Junior Contract Job Trends in England

Junior
UK > England

The median Junior daily rate in England is £338, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 3 July 2026.

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

6 months to
3 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 398 339 355
Rank change year-on-year -59 +16 +25
Contract jobs requiring a Junior 219 157 205
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.50% 0.60% 0.55%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.54% 0.65% 0.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 143 100 154
10th Percentile £167 £152 £125
25th Percentile £263 £185 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £338 £250 £304
Median % change year-on-year +35.00% -17.70% +12.50%
75th Percentile £438 £327 £384
90th Percentile £498 £414 £500
UK median daily rate £325 £250 £308
% change year-on-year +30.00% -18.70% +13.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 8 10
10th Percentile £11.32 £19.68 -
25th Percentile £11.87 £20.64 -
Median hourly rate £14.00 £23.03 £10.42
Median % change year-on-year -39.21% +121.02% -28.73%
75th Percentile £19.95 £29.13 -
90th Percentile £23.80 £43.75 £18.68
UK median hourly rate £14.00 £23.03 £10.42
% change year-on-year -39.21% +121.02% -32.75%

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 40,580 24,049 34,742
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.41% 92.16% 92.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,840 15,686 22,733
10th Percentile £325 £291 £300
25th Percentile £419 £404 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £630 £638
90th Percentile £735 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £520 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +4.00% -4.76% -2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,926 1,128 2,569
10th Percentile £16.00 £14.00 £12.88
25th Percentile £21.93 £18.00 £16.86
Median hourly rate £45.00 £28.18 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +59.69% -29.55% -8.95%
75th Percentile £67.50 £57.50 £63.75
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £43.00 £26.50 £37.50
% change year-on-year +62.26% -29.33% -12.79%

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 3 July 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
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Junior in England over the 6 months to 3 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Junior 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 3 July 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 -34 127 £319 +23.07% 105
South West +1 32 £425 +36.00% 54
North of England -58 22 £353 +65.88% 91
South East -57 19 £350 +20.69% 110
North West -34 13 £323 +51.76% 45
North East - 8 £425 - 14
East of England -28 7 £300 +37.14% 44
West Midlands -67 7 £140 -6.67% 25
Midlands -77 7 £140 -30.86% 57
Yorkshire -55 1 £355 +67.06% 33
Junior
UK

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

For the 6 months to 3 July 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 59 (26.94%) Agile
2 58 (26.48%) Security Cleared
3 51 (23.29%) SC Cleared
4 34 (15.53%) SQL
5 31 (14.16%) Degree
6 25 (11.42%) Microsoft
6 25 (11.42%) Python
7 24 (10.96%) C#
7 24 (10.96%) Problem-Solving
8 21 (9.59%) Accessibility
8 21 (9.59%) Azure
8 21 (9.59%) Computer Science
8 21 (9.59%) Project Management
9 20 (9.13%) Migration
10 19 (8.68%) .NET
11 17 (7.76%) DevOps
12 16 (7.31%) Continuous Improvement
12 16 (7.31%) Java
13 15 (6.85%) Figma
13 15 (6.85%) REST
13 15 (6.85%) Software Engineering
13 15 (6.85%) Stakeholder Management
14 14 (6.39%) Data Protection
14 14 (6.39%) User Experience
15 13 (5.94%) AI
15 13 (5.94%) AWS
15 13 (5.94%) Relational Database
15 13 (5.94%) Scrum
15 13 (5.94%) TCP/IP
15 13 (5.94%) UX Design

