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 18 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 318 351 306
Rank change year-on-year +33 -45 -85
Contract jobs citing NHS 341 169 227
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.74% 0.61% 0.69%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 2.18% 1.69% 2.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 257 115 139
10th Percentile £226 £160 £174
25th Percentile £325 £313 £276
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £450 £350
Median % change year-on-year +2.78% +28.57% +8.62%
75th Percentile £525 £538 £531
90th Percentile £599 £594 £650
UK median daily rate £450 £425 £350
% change year-on-year +5.88% +21.43% +12.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 6 15
10th Percentile £16.00 £21.28 £12.82
25th Percentile £17.00 £22.54 £15.71
Median hourly rate £20.00 £28.80 £18.27
Median % change year-on-year -30.56% +57.65% -8.65%
75th Percentile £30.30 £30.60 £22.64
90th Percentile £33.60 £31.73 £25.49
UK median hourly rate £20.00 £28.80 £20.59
% change year-on-year -30.56% +39.89% +5.59%

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 15,646 10,012 10,183
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 33.89% 36.00% 30.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,463 6,294 6,274
10th Percentile £325 £300 £300
25th Percentile £425 £408 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -
75th Percentile £638 £650 £675
90th Percentile £750 £775 £825
UK median daily rate £525 £515 £540
% change year-on-year +1.94% -4.63% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,063 498 415
10th Percentile £14.01 £15.48 £15.11
25th Percentile £17.99 £18.87 £23.80
Median hourly rate £37.50 £33.03 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +13.55% -42.41% +25.00%
75th Percentile £70.00 £58.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £83.00 £75.00 £75.16
UK median hourly rate £38.25 £30.00 £50.00
% change year-on-year +27.50% -40.00% +11.11%

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 18 September 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 18 September 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 18 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 +8 150 £475 +11.76% 337
North of England -11 114 £465 -7.10% 252
Yorkshire +7 85 £481 -3.75% 116
North West -37 27 £350 -11.39% 113
East of England -14 26 £170 -25.21% 93
South East -60 17 £450 +28.57% 155
Midlands -39 13 £400 +6.67% 127
West Midlands -38 10 £450 +28.57% 80
South West -30 7 £474 +113.40% 91
East Midlands -14 3 £300 -25.00% 47
North East -45 2 - - 30
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 10 (2.93%) Palantir Foundry
2 3 (0.88%) Confluence
2 3 (0.88%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.29%) nginx
3 1 (0.29%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 7 (2.05%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.76%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.88%) Spreadsheet
4 2 (0.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.29%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 5 (1.47%) SystmOne
2 2 (0.59%) Cerner Millennium
2 2 (0.59%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.59%) Lorenzo
3 1 (0.29%) Oracle Assets
3 1 (0.29%) Oracle Cash Management
3 1 (0.29%) Oracle Financials
3 1 (0.29%) Oracle General Ledger
3 1 (0.29%) Oracle Payables
3 1 (0.29%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 1 (0.29%) Oracle Receivables
3 1 (0.29%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
Cloud Services
1 59 (17.30%) AWS
2 47 (13.78%) Azure
