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 11 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 129 178 135
Rank change year-on-year +49 -43 -22
Contract jobs citing User Stories 661 391 660
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.12% 1.45% 1.81%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.40% 1.63% 2.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 472 252 468
10th Percentile £339 £363 £388
25th Percentile £406 £417 £447
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -5.71% - -2.33%
75th Percentile £566 £612 £600
90th Percentile £650 £684 £675
UK median daily rate £488 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -4.88% -2.38% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 0 4
10th Percentile £31.49 - £50.38
25th Percentile £48.86 - £50.94
Median hourly rate £60.61 - £52.50
75th Percentile £74.26 - £57.20
90th Percentile £82.06 - £63.42
UK median hourly rate £60.61 £29.00 £52.50
% change year-on-year +109.00% -44.76% +0.48%

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 27,490 23,991 31,990
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 88.32% 89.05% 87.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,508 14,731 21,614
10th Percentile £304 £310 £305
25th Percentile £409 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £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 1,729 768 1,481
10th Percentile £15.16 £15.59 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.88 £20.50 £18.93
Median hourly rate £25.15 £34.75 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -27.63% -18.24% +21.43%
75th Percentile £57.50 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £69.99 £75.00 £77.00
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £40.50
% change year-on-year -22.62% -19.75% +16.41%

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 11 January 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 11 January 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 11 January 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 +57 359 £500 -7.41% 65
North of England +28 124 £500 +18.34% 62
South East -3 72 £465 -8.92% 90
Midlands +9 63 £440 +2.03% 63
Yorkshire -1 57 £516 +8.68% 31
North West +2 55 £415 -2.35% 24
West Midlands -1 37 £491 +5.03% 31
East Midlands -2 26 £359 -8.83% 32
South West -18 22 £498 -17.08% 35
North East +1 14 £500 +25.00% 7
East of England -15 12 £565 +45.68% 45
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
1 135 (20.42%) Confluence
2 21 (3.18%) SharePoint
3 8 (1.21%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (1.06%) CMS
4 7 (1.06%) SAS
5 6 (0.91%) Apache Airflow
6 5 (0.76%) nginx
7 4 (0.61%) Anypoint
8 2 (0.30%) Apache
8 2 (0.30%) Traefik
8 2 (0.30%) WebSphere
9 1 (0.15%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 1 (0.15%) Drupal
9 1 (0.15%) Kentico
9 1 (0.15%) SharePoint Server
9 1 (0.15%) WordPress
Applications
1 37 (5.60%) Microsoft Excel
2 30 (4.54%) MS Visio
3 22 (3.33%) Microsoft Office
4 20 (3.03%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.76%) Chatbot
5 5 (0.76%) Microsoft Project
6 4 (0.61%) Adobe XD
6 4 (0.61%) Notion
6 4 (0.61%) Sketch
6 4 (0.61%) Trello
7 2 (0.30%) InVision
7 2 (0.30%) Zeplin
Business Applications
1 23 (3.48%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (1.36%) Payment Gateway
3 7 (1.06%) SAP S/4HANA
4 5 (0.76%) NetSuite
5 3 (0.45%) Endur
5 3 (0.45%) ProductWriter
6 2 (0.30%) Oracle EBS R12
6 2 (0.30%) Oracle Receivables
6 2 (0.30%) Primavera
6 2 (0.30%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.30%) Temenos T24
7 1 (0.15%) Bloomberg AIM
7 1 (0.15%) OpenLink RightAngle
7 1 (0.15%) Oracle ERP
7 1 (0.15%) SAP CRM
7 1 (0.15%) SAP PM
7 1 (0.15%) Shopify
7 1 (0.15%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
