NHS Contract Job Trends in England

National Health Service (NHS)
UK > England

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term NHS in contract job vacancies in England. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited NHS over the 6 months leading up to 15 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 297 343 252
Rank change year-on-year +46 -91 -51
Contract jobs citing NHS 356 163 335
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.80% 0.60% 0.91%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 2.40% 1.73% 2.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 283 114 214
10th Percentile £250 £200 £167
25th Percentile £387 £277 £205
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £344
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% +30.81% +8.18%
75th Percentile £536 £529 £500
90th Percentile £616 £575 £593
UK median daily rate £463 £425 £350
% change year-on-year +8.82% +21.43% +13.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 11 55
10th Percentile £18.90 £13.08 £10.75
25th Percentile £21.25 £14.87 £12.13
Median hourly rate £24.61 £21.25 £13.06
Median % change year-on-year +15.81% +62.71% -34.70%
75th Percentile £34.62 £31.73 £21.15
90th Percentile £52.50 £34.15 £26.08
UK median hourly rate £22.50 £23.79 £12.96
% change year-on-year -5.40% +83.53% -32.43%

All Generic Skills
England

NHS 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 14,814 9,440 11,316
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 33.11% 34.79% 30.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,210 6,000 7,276
10th Percentile £318 £305 £288
25th Percentile £420 £408 £419
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -
75th Percentile £638 £656 £675
90th Percentile £750 £788 £825
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £538
% change year-on-year - -2.42% -2.18%
Number of hourly rates quoted 791 466 789
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.50 £12.28
25th Percentile £21.08 £18.88 £15.62
Median hourly rate £43.96 £33.47 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +31.35% -16.33% +15.54%
75th Percentile £72.50 £62.24 £63.75
90th Percentile £88.00 £80.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £31.50 £36.50
% change year-on-year +39.56% -13.70% +21.67%

NHS
Job Vacancy Trend in England

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

NHS job vacancy trend in England

NHS
Daily Rate Trend in England

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing NHS

NHS
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing NHS in England over the 6 months to 15 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for NHS in England

NHS
Hourly Rate Trend in England

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing NHS

NHS
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing NHS in England over the 6 months to 15 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for NHS in England

NHS
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 NHS within the England region over the 6 months to 15 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 +16 144 £475 +10.47% 100
North of England -9 119 £498 +4.74% 101
Yorkshire -2 94 £500 - 65
North West -32 25 £350 +62.79% 30
East of England -1 24 £262 +15.15% 36
South East -69 22 £450 +28.57% 75
South West -20 13 £546 +33.23% 23
Midlands -53 12 £400 +6.67% 44
West Midlands -61 11 £400 +14.29% 24
East Midlands -13 1 - - 20
NHS
UK

