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

 6 months to
8 Aug 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 471 436 472
Rank change year-on-year -35 +36 +31
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 153 78 60
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.33% 0.28% 0.18%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 1.92% 1.65% 1.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 108 55 42
10th Percentile £393 £325 £256
25th Percentile £459 £434 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £575 £503
Median % change year-on-year -8.70% +14.43% -4.29%
75th Percentile £600 £650 £609
90th Percentile £724 £688 £674
UK median daily rate £525 £588 £525
% change year-on-year -10.64% +11.90% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 3 0
10th Percentile £54.84 £27.93 -
25th Percentile £58.43 £28.52 -
Median hourly rate £63.14 £31.49 -
Median % change year-on-year +100.49% - -
75th Percentile £67.84 £34.16 -
90th Percentile £69.42 £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 7,985 4,737 4,422
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 17.44% 17.16% 13.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,119 3,099 2,772
10th Percentile £340 £280 £300
25th Percentile £413 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.00% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £610 £625 £638
90th Percentile £713 £725 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £506
% change year-on-year - -1.19% -3.62%
Number of hourly rates quoted 536 220 280
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.12 £10.95
25th Percentile £19.33 £18.43 £14.41
Median hourly rate £38.86 £31.57 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +23.09% +14.80% -34.16%
75th Percentile £70.00 £64.06 £62.51
90th Percentile £80.95 £85.90 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £39.50 £27.91 £25.77
% change year-on-year +41.53% +8.33% -34.79%

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 8 August 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
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Cyber Essentials in England over the 6 months to 8 August 2026.

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 8 August 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 -35 71 £575 -8.00% 74
South East -27 47 £513 -6.82% 49
North of England -72 16 £500 -13.04% 36
Yorkshire -33 9 £520 -9.57% 11
Midlands -46 9 - - 23
West Midlands -45 8 - - 13
North West -43 6 £425 +47.83% 22
South West -44 6 £525 +50.00% 22
East of England -20 2 £455 +82.73% 17
East Midlands -14 1 - - 10
North East -44 1 £500 -29.82% 3
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 18 (11.76%) SharePoint
2 6 (3.92%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (2.61%) Confluence
4 1 (0.65%) Anypoint
Applications
1 5 (3.27%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.61%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.65%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (1.31%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 68 (44.44%) Azure
2 66 (43.14%) Microsoft 365
3 31 (20.26%) Entra ID
4 17 (11.11%) Microsoft Purview
5 13 (8.50%) Mimecast
6 11 (7.19%) SaaS
7 8 (5.23%) GitHub
8 7 (4.58%) AWS
8 7 (4.58%) Azure Sentinel
8 7 (4.58%) IaaS
8 7 (4.58%) PaaS
9 4 (2.61%) Azure DevOps
