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

 6 months to
8 May 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 438 420 480
Rank change year-on-year -18 +60 +71
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 143 53 65
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.35% 0.22% 0.18%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.09% 1.37% 1.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 102 31 45
10th Percentile £364 £325 £274
25th Percentile £466 £441 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £550 £515
Median % change year-on-year -1.82% +6.80% -6.36%
75th Percentile £597 £608 £600
90th Percentile £675 £638 £675
UK median daily rate £540 £550 £508
% change year-on-year -1.82% +8.37% -6.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 2 0
10th Percentile - £70.24 -
25th Percentile £36.00 £72.40 -
Median hourly rate £44.25 £78.40 -
Median % change year-on-year -43.56% - -
75th Percentile £67.84 £82.00 -
90th Percentile - £82.72 -
UK median hourly rate £57.82 £83.20 -
% change year-on-year -30.51% - -

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 6,841 3,881 5,231
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 16.89% 16.02% 14.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,455 2,490 3,347
10th Percentile £340 £275 £300
25th Percentile £413 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.44% -2.38% -
75th Percentile £600 £630 £638
90th Percentile £700 £738 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £510
% change year-on-year - -1.96% -2.86%
Number of hourly rates quoted 435 156 349
10th Percentile £14.11 £17.95 £10.95
25th Percentile £18.50 £22.44 £13.18
Median hourly rate £31.86 £35.00 £22.34
Median % change year-on-year -8.97% +56.67% -40.43%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £45.00
90th Percentile £78.60 £78.55 £68.15
UK median hourly rate £35.00 £34.50 £20.80
% change year-on-year +1.45% +65.85% -40.56%

