Junior Contract Job Trends in England

Junior
UK > England

The median Junior daily rate in England is £353, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 19 May 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
19 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 355 331 350
Rank change year-on-year -24 +19 +33
Contract jobs requiring a Junior 236 146 183
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.58% 0.60% 0.50%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.62% 0.65% 0.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 146 109 138
10th Percentile £158 £155 £123
25th Percentile £250 £185 £209
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £353 £268 £325
Median % change year-on-year +31.53% -17.54% +20.37%
75th Percentile £438 £388 £400
90th Percentile £498 £438 £500
UK median daily rate £325 £270 £325
% change year-on-year +20.37% -16.92% +20.37%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 8 11
10th Percentile - £17.08 -
25th Percentile £12.43 £17.96 -
Median hourly rate £14.00 £21.28 £10.42
Median % change year-on-year -34.21% +104.22% -20.76%
75th Percentile £18.90 £22.98 £13.16
90th Percentile £21.00 £24.25 £40.00
UK median hourly rate £15.99 £21.28 £10.42
% change year-on-year -24.86% +104.22% -23.24%

All Contract IT Job Roles
England

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in England. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in England with a recognized job title 37,905 22,467 33,793
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.36% 92.36% 92.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,551 14,942 22,422
10th Percentile £319 £300 £284
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £523 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.03% -0.36% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £644
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £512 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -0.10% -2.38% -3.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,597 915 2,440
10th Percentile £15.63 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.75 £18.50 £16.30
Median hourly rate £45.00 £30.00 £36.92
Median % change year-on-year +50.00% -18.73% -17.54%
75th Percentile £67.50 £63.50 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £73.75
UK median hourly rate £42.69 £28.00 £36.50
% change year-on-year +52.45% -23.29% -18.89%

Junior
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Junior' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Junior job vacancy trend in England

Junior
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Junior job vacancies in England.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Junior job vacancies in England

Junior
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Junior in England over the 6 months to 19 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Junior in England

Junior
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Junior job vacancies in England.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Junior job vacancies in England

Junior
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 Junior within the England region over the 6 months to 19 May 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 -17 125 £320 +16.36% 74
South East -39 37 £375 +22.95% 83
South West -5 25 £425 +36.00% 56
North of England -57 25 £363 +61.11% 95
North West -34 17 £360 +21.93% 44
West Midlands -62 11 £190 +26.67% 28
Midlands -74 11 £190 -5.00% 51
East of England -26 10 £188 -40.00% 23
North East - 8 £398 - 20
Yorkshire -53 2 £363 +81.25% 33
Junior
UK

Junior Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England

For the 6 months to 19 May 2026, Junior contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the England region featuring Junior in the job title.

1 60 (25.42%) Security Cleared
2 52 (22.03%) SC Cleared
3 45 (19.07%) Agile
4 32 (13.56%) SQL
5 26 (11.02%) Python
6 25 (10.59%) Microsoft
7 22 (9.32%) C#
8 21 (8.90%) Degree
8 21 (8.90%) Problem-Solving
9 20 (8.47%) Accessibility
9 20 (8.47%) Computer Science
10 19 (8.05%) Azure
11 17 (7.20%) Migration
12 16 (6.78%) .NET
12 16 (6.78%) Break/Fix
12 16 (6.78%) HP
12 16 (6.78%) TCP/IP
13 15 (6.36%) DNS
13 15 (6.36%) Project Management
13 15 (6.36%) Software Engineering
14 14 (5.93%) Continuous Improvement
14 14 (5.93%) Java
14 14 (5.93%) Time Management
14 14 (5.93%) User Experience
14 14 (5.93%) VMware
15 13 (5.51%) CI/CD
16 12 (5.08%) Active Directory
16 12 (5.08%) Ansible
16 12 (5.08%) DevOps
16 12 (5.08%) REST

