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

6 months to
24 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 129 160 151
Rank change year-on-year +31 -9 -26
Contract jobs citing User Stories 812 411 594
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.04% 1.67% 1.60%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.40% 1.83% 1.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 569 261 416
10th Percentile £352 £356 £360
25th Percentile £413 £416 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £539
Median % change year-on-year - -7.19% +2.62%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £600
90th Percentile £650 £675 £663
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £538
% change year-on-year - -6.98% +3.37%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 2 7
10th Percentile £39.16 £54.90 £31.71
25th Percentile £48.86 £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 33,845 22,404 32,231
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.18% 91.08% 86.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,654 14,697 21,192
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 £615 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £523 £525
% change year-on-year -4.31% -0.48% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,105 910 2,231
10th Percentile £15.38 £14.70 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.51 £16.00
Median hourly rate £42.50 £30.62 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +38.82% -12.53% -6.67%
75th Percentile £67.25 £63.75 £59.22
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £40.00 £29.07 £35.00
% change year-on-year +37.60% -16.94% -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 24 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 24 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 24 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 +51 461 £500 -4.76% 50
North of England +8 137 £469 +1.41% 37
Midlands 0 89 £492 +6.38% 27
West Midlands -13 67 £492 +3.58% 16
South East -52 66 £454 -11.80% 51
North West +1 63 £388 -22.50% 15
Yorkshire -18 50 £510 +20.00% 16
South West -24 28 £475 -17.39% 16
North East 0 24 £454 +13.50% 7
East Midlands -19 22 £463 +17.01% 11
East of England -25 22 £525 +40.00% 10
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
1 157 (19.33%) Confluence
2 21 (2.59%) SharePoint
3 17 (2.09%) CMS
4 9 (1.11%) SAS
5 5 (0.62%) Microsoft Exchange
6 4 (0.49%) Jupyter
7 3 (0.37%) Anypoint
7 3 (0.37%) Camunda
8 2 (0.25%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 2 (0.25%) Drupal
8 2 (0.25%) JBoss
8 2 (0.25%) Sitecore CMS
8 2 (0.25%) WordPress
9 1 (0.12%) Apache
9 1 (0.12%) Apache Airflow
9 1 (0.12%) Apache Solr
9 1 (0.12%) Tomcat
Applications
1 48 (5.91%) Microsoft Excel
2 44 (5.42%) MS Visio
3 26 (3.20%) Microsoft Office
4 21 (2.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 4 (0.49%) Adobe XD
5 4 (0.49%) Sketch
6 3 (0.37%) Chatbot
6 3 (0.37%) InVision
6 3 (0.37%) Notion
6 3 (0.37%) Zeplin
7 2 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Project
8 1 (0.12%) Trello
Business Applications
1 18 (2.22%) Dynamics CRM
2 8 (0.99%) NetSuite
3 7 (0.86%) SAP S/4HANA
4 6 (0.74%) 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 (0.37%) Dynamics GP
6 3 (0.37%) Dynamics SL
6 3 (0.37%) Infor CloudSuite
6 3 (0.37%) Oracle EBS
6 3 (0.37%) Oracle Financials
6 3 (0.37%) Sage X3
6 3 (0.37%) Salesforce CRM
6 3 (0.37%) Temenos T24
7 2 (0.25%) Exchequer
7 2 (0.25%) Payment Gateway
7 2 (0.25%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 133 (16.38%) Azure
2 71 (8.74%) AWS