9 4 (2.61%) Azure Logic Apps
9 4 (2.61%) GitHub Actions
10 3 (1.96%) Azure Event Grid
10 3 (1.96%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 3 (1.96%) Azure Monitor
10 3 (1.96%) Azure Service Bus
10 3 (1.96%) Microsoft Copilot
10 3 (1.96%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 18 (11.76%) Firewall
2 13 (8.50%) VPN
3 9 (5.88%) Network Security
4 5 (3.27%) VSAN
5 4 (2.61%) Wi-Fi
5 4 (2.61%) Wireless
6 3 (1.96%) DHCP
6 3 (1.96%) DMZ
6 3 (1.96%) DNS
6 3 (1.96%) Intranet
6 3 (1.96%) LAN
6 3 (1.96%) VLAN
7 2 (1.31%) NAS
7 2 (1.31%) SAN
7 2 (1.31%) SSL
7 2 (1.31%) WAN
8 1 (0.65%) BGP
8 1 (0.65%) MPLS
8 1 (0.65%) TACACS
8 1 (0.65%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.96%) Azure SQL Database
1 3 (1.96%) Metadata
2 1 (0.65%) Data Lake
2 1 (0.65%) Data Warehouse
2 1 (0.65%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 1 (0.65%) GitLab
1 1 (0.65%) Jenkins
1 1 (0.65%) JIRA
1 1 (0.65%) MSI
General
1 70 (45.75%) Social Skills
2 29 (18.95%) Public Sector
3 19 (12.42%) Analytical Skills
4 17 (11.11%) Finance
5 8 (5.23%) Local Government
6 7 (4.58%) Organisational Skills
7 6 (3.92%) Legal
8 5 (3.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 4 (2.61%) Documentation Skills
10 3 (1.96%) Aerospace
10 3 (1.96%) Influencing Skills
11 2 (1.31%) Telecoms
12 1 (0.65%) Automotive
12 1 (0.65%) Banking
12 1 (0.65%) Financial Institution
12 1 (0.65%) Law
12 1 (0.65%) Manufacturing
12 1 (0.65%) Military
12 1 (0.65%) Retail
Job Titles
1 21 (13.73%) Architect
2 19 (12.42%) Analyst
3 16 (10.46%) Security Specialist
4 15 (9.80%) Security Analyst
5 14 (9.15%) Security Engineer
5 14 (9.15%) Senior
6 13 (8.50%) Cybersecurity Specialist
7 11 (7.19%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 11 (7.19%) Lead
8 10 (6.54%) Cybersecurity Engineer
9 9 (5.88%) Security Manager
10 7 (4.58%) IT Engineer
10 7 (4.58%) Senior Architect
10 7 (4.58%) Solutions Architect
10 7 (4.58%) Technical Architect
11 6 (3.92%) Cybersecurity Manager
11 6 (3.92%) Project Manager
12 5 (3.27%) Governance Manager
12 5 (3.27%) Security Architect
13 4 (2.61%) Risk Officer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.96%) 802.1X
2 2 (1.31%) EDI
2 2 (1.31%) Microsoft Graph
2 2 (1.31%) OAuth
3 1 (0.65%) ARM Templates
3 1 (0.65%) JSON
3 1 (0.65%) JWT
3 1 (0.65%) LDAP
3 1 (0.65%) Middleware
3 1 (0.65%) OAuth2
3 1 (0.65%) OpenAPI
3 1 (0.65%) OpenID
3 1 (0.65%) RAML
3 1 (0.65%) RESTful
3 1 (0.65%) SAML
3 1 (0.65%) STL
3 1 (0.65%) Swagger
3 1 (0.65%) XML
3 1 (0.65%) XML Schema
Miscellaneous
1 17 (11.11%) Operational Technology
2 16 (10.46%) Onboarding
3 13 (8.50%) Hybrid Cloud
4 10 (6.54%) Security Posture
5 9 (5.88%) Management Information System
5 9 (5.88%) Security Operations Centre
6 8 (5.23%) Cyber Defence
7 7 (4.58%) BYOD
7 7 (4.58%) Cyber Threat
8 6 (3.92%) Cloud Native
8 6 (3.92%) PKI
8 6 (3.92%) SCADA
9 5 (3.27%) Analytical Mindset
9 5 (3.27%) Public Cloud
10 3 (1.96%) Driving Licence
10 3 (1.96%) Taxonomies
11 2 (1.31%) CESG
11 2 (1.31%) Data Centre
11 2 (1.31%) Data Protection Act
11 2 (1.31%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 28 (18.30%) Windows
2 21 (13.73%) Linux
3 13 (8.50%) Windows Server
4 7 (4.58%) Unix
5 4 (2.61%) Windows 10
6 3 (1.96%) Ubuntu
7 2 (1.31%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (1.31%) Windows Server 2012