Junior Skill Set
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 4 (1.69%) SharePoint
2 3 (1.27%) Confluence
2 3 (1.27%) IIS
3 2 (0.85%) Apache
3 2 (0.85%) Apache Airflow
4 1 (0.42%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.42%) FileNet
4 1 (0.42%) govService
Applications
1 6 (2.54%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 3 (1.27%) Microsoft Project
2 3 (1.27%) Spreadsheet
2 3 (1.27%) UserZoom
3 2 (0.85%) Adobe Illustrator
3 2 (0.85%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.85%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.85%) Photoshop
4 1 (0.42%) Adobe After Effects
4 1 (0.42%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 1 (0.42%) Adobe XD
4 1 (0.42%) InDesign
4 1 (0.42%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 1 (0.42%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 19 (8.05%) Azure
2 11 (4.66%) Figma
3 10 (4.24%) AWS
4 9 (3.81%) Power Platform
5 8 (3.39%) Microsoft 365
6 6 (2.54%) Azure DevOps
7 5 (2.12%) Serverless
8 4 (1.69%) Amazon S3
8 4 (1.69%) AWS Lambda
8 4 (1.69%) Entra ID
9 3 (1.27%) Amazon Kinesis
9 3 (1.27%) AWS Step Functions
9 3 (1.27%) Azure AKS
9 3 (1.27%) Azure Cosmos DB
9 3 (1.27%) GitHub
9 3 (1.27%) Miro
10 2 (0.85%) Anthropic Claude
10 2 (0.85%) ChatGPT
10 2 (0.85%) dbt
10 2 (0.85%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 16 (6.78%) TCP/IP
2 15 (6.36%) DNS
3 10 (4.24%) BIG-IP
3 10 (4.24%) HTTP
3 10 (4.24%) SSL
3 10 (4.24%) Wireshark
4 5 (2.12%) DHCP
4 5 (2.12%) LAN
4 5 (2.12%) VPN
4 5 (2.12%) Wi-Fi
5 4 (1.69%) Internet
5 4 (1.69%) VLAN
6 3 (1.27%) Firewall
7 2 (0.85%) BGP
7 2 (0.85%) Network Security
8 1 (0.42%) Cisco ASA
8 1 (0.42%) Cisco Nexus
8 1 (0.42%) HTTPS
8 1 (0.42%) WAN
8 1 (0.42%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (3.81%) Power BI
1 9 (3.81%) Relational Database
2 3 (1.27%) Amazon Athena
2 3 (1.27%) NoSQL
2 3 (1.27%) SQL Server
3 2 (0.85%) Data Warehouse
3 2 (0.85%) Power Query
4 1 (0.42%) Amazon Redshift
4 1 (0.42%) Big Data
4 1 (0.42%) BigQuery
4 1 (0.42%) Data Lake
4 1 (0.42%) DataStage
4 1 (0.42%) Looker
4 1 (0.42%) MS Access
4 1 (0.42%) MySQL
4 1 (0.42%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 1 (0.42%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 1 (0.42%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 9 (3.81%) Fiddler
2 7 (2.97%) JIRA
3 5 (2.12%) GitLab
4 4 (1.69%) Git
5 1 (0.42%) TeamCity
General
1 67 (28.39%) Social Skills
2 32 (13.56%) Finance
3 25 (10.59%) Organisational Skills
4 17 (7.20%) Analytical Skills
5 14 (5.93%) Public Sector
6 13 (5.51%) Banking
7 7 (2.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 6 (2.54%) Investment Banking
8 6 (2.54%) Publishing
9 4 (1.69%) Retail
10 3 (1.27%) Legal
10 3 (1.27%) Marketing
10 3 (1.27%) Pharmaceutical
10 3 (1.27%) Retail Banking
10 3 (1.27%) Social Science
11 2 (0.85%) Documentation Skills
11 2 (0.85%) Front Office
11 2 (0.85%) Law
11 2 (0.85%) Presentation Skills
11 2 (0.85%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (6.78%) .NET
2 12 (5.08%) REST
3 6 (2.54%) Spring
4 3 (1.27%) XML
5 2 (0.85%) ADO
5 2 (0.85%) AngularJS
5 2 (0.85%) HTML
5 2 (0.85%) React
5 2 (0.85%) Spring Boot
5 2 (0.85%) Vue
6 1 (0.42%) Apache Commons
6 1 (0.42%) Guava
6 1 (0.42%) Hibernate
6 1 (0.42%) JSF
6 1 (0.42%) LDAP
6 1 (0.42%) RESTful
6 1 (0.42%) SAML
6 1 (0.42%) Struts
6 1 (0.42%) Swagger
6 1 (0.42%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 14 (5.93%) Onboarding
2 12 (5.08%) Product Ownership
3 10 (4.24%) Mobile App