3 68 (8.37%) Power Platform
4 47 (5.79%) Azure DevOps
5 25 (3.08%) Dynamics 365
5 25 (3.08%) Salesforce Service Cloud
6 23 (2.83%) GitHub
6 23 (2.83%) Microsoft 365
7 21 (2.59%) GCP
8 20 (2.46%) SaaS
9 17 (2.09%) Power Automate
9 17 (2.09%) PowerApps
10 14 (1.72%) Figma
11 13 (1.60%) Lucidchart
11 13 (1.60%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
12 12 (1.48%) Azure Data Factory
12 12 (1.48%) Miro
13 9 (1.11%) GitHub Actions
14 8 (0.99%) OpenShift
15 7 (0.86%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 8 (0.99%) Network Security
2 7 (0.86%) Firewall
3 6 (0.74%) HTTP
4 5 (0.62%) DNS
4 5 (0.62%) WebEx
5 4 (0.49%) FTP
6 2 (0.25%) Wireless
7 1 (0.12%) BGP
7 1 (0.12%) Cisco IPT
7 1 (0.12%) NGFW
7 1 (0.12%) VLAN
7 1 (0.12%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 53 (6.53%) Power BI
2 23 (2.83%) Data Warehouse
3 20 (2.46%) Metadata
4 14 (1.72%) Tableau
5 12 (1.48%) SQL Server
6 10 (1.23%) BigQuery
6 10 (1.23%) NoSQL
6 10 (1.23%) PostgreSQL
6 10 (1.23%) Relational Database
7 7 (0.86%) Data Lake
8 6 (0.74%) Delta Lake
9 4 (0.49%) Big Data
10 3 (0.37%) Amazon Athena
10 3 (0.37%) Amazon RDS
10 3 (0.37%) Data Mining
10 3 (0.37%) MongoDB
10 3 (0.37%) OLAP
10 3 (0.37%) Parquet
11 2 (0.25%) Oracle OLAP
11 2 (0.25%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 206 (25.37%) JIRA
2 23 (2.83%) Postman
3 22 (2.71%) Jenkins
4 15 (1.85%) Git
5 11 (1.35%) GitLab
6 10 (1.23%) Cucumber
6 10 (1.23%) Selenium
7 9 (1.11%) Zephyr
8 8 (0.99%) JUnit
9 6 (0.74%) SonarQube
10 5 (0.62%) Balsamiq
10 5 (0.62%) JMeter
10 5 (0.62%) TeamCity
10 5 (0.62%) TestRail
11 4 (0.49%) Axure RP
11 4 (0.49%) Sonatype Nexus
11 4 (0.49%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
12 3 (0.37%) Artifactory
12 3 (0.37%) REST Assured
12 3 (0.37%) SpecFlow
General
1 326 (40.15%) Social Skills
2 215 (26.48%) Finance
3 205 (25.25%) Analytical Skills
4 114 (14.04%) Public Sector
5 90 (11.08%) Banking
6 64 (7.88%) Documentation Skills
7 46 (5.67%) Presentation Skills
8 45 (5.54%) Retail
9 33 (4.06%) Marketing
10 23 (2.83%) Influencing Skills
11 21 (2.59%) Legal
12 16 (1.97%) Financial Institution
12 16 (1.97%) Organisational Skills
13 15 (1.85%) Military
14 13 (1.60%) Front Office
15 12 (1.48%) Retail Banking
16 10 (1.23%) Investment Banking
17 9 (1.11%) Back Office
18 8 (0.99%) General Ledger
18 8 (0.99%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 451 (55.54%) Analyst
2 424 (52.22%) Business Analyst
3 136 (16.75%) Senior
4 91 (11.21%) Senior Analyst
5 87 (10.71%) Product Owner
6 85 (10.47%) Senior Business Analyst
7 54 (6.65%) Developer
8 52 (6.40%) Technical Analyst
9 50 (6.16%) Product Manager
10 49 (6.03%) Technical Business Analyst
11 42 (5.17%) Salesforce Business Analyst
12 41 (5.05%) Salesforce Analyst
13 26 (3.20%) Data Analyst
13 26 (3.20%) Lead
14 25 (3.08%) Implementation Analyst
14 25 (3.08%) SC Cleared Business Analyst
15 24 (2.96%) Data Business Analyst
15 24 (2.96%) Designer
16 22 (2.71%) Banking Analyst
16 22 (2.71%) Financial Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (3.69%) REST
2 15 (1.85%) React
3 14 (1.72%) ADO
3 14 (1.72%) RESTful
4 13 (1.60%) XML
5 12 (1.48%) VML
6 10 (1.23%) JSON
6 10 (1.23%) Kafka
7 9 (1.11%) HTML
7 9 (1.11%) Node.js
8 8 (0.99%) Spring
9 7 (0.86%) AngularJS
9 7 (0.86%) CSS
9 7 (0.86%) Lightning Web Components
9 7 (0.86%) Spring Boot
10 6 (0.74%) .NET
10 6 (0.74%) FHIR
11 5 (0.62%) ASP.NET
11 5 (0.62%) Middleware
11 5 (0.62%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 260 (32.02%) Product Ownership
2 22 (2.71%) Analytical Mindset
3 21 (2.59%) Onboarding
3 21 (2.59%) Self-Motivation
