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 2 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 246 164 121
Rank change year-on-year -82 -43 +64
Contract jobs citing LAN 345 434 764
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.09% 1.56% 2.09%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 10.20% 12.17% 14.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 214 261 494
10th Percentile £213 £223 £200
25th Percentile £353 £319 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £450
75th Percentile £550 £575 £600
90th Percentile £638 £673 £713
UK median daily rate £443 £450 £450
% change year-on-year -1.67% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 11 26
10th Percentile £12.97 £18.50 £17.48
25th Percentile £15.50 - £21.44
Median hourly rate £16.00 £20.00 £39.50
Median % change year-on-year -20.00% -49.37% +75.56%
75th Percentile £35.00 £34.38 £57.50
90th Percentile £61.38 £71.25 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £16.00 £20.38 £36.02
% change year-on-year -21.47% -43.43% +60.09%

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 3,384 3,565 5,105
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 10.68% 12.80% 13.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,196 2,083 3,164
10th Percentile £205 £220 £206
25th Percentile £356 £375 £360
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.00% - -1.96%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £678 £685 £700
UK median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 166 105 315
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.99 £18.71
25th Percentile £20.04 £20.30 £23.81
Median hourly rate £36.75 £35.00 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -38.04% +50.64%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 £65.98
90th Percentile £76.25 £72.75 £75.93
UK median hourly rate £36.00 £35.00 £56.49
% change year-on-year +2.86% -38.04% +68.63%

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 2 January 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 2 January 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 2 January 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 -20 127 £475 -5.00% 64
South East -15 78 £458 +11.03% 52
North of England -71 55 £330 -26.67% 27
North West -49 39 £289 -38.24% 15
Midlands -63 32 £450 +2.86% 24
East of England -25 29 £350 -34.88% 10
West Midlands -40 29 £475 -5.00% 19
Yorkshire -73 15 £445 +85.42% 11
South West -29 12 £506 +22.73% 20
East Midlands -45 3 £258 -19.53% 5
North East -7 1 £550 - 1
South Coast - 1 £575 -
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 25 (7.25%) SharePoint
2 14 (4.06%) Microsoft Exchange
3 12 (3.48%) OpenStack
4 6 (1.74%) Skype for Business
5 5 (1.45%) Confluence
6 1 (0.29%) Apache
6 1 (0.29%) CICS
6 1 (0.29%) IIS
6 1 (0.29%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.29%) WebSphere
6 1 (0.29%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 27 (7.83%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (4.35%) MS Visio
3 13 (3.77%) Microsoft Excel
4 12 (3.48%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (1.45%) Acrobat
6 3 (0.87%) Microsoft Project
7 2 (0.58%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.58%) DELMIA
2 1 (0.29%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 80 (23.19%) Azure
2 49 (14.20%) AWS
3 42 (12.17%) Microsoft 365
4 17 (4.93%) Entra ID
4 17 (4.93%) GCP
5 9 (2.61%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 6 (1.74%) OpenShift
6 6 (1.74%) SaaS
7 4 (1.16%) Azure DevOps
7 4 (1.16%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 4 (1.16%) Microsoft Purview
8 3 (0.87%) AWS Direct Connect
