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 17 October 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
17 Oct 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 416 455 449
Rank change year-on-year +39 -6 +196
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 105 68 125
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.37% 0.21% 0.31%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.10% 1.62% 2.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 75 35 92
10th Percentile £328 £368 £400
25th Percentile £450 £475 £459
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £560 £505 £525
Median % change year-on-year +10.89% -3.81% +13.51%
75th Percentile £650 £600 £650
90th Percentile £683 £700 £800
UK median daily rate £560 £525 £525
% change year-on-year +6.67% - +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 2 11
10th Percentile £28.32 £70.24 -
25th Percentile £29.51 £72.40 £42.25
Median hourly rate £32.74 £78.40 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -58.25% +76.18% +81.63%
75th Percentile £93.75 £82.00 £46.75
90th Percentile £94.50 £82.72 £49.00
UK median hourly rate £32.74 £78.40 £44.50
% change year-on-year -58.25% +76.18% +81.63%

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 5,001 4,209 5,771
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 17.71% 13.17% 14.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,251 2,440 3,925
10th Percentile £300 £291 £325
25th Percentile £400 £400 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £513 £540
Median % change year-on-year -2.44% -5.09% +2.86%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £653
90th Percentile £723 £751 £773
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 245 196 238
10th Percentile £15.13 £13.13 £15.21
25th Percentile £17.69 £18.13 £20.02
Median hourly rate £32.00 £35.50 £36.75
Median % change year-on-year -9.86% -3.40% +51.55%
75th Percentile £63.40 £67.81 £65.00
90th Percentile £81.80 £70.00 £80.93
UK median hourly rate £30.00 £27.92 £35.82
% change year-on-year +7.45% -22.04% +44.94%

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 17 October 2025.

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 17 October 2025.

