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 15 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 126 158 145
Rank change year-on-year +32 -13 -23
Contract jobs citing User Stories 804 414 595
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.05% 1.70% 1.60%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.40% 1.86% 1.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 565 262 419
10th Percentile £350 £356 £363
25th Percentile £409 £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 £650
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £538
% change year-on-year - -6.98% +3.37%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 2 7
10th Percentile £41.93 £54.90 £31.71
25th Percentile £51.80 £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 33,504 22,203 32,130
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.48% 91.02% 86.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,453 14,593 21,161
10th Percentile £313 £313 £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 £613 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,080 880 2,196
10th Percentile £15.38 £14.83 £12.85
25th Percentile £20.07 £18.51 £15.75
Median hourly rate £41.56 £31.76 £34.00
Median % change year-on-year +30.84% -6.59% -9.33%
75th Percentile £66.50 £64.50 £58.69
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.28 £71.75
UK median hourly rate £37.00 £30.78 £33.07
% change year-on-year +20.21% -6.91% -8.79%

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 15 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 15 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 15 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 +50 461 £500 -4.76% 63
North of England +12 146 £475 +5.56% 40
Midlands -11 80 £490 +4.53% 26
North West +2 70 £400 -20.00% 13
West Midlands -21 61 £492 +2.71% 17
South East -53 61 £475 -6.22% 43
Yorkshire -17 52 £510 +20.00% 13
South West -20 27 £475 -17.39% 11
North East -2 26 £475 +18.75% 15
East of England -23 20 £476 +26.80% 9
East Midlands -18 19 £444 +12.27% 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 (19.90%) Confluence
2 26 (3.23%) SharePoint
3 17 (2.11%) CMS
4 11 (1.37%) Microsoft Exchange
5 9 (1.12%) SAS
6 3 (0.37%) Anypoint
6 3 (0.37%) Camunda
6 3 (0.37%) Jupyter
7 2 (0.25%) Drupal
7 2 (0.25%) JBoss
7 2 (0.25%) Sitecore CMS
7 2 (0.25%) WordPress
8 1 (0.12%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 1 (0.12%) Apache
8 1 (0.12%) Apache Airflow
8 1 (0.12%) Apache Solr
8 1 (0.12%) SharePoint Server
8 1 (0.12%) Tomcat
Applications
1 48 (5.97%) Microsoft Excel
2 44 (5.47%) MS Visio
3 26 (3.23%) Microsoft Office
4 21 (2.61%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.62%) Adobe XD
5 5 (0.62%) Sketch
6 4 (0.50%) Notion
7 3 (0.37%) Chatbot
7 3 (0.37%) InVision
7 3 (0.37%) Zeplin
8 2 (0.25%) Microsoft Project
8 2 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.25%) Trello
Business Applications
1 17 (2.11%) Dynamics CRM
2 6 (0.75%) Adobe Campaign
2 6 (0.75%) NetSuite
2 6 (0.75%) SAP S/4HANA
3 4 (0.50%) Eloqua
4 3 (0.37%) Oracle Financials
4 3 (0.37%) ProductWriter
4 3 (0.37%) Salesforce CRM
4 3 (0.37%) Temenos T24
5 2 (0.25%) Actimize
5 2 (0.25%) Aladdin
5 2 (0.25%) Dynamics AX
5 2 (0.25%) Exchequer
5 2 (0.25%) Oracle ERP
5 2 (0.25%) Oracle Payables
5 2 (0.25%) Oracle Receivables
5 2 (0.25%) Payment Gateway
5 2 (0.25%) SAP BPC
5 2 (0.25%) Shopify
6 1 (0.12%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 132 (16.42%) Azure
2 72 (8.96%) AWS
3 67 (8.33%) Power Platform
4 51 (6.34%) Azure DevOps
5 26 (3.23%) GCP
6 25 (3.11%) Salesforce Service Cloud
7 24 (2.99%) Microsoft 365
8 22 (2.74%) Dynamics 365
9 21 (2.61%) GitHub
10 20 (2.49%) SaaS
11 17 (2.11%) PowerApps