8 3 (0.87%) Nutanix
8 3 (0.87%) Power Platform
8 3 (0.87%) Serverless
9 2 (0.58%) Azure Functions
9 2 (0.58%) Azure Logic Apps
9 2 (0.58%) Azure Service Bus
9 2 (0.58%) Google Ads
9 2 (0.58%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 279 (80.87%) WAN
2 151 (43.77%) Firewall
3 111 (32.17%) VPN
4 84 (24.35%) Wi-Fi
5 76 (22.03%) SD-WAN
6 70 (20.29%) BGP
7 63 (18.26%) TCP/IP
8 59 (17.10%) Network Security
9 58 (16.81%) DNS
10 55 (15.94%) OSPF
11 54 (15.65%) Wireless
12 46 (13.33%) DHCP
13 43 (12.46%) MPLS
14 41 (11.88%) VLAN
15 33 (9.57%) Cisco Nexus
16 32 (9.28%) WLAN
17 30 (8.70%) IPsec
18 24 (6.96%) Structured Cabling
19 22 (6.38%) Cisco ASA
20 16 (4.64%) Cisco IOS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.61%) SQL Server
2 6 (1.74%) Oracle Database
3 4 (1.16%) MS Access
4 3 (0.87%) Power BI
5 2 (0.58%) PostgreSQL
6 1 (0.29%) Amazon RDS
6 1 (0.29%) Apache Cassandra
6 1 (0.29%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.29%) DynamoDB
6 1 (0.29%) MongoDB
6 1 (0.29%) MySQL
6 1 (0.29%) NoSQL
6 1 (0.29%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 5 (1.45%) JIRA
2 1 (0.29%) Git
2 1 (0.29%) Jenkins
2 1 (0.29%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 100 (28.99%) Social Skills
2 44 (12.75%) Analytical Skills
3 41 (11.88%) Public Sector
4 31 (8.99%) Documentation Skills
5 29 (8.41%) Finance
6 27 (7.83%) Telecoms
7 14 (4.06%) Manufacturing
8 10 (2.90%) Banking
8 10 (2.90%) Military
9 8 (2.32%) Presentation Skills
10 7 (2.03%) Organisational Skills
11 6 (1.74%) Local Government
12 4 (1.16%) Financial Institution
12 4 (1.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 3 (0.87%) Influencing Skills
13 3 (0.87%) Law
13 3 (0.87%) Legal
13 3 (0.87%) Marketing
13 3 (0.87%) Retail
14 2 (0.58%) Police
Job Titles
1 97 (28.12%) Network Engineer
2 87 (25.22%) Architect
3 66 (19.13%) Network Architect
4 33 (9.57%) Analyst
5 23 (6.67%) Support Analyst
6 19 (5.51%) Senior
7 18 (5.22%) Lead
8 17 (4.93%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 17 (4.93%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
8 17 (4.93%) Technical Support
9 16 (4.64%) 2nd Line Support
10 15 (4.35%) IT Support
10 15 (4.35%) Project Manager
10 15 (4.35%) Support Engineer
10 15 (4.35%) Technical Analyst
10 15 (4.35%) Technical Support Analyst
11 13 (3.77%) Technical Architect
12 12 (3.48%) Solutions Architect
13 11 (3.19%) Cisco Engineer
13 11 (3.19%) Network Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (2.32%) Middleware
2 6 (1.74%) NETCONF
2 6 (1.74%) REST
2 6 (1.74%) YANG
3 5 (1.45%) LDAP
4 3 (0.87%) 802.1X
4 3 (0.87%) SAML
5 2 (0.58%) ARM Templates
5 2 (0.58%) Node.js
5 2 (0.58%) XMPP
5 2 (0.58%) YAML
6 1 (0.29%) .NET
6 1 (0.29%) CSS
6 1 (0.29%) EDI
6 1 (0.29%) HTML
6 1 (0.29%) LAMP
6 1 (0.29%) LAPP Stack
6 1 (0.29%) libvirt
6 1 (0.29%) React
6 1 (0.29%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 67 (19.42%) Data Centre
2 21 (6.09%) Hybrid Cloud
3 15 (4.35%) Onboarding
4 14 (4.06%) CMDB
5 13 (3.77%) NHS
6 11 (3.19%) Driving Licence
7 10 (2.90%) Management Information System
8 8 (2.32%) Data Protection Act
9 6 (1.74%) Cloud Native
10 5 (1.45%) Enterprise Software
10 5 (1.45%) Operational Technology
10 5 (1.45%) PKI
10 5 (1.45%) SCADA
10 5 (1.45%) Video Conferencing
11 4 (1.16%) iPhone
11 4 (1.16%) Public Cloud
11 4 (1.16%) Replication
11 4 (1.16%) Security Posture
11 4 (1.16%) Self-Motivation
12 3 (0.87%) Fibre Optics
Operating Systems
1 88 (25.51%) Windows
2 36 (10.43%) Windows Server
3 27 (7.83%) Windows 10
4 16 (4.64%) Linux
5 13 (3.77%) Windows Server 2016
6 8 (2.32%) Android
6 8 (2.32%) Windows Server 2019
7 6 (1.74%) Windows 7
