Security
3 3 (3.66%) Firewall
3 3 (3.66%) VPN
4 1 (1.22%) Intrusion Detection
4 1 (1.22%) NAS
4 1 (1.22%) SAN
4 1 (1.22%) SD-WAN
4 1 (1.22%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (3.66%) Power BI
2 1 (1.22%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 9 (10.98%) SonarQube
2 8 (9.76%) Burp Suite
2 8 (9.76%) Metasploit
3 1 (1.22%) GitLab
3 1 (1.22%) Jenkins
3 1 (1.22%) JIRA
General
1 29 (35.37%) Social Skills
2 21 (25.61%) Public Sector
3 7 (8.54%) Local Government
4 6 (7.32%) Analytical Skills
4 6 (7.32%) Finance
4 6 (7.32%) Legal
5 3 (3.66%) Documentation Skills
5 3 (3.66%) Military
6 2 (2.44%) Manufacturing
6 2 (2.44%) Retail
7 1 (1.22%) Banking
7 1 (1.22%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 1 (1.22%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 13 (15.85%) Analyst
1 13 (15.85%) Security Manager
2 12 (14.63%) Security Engineer
3 10 (12.20%) Cybersecurity Engineer
3 10 (12.20%) Lead
4 6 (7.32%) Architect
4 6 (7.32%) Consultant
4 6 (7.32%) Cybersecurity Manager
5 5 (6.10%) IT Engineer
5 5 (6.10%) Security Consultant
5 5 (6.10%) Support Analyst
6 4 (4.88%) Network Engineer
6 4 (4.88%) Security Analyst
7 3 (3.66%) Cisco Engineer
7 3 (3.66%) Information Manager
7 3 (3.66%) Information Security Consultant
7 3 (3.66%) Information Security Manager
7 3 (3.66%) PMO Manager
7 3 (3.66%) Project Manager
7 3 (3.66%) Risk Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (2.44%) Middleware
1 2 (2.44%) RESTful
2 1 (1.22%) ADO
2 1 (1.22%) Next.js
2 1 (1.22%) Node.js
2 1 (1.22%) OAuth
2 1 (1.22%) OpenID
2 1 (1.22%) React
2 1 (1.22%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 11 (13.41%) Security Posture
2 5 (6.10%) iPad
2 5 (6.10%) iPhone
2 5 (6.10%) Management Information System
2 5 (6.10%) Security Operations Centre
2 5 (6.10%) Video Conferencing
3 2 (2.44%) Cloud Native
3 2 (2.44%) Data Centre
3 2 (2.44%) Low-Code
3 2 (2.44%) NHS
3 2 (2.44%) Product Ownership
4 1 (1.22%) Cloud Security Posture
4 1 (1.22%) CMDB
4 1 (1.22%) Cyber Threat
4 1 (1.22%) Data Protection Act
4 1 (1.22%) Enterprise Software
4 1 (1.22%) EPoS
4 1 (1.22%) Onboarding
4 1 (1.22%) PKI
4 1 (1.22%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 12 (14.63%) Windows
2 5 (6.10%) Android
2 5 (6.10%) Mac OS
2 5 (6.10%) Windows 10
2 5 (6.10%) Windows 7
3 3 (3.66%) Windows Server
4 1 (1.22%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 43 (52.44%) Cybersecurity
2 31 (37.80%) Information Security
3 24 (29.27%) Incident Response
4 23 (28.05%) Data Protection
5 20 (24.39%) Cloud Security
6 17 (20.73%) Security Operations
7 15 (18.29%) Infrastructure as Code
7 15 (18.29%) Risk Management
7 15 (18.29%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 13 (15.85%) Roadmaps
8 13 (15.85%) SIEM
8 13 (15.85%) Vulnerability Management
9 12 (14.63%) CI/CD
9 12 (14.63%) OWASP
10 11 (13.41%) Threat Modelling
11 10 (12.20%) Agile
11 10 (12.20%) DevSecOps
11 10 (12.20%) Vulnerability Assessment
11 10 (12.20%) Vulnerability Remediation
12 9 (10.98%) Static Application Security Testing
Programming Languages
1 10 (12.20%) Python
2 9 (10.98%) Bash
3 4 (4.88%) PowerShell
4 1 (1.22%) SQL
4 1 (1.22%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 21 (25.61%) CISSP
2 17 (20.73%) CISM
3 13 (15.85%) Security Cleared
4 11 (13.41%) OSCP
4 11 (13.41%) SC Cleared
5 8 (9.76%) CHECK Team Member
5 8 (9.76%) CREST Certified
5 8 (9.76%) Tigerscheme
6 7 (8.54%) Degree
6 7 (8.54%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
7 6 (7.32%) CISA
8 5 (6.10%) CRISC
8 5 (6.10%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 4 (4.88%) PMI Certification
9 4 (4.88%) PMP
10 3 (3.66%) DV Cleared
10 3 (3.66%) GIAC
11 2 (2.44%) CompTIA Security+
12 1 (1.22%) Computer Science Degree
12 1 (1.22%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (56.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 37 (45.12%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 28 (34.15%) NIST
4 26 (31.71%) GDPR
5 17 (20.73%) NCSC
6 8 (9.76%) GRC
7 7 (8.54%) PCI DSS
8 4 (4.88%) PMO
8 4 (4.88%) SOC 2
9 3 (3.66%) COBIT
9 3 (3.66%) QA
9 3 (3.66%) SLA
10 2 (2.44%) Accessibility
10 2 (2.44%) IASME
10 2 (2.44%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
10 2 (2.44%) NIST 800
11 1 (1.22%) HIPAA
11 1 (1.22%) ISO 22301
11 1 (1.22%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 1 (1.22%) JSP 440
System Software
1 10 (12.20%) Active Directory
2 1 (1.22%) Docker
2 1 (1.22%) Hyper-V
2 1 (1.22%) VMware ESXi
2 1 (1.22%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 10 (12.20%) Microsoft Intune
2 8 (9.76%) Nmap
3 4 (4.88%) CSIRT
3 4 (4.88%) QRadar
3 4 (4.88%) Terraform
4 3 (3.66%) FortiGate
4 3 (3.66%) Kubernetes
5 1 (1.22%) Ansible
5 1 (1.22%) Grafana
5 1 (1.22%) Prometheus
5 1 (1.22%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (1.22%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 33 (40.24%) Microsoft
2 8 (9.76%) Cisco
2 8 (9.76%) Veracode
3 5 (6.10%) Splunk
4 4 (4.88%) Fortinet
5 3 (3.66%) Zscaler
6 2 (2.44%) Proofpoint
6 2 (2.44%) Sophos
6 2 (2.44%) VMware
7 1 (1.22%) Citrix
7 1 (1.22%) Dell
7 1 (1.22%) EMC
7 1 (1.22%) Google
7 1 (1.22%) OneTrust
7 1 (1.22%) Palo Alto
7 1 (1.22%) Ping Identity
7 1 (1.22%) Qualys
7 1 (1.22%) SonicWALL