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 May 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 May 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 May 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 -22 55 £550 +15.79% 24
South East -35 46 £525 -13.58% 40
East of England -17 14 £475 -5.00% 16
North of England -54 11 £540 -10.00% 20
South West -34 8 £538 -10.42% 10
West Midlands -53 7 £460 +41.54% 14
Midlands -71 7 £460 +41.54% 20
North West - 6 £558 - 9
Yorkshire -45 5 £540 -6.09% 9
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 11 (7.69%) SharePoint
2 7 (4.90%) 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%) AutoCAD
3 1 (0.70%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 1 (0.70%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 61 (42.66%) Azure
2 53 (37.06%) Microsoft 365
3 29 (20.28%) Entra ID
4 25 (17.48%) Microsoft Purview
5 16 (11.19%) AWS
5 16 (11.19%) Mimecast
6 9 (6.29%) Amazon GuardDuty
6 9 (6.29%) IaaS
6 9 (6.29%) PaaS
7 8 (5.59%) AWS Control Tower
7 8 (5.59%) SaaS
8 7 (4.90%) AWS CloudFormation
8 7 (4.90%) AWS CloudTrail
8 7 (4.90%) Azure Sentinel
9 6 (4.20%) AWS KMS
9 6 (4.20%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 3 (2.10%) GitHub
10 3 (2.10%) OCI
11 2 (1.40%) Azure AKS
11 2 (1.40%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 21 (14.69%) Firewall
2 18 (12.59%) VPN
3 15 (10.49%) Network Security
4 6 (4.20%) DHCP
4 6 (4.20%) DNS
5 5 (3.50%) VSAN
6 4 (2.80%) BGP
6 4 (2.80%) Cisco ASA
6 4 (2.80%) Cisco IOS
6 4 (2.80%) MPLS
6 4 (2.80%) TACACS
6 4 (2.80%) VLAN
6 4 (2.80%) Wireless
7 3 (2.10%) Wi-Fi
8 1 (0.70%) HTTP
8 1 (0.70%) Intrusion Detection
8 1 (0.70%) LAN
8 1 (0.70%) SAN
8 1 (0.70%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (2.10%) Metadata
2 1 (0.70%) Amazon RDS
2 1 (0.70%) DynamoDB
2 1 (0.70%) MongoDB
2 1 (0.70%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 1 (0.70%) Jenkins
1 1 (0.70%) MSI
General
1 56 (39.16%) Social Skills
2 25 (17.48%) Finance
2 25 (17.48%) Public Sector
3 11 (7.69%) Analytical Skills
4 7 (4.90%) Aerospace
5 5 (3.50%) Influencing Skills
5 5 (3.50%) Legal
5 5 (3.50%) Organisational Skills
6 4 (2.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 3 (2.10%) Local Government
8 1 (0.70%) Documentation Skills
8 1 (0.70%) Military
Job Titles
1 26 (18.18%) Security Engineer
2 24 (16.78%) Architect
3 17 (11.89%) Senior
4 15 (10.49%) Analyst
4 15 (10.49%) Cybersecurity Engineer
5 13 (9.09%) Security Specialist
6 12 (8.39%) Cybersecurity Specialist
7 11 (7.69%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 11 (7.69%) Security Analyst
8 10 (6.99%) Technical Architect
9 7 (4.90%) Lead
9 7 (4.90%) Security Manager
10 6 (4.20%) Cloud Architect
10 6 (4.20%) Project Manager
11 5 (3.50%) 3rd Line Support
11 5 (3.50%) Information Analyst
11 5 (3.50%) Information Security Analyst
11 5 (3.50%) Infrastructure Security Engineer
12 4 (2.80%) IT Support
12 4 (2.80%) Service Desk Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (2.80%) LDAP
2 3 (2.10%) OAuth
2 3 (2.10%) Oracle Fusion
3 2 (1.40%) Microsoft Graph
4 1 (0.70%) .NET
4 1 (0.70%) ARM Templates
4 1 (0.70%) AWS CDK
4 1 (0.70%) JSON
4 1 (0.70%) JWT
4 1 (0.70%) Node.js
4 1 (0.70%) OAuth2
4 1 (0.70%) OpenAPI
4 1 (0.70%) RAML
4 1 (0.70%) React
4 1 (0.70%) RESTful
4 1 (0.70%) Software Packaging
4 1 (0.70%) STL
4 1 (0.70%) Swagger
4 1 (0.70%) XML Schema
4 1 (0.70%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 18 (12.59%) Operational Technology
2 11 (7.69%) Onboarding
2 11 (7.69%) SCADA
3 9 (6.29%) Hybrid Cloud
3 9 (6.29%) PKI
4 7 (4.90%) Cyber Defence
5 6 (4.20%) Cloud Native
6 5 (3.50%) BYOD
6 5 (3.50%) Driving Licence
6 5 (3.50%) Management Information System
6 5 (3.50%) NHS
6 5 (3.50%) Public Cloud
6 5 (3.50%) Security Posture
7 4 (2.80%) Analytical Mindset
7 4 (2.80%) Security Operations Centre
8 3 (2.10%) Data Centre
8 3 (2.10%) Taxonomies
9 2 (1.40%) Cyber Threat
9 2 (1.40%) Cybercrime
9 2 (1.40%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 28 (19.58%) Linux
2 25 (17.48%) Windows
3 11 (7.69%) Windows Server
4 7 (4.90%) Unix
5 6 (4.20%) Ubuntu
6 3 (2.10%) Windows 10
7 2 (1.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (1.40%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.70%) Android
8 1 (0.70%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.70%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 77 (53.85%) Cybersecurity
2 32 (22.38%) Data Loss Prevention
3 30 (20.98%) Information Security
4 26 (18.18%) Risk Management
5 21 (14.69%) ITSM
6 20 (13.99%) CI/CD
6 20 (13.99%) Migration
6 20 (13.99%) SIEM
6 20 (13.99%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 19 (13.29%) ITIL
8 18 (12.59%) Vulnerability Management
9 17 (11.89%) Zero Trust
10 16 (11.19%) Risk Register
10 16 (11.19%) Roadmaps
11 15 (10.49%) Change Control
11 15 (10.49%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 15 (10.49%) RBAC
12 14 (9.79%) Incident Response
12 14 (9.79%) Risk Assessment
13 13 (9.09%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 17 (11.89%) PowerShell
2 10 (6.99%) Python
3 5 (3.50%) Bash
3 5 (3.50%) Kusto Query Language
4 4 (2.80%) PHP
5 3 (2.10%) SQL
6 1 (0.70%) Bicep
6 1 (0.70%) C#
6 1 (0.70%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 50 (34.97%) Security Cleared
2 47 (32.87%) SC Cleared
3 20 (13.99%) CISSP
4 15 (10.49%) Degree
5 14 (9.79%) CISM
6 13 (9.09%) Cisco Certification
7 10 (6.99%) DV Cleared
7 10 (6.99%) GIAC
8 8 (5.59%) CRISC
8 8 (5.59%) SSCP
9 7 (4.90%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 7 (4.90%) CESG Certified Professional
9 7 (4.90%) GSEC
10 6 (4.20%) AWS Certification
10 6 (4.20%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 6 (4.20%) CCNA
10 6 (4.20%) CompTIA Security+
10 6 (4.20%) Microsoft Certification
11 5 (3.50%) SANS
12 4 (2.80%) APMG
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 74 (51.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 53 (37.06%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 51 (35.66%) NIST
4 33 (23.08%) NCSC
5 22 (15.38%) GDPR
6 11 (7.69%) GRC
7 10 (6.99%) ISO 31000
7 10 (6.99%) NIST 800
7 10 (6.99%) PCI DSS
8 7 (4.90%) Def Stans
8 7 (4.90%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 6 (4.20%) IASME
10 4 (2.80%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 4 (2.80%) SLA
11 3 (2.10%) ISO 22301
11 3 (2.10%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 2 (1.40%) COBIT
13 1 (0.70%) PMO
System Software
1 16 (11.19%) Active Directory
2 15 (10.49%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (4.20%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (3.50%) Hyper-V
4 5 (3.50%) VMware NSX
5 4 (2.80%) VMware ESXi
6 3 (2.10%) Docker
6 3 (2.10%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.70%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 20 (13.99%) Microsoft Intune
2 11 (7.69%) Kubernetes
2 11 (7.69%) Terraform
3 7 (4.90%) AirWatch
4 4 (2.80%) vCenter Server
5 3 (2.10%) Ansible
5 3 (2.10%) Podman
5 3 (2.10%) SCOM
6 2 (1.40%) Nessus
6 2 (1.40%) Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.70%) CASB
7 1 (0.70%) Grafana
7 1 (0.70%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 67 (46.85%) Microsoft
2 23 (16.08%) Cisco
2 23 (16.08%) VMware
3 16 (11.19%) CrowdStrike
4 13 (9.09%) Netskope
5 12 (8.39%) CyberArk
6 11 (7.69%) ServiceNow
7 9 (6.29%) Palo Alto
8 6 (4.20%) Citrix
8 6 (4.20%) CloudEndure
9 5 (3.50%) Barracuda Networks
10 3 (2.10%) Atlassian
10 3 (2.10%) Oracle
10 3 (2.10%) Tenable
11 2 (1.40%) Qualys
11 2 (1.40%) Snow
11 2 (1.40%) Sophos
12 1 (0.70%) Freshdesk
12 1 (0.70%) OneTrust
12 1 (0.70%) Zscaler
123 Cyber Essentials jobs in England