NHS
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 11 (3.09%) Palantir Foundry
2 9 (2.53%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.40%) Confluence
4 3 (0.84%) CMS
5 2 (0.56%) Microsoft Exchange
6 1 (0.28%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.28%) nginx
6 1 (0.28%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 5 (1.40%) Microsoft Excel
1 5 (1.40%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.12%) Spreadsheet
3 2 (0.56%) Trello
4 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.28%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 6 (1.69%) SystmOne
2 2 (0.56%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.56%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.28%) Cerner Millennium
3 1 (0.28%) Oracle Assets
3 1 (0.28%) Oracle Cash Management
3 1 (0.28%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.28%) Oracle Financials
3 1 (0.28%) Oracle General Ledger
3 1 (0.28%) Oracle Payables
3 1 (0.28%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 1 (0.28%) Oracle Receivables
3 1 (0.28%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
Cloud Services
1 54 (15.17%) AWS
2 40 (11.24%) Azure
3 25 (7.02%) Serverless
4 20 (5.62%) Amazon S3
4 20 (5.62%) AWS Lambda
5 14 (3.93%) GitHub
5 14 (3.93%) Power Platform
6 12 (3.37%) Amazon EC2
7 10 (2.81%) GitHub Actions
8 8 (2.25%) Microsoft 365
9 7 (1.97%) Azure Data Factory
10 6 (1.69%) Amazon SQS
10 6 (1.69%) AWS Step Functions
11 5 (1.40%) Azure DevOps
11 5 (1.40%) Azure Synapse Analytics
11 5 (1.40%) Entra ID
11 5 (1.40%) GCP
12 4 (1.12%) Adobe Analytics
12 4 (1.12%) Apigee
12 4 (1.12%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 11 (3.09%) LAN
1 11 (3.09%) WAN
2 8 (2.25%) DNS
3 6 (1.69%) Firewall
3 6 (1.69%) TCP/IP
4 5 (1.40%) NGFW
5 4 (1.12%) Structured Cabling
5 4 (1.12%) Wireless
6 2 (0.56%) Network Security
7 1 (0.28%) DHCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 40 (11.24%) Electronic Patient Records
2 16 (4.49%) Data Warehouse
2 16 (4.49%) SQL Server
3 13 (3.65%) Power BI
4 9 (2.53%) Amazon RDS
5 7 (1.97%) DynamoDB
6 6 (1.69%) Amazon Athena
6 6 (1.69%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 4 (1.12%) DocumentDB
7 4 (1.12%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 3 (0.84%) BusinessObjects
8 3 (0.84%) Data Lake
8 3 (0.84%) Geospatial Data
8 3 (0.84%) OLAP
8 3 (0.84%) Relational Database
9 2 (0.56%) Amazon Redshift
9 2 (0.56%) Delta Lake
9 2 (0.56%) Oracle BI Publisher
9 2 (0.56%) Oracle Reports
9 2 (0.56%) QlikView
Development Applications
1 9 (2.53%) GitLab
2 7 (1.97%) Git
3 5 (1.40%) JIRA
4 3 (0.84%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.28%) Cypress.io
5 1 (0.28%) JUnit
5 1 (0.28%) Postman
5 1 (0.28%) Selenium
5 1 (0.28%) SonarQube
General
1 141 (39.61%) Public Sector
2 103 (28.93%) Social Skills
3 31 (8.71%) Analytical Skills
4 17 (4.78%) Digital Health
4 17 (4.78%) Finance
5 12 (3.37%) Local Government
6 11 (3.09%) Influencing Skills
6 11 (3.09%) Organisational Skills
7 7 (1.97%) Documentation Skills
8 5 (1.40%) Pharmaceutical
9 4 (1.12%) Health Technology
9 4 (1.12%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 4 (1.12%) Law
9 4 (1.12%) Legal
10 3 (0.84%) Billing
10 3 (0.84%) Digital Healthcare
10 3 (0.84%) Marketing
10 3 (0.84%) Publishing
10 3 (0.84%) Telecoms
11 2 (0.56%) Military
Job Titles
1 37 (10.39%) Analyst
1 37 (10.39%) Architect
2 36 (10.11%) Senior
3 33 (9.27%) Developer
4 23 (6.46%) Lead
5 22 (6.18%) Data Engineer
5 22 (6.18%) Designer
6 18 (5.06%) Business Analyst
7 17 (4.78%) Project Manager
8 16 (4.49%) User Researcher
9 15 (4.21%) Consultant
10 13 (3.65%) Solutions Architect
11 12 (3.37%) Data Architect
12 11 (3.09%) Delivery Manager
13 9 (2.53%) Administrator
13 9 (2.53%) NHS Project Manager
13 9 (2.53%) Senior User Researcher
13 9 (2.53%) Service Designer
14 8 (2.25%) AWS Engineer
15 7 (1.97%) Performance Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (8.15%) FHIR
2 11 (3.09%) PySpark
3 9 (2.53%) React
4 8 (2.25%) Node.js
5 7 (1.97%) REST
5 7 (1.97%) RESTful
