Data Protection Act Contract Job Trends in England

Data Protection Act (DPA)
UK > England

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Data Protection Act in contract job vacancies in England. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Data Protection Act over the 6 months leading up to 24 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 173 177 186
Rank change year-on-year +4 +9 -23
Contract jobs citing Data Protection Act 592 353 466
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.58% 1.45% 1.24%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 4.72% 4.27% 4.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 257 154 237
10th Percentile £213 £265 £223
25th Percentile £350 £341 £338
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% -6.98%
75th Percentile £575 £572 £600
90th Percentile £650 £671 £725
UK median daily rate £450 £475 £500
% change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 10 21
10th Percentile £24.25 £20.60 £11.95
25th Percentile £25.50 £24.25 £20.50
Median hourly rate £27.50 £26.07 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +5.49% -5.20% +22.22%
75th Percentile £33.12 £31.76 £30.00
90th Percentile £43.00 £31.92 £44.54
UK median hourly rate £27.50 £26.07 £26.25
% change year-on-year +5.49% -0.69% +10.53%

All Generic Skills
England

Data Protection Act falls under the General and Transferable Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring generic IT skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 12,552 8,264 11,630
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 33.53% 33.98% 30.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,986 5,390 7,588
10th Percentile £300 £300 £256
25th Percentile £412 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £544 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.70% -1.18% -4.35%
75th Percentile £625 £673 £663
90th Percentile £749 £788 £780
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £530
% change year-on-year -4.71% -0.94% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 619 309 795
10th Percentile £15.62 £16.73 £12.50
25th Percentile £19.32 £22.50 £15.39
Median hourly rate £40.50 £34.00 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +19.12% +23.64% +17.17%
75th Percentile £68.75 £68.75 £57.50
90th Percentile £85.40 £84.20 £67.80
UK median hourly rate £39.00 £32.50 £27.50
% change year-on-year +20.00% +18.18% +22.22%

Data Protection Act
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Data Protection Act relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Data Protection Act job vacancy trend in England

Data Protection Act
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Data Protection Act.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Data Protection Act

Data Protection Act
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Data Protection Act in England over the 6 months to 24 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Data Protection Act in England

Data Protection Act
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Data Protection Act.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Data Protection Act

Data Protection Act
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Data Protection Act in England over the 6 months to 24 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Data Protection Act in England

Data Protection Act
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 Data Protection Act within the England region over the 6 months to 24 March 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 +29 303 £475 +11.76% 11
North of England -26 144 £475 -5.00% 8
Yorkshire -21 89 £475 -10.59% 3
South East -19 69 £369 +1.72% 2
North West -10 51 £425 -15.00% 5
Midlands -51 43 £468 -6.50% 5
West Midlands -52 32 £494 -3.66% 3
South West -19 15 £525 - 3
East of England -24 11 £413 +43.48% 3
East Midlands -25 11 £336 -10.33% 2
North East -33 4 £250 -44.44%
Data Protection Act
UK

