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 9 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 136 174 144
Rank change year-on-year +38 -30 -25
Contract jobs citing User Stories 726 392 636
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.02% 1.57% 1.67%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.33% 1.74% 1.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 523 262 448
10th Percentile £353 £350 £388
25th Percentile £411 £413 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £510 £538
Median % change year-on-year -3.53% -5.12% +2.38%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £600
90th Percentile £638 £675 £675
UK median daily rate £490 £500 £525
% change year-on-year -2.00% -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 2 8
10th Percentile £48.86 £54.90 £31.71
25th Percentile £60.61 £57.00 £45.43
Median hourly rate £74.26 £61.75 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year +20.26% +17.62% -17.97%
75th Percentile - £67.75 £66.39
90th Percentile £82.06 £70.60 £69.04
UK median hourly rate £74.26 £53.50 £52.50
% change year-on-year +38.80% +1.90% -17.97%

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 31,205 22,550 33,099
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 86.68% 90.54% 86.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 19,990 14,548 21,873
10th Percentile £313 £308 £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 £615 £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 1,928 809 2,164
10th Percentile £15.25 £15.26 £13.02
25th Percentile £18.80 £21.00 £16.06
Median hourly rate £30.00 £34.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -13.04% +6.15% -7.22%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £58.53
90th Percentile £74.26 £76.44 £71.83
UK median hourly rate £29.00 £32.50 £32.50
% change year-on-year -10.77% - -7.14%

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 9 March 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 9 March 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 9 March 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 +56 412 £500 -4.76% 140
North of England +15 128 £488 +10.91% 59
South East -38 72 £454 -12.27% 111
North West +12 65 £430 -11.79% 31
Midlands -19 64 £475 +1.33% 36
Yorkshire -21 46 £515 +28.75% 18
West Midlands -25 46 £475 -1.66% 15
South West -27 22 £463 -19.57% 27
North East -1 19 £488 +21.88% 11
East Midlands -21 18 £414 +16.15% 19
East of England -33 15 £513 +52.75% 39
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
1 152 (20.94%) Confluence
2 24 (3.31%) SharePoint
3 12 (1.65%) CMS
4 11 (1.52%) Microsoft Exchange
5 9 (1.24%) SAS
6 3 (0.41%) Anypoint
7 2 (0.28%) Apache
7 2 (0.28%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.28%) Drupal
7 2 (0.28%) Sitecore CMS
7 2 (0.28%) WordPress
8 1 (0.14%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 1 (0.14%) Camunda
8 1 (0.14%) Kentico
8 1 (0.14%) SharePoint Server
8 1 (0.14%) WebSphere
Applications
1 41 (5.65%) Microsoft Excel
2 33 (4.55%) MS Visio
3 27 (3.72%) Microsoft Office
4 20 (2.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.69%) Adobe XD
5 5 (0.69%) Sketch
6 4 (0.55%) Notion
7 3 (0.41%) Chatbot
7 3 (0.41%) InVision
7 3 (0.41%) Microsoft Project
7 3 (0.41%) Trello
7 3 (0.41%) Zeplin
8 1 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 19 (2.62%) Dynamics CRM
2 6 (0.83%) Adobe Campaign
2 6 (0.83%) NetSuite
2 6 (0.83%) Payment Gateway
2 6 (0.83%) SAP S/4HANA
3 4 (0.55%) Eloqua
4 3 (0.41%) Oracle Financials
4 3 (0.41%) ProductWriter
5 2 (0.28%) Actimize
5 2 (0.28%) Dynamics AX
5 2 (0.28%) Exchequer
5 2 (0.28%) Oracle ERP
5 2 (0.28%) Oracle Payables
5 2 (0.28%) Oracle Receivables
5 2 (0.28%) Primavera
5 2 (0.28%) SAP BPC
5 2 (0.28%) Shopify
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.14%) Sage X3
