User Stories Contract Job Trends in England

User Story
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring User Stories skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 23 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 130 161 151
Rank change year-on-year +31 -10 -29
Contract jobs citing User Stories 822 413 591
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.07% 1.68% 1.59%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.43% 1.85% 1.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 574 262 414
10th Percentile £353 £351 £359
25th Percentile £413 £415 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -6.98% +2.38%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £600
90th Percentile £650 £675 £654
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £538
% change year-on-year - -6.98% +3.37%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 2 7
10th Percentile £43.31 £54.90 £31.71
25th Percentile £54.73 £57.00 £32.36
Median hourly rate £70.00 £61.75 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year +13.36% +17.62% -18.60%
75th Percentile £74.26 £67.75 £59.88
90th Percentile - £70.60 £68.60
UK median hourly rate £70.00 £53.50 £52.50
% change year-on-year +30.84% +1.90% -18.60%

All Process & Methodology Skills
England

User Stories falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 33,832 22,384 32,276
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.21% 91.08% 86.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,627 14,686 21,247
10th Percentile £315 £310 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £614 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £521 £525
% change year-on-year -4.03% -0.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,111 905 2,227
10th Percentile £15.38 £14.79 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.51 £15.91
Median hourly rate £42.50 £31.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +37.10% -11.43% -6.67%
75th Percentile £67.25 £63.75 £58.75
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £72.47
UK median hourly rate £39.50 £29.90 £35.00
% change year-on-year +32.11% -14.57% -6.67%

User Stories
Job Vacancy Trend in England

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

User Stories job vacancy trend in England

User Stories
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing User Stories.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing User Stories

User Stories
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing User Stories in England over the 6 months to 23 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for User Stories in England

User Stories
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing User Stories.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing User Stories

User Stories
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing User Stories in England over the 6 months to 23 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for User Stories in England

User Stories
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 User Stories within the England region over the 6 months to 23 April 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 +50 465 £500 -4.76% 55
North of England +20 146 £475 +5.56% 35
Midlands -5 88 £492 +6.38% 26
North West +9 70 £400 -20.00% 17
West Midlands -16 67 £492 +3.58% 17
South East -48 65 £454 -11.80% 49
Yorkshire -18 51 £510 +20.00% 14
North East -2 27 £475 +18.75% 5
South West -24 27 £480 -16.52% 14
East of England -18 22 £525 +40.00% 9
East Midlands -19 21 £463 +17.01% 9
User Stories
UK