12 16 (1.99%) Power Automate
13 15 (1.87%) Figma
14 13 (1.62%) Entra ID
14 13 (1.62%) Lucidchart
14 13 (1.62%) Miro
14 13 (1.62%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
15 10 (1.24%) Azure Data Factory
15 10 (1.24%) GitHub Actions
16 8 (1.00%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 11 (1.37%) WebEx
2 9 (1.12%) Firewall
3 8 (1.00%) Network Security
4 5 (0.62%) DNS
4 5 (0.62%) HTTP
5 4 (0.50%) FTP
6 3 (0.37%) BGP
6 3 (0.37%) VLAN
7 2 (0.25%) Software-Defined Networking
8 1 (0.12%) Cisco IPT
8 1 (0.12%) NGFW
8 1 (0.12%) VPN
8 1 (0.12%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 54 (6.72%) Power BI
2 26 (3.23%) Data Warehouse
3 19 (2.36%) Tableau
4 18 (2.24%) Metadata
5 15 (1.87%) BigQuery
6 13 (1.62%) SQL Server
7 11 (1.37%) PostgreSQL
8 10 (1.24%) NoSQL
8 10 (1.24%) Relational Database
9 6 (0.75%) Amazon Athena
9 6 (0.75%) Data Lake
9 6 (0.75%) Delta Lake
10 4 (0.50%) Big Data
11 3 (0.37%) Amazon RDS
11 3 (0.37%) Data Mining
11 3 (0.37%) MongoDB
11 3 (0.37%) OLAP
11 3 (0.37%) Parquet
12 2 (0.25%) Oracle OLAP
12 2 (0.25%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 204 (25.37%) JIRA
2 23 (2.86%) Postman
3 22 (2.74%) Jenkins
4 15 (1.87%) Git
5 11 (1.37%) GitLab
6 10 (1.24%) Selenium
7 9 (1.12%) Cucumber
7 9 (1.12%) Zephyr
8 8 (1.00%) JUnit
9 6 (0.75%) SonarQube
10 5 (0.62%) Axure RP
10 5 (0.62%) Balsamiq
10 5 (0.62%) JMeter
10 5 (0.62%) TeamCity
10 5 (0.62%) TestRail
11 4 (0.50%) REST Assured
11 4 (0.50%) Sonatype Nexus
11 4 (0.50%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
12 3 (0.37%) Artifactory
12 3 (0.37%) SpecFlow
General
1 329 (40.92%) Social Skills
2 213 (26.49%) Analytical Skills
3 209 (26.00%) Finance
4 112 (13.93%) Public Sector
5 83 (10.32%) Banking
6 64 (7.96%) Documentation Skills
7 44 (5.47%) Presentation Skills
8 42 (5.22%) Retail
9 31 (3.86%) Marketing
10 30 (3.73%) Legal
11 23 (2.86%) Influencing Skills
12 16 (1.99%) Organisational Skills
13 15 (1.87%) Front Office
14 14 (1.74%) Financial Institution
14 14 (1.74%) Military
15 10 (1.24%) Back Office
15 10 (1.24%) Investment Banking
15 10 (1.24%) Retail Banking
16 8 (1.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 8 (1.00%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 448 (55.72%) Analyst
2 417 (51.87%) Business Analyst
3 132 (16.42%) Senior
4 90 (11.19%) Senior Analyst
5 84 (10.45%) Product Owner
6 80 (9.95%) Senior Business Analyst
7 52 (6.47%) Developer
7 52 (6.47%) Technical Analyst
8 49 (6.09%) Technical Business Analyst
9 45 (5.60%) Product Manager
10 40 (4.98%) Salesforce Business Analyst
11 39 (4.85%) Salesforce Analyst
12 27 (3.36%) Data Analyst
13 25 (3.11%) Lead
13 25 (3.11%) SC Cleared Business Analyst
14 24 (2.99%) Data Business Analyst
14 24 (2.99%) Designer
15 22 (2.74%) Implementation Analyst
16 21 (2.61%) Financial Analyst
17 19 (2.36%) Project Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (3.86%) REST
2 16 (1.99%) ADO
2 16 (1.99%) React
3 15 (1.87%) XML
4 14 (1.74%) RESTful
5 11 (1.37%) VML
5 11 (1.37%) XMPP
6 10 (1.24%) HTML
6 10 (1.24%) JSON
6 10 (1.24%) Kafka
7 9 (1.12%) Node.js
8 8 (1.00%) Apache NiFi
8 8 (1.00%) CSS
8 8 (1.00%) Spring
9 7 (0.87%) AngularJS
9 7 (0.87%) Lightning Web Components
9 7 (0.87%) Spring Boot
10 6 (0.75%) .NET
10 6 (0.75%) FHIR
10 6 (0.75%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 260 (32.34%) Product Ownership
2 23 (2.86%) Self-Motivation
3 22 (2.74%) Analytical Mindset
4 21 (2.61%) Onboarding
5 19 (2.36%) Data Protection Act
6 18 (2.24%) Legacy Systems
7 16 (1.99%) CMDB
8 14 (1.74%) Management Information System
9 13 (1.62%) Cloud Native
9 13 (1.62%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 11 (1.37%) Data Structures
10 11 (1.37%) PMI
