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

6 months to
10 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 473 440 482
Rank change year-on-year -33 +42 +44
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 148 71 66
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.33% 0.26% 0.18%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 1.92% 1.58% 1.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 107 45 45
10th Percentile £408 £325 £274
25th Percentile £463 £444 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £560 £505
Median % change year-on-year -3.57% +10.89% -15.13%
75th Percentile £575 £650 £600
90th Percentile £686 £688 £658
UK median daily rate £538 £588 £515
% change year-on-year -8.51% +14.08% -6.36%
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 7,703 4,488 5,015
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 17.19% 16.60% 13.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,955 2,912 3,131
10th Percentile £349 £280 £300
25th Percentile £413 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £500 £523
Median % change year-on-year +1.00% -4.31% -2.15%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £636
90th Percentile £713 £725 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 520 202 376
10th Percentile £14.23 £15.12 £11.03
25th Percentile £19.33 £18.87 £13.50
Median hourly rate £36.07 £31.76 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year +13.57% +27.04% -41.18%
75th Percentile £68.11 £64.69 £52.06
90th Percentile £81.94 £83.37 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £36.07 £30.00 £24.09
% change year-on-year +20.23% +24.53% -38.89%

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 10 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 10 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 -29 69 £550 -11.58% 22
South East -29 41 £525 -12.50% 38
North of England -74 14 £540 -1.82% 19
South West -27 9 £538 +53.57% 11
Yorkshire -42 8 £540 -6.09% 7
Midlands -54 8 £540 -16.92% 14
West Midlands -61 7 £540 - 5
North West -41 5 £540 +87.83% 10
East of England -34 4 £205 -17.78% 7
East Midlands -18 1 - - 9
North East -37 1 £500 -35.48% 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 20 (13.51%) SharePoint
2 8 (5.41%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (2.03%) Confluence
4 1 (0.68%) Anypoint
Applications
1 8 (5.41%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.70%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.68%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (1.35%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 68 (45.95%) Azure
2 65 (43.92%) Microsoft 365
3 33 (22.30%) Entra ID
4 25 (16.89%) Microsoft Purview
5 16 (10.81%) Mimecast
6 13 (8.78%) SaaS
7 9 (6.08%) Azure Sentinel
7 9 (6.08%) IaaS
7 9 (6.08%) PaaS
8 6 (4.05%) AWS
8 6 (4.05%) GitHub
9 4 (2.70%) Azure Logic Apps
10 3 (2.03%) Azure DevOps
10 3 (2.03%) Azure Event Grid
10 3 (2.03%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 3 (2.03%) Azure Monitor
10 3 (2.03%) Azure Service Bus
10 3 (2.03%) GitHub Actions
10 3 (2.03%) Serverless
11 2 (1.35%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 21 (14.19%) Firewall
2 16 (10.81%) VPN
3 14 (9.46%) Network Security
4 5 (3.38%) VSAN
5 4 (2.70%) BGP
5 4 (2.70%) Cisco ASA
5 4 (2.70%) Cisco IOS
5 4 (2.70%) DHCP
5 4 (2.70%) DNS
5 4 (2.70%) MPLS
5 4 (2.70%) TACACS
5 4 (2.70%) Wi-Fi
5 4 (2.70%) Wireless
6 3 (2.03%) DMZ
6 3 (2.03%) LAN
6 3 (2.03%) SAN
6 3 (2.03%) VLAN
7 2 (1.35%) NAS
7 2 (1.35%) SSL
7 2 (1.35%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (2.03%) Azure SQL Database
1 3 (2.03%) Metadata
2 1 (0.68%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 1 (0.68%) MSI
General
1 69 (46.62%) Social Skills
2 28 (18.92%) Public Sector
3 18 (12.16%) Finance
4 13 (8.78%) Analytical Skills
5 8 (5.41%) Local Government
6 7 (4.73%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (2.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 4 (2.70%) Legal
8 3 (2.03%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (1.35%) Aerospace
9 2 (1.35%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (0.68%) Financial Institution
10 1 (0.68%) Law
10 1 (0.68%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.68%) Military
Job Titles
1 24 (16.22%) Security Engineer
2 17 (11.49%) Architect
3 15 (10.14%) Security Specialist
3 15 (10.14%) Senior
4 14 (9.46%) Cybersecurity Engineer
4 14 (9.46%) Cybersecurity Specialist
4 14 (9.46%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 13 (8.78%) Analyst
6 10 (6.76%) Lead
6 10 (6.76%) Security Analyst
7 8 (5.41%) Security Manager
8 7 (4.73%) IT Engineer
8 7 (4.73%) Solutions Architect
9 6 (4.05%) Project Manager
