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

 6 months to
5 Sep 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 478 421 458
Rank change year-on-year -57 +37 +33
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 154 82 65
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.34% 0.30% 0.20%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 1.89% 1.75% 1.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 106 58 41
10th Percentile £374 £318 £200
25th Percentile £443 £430 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £575 £500
Median % change year-on-year -8.70% +15.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £600 £650 £600
90th Percentile £699 £688 £650
UK median daily rate £510 £575 £523
% change year-on-year -11.30% +10.05% -0.48%
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 8,138 4,695 4,246
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 17.73% 17.14% 13.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,155 3,072 2,599
10th Percentile £336 £300 £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 £625 £640
90th Percentile £713 £725 £756
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £512
% change year-on-year - -2.27% -2.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 564 217 221
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.13 £11.88
25th Percentile £17.32 £18.50 £14.70
Median hourly rate £36.07 £32.50 £28.00
Median % change year-on-year +10.98% +16.07% -20.00%
75th Percentile £68.75 £65.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £77.85 £84.10 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £34.49 £30.00 £25.77
% change year-on-year +14.97% +16.44% -25.86%

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 5 September 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 5 September 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 5 September 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 -46 73 £564 -9.54% 100
South East -39 41 £500 -13.04% 51
North of England -55 20 £450 - 35
Midlands -52 11 £525 +13.51% 38
North West -53 10 £438 +45.83% 19
Yorkshire -36 9 £520 -5.45% 8
West Midlands -40 9 £550 - 22
South West -39 4 £615 +75.71% 21
East Midlands -23 2 £500 +8.11% 16
East of England -26 2 £455 +82.73% 18
North East -40 1 £500 -29.82% 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 16 (10.39%) SharePoint
2 6 (3.90%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (1.95%) Confluence
4 1 (0.65%) Anypoint
Applications
1 4 (2.60%) Microsoft Excel
1 4 (2.60%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (1.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (1.30%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 72 (46.75%) Azure
2 70 (45.45%) Microsoft 365
3 41 (26.62%) Entra ID
4 14 (9.09%) Microsoft Purview
4 14 (9.09%) SaaS
5 12 (7.79%) GitHub
6 11 (7.14%) Mimecast
7 10 (6.49%) Azure Sentinel
8 8 (5.19%) AWS
9 7 (4.55%) Azure DevOps
9 7 (4.55%) GitHub Actions
9 7 (4.55%) IaaS
10 6 (3.90%) PaaS
10 6 (3.90%) Power Platform
11 4 (2.60%) Azure Logic Apps
11 4 (2.60%) Microsoft Copilot
12 3 (1.95%) Azure Event Grid
12 3 (1.95%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 3 (1.95%) Azure Monitor
12 3 (1.95%) Azure Service Bus
Communications & Networking
1 17 (11.04%) Firewall
2 11 (7.14%) Network Security
3 10 (6.49%) VPN
4 5 (3.25%) Intranet
4 5 (3.25%) WAN
5 4 (2.60%) DHCP
5 4 (2.60%) DNS
5 4 (2.60%) VLAN
5 4 (2.60%) Wi-Fi
6 3 (1.95%) DMZ
6 3 (1.95%) LAN
6 3 (1.95%) VSAN
6 3 (1.95%) Wireless
7 2 (1.30%) NAS
7 2 (1.30%) SAN
7 2 (1.30%) SSL
8 1 (0.65%) Cisco ISE
8 1 (0.65%) Intrusion Detection
8 1 (0.65%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.95%) Azure SQL Database
2 2 (1.30%) Metadata
3 1 (0.65%) Data Lake
3 1 (0.65%) Data Warehouse
3 1 (0.65%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 3 (1.95%) GitLab
1 3 (1.95%) Jenkins
2 1 (0.65%) Git
2 1 (0.65%) JIRA
2 1 (0.65%) MSI
2 1 (0.65%) Visual Studio
General
1 72 (46.75%) Social Skills
2 26 (16.88%) Public Sector
3 20 (12.99%) Analytical Skills
4 16 (10.39%) Finance
5 8 (5.19%) Local Government
6 7 (4.55%) Legal
7 5 (3.25%) Aerospace
7 5 (3.25%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 5 (3.25%) Organisational Skills
8 4 (2.60%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (1.30%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (1.30%) Manufacturing
9 2 (1.30%) Military
9 2 (1.30%) 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 (13.64%) Analyst
2 18 (11.69%) Architect
3 16 (10.39%) Security Analyst
3 16 (10.39%) Senior
4 14 (9.09%) Security Engineer
4 14 (9.09%) Security Specialist