Data Protection Act
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 21 (3.55%) Confluence
2 12 (2.03%) Microsoft Exchange
2 12 (2.03%) SharePoint
3 5 (0.84%) Apache
3 5 (0.84%) Apache Airflow
4 4 (0.68%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.34%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 2 (0.34%) CMS
5 2 (0.34%) Drupal
5 2 (0.34%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 2 (0.34%) SAS
5 2 (0.34%) WebSphere
6 1 (0.17%) Camunda
6 1 (0.17%) Oracle Workflow
6 1 (0.17%) Palantir Foundry
6 1 (0.17%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 17 (2.87%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (2.36%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (1.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (0.84%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (0.68%) MS Visio
6 3 (0.51%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.34%) AutoCAD
7 2 (0.34%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.17%) Adobe After Effects
8 1 (0.17%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.17%) Adobe Illustrator
8 1 (0.17%) Adobe Premiere
8 1 (0.17%) Blender
8 1 (0.17%) CINEMA 4D
8 1 (0.17%) InVision
8 1 (0.17%) Photoshop
8 1 (0.17%) Sketch
8 1 (0.17%) Trello
Business Applications
1 12 (2.03%) Aladdin
2 5 (0.84%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (0.51%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (0.51%) Fidessa
3 3 (0.51%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 3 (0.51%) SAP GRC
4 2 (0.34%) Oracle General Ledger
4 2 (0.34%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 2 (0.34%) Salesforce CRM
4 2 (0.34%) Workfront
5 1 (0.17%) Loan IQ
5 1 (0.17%) Odoo
5 1 (0.17%) Oracle ERP
5 1 (0.17%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.17%) Oracle Receivables
5 1 (0.17%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.17%) SAP MDG
5 1 (0.17%) SAP PLM
5 1 (0.17%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
5 1 (0.17%) Veritas eDiscovery
Cloud Services
1 70 (11.82%) Azure
2 50 (8.45%) AWS
3 28 (4.73%) GCP
4 26 (4.39%) Power Platform
5 23 (3.89%) Microsoft 365
5 23 (3.89%) Snowflake
6 17 (2.87%) Entra ID
7 15 (2.53%) GitHub
7 15 (2.53%) SaaS
8 10 (1.69%) Amazon S3
9 9 (1.52%) OpenShift
9 9 (1.52%) Serverless
10 8 (1.35%) AWS Lambda
10 8 (1.35%) Dynamics 365
10 8 (1.35%) Figma
11 7 (1.18%) Amazon EC2
11 7 (1.18%) Azure DevOps
11 7 (1.18%) Microsoft Purview
11 7 (1.18%) Power Automate
12 6 (1.01%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 18 (3.04%) Firewall
2 14 (2.36%) MPLS
3 12 (2.03%) Network Security
4 10 (1.69%) LAN
5 8 (1.35%) WAN
5 8 (1.35%) Wi-Fi
6 7 (1.18%) VPN
7 6 (1.01%) BGP
7 6 (1.01%) NetScaler
8 5 (0.84%) Cisco Nexus
8 5 (0.84%) DNS
8 5 (0.84%) Ethernet
8 5 (0.84%) TCP/IP
9 4 (0.68%) Kerberos
9 4 (0.68%) SAN
9 4 (0.68%) SSH
9 4 (0.68%) VLAN
9 4 (0.68%) Wireshark
10 3 (0.51%) DHCP
10 3 (0.51%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (3.89%) Power BI
2 19 (3.21%) PostgreSQL
3 12 (2.03%) Metadata
4 11 (1.86%) SQL Server
5 10 (1.69%) Tableau
6 7 (1.18%) Data Lake
6 7 (1.18%) Data Warehouse
6 7 (1.18%) MongoDB
7 6 (1.01%) Amazon RDS
7 6 (1.01%) NoSQL
8 5 (0.84%) Hadoop
8 5 (0.84%) Relational Database
9 4 (0.68%) Amazon Aurora
9 4 (0.68%) Apache Iceberg
9 4 (0.68%) Oracle Database
10 3 (0.51%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 2 (0.34%) DynamoDB
11 2 (0.34%) MySQL
11 2 (0.34%) RDBMS
