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 16 May 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 286 308 241
Rank change year-on-year +22 -67 -48
Contract jobs citing NHS 344 171 365
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.84% 0.70% 1.00%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 2.61% 2.07% 3.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 271 122 232
10th Percentile £243 £196 £168
25th Percentile £325 £252 £205
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £425 £303
Median % change year-on-year +5.88% +40.15% +1.08%
75th Percentile £517 £500 £450
90th Percentile £600 £574 £568
UK median daily rate £450 £413 £315
% change year-on-year +9.09% +30.95% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 15 68
10th Percentile £15.79 £13.08 £11.23
25th Percentile £16.09 £15.22 £12.25
Median hourly rate £22.50 £18.13 £14.83
Median % change year-on-year +24.10% +22.27% -32.60%
75th Percentile £28.62 £33.75 £24.08
90th Percentile £42.24 £33.99 £43.00
UK median hourly rate £22.50 £18.13 £13.24
% change year-on-year +24.10% +36.93% -36.95%

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 13,186 8,258 11,162
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 32.14% 34.04% 30.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,329 5,410 7,319
10th Percentile £313 £300 £269
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £538 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.19% -2.27% -4.35%
75th Percentile £626 £673 £675
90th Percentile £750 £788 £800
UK median daily rate £509 £525 £543
% change year-on-year -3.05% -3.23% -1.36%
Number of hourly rates quoted 670 328 812
10th Percentile £16.01 £16.58 £12.25
25th Percentile £21.00 £20.64 £15.16
Median hourly rate £46.00 £33.96 £32.56
Median % change year-on-year +35.47% +4.29% +44.80%
75th Percentile £70.00 £64.50 £61.30
90th Percentile £88.00 £84.65 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £42.50 £31.76 £31.25
% change year-on-year +33.82% +1.63% +38.98%

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 16 May 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 16 May 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 16 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 +1 122 £439 -2.50% 74
North of England -13 103 £475 +4.40% 85
Yorkshire -10 79 £500 - 53
East of England +13 47 £278 -0.89% 16
North West -27 24 £400 +86.05% 27
South East -82 21 £450 +62.90% 61
Midlands -63 17 £470 +34.48% 55
West Midlands -59 16 £470 +34.48% 34
South West -28 13 £570 +60.56% 31
East Midlands - 1 - - 21
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 (3.20%) SharePoint
2 5 (1.45%) CMS
2 5 (1.45%) Confluence
2 5 (1.45%) Palantir Foundry
3 1 (0.29%) Apache Airflow
3 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.29%) Umbraco
Applications
1 11 (3.20%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (2.33%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.16%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.87%) Spreadsheet
5 2 (0.58%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.58%) Trello
6 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 13 (3.78%) SystmOne
2 3 (0.87%) Lorenzo
3 2 (0.58%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.29%) Cerner Millennium
4 1 (0.29%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.29%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 48 (13.95%) AWS
2 40 (11.63%) Azure