5 12 (7.79%) Cybersecurity Engineer
5 12 (7.79%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 11 (7.14%) Cybersecurity Specialist
7 10 (6.49%) Lead
7 10 (6.49%) Security Manager
8 9 (5.84%) IT Manager
9 8 (5.19%) Solutions Architect
10 6 (3.90%) Consultant
10 6 (3.90%) Cybersecurity Manager
10 6 (3.90%) IT Analyst
10 6 (3.90%) IT Engineer
10 6 (3.90%) Project Manager
10 6 (3.90%) Senior Architect
10 6 (3.90%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (5.84%) Terraform
2 3 (1.95%) 802.1X
2 3 (1.95%) ARM Templates
3 2 (1.30%) EDI
3 2 (1.30%) Microsoft Graph
3 2 (1.30%) 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 (10.39%) Operational Technology
2 13 (8.44%) Onboarding
3 12 (7.79%) Management Information System
3 12 (7.79%) Security Posture
4 11 (7.14%) Security Operations Centre
5 9 (5.84%) Cyber Threat
5 9 (5.84%) Hybrid Cloud
6 8 (5.19%) Cyber Defence
7 6 (3.90%) Cloud Native
7 6 (3.90%) SCADA
8 4 (2.60%) Analytical Mindset
9 3 (1.95%) BYOD
9 3 (1.95%) Driving Licence
9 3 (1.95%) PKI
10 2 (1.30%) CESG
10 2 (1.30%) Data Protection Act
10 2 (1.30%) Enterprise Software
10 2 (1.30%) NHS
10 2 (1.30%) Public Cloud
10 2 (1.30%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 33 (21.43%) Windows
2 16 (10.39%) Linux
2 16 (10.39%) Windows Server
3 7 (4.55%) Unix
4 5 (3.25%) Windows 10
5 2 (1.30%) Windows Server 2019
6 1 (0.65%) Android
6 1 (0.65%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 104 (67.53%) Cybersecurity
2 47 (30.52%) Vulnerability Management
3 34 (22.08%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 33 (21.43%) SIEM
5 32 (20.78%) Incident Response
5 32 (20.78%) Information Security
5 32 (20.78%) Risk Management
6 24 (15.58%) CI/CD
6 24 (15.58%) RBAC
6 24 (15.58%) Security Operations
7 23 (14.94%) Stakeholder Management
8 22 (14.29%) Security Architecture
9 20 (12.99%) Continuous Improvement
10 19 (12.34%) Incident Management
10 19 (12.34%) Risk Register
11 18 (11.69%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
11 18 (11.69%) ITSM
11 18 (11.69%) Threat Intelligence
12 17 (11.04%) Cloud Security
12 17 (11.04%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 19 (12.34%) PowerShell
2 8 (5.19%) Python
3 7 (4.55%) Bash
4 3 (1.95%) Bicep
4 3 (1.95%) SQL
Qualifications
1 44 (28.57%) Security Cleared
2 42 (27.27%) SC Cleared
3 31 (20.13%) CISSP
4 21 (13.64%) CISM
5 18 (11.69%) Cisco Certification
6 13 (8.44%) Degree
7 11 (7.14%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 10 (6.49%) CESG Certified Professional
9 9 (5.84%) CRISC
9 9 (5.84%) DV Cleared
10 8 (5.19%) Azure Certification
11 7 (4.55%) GIAC
11 7 (4.55%) Microsoft Certification
12 6 (3.90%) CCNA
12 6 (3.90%) CompTIA Security+
13 5 (3.25%) MCSE
13 5 (3.25%) SANS
14 4 (2.60%) CEH
14 4 (2.60%) RHCA
14 4 (2.60%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 92 (59.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 78 (50.65%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 57 (37.01%) NIST
4 32 (20.78%) NCSC
5 24 (15.58%) GRC
6 22 (14.29%) GDPR
7 17 (11.04%) PCI DSS
8 11 (7.14%) ISO 31000
9 10 (6.49%) NIST 800
10 7 (4.55%) IASME
11 6 (3.90%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 6 (3.90%) PMO
12 5 (3.25%) SLA
13 3 (1.95%) Def Stans
13 3 (1.95%) Government Security Classifications
13 3 (1.95%) ISO/IEC 27005
14 2 (1.30%) Actionable Recommendations
14 2 (1.30%) COBIT
14 2 (1.30%) HMG Security Policy Framework
14 2 (1.30%) ISO 22301
System Software
1 33 (21.43%) Active Directory
2 14 (9.09%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (3.25%) Docker
3 5 (3.25%) Hyper-V
4 3 (1.95%) VMware ESXi
4 3 (1.95%) VMware NSX
5 2 (1.30%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (1.30%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (1.30%) vSphere
6 1 (0.65%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 16 (10.39%) Kubernetes
1 16 (10.39%) Microsoft Intune
2 7 (4.55%) Ansible
3 6 (3.90%) SCCM
4 4 (2.60%) Podman
5 3 (1.95%) FortiGate
5 3 (1.95%) Nessus
5 3 (1.95%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (1.95%) vCenter Server
6 2 (1.30%) QRadar
7 1 (0.65%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 80 (51.95%) Microsoft
2 18 (11.69%) VMware
3 16 (10.39%) Cisco
3 16 (10.39%) ServiceNow
4 10 (6.49%) CrowdStrike
5 8 (5.19%) CyberArk
5 8 (5.19%) Netskope
6 4 (2.60%) Atlassian
6 4 (2.60%) Fortinet
6 4 (2.60%) Tenable
7 3 (1.95%) Citrix
7 3 (1.95%) Palo Alto
7 3 (1.95%) Splunk
7 3 (1.95%) Zscaler
8 2 (1.30%) Oracle
8 2 (1.30%) Sophos
9 1 (0.65%) Apple
9 1 (0.65%) Dell
9 1 (0.65%) Juniper
9 1 (0.65%) SAP
246 Cyber Essentials jobs in England