User Stories
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
1 160 (19.46%) Confluence
2 27 (3.28%) SharePoint
3 17 (2.07%) CMS
4 11 (1.34%) Microsoft Exchange
5 9 (1.09%) SAS
6 4 (0.49%) Jupyter
7 3 (0.36%) Anypoint
7 3 (0.36%) Camunda
8 2 (0.24%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 2 (0.24%) Drupal
8 2 (0.24%) JBoss
8 2 (0.24%) Sitecore CMS
8 2 (0.24%) WordPress
9 1 (0.12%) Apache
9 1 (0.12%) Apache Airflow
9 1 (0.12%) Apache Solr
9 1 (0.12%) SharePoint Server
9 1 (0.12%) Tomcat
Applications
1 48 (5.84%) Microsoft Excel
2 44 (5.35%) MS Visio
3 26 (3.16%) Microsoft Office
4 21 (2.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.61%) Adobe XD
5 5 (0.61%) Sketch
6 3 (0.36%) Chatbot
6 3 (0.36%) InVision
6 3 (0.36%) Notion
6 3 (0.36%) Zeplin
7 2 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Project
8 1 (0.12%) Trello
Business Applications
1 18 (2.19%) Dynamics CRM
2 8 (0.97%) NetSuite
3 7 (0.85%) SAP S/4HANA
4 6 (0.73%) Adobe Campaign
5 4 (0.49%) Dynamics AX
5 4 (0.49%) Eloqua
5 4 (0.49%) Oracle Payables
5 4 (0.49%) Oracle Receivables
5 4 (0.49%) ProductWriter
6 3 (0.36%) Dynamics GP
6 3 (0.36%) Dynamics SL
6 3 (0.36%) Infor CloudSuite
6 3 (0.36%) Oracle EBS
6 3 (0.36%) Oracle Financials
6 3 (0.36%) Sage X3
6 3 (0.36%) Salesforce CRM
6 3 (0.36%) Temenos T24
7 2 (0.24%) Exchequer
7 2 (0.24%) Payment Gateway
7 2 (0.24%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 132 (16.06%) Azure
2 70 (8.52%) AWS
3 68 (8.27%) Power Platform
4 48 (5.84%) Azure DevOps
5 25 (3.04%) Dynamics 365
5 25 (3.04%) Salesforce Service Cloud
6 24 (2.92%) Microsoft 365
7 22 (2.68%) GitHub
8 21 (2.55%) GCP
9 20 (2.43%) SaaS
10 17 (2.07%) Power Automate
10 17 (2.07%) PowerApps
11 15 (1.82%) Figma
12 13 (1.58%) Entra ID
12 13 (1.58%) Lucidchart
12 13 (1.58%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
13 12 (1.46%) Azure Data Factory
13 12 (1.46%) Miro
14 9 (1.09%) GitHub Actions
15 8 (0.97%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 11 (1.34%) WebEx
2 9 (1.09%) Firewall
3 8 (0.97%) Network Security
4 6 (0.73%) HTTP
5 5 (0.61%) DNS
6 4 (0.49%) FTP
7 3 (0.36%) BGP
7 3 (0.36%) VLAN
8 2 (0.24%) Software-Defined Networking
8 2 (0.24%) Wireless
9 1 (0.12%) Cisco IPT
9 1 (0.12%) NGFW
9 1 (0.12%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 54 (6.57%) Power BI
2 23 (2.80%) Data Warehouse
3 20 (2.43%) Metadata
4 15 (1.82%) Tableau
5 13 (1.58%) SQL Server
6 10 (1.22%) BigQuery
6 10 (1.22%) NoSQL
6 10 (1.22%) PostgreSQL
7 9 (1.09%) Relational Database
8 7 (0.85%) Data Lake
9 6 (0.73%) Delta Lake
10 4 (0.49%) Big Data
11 3 (0.36%) Amazon Athena
11 3 (0.36%) Amazon RDS
11 3 (0.36%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.36%) MongoDB
11 3 (0.36%) OLAP
11 3 (0.36%) Parquet
12 2 (0.24%) Oracle OLAP
12 2 (0.24%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 209 (25.43%) JIRA
2 23 (2.80%) Postman
3 22 (2.68%) Jenkins
4 15 (1.82%) Git
5 10 (1.22%) Cucumber
5 10 (1.22%) GitLab
5 10 (1.22%) Selenium
6 9 (1.09%) Zephyr
7 8 (0.97%) JUnit
8 6 (0.73%) SonarQube
9 5 (0.61%) Axure RP
9 5 (0.61%) Balsamiq
9 5 (0.61%) JMeter
9 5 (0.61%) TeamCity
9 5 (0.61%) TestRail
10 4 (0.49%) Sonatype Nexus
10 4 (0.49%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
11 3 (0.36%) Artifactory
11 3 (0.36%) REST Assured
11 3 (0.36%) SpecFlow
General
1 331 (40.27%) Social Skills
2 218 (26.52%) Finance
3 214 (26.03%) Analytical Skills
4 114 (13.87%) Public Sector
5 92 (11.19%) Banking
6 63 (7.66%) Documentation Skills
7 46 (5.60%) Presentation Skills
8 45 (5.47%) Retail
9 33 (4.01%) Marketing
10 30 (3.65%) Legal
11 23 (2.80%) Influencing Skills
12 16 (1.95%) Financial Institution
12 16 (1.95%) Front Office
12 16 (1.95%) Organisational Skills
13 15 (1.82%) Military
14 12 (1.46%) Retail Banking
15 11 (1.34%) Investment Banking
16 10 (1.22%) Back Office
17 9 (1.09%) General Ledger
18 8 (0.97%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 453 (55.11%) Analyst
2 426 (51.82%) Business Analyst
3 138 (16.79%) Senior
4 93 (11.31%) Senior Analyst
5 87 (10.58%) Product Owner
5 87 (10.58%) Senior Business Analyst
6 54 (6.57%) Developer
7 52 (6.33%) Technical Analyst
8 50 (6.08%) Product Manager
9 49 (5.96%) Technical Business Analyst
10 42 (5.11%) Salesforce Business Analyst
11 41 (4.99%) Salesforce Analyst
12 27 (3.28%) Lead
13 26 (3.16%) Data Analyst
14 25 (3.04%) Implementation Analyst
14 25 (3.04%) SC Cleared Business Analyst
15 24 (2.92%) Data Business Analyst
15 24 (2.92%) Designer
16 22 (2.68%) Financial Analyst
17 21 (2.55%) Banking Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (3.65%) REST