6 5 (1.40%) .NET
7 4 (1.12%) Middleware
7 4 (1.12%) Playwright
8 3 (0.84%) GeoJSON
8 3 (0.84%) JSON
8 3 (0.84%) Spring
8 3 (0.84%) Spring Boot
9 2 (0.56%) .NET Core
9 2 (0.56%) ASP.NET Core
9 2 (0.56%) Kafka
9 2 (0.56%) Matplotlib
9 2 (0.56%) Pandas
9 2 (0.56%) scikit-learn
9 2 (0.56%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 24 (6.74%) Cloud Native
2 19 (5.34%) Onboarding
3 17 (4.78%) Product Ownership
4 7 (1.97%) Data Structures
5 6 (1.69%) IoT
6 5 (1.40%) Legacy Systems
6 5 (1.40%) LIMS
6 5 (1.40%) Management Information System
7 4 (1.12%) Data Protection Act
7 4 (1.12%) Driving Licence
7 4 (1.12%) Mobile App
7 4 (1.12%) PACS
7 4 (1.12%) Replication
7 4 (1.12%) Security Posture
8 3 (0.84%) Distributed Systems
8 3 (0.84%) Life Science
9 2 (0.56%) Distributed Architecture
9 2 (0.56%) Freedom of Information
9 2 (0.56%) Virtual Team
10 1 (0.28%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 15 (4.21%) Windows
2 8 (2.25%) Windows Server
3 2 (0.56%) Android
3 2 (0.56%) Apple iOS
3 2 (0.56%) Linux
3 2 (0.56%) Mac OS
4 1 (0.28%) CentOS
4 1 (0.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.28%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 110 (30.90%) Agile
2 69 (19.38%) Stakeholder Management
3 50 (14.04%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 45 (12.64%) CI/CD
5 41 (11.52%) Analytics
6 37 (10.39%) Decision-Making
7 36 (10.11%) User Research
8 35 (9.83%) DevOps
9 33 (9.27%) Continuous Improvement
10 32 (8.99%) Migration
11 31 (8.71%) Infrastructure as Code
12 29 (8.15%) Problem-Solving
13 27 (7.58%) Information Governance
13 27 (7.58%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
13 27 (7.58%) Validation
14 25 (7.02%) Roadmaps
15 24 (6.74%) Digital Transformation Programme
15 24 (6.74%) Service Design
16 23 (6.46%) ETL
16 23 (6.46%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 39 (10.96%) SQL
2 36 (10.11%) Python
3 15 (4.21%) TypeScript
4 11 (3.09%) JavaScript
5 9 (2.53%) Java
6 7 (1.97%) T-SQL
7 6 (1.69%) C#
8 3 (0.84%) Bicep
9 2 (0.56%) PowerShell
10 1 (0.28%) Bash
10 1 (0.28%) R
Qualifications
1 30 (8.43%) Security Cleared
2 25 (7.02%) SC Cleared
3 21 (5.90%) BPSS Clearance
4 14 (3.93%) Degree
5 4 (1.12%) AWS Certification
5 4 (1.12%) JNCIP
5 4 (1.12%) JNCIS
6 2 (0.56%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
6 2 (0.56%) DV Cleared
6 2 (0.56%) Microsoft Certification
6 2 (0.56%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
7 1 (0.28%) Azure Certification
7 1 (0.28%) DBS Check
7 1 (0.28%) IIBA
7 1 (0.28%) NVQ Level 3
7 1 (0.28%) PMI Certification
7 1 (0.28%) PMP
7 1 (0.28%) Postgraduate
7 1 (0.28%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (8.99%) HL7
2 24 (6.74%) Accessibility
3 23 (6.46%) Data Quality
4 14 (3.93%) QA
5 13 (3.65%) GDPR
6 12 (3.37%) WCAG
7 9 (2.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 8 (2.25%) PMO
9 5 (1.40%) DICOM
10 4 (1.12%) Actionable Recommendations
10 4 (1.12%) SNOMED CT
11 3 (0.84%) NCSC
12 2 (0.56%) NIST
13 1 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials
13 1 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 1 (0.28%) GRC
13 1 (0.28%) IEC 62304
13 1 (0.28%) PCI DSS
13 1 (0.28%) SOC 2
System Software
1 11 (3.09%) Docker
2 9 (2.53%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.56%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.28%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.28%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 29 (8.15%) Terraform
2 12 (3.37%) Kubernetes
3 8 (2.25%) Microsoft Intune
4 2 (0.56%) Jamf Pro
4 2 (0.56%) Nessus
5 1 (0.28%) Ansible
5 1 (0.28%) Puppet
Vendors
1 34 (9.55%) Microsoft
2 18 (5.06%) Palantir
3 15 (4.21%) Foundry
4 11 (3.09%) Databricks
5 9 (2.53%) Oracle
6 8 (2.25%) Brio
7 4 (1.12%) Adobe
7 4 (1.12%) Google
7 4 (1.12%) Juniper
7 4 (1.12%) Palo Alto
7 4 (1.12%) Splunk
8 3 (0.84%) Cerner
8 3 (0.84%) InterSystems
8 3 (0.84%) Tenable
9 2 (0.56%) Cisco
9 2 (0.56%) Informatica
9 2 (0.56%) OneLogin
9 2 (0.56%) ServiceNow
9 2 (0.56%) VMware
9 2 (0.56%) Zscaler