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 1 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 214 157 158
Rank change year-on-year -57 +1 -9
Contract jobs citing Data Protection Act 594 512 504
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.28% 1.83% 1.56%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 3.72% 5.05% 5.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 238 203 253
10th Percentile £246 £308 £214
25th Percentile £350 £400 £369
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £458 £500
Median % change year-on-year -7.10% -8.50% -4.76%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £600
90th Percentile £638 £650 £710
UK median daily rate £425 £450 £488
% change year-on-year -5.56% -7.69% -7.14%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 11 7
10th Percentile £13.00 - £17.94
25th Percentile £13.69 £15.13 £19.06
Median hourly rate £18.00 £15.25 £27.84
Median % change year-on-year +18.03% -45.22% -17.27%
75th Percentile £25.00 £34.73 £70.78
90th Percentile £32.25 £40.46 £71.88
UK median hourly rate £18.00 £15.25 £27.84
% change year-on-year +18.03% -45.22% -34.01%

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 15,958 10,130 9,991
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 34.28% 36.25% 30.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,607 6,352 6,048
10th Percentile £325 £300 £294
25th Percentile £425 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -
75th Percentile £644 £649 £675
90th Percentile £750 £775 £825
UK median daily rate £525 £520 £535
% change year-on-year +0.96% -2.80% -2.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,137 513 376
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.15 £15.56
25th Percentile £17.85 £18.87 £24.18
Median hourly rate £35.00 £30.00 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +16.67% -47.69% +24.59%
75th Percentile £67.84 £56.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £82.30 £73.75 £75.16
UK median hourly rate £36.00 £29.00 £50.00
% change year-on-year +24.14% -42.00% +11.11%

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 1 October 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 1 October 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 1 October 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 -68 262 £400 -18.99% 58
North of England -15 186 £475 +5.56% 34
Yorkshire +20 109 £475 -9.52% 13
North West -16 71 £463 +3.93% 18
South East -39 67 £375 -9.09% 20
Midlands -44 48 £425 -5.56% 27
West Midlands -41 40 £406 -9.72% 9
South West -39 15 £425 -10.53% 14
East Midlands - 8 £425 - 18
North East -58 6 - - 3
East of England -36 5 £300 -36.84% 8
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 20 (3.37%) Confluence
2 11 (1.85%) SharePoint
3 9 (1.52%) SAS
4 6 (1.01%) Apache
4 6 (1.01%) Microsoft Exchange
5 5 (0.84%) Apache Airflow
5 5 (0.84%) Apache Spark
6 3 (0.51%) CICS
6 3 (0.51%) CMS
7 2 (0.34%) Jupyter
7 2 (0.34%) nginx
8 1 (0.17%) Apache Superset
8 1 (0.17%) Camunda
8 1 (0.17%) IIS
8 1 (0.17%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 1 (0.17%) Tomcat
