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 31 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 134 178 140
Rank change year-on-year +44 -38 -31
Contract jobs citing User Stories 668 411 665
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.11% 1.45% 1.83%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.38% 1.64% 2.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 476 262 469
10th Percentile £338 £356 £388
25th Percentile £406 £422 £438
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -7.14% - -1.87%
75th Percentile £552 £625 £600
90th Percentile £650 £685 £684
UK median daily rate £484 £516 £525
% change year-on-year -6.25% -1.67% -
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% -4.55%

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 28,039 25,113 31,995
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 88.57% 88.74% 88.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,871 15,476 21,696
10th Percentile £304 £313 £306
25th Percentile £408 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% -1.82%
75th Percentile £625 £644 £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 1,770 825 1,406
10th Percentile £15.18 £15.62 £14.38
25th Percentile £17.91 £20.30 £19.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -22.22% +25.00%
75th Percentile £56.99 £64.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £44.00
% change year-on-year -22.62% -26.14% +25.71%

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 31 December 2025.

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 31 December 2025.

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 31 December 2025. 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 +48 365 £500 -9.09% 117
North of England +24 123 £500 +11.11% 25
South East -12 74 £465 -8.92% 54
Midlands +13 63 £430 +6.83% 24
Yorkshire +1 57 £513 +2.50% 6
North West +8 54 £425 - 18
West Midlands -2 37 £492 +5.24% 17
East Midlands +4 26 £359 -6.75% 7
South West -3 21 £498 -17.08% 12
North East +3 14 £500 +19.05% 2
East of England -15 13 £427 +10.19% 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
1 137 (20.51%) Confluence
2 21 (3.14%) SharePoint
3 10 (1.50%) CMS
4 8 (1.20%) Microsoft Exchange
5 6 (0.90%) Apache Airflow
5 6 (0.90%) SAS
6 5 (0.75%) nginx
7 4 (0.60%) Anypoint
7 4 (0.60%) Drupal
7 4 (0.60%) WordPress
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%) JBoss
9 1 (0.15%) Kentico
9 1 (0.15%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 35 (5.24%) Microsoft Excel
2 29 (4.34%) MS Visio
3 22 (3.29%) Microsoft Office
4 20 (2.99%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.75%) Adobe XD
5 5 (0.75%) Chatbot
5 5 (0.75%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.75%) Sketch
6 4 (0.60%) Notion
6 4 (0.60%) Trello
7 3 (0.45%) InVision
8 2 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.30%) Zeplin
Business Applications
1 28 (4.19%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (1.35%) Payment Gateway
3 7 (1.05%) SAP S/4HANA
4 5 (0.75%) NetSuite
5 4 (0.60%) Endur
5 4 (0.60%) SAP HR
5 4 (0.60%) SAP PM
6 3 (0.45%) ProductWriter
6 3 (0.45%) Salesforce CRM
6 3 (0.45%) Temenos T24
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle EBS R12
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle Receivables
7 2 (0.30%) Primavera
8 1 (0.15%) Fidessa
8 1 (0.15%) HFM
8 1 (0.15%) OpenLink RightAngle
8 1 (0.15%) Oracle ERP
8 1 (0.15%) SAP CRM
8 1 (0.15%) Shopify
8 1 (0.15%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 88 (13.17%) Azure
