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

6 months to
19 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 441 425 478
Rank change year-on-year -16 +53 +43
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 150 54 62
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.35% 0.22% 0.16%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.05% 1.32% 1.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 110 29 42
10th Percentile £411 £309 £256
25th Percentile £463 £456 £452
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £550 £513
Median % change year-on-year -1.82% +7.32% -8.89%
75th Percentile £575 £625 £600
90th Percentile £675 £693 £661
UK median daily rate £540 £550 £500
% change year-on-year -1.82% +10.00% -8.26%
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 £55.94 -
90th Percentile - £69.41 -
UK median hourly rate £63.14 £52.55 -
% change year-on-year +20.15% - -

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 7,303 4,085 5,087
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 16.94% 16.42% 13.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,731 2,634 3,186
10th Percentile £345 £268 £300
25th Percentile £413 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £509
% change year-on-year - -1.67% -3.14%
Number of hourly rates quoted 474 174 384
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.13 £10.95
25th Percentile £19.05 £22.14 £12.84
Median hourly rate £35.50 £32.66 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year +8.71% +37.21% -44.00%
75th Percentile £67.50 £67.50 £50.00
90th Percentile £82.25 £85.60 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £36.07 £31.76 £23.00
% change year-on-year +13.57% +38.09% -38.67%

