TARGET2 Contract Job Trends in England

TARGET2
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring TARGET2 skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 6 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 547 483 565
Rank change year-on-year -64 +82 +135
Contract jobs citing TARGET2 3 3 1
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.009% 0.011% 0.003%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 0.052% 0.078% 0.019%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 1 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £675 £713 -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £700 £725 -
Median % change year-on-year -3.45% - -
75th Percentile £725 £738 -
90th Percentile - - -
UK median daily rate £700 £725 -
% change year-on-year -3.45% - -

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
England

TARGET2 falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 5,752 3,844 5,387
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 17.22% 14.63% 14.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,721 2,242 3,578
10th Percentile £325 £263 £313
25th Percentile £413 £381 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £613 £638 £640
90th Percentile £702 £738 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 319 151 302
10th Percentile £15.25 £14.70 £12.00
25th Percentile £18.04 £20.40 £14.50
Median hourly rate £25.15 £31.76 £26.45
Median % change year-on-year -20.81% +20.08% -7.84%
75th Percentile £63.40 £65.00 £51.37
90th Percentile £69.48 £75.00 £76.53
UK median hourly rate £26.11 £29.50 £25.00
% change year-on-year -11.49% +18.00% -7.85%

TARGET2
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing TARGET2 relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

TARGET2 job vacancy trend in England

TARGET2
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing TARGET2.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing TARGET2

TARGET2
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 TARGET2 within the England region over the 6 months to 6 February 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 -33 3 £700 -3.45% 3
TARGET2
UK

TARGET2
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:

Cloud Services
1 2 (66.67%) AWS
1 2 (66.67%) Azure
1 2 (66.67%) GCP
General
1 3 (100.00%) Banking
1 3 (100.00%) Finance
2 2 (66.67%) Social Skills
3 1 (33.33%) Analytical Skills
Job Titles
1 2 (66.67%) Architect
1 2 (66.67%) Solutions Architect
2 1 (33.33%) Applications Architect
2 1 (33.33%) Banking Project Manager
2 1 (33.33%) Payments Architect
2 1 (33.33%) Payments Project Manager
2 1 (33.33%) Payments Solutions Architect
2 1 (33.33%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (33.33%) .NET
1 1 (33.33%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 3 (100.00%) SWIFT Messaging Network
2 1 (33.33%) Data Protection Act
Processes & Methodologies
1 2 (66.67%) Business Strategy
1 2 (66.67%) CI/CD
1 2 (66.67%) Containerisation
1 2 (66.67%) DevOps
1 2 (66.67%) Enterprise Architecture
1 2 (66.67%) Microservices
1 2 (66.67%) Migration
1 2 (66.67%) Regulatory Change
2 1 (33.33%) Analytical Thinking
2 1 (33.33%) API Design
2 1 (33.33%) Architectural Design
2 1 (33.33%) Backlog Prioritisation
2 1 (33.33%) Continuous Improvement
2 1 (33.33%) Innovative Thinking
2 1 (33.33%) IT Strategy
2 1 (33.33%) Problem-Solving
2 1 (33.33%) SDLC
2 1 (33.33%) Technology Strategy
2 1 (33.33%) Translating Business Requirements
2 1 (33.33%) Waterfall
Programming Languages
1 1 (33.33%) Java
1 1 (33.33%) Python
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (66.67%) ISO 20022
1 2 (66.67%) PSD2
1 2 (66.67%) SEPA
System Software
1 1 (33.33%) Docker
Systems Management
1 1 (33.33%) Kubernetes