3 28 (8.21%) Serverless
4 21 (6.16%) Amazon S3
5 19 (5.57%) AWS Lambda
5 19 (5.57%) Power Platform
6 14 (4.11%) GitHub
6 14 (4.11%) Microsoft 365
7 12 (3.52%) Amazon EC2
8 10 (2.93%) GitHub Actions
9 7 (2.05%) Azure DevOps
9 7 (2.05%) Entra ID
10 6 (1.76%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 6 (1.76%) Azure Data Factory
10 6 (1.76%) Azure Functions
10 6 (1.76%) Azure Key Vault
10 6 (1.76%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 5 (1.47%) Adobe Analytics
11 5 (1.47%) AWS Step Functions
11 5 (1.47%) Azure Synapse Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 8 (2.35%) Firewall
1 8 (2.35%) LAN
1 8 (2.35%) WAN
2 6 (1.76%) Network Security
3 4 (1.17%) DNS
3 4 (1.17%) NGFW
3 4 (1.17%) Structured Cabling
3 4 (1.17%) Wireless
4 2 (0.59%) DHCP
4 2 (0.59%) TCP/IP
5 1 (0.29%) HTTP
5 1 (0.29%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (6.45%) Electronic Patient Records
2 17 (4.99%) Data Warehouse
3 16 (4.69%) Power BI
4 11 (3.23%) SQL Server
5 10 (2.93%) Amazon RDS
6 8 (2.35%) DynamoDB
7 6 (1.76%) Amazon Athena
8 4 (1.17%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 3 (0.88%) BusinessObjects
9 3 (0.88%) Data Lake
9 3 (0.88%) OLAP
9 3 (0.88%) Relational Database
9 3 (0.88%) Tableau
10 2 (0.59%) Amazon Redshift
10 2 (0.59%) Azure SQL Database
10 2 (0.59%) Delta Lake
10 2 (0.59%) DocumentDB
10 2 (0.59%) NoSQL
10 2 (0.59%) Oracle BI Publisher
10 2 (0.59%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 10 (2.93%) Git
2 5 (1.47%) GitLab
2 5 (1.47%) JIRA
3 4 (1.17%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.29%) Cypress.io
4 1 (0.29%) JMeter
4 1 (0.29%) Postman
4 1 (0.29%) Rational Rhapsody
4 1 (0.29%) Selenium
4 1 (0.29%) SonarQube
General
1 133 (39.00%) Public Sector
2 124 (36.36%) Social Skills
3 28 (8.21%) Analytical Skills
4 25 (7.33%) Finance
5 12 (3.52%) Digital Health
5 12 (3.52%) Influencing Skills
5 12 (3.52%) Local Government
6 8 (2.35%) Organisational Skills
7 7 (2.05%) Digital Healthcare
7 7 (2.05%) Pharmaceutical
8 5 (1.47%) Documentation Skills
9 3 (0.88%) Billing
9 3 (0.88%) Health Technology
9 3 (0.88%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 3 (0.88%) Law
9 3 (0.88%) Legal
9 3 (0.88%) Marketing
9 3 (0.88%) Presentation Skills
9 3 (0.88%) Social Housing
10 2 (0.59%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 45 (13.20%) Developer
2 38 (11.14%) Senior
3 36 (10.56%) Analyst
4 26 (7.62%) Architect
5 20 (5.87%) Data Engineer
6 19 (5.57%) Designer
6 19 (5.57%) Lead
6 19 (5.57%) Project Manager
7 16 (4.69%) Business Analyst
8 11 (3.23%) Service Designer
9 10 (2.93%) Consultant
9 10 (2.93%) Data Architect
10 9 (2.64%) Delivery Manager
10 9 (2.64%) Python Developer
10 9 (2.64%) User Researcher
11 8 (2.35%) Administrator
11 8 (2.35%) Full-Stack Developer
12 7 (2.05%) Service Analyst
12 7 (2.05%) Software Engineer
12 7 (2.05%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (9.68%) Terraform
2 18 (5.28%) FHIR
3 14 (4.11%) REST
4 11 (3.23%) PySpark
4 11 (3.23%) RESTful
5 9 (2.64%) React
6 7 (2.05%) Node.js
7 6 (1.76%) Vue
8 5 (1.47%) .NET
8 5 (1.47%) CSS
8 5 (1.47%) HTML
8 5 (1.47%) JSON
8 5 (1.47%) OpenID
8 5 (1.47%) Playwright
9 4 (1.17%) ARM Templates
9 4 (1.17%) Django
9 4 (1.17%) OAuth
9 4 (1.17%) OAuth2
10 3 (0.88%) Flask
10 3 (0.88%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 23 (6.74%) Cloud Native
2 19 (5.57%) Product Ownership
3 13 (3.81%) Onboarding
4 10 (2.93%) Management Information System
5 9 (2.64%) Data Structures
6 7 (2.05%) Legacy Systems
7 6 (1.76%) Driving Licence
7 6 (1.76%) Security Posture
8 5 (1.47%) IoT
9 4 (1.17%) Data Protection Act