7 1 (0.15%) thinkFolio
7 1 (0.15%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 92 (13.92%) Azure
2 75 (11.35%) AWS
3 58 (8.77%) Power Platform
4 41 (6.20%) Azure DevOps
5 29 (4.39%) GCP
6 24 (3.63%) GitHub
7 22 (3.33%) Microsoft 365
8 20 (3.03%) Dynamics 365
9 18 (2.72%) Serverless
10 17 (2.57%) AWS Lambda
10 17 (2.57%) Figma
10 17 (2.57%) PowerApps
11 16 (2.42%) Power Automate
11 16 (2.42%) Snowflake
12 14 (2.12%) SaaS
12 14 (2.12%) Salesforce Service Cloud
13 13 (1.97%) GitHub Actions
13 13 (1.97%) Miro
14 11 (1.66%) Lucidchart
15 10 (1.51%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 8 (1.21%) WebEx
2 5 (0.76%) DNS
3 4 (0.61%) Firewall
3 4 (0.61%) HTTP
4 3 (0.45%) FTP
5 2 (0.30%) BGP
5 2 (0.30%) Software-Defined Networking
5 2 (0.30%) VLAN
5 2 (0.30%) VPN
6 1 (0.15%) Calico
6 1 (0.15%) Cisco IPT
6 1 (0.15%) Internet
6 1 (0.15%) LAN
6 1 (0.15%) SD-WAN
6 1 (0.15%) WAN
6 1 (0.15%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 47 (7.11%) Power BI
2 20 (3.03%) Data Warehouse
2 20 (3.03%) Tableau
3 16 (2.42%) BigQuery
4 14 (2.12%) PostgreSQL
5 12 (1.82%) SQL Server
6 9 (1.36%) Metadata
7 7 (1.06%) Amazon Athena
7 7 (1.06%) Relational Database
7 7 (1.06%) Star Schema
8 6 (0.91%) Big Data
8 6 (0.91%) Data Vault
9 5 (0.76%) NoSQL
10 4 (0.61%) Amazon RDS
10 4 (0.61%) Data Lake
10 4 (0.61%) Oracle Database
10 4 (0.61%) Redis
10 4 (0.61%) Snowflake Schema
11 3 (0.45%) DocumentDB
11 3 (0.45%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 185 (27.99%) JIRA
2 33 (4.99%) Jenkins
3 19 (2.87%) GitLab
4 15 (2.27%) Cucumber
5 14 (2.12%) Git
6 12 (1.82%) Postman
7 11 (1.66%) JUnit
8 10 (1.51%) Selenium
9 9 (1.36%) SonarQube
10 8 (1.21%) Zephyr
11 7 (1.06%) JMeter
12 6 (0.91%) Sonatype Nexus
13 4 (0.61%) Axure RP
13 4 (0.61%) Cypress.io
13 4 (0.61%) ER Studio
13 4 (0.61%) ERwin
13 4 (0.61%) PowerDesigner
13 4 (0.61%) TeamCity
13 4 (0.61%) TestRail
14 3 (0.45%) REST Assured
General
1 280 (42.36%) Social Skills
2 170 (25.72%) Finance
3 150 (22.69%) Analytical Skills
4 74 (11.20%) Public Sector
5 68 (10.29%) Banking
6 43 (6.51%) Documentation Skills
7 36 (5.45%) Presentation Skills
8 31 (4.69%) Retail
9 28 (4.24%) Marketing
10 27 (4.08%) Influencing Skills
11 23 (3.48%) Legal
12 15 (2.27%) Back Office
13 14 (2.12%) Front Office
14 13 (1.97%) Investment Banking
15 12 (1.82%) Organisational Skills
15 12 (1.82%) Telecoms
16 8 (1.21%) General Ledger
17 7 (1.06%) Billing
17 7 (1.06%) Financial Institution
18 6 (0.91%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 328 (49.62%) Analyst
2 307 (46.44%) Business Analyst
3 91 (13.77%) Senior
4 83 (12.56%) Product Owner
5 57 (8.62%) Senior Analyst
6 52 (7.87%) Senior Business Analyst
7 45 (6.81%) Technical Analyst
8 42 (6.35%) Technical Business Analyst
9 36 (5.45%) Developer
10 28 (4.24%) Salesforce Business Analyst
11 27 (4.08%) Lead
11 27 (4.08%) Product Manager
12 26 (3.93%) Salesforce Analyst
13 21 (3.18%) Designer
14 20 (3.03%) Consultant
15 18 (2.72%) Test Analyst
16 16 (2.42%) Product Analyst
17 15 (2.27%) Digital Analyst
17 15 (2.27%) Digital Business Analyst
18 14 (2.12%) SC Cleared Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (3.18%) REST
2 18 (2.72%) JSON
2 18 (2.72%) XML
3 16 (2.42%) RESTful
4 15 (2.27%) Kafka
4 15 (2.27%) React
5 13 (1.97%) SOAP
5 13 (1.97%) Spring
6 12 (1.82%) Spring Boot
7 11 (1.66%) HTML
8 10 (1.51%) ADO
9 9 (1.36%) Playwright
10 8 (1.21%) Apache NiFi
10 8 (1.21%) OAuth
10 8 (1.21%) Web Services
10 8 (1.21%) XMPP
11 7 (1.06%) OAuth2
11 7 (1.06%) VML
12 6 (0.91%) Lightning Web Components
12 6 (0.91%) Node.js
Miscellaneous
1 212 (32.07%) Product Ownership
2 26 (3.93%) Onboarding
3 19 (2.87%) PMI
4 18 (2.72%) Analytical Mindset
4 18 (2.72%) Data Structures
5 17 (2.57%) Cloud Native