4 20 (2.46%) Data Protection Act
5 19 (2.34%) Legacy Systems
6 16 (1.97%) CMDB
7 14 (1.72%) Data Structures
7 14 (1.72%) Management Information System
8 13 (1.60%) Cloud Native
9 12 (1.48%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 10 (1.23%) PMI
10 10 (1.23%) Virtual Team
11 9 (1.11%) NHS
12 8 (0.99%) Marketing Technology
12 8 (0.99%) SWIFT Messaging Network
13 7 (0.86%) AI Agents
13 7 (0.86%) Reinsurance
14 6 (0.74%) Low-Code
14 6 (0.74%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 12 (1.48%) Linux
1 12 (1.48%) Windows
2 4 (0.49%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 2 (0.25%) CentOS
3 2 (0.25%) Unix
3 2 (0.25%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 525 (64.66%) Agile
2 328 (40.39%) Acceptance Criteria
3 257 (31.65%) Stakeholder Management
4 207 (25.49%) Workshop Facilitation
5 191 (23.52%) Requirements Gathering
6 182 (22.41%) Business Analysis
7 180 (22.17%) Scrum
8 164 (20.20%) User Acceptance Testing
9 149 (18.35%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 148 (18.23%) DevOps
11 146 (17.98%) Problem-Solving
12 138 (17.00%) Roadmaps
13 121 (14.90%) Sprint Planning
14 116 (14.29%) Data Modelling
15 112 (13.79%) Migration
16 100 (12.32%) Backlog Management
16 100 (12.32%) Product Backlog
17 98 (12.07%) Analytics
18 94 (11.58%) Continuous Improvement
19 84 (10.34%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 100 (12.32%) SQL
2 53 (6.53%) Python
3 34 (4.19%) Java
4 22 (2.71%) JavaScript
5 15 (1.85%) C#
6 9 (1.11%) PowerShell
6 9 (1.11%) TypeScript
7 6 (0.74%) Korn
8 5 (0.62%) Apex Code
8 5 (0.62%) Scala
9 4 (0.49%) Kotlin
9 4 (0.49%) R
9 4 (0.49%) T-SQL
9 4 (0.49%) VBA
10 3 (0.37%) XPath
11 2 (0.25%) Google Apps Script
11 2 (0.25%) PHP
11 2 (0.25%) PL/SQL
11 2 (0.25%) Ruby
12 1 (0.12%) Perl
Qualifications
1 153 (18.84%) Security Cleared
2 120 (14.78%) SC Cleared
3 82 (10.10%) Degree
4 36 (4.43%) CBAP
5 34 (4.19%) BPSS Clearance
6 30 (3.69%) IIBA
7 21 (2.59%) CSPO
8 14 (1.72%) PMI Certification
9 11 (1.35%) Master's Degree
10 6 (0.74%) Computer Science Degree
10 6 (0.74%) ISTQB
10 6 (0.74%) MBA
11 5 (0.62%) ISEB
12 4 (0.49%) AWS Certification
12 4 (0.49%) DV Cleared
12 4 (0.49%) PMP
13 2 (0.25%) Azure Certification
13 2 (0.25%) DBS Check
13 2 (0.25%) Microsoft Certification
14 1 (0.12%) OCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 107 (13.18%) QA
2 47 (5.79%) Data Quality
3 40 (4.93%) Accessibility
4 25 (3.08%) GDPR
5 14 (1.72%) SLA
6 12 (1.48%) WCAG
7 7 (0.86%) NIST
8 6 (0.74%) GxP
8 6 (0.74%) HL7
9 5 (0.62%) PSD2
10 4 (0.49%) 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
11 3 (0.37%) Solvency II
12 2 (0.25%) EU AI Act
12 2 (0.25%) NCSC
System Software
1 24 (2.96%) Docker
2 7 (0.86%) Active Directory
3 5 (0.62%) 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 27 (3.33%) Kubernetes
2 12 (1.48%) Terraform
3 11 (1.35%) Ansible
4 7 (0.86%) SCCM
5 5 (0.62%) HP Quality Center
5 5 (0.62%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (0.37%) Progress Chef
7 2 (0.25%) CASB
7 2 (0.25%) Grafana
7 2 (0.25%) HP ALM
7 2 (0.25%) Jamf Pro
8 1 (0.12%) Argo
8 1 (0.12%) CloudHub
8 1 (0.12%) Kibana
Vendors
1 116 (14.29%) Microsoft
2 84 (10.34%) Salesforce
3 44 (5.42%) ServiceNow
4 43 (5.30%) SAP
5 24 (2.96%) Oracle
6 18 (2.22%) Databricks
7 16 (1.97%) Adobe
7 16 (1.97%) Google
8 13 (1.60%) Cisco
9 10 (1.23%) Splunk
9 10 (1.23%) Workday
10 9 (1.11%) Pega
11 8 (0.99%) MuleSoft
11 8 (0.99%) Zscaler
11 8 (0.99%) Zuora
12 7 (0.86%) Citrix
12 7 (0.86%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud
13 6 (0.74%) Fortinet
13 6 (0.74%) Guidewire
13 6 (0.74%) VMware