LAN Contract Job Trends in England

Local Area Network (LAN)
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring LAN skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 10 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 265 215 182
Rank change year-on-year -50 -33 -64
Contract jobs citing LAN 447 358 452
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.97% 1.29% 1.38%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 10.30% 10.74% 11.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 279 218 242
10th Percentile £247 £200 £225
25th Percentile £380 £315 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £485
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -7.22% +7.78%
75th Percentile £539 £585 £600
90th Percentile £626 £675 £699
UK median daily rate £475 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 34 21 21
10th Percentile £12.71 £20.75 £15.76
25th Percentile £16.25 £29.00 £18.50
Median hourly rate £23.36 £30.00 £22.40
Median % change year-on-year -22.13% +33.93% -53.17%
75th Percentile £73.00 £43.25 £46.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £67.25 £75.24
UK median hourly rate £26.72 £30.00 £23.80
% change year-on-year -10.93% +26.05% -39.01%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
England

LAN falls under the Communications and Computer Networking category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring communications or computer networking skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 4,339 3,334 3,953
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.37% 12.00% 12.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,600 2,074 2,329
10th Percentile £250 £238 £243
25th Percentile £400 £367 £390
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £491 £505
Median % change year-on-year +1.83% -2.77% +1.00%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £614
90th Percentile £675 £688 £700
UK median daily rate £500 £483 £500
% change year-on-year +3.63% -3.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 360 168 231
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.50 £24.75 £21.69
Median hourly rate £30.00 £41.23 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year -27.23% -28.12% +1.52%
75th Percentile £67.48 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £81.25 £76.50 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £26.14 £42.50 £51.50
% change year-on-year -38.49% -17.48% -8.83%

LAN
Job Vacancy Trend in England

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

LAN job vacancy trend in England

LAN
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing LAN.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing LAN

LAN
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing LAN in England over the 6 months to 10 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for LAN in England

LAN
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing LAN.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing LAN

LAN
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing LAN in England over the 6 months to 10 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for LAN in England

LAN
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 LAN within the England region over the 6 months to 10 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 -99 119 £505 +9.19% 76
South East -32 116 £523 +4.50% 53
North of England -39 85 £500 +166.67% 37
Midlands -41 50 £355 -7.19% 38
North West -51 47 £519 +237.56% 26
Yorkshire -12 38 £450 +123.60% 8
West Midlands -38 37 £406 -9.72% 20
East of England -9 36 £338 +42.11% 24
South West -37 26 £463 +42.31% 10
East Midlands -11 11 £255 +27.50% 18
LAN
UK

