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

 6 months to
17 Jul 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 478 431 496
Rank change year-on-year -47 +65 +22
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 143 68 64
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.32% 0.25% 0.18%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 1.86% 1.49% 1.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 101 45 45
10th Percentile £425 £276 £220
25th Percentile £463 £425 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £560 £505
Median % change year-on-year -3.57% +10.89% -12.17%
75th Percentile £580 £650 £600
90th Percentile £688 £688 £658
UK median daily rate £540 £588 £525
% change year-on-year -8.09% +11.90% -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 7,681 4,558 4,924
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 17.15% 16.75% 13.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,925 2,970 3,073
10th Percentile £346 £275 £300
25th Percentile £413 £400 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £500 £520
Median % change year-on-year +2.00% -3.85% -2.80%
75th Percentile £613 £623 £630
90th Percentile £713 £725 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 510 209 352
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.12 £11.06
25th Percentile £19.24 £18.87 £13.52
Median hourly rate £36.07 £31.76 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year +13.57% +27.04% -41.18%
75th Percentile £69.27 £65.00 £55.63
90th Percentile £82.25 £86.05 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £36.07 £30.00 £24.18
% change year-on-year +20.23% +24.07% -38.66%

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 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 17 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 -42 68 £552 -11.55% 24
South East -33 40 £525 -4.55% 37
North of England -68 14 £540 -6.09% 21
Midlands -54 9 £540 -16.92% 15
Yorkshire -37 8 £540 -6.09% 7
South West -41 8 £538 +53.57% 11
West Midlands -53 8 £540 - 7
North West -47 5 £540 +87.83% 12
East Midlands -17 1 - - 8
East of England -26 1 £400 +60.64% 6
North East -38 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 19 (13.29%) SharePoint
2 6 (4.20%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (2.10%) Confluence
4 1 (0.70%) Anypoint
Applications
1 7 (4.90%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.80%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.70%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (1.40%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 66 (46.15%) Azure
2 61 (42.66%) Microsoft 365
3 33 (23.08%) Entra ID
4 23 (16.08%) Microsoft Purview
5 14 (9.79%) Mimecast
6 13 (9.09%) SaaS
7 9 (6.29%) Azure Sentinel
7 9 (6.29%) IaaS
7 9 (6.29%) PaaS
8 6 (4.20%) AWS
8 6 (4.20%) GitHub
9 4 (2.80%) Azure Logic Apps
10 3 (2.10%) Azure DevOps
10 3 (2.10%) Azure Event Grid
10 3 (2.10%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 3 (2.10%) Azure Monitor
10 3 (2.10%) Azure Service Bus
10 3 (2.10%) GitHub Actions
10 3 (2.10%) Serverless
11 2 (1.40%) AWS Control Tower
Communications & Networking
1 20 (13.99%) Firewall
2 14 (9.79%) VPN
3 13 (9.09%) Network Security
4 5 (3.50%) VSAN
5 4 (2.80%) Wi-Fi
5 4 (2.80%) Wireless
6 3 (2.10%) BGP
6 3 (2.10%) Cisco ASA
6 3 (2.10%) Cisco IOS
6 3 (2.10%) DHCP
6 3 (2.10%) DMZ
6 3 (2.10%) DNS
6 3 (2.10%) LAN
6 3 (2.10%) MPLS
6 3 (2.10%) SAN
6 3 (2.10%) TACACS
6 3 (2.10%) VLAN
7 2 (1.40%) NAS
7 2 (1.40%) SSL
7 2 (1.40%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (2.10%) Azure SQL Database
1 3 (2.10%) Metadata
2 1 (0.70%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 1 (0.70%) MSI
General
1 66 (46.15%) Social Skills
2 28 (19.58%) Public Sector
3 17 (11.89%) Finance
4 13 (9.09%) Analytical Skills
5 8 (5.59%) Local Government
6 7 (4.90%) Organisational Skills
7 5 (3.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 4 (2.80%) Legal
9 3 (2.10%) Influencing Skills
10 2 (1.40%) Aerospace
10 2 (1.40%) Documentation Skills
11 1 (0.70%) Financial Institution
11 1 (0.70%) Law
11 1 (0.70%) Manufacturing
11 1 (0.70%) Military
Job Titles
1 21 (14.69%) Security Engineer
2 18 (12.59%) Architect
3 15 (10.49%) Security Specialist
4 14 (9.79%) Cybersecurity Specialist
5 13 (9.09%) Cybersecurity Engineer
5 13 (9.09%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 13 (9.09%) Senior
6 12 (8.39%) Analyst
7 11 (7.69%) Lead
8 10 (6.99%) Security Analyst
9 9 (6.29%) Security Manager
10 7 (4.90%) Solutions Architect
11 6 (4.20%) Cybersecurity Manager
11 6 (4.20%) IT Engineer
11 6 (4.20%) Project Manager
11 6 (4.20%) Senior Architect