9 6 (4.05%) Senior Architect
9 6 (4.05%) Technical Architect
10 5 (3.38%) Cybersecurity Manager
10 5 (3.38%) Information Security Engineer
11 4 (2.70%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
11 4 (2.70%) Senior IT Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (2.70%) LDAP
1 4 (2.70%) OAuth
2 3 (2.03%) 802.1X
3 2 (1.35%) Microsoft Graph
4 1 (0.68%) EDI
4 1 (0.68%) JSON
4 1 (0.68%) JWT
4 1 (0.68%) Middleware
4 1 (0.68%) OAuth2
4 1 (0.68%) OpenAPI
4 1 (0.68%) OpenID
4 1 (0.68%) RAML
4 1 (0.68%) RESTful
4 1 (0.68%) SAML
4 1 (0.68%) Software Packaging
4 1 (0.68%) STL
4 1 (0.68%) Swagger
4 1 (0.68%) XML
4 1 (0.68%) XML Schema
Miscellaneous
1 14 (9.46%) Onboarding
1 14 (9.46%) Operational Technology
2 12 (8.11%) Hybrid Cloud
3 9 (6.08%) PKI
4 7 (4.73%) BYOD
4 7 (4.73%) Management Information System
4 7 (4.73%) Security Operations Centre
4 7 (4.73%) Security Posture
5 6 (4.05%) Cloud Native
5 6 (4.05%) Cyber Defence
5 6 (4.05%) SCADA
6 5 (3.38%) Public Cloud
7 4 (2.70%) Analytical Mindset
7 4 (2.70%) Cyber Threat
7 4 (2.70%) Driving Licence
7 4 (2.70%) NHS
8 3 (2.03%) Taxonomies
9 2 (1.35%) CESG
9 2 (1.35%) Legacy Systems
9 2 (1.35%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 25 (16.89%) Windows
2 21 (14.19%) Linux
3 11 (7.43%) Windows Server
4 7 (4.73%) Unix
5 6 (4.05%) Ubuntu
6 3 (2.03%) Windows 10
7 2 (1.35%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (1.35%) Windows Server 2012
7 2 (1.35%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.68%) Android
8 1 (0.68%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.68%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 97 (65.54%) Cybersecurity
2 32 (21.62%) Information Security
3 31 (20.95%) Vulnerability Management
4 30 (20.27%) Data Loss Prevention
4 30 (20.27%) Risk Management
5 29 (19.59%) SIEM
6 27 (18.24%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 21 (14.19%) CI/CD
7 21 (14.19%) Incident Response
8 20 (13.51%) Risk Register
9 19 (12.84%) ITSM
10 18 (12.16%) Security Operations
11 17 (11.49%) RBAC
11 17 (11.49%) Risk Assessment
11 17 (11.49%) Security Architecture
12 16 (10.81%) Change Control
13 15 (10.14%) Continuous Improvement
13 15 (10.14%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 15 (10.14%) Service Delivery
14 14 (9.46%) Vulnerability Remediation
Programming Languages
1 14 (9.46%) PowerShell
2 8 (5.41%) Python
3 5 (3.38%) Bash
3 5 (3.38%) SQL
4 4 (2.70%) PHP
5 3 (2.03%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 44 (29.73%) Security Cleared
2 41 (27.70%) SC Cleared
3 25 (16.89%) CISSP
4 18 (12.16%) CISM
5 15 (10.14%) Degree
6 13 (8.78%) DV Cleared
7 12 (8.11%) Cisco Certification
8 10 (6.76%) CESG Certified Professional
8 10 (6.76%) GIAC
9 8 (5.41%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 8 (5.41%) SSCP
10 7 (4.73%) CRISC
10 7 (4.73%) GSEC
11 6 (4.05%) CompTIA Security+
12 5 (3.38%) Azure Certification
12 5 (3.38%) SANS
13 4 (2.70%) APMG
13 4 (2.70%) CCNA
13 4 (2.70%) Microsoft Certification
14 3 (2.03%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 87 (58.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 63 (42.57%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 54 (36.49%) NIST
4 32 (21.62%) NCSC
5 26 (17.57%) GDPR
6 19 (12.84%) PCI DSS
7 17 (11.49%) GRC
8 12 (8.11%) ISO 31000
9 10 (6.76%) NIST 800
10 7 (4.73%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 6 (4.05%) IASME
12 5 (3.38%) SLA
13 4 (2.70%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 4 (2.70%) ISO/IEC 27005
14 3 (2.03%) Government Security Classifications
14 3 (2.03%) ISO 22301
15 2 (1.35%) COBIT
15 2 (1.35%) Def Stans
16 1 (0.68%) JSP 440
16 1 (0.68%) PMO
System Software
1 26 (17.57%) Active Directory
2 16 (10.81%) VMware Infrastructure
3 7 (4.73%) VMware ESXi
4 5 (3.38%) VMware NSX
5 4 (2.70%) Hyper-V
6 3 (2.03%) Docker
7 2 (1.35%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (1.35%) vSphere
8 1 (0.68%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 21 (14.19%) Microsoft Intune
2 13 (8.78%) Kubernetes
3 7 (4.73%) vCenter Server
4 5 (3.38%) Nessus
4 5 (3.38%) Single Sign-On
5 4 (2.70%) AirWatch
5 4 (2.70%) Terraform
6 3 (2.03%) Ansible
6 3 (2.03%) FortiGate
6 3 (2.03%) Podman
6 3 (2.03%) SCCM
6 3 (2.03%) SCOM
7 1 (0.68%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 81 (54.73%) Microsoft
2 24 (16.22%) Cisco
3 17 (11.49%) VMware
4 14 (9.46%) CrowdStrike
5 12 (8.11%) CyberArk
5 12 (8.11%) Netskope
5 12 (8.11%) ServiceNow
6 6 (4.05%) Tenable
7 4 (2.70%) Palo Alto
7 4 (2.70%) Zscaler
8 3 (2.03%) Atlassian
8 3 (2.03%) Citrix
9 2 (1.35%) Oracle
9 2 (1.35%) Snow
9 2 (1.35%) Sophos
10 1 (0.68%) Freshdesk
10 1 (0.68%) MuleSoft
10 1 (0.68%) OneTrust
10 1 (0.68%) Planon
10 1 (0.68%) SAP