LAN
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 (4.70%) SharePoint
2 19 (4.25%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (2.01%) OpenStack
4 7 (1.57%) Skype for Business
5 5 (1.12%) Confluence
6 3 (0.67%) IIS
7 2 (0.45%) CMS
Applications
1 25 (5.59%) Microsoft Office
2 19 (4.25%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (2.68%) MS Visio
4 10 (2.24%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.67%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.22%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 102 (22.82%) Azure
2 65 (14.54%) Microsoft 365
3 51 (11.41%) AWS
4 30 (6.71%) Entra ID
5 12 (2.68%) SaaS
6 10 (2.24%) OneDrive
6 10 (2.24%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 8 (1.79%) GCP
8 5 (1.12%) AWS Direct Connect
8 5 (1.12%) Azure ExpressRoute
9 4 (0.89%) Azure DevOps
9 4 (0.89%) Microsoft Copilot
9 4 (0.89%) OpenShift
10 3 (0.67%) Azure Sentinel
10 3 (0.67%) Power Platform
11 2 (0.45%) Google Ads
11 2 (0.45%) IaaS
11 2 (0.45%) PaaS
11 2 (0.45%) PowerApps
12 1 (0.22%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 380 (85.01%) WAN
2 216 (48.32%) Firewall
3 124 (27.74%) VPN
4 111 (24.83%) Wi-Fi
4 111 (24.83%) Wireless
5 108 (24.16%) BGP
6 103 (23.04%) Network Security
7 97 (21.70%) SD-WAN
8 90 (20.13%) DNS
9 79 (17.67%) OSPF
10 72 (16.11%) DHCP
11 68 (15.21%) WLAN
12 67 (14.99%) TCP/IP
13 65 (14.54%) VLAN
14 58 (12.98%) MPLS
15 44 (9.84%) IPsec
16 40 (8.95%) Cisco Nexus
17 37 (8.28%) Cisco ISE
18 34 (7.61%) Cisco ASA
19 25 (5.59%) Cisco Firepower
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.34%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.22%) DTS
2 1 (0.22%) Power BI
2 1 (0.22%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 12 (2.68%) JIRA
2 3 (0.67%) Browser DevTools
2 3 (0.67%) Sonatype Nexus
3 2 (0.45%) Git
3 2 (0.45%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
4 1 (0.22%) Fiddler
4 1 (0.22%) MSI
4 1 (0.22%) Visual Studio
General
1 151 (33.78%) Social Skills
2 51 (11.41%) Analytical Skills
3 49 (10.96%) Telecoms
4 44 (9.84%) Public Sector
5 27 (6.04%) Finance
6 19 (4.25%) Organisational Skills
7 15 (3.36%) Banking
7 15 (3.36%) Retail
8 14 (3.13%) Documentation Skills
9 10 (2.24%) Legal
9 10 (2.24%) Police
10 8 (1.79%) Financial Institution
10 8 (1.79%) Manufacturing
11 7 (1.57%) Influencing Skills
12 6 (1.34%) Local Government
13 3 (0.67%) Law
14 2 (0.45%) Billing
14 2 (0.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 1 (0.22%) Automotive
15 1 (0.22%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 183 (40.94%) Network Engineer
2 70 (15.66%) Architect
3 67 (14.99%) Senior
4 52 (11.63%) Network Architect
5 40 (8.95%) Senior Network Engineer
6 25 (5.59%) IT Support
7 24 (5.37%) Support Engineer
8 23 (5.15%) Cisco Engineer
9 22 (4.92%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 21 (4.70%) Cisco Network Engineer
11 18 (4.03%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 17 (3.80%) Developer
12 17 (3.80%) IT Engineer
13 15 (3.36%) Lead
14 13 (2.91%) Consultant
14 13 (2.91%) Project Manager
15 12 (2.68%) IT Support Engineer
15 12 (2.68%) LAN Engineer
16 11 (2.46%) Analyst
16 11 (2.46%) Test Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (5.37%) 802.1X
2 15 (3.36%) Terraform
3 13 (2.91%) NETCONF
4 9 (2.01%) YANG
5 7 (1.57%) REST
6 6 (1.34%) SAML
7 4 (0.89%) Middleware
7 4 (0.89%) OpenConfig
7 4 (0.89%) RESTCONF
8 3 (0.67%) LDAP
8 3 (0.67%) Software Packaging
9 2 (0.45%) Microsoft Graph
9 2 (0.45%) ODBC
9 2 (0.45%) RFC 2544
10 1 (0.22%) .NET Framework
10 1 (0.22%) ARM Templates
10 1 (0.22%) ModSecurity
10 1 (0.22%) SailPoint
10 1 (0.22%) XMPP
10 1 (0.22%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 88 (19.69%) Data Centre
2 30 (6.71%) Hybrid Cloud
3 22 (4.92%) Onboarding
4 19 (4.25%) Driving Licence
4 19 (4.25%) PKI
5 18 (4.03%) Self-Motivation
6 14 (3.13%) Operational Technology
6 14 (3.13%) Private Cloud
7 12 (2.68%) Cloud Native
7 12 (2.68%) Data Protection Act
8 11 (2.46%) Public Cloud
8 11 (2.46%) Video Conferencing