11 2 (0.34%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 46 (7.77%) JIRA
2 18 (3.04%) Git
3 12 (2.03%) Jenkins
4 11 (1.86%) SpecFlow
5 9 (1.52%) Sonatype Nexus
6 7 (1.18%) Gradle
7 6 (1.01%) GitLab
7 6 (1.01%) Maven
8 5 (0.84%) Bitbucket
9 4 (0.68%) JUnit
9 4 (0.68%) Postman
10 3 (0.51%) Fiddler
10 3 (0.51%) IntelliJ
10 3 (0.51%) Katalon Studio
10 3 (0.51%) Liquibase
10 3 (0.51%) TestNG
11 2 (0.34%) DBeaver
11 2 (0.34%) Flyway
11 2 (0.34%) Gatling
11 2 (0.34%) webpack
General
1 155 (26.18%) Social Skills
2 133 (22.47%) Finance
3 71 (11.99%) Banking
4 59 (9.97%) Analytical Skills
5 29 (4.90%) Telecoms
6 25 (4.22%) Front Office
7 23 (3.89%) Documentation Skills
8 18 (3.04%) Organisational Skills
9 17 (2.87%) Legal
9 17 (2.87%) Public Sector
10 15 (2.53%) Marketing
11 13 (2.20%) Presentation Skills
12 8 (1.35%) Influencing Skills
12 8 (1.35%) Investment Banking
13 6 (1.01%) Financial Institution
13 6 (1.01%) Manufacturing
13 6 (1.01%) Pharmaceutical
14 5 (0.84%) Back Office
14 5 (0.84%) Private Banking
14 5 (0.84%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 77 (13.01%) Analyst
2 61 (10.30%) Developer
3 60 (10.14%) Architect
4 43 (7.26%) Business Analyst
5 38 (6.42%) Lead
6 33 (5.57%) Consultant
7 31 (5.24%) Senior
8 30 (5.07%) Project Manager
9 23 (3.89%) Network Engineer
10 19 (3.21%) Solutions Architect
11 17 (2.87%) Java Developer
12 16 (2.70%) Data Engineer
13 13 (2.20%) Python Developer
14 12 (2.03%) Software Engineer
14 12 (2.03%) Support Engineer
14 12 (2.03%) Tester
15 11 (1.86%) Data Analyst
16 10 (1.69%) Automation Tester
16 10 (1.69%) Network Architect
17 9 (1.52%) Java Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (5.07%) React
2 19 (3.21%) REST
3 15 (2.53%) Playwright
4 13 (2.20%) .NET
5 12 (2.03%) Kafka
6 10 (1.69%) Spring
7 9 (1.52%) RESTful
8 8 (1.35%) OAuth
8 8 (1.35%) Spring Boot
9 7 (1.18%) AngularJS
9 7 (1.18%) JSON
9 7 (1.18%) Middleware
9 7 (1.18%) PySpark
9 7 (1.18%) XML
10 6 (1.01%) HTML
10 6 (1.01%) Model Context Protocol
10 6 (1.01%) Oracle Fusion
11 5 (0.84%) OpenTelemetry
11 5 (0.84%) SAML
12 4 (0.68%) LangChain
Miscellaneous
1 28 (4.73%) Onboarding
2 24 (4.05%) Product Ownership
3 20 (3.38%) Cloud Native
4 19 (3.21%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 14 (2.36%) Derivative
6 10 (1.69%) Data Centre
7 9 (1.52%) Distributed Systems
7 9 (1.52%) Equities
7 9 (1.52%) Management Information System
8 8 (1.35%) Fixed Income
8 8 (1.35%) Replication
9 7 (1.18%) AI Agents
9 7 (1.18%) Algorithms
9 7 (1.18%) Freedom of Information
9 7 (1.18%) Mobile App
9 7 (1.18%) Virtual Team
10 6 (1.01%) Greenfield Project
11 5 (0.84%) Equity Derivative
11 5 (0.84%) Hedge funds
11 5 (0.84%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 34 (5.74%) Windows
2 29 (4.90%) Linux
3 7 (1.18%) Unix
3 7 (1.18%) zOS
4 5 (0.84%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 5 (0.84%) Solaris
5 4 (0.68%) AIX
5 4 (0.68%) Windows 10
5 4 (0.68%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.34%) Android
6 2 (0.34%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.34%) VMS
7 1 (0.17%) Oracle Linux
7 1 (0.17%) Rocky
Processes & Methodologies
1 592 (100.00%) Data Protection
2 105 (17.74%) Stakeholder Management
3 101 (17.06%) Problem-Solving
4 94 (15.88%) Agile
5 79 (13.34%) Migration
6 59 (9.97%) AI
6 59 (9.97%) DevOps
7 57 (9.63%) CI/CD
8 54 (9.12%) Roadmaps
9 53 (8.95%) Analytics
9 53 (8.95%) Project Management
