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 14 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
14 Nov 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 429 446 451
Rank change year-on-year +17 +5 +179
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 116 73 116
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.38% 0.23% 0.29%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.17% 1.79% 2.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 84 38 82
10th Percentile £337 £301 £400
25th Percentile £456 £434 £481
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £553 £503 £563
Median % change year-on-year +10.05% -10.67% +18.42%
75th Percentile £650 £609 £669
90th Percentile £684 £695 £800
UK median daily rate £553 £523 £542
% change year-on-year +5.84% -3.64% +8.45%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 2 11
10th Percentile £28.32 £70.24 -
25th Percentile £29.51 £72.40 £42.25
Median hourly rate £32.74 £78.40 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -58.25% +76.18% +81.63%
75th Percentile £93.75 £82.00 £46.75
90th Percentile £94.50 £82.72 £49.00
UK median hourly rate £32.74 £78.40 £44.50
% change year-on-year -58.25% +76.18% +81.63%

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 5,340 4,081 5,607
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 17.66% 13.07% 14.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,456 2,377 3,760
10th Percentile £310 £289 £320
25th Percentile £402 £400 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £501 £540
Median % change year-on-year -0.10% -7.31% +2.86%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £713 £738 £759
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 278 174 237
10th Percentile £15.13 £12.28 £14.82
25th Percentile £17.69 £16.10 £20.51
Median hourly rate £26.54 £30.11 £36.00
Median % change year-on-year -11.86% -16.38% +46.94%
75th Percentile £60.00 £62.54 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.00 £83.17
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £27.50 £35.63
% change year-on-year -8.55% -22.82% +45.43%

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 14 November 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
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Cyber Essentials in England over the 6 months to 14 November 2025.