2 15 (1.82%) React
3 14 (1.70%) ADO
3 14 (1.70%) RESTful
3 14 (1.70%) XML
4 12 (1.46%) VML
5 11 (1.34%) XMPP
6 10 (1.22%) JSON
6 10 (1.22%) Kafka
7 9 (1.09%) HTML
7 9 (1.09%) Node.js
8 8 (0.97%) Spring
9 7 (0.85%) AngularJS
9 7 (0.85%) CSS
9 7 (0.85%) Lightning Web Components
9 7 (0.85%) Spring Boot
10 6 (0.73%) .NET
10 6 (0.73%) FHIR
11 5 (0.61%) ASP.NET
11 5 (0.61%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 269 (32.73%) Product Ownership
2 23 (2.80%) Self-Motivation
3 22 (2.68%) Analytical Mindset
4 21 (2.55%) Onboarding
5 20 (2.43%) Data Protection Act
5 20 (2.43%) Legacy Systems
6 16 (1.95%) CMDB
7 14 (1.70%) Data Structures
7 14 (1.70%) Management Information System
8 13 (1.58%) Cloud Native
8 13 (1.58%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 10 (1.22%) PMI
9 10 (1.22%) Virtual Team
10 9 (1.09%) NHS
11 8 (0.97%) Marketing Technology
11 8 (0.97%) SWIFT Messaging Network
12 7 (0.85%) Reinsurance
13 6 (0.73%) Greenfield Project
13 6 (0.73%) Low-Code
13 6 (0.73%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 17 (2.07%) Linux
1 17 (2.07%) Windows
2 9 (1.09%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 8 (0.97%) Windows Server
4 2 (0.24%) Unix
5 1 (0.12%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 527 (64.11%) Agile
2 338 (41.12%) Acceptance Criteria
3 259 (31.51%) Stakeholder Management
4 209 (25.43%) Workshop Facilitation
5 195 (23.72%) Requirements Gathering
6 184 (22.38%) Business Analysis
7 181 (22.02%) Scrum
8 166 (20.19%) User Acceptance Testing
9 155 (18.86%) Problem-Solving
10 149 (18.13%) DevOps
10 149 (18.13%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 139 (16.91%) Roadmaps
12 123 (14.96%) Sprint Planning
13 118 (14.36%) Data Modelling
14 115 (13.99%) Migration
15 100 (12.17%) Backlog Management
15 100 (12.17%) Product Backlog
16 97 (11.80%) Analytics
17 94 (11.44%) Continuous Improvement
18 83 (10.10%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 101 (12.29%) SQL
2 59 (7.18%) Python
3 34 (4.14%) Java
4 22 (2.68%) JavaScript
5 17 (2.07%) PowerShell
6 15 (1.82%) C#
7 9 (1.09%) Bash
7 9 (1.09%) Perl
7 9 (1.09%) TypeScript
8 6 (0.73%) Korn
9 5 (0.61%) Apex Code
9 5 (0.61%) Scala
10 4 (0.49%) Kotlin
10 4 (0.49%) T-SQL
10 4 (0.49%) VBA
11 3 (0.36%) R
11 3 (0.36%) XPath
12 2 (0.24%) PHP
12 2 (0.24%) PL/SQL
12 2 (0.24%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 161 (19.59%) Security Cleared
2 128 (15.57%) SC Cleared
3 84 (10.22%) Degree
4 36 (4.38%) CBAP
5 35 (4.26%) BPSS Clearance
6 30 (3.65%) IIBA
7 21 (2.55%) CSPO
8 15 (1.82%) PMI Certification
9 11 (1.34%) Master's Degree
10 6 (0.73%) CCDP
10 6 (0.73%) CCNA
10 6 (0.73%) CCNP
10 6 (0.73%) Cisco Certification
10 6 (0.73%) Computer Science Degree
10 6 (0.73%) ISTQB
10 6 (0.73%) MBA
11 5 (0.61%) DV Cleared
11 5 (0.61%) ISEB
11 5 (0.61%) PMP
12 4 (0.49%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 110 (13.38%) QA
2 46 (5.60%) Data Quality
3 41 (4.99%) Accessibility
4 25 (3.04%) GDPR
5 14 (1.70%) SLA
6 13 (1.58%) WCAG
7 7 (0.85%) NIST
8 6 (0.73%) GxP
8 6 (0.73%) HL7
9 5 (0.61%) PSD2
10 4 (0.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 3 (0.36%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 3 (0.36%) GMP
11 3 (0.36%) GRC
11 3 (0.36%) ISO 20022
11 3 (0.36%) PCI DSS
11 3 (0.36%) SNOMED CT
11 3 (0.36%) Solvency II
12 2 (0.24%) EU AI Act
12 2 (0.24%) NCSC
System Software
1 23 (2.80%) Docker
2 13 (1.58%) Active Directory
3 6 (0.73%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.24%) IAG
5 1 (0.12%) Ceph
5 1 (0.12%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.12%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 27 (3.28%) Kubernetes
2 12 (1.46%) Terraform
3 10 (1.22%) Ansible
4 7 (0.85%) SCCM
5 5 (0.61%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 5 (0.61%) HP Quality Center
5 5 (0.61%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (0.36%) Progress Chef
7 2 (0.24%) CASB
7 2 (0.24%) FortiGate
7 2 (0.24%) Grafana
7 2 (0.24%) HP ALM
7 2 (0.24%) Jamf Pro
8 1 (0.12%) Argo
8 1 (0.12%) CloudHub
8 1 (0.12%) Kibana
Vendors
1 123 (14.96%) Microsoft
2 84 (10.22%) Salesforce
3 44 (5.35%) ServiceNow
4 43 (5.23%) SAP
5 25 (3.04%) Oracle
6 21 (2.55%) Cisco
7 19 (2.31%) Databricks
8 17 (2.07%) Adobe
9 16 (1.95%) Google
10 13 (1.58%) Citrix
11 12 (1.46%) VMware
12 10 (1.22%) Splunk
12 10 (1.22%) Workday
13 9 (1.09%) Pega
14 8 (0.97%) MuleSoft
14 8 (0.97%) Red Hat
14 8 (0.97%) Zscaler
14 8 (0.97%) Zuora
15 7 (0.85%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud
16 6 (0.73%) Guidewire