3 22 (6.40%) Serverless
4 18 (5.23%) AWS Lambda
5 14 (4.07%) Amazon S3
6 13 (3.78%) GitHub
7 12 (3.49%) Power Platform
8 10 (2.91%) GCP
9 9 (2.62%) Amazon EC2
9 9 (2.62%) Azure DevOps
10 8 (2.33%) Microsoft 365
11 7 (2.03%) GitHub Actions
12 6 (1.74%) Amazon SQS
13 5 (1.45%) Amazon ECS
13 5 (1.45%) AWS Step Functions
14 4 (1.16%) Amazon ECR
14 4 (1.16%) Amazon EKS
14 4 (1.16%) Azure Data Factory
15 3 (0.87%) Azure AKS
15 3 (0.87%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 7 (2.03%) DNS
2 6 (1.74%) LAN
2 6 (1.74%) TCP/IP
2 6 (1.74%) WAN
3 3 (0.87%) Firewall
3 3 (0.87%) Network Security
4 1 (0.29%) BGP
4 1 (0.29%) DHCP
4 1 (0.29%) Ethernet VPN
4 1 (0.29%) Junos
4 1 (0.29%) NGFW
4 1 (0.29%) OSPF
4 1 (0.29%) VPN
4 1 (0.29%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 51 (14.83%) Electronic Patient Records
2 19 (5.52%) Data Warehouse
3 16 (4.65%) SQL Server
4 10 (2.91%) Power BI
5 8 (2.33%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 6 (1.74%) Amazon RDS
6 6 (1.74%) DynamoDB
7 5 (1.45%) BusinessObjects
8 4 (1.16%) Amazon Athena
8 4 (1.16%) DocumentDB
8 4 (1.16%) PostgreSQL
8 4 (1.16%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 3 (0.87%) Geospatial Data
9 3 (0.87%) OLAP
9 3 (0.87%) Tableau
10 2 (0.58%) ImageNet
10 2 (0.58%) NoSQL
10 2 (0.58%) QlikView
10 2 (0.58%) SQL Server Analysis Services
11 1 (0.29%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 11 (3.20%) GitLab
2 5 (1.45%) Git
2 5 (1.45%) Jenkins
2 5 (1.45%) JIRA
3 1 (0.29%) Android Studio
3 1 (0.29%) Appium
3 1 (0.29%) Cypress.io
3 1 (0.29%) JUnit
3 1 (0.29%) Postman
3 1 (0.29%) Selenium
3 1 (0.29%) SonarQube
3 1 (0.29%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 124 (36.05%) Public Sector
2 96 (27.91%) Social Skills
3 38 (11.05%) Analytical Skills
4 19 (5.52%) Digital Health
4 19 (5.52%) Organisational Skills
5 17 (4.94%) Finance
6 13 (3.78%) Documentation Skills
7 10 (2.91%) Legal
7 10 (2.91%) Local Government
8 8 (2.33%) Influencing Skills
9 7 (2.03%) Telecoms
10 6 (1.74%) Health Technology
10 6 (1.74%) Marketing
11 5 (1.45%) Digital Healthcare
11 5 (1.45%) Electronics
11 5 (1.45%) Manufacturing
12 4 (1.16%) Law
12 4 (1.16%) Pharmaceutical
12 4 (1.16%) Publishing
13 3 (0.87%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 46 (13.37%) Analyst
2 39 (11.34%) Developer
3 33 (9.59%) Senior
4 31 (9.01%) Architect
5 26 (7.56%) Lead
6 24 (6.98%) Business Analyst
7 20 (5.81%) Designer
8 18 (5.23%) Project Manager
9 17 (4.94%) Consultant
10 13 (3.78%) Data Engineer
11 12 (3.49%) NHS Business Analyst
12 11 (3.20%) User Researcher
13 10 (2.91%) Administrator
13 10 (2.91%) Data Architect
13 10 (2.91%) Solutions Architect
14 9 (2.62%) Service Designer
15 8 (2.33%) Data Analyst
15 8 (2.33%) Delivery Manager
15 8 (2.33%) NHS Project Manager
15 8 (2.33%) Senior User Researcher
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (9.59%) FHIR
2 11 (3.20%) .NET
2 11 (3.20%) React
3 10 (2.91%) RESTful
4 8 (2.33%) Node.js
5 7 (2.03%) Spring
5 7 (2.03%) Spring Boot
6 5 (1.45%) Kafka
6 5 (1.45%) Vue
7 4 (1.16%) Middleware
7 4 (1.16%) Playwright
7 4 (1.16%) REST
8 3 (0.87%) AngularJS
8 3 (0.87%) GeoJSON
8 3 (0.87%) OpenAPI
8 3 (0.87%) RabbitMQ
8 3 (0.87%) Spring Cloud
8 3 (0.87%) Swagger
9 2 (0.58%) HTML
9 2 (0.58%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 16 (4.65%) Cloud Native
1 16 (4.65%) Product Ownership
2 14 (4.07%) Onboarding
3 9 (2.62%) Management Information System
4 8 (2.33%) LIMS