8 5 (1.45%) Apple iOS
9 4 (1.16%) Mac OS
9 4 (1.16%) Windows Server 2012
10 3 (0.87%) Ubuntu
11 2 (0.58%) CatOS
12 1 (0.29%) MVS
12 1 (0.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 1 (0.29%) Solaris
12 1 (0.29%) VMS
12 1 (0.29%) Windows 8
12 1 (0.29%) Windows Server 2003
12 1 (0.29%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 59 (17.10%) Network Design
2 52 (15.07%) Problem-Solving
3 48 (13.91%) ITIL
4 41 (11.88%) Network Architecture
5 37 (10.72%) Migration
6 31 (8.99%) Cybersecurity
7 30 (8.70%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 26 (7.54%) Customer Service
8 26 (7.54%) ITSM
9 25 (7.25%) Stakeholder Management
10 24 (6.96%) High Availability
10 24 (6.96%) Project Delivery
10 24 (6.96%) Zero Trust
11 23 (6.67%) Change Management
12 21 (6.09%) Network Monitoring
13 20 (5.80%) Continuous Improvement
13 20 (5.80%) Service Management
14 19 (5.51%) Incident Response
14 19 (5.51%) Roadmaps
15 18 (5.22%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 29 (8.41%) Python
2 18 (5.22%) PowerShell
3 9 (2.61%) SQL
4 6 (1.74%) VBScript
5 5 (1.45%) Perl
5 5 (1.45%) VB
6 2 (0.58%) Bicep
7 1 (0.29%) Bash
7 1 (0.29%) C#
7 1 (0.29%) Java
7 1 (0.29%) JavaScript
7 1 (0.29%) Shell Script
7 1 (0.29%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 113 (32.75%) Security Cleared
2 98 (28.41%) Cisco Certification
3 82 (23.77%) SC Cleared
4 77 (22.32%) CCNP
5 43 (12.46%) Degree
6 36 (10.43%) DV Cleared
7 32 (9.28%) CCIE
8 29 (8.41%) CCNA
9 20 (5.80%) JNCIE
10 14 (4.06%) AWS Certification
11 10 (2.90%) Azure Certification
11 10 (2.90%) JNCIP
11 10 (2.90%) Microsoft Certification
12 8 (2.32%) JNCIS
13 7 (2.03%) BPSS Clearance
13 7 (2.03%) CCSE
13 7 (2.03%) CISSP
13 7 (2.03%) MCP
13 7 (2.03%) Network+ Certification
14 6 (1.74%) HNC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (3.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 10 (2.90%) NIST
3 9 (2.61%) GDPR
4 7 (2.03%) PCI DSS
4 7 (2.03%) SLA
5 5 (1.45%) QA
6 4 (1.16%) PMO
7 2 (0.58%) Accessibility
7 2 (0.58%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.58%) JSP 440
7 2 (0.58%) NCSC
8 1 (0.29%) GRC
8 1 (0.29%) MiFID
8 1 (0.29%) RMADS
8 1 (0.29%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 53 (15.36%) Active Directory
2 24 (6.96%) VMware Infrastructure
3 17 (4.93%) VMware NSX
4 8 (2.32%) Hyper-V
5 5 (1.45%) BitLocker
5 5 (1.45%) Virtual Desktop
6 3 (0.87%) Docker
6 3 (0.87%) KVM
7 2 (0.58%) Firmware
7 2 (0.58%) NFS
7 2 (0.58%) ProxySG
7 2 (0.58%) Xen
8 1 (0.29%) Ceph
8 1 (0.29%) iptables
8 1 (0.29%) RHEV
8 1 (0.29%) Samba
8 1 (0.29%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.29%) SRDF
8 1 (0.29%) Veritas Cluster Server
8 1 (0.29%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 33 (9.57%) Ansible
2 29 (8.41%) Terraform
3 20 (5.80%) Microsoft Intune
4 19 (5.51%) FortiGate
5 13 (3.77%) SCCM
6 6 (1.74%) Single Sign-On
7 4 (1.16%) Nagios
7 4 (1.16%) SCOM
8 3 (0.87%) Cisco CUCM
8 3 (0.87%) Jamf Pro
9 2 (0.58%) Cisco Prime
9 2 (0.58%) Endace
9 2 (0.58%) Grafana
10 1 (0.29%) Backup Exec
10 1 (0.29%) Failover Clustering
10 1 (0.29%) Norton AntiVirus
10 1 (0.29%) Prometheus
10 1 (0.29%) Puppet
10 1 (0.29%) WhatsUp Gold
10 1 (0.29%) WSUS
Vendors
1 159 (46.09%) Cisco
2 67 (19.42%) Microsoft
3 65 (18.84%) Palo Alto
4 56 (16.23%) Fortinet
5 48 (13.91%) Juniper
6 36 (10.43%) VMware
7 34 (9.86%) CheckPoint
8 31 (8.99%) F5
8 31 (8.99%) Meraki
9 29 (8.41%) Aruba
10 22 (6.38%) SolarWinds
11 20 (5.80%) ServiceNow
12 19 (5.51%) Zscaler
13 15 (4.35%) Citrix
14 11 (3.19%) Veeam
15 8 (2.32%) Oracle
16 7 (2.03%) LogicMonitor
17 6 (1.74%) Arista
18 5 (1.45%) Adobe
18 5 (1.45%) Infoblox