11 6 (4.20%) Technical Architect
12 5 (3.50%) Information Security Engineer
12 5 (3.50%) Security Architect
13 4 (2.80%) Infrastructure Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (2.80%) OAuth
2 3 (2.10%) 802.1X
2 3 (2.10%) LDAP
3 2 (1.40%) EDI
3 2 (1.40%) Microsoft Graph
4 1 (0.70%) JSON
4 1 (0.70%) JWT
4 1 (0.70%) Middleware
4 1 (0.70%) OAuth2
4 1 (0.70%) OpenAPI
4 1 (0.70%) OpenID
4 1 (0.70%) RAML
4 1 (0.70%) RESTful
4 1 (0.70%) SAML
4 1 (0.70%) Software Packaging
4 1 (0.70%) STL
4 1 (0.70%) Swagger
4 1 (0.70%) XML
4 1 (0.70%) XML Schema
Miscellaneous
1 15 (10.49%) Onboarding
2 14 (9.79%) Operational Technology
3 12 (8.39%) Hybrid Cloud
4 8 (5.59%) PKI
4 8 (5.59%) Security Operations Centre
5 7 (4.90%) BYOD
5 7 (4.90%) Cyber Defence
5 7 (4.90%) Management Information System
5 7 (4.90%) Security Posture
6 6 (4.20%) SCADA
7 5 (3.50%) Cloud Native
7 5 (3.50%) Public Cloud
8 4 (2.80%) Analytical Mindset
9 3 (2.10%) Cyber Threat
9 3 (2.10%) Driving Licence
9 3 (2.10%) Taxonomies
10 2 (1.40%) CESG
10 2 (1.40%) Data Centre
10 2 (1.40%) Legacy Systems
10 2 (1.40%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 26 (18.18%) Windows
2 20 (13.99%) Linux
3 11 (7.69%) Windows Server
4 7 (4.90%) Unix
5 5 (3.50%) Ubuntu
6 4 (2.80%) Windows 10
7 2 (1.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (1.40%) Windows Server 2012
7 2 (1.40%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.70%) Android
8 1 (0.70%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.70%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 93 (65.03%) Cybersecurity
2 32 (22.38%) Information Security
3 31 (21.68%) Vulnerability Management
4 30 (20.98%) Risk Management
4 30 (20.98%) SIEM
5 28 (19.58%) Data Loss Prevention
5 28 (19.58%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 21 (14.69%) CI/CD
6 21 (14.69%) Incident Response
7 20 (13.99%) ITSM
7 20 (13.99%) Risk Register
8 19 (13.29%) Security Operations
9 18 (12.59%) Security Architecture
10 17 (11.89%) RBAC
11 16 (11.19%) Risk Assessment
12 15 (10.49%) Change Control
12 15 (10.49%) Continuous Improvement
12 15 (10.49%) Service Delivery
13 14 (9.79%) Roadmaps
13 14 (9.79%) Vulnerability Remediation
Programming Languages
1 12 (8.39%) PowerShell
2 6 (4.20%) Python
3 5 (3.50%) Bash
3 5 (3.50%) SQL
4 3 (2.10%) PHP
5 2 (1.40%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 43 (30.07%) Security Cleared
2 41 (28.67%) SC Cleared
3 26 (18.18%) CISSP
4 19 (13.29%) CISM
5 13 (9.09%) Cisco Certification
5 13 (9.09%) Degree
6 12 (8.39%) DV Cleared
7 10 (6.99%) CESG Certified Professional
8 9 (6.29%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 9 (6.29%) GIAC
9 7 (4.90%) CRISC
9 7 (4.90%) SSCP
10 6 (4.20%) GSEC
11 5 (3.50%) Azure Certification
11 5 (3.50%) CompTIA Security+
11 5 (3.50%) SANS
12 4 (2.80%) CCNA
13 3 (2.10%) APMG
13 3 (2.10%) RHCA
13 3 (2.10%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 88 (61.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 63 (44.06%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 53 (37.06%) NIST
4 34 (23.78%) NCSC
5 25 (17.48%) GDPR
6 18 (12.59%) PCI DSS
7 17 (11.89%) GRC
8 12 (8.39%) ISO 31000
9 10 (6.99%) NIST 800
10 7 (4.90%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 6 (4.20%) IASME
11 6 (4.20%) SLA
12 4 (2.80%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 4 (2.80%) ISO/IEC 27005
13 3 (2.10%) Government Security Classifications
13 3 (2.10%) ISO 22301
14 2 (1.40%) COBIT
14 2 (1.40%) Def Stans
15 1 (0.70%) Actionable Recommendations
15 1 (0.70%) PMO
System Software
1 25 (17.48%) Active Directory
2 15 (10.49%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (4.20%) VMware ESXi
4 5 (3.50%) VMware NSX
5 4 (2.80%) Hyper-V
6 3 (2.10%) Docker
7 2 (1.40%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (1.40%) vSphere
8 1 (0.70%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 20 (13.99%) Microsoft Intune
2 13 (9.09%) Kubernetes
3 6 (4.20%) vCenter Server
4 5 (3.50%) Nessus
4 5 (3.50%) Single Sign-On
5 4 (2.80%) Terraform
6 3 (2.10%) AirWatch
6 3 (2.10%) Ansible
6 3 (2.10%) FortiGate
6 3 (2.10%) Podman
6 3 (2.10%) SCCM
7 2 (1.40%) SCOM
8 1 (0.70%) QRadar
8 1 (0.70%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 78 (54.55%) Microsoft
2 23 (16.08%) Cisco
3 16 (11.19%) VMware
4 13 (9.09%) CrowdStrike
4 13 (9.09%) ServiceNow
5 11 (7.69%) CyberArk
5 11 (7.69%) Netskope
6 6 (4.20%) Tenable
7 4 (2.80%) Palo Alto
7 4 (2.80%) Zscaler
8 3 (2.10%) Atlassian
8 3 (2.10%) Citrix
9 2 (1.40%) Oracle
9 2 (1.40%) Snow
9 2 (1.40%) Sophos
10 1 (0.70%) Freshdesk
10 1 (0.70%) Google
10 1 (0.70%) OneTrust
10 1 (0.70%) Planon
10 1 (0.70%) Qualys
105 Cyber Essentials jobs in England