6 14 (2.12%) Data Protection Act
7 12 (1.82%) Legacy Systems
8 9 (1.36%) Greenfield Project
9 8 (1.21%) Algorithms
9 8 (1.21%) Management Information System
9 8 (1.21%) Mobile App
9 8 (1.21%) SWIFT Messaging Network
10 7 (1.06%) Enterprise Software
10 7 (1.06%) Low-Code
10 7 (1.06%) Self-Motivation
11 6 (0.91%) Hybrid Cloud
11 6 (0.91%) NHS
12 5 (0.76%) Digital Media
12 5 (0.76%) e-Learning
Operating Systems
1 21 (3.18%) Windows
2 16 (2.42%) Linux
3 7 (1.06%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 7 (1.06%) Windows Server
4 5 (0.76%) VMS
5 1 (0.15%) Android
5 1 (0.15%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 486 (73.52%) Agile
2 206 (31.16%) Acceptance Criteria
3 201 (30.41%) Scrum
3 201 (30.41%) Stakeholder Management
4 155 (23.45%) Requirements Gathering
5 152 (23.00%) Workshop Facilitation
6 143 (21.63%) Business Analysis
7 138 (20.88%) Problem-Solving
8 121 (18.31%) DevOps
9 111 (16.79%) Roadmaps
9 111 (16.79%) User Acceptance Testing
10 109 (16.49%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 92 (13.92%) Product Backlog
12 90 (13.62%) Backlog Management
13 87 (13.16%) Sprint Planning
14 84 (12.71%) Migration
15 80 (12.10%) Analytics
15 80 (12.10%) Use Case
16 79 (11.95%) Data Modelling
16 79 (11.95%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 80 (12.10%) SQL
2 58 (8.77%) Python
3 33 (4.99%) Java
4 20 (3.03%) Bash
5 13 (1.97%) PowerShell
6 11 (1.66%) C#
7 9 (1.36%) JavaScript
7 9 (1.36%) Scala
8 8 (1.21%) Perl
8 8 (1.21%) TypeScript
9 5 (0.76%) Apex Code
10 4 (0.61%) Korn
11 3 (0.45%) Go
11 3 (0.45%) VBA
11 3 (0.45%) XPath
12 2 (0.30%) PL/SQL
12 2 (0.30%) T-SQL
13 1 (0.15%) Groovy
13 1 (0.15%) PHP
13 1 (0.15%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 98 (14.83%) Security Cleared
2 89 (13.46%) Degree
3 76 (11.50%) SC Cleared
4 36 (5.45%) CBAP
5 23 (3.48%) CSPO
5 23 (3.48%) PMI Certification
6 20 (3.03%) BPSS Clearance
7 19 (2.87%) IIBA
8 8 (1.21%) Master's Degree
9 7 (1.06%) Computer Science Degree
9 7 (1.06%) DV Cleared
10 6 (0.91%) CCNA
10 6 (0.91%) CFA
10 6 (0.91%) Cisco Certification
10 6 (0.91%) MBA
11 5 (0.76%) Azure Certification
11 5 (0.76%) CCDP
11 5 (0.76%) CCNP
11 5 (0.76%) PMP
12 4 (0.61%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 84 (12.71%) QA
2 28 (4.24%) GDPR
3 27 (4.08%) Accessibility
4 19 (2.87%) Data Quality
4 19 (2.87%) WCAG
5 16 (2.42%) PSD2
6 12 (1.82%) PCI DSS
7 8 (1.21%) SLA
8 6 (0.91%) ISO 8583
9 5 (0.76%) ISO 20022
9 5 (0.76%) SEPA
10 4 (0.61%) FIPS 140-2
11 3 (0.45%) GxP
11 3 (0.45%) HL7
12 2 (0.30%) Basel III
12 2 (0.30%) GMP
12 2 (0.30%) NCSC
12 2 (0.30%) PMO
13 1 (0.15%) NIST
13 1 (0.15%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 25 (3.78%) Docker
2 9 (1.36%) Active Directory
3 8 (1.21%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.15%) etcd
4 1 (0.15%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 24 (3.63%) Kubernetes
2 19 (2.87%) Ansible
3 14 (2.12%) NetBackup
4 12 (1.82%) Terraform
5 5 (0.76%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 5 (0.76%) Progress Chef
6 4 (0.61%) Grafana
6 4 (0.61%) Puppet
6 4 (0.61%) Single Sign-On
7 3 (0.45%) Kubeflow
8 2 (0.30%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.30%) Istio
9 1 (0.15%) Argo
9 1 (0.15%) CASB
9 1 (0.15%) CloudHub
9 1 (0.15%) HP ALM
9 1 (0.15%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 104 (15.73%) Microsoft
2 77 (11.65%) Salesforce
3 28 (4.24%) Oracle
3 28 (4.24%) SAP
4 24 (3.63%) ServiceNow
5 21 (3.18%) Red Hat
6 14 (2.12%) Commvault
7 13 (1.97%) VMware
8 12 (1.82%) Databricks
8 12 (1.82%) MuleSoft
9 11 (1.66%) Cisco
10 10 (1.51%) Citrix
10 10 (1.51%) Veritas
11 8 (1.21%) Pega
12 7 (1.06%) Google
13 6 (0.91%) Adobe
14 5 (0.76%) Atlassian
14 5 (0.76%) Guidewire
14 5 (0.76%) HubSpot
14 5 (0.76%) Zuora