8 1 (0.17%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.17%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.17%) WordPress
Applications
1 14 (2.36%) Microsoft Excel
2 12 (2.02%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (0.84%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.67%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.34%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.17%) Adobe Premiere
6 1 (0.17%) Maya
6 1 (0.17%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.17%) Zemax
Business Applications
1 9 (1.52%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (0.84%) Aladdin
3 2 (0.34%) Cloudability
3 2 (0.34%) ION MarketView
3 2 (0.34%) Oracle EBS
3 2 (0.34%) Salesforce CRM
4 1 (0.17%) Actimize
4 1 (0.17%) Bloomberg TOMS
4 1 (0.17%) Eloqua
4 1 (0.17%) FIS Private Capital Suite
4 1 (0.17%) Oracle Applications
4 1 (0.17%) Oracle BRM
4 1 (0.17%) Oracle EBS R12
4 1 (0.17%) Sage 50
4 1 (0.17%) SAP BRIM
4 1 (0.17%) SAP CX
4 1 (0.17%) SAP FI-CA
4 1 (0.17%) SAP FS
4 1 (0.17%) SAP MDG
4 1 (0.17%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 94 (15.82%) Azure
2 79 (13.30%) AWS
3 52 (8.75%) GCP
4 29 (4.88%) GitHub
5 23 (3.87%) SaaS
6 18 (3.03%) Microsoft 365
7 16 (2.69%) Power Platform
8 15 (2.53%) Azure DevOps
9 12 (2.02%) Serverless
10 10 (1.68%) GitHub Actions
10 10 (1.68%) Snowflake
11 7 (1.18%) Amazon EC2
11 7 (1.18%) Amazon EKS
11 7 (1.18%) OpenShift
12 6 (1.01%) Azure AKS
12 6 (1.01%) Entra ID
12 6 (1.01%) IaaS
12 6 (1.01%) Microsoft Copilot
12 6 (1.01%) OneDrive
13 5 (0.84%) GitHub Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 21 (3.54%) Firewall
2 15 (2.53%) Network Security
3 12 (2.02%) LAN
4 11 (1.85%) WAN
5 10 (1.68%) MPLS
6 8 (1.35%) DNS
6 8 (1.35%) VoIP
7 7 (1.18%) Cisco IPT
7 7 (1.18%) VPN
7 7 (1.18%) Wi-Fi
8 6 (1.01%) Cisco Nexus
9 5 (0.84%) DHCP
9 5 (0.84%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
9 5 (0.84%) SDH
9 5 (0.84%) Unified Communications
10 4 (0.67%) BGP
10 4 (0.67%) BIG-IP
10 4 (0.67%) EIGRP
10 4 (0.67%) OSPF
10 4 (0.67%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (2.86%) Metadata
1 17 (2.86%) PostgreSQL
2 15 (2.53%) Power BI
3 12 (2.02%) Data Warehouse
4 10 (1.68%) BigQuery
4 10 (1.68%) Relational Database
5 8 (1.35%) SQL Server
6 7 (1.18%) Oracle Database
7 5 (0.84%) Big Data
7 5 (0.84%) Redis
8 4 (0.67%) Amazon RDS
8 4 (0.67%) Data Lake
8 4 (0.67%) Db2
8 4 (0.67%) Elasticsearch
8 4 (0.67%) NoSQL
8 4 (0.67%) Tableau
9 3 (0.51%) Amazon Redshift
9 3 (0.51%) DynamoDB
9 3 (0.51%) MySQL
9 3 (0.51%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 38 (6.40%) JIRA
2 23 (3.87%) Jenkins
3 20 (3.37%) Git
4 7 (1.18%) Maven
5 6 (1.01%) GitLab
6 4 (0.67%) SonarQube
7 3 (0.51%) Bitbucket
7 3 (0.51%) Selenium
7 3 (0.51%) Sonatype Nexus
7 3 (0.51%) Visual Studio
8 2 (0.34%) CMake
8 2 (0.34%) Cypress.io
8 2 (0.34%) ER Studio
8 2 (0.34%) ERwin
8 2 (0.34%) Gradle
8 2 (0.34%) JUnit
8 2 (0.34%) SpecFlow
8 2 (0.34%) XCUITest
9 1 (0.17%) Postman
9 1 (0.17%) Storybook
General
1 244 (41.08%) Social Skills