2 74 (11.08%) AWS
3 59 (8.83%) Power Platform
4 43 (6.44%) Azure DevOps
5 30 (4.49%) GCP
6 25 (3.74%) Dynamics 365
7 23 (3.44%) GitHub
8 22 (3.29%) Microsoft 365
9 20 (2.99%) Figma
10 19 (2.84%) PowerApps
11 18 (2.69%) Power Automate
11 18 (2.69%) Serverless
12 17 (2.54%) AWS Lambda
12 17 (2.54%) Salesforce Service Cloud
13 16 (2.40%) Miro
13 16 (2.40%) Snowflake
14 14 (2.10%) SaaS
15 13 (1.95%) GitHub Actions
16 11 (1.65%) Lucidchart
17 10 (1.50%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 8 (1.20%) WebEx
2 5 (0.75%) DNS
3 4 (0.60%) Firewall
3 4 (0.60%) 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 49 (7.34%) Power BI
2 21 (3.14%) Tableau
3 20 (2.99%) Data Warehouse
4 16 (2.40%) BigQuery
5 14 (2.10%) PostgreSQL
6 12 (1.80%) SQL Server
7 9 (1.35%) Metadata
8 7 (1.05%) Amazon Athena
8 7 (1.05%) Relational Database
8 7 (1.05%) Star Schema
9 6 (0.90%) Big Data
9 6 (0.90%) Data Vault
9 6 (0.90%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 4 (0.60%) Amazon RDS
10 4 (0.60%) NoSQL
10 4 (0.60%) Oracle Database
10 4 (0.60%) Redis
10 4 (0.60%) Snowflake Schema
11 3 (0.45%) DynamoDB
11 3 (0.45%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 196 (29.34%) JIRA
2 33 (4.94%) Jenkins
3 19 (2.84%) GitLab
4 17 (2.54%) Cucumber
5 14 (2.10%) Git
6 12 (1.80%) Postman
6 12 (1.80%) Selenium
7 11 (1.65%) JUnit
8 10 (1.50%) Zephyr
9 7 (1.05%) JMeter
9 7 (1.05%) SonarQube
10 6 (0.90%) Sonatype Nexus
11 4 (0.60%) Axure RP
11 4 (0.60%) Cypress.io
11 4 (0.60%) ER Studio
11 4 (0.60%) ERwin
11 4 (0.60%) PowerDesigner
11 4 (0.60%) TeamCity
11 4 (0.60%) TestRail
12 3 (0.45%) SpecFlow
General
1 287 (42.96%) Social Skills
2 173 (25.90%) Finance
3 149 (22.31%) Analytical Skills
4 75 (11.23%) Public Sector
5 66 (9.88%) Banking
6 44 (6.59%) Documentation Skills
7 33 (4.94%) Presentation Skills
8 32 (4.79%) Marketing
9 30 (4.49%) Retail
10 25 (3.74%) Influencing Skills
11 23 (3.44%) Legal
12 14 (2.10%) Back Office
12 14 (2.10%) Front Office
13 13 (1.95%) Investment Banking
14 12 (1.80%) Telecoms
15 11 (1.65%) Organisational Skills
16 8 (1.20%) General Ledger
17 7 (1.05%) Billing
17 7 (1.05%) Financial Institution
17 7 (1.05%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 322 (48.20%) Analyst
2 300 (44.91%) Business Analyst
3 95 (14.22%) Product Owner
4 84 (12.57%) Senior
5 51 (7.63%) Senior Analyst
6 46 (6.89%) Senior Business Analyst
6 46 (6.89%) Technical Analyst
7 43 (6.44%) Technical Business Analyst
8 33 (4.94%) Developer
9 26 (3.89%) Lead
9 26 (3.89%) Product Manager
9 26 (3.89%) Salesforce Business Analyst
10 23 (3.44%) Salesforce Analyst
11 21 (3.14%) Consultant
11 21 (3.14%) Designer
12 19 (2.84%) Test Analyst
13 17 (2.54%) Architect
14 15 (2.25%) Product Analyst
14 15 (2.25%) SC Cleared Business Analyst
15 14 (2.10%) Digital Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (2.69%) JSON
1 18 (2.69%) RESTful
2 17 (2.54%) REST
2 17 (2.54%) XML
3 15 (2.25%) Kafka
4 14 (2.10%) SOAP
5 13 (1.95%) React
5 13 (1.95%) Spring
6 12 (1.80%) ADO
6 12 (1.80%) Spring Boot
7 11 (1.65%) HTML
8 9 (1.35%) Lightning Web Components
8 9 (1.35%) Playwright
9 8 (1.20%) Apache NiFi
9 8 (1.20%) Gherkin
9 8 (1.20%) OAuth
9 8 (1.20%) XMPP
10 7 (1.05%) OAuth2
11 6 (0.90%) Node.js
11 6 (0.90%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 225 (33.68%) Product Ownership
2 27 (4.04%) Onboarding
3 18 (2.69%) Cloud Native
3 18 (2.69%) Data Structures
4 16 (2.40%) Analytical Mindset
4 16 (2.40%) PMI
5 13 (1.95%) Data Protection Act