9 9 (2.01%) IoT
10 8 (1.79%) Analytical Mindset
10 8 (1.79%) Security Posture
11 7 (1.57%) NHS
12 6 (1.34%) CCTV
12 6 (1.34%) EPoS
12 6 (1.34%) SCADA
13 5 (1.12%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 111 (24.83%) Windows
2 38 (8.50%) Windows Server
3 24 (5.37%) Linux
4 23 (5.15%) Windows 10
5 12 (2.68%) Mac OS
6 10 (2.24%) Windows 7
7 6 (1.34%) Unix
8 5 (1.12%) Windows Server 2019
9 4 (0.89%) Android
10 3 (0.67%) Ubuntu
10 3 (0.67%) Windows Server 2012
11 2 (0.45%) Apple iOS
11 2 (0.45%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.22%) CatOS
12 1 (0.22%) CentOS
12 1 (0.22%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 1 (0.22%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 88 (19.69%) Problem-Solving
2 81 (18.12%) ITIL
3 54 (12.08%) Continuous Improvement
4 53 (11.86%) High Availability
5 49 (10.96%) Project Delivery
5 49 (10.96%) Stakeholder Management
6 47 (10.51%) Network Architecture
7 38 (8.50%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 38 (8.50%) Load Balancing
7 38 (8.50%) Technical Leadership
8 36 (8.05%) Roadmaps
9 33 (7.38%) Service Management
10 31 (6.94%) Mentoring
10 31 (6.94%) Zero Trust
11 30 (6.71%) Change Management
11 30 (6.71%) Migration
12 29 (6.49%) Agile
12 29 (6.49%) Customer Service
12 29 (6.49%) Network Design
13 28 (6.26%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 27 (6.04%) Python
2 19 (4.25%) PowerShell
3 6 (1.34%) VB
3 6 (1.34%) VBScript
4 4 (0.89%) SQL
5 2 (0.45%) Bicep
5 2 (0.45%) T-SQL
6 1 (0.22%) C
6 1 (0.22%) C++
Qualifications
1 149 (33.33%) Security Cleared
2 124 (27.74%) Cisco Certification
3 89 (19.91%) SC Cleared
4 86 (19.24%) CCNP
5 46 (10.29%) DV Cleared
6 43 (9.62%) CCNA
7 40 (8.95%) CCIE
8 33 (7.38%) Degree
9 14 (3.13%) Azure Certification
10 11 (2.46%) PMP
11 10 (2.24%) Microsoft Certification
12 9 (2.01%) AWS Certification
12 9 (2.01%) JNCIE
12 9 (2.01%) PMI Certification
13 7 (1.57%) JNCIS
14 6 (1.34%) Computer Science Degree
14 6 (1.34%) JNCIP
14 6 (1.34%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 4 (0.89%) CCSE
15 4 (0.89%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (2.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 11 (2.46%) SLA
2 8 (1.79%) NIST
3 7 (1.57%) NCSC
4 5 (1.12%) QA
5 4 (0.89%) GDPR
5 4 (0.89%) JSP 440
6 3 (0.67%) Cyber Essentials
6 3 (0.67%) GRC
6 3 (0.67%) PMO
7 2 (0.45%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 2 (0.45%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.22%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.22%) ISO 9001
8 1 (0.22%) NEBOSH
System Software
1 66 (14.77%) Active Directory
2 42 (9.40%) VMware Infrastructure
3 21 (4.70%) VMware NSX
4 11 (2.46%) Firmware
5 8 (1.79%) Hyper-V
5 8 (1.79%) Virtual Machines
6 7 (1.57%) BitLocker
6 7 (1.57%) Virtual Desktop
6 7 (1.57%) vSphere
7 4 (0.89%) Virtual Servers
8 3 (0.67%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.45%) FreeRADIUS
9 2 (0.45%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 1 (0.22%) NFS
10 1 (0.22%) ProxySG
Systems Management
1 29 (6.49%) FortiGate
2 25 (5.59%) Ansible
3 20 (4.47%) Microsoft Intune
4 14 (3.13%) SCCM
5 8 (1.79%) Single Sign-On
6 4 (0.89%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (0.89%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.67%) Cisco CUCM
8 2 (0.45%) AirWatch
8 2 (0.45%) CASB
8 2 (0.45%) Cisco Prime
8 2 (0.45%) Endace
8 2 (0.45%) Nagios
8 2 (0.45%) Progress Chef
8 2 (0.45%) vRealize Orchestrator
8 2 (0.45%) VxRail
8 2 (0.45%) WSUS
9 1 (0.22%) Grafana
9 1 (0.22%) Prometheus
9 1 (0.22%) TrustSec
Vendors
1 215 (48.10%) Cisco
2 114 (25.50%) Microsoft
3 71 (15.88%) Palo Alto
4 66 (14.77%) VMware
5 54 (12.08%) Fortinet
6 48 (10.74%) Juniper
7 46 (10.29%) F5
8 40 (8.95%) SolarWinds
9 35 (7.83%) CheckPoint
10 33 (7.38%) Aruba
11 25 (5.59%) Meraki
12 20 (4.47%) ServiceNow
13 15 (3.36%) Zscaler
14 11 (2.46%) Ekahau
14 11 (2.46%) Splunk
15 10 (2.24%) HP
16 9 (2.01%) Extreme Networks
17 7 (1.57%) Arista
17 7 (1.57%) Citrix
17 7 (1.57%) CyberArk