6 1 (0.14%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 116 (15.98%) Azure
2 73 (10.06%) AWS
3 67 (9.23%) Power Platform
4 49 (6.75%) Azure DevOps
5 29 (3.99%) GCP
6 24 (3.31%) Microsoft 365
7 23 (3.17%) GitHub
8 20 (2.75%) Dynamics 365
8 20 (2.75%) PowerApps
8 20 (2.75%) Salesforce Service Cloud
9 19 (2.62%) Power Automate
10 18 (2.48%) SaaS
11 15 (2.07%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
12 14 (1.93%) Snowflake
13 13 (1.79%) Entra ID
13 13 (1.79%) Lucidchart
14 12 (1.65%) GitHub Actions
15 11 (1.52%) Miro
16 10 (1.38%) Figma
16 10 (1.38%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 11 (1.52%) WebEx
2 9 (1.24%) Firewall
3 8 (1.10%) Network Security
4 5 (0.69%) DNS
5 4 (0.55%) FTP
5 4 (0.55%) HTTP
6 3 (0.41%) BGP
6 3 (0.41%) VLAN
7 2 (0.28%) Software-Defined Networking
8 1 (0.14%) Cisco IPT
8 1 (0.14%) LAN
8 1 (0.14%) NGFW
8 1 (0.14%) SD-WAN
8 1 (0.14%) VPN
8 1 (0.14%) WAN
8 1 (0.14%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 52 (7.16%) Power BI
2 27 (3.72%) Data Warehouse
3 19 (2.62%) Tableau
4 14 (1.93%) BigQuery
4 14 (1.93%) Metadata
5 12 (1.65%) PostgreSQL
6 11 (1.52%) SQL Server
7 10 (1.38%) NoSQL
7 10 (1.38%) Relational Database
8 7 (0.96%) Amazon Athena
8 7 (0.96%) Data Lake
9 4 (0.55%) Amazon RDS
9 4 (0.55%) Big Data
9 4 (0.55%) Data Vault
9 4 (0.55%) Star Schema
10 3 (0.41%) Data Mining
10 3 (0.41%) Delta Lake
10 3 (0.41%) MongoDB
10 3 (0.41%) OLAP
10 3 (0.41%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 191 (26.31%) JIRA
2 26 (3.58%) Jenkins
3 14 (1.93%) Cucumber
3 14 (1.93%) GitLab
3 14 (1.93%) Postman
4 12 (1.65%) Git
5 11 (1.52%) JUnit
5 11 (1.52%) Selenium
6 8 (1.10%) Zephyr
7 7 (0.96%) JMeter
7 7 (0.96%) SonarQube
8 6 (0.83%) Sonatype Nexus
9 5 (0.69%) Axure RP
9 5 (0.69%) REST Assured
9 5 (0.69%) TeamCity
9 5 (0.69%) TestRail
10 4 (0.55%) Cypress.io
10 4 (0.55%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
11 3 (0.41%) ER Studio
11 3 (0.41%) SpecFlow
General
1 297 (40.91%) Social Skills
2 198 (27.27%) Finance
3 170 (23.42%) Analytical Skills
4 95 (13.09%) Public Sector
5 70 (9.64%) Banking
6 55 (7.58%) Documentation Skills
7 38 (5.23%) Presentation Skills
8 35 (4.82%) Retail
9 31 (4.27%) Marketing
10 28 (3.86%) Legal
11 22 (3.03%) Influencing Skills
12 14 (1.93%) Financial Institution
12 14 (1.93%) Organisational Skills
13 13 (1.79%) Front Office
13 13 (1.79%) Military
14 10 (1.38%) Investment Banking
14 10 (1.38%) Retail Banking
15 8 (1.10%) Telecoms
16 7 (0.96%) Back Office
16 7 (0.96%) General Ledger
Job Titles
1 390 (53.72%) Analyst
2 365 (50.28%) Business Analyst
3 109 (15.01%) Senior
4 75 (10.33%) Product Owner
5 70 (9.64%) Senior Analyst
6 60 (8.26%) Senior Business Analyst
7 51 (7.02%) Developer
8 41 (5.65%) Technical Analyst
9 40 (5.51%) Product Manager
10 39 (5.37%) Technical Business Analyst
11 30 (4.13%) Salesforce Business Analyst
12 28 (3.86%) Salesforce Analyst
13 27 (3.72%) Lead
14 25 (3.44%) Data Analyst
14 25 (3.44%) SC Cleared Business Analyst
15 22 (3.03%) Data Business Analyst
16 21 (2.89%) Financial Analyst
17 20 (2.75%) Designer
18 18 (2.48%) Finance Business Analyst
18 18 (2.48%) Test Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (3.03%) REST
2 16 (2.20%) ADO
2 16 (2.20%) React
2 16 (2.20%) XML
3 15 (2.07%) JSON
4 12 (1.65%) Spring
5 11 (1.52%) Spring Boot
5 11 (1.52%) XMPP
6 10 (1.38%) HTML
6 10 (1.38%) Kafka
7 9 (1.24%) Lightning Web Components
7 9 (1.24%) Node.js
8 8 (1.10%) Apache NiFi
8 8 (1.10%) CSS
8 8 (1.10%) RESTful
8 8 (1.10%) VML
9 7 (0.96%) Web Services
10 6 (0.83%) AngularJS
10 6 (0.83%) Hibernate
10 6 (0.83%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 222 (30.58%) Product Ownership
2 23 (3.17%) Analytical Mindset
3 19 (2.62%) Onboarding
4 17 (2.34%) PMI
5 14 (1.93%) Legacy Systems
6 13 (1.79%) CMDB
6 13 (1.79%) Data Structures