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 19 June 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 19 June 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 -26 66 £550 +2.33% 26
South East -31 42 £525 -8.70% 36
North of England -60 14 £540 -6.09% 18
East of England -22 10 £475 +90.76% 11
South West -19 9 £538 +13.16% 12
Yorkshire -53 8 £540 -6.09% 11
Midlands -56 6 £540 +35.00% 19
West Midlands -56 6 £540 - 8
North West -34 5 £540 +140.00% 5
North East -35 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 19 (12.67%) SharePoint
2 9 (6.00%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (2.00%) Confluence
4 1 (0.67%) Anypoint
Applications
1 9 (6.00%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.67%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.67%) AutoCAD
3 1 (0.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 1 (0.67%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 68 (45.33%) Azure
2 65 (43.33%) Microsoft 365
3 29 (19.33%) Entra ID
3 29 (19.33%) Microsoft Purview
4 20 (13.33%) Mimecast
5 11 (7.33%) SaaS
6 9 (6.00%) Azure Sentinel
6 9 (6.00%) IaaS
6 9 (6.00%) PaaS
7 6 (4.00%) AWS
7 6 (4.00%) GitHub
8 4 (2.67%) Azure Logic Apps
9 3 (2.00%) Azure DevOps
9 3 (2.00%) Azure Event Grid
9 3 (2.00%) Azure ExpressRoute
9 3 (2.00%) Azure Monitor
9 3 (2.00%) Azure Service Bus
9 3 (2.00%) GitHub Actions
9 3 (2.00%) Serverless
10 2 (1.33%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 22 (14.67%) Firewall
2 18 (12.00%) VPN
3 15 (10.00%) Network Security
4 5 (3.33%) VSAN
5 4 (2.67%) BGP
5 4 (2.67%) Cisco ASA
5 4 (2.67%) Cisco IOS
5 4 (2.67%) MPLS
5 4 (2.67%) TACACS
6 3 (2.00%) DHCP
6 3 (2.00%) DNS
6 3 (2.00%) SAN
6 3 (2.00%) VLAN
6 3 (2.00%) Wi-Fi
6 3 (2.00%) Wireless
7 2 (1.33%) DMZ
7 2 (1.33%) LAN
7 2 (1.33%) NAS
7 2 (1.33%) SSL
7 2 (1.33%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (2.00%) Azure SQL Database
1 3 (2.00%) Metadata
2 1 (0.67%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 1 (0.67%) MSI
General
1 69 (46.00%) Social Skills
2 25 (16.67%) Public Sector
3 21 (14.00%) Finance
4 11 (7.33%) Analytical Skills
5 7 (4.67%) Local Government
5 7 (4.67%) Organisational Skills
6 4 (2.67%) Aerospace
6 4 (2.67%) Legal
7 3 (2.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 3 (2.00%) Influencing Skills
8 1 (0.67%) Documentation Skills
8 1 (0.67%) Financial Institution
8 1 (0.67%) Military
Job Titles
1 27 (18.00%) Security Engineer
2 19 (12.67%) Architect
3 17 (11.33%) Cybersecurity Engineer
4 15 (10.00%) Security Specialist
4 15 (10.00%) Senior
5 14 (9.33%) Cybersecurity Specialist
5 14 (9.33%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 13 (8.67%) Analyst
7 9 (6.00%) Security Analyst
7 9 (6.00%) Technical Architect
8 8 (5.33%) Security Manager
9 7 (4.67%) IT Engineer
9 7 (4.67%) Solutions Architect
10 6 (4.00%) Project Manager
10 6 (4.00%) Senior Architect
11 5 (3.33%) Cybersecurity Manager
11 5 (3.33%) Information Security Engineer
11 5 (3.33%) Lead
12 4 (2.67%) Risk Officer
12 4 (2.67%) Senior IT Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (2.67%) LDAP
1 4 (2.67%) OAuth
2 2 (1.33%) 802.1X
2 2 (1.33%) Microsoft Graph
3 1 (0.67%) JSON
3 1 (0.67%) JWT
3 1 (0.67%) Middleware
3 1 (0.67%) OAuth2
3 1 (0.67%) OpenAPI
3 1 (0.67%) OpenID
3 1 (0.67%) Oracle Fusion
3 1 (0.67%) RAML
3 1 (0.67%) RESTful
3 1 (0.67%) SAML
3 1 (0.67%) Software Packaging
3 1 (0.67%) STL
3 1 (0.67%) Swagger
3 1 (0.67%) XML
3 1 (0.67%) XML Schema
Miscellaneous
1 17 (11.33%) Operational Technology
2 12 (8.00%) Hybrid Cloud
2 12 (8.00%) Onboarding
3 9 (6.00%) PKI
3 9 (6.00%) SCADA
4 8 (5.33%) Cloud Native
5 7 (4.67%) Management Information System
6 6 (4.00%) BYOD
6 6 (4.00%) Cyber Defence
6 6 (4.00%) Security Operations Centre
7 5 (3.33%) Driving Licence
7 5 (3.33%) Public Cloud
7 5 (3.33%) Security Posture
8 4 (2.67%) Analytical Mindset
8 4 (2.67%) NHS
9 3 (2.00%) Cyber Threat
9 3 (2.00%) Taxonomies
10 2 (1.33%) Cybercrime
10 2 (1.33%) Data Centre
10 2 (1.33%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 25 (16.67%) Windows
2 24 (16.00%) Linux
3 13 (8.67%) Windows Server
4 7 (4.67%) Unix
5 6 (4.00%) Ubuntu
6 2 (1.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (1.33%) Windows Server 2012
6 2 (1.33%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.67%) Android
7 1 (0.67%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.67%) VMS
7 1 (0.67%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 97 (64.67%) Cybersecurity
2 35 (23.33%) Data Loss Prevention
3 29 (19.33%) Information Security
3 29 (19.33%) Risk Management
4 28 (18.67%) SIEM
5 27 (18.00%) Vulnerability Management
6 26 (17.33%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 21 (14.00%) CI/CD
7 21 (14.00%) Incident Response
8 20 (13.33%) ITSM
9 18 (12.00%) Risk Register
9 18 (12.00%) Zero Trust
10 17 (11.33%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 16 (10.67%) RBAC
11 16 (10.67%) Risk Assessment
11 16 (10.67%) Security Architecture
11 16 (10.67%) Security Operations
12 14 (9.33%) Change Control
13 13 (8.67%) Migration
13 13 (8.67%) Remediation Plan
Programming Languages
1 16 (10.67%) PowerShell
2 10 (6.67%) Python
3 5 (3.33%) Bash
3 5 (3.33%) Kusto Query Language
3 5 (3.33%) SQL
4 4 (2.67%) PHP
Qualifications
1 47 (31.33%) Security Cleared
2 44 (29.33%) SC Cleared
3 20 (13.33%) CISSP
4 16 (10.67%) Degree
5 14 (9.33%) CISM
6 11 (7.33%) Cisco Certification
6 11 (7.33%) DV Cleared
7 10 (6.67%) GIAC
8 8 (5.33%) CESG Certified Professional
8 8 (5.33%) SSCP
9 7 (4.67%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 7 (4.67%) CRISC
9 7 (4.67%) GSEC
10 5 (3.33%) Azure Certification
10 5 (3.33%) CompTIA Security+
10 5 (3.33%) SANS
11 4 (2.67%) APMG
11 4 (2.67%) CCNA
11 4 (2.67%) Microsoft Certification
12 3 (2.00%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 79 (52.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 62 (41.33%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 54 (36.00%) NIST
4 28 (18.67%) NCSC
5 25 (16.67%) GDPR
6 19 (12.67%) PCI DSS
7 17 (11.33%) GRC
8 12 (8.00%) ISO 31000
9 10 (6.67%) NIST 800
10 7 (4.67%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 6 (4.00%) IASME
12 5 (3.33%) Def Stans
13 4 (2.67%) HMG Security Policy Framework
14 3 (2.00%) ISO 22301
14 3 (2.00%) ISO/IEC 27005
14 3 (2.00%) SLA
15 2 (1.33%) COBIT
15 2 (1.33%) Government Security Classifications
16 1 (0.67%) Actionable Recommendations
16 1 (0.67%) PMO
System Software
1 23 (15.33%) Active Directory
2 18 (12.00%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (4.00%) VMware ESXi
4 5 (3.33%) VMware NSX
5 4 (2.67%) Hyper-V
6 3 (2.00%) Docker
7 2 (1.33%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (1.33%) vSphere
8 1 (0.67%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 20 (13.33%) Microsoft Intune
2 13 (8.67%) Kubernetes
3 7 (4.67%) AirWatch
4 6 (4.00%) vCenter Server
5 5 (3.33%) Single Sign-On
6 4 (2.67%) Nessus
6 4 (2.67%) Terraform
7 3 (2.00%) Ansible
7 3 (2.00%) Podman
7 3 (2.00%) SCOM
8 2 (1.33%) FortiGate
8 2 (1.33%) SCCM
9 1 (0.67%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 78 (52.00%) Microsoft
2 26 (17.33%) Cisco
3 22 (14.67%) VMware
4 18 (12.00%) CrowdStrike
5 15 (10.00%) CyberArk
5 15 (10.00%) Netskope
6 13 (8.67%) ServiceNow
7 7 (4.67%) Palo Alto
8 5 (3.33%) Tenable
9 3 (2.00%) Atlassian
9 3 (2.00%) Barracuda Networks
9 3 (2.00%) Zscaler
10 2 (1.33%) Citrix
10 2 (1.33%) Oracle
10 2 (1.33%) Snow
10 2 (1.33%) Sophos
11 1 (0.67%) Freshdesk
11 1 (0.67%) MuleSoft
11 1 (0.67%) OneTrust
11 1 (0.67%) Planon