4 8 (3.39%) Cloud Native
5 7 (2.97%) Data Centre
6 5 (2.12%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
7 4 (1.69%) Data Protection Act
7 4 (1.69%) Distributed Systems
7 4 (1.69%) Hedge funds
7 4 (1.69%) Management Information System
8 3 (1.27%) Security Posture
8 3 (1.27%) Team-Oriented Environment
9 2 (0.85%) Data Structures
9 2 (0.85%) Fat Client
9 2 (0.85%) Graphic Design
9 2 (0.85%) Housing Association
9 2 (0.85%) Legacy Systems
9 2 (0.85%) Private Cloud
9 2 (0.85%) Self-Motivation
9 2 (0.85%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 9 (3.81%) Windows
2 6 (2.54%) Windows 10
3 4 (1.69%) Mac OS
4 2 (0.85%) AIX
4 2 (0.85%) Solaris
4 2 (0.85%) Windows Server
5 1 (0.42%) CatOS
5 1 (0.42%) Linux
5 1 (0.42%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 45 (19.07%) Agile
2 21 (8.90%) Problem-Solving
3 20 (8.47%) Computer Science
4 17 (7.20%) Migration
5 16 (6.78%) Break/Fix
6 15 (6.36%) Project Management
6 15 (6.36%) Software Engineering
7 14 (5.93%) Continuous Improvement
7 14 (5.93%) Time Management
7 14 (5.93%) User Experience
8 13 (5.51%) CI/CD
9 12 (5.08%) DevOps
9 12 (5.08%) Validation
10 11 (4.66%) Project Delivery
10 11 (4.66%) Stakeholder Management
10 11 (4.66%) UX Design
11 10 (4.24%) Data Protection
11 10 (4.24%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 9 (3.81%) Analytics
12 9 (3.81%) Malware Detection/Protection
Programming Languages
1 32 (13.56%) SQL
2 26 (11.02%) Python
3 22 (9.32%) C#
4 14 (5.93%) Java
5 4 (1.69%) JavaScript
6 3 (1.27%) Bash
6 3 (1.27%) C++
7 1 (0.42%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 1 (0.42%) Korn
7 1 (0.42%) PowerShell
7 1 (0.42%) Ruby
7 1 (0.42%) Rust
7 1 (0.42%) T-SQL
7 1 (0.42%) VB
Qualifications
1 60 (25.42%) Security Cleared
2 52 (22.03%) SC Cleared
3 21 (8.90%) Degree
4 9 (3.81%) DV Cleared
5 5 (2.12%) Computer Science Degree
6 4 (1.69%) BPSS Clearance
7 3 (1.27%) Master's Degree
7 3 (1.27%) PMI Certification
7 3 (1.27%) PMP
8 1 (0.42%) A+ Certification
8 1 (0.42%) ACCA
8 1 (0.42%) CIMA
8 1 (0.42%) CompTIA Security+
8 1 (0.42%) Network+ Certification
8 1 (0.42%) Six Sigma Black Belt
8 1 (0.42%) Six Sigma Green Belt
8 1 (0.42%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (8.47%) Accessibility
2 10 (4.24%) PMO
3 5 (2.12%) Data Quality
4 4 (1.69%) QA
5 3 (1.27%) SLA
6 2 (0.85%) WCAG
7 1 (0.42%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.42%) Cyber Essentials
7 1 (0.42%) GRC
7 1 (0.42%) HL7
7 1 (0.42%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 1 (0.42%) P3O
System Software
1 12 (5.08%) Active Directory
2 10 (4.24%) VMware NSX
3 3 (1.27%) Docker
3 3 (1.27%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.42%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.42%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.42%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.42%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 12 (5.08%) Ansible
2 5 (2.12%) Terraform
3 4 (1.69%) Jamf Pro
3 4 (1.69%) Kubernetes
3 4 (1.69%) Microsoft Intune
4 1 (0.42%) Istio
4 1 (0.42%) Prometheus
4 1 (0.42%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 25 (10.59%) Microsoft
2 16 (6.78%) HP
3 14 (5.93%) VMware
4 10 (4.24%) F5
5 9 (3.81%) Blue Coat
5 9 (3.81%) McAfee
6 3 (1.27%) Cisco
6 3 (1.27%) Google
6 3 (1.27%) ServiceNow
7 2 (0.85%) Adobe
7 2 (0.85%) Arista
7 2 (0.85%) Fortinet
7 2 (0.85%) Salesforce
7 2 (0.85%) SAP
8 1 (0.42%) Alteryx
8 1 (0.42%) Automation Anywhere
8 1 (0.42%) CheckPoint
8 1 (0.42%) Granicus
8 1 (0.42%) IBM
8 1 (0.42%) Oracle