7 2 (1.31%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.65%) Android
8 1 (0.65%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 103 (67.32%) Cybersecurity
2 40 (26.14%) Vulnerability Management
3 35 (22.88%) Information Security
4 33 (21.57%) Risk Management
5 32 (20.92%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 30 (19.61%) SIEM
7 28 (18.30%) Incident Response
8 24 (15.69%) CI/CD
9 23 (15.03%) Security Operations
10 21 (13.73%) Continuous Improvement
11 19 (12.42%) Data Loss Prevention
11 19 (12.42%) ITSM
11 19 (12.42%) Risk Register
11 19 (12.42%) Security Architecture
12 18 (11.76%) RBAC
13 17 (11.11%) Risk Assessment
14 16 (10.46%) Containerisation
14 16 (10.46%) Roadmaps
14 16 (10.46%) Service Delivery
15 15 (9.80%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 14 (9.15%) PowerShell
2 7 (4.58%) Bash
3 6 (3.92%) Python
4 4 (2.61%) SQL
5 1 (0.65%) Bicep
5 1 (0.65%) PHP
Qualifications
1 45 (29.41%) Security Cleared
2 43 (28.10%) SC Cleared
3 29 (18.95%) CISSP
4 21 (13.73%) CISM
5 16 (10.46%) Cisco Certification
6 13 (8.50%) Degree
7 11 (7.19%) DV Cleared
8 10 (6.54%) CESG Certified Professional
9 9 (5.88%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 9 (5.88%) CRISC
10 8 (5.23%) GIAC
11 6 (3.92%) Azure Certification
11 6 (3.92%) CCNA
11 6 (3.92%) CompTIA Security+
12 5 (3.27%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
12 5 (3.27%) MCSE
12 5 (3.27%) Microsoft Certification
12 5 (3.27%) SANS
12 5 (3.27%) SSCP
13 4 (2.61%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 93 (60.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 69 (45.10%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 61 (39.87%) NIST
4 36 (23.53%) NCSC
5 28 (18.30%) GDPR
6 23 (15.03%) GRC
7 18 (11.76%) PCI DSS
8 12 (7.84%) ISO 31000
9 10 (6.54%) NIST 800
10 8 (5.23%) IASME
11 7 (4.58%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 7 (4.58%) SLA
12 5 (3.27%) ISO/IEC 27005
13 4 (2.61%) HMG Security Policy Framework
14 3 (1.96%) Government Security Classifications
14 3 (1.96%) ISO 22301
14 3 (1.96%) PMO
15 2 (1.31%) Actionable Recommendations
15 2 (1.31%) COBIT
15 2 (1.31%) Def Stans
System Software
1 25 (16.34%) Active Directory
2 15 (9.80%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (3.27%) VMware NSX
4 4 (2.61%) Docker
4 4 (2.61%) Hyper-V
4 4 (2.61%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (1.31%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (1.31%) vSphere
6 1 (0.65%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 18 (11.76%) Microsoft Intune
2 14 (9.15%) Kubernetes
3 6 (3.92%) Terraform
4 5 (3.27%) Ansible
4 5 (3.27%) Nessus
5 4 (2.61%) Podman
5 4 (2.61%) vCenter Server
6 3 (1.96%) FortiGate
6 3 (1.96%) SCCM
6 3 (1.96%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (1.31%) AirWatch
7 2 (1.31%) QRadar
8 1 (0.65%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 77 (50.33%) Microsoft
2 18 (11.76%) Cisco
3 16 (10.46%) ServiceNow
3 16 (10.46%) VMware
4 12 (7.84%) CrowdStrike
5 10 (6.54%) CyberArk
5 10 (6.54%) Netskope
6 6 (3.92%) Tenable
7 5 (3.27%) Palo Alto
8 4 (2.61%) Atlassian
8 4 (2.61%) Sophos
8 4 (2.61%) Zscaler
9 3 (1.96%) Citrix
9 3 (1.96%) Splunk
10 2 (1.31%) Oracle
10 2 (1.31%) Snow
11 1 (0.65%) Freshdesk
11 1 (0.65%) MuleSoft
11 1 (0.65%) OneTrust
11 1 (0.65%) Workday
204 Cyber Essentials jobs in England