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 14 November 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 +37 50 £625 +8.70% 62
Midlands -21 14 £463 +42.31% 45
North of England -36 14 £500 - 36
East of England -10 12 £553 +79.11% 9
South East -9 10 £530 -1.04% 59
South West +7 9 £475 - 25
East Midlands -9 8 £463 +54.17% 24
North West -15 7 £325 -36.59% 20
West Midlands -27 6 £465 +43.08% 21
Yorkshire -35 6 £502 +0.37% 14
North East - 1 £650 - 2
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 2 (1.72%) Confluence
2 1 (0.86%) CMS
2 1 (0.86%) Headless CMS
2 1 (0.86%) Microsoft Exchange
2 1 (0.86%) SharePoint
Applications
1 3 (2.59%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.86%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 46 (39.66%) Azure
2 33 (28.45%) AWS
3 18 (15.52%) Microsoft 365
4 15 (12.93%) Azure Sentinel
5 12 (10.34%) Entra ID
6 9 (7.76%) GCP
7 8 (6.90%) GitHub
7 8 (6.90%) SaaS
8 7 (6.03%) Amazon GuardDuty
9 6 (5.17%) IaaS
9 6 (5.17%) PaaS
10 5 (4.31%) Microsoft Purview
11 4 (3.45%) Power Platform
12 3 (2.59%) Amazon EKS
12 3 (2.59%) AWS CloudFormation
12 3 (2.59%) AWS Control Tower
12 3 (2.59%) Azure AKS
13 2 (1.72%) Azure API Management
13 2 (1.72%) Azure DevOps
13 2 (1.72%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 11 (9.48%) Network Security
2 10 (8.62%) Firewall
3 7 (6.03%) DNS
3 7 (6.03%) VLAN
4 6 (5.17%) DHCP
4 6 (5.17%) TCP/IP
5 5 (4.31%) IP Telephony
5 5 (4.31%) VPN
6 2 (1.72%) Wireless
7 1 (0.86%) Intrusion Detection
7 1 (0.86%) LAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (2.59%) Power BI
2 1 (0.86%) DynamoDB
2 1 (0.86%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 9 (7.76%) SonarQube
2 8 (6.90%) Burp Suite
2 8 (6.90%) Metasploit
3 3 (2.59%) Jenkins
4 2 (1.72%) JIRA
5 1 (0.86%) GitLab
General
1 42 (36.21%) Social Skills
2 23 (19.83%) Public Sector
3 10 (8.62%) Legal
4 8 (6.90%) Finance
4 8 (6.90%) Presentation Skills
5 7 (6.03%) Local Government
6 6 (5.17%) Analytical Skills
7 5 (4.31%) Organisational Skills
8 4 (3.45%) Aviation
9 3 (2.59%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (1.72%) Manufacturing
10 2 (1.72%) Military
11 1 (0.86%) Banking
11 1 (0.86%) Digital Health
11 1 (0.86%) Documentation Skills
11 1 (0.86%) Electronics
11 1 (0.86%) Influencing Skills
11 1 (0.86%) Marketing
11 1 (0.86%) Retail
11 1 (0.86%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 19 (16.38%) Analyst
2 16 (13.79%) Security Engineer
3 14 (12.07%) Security Manager
4 13 (11.21%) Architect
5 10 (8.62%) Cybersecurity Engineer
5 10 (8.62%) Lead
6 9 (7.76%) Consultant
7 8 (6.90%) Senior
8 7 (6.03%) Cybersecurity Manager
8 7 (6.03%) Security Architect
9 6 (5.17%) Project Manager
9 6 (5.17%) Security Analyst
9 6 (5.17%) Solutions Architect
10 5 (4.31%) DevSecOps Engineer
10 5 (4.31%) Support Analyst
11 4 (3.45%) Cybersecurity Architect
11 4 (3.45%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 4 (3.45%) Network Engineer
11 4 (3.45%) Security Consultant
11 4 (3.45%) Security Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (4.31%) OpenID
1 5 (4.31%) SAML
2 4 (3.45%) LDAP
2 4 (3.45%) OAuth
3 2 (1.72%) ARM Templates
3 2 (1.72%) AWS CDK
3 2 (1.72%) Middleware
3 2 (1.72%) Node.js
3 2 (1.72%) RESTful
4 1 (0.86%) ADO
4 1 (0.86%) Next.js
4 1 (0.86%) React
Miscellaneous
1 19 (16.38%) Security Posture
2 12 (10.34%) Cyber Threat
3 9 (7.76%) Onboarding
4 7 (6.03%) Cyber Kill Chain
4 7 (6.03%) Security Operations Centre
5 5 (4.31%) Cloud Native
5 5 (4.31%) iPad
5 5 (4.31%) iPhone
5 5 (4.31%) Video Conferencing
6 4 (3.45%) Cloud Security Posture
6 4 (3.45%) NHS
7 2 (1.72%) Data Centre
7 2 (1.72%) Low-Code
7 2 (1.72%) Management Information System
7 2 (1.72%) Operational Technology
7 2 (1.72%) Product Ownership
8 1 (0.86%) CMDB
8 1 (0.86%) Data Protection Act
8 1 (0.86%) Enterprise Software
8 1 (0.86%) EPoS
Operating Systems
1 11 (9.48%) Windows
2 6 (5.17%) Linux
3 5 (4.31%) Android
3 5 (4.31%) Mac OS
3 5 (4.31%) Windows 10
3 5 (4.31%) Windows 7
4 4 (3.45%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 65 (56.03%) Cybersecurity
2 33 (28.45%) Information Security
3 32 (27.59%) Cloud Security
4 28 (24.14%) Incident Response
5 26 (22.41%) Security Operations
6 24 (20.69%) Data Protection
7 20 (17.24%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 20 (17.24%) Threat Modelling
8 19 (16.38%) SIEM
9 17 (14.66%) Infrastructure as Code
10 16 (13.79%) Risk Management
10 16 (13.79%) Vulnerability Management
11 15 (12.93%) CI/CD
11 15 (12.93%) Stakeholder Management
12 14 (12.07%) DevSecOps
12 14 (12.07%) Vulnerability Remediation
13 13 (11.21%) Continuous Improvement
13 13 (11.21%) DevOps
14 12 (10.34%) OWASP
14 12 (10.34%) Penetration Testing
Programming Languages
1 12 (10.34%) Python
2 10 (8.62%) Bash
3 8 (6.90%) PowerShell
4 4 (3.45%) Kusto Query Language
5 2 (1.72%) Bicep
5 2 (1.72%) TypeScript
6 1 (0.86%) Go
6 1 (0.86%) SQL
Qualifications
1 31 (26.72%) CISSP
2 27 (23.28%) Security Cleared
3 24 (20.69%) SC Cleared
4 22 (18.97%) CISM
5 11 (9.48%) Degree
5 11 (9.48%) OSCP
6 8 (6.90%) CHECK Team Member
6 8 (6.90%) CREST Certified
6 8 (6.90%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
6 8 (6.90%) Tigerscheme
7 5 (4.31%) CISA
7 5 (4.31%) CompTIA Security+
8 4 (3.45%) Azure Certification
8 4 (3.45%) CRISC
8 4 (3.45%) DV Cleared
8 4 (3.45%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
8 4 (3.45%) PMI Certification
8 4 (3.45%) PMP
9 3 (2.59%) Master's Degree
9 3 (2.59%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 73 (62.93%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 56 (48.28%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 49 (42.24%) NIST
4 42 (36.21%) GDPR
5 25 (21.55%) NCSC
6 9 (7.76%) PCI DSS
7 8 (6.90%) GRC
8 4 (3.45%) PMO
9 3 (2.59%) COBIT
9 3 (2.59%) IASME
9 3 (2.59%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 3 (2.59%) NIST 800
9 3 (2.59%) QA
9 3 (2.59%) SLA
9 3 (2.59%) SOC 2
10 2 (1.72%) Accessibility
10 2 (1.72%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 2 (1.72%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 1 (0.86%) ISO 22301
11 1 (0.86%) JSP 440
System Software
1 13 (11.21%) Active Directory
2 2 (1.72%) VMware ESXi
3 1 (0.86%) Docker
3 1 (0.86%) Firmware
3 1 (0.86%) Virtual Machines
3 1 (0.86%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 8 (6.90%) Microsoft Intune
1 8 (6.90%) Nmap
1 8 (6.90%) Single Sign-On
2 7 (6.03%) Kubernetes
3 6 (5.17%) Terraform
4 4 (3.45%) CSIRT
4 4 (3.45%) PingFederate
4 4 (3.45%) QRadar
5 3 (2.59%) Ansible
5 3 (2.59%) FortiGate
5 3 (2.59%) SCCM
6 1 (0.86%) Grafana
6 1 (0.86%) Prometheus
6 1 (0.86%) vCenter Server
6 1 (0.86%) WSUS
Vendors
1 45 (38.79%) Microsoft
2 11 (9.48%) Cisco
3 8 (6.90%) Veracode
4 7 (6.03%) Fortinet
4 7 (6.03%) Splunk
5 5 (4.31%) Ping Identity
6 4 (3.45%) CheckPoint
7 3 (2.59%) Computacenter
7 3 (2.59%) CyberArk
7 3 (2.59%) Tenable
7 3 (2.59%) Zscaler
8 2 (1.72%) Google
8 2 (1.72%) LogRhythm
8 2 (1.72%) Palo Alto
8 2 (1.72%) Proofpoint
8 2 (1.72%) Sophos
8 2 (1.72%) VMware
9 1 (0.86%) Apple
9 1 (0.86%) Citrix
9 1 (0.86%) SAP
227 Cyber Essentials jobs in England