10 47 (7.94%) Continuous Improvement
11 42 (7.09%) Decision-Making
12 37 (6.25%) Test Automation
13 34 (5.74%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 33 (5.57%) Observability
14 33 (5.57%) Software Engineering
15 32 (5.41%) Risk Management
16 30 (5.07%) Business Intelligence
17 27 (4.56%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 98 (16.55%) Python
2 69 (11.66%) SQL
3 56 (9.46%) Java
4 34 (5.74%) C#
5 28 (4.73%) JavaScript
6 21 (3.55%) PowerShell
7 19 (3.21%) TypeScript
8 12 (2.03%) Bash
9 11 (1.86%) C++
10 5 (0.84%) Kusto Query Language
10 5 (0.84%) Shell Script
11 4 (0.68%) Go
11 4 (0.68%) Scala
12 3 (0.51%) Groovy
12 3 (0.51%) JCL
12 3 (0.51%) PL/SQL
13 2 (0.34%) ActionScript
13 2 (0.34%) Apex Code
13 2 (0.34%) Kotlin
13 2 (0.34%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 49 (8.28%) Degree
2 45 (7.60%) Security Cleared
3 39 (6.59%) SC Cleared
4 18 (3.04%) Computer Science Degree
5 8 (1.35%) Master's Degree
5 8 (1.35%) PMI Certification
5 8 (1.35%) PMP
6 7 (1.18%) AWS Certification
7 6 (1.01%) Cisco Certification
8 5 (0.84%) CCNP
9 4 (0.68%) Azure Certification
9 4 (0.68%) CISSP
9 4 (0.68%) DV Cleared
10 3 (0.51%) BPSS Clearance
10 3 (0.51%) Microsoft Certification
10 3 (0.51%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 2 (0.34%) CCNA
11 2 (0.34%) JNCIA
11 2 (0.34%) JNCIS
11 2 (0.34%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (5.74%) QA
2 32 (5.41%) GDPR
3 18 (3.04%) Data Quality
4 15 (2.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 15 (2.53%) PMO
5 11 (1.86%) NIST
6 10 (1.69%) SLA
7 9 (1.52%) Accessibility
8 6 (1.01%) GRC
9 3 (0.51%) Actionable Recommendations
9 3 (0.51%) IFRS
10 2 (0.34%) Basel III
10 2 (0.34%) GAAP
10 2 (0.34%) IFRS 9
10 2 (0.34%) ISO 20022
10 2 (0.34%) NCSC
10 2 (0.34%) PCI DSS
10 2 (0.34%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 2 (0.34%) SEPA
10 2 (0.34%) SOC 2
System Software
1 26 (4.39%) Docker
2 21 (3.55%) Active Directory
3 12 (2.03%) Virtual Desktop
3 12 (2.03%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (0.84%) KVM
5 4 (0.68%) NFS
5 4 (0.68%) Virtual Servers
6 3 (0.51%) IAG
6 3 (0.51%) Time Sharing Option
6 3 (0.51%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.51%) vSphere
7 2 (0.34%) Microsoft App-V
7 2 (0.34%) Oracle RAC
7 2 (0.34%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.34%) XenApp
7 2 (0.34%) XenDesktop
8 1 (0.17%) Firmware
8 1 (0.17%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 35 (5.91%) Kubernetes
2 26 (4.39%) Terraform
3 19 (3.21%) Ansible
4 8 (1.35%) Microsoft Intune
5 7 (1.18%) Grafana
6 5 (0.84%) Control-M
7 4 (0.68%) Prometheus
8 3 (0.51%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 3 (0.51%) Puppet
8 3 (0.51%) SCCM
8 3 (0.51%) Tivoli Storage Manager
8 3 (0.51%) vCenter Server
9 2 (0.34%) Data Guard
9 2 (0.34%) IBM Guardium
9 2 (0.34%) Nessus
9 2 (0.34%) Oracle RMAN
9 2 (0.34%) Progress Chef
9 2 (0.34%) Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.17%) Argo
10 1 (0.17%) Istio
Vendors
1 53 (8.95%) Microsoft
2 28 (4.73%) Cisco
3 21 (3.55%) Databricks
4 20 (3.38%) SAP
5 17 (2.87%) ServiceNow
6 16 (2.70%) Oracle
7 14 (2.36%) Salesforce
8 12 (2.03%) VMware
9 11 (1.86%) Adobe
9 11 (1.86%) Citrix
10 9 (1.52%) CyberArk
10 9 (1.52%) Google
11 8 (1.35%) F5
11 8 (1.35%) Informatica
11 8 (1.35%) Nokia
12 7 (1.18%) ADVA
12 7 (1.18%) IBM
12 7 (1.18%) Red Hat
12 7 (1.18%) Workday
13 6 (1.01%) Palo Alto