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 (1.83%) IIS
2 3 (1.37%) Confluence
3 2 (0.91%) Apache
3 2 (0.91%) Apache Airflow
3 2 (0.91%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.46%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.46%) govService
4 1 (0.46%) WebLogic
Applications
1 10 (4.57%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.83%) Adobe Illustrator
2 4 (1.83%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 4 (1.83%) Photoshop
2 4 (1.83%) Spreadsheet
2 4 (1.83%) UserZoom
3 3 (1.37%) Adobe After Effects
3 3 (1.37%) InDesign
3 3 (1.37%) Microsoft Office
4 2 (0.91%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.91%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.46%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 1 (0.46%) Adobe XD
5 1 (0.46%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 2 (0.91%) Magento
Cloud Services
1 21 (9.59%) Azure
2 15 (6.85%) Figma
3 13 (5.94%) AWS
4 12 (5.48%) Power Platform
5 8 (3.65%) Microsoft 365
6 7 (3.20%) Azure DevOps
7 5 (2.28%) GitHub
7 5 (2.28%) Miro
8 3 (1.37%) Azure AKS
8 3 (1.37%) Azure Cosmos DB
8 3 (1.37%) Canva
9 2 (0.91%) Amazon S3
9 2 (0.91%) Anthropic Claude
9 2 (0.91%) ChatGPT
9 2 (0.91%) dbt
9 2 (0.91%) Entra ID
9 2 (0.91%) GCP
9 2 (0.91%) Power Automate
9 2 (0.91%) SaaS
9 2 (0.91%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 13 (5.94%) TCP/IP
2 10 (4.57%) DNS
3 7 (3.20%) Internet
4 5 (2.28%) BIG-IP
4 5 (2.28%) DHCP
4 5 (2.28%) HTTP
4 5 (2.28%) LAN
4 5 (2.28%) SSL
4 5 (2.28%) VPN
4 5 (2.28%) Wireshark
5 4 (1.83%) Network Security
5 4 (1.83%) VLAN
5 4 (1.83%) Wi-Fi
6 3 (1.37%) BGP
6 3 (1.37%) Firewall
7 2 (0.91%) Intranet
8 1 (0.46%) Cisco ASA
8 1 (0.46%) Cisco Nexus
8 1 (0.46%) HTTPS
8 1 (0.46%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (5.94%) Relational Database
2 12 (5.48%) Power BI
3 4 (1.83%) Data Warehouse
3 4 (1.83%) SQL Server
4 3 (1.37%) DTS
4 3 (1.37%) NoSQL
5 2 (0.91%) BigQuery
5 2 (0.91%) Looker
5 2 (0.91%) Power Query
5 2 (0.91%) RDBMS
5 2 (0.91%) Tableau
6 1 (0.46%) Amazon Athena
6 1 (0.46%) Data Lake
6 1 (0.46%) MS Access
6 1 (0.46%) MySQL
6 1 (0.46%) Pinecone
6 1 (0.46%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 1 (0.46%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 6 (2.74%) Git
1 6 (2.74%) JIRA
2 5 (2.28%) Jenkins
3 4 (1.83%) Fiddler
4 2 (0.91%) Artifactory
4 2 (0.91%) Bitbucket
4 2 (0.91%) GitLab
4 2 (0.91%) Subversion
4 2 (0.91%) TeamCity
5 1 (0.46%) Claude Code
5 1 (0.46%) Gatling
5 1 (0.46%) JMeter
5 1 (0.46%) LoadRunner
5 1 (0.46%) NeoLoad
General
1 75 (34.25%) Social Skills
2 36 (16.44%) Finance
3 22 (10.05%) Analytical Skills
3 22 (10.05%) Public Sector
4 20 (9.13%) Organisational Skills
5 14 (6.39%) Banking
6 8 (3.65%) Publishing
7 7 (3.20%) Legal
7 7 (3.20%) Retail
8 6 (2.74%) Investment Banking
9 5 (2.28%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 4 (1.83%) Marketing
10 4 (1.83%) Social Science
11 3 (1.37%) French Language
11 3 (1.37%) Front Office
11 3 (1.37%) Games
11 3 (1.37%) Pharmaceutical
11 3 (1.37%) Retail Banking
12 2 (0.91%) Law
12 2 (0.91%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (8.68%) .NET
2 15 (6.85%) REST
3 7 (3.20%) Spring
4 4 (1.83%) XML
5 3 (1.37%) ASP.NET
5 3 (1.37%) Spring Boot
6 2 (0.91%) .NET Framework
6 2 (0.91%) ADO.NET
6 2 (0.91%) Ajax
6 2 (0.91%) AngularJS
6 2 (0.91%) ASP.NET Web Forms
6 2 (0.91%) HTML
6 2 (0.91%) React
6 2 (0.91%) SOAP
6 2 (0.91%) VML
6 2 (0.91%) Vue
6 2 (0.91%) Web Services
6 2 (0.91%) XSL
6 2 (0.91%) XSLT
7 1 (0.46%) ADO
Miscellaneous
1 18 (8.22%) Onboarding
2 16 (7.31%) Product Ownership