2 175 (29.46%) Finance
3 89 (14.98%) Analytical Skills
4 85 (14.31%) Banking
5 32 (5.39%) Public Sector
6 30 (5.05%) Legal
7 26 (4.38%) Organisational Skills
8 24 (4.04%) Influencing Skills
9 22 (3.70%) Documentation Skills
10 21 (3.54%) Front Office
11 16 (2.69%) Telecoms
12 14 (2.36%) Retail
13 12 (2.02%) Billing
13 12 (2.02%) Investment Banking
13 12 (2.02%) Presentation Skills
14 11 (1.85%) Marketing
15 10 (1.68%) Financial Institution
16 7 (1.18%) Publishing
17 5 (0.84%) Pharmaceutical
18 4 (0.67%) Law
Job Titles
1 80 (13.47%) Architect
2 68 (11.45%) Analyst
3 43 (7.24%) Business Analyst
3 43 (7.24%) Lead
4 42 (7.07%) Developer
5 33 (5.56%) Senior
6 30 (5.05%) Solutions Architect
7 26 (4.38%) Consultant
7 26 (4.38%) Project Manager
8 14 (2.36%) DevOps Engineer
8 14 (2.36%) Support Engineer
9 12 (2.02%) Java Developer
10 11 (1.85%) Data Protection Officer
10 11 (1.85%) Software Engineer
11 10 (1.68%) Product Manager
11 10 (1.68%) Product Owner
11 10 (1.68%) Tester
12 9 (1.52%) Data Engineer
12 9 (1.52%) Designer
13 8 (1.35%) Python Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (6.40%) REST
2 35 (5.89%) Terraform
3 18 (3.03%) Kafka
4 15 (2.53%) React
4 15 (2.53%) Spring
5 14 (2.36%) Spring Boot
6 12 (2.02%) JSON
7 11 (1.85%) GraphQL
7 11 (1.85%) Node.js
8 10 (1.68%) .NET
8 10 (1.68%) Pandas
8 10 (1.68%) YAML
9 9 (1.52%) Middleware
10 8 (1.35%) OAuth
11 7 (1.18%) HTML
11 7 (1.18%) OAuth2
12 6 (1.01%) OpenID
12 6 (1.01%) RESTful
13 5 (0.84%) AngularJS
13 5 (0.84%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 41 (6.90%) Product Ownership
2 38 (6.40%) Cloud Native
3 29 (4.88%) Onboarding
4 26 (4.38%) Distributed Systems
4 26 (4.38%) Virtual Team
5 20 (3.37%) Data Centre
6 19 (3.20%) Management Information System
7 16 (2.69%) Legacy Systems
7 16 (2.69%) Mobile App
8 15 (2.53%) Freedom of Information
9 14 (2.36%) Data Structures
10 12 (2.02%) Mainframe
11 11 (1.85%) Derivative
12 10 (1.68%) Enterprise Software
13 9 (1.52%) Analytical Mindset
13 9 (1.52%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
13 9 (1.52%) Freedom of Information Act
13 9 (1.52%) Self-Motivation
14 8 (1.35%) AI Agents
14 8 (1.35%) Fixed Income
Operating Systems
1 30 (5.05%) Linux
2 28 (4.71%) Windows
3 15 (2.53%) Android
4 12 (2.02%) Unix
5 11 (1.85%) Apple iOS
6 9 (1.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 8 (1.35%) zOS
8 6 (1.01%) Windows Server
9 5 (0.84%) Mac OS
10 3 (0.51%) Windows 10
11 1 (0.17%) CentOS
11 1 (0.17%) MVS
Processes & Methodologies
1 594 (100.00%) Data Protection
2 168 (28.28%) Stakeholder Management
3 119 (20.03%) Agile
4 109 (18.35%) Problem-Solving
5 108 (18.18%) Continuous Improvement
6 100 (16.84%) AI
7 88 (14.81%) Migration
8 85 (14.31%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 83 (13.97%) CI/CD
10 69 (11.62%) Decision-Making
11 67 (11.28%) Analytics
12 61 (10.27%) DevOps
12 61 (10.27%) Roadmaps
13 52 (8.75%) Risk Management
14 50 (8.42%) Data Modelling
15 49 (8.25%) Project Management
16 48 (8.08%) Software Engineering
17 45 (7.58%) Test Automation
18 44 (7.41%) Cybersecurity