5 13 (1.95%) Greenfield Project
6 12 (1.80%) Legacy Systems
7 9 (1.35%) Algorithms
7 9 (1.35%) Management Information System
7 9 (1.35%) Mobile App
8 8 (1.20%) SWIFT Messaging Network
9 7 (1.05%) Enterprise Software
9 7 (1.05%) Low-Code
9 7 (1.05%) Self-Motivation
10 6 (0.90%) e-Learning
10 6 (0.90%) Hybrid Cloud
10 6 (0.90%) Marketing Technology
10 6 (0.90%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 21 (3.14%) Windows
2 16 (2.40%) Linux
3 7 (1.05%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 7 (1.05%) Windows Server
4 5 (0.75%) VMS
5 1 (0.15%) Android
5 1 (0.15%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 495 (74.10%) Agile
2 209 (31.29%) Scrum
3 208 (31.14%) Acceptance Criteria
4 193 (28.89%) Stakeholder Management
5 153 (22.90%) Requirements Gathering
6 150 (22.46%) Workshop Facilitation
7 142 (21.26%) Problem-Solving
8 140 (20.96%) Business Analysis
9 117 (17.51%) DevOps
10 115 (17.22%) Roadmaps
11 112 (16.77%) User Acceptance Testing
12 110 (16.47%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 102 (15.27%) Product Backlog
14 98 (14.67%) Backlog Management
15 93 (13.92%) Sprint Planning
16 84 (12.57%) Migration
17 83 (12.43%) Continuous Improvement
17 83 (12.43%) Data Modelling
17 83 (12.43%) Use Case
18 80 (11.98%) Analytics
Programming Languages
1 79 (11.83%) SQL
2 57 (8.53%) Python
3 34 (5.09%) Java
4 20 (2.99%) Bash
5 13 (1.95%) PowerShell
6 10 (1.50%) C#
7 9 (1.35%) JavaScript
7 9 (1.35%) Scala
8 8 (1.20%) Apex Code
8 8 (1.20%) Perl
9 6 (0.90%) TypeScript
10 4 (0.60%) 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%) Ruby
12 2 (0.30%) T-SQL
13 1 (0.15%) PHP
13 1 (0.15%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 97 (14.52%) Security Cleared
2 90 (13.47%) Degree
3 75 (11.23%) SC Cleared
4 30 (4.49%) CBAP
5 25 (3.74%) CSPO
6 20 (2.99%) BPSS Clearance
6 20 (2.99%) PMI Certification
7 16 (2.40%) IIBA
8 8 (1.20%) Computer Science Degree
9 7 (1.05%) DV Cleared
10 6 (0.90%) CCNA
10 6 (0.90%) CFA
10 6 (0.90%) Cisco Certification
11 5 (0.75%) Azure Certification
11 5 (0.75%) CCDP
11 5 (0.75%) CCNP
11 5 (0.75%) ISEB
11 5 (0.75%) Master's Degree
11 5 (0.75%) PMP
12 4 (0.60%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 83 (12.43%) QA
2 29 (4.34%) Accessibility
2 29 (4.34%) GDPR
3 19 (2.84%) Data Quality
3 19 (2.84%) WCAG
4 15 (2.25%) PSD2
5 12 (1.80%) PCI DSS
6 10 (1.50%) SLA
7 6 (0.90%) ISO 8583
8 5 (0.75%) SEPA
9 4 (0.60%) FIPS 140-2
9 4 (0.60%) ISO 20022
10 3 (0.45%) GxP
10 3 (0.45%) HL7
11 2 (0.30%) Basel III
11 2 (0.30%) EMIR
11 2 (0.30%) GMP
11 2 (0.30%) NCSC
11 2 (0.30%) PMO
12 1 (0.15%) EU AI Act
System Software
1 25 (3.74%) Docker
2 9 (1.35%) Active Directory
3 8 (1.20%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.15%) etcd
4 1 (0.15%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 24 (3.59%) Kubernetes
2 19 (2.84%) Ansible
3 14 (2.10%) NetBackup
4 12 (1.80%) Terraform
5 5 (0.75%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 5 (0.75%) Progress Chef
6 4 (0.60%) Grafana
6 4 (0.60%) Puppet
6 4 (0.60%) 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 (15.57%) Microsoft
2 77 (11.53%) Salesforce
3 28 (4.19%) Oracle
4 27 (4.04%) SAP
5 23 (3.44%) ServiceNow
6 21 (3.14%) Red Hat
7 14 (2.10%) Commvault
8 13 (1.95%) VMware
9 12 (1.80%) Databricks
9 12 (1.80%) MuleSoft
10 11 (1.65%) Cisco
11 10 (1.50%) Citrix
11 10 (1.50%) Veritas
12 9 (1.35%) Adobe
13 8 (1.20%) Pega
14 7 (1.05%) Google
15 5 (0.75%) Atlassian
15 5 (0.75%) Guidewire
15 5 (0.75%) HubSpot
15 5 (0.75%) Zuora