7 10 (1.38%) Cloud Native
7 10 (1.38%) Data Protection Act
7 10 (1.38%) Self-Motivation
8 9 (1.24%) Management Information System
9 8 (1.10%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 8 (1.10%) NHS
10 7 (0.96%) Greenfield Project
10 7 (0.96%) Low-Code
10 7 (0.96%) Marketing Technology
10 7 (0.96%) Reinsurance
11 6 (0.83%) Hybrid Cloud
11 6 (0.83%) Mobile App
11 6 (0.83%) SWIFT Messaging Network
Operating Systems
1 20 (2.75%) Windows
2 16 (2.20%) Linux
3 8 (1.10%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 8 (1.10%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 488 (67.22%) Agile
2 277 (38.15%) Acceptance Criteria
3 233 (32.09%) Stakeholder Management
4 178 (24.52%) Scrum
5 176 (24.24%) Requirements Gathering
5 176 (24.24%) Workshop Facilitation
6 169 (23.28%) Business Analysis
7 135 (18.60%) Problem-Solving
8 132 (18.18%) User Acceptance Testing
9 131 (18.04%) DevOps
10 130 (17.91%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 115 (15.84%) Roadmaps
12 98 (13.50%) Data Modelling
12 98 (13.50%) Migration
13 91 (12.53%) Sprint Planning
14 89 (12.26%) Backlog Management
15 87 (11.98%) Use Case
16 86 (11.85%) Product Backlog
17 81 (11.16%) Analytics
18 76 (10.47%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 94 (12.95%) SQL
2 53 (7.30%) Python
3 33 (4.55%) Java
4 18 (2.48%) JavaScript
5 17 (2.34%) PowerShell
6 14 (1.93%) C#
7 13 (1.79%) Bash
8 9 (1.24%) Perl
9 8 (1.10%) Scala
9 8 (1.10%) TypeScript
10 6 (0.83%) Korn
11 4 (0.55%) Apex Code
11 4 (0.55%) T-SQL
11 4 (0.55%) VBA
12 3 (0.41%) XPath
13 2 (0.28%) Google Apps Script
13 2 (0.28%) Kotlin
13 2 (0.28%) PHP
13 2 (0.28%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.14%) Go
Qualifications
1 139 (19.15%) Security Cleared
2 114 (15.70%) SC Cleared
3 89 (12.26%) Degree
4 41 (5.65%) CBAP
5 31 (4.27%) BPSS Clearance
5 31 (4.27%) IIBA
6 22 (3.03%) PMI Certification
7 20 (2.75%) CSPO
8 10 (1.38%) Master's Degree
9 7 (0.96%) DV Cleared
10 6 (0.83%) CCDP
10 6 (0.83%) CCNA
10 6 (0.83%) CCNP
10 6 (0.83%) Cisco Certification
10 6 (0.83%) ISEB
10 6 (0.83%) MBA
10 6 (0.83%) PMP
11 5 (0.69%) AWS Certification
12 4 (0.55%) Computer Science Degree
12 4 (0.55%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 92 (12.67%) QA
2 38 (5.23%) Accessibility
3 32 (4.41%) Data Quality
4 21 (2.89%) GDPR
5 13 (1.79%) SLA
5 13 (1.79%) WCAG
6 10 (1.38%) PSD2
7 7 (0.96%) PCI DSS
8 6 (0.83%) ISO 8583
8 6 (0.83%) NIST
9 4 (0.55%) HL7
9 4 (0.55%) ISO 20022
10 3 (0.41%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 3 (0.41%) GxP
10 3 (0.41%) SEPA
11 2 (0.28%) Basel III
11 2 (0.28%) EU AI Act
11 2 (0.28%) GMP
11 2 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 2 (0.28%) NCSC
System Software
1 23 (3.17%) Docker
2 13 (1.79%) Active Directory
3 8 (1.10%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.14%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.14%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 26 (3.58%) Kubernetes
2 15 (2.07%) Terraform
3 11 (1.52%) Ansible
4 6 (0.83%) NetBackup
4 6 (0.83%) SCCM
5 5 (0.69%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 5 (0.69%) HP Quality Center
5 5 (0.69%) Progress Chef
6 4 (0.55%) Grafana
6 4 (0.55%) Puppet
7 2 (0.28%) CASB
7 2 (0.28%) FortiGate
7 2 (0.28%) HP ALM
8 1 (0.14%) CloudHub
8 1 (0.14%) Jamf Pro
8 1 (0.14%) Kibana
8 1 (0.14%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 113 (15.56%) Microsoft
2 83 (11.43%) Salesforce
3 48 (6.61%) ServiceNow
4 30 (4.13%) Oracle
4 30 (4.13%) SAP
5 21 (2.89%) Cisco
6 18 (2.48%) Databricks
7 15 (2.07%) Adobe
8 14 (1.93%) Red Hat
9 13 (1.79%) Citrix
9 13 (1.79%) VMware
10 12 (1.65%) MuleSoft
11 11 (1.52%) Google
12 10 (1.38%) Splunk
13 8 (1.10%) Zscaler
14 7 (0.96%) Pega
14 7 (0.96%) Workday
15 6 (0.83%) Commvault
15 6 (0.83%) Fortinet
15 6 (0.83%) Guidewire