19 40 (6.73%) Data Governance
Programming Languages
1 82 (13.80%) Python
2 60 (10.10%) SQL
3 50 (8.42%) Java
4 17 (2.86%) JavaScript
4 17 (2.86%) TypeScript
5 14 (2.36%) Kotlin
6 12 (2.02%) PowerShell
7 11 (1.85%) Go
8 9 (1.52%) Bash
9 8 (1.35%) C#
10 7 (1.18%) C++
11 5 (0.84%) Apex Code
11 5 (0.84%) Bicep
11 5 (0.84%) COBOL
11 5 (0.84%) Perl
12 4 (0.67%) C
12 4 (0.67%) Groovy
13 3 (0.51%) R
14 2 (0.34%) REXX
14 2 (0.34%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 38 (6.40%) Security Cleared
2 35 (5.89%) SC Cleared
3 25 (4.21%) Degree
4 8 (1.35%) PMI Certification
4 8 (1.35%) PMP
5 7 (1.18%) AWS Certification
5 7 (1.18%) Azure Certification
5 7 (1.18%) CISSP
6 6 (1.01%) Cisco Certification
7 4 (0.67%) BPSS Clearance
7 4 (0.67%) CCNP
7 4 (0.67%) CRISC
8 3 (0.51%) CISA
8 3 (0.51%) CISM
8 3 (0.51%) Computer Science Degree
9 2 (0.34%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 2 (0.34%) CCIE
9 2 (0.34%) FFIEC
9 2 (0.34%) Microsoft Certification
9 2 (0.34%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (7.74%) Data Quality
2 43 (7.24%) GDPR
3 33 (5.56%) QA
4 9 (1.52%) PMO
5 8 (1.35%) Accessibility
6 6 (1.01%) NIST
6 6 (1.01%) PERC
7 4 (0.67%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 3 (0.51%) Actionable Recommendations
8 3 (0.51%) Cyber Essentials
8 3 (0.51%) EMIR
8 3 (0.51%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 3 (0.51%) MiFID
9 2 (0.34%) COBIT
9 2 (0.34%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.34%) GRC
9 2 (0.34%) SEPA
9 2 (0.34%) SLA
10 1 (0.17%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 1 (0.17%) WCAG
System Software
1 18 (3.03%) Active Directory
1 18 (3.03%) VMware Infrastructure
2 17 (2.86%) Docker
3 8 (1.35%) Virtual Desktop
4 7 (1.18%) Virtual Machines
5 4 (0.67%) NFS
6 2 (0.34%) GPFS
6 2 (0.34%) Virtual Servers
6 2 (0.34%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.34%) vSphere
7 1 (0.17%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.17%) KVM
7 1 (0.17%) Time Sharing Option
7 1 (0.17%) Varnish
7 1 (0.17%) XenApp
7 1 (0.17%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 43 (7.24%) Kubernetes
2 28 (4.71%) Ansible
3 5 (0.84%) Grafana
3 5 (0.84%) Microsoft Intune
3 5 (0.84%) Prometheus
4 4 (0.67%) Cisco CUCM
5 3 (0.51%) Kustomize
5 3 (0.51%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.34%) Argo
6 2 (0.34%) Control-M
6 2 (0.34%) Istio
6 2 (0.34%) Packer
6 2 (0.34%) Progress Chef
6 2 (0.34%) Puppet
6 2 (0.34%) QRadar
6 2 (0.34%) SCCM
6 2 (0.34%) Tivoli Storage Manager
6 2 (0.34%) vCenter Server
7 1 (0.17%) CA Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.17%) Tivoli NetView
Vendors
1 73 (12.29%) Microsoft
2 28 (4.71%) Cisco
3 24 (4.04%) Google
4 22 (3.70%) Databricks
5 21 (3.54%) ServiceNow
6 18 (3.03%) Oracle
6 18 (3.03%) VMware
7 17 (2.86%) SAP
8 12 (2.02%) Salesforce
9 11 (1.85%) F5
9 11 (1.85%) IBM
10 10 (1.68%) Red Hat
11 9 (1.52%) Citrix
12 6 (1.01%) CheckPoint
13 5 (0.84%) Informatica
13 5 (0.84%) Murex
13 5 (0.84%) Palo Alto
13 5 (0.84%) Workday
14 4 (0.67%) Sonatype
14 4 (0.67%) Splunk