5 7 (2.03%) Data Structures
5 7 (2.03%) PACS
6 6 (1.74%) Analytical Mindset
6 6 (1.74%) Legacy Systems
7 5 (1.45%) Distributed Systems
8 4 (1.16%) Data Protection Act
8 4 (1.16%) Replication
9 3 (0.87%) Life Science
9 3 (0.87%) Security Posture
10 2 (0.58%) Cybercrime
10 2 (0.58%) Distributed Architecture
10 2 (0.58%) Freedom of Information
10 2 (0.58%) Linux Command Line
11 1 (0.29%) Greenfield Project
11 1 (0.29%) Smartcard
Operating Systems
1 15 (4.36%) Windows
2 7 (2.03%) Windows Server
3 6 (1.74%) Linux
4 2 (0.58%) Android
5 1 (0.29%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.29%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 84 (24.42%) Agile
2 43 (12.50%) Stakeholder Management
3 39 (11.34%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 38 (11.05%) CI/CD
5 37 (10.76%) Information Governance
6 34 (9.88%) Analytics
7 32 (9.30%) DevOps
8 28 (8.14%) Data Protection
8 28 (8.14%) Decision-Making
8 28 (8.14%) User Research
9 27 (7.85%) Continuous Improvement
9 27 (7.85%) Problem-Solving
10 26 (7.56%) Migration
11 24 (6.98%) Business Intelligence
12 23 (6.69%) Infrastructure as Code
13 22 (6.40%) Data Governance
13 22 (6.40%) Roadmaps
14 21 (6.10%) Service Design
14 21 (6.10%) Test Automation
15 19 (5.52%) Digital Transformation Programme
Programming Languages
1 37 (10.76%) SQL
2 23 (6.69%) Python
3 16 (4.65%) Java
4 14 (4.07%) TypeScript
5 9 (2.62%) JavaScript
6 6 (1.74%) C#
6 6 (1.74%) T-SQL
7 3 (0.87%) PHP
8 2 (0.58%) Bash
9 1 (0.29%) Bicep
9 1 (0.29%) PL/SQL
9 1 (0.29%) PowerShell
9 1 (0.29%) R
Qualifications
1 20 (5.81%) Security Cleared
2 17 (4.94%) Degree
3 16 (4.65%) SC Cleared
4 14 (4.07%) BPSS Clearance
5 2 (0.58%) CISM
5 2 (0.58%) CISSP
5 2 (0.58%) DBS Check
5 2 (0.58%) DV Cleared
5 2 (0.58%) JNCIA
5 2 (0.58%) JNCIP
5 2 (0.58%) JNCIS
5 2 (0.58%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
5 2 (0.58%) TOGAF Certification
6 1 (0.29%) CCNA
6 1 (0.29%) Cisco Certification
6 1 (0.29%) ECDL
6 1 (0.29%) HND
6 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Certification
6 1 (0.29%) PMI Certification
6 1 (0.29%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (9.88%) HL7
2 17 (4.94%) Accessibility
3 16 (4.65%) Data Quality
4 13 (3.78%) GDPR
5 9 (2.62%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 9 (2.62%) QA
6 8 (2.33%) WCAG
7 7 (2.03%) NCSC
8 6 (1.74%) PMO
9 5 (1.45%) DICOM
10 4 (1.16%) Cyber Essentials
11 3 (0.87%) NIST
11 3 (0.87%) SNOMED CT
12 2 (0.58%) Actionable Recommendations
12 2 (0.58%) GRC
13 1 (0.29%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 1 (0.29%) IEC 62304
13 1 (0.29%) ISO 9001
13 1 (0.29%) SLA
13 1 (0.29%) SOC 2
System Software
1 18 (5.23%) Docker
2 9 (2.62%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.58%) Virtual Machines
3 2 (0.58%) Xen
4 1 (0.29%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.29%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 21 (6.10%) Terraform
2 18 (5.23%) Kubernetes
3 9 (2.62%) Microsoft Intune
4 2 (0.58%) Ansible
4 2 (0.58%) Nessus
5 1 (0.29%) Argo
5 1 (0.29%) Grafana
Vendors
1 33 (9.59%) Microsoft
2 12 (3.49%) Oracle
3 9 (2.62%) Brio
3 9 (2.62%) Foundry
4 8 (2.33%) Cerner
4 8 (2.33%) Palantir
5 5 (1.45%) SAP
6 4 (1.16%) Databricks
6 4 (1.16%) Splunk
7 3 (0.87%) Google
7 3 (0.87%) InterSystems
8 2 (0.58%) Adobe
8 2 (0.58%) Juniper
8 2 (0.58%) OneLogin
8 2 (0.58%) Rapid7
8 2 (0.58%) Tenable
9 1 (0.29%) accuRx
9 1 (0.29%) BiZZdesign
9 1 (0.29%) Datix
9 1 (0.29%) OpenAI