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 17 October 2025. 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 +19 47 £624 +8.43% 30
Midlands -13 13 £463 -7.50% 18
East of England +1 12 £553 +79.11% 13
South West +26 9 £475 - 34
South East +11 9 £530 +4.95% 33
East Midlands -4 8 £463 +50.41% 6
North of England -25 8 £363 -27.50% 46
North West -15 6 £325 -36.59% 28
West Midlands -20 5 £550 -29.03% 12
Yorkshire -30 1 £375 -25.00% 14
North East - 1 £650 - 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 2 (1.90%) Confluence
2 1 (0.95%) CMS
2 1 (0.95%) Headless CMS
2 1 (0.95%) Microsoft Exchange
2 1 (0.95%) SharePoint
Applications
1 3 (2.86%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.95%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 38 (36.19%) Azure
2 28 (26.67%) AWS
3 15 (14.29%) Azure Sentinel
4 12 (11.43%) Microsoft 365
5 11 (10.48%) Entra ID
6 9 (8.57%) GCP
7 8 (7.62%) GitHub
8 5 (4.76%) Amazon GuardDuty
8 5 (4.76%) SaaS
9 4 (3.81%) IaaS
9 4 (3.81%) PaaS
9 4 (3.81%) Power Platform
10 3 (2.86%) Amazon EKS
10 3 (2.86%) AWS Control Tower
10 3 (2.86%) Azure AKS
10 3 (2.86%) Microsoft Purview
11 2 (1.90%) Azure API Management
11 2 (1.90%) Azure DevOps
11 2 (1.90%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 2 (1.90%) Kong
Communications & Networking
1 9 (8.57%) Network Security
2 6 (5.71%) DNS
2 6 (5.71%) TCP/IP
2 6 (5.71%) VLAN
3 5 (4.76%) DHCP
3 5 (4.76%) Firewall
3 5 (4.76%) IP Telephony
4 4 (3.81%) VPN
5 1 (0.95%) Intrusion Detection
5 1 (0.95%) LAN
5 1 (0.95%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (2.86%) Power BI
2 1 (0.95%) DynamoDB
2 1 (0.95%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 9 (8.57%) SonarQube
2 8 (7.62%) Burp Suite
2 8 (7.62%) Metasploit
3 2 (1.90%) JIRA
4 1 (0.95%) GitLab
4 1 (0.95%) Jenkins
General
1 41 (39.05%) Social Skills
2 23 (21.90%) Public Sector
3 8 (7.62%) Presentation Skills
4 7 (6.67%) Finance
4 7 (6.67%) Local Government
5 6 (5.71%) Analytical Skills
6 5 (4.76%) Legal
7 4 (3.81%) Aviation
7 4 (3.81%) Organisational Skills
8 2 (1.90%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 2 (1.90%) Manufacturing
8 2 (1.90%) Military
8 2 (1.90%) Retail
9 1 (0.95%) Banking
9 1 (0.95%) Digital Health
9 1 (0.95%) Documentation Skills
9 1 (0.95%) Electronics
9 1 (0.95%) Influencing Skills
9 1 (0.95%) Marketing
9 1 (0.95%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 19 (18.10%) Analyst
2 14 (13.33%) Security Engineer
3 13 (12.38%) Security Manager
4 11 (10.48%) Consultant
5 10 (9.52%) Architect
5 10 (9.52%) Cybersecurity Engineer
5 10 (9.52%) Lead
6 6 (5.71%) Security Analyst
7 5 (4.76%) Cybersecurity Manager
7 5 (4.76%) DevSecOps Engineer
7 5 (4.76%) Security Architect
7 5 (4.76%) Security Consultant
7 5 (4.76%) Senior
7 5 (4.76%) Support Analyst
8 4 (3.81%) Information Manager
8 4 (3.81%) Information Security Manager
8 4 (3.81%) Project Manager
8 4 (3.81%) Solutions Architect
9 3 (2.86%) Network Engineer
9 3 (2.86%) Risk Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (4.76%) OpenID
1 5 (4.76%) SAML
2 4 (3.81%) LDAP
2 4 (3.81%) OAuth
3 2 (1.90%) Middleware
3 2 (1.90%) Node.js
3 2 (1.90%) RESTful
4 1 (0.95%) ADO
4 1 (0.95%) Next.js
4 1 (0.95%) React
Miscellaneous
1 18 (17.14%) Security Posture
2 11 (10.48%) Cyber Threat
3 8 (7.62%) Onboarding
4 7 (6.67%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 6 (5.71%) Security Operations Centre
6 5 (4.76%) iPad
6 5 (4.76%) iPhone
6 5 (4.76%) Video Conferencing
7 4 (3.81%) Management Information System
8 3 (2.86%) Cloud Native
8 3 (2.86%) NHS
9 2 (1.90%) Cloud Security Posture
9 2 (1.90%) Data Centre
9 2 (1.90%) Low-Code
9 2 (1.90%) Product Ownership
10 1 (0.95%) Analytical Mindset
10 1 (0.95%) Cyber Defence
10 1 (0.95%) Distributed Systems
10 1 (0.95%) Legacy Systems
10 1 (0.95%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 9 (8.57%) Windows
2 5 (4.76%) Android
2 5 (4.76%) Linux
2 5 (4.76%) Mac OS
2 5 (4.76%) Windows 10
2 5 (4.76%) Windows 7
3 3 (2.86%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 58 (55.24%) Cybersecurity
2 37 (35.24%) Information Security
3 30 (28.57%) Cloud Security
4 29 (27.62%) Incident Response
5 26 (24.76%) Security Operations
6 24 (22.86%) Data Protection
7 20 (19.05%) Threat Modelling
8 18 (17.14%) SIEM
8 18 (17.14%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 16 (15.24%) Vulnerability Management
10 15 (14.29%) Infrastructure as Code
11 14 (13.33%) DevSecOps
11 14 (13.33%) Risk Management
12 13 (12.38%) CI/CD
12 13 (12.38%) Risk Register
12 13 (12.38%) Stakeholder Management
13 12 (11.43%) Decision-Making
13 12 (11.43%) OWASP
14 11 (10.48%) DevOps
14 11 (10.48%) Penetration Testing
Programming Languages
1 12 (11.43%) Python
2 10 (9.52%) Bash
3 5 (4.76%) PowerShell
4 4 (3.81%) Kusto Query Language
5 2 (1.90%) TypeScript
6 1 (0.95%) Go
6 1 (0.95%) SQL
Qualifications
1 29 (27.62%) CISSP
2 26 (24.76%) Security Cleared
3 23 (21.90%) CISM
3 23 (21.90%) SC Cleared
4 11 (10.48%) Degree
4 11 (10.48%) OSCP
5 8 (7.62%) CHECK Team Member
5 8 (7.62%) CREST Certified
5 8 (7.62%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
5 8 (7.62%) Tigerscheme
6 6 (5.71%) CISA
6 6 (5.71%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
7 5 (4.76%) CRISC
8 4 (3.81%) CompTIA Security+
8 4 (3.81%) DV Cleared
8 4 (3.81%) PMI Certification
8 4 (3.81%) PMP
9 3 (2.86%) GIAC
9 3 (2.86%) Master's Degree
10 2 (1.90%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 69 (65.71%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 52 (49.52%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 46 (43.81%) NIST
4 40 (38.10%) GDPR
5 23 (21.90%) NCSC
6 10 (9.52%) GRC
6 10 (9.52%) PCI DSS
7 4 (3.81%) PMO
8 3 (2.86%) COBIT
8 3 (2.86%) IASME
8 3 (2.86%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
8 3 (2.86%) NIST 800
8 3 (2.86%) QA
8 3 (2.86%) SLA
8 3 (2.86%) SOC 2
9 2 (1.90%) Accessibility
9 2 (1.90%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 2 (1.90%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 1 (0.95%) HIPAA
10 1 (0.95%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 11 (10.48%) Active Directory
2 2 (1.90%) VMware ESXi
3 1 (0.95%) Docker
3 1 (0.95%) Virtual Machines
3 1 (0.95%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 8 (7.62%) Nmap
1 8 (7.62%) Single Sign-On
2 7 (6.67%) Kubernetes
3 6 (5.71%) Microsoft Intune
4 5 (4.76%) Terraform
5 4 (3.81%) CSIRT
5 4 (3.81%) PingFederate
5 4 (3.81%) QRadar
6 3 (2.86%) FortiGate
7 2 (1.90%) Ansible
8 1 (0.95%) Grafana
8 1 (0.95%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.95%) SCCM
8 1 (0.95%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.95%) WSUS
Vendors
1 38 (36.19%) Microsoft
2 10 (9.52%) Cisco
3 8 (7.62%) Veracode
4 7 (6.67%) Splunk
5 5 (4.76%) Ping Identity
6 4 (3.81%) Fortinet
7 3 (2.86%) Computacenter
7 3 (2.86%) Zscaler
8 2 (1.90%) CyberArk
8 2 (1.90%) Google
8 2 (1.90%) Palo Alto
8 2 (1.90%) Proofpoint
8 2 (1.90%) Sophos
8 2 (1.90%) VMware
9 1 (0.95%) CheckPoint
9 1 (0.95%) Citrix
9 1 (0.95%) LogRhythm
9 1 (0.95%) Meraki
9 1 (0.95%) Qualys
9 1 (0.95%) SAP
161 Cyber Essentials jobs in England