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

 6 months to
29 Aug 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 469 422 466
Rank change year-on-year -47 +44 +21
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 153 86 64
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.33% 0.31% 0.19%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 1.89% 1.81% 1.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 104 62 42
10th Percentile £373 £325 £256
25th Percentile £436 £447 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £575 £503
Median % change year-on-year -8.70% +14.43% -4.29%
75th Percentile £600 £650 £600
90th Percentile £684 £688 £650
UK median daily rate £510 £575 £520
% change year-on-year -11.30% +10.58% -0.95%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 3 0
10th Percentile £56.28 £27.93 -
25th Percentile £58.43 £28.52 -
Median hourly rate £63.14 £31.49 -
Median % change year-on-year +100.49% - -
75th Percentile £71.00 £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 8,080 4,743 4,323
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 17.60% 17.09% 13.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,118 3,107 2,660
10th Percentile £331 £292 £300
25th Percentile £413 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.00% -4.76% -2.78%
75th Percentile £610 £622 £638
90th Percentile £713 £725 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £513
% change year-on-year - -2.44% -2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 557 219 237
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.13 £11.29
25th Percentile £17.57 £18.23 £13.85
Median hourly rate £36.07 £31.64 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +14.00% +15.05% -21.43%
75th Percentile £68.75 £64.38 £62.96
90th Percentile £79.40 £85.35 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £35.00 £30.00 £25.00
% change year-on-year +16.67% +20.00% -28.57%

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 29 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 29 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 29 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 -43 73 £553 -11.09% 77
South East -37 41 £500 -9.09% 44
North of England -57 19 £450 - 32
Midlands -45 11 £525 +13.51% 31
West Midlands -31 9 £550 - 16
Yorkshire -35 9 £520 -5.45% 8
North West -54 9 £425 +41.67% 18
South West -41 4 £615 +75.71% 24
East Midlands -19 2 £500 +8.11% 15
East of England -27 2 £455 +82.73% 22
North East -38 1 £500 -29.82% 7
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 17 (11.11%) SharePoint
2 6 (3.92%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (1.96%) Confluence
4 1 (0.65%) Anypoint
Applications
1 4 (2.61%) Microsoft Excel
1 4 (2.61%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (1.31%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (1.31%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 70 (45.75%) Azure
2 68 (44.44%) Microsoft 365
3 41 (26.80%) Entra ID
4 15 (9.80%) Microsoft Purview
5 14 (9.15%) SaaS
6 12 (7.84%) GitHub
7 11 (7.19%) Mimecast
8 10 (6.54%) Azure Sentinel
9 8 (5.23%) AWS
10 7 (4.58%) Azure DevOps
10 7 (4.58%) GitHub Actions
10 7 (4.58%) IaaS
11 6 (3.92%) PaaS
12 4 (2.61%) Azure Logic Apps
12 4 (2.61%) Power Platform
13 3 (1.96%) Azure Event Grid
13 3 (1.96%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 3 (1.96%) Azure Monitor
13 3 (1.96%) Azure Service Bus
13 3 (1.96%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 17 (11.11%) Firewall
2 11 (7.19%) Network Security
3 10 (6.54%) VPN
4 5 (3.27%) Intranet
4 5 (3.27%) WAN
5 4 (2.61%) DHCP
5 4 (2.61%) DNS
5 4 (2.61%) VLAN
5 4 (2.61%) Wi-Fi
6 3 (1.96%) DMZ
6 3 (1.96%) LAN
6 3 (1.96%) VSAN
6 3 (1.96%) Wireless
7 2 (1.31%) NAS
7 2 (1.31%) SAN
7 2 (1.31%) SSL
8 1 (0.65%) Cisco ISE
8 1 (0.65%) Intrusion Detection
8 1 (0.65%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.96%) Azure SQL Database
2 2 (1.31%) Metadata
3 1 (0.65%) Data Lake
3 1 (0.65%) Data Warehouse
3 1 (0.65%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 3 (1.96%) GitLab
1 3 (1.96%) Jenkins
2 1 (0.65%) Git
2 1 (0.65%) JIRA
2 1 (0.65%) MSI
2 1 (0.65%) Visual Studio
General
1 69 (45.10%) Social Skills
2 26 (16.99%) Public Sector
3 20 (13.07%) Analytical Skills
4 16 (10.46%) Finance
5 8 (5.23%) Local Government
6 7 (4.58%) Legal
7 5 (3.27%) Aerospace
7 5 (3.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 5 (3.27%) Organisational Skills
8 4 (2.61%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (1.31%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (1.31%) Manufacturing
9 2 (1.31%) Military
9 2 (1.31%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.65%) Automotive
10 1 (0.65%) Banking
10 1 (0.65%) Financial Institution
10 1 (0.65%) Law
10 1 (0.65%) Retail
Job Titles
1 21 (13.73%) Analyst
2 16 (10.46%) Architect
2 16 (10.46%) Security Analyst
2 16 (10.46%) Senior
3 14 (9.15%) Security Engineer