9 4 (1.17%) Mobile App
10 3 (0.88%) Cloud Security Posture
10 3 (0.88%) Distributed Systems
10 3 (0.88%) Freedom of Information
10 3 (0.88%) LIMS
11 2 (0.59%) Analytical Mindset
11 2 (0.59%) CMDB
11 2 (0.59%) Greenfield Project
11 2 (0.59%) Housing Association
11 2 (0.59%) Life Science
Operating Systems
1 11 (3.23%) Windows
2 5 (1.47%) Windows 10
2 5 (1.47%) Windows Server
3 2 (0.59%) Android
3 2 (0.59%) Apple iOS
3 2 (0.59%) Linux
3 2 (0.59%) Mac OS
4 1 (0.29%) CentOS
4 1 (0.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.29%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 111 (32.55%) Agile
2 86 (25.22%) Stakeholder Management
3 56 (16.42%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 54 (15.84%) CI/CD
5 48 (14.08%) Problem-Solving
6 46 (13.49%) Continuous Improvement
7 40 (11.73%) Decision-Making
8 38 (11.14%) Analytics
9 36 (10.56%) AI
9 36 (10.56%) DevOps
9 36 (10.56%) Infrastructure as Code
10 35 (10.26%) Digital Transformation Programme
11 31 (9.09%) Migration
12 29 (8.50%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
12 29 (8.50%) Validation
13 28 (8.21%) Information Governance
14 27 (7.92%) Data Protection
14 27 (7.92%) Workshop Facilitation
15 24 (7.04%) Business Intelligence
16 23 (6.74%) Data Pipeline
Programming Languages
1 38 (11.14%) SQL
2 37 (10.85%) Python
3 15 (4.40%) JavaScript
3 15 (4.40%) TypeScript
4 8 (2.35%) Java
5 7 (2.05%) C#
6 5 (1.47%) Bicep
6 5 (1.47%) PowerShell
7 4 (1.17%) T-SQL
8 2 (0.59%) Bash
8 2 (0.59%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 1 (0.29%) Kusto Query Language
9 1 (0.29%) R
Qualifications
1 29 (8.50%) Security Cleared
2 23 (6.74%) SC Cleared
3 17 (4.99%) BPSS Clearance
4 9 (2.64%) Degree
5 4 (1.17%) AWS Certification
5 4 (1.17%) JNCIP
5 4 (1.17%) JNCIS
5 4 (1.17%) Microsoft Certification
6 3 (0.88%) Azure Certification
6 3 (0.88%) Cisco Certification
7 2 (0.59%) (ISC)2 CCSP
7 2 (0.59%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
7 2 (0.59%) CISSP
7 2 (0.59%) DV Cleared
7 2 (0.59%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
8 1 (0.29%) CCNA
8 1 (0.29%) CCSP
8 1 (0.29%) CRISC
8 1 (0.29%) MCSE
8 1 (0.29%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (6.45%) Data Quality
2 21 (6.16%) Accessibility
2 21 (6.16%) GDPR
2 21 (6.16%) QA
3 17 (4.99%) HL7
4 14 (4.11%) WCAG
5 11 (3.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 5 (1.47%) PMO
7 4 (1.17%) Actionable Recommendations
7 4 (1.17%) NCSC
8 3 (0.88%) IEC 62304
8 3 (0.88%) SNOMED CT
9 2 (0.59%) Cyber Essentials
9 2 (0.59%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.59%) ISO 13485
10 1 (0.29%) DICOM
10 1 (0.29%) GRC
10 1 (0.29%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 1 (0.29%) NIST
10 1 (0.29%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 14 (4.11%) Docker
2 10 (2.93%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.88%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.59%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.29%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.29%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 12 (3.52%) Kubernetes
2 2 (0.59%) Grafana
2 2 (0.59%) Jamf Pro
3 1 (0.29%) Ansible
3 1 (0.29%) Puppet
Vendors
1 47 (13.78%) Microsoft
2 16 (4.69%) Palantir
3 14 (4.11%) Foundry
4 11 (3.23%) Databricks
4 11 (3.23%) ServiceNow
5 9 (2.64%) Oracle
6 8 (2.35%) Brio
6 8 (2.35%) Cerner
7 6 (1.76%) VMware
8 5 (1.47%) Adobe
8 5 (1.47%) Splunk
9 4 (1.17%) Google
9 4 (1.17%) Juniper
9 4 (1.17%) Palo Alto
10 3 (0.88%) Cisco
10 3 (0.88%) Citrix
11 2 (0.59%) Blue Prism
11 2 (0.59%) BMC
11 2 (0.59%) Dynatrace
11 2 (0.59%) Meraki