11 9 (1.12%) NHS
12 8 (1.00%) SWIFT Messaging Network
12 8 (1.00%) Virtual Team
13 7 (0.87%) Marketing Technology
13 7 (0.87%) Reinsurance
14 6 (0.75%) Greenfield Project
14 6 (0.75%) Low-Code
15 5 (0.62%) AI Agents
Operating Systems
1 21 (2.61%) Windows
2 15 (1.87%) Linux
3 9 (1.12%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 8 (1.00%) Windows Server
5 1 (0.12%) CentOS
5 1 (0.12%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 520 (64.68%) Agile
2 329 (40.92%) Acceptance Criteria
3 255 (31.72%) Stakeholder Management
4 203 (25.25%) Workshop Facilitation
5 195 (24.25%) Requirements Gathering
6 185 (23.01%) Scrum
7 182 (22.64%) Business Analysis
8 157 (19.53%) User Acceptance Testing
9 156 (19.40%) Problem-Solving
10 150 (18.66%) DevOps
11 143 (17.79%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 133 (16.54%) Roadmaps
13 122 (15.17%) Sprint Planning
14 112 (13.93%) Migration
15 109 (13.56%) Data Modelling
16 97 (12.06%) Backlog Management
17 96 (11.94%) Product Backlog
18 92 (11.44%) Analytics
18 92 (11.44%) Continuous Improvement
19 78 (9.70%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 102 (12.69%) SQL
2 57 (7.09%) Python
3 34 (4.23%) Java
4 22 (2.74%) JavaScript
5 17 (2.11%) PowerShell
6 15 (1.87%) C#
7 10 (1.24%) TypeScript
8 9 (1.12%) Bash
8 9 (1.12%) Perl
9 6 (0.75%) Korn
10 5 (0.62%) Apex Code
10 5 (0.62%) Scala
11 4 (0.50%) T-SQL
11 4 (0.50%) VBA
12 3 (0.37%) Kotlin
12 3 (0.37%) XPath
13 2 (0.25%) Google Apps Script
13 2 (0.25%) PHP
13 2 (0.25%) PL/SQL
13 2 (0.25%) R
Qualifications
1 160 (19.90%) Security Cleared
2 129 (16.04%) SC Cleared
3 86 (10.70%) Degree
4 36 (4.48%) CBAP
5 35 (4.35%) BPSS Clearance
6 30 (3.73%) IIBA
7 21 (2.61%) CSPO
8 17 (2.11%) PMI Certification
9 11 (1.37%) Master's Degree
10 7 (0.87%) PMP
11 6 (0.75%) CCDP
11 6 (0.75%) CCNA
11 6 (0.75%) CCNP
11 6 (0.75%) Cisco Certification
11 6 (0.75%) Computer Science Degree
11 6 (0.75%) DV Cleared
11 6 (0.75%) ISTQB
11 6 (0.75%) MBA
12 5 (0.62%) ISEB
13 4 (0.50%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 109 (13.56%) QA
2 44 (5.47%) Data Quality
3 41 (5.10%) Accessibility
4 24 (2.99%) GDPR
5 14 (1.74%) SLA
6 13 (1.62%) WCAG
7 7 (0.87%) NIST
8 6 (0.75%) GxP
8 6 (0.75%) HL7
9 5 (0.62%) PSD2
10 4 (0.50%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 3 (0.37%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 3 (0.37%) GMP
11 3 (0.37%) GRC
11 3 (0.37%) ISO 20022
11 3 (0.37%) PCI DSS
11 3 (0.37%) SNOMED CT
12 2 (0.25%) EU AI Act
12 2 (0.25%) NCSC
12 2 (0.25%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 23 (2.86%) Docker
2 13 (1.62%) Active Directory
3 6 (0.75%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.25%) IAG
5 1 (0.12%) Ceph
5 1 (0.12%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.12%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 28 (3.48%) Kubernetes
2 13 (1.62%) Terraform
3 9 (1.12%) Ansible
4 7 (0.87%) SCCM
5 5 (0.62%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 5 (0.62%) HP Quality Center
6 4 (0.50%) Single Sign-On
7 3 (0.37%) Grafana
7 3 (0.37%) Progress Chef
8 2 (0.25%) CASB
8 2 (0.25%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.25%) HP ALM
8 2 (0.25%) Jamf Pro
9 1 (0.12%) Argo
9 1 (0.12%) CloudHub
9 1 (0.12%) Kibana
Vendors
1 122 (15.17%) Microsoft
2 84 (10.45%) Salesforce
3 44 (5.47%) ServiceNow
4 40 (4.98%) SAP
5 23 (2.86%) Oracle
6 21 (2.61%) Cisco
7 17 (2.11%) Databricks
8 16 (1.99%) Adobe
8 16 (1.99%) Google
9 13 (1.62%) Citrix
10 12 (1.49%) VMware
11 10 (1.24%) Splunk
12 9 (1.12%) Pega
13 8 (1.00%) MuleSoft
13 8 (1.00%) Red Hat
13 8 (1.00%) Workday
13 8 (1.00%) Zscaler
14 7 (0.87%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud
15 6 (0.75%) Guidewire
15 6 (0.75%) Zuora