3 14 (9.15%) Security Specialist
4 12 (7.84%) Cybersecurity Engineer
4 12 (7.84%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 11 (7.19%) Cybersecurity Specialist
5 11 (7.19%) Lead
6 10 (6.54%) Security Manager
7 9 (5.88%) IT Manager
8 6 (3.92%) Consultant
8 6 (3.92%) Cybersecurity Manager
8 6 (3.92%) IT Analyst
8 6 (3.92%) IT Engineer
8 6 (3.92%) Project Manager
8 6 (3.92%) Senior Architect
8 6 (3.92%) Solutions Architect
9 5 (3.27%) IT Security Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (5.88%) Terraform
2 3 (1.96%) 802.1X
2 3 (1.96%) ARM Templates
3 2 (1.31%) EDI
3 2 (1.31%) Microsoft Graph
3 2 (1.31%) OAuth
4 1 (0.65%) JSON
4 1 (0.65%) JWT
4 1 (0.65%) Middleware
4 1 (0.65%) OAuth2
4 1 (0.65%) OpenAPI
4 1 (0.65%) OpenID
4 1 (0.65%) RAML
4 1 (0.65%) RESTful
4 1 (0.65%) SAML
4 1 (0.65%) Swagger
4 1 (0.65%) XML
4 1 (0.65%) XML Schema
Miscellaneous
1 16 (10.46%) Operational Technology
2 13 (8.50%) Onboarding
3 12 (7.84%) Management Information System
4 11 (7.19%) Security Operations Centre
4 11 (7.19%) Security Posture
5 10 (6.54%) Hybrid Cloud
6 9 (5.88%) Cyber Threat
7 8 (5.23%) Cyber Defence
8 6 (3.92%) Cloud Native
8 6 (3.92%) SCADA
9 4 (2.61%) Analytical Mindset
9 4 (2.61%) BYOD
10 3 (1.96%) Driving Licence
10 3 (1.96%) Legacy Systems
10 3 (1.96%) PKI
11 2 (1.31%) Data Centre
11 2 (1.31%) Data Protection Act
11 2 (1.31%) Enterprise Software
11 2 (1.31%) Public Cloud
11 2 (1.31%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 32 (20.92%) Windows
2 16 (10.46%) Linux
3 15 (9.80%) Windows Server
4 7 (4.58%) Unix
5 5 (3.27%) Windows 10
6 2 (1.31%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.65%) Android
7 1 (0.65%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 103 (67.32%) Cybersecurity
2 46 (30.07%) Vulnerability Management
3 34 (22.22%) Information Security
3 34 (22.22%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 33 (21.57%) SIEM
5 32 (20.92%) Incident Response
5 32 (20.92%) Risk Management
6 24 (15.69%) CI/CD
6 24 (15.69%) RBAC
6 24 (15.69%) Security Operations
7 22 (14.38%) Security Architecture
7 22 (14.38%) Stakeholder Management
8 20 (13.07%) Continuous Improvement
9 19 (12.42%) Incident Management
9 19 (12.42%) Risk Register
10 18 (11.76%) Cloud Security
10 18 (11.76%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
10 18 (11.76%) ITSM
10 18 (11.76%) Threat Intelligence
11 17 (11.11%) Data Loss Prevention
Programming Languages
1 18 (11.76%) PowerShell
2 8 (5.23%) Python
3 7 (4.58%) Bash
4 3 (1.96%) Bicep
4 3 (1.96%) SQL
Qualifications
1 44 (28.76%) Security Cleared
2 42 (27.45%) SC Cleared
3 31 (20.26%) CISSP
4 21 (13.73%) CISM
5 18 (11.76%) Cisco Certification
6 13 (8.50%) Degree
7 11 (7.19%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 10 (6.54%) CESG Certified Professional
9 9 (5.88%) CRISC
9 9 (5.88%) DV Cleared
10 7 (4.58%) GIAC
10 7 (4.58%) Microsoft Certification
11 6 (3.92%) Azure Certification
11 6 (3.92%) CCNA
11 6 (3.92%) CompTIA Security+
12 5 (3.27%) MCSE
12 5 (3.27%) SANS
13 4 (2.61%) GSEC
13 4 (2.61%) RHCA
13 4 (2.61%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 92 (60.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 75 (49.02%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 58 (37.91%) NIST
4 32 (20.92%) NCSC
5 24 (15.69%) GRC
6 23 (15.03%) GDPR
7 17 (11.11%) PCI DSS
8 11 (7.19%) ISO 31000
9 10 (6.54%) NIST 800
10 7 (4.58%) IASME
11 6 (3.92%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
12 5 (3.27%) SLA
13 4 (2.61%) PMO
14 3 (1.96%) Def Stans
14 3 (1.96%) Government Security Classifications
14 3 (1.96%) ISO/IEC 27005
15 2 (1.31%) Actionable Recommendations
15 2 (1.31%) COBIT
15 2 (1.31%) HMG Security Policy Framework
15 2 (1.31%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 33 (21.57%) Active Directory
2 14 (9.15%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (3.27%) Docker
3 5 (3.27%) Hyper-V
4 3 (1.96%) VMware ESXi
4 3 (1.96%) VMware NSX
5 2 (1.31%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (1.31%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (1.31%) vSphere
6 1 (0.65%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 16 (10.46%) Kubernetes
2 15 (9.80%) Microsoft Intune
3 7 (4.58%) Ansible
4 5 (3.27%) SCCM
5 4 (2.61%) Podman
6 3 (1.96%) FortiGate
6 3 (1.96%) Nessus
6 3 (1.96%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (1.96%) vCenter Server
7 2 (1.31%) QRadar
8 1 (0.65%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 78 (50.98%) Microsoft
2 18 (11.76%) VMware
3 16 (10.46%) Cisco
4 14 (9.15%) ServiceNow
5 10 (6.54%) CrowdStrike
6 8 (5.23%) CyberArk
6 8 (5.23%) Netskope
7 4 (2.61%) Atlassian
7 4 (2.61%) Fortinet
7 4 (2.61%) Tenable
8 3 (1.96%) Citrix
8 3 (1.96%) Palo Alto
8 3 (1.96%) Splunk
8 3 (1.96%) Zscaler
9 2 (1.31%) Oracle
9 2 (1.31%) Sophos
10 1 (0.65%) Google
10 1 (0.65%) MuleSoft
10 1 (0.65%) SAP
10 1 (0.65%) Varonis
214 Cyber Essentials jobs in England