3 8 (3.65%) Data Centre
4 6 (2.74%) Cloud Native
5 5 (2.28%) Distributed Systems
5 5 (2.28%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
6 4 (1.83%) Data Protection Act
6 4 (1.83%) Graphic Design
6 4 (1.83%) Hedge funds
6 4 (1.83%) Management Information System
7 3 (1.37%) Data Structures
7 3 (1.37%) Housing Association
7 3 (1.37%) Security Posture
7 3 (1.37%) Team-Oriented Environment
8 2 (0.91%) AI Agents
8 2 (0.91%) Fat Client
8 2 (0.91%) Life Science
8 2 (0.91%) Private Cloud
8 2 (0.91%) Self-Motivation
8 2 (0.91%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 8 (3.65%) Windows
2 5 (2.28%) Windows 10
3 2 (0.91%) AIX
3 2 (0.91%) Linux
3 2 (0.91%) Mac OS
3 2 (0.91%) Solaris
3 2 (0.91%) Unix
4 1 (0.46%) CatOS
4 1 (0.46%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 59 (26.94%) Agile
2 24 (10.96%) Problem-Solving
3 21 (9.59%) Computer Science
3 21 (9.59%) Project Management
4 20 (9.13%) Migration
5 17 (7.76%) DevOps
6 16 (7.31%) Continuous Improvement
7 15 (6.85%) Software Engineering
7 15 (6.85%) Stakeholder Management
8 14 (6.39%) Data Protection
8 14 (6.39%) User Experience
9 13 (5.94%) AI
9 13 (5.94%) Scrum
9 13 (5.94%) UX Design
9 13 (5.94%) Validation
10 12 (5.48%) Business Intelligence
10 12 (5.48%) CI/CD
10 12 (5.48%) Project Delivery
10 12 (5.48%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 11 (5.02%) Analytics
Programming Languages
1 34 (15.53%) SQL
2 25 (11.42%) Python
3 24 (10.96%) C#
4 16 (7.31%) Java
5 4 (1.83%) JavaScript
6 3 (1.37%) C++
7 2 (0.91%) Bash
7 2 (0.91%) PL/SQL
8 1 (0.46%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 1 (0.46%) Ruby
8 1 (0.46%) Shell Script
8 1 (0.46%) TypeScript
8 1 (0.46%) VB
Qualifications
1 58 (26.48%) Security Cleared
2 51 (23.29%) SC Cleared
3 31 (14.16%) Degree
4 7 (3.20%) DV Cleared
5 6 (2.74%) Computer Science Degree
6 4 (1.83%) Master's Degree
7 3 (1.37%) BPSS Clearance
8 1 (0.46%) A+ Certification
8 1 (0.46%) ACCA
8 1 (0.46%) CIMA
8 1 (0.46%) CompTIA Security+
8 1 (0.46%) Network+ Certification
8 1 (0.46%) PMI Certification
8 1 (0.46%) PMP
8 1 (0.46%) Six Sigma Black Belt
8 1 (0.46%) Six Sigma Green Belt
8 1 (0.46%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (9.59%) Accessibility
2 8 (3.65%) Data Quality
3 7 (3.20%) PMO
3 7 (3.20%) QA
4 3 (1.37%) SLA
5 2 (0.91%) GRC
5 2 (0.91%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 2 (0.91%) WCAG
6 1 (0.46%) Actionable Recommendations
6 1 (0.46%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.46%) GDPR
6 1 (0.46%) HL7
6 1 (0.46%) NIST
6 1 (0.46%) P3O
System Software
1 12 (5.48%) Active Directory
2 5 (2.28%) VMware NSX
3 3 (1.37%) Docker
3 3 (1.37%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.91%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.46%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.46%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.46%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 8 (3.65%) Ansible
2 4 (1.83%) Kubernetes
3 3 (1.37%) Terraform
4 2 (0.91%) Jamf Pro
4 2 (0.91%) Microsoft Intune
5 1 (0.46%) Grafana
5 1 (0.46%) Istio
5 1 (0.46%) Prometheus
5 1 (0.46%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 25 (11.42%) Microsoft
2 9 (4.11%) VMware
3 6 (2.74%) Google
4 5 (2.28%) F5
5 4 (1.83%) Adobe
5 4 (1.83%) Blue Coat
5 4 (1.83%) Cisco
5 4 (1.83%) McAfee
6 3 (1.37%) Arista
6 3 (1.37%) SAP
6 3 (1.37%) ServiceNow
7 2 (0.91%) Fortinet
7 2 (0.91%) Oracle
7 2 (0.91%) Salesforce
7 2 (0.91%) Sitecore
8 1 (0.46%) Automation Anywhere
8 1 (0.46%) CheckPoint
8 1 (0.46%) InterSystems
8 1 (0.46%) OpenAI
8 1 (0.46%) UiPath