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 19 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 132 185 135
Rank change year-on-year +53 -50 -13
Contract jobs citing User Stories 732 378 662
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.11% 1.46% 1.77%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.41% 1.62% 2.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 527 248 459
10th Percentile £356 £350 £383
25th Percentile £412 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.41% -2.38% -1.87%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £595
90th Percentile £650 £685 £675
UK median daily rate £492 £500 £525
% change year-on-year -1.60% -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 0 8
10th Percentile £39.55 - £31.71
25th Percentile £48.86 - £45.43
Median hourly rate £67.44 - £52.50
75th Percentile £74.26 - £66.39
90th Percentile £80.11 - £69.04
UK median hourly rate £67.44 £24.30 £52.50
% change year-on-year +177.57% -53.72% -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 30,349 23,302 32,721
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 87.42% 89.94% 87.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 19,395 14,514 21,728
10th Percentile £311 £308 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £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 1,903 732 1,999
10th Percentile £15.18 £15.62 £13.39
25th Percentile £18.26 £21.20 £16.25
Median hourly rate £26.78 £35.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -23.49% - -
75th Percentile £61.18 £64.79 £60.13
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.23 £73.05
UK median hourly rate £25.50 £32.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year -21.54% -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 19 February 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 19 February 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 19 February 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 +56 409 £500 -4.76% 100
North of England +6 129 £488 +20.00% 49
South East -17 77 £454 -15.53% 67
North West +13 65 £405 -10.00% 24
Midlands -22 63 £475 +2.70% 29
Yorkshire -17 48 £516 +29.06% 11
West Midlands -28 44 £492 +1.86% 25
South West -12 27 £475 -20.83% 12
East Midlands -12 19 £425 +19.38% 4
North East -4 18 £488 +21.88% 15
East of England -24 15 £550 +71.14% 16
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
1 156 (21.31%) Confluence
2 21 (2.87%) SharePoint
3 12 (1.64%) CMS
4 9 (1.23%) Microsoft Exchange
5 7 (0.96%) SAS
6 3 (0.41%) Anypoint
6 3 (0.41%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.27%) Apache
7 2 (0.27%) Drupal
7 2 (0.27%) Sitecore CMS
7 2 (0.27%) Traefik
7 2 (0.27%) WordPress
8 1 (0.14%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 1 (0.14%) Kentico
8 1 (0.14%) SharePoint Server
8 1 (0.14%) WebSphere
Applications
1 44 (6.01%) Microsoft Excel
2 33 (4.51%) MS Visio
3 29 (3.96%) Microsoft Office
4 22 (3.01%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.68%) Adobe XD
5 5 (0.68%) Chatbot
5 5 (0.68%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.68%) Sketch
6 4 (0.55%) Notion
6 4 (0.55%) Trello
7 3 (0.41%) InVision
7 3 (0.41%) Zeplin
8 1 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 19 (2.60%) Dynamics CRM
2 7 (0.96%) SAP S/4HANA
3 6 (0.82%) NetSuite
3 6 (0.82%) Payment Gateway
4 5 (0.68%) Adobe Campaign
5 4 (0.55%) Eloqua
5 4 (0.55%) Oracle Receivables
6 3 (0.41%) ProductWriter
7 2 (0.27%) Endur
7 2 (0.27%) Oracle EBS R12
7 2 (0.27%) Oracle ERP
7 2 (0.27%) Oracle Financials
7 2 (0.27%) Oracle Payables
7 2 (0.27%) Primavera
7 2 (0.27%) Salesforce CRM
7 2 (0.27%) Shopify
8 1 (0.14%) Exchequer
8 1 (0.14%) Fidessa
8 1 (0.14%) HFM
8 1 (0.14%) Oracle EBS
Cloud Services
1 125 (17.08%) Azure
2 77 (10.52%) AWS
3 66 (9.02%) Power Platform
4 51 (6.97%) Azure DevOps
5 29 (3.96%) GCP
6 25 (3.42%) GitHub
6 25 (3.42%) Microsoft 365
7 22 (3.01%) Dynamics 365
8 20 (2.73%) PowerApps
9 19 (2.60%) Salesforce Service Cloud
10 18 (2.46%) Power Automate
11 17 (2.32%) SaaS
12 16 (2.19%) Miro
13 15 (2.05%) Figma
13 15 (2.05%) GitHub Actions
13 15 (2.05%) Lucidchart
14 14 (1.91%) Snowflake
15 13 (1.78%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
16 12 (1.64%) Entra ID
17 10 (1.37%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 9 (1.23%) WebEx
2 5 (0.68%) Firewall
3 4 (0.55%) DNS
3 4 (0.55%) HTTP
4 3 (0.41%) BGP
4 3 (0.41%) FTP
4 3 (0.41%) VLAN
5 2 (0.27%) Software-Defined Networking
5 2 (0.27%) VPN
6 1 (0.14%) Calico
6 1 (0.14%) Cisco IPT
6 1 (0.14%) LAN
6 1 (0.14%) Network Security
6 1 (0.14%) SD-WAN
6 1 (0.14%) WAN
6 1 (0.14%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 52 (7.10%) Power BI
2 26 (3.55%) Data Warehouse
3 19 (2.60%) Tableau
4 15 (2.05%) Metadata
5 14 (1.91%) PostgreSQL
6 13 (1.78%) BigQuery
7 11 (1.50%) NoSQL
8 10 (1.37%) SQL Server
9 9 (1.23%) Relational Database
10 7 (0.96%) Amazon Athena
10 7 (0.96%) Data Lake
10 7 (0.96%) Star Schema
11 6 (0.82%) Data Vault
12 5 (0.68%) Amazon RDS
12 5 (0.68%) Big Data
12 5 (0.68%) MongoDB
13 4 (0.55%) Snowflake Schema
14 3 (0.41%) Data Mining
14 3 (0.41%) OLAP
14 3 (0.41%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 201 (27.46%) JIRA
2 28 (3.83%) Jenkins
3 15 (2.05%) Cucumber
3 15 (2.05%) Git
3 15 (2.05%) GitLab
4 14 (1.91%) Postman
5 12 (1.64%) JUnit
5 12 (1.64%) Selenium
6 8 (1.09%) JMeter
7 7 (0.96%) SonarQube
7 7 (0.96%) Zephyr
8 6 (0.82%) REST Assured
8 6 (0.82%) Sonatype Nexus
9 5 (0.68%) Axure RP
9 5 (0.68%) Cypress.io
9 5 (0.68%) TeamCity
9 5 (0.68%) TestRail
10 4 (0.55%) ER Studio
10 4 (0.55%) ERwin
10 4 (0.55%) PowerDesigner
General
1 305 (41.67%) Social Skills
2 204 (27.87%) Finance
3 165 (22.54%) Analytical Skills
4 94 (12.84%) Public Sector
5 72 (9.84%) Banking
6 55 (7.51%) Documentation Skills
7 38 (5.19%) Presentation Skills
8 36 (4.92%) Retail
9 28 (3.83%) Influencing Skills
10 27 (3.69%) Marketing
11 25 (3.42%) Legal
12 17 (2.32%) Organisational Skills
13 15 (2.05%) Front Office
14 14 (1.91%) Investment Banking
15 12 (1.64%) Back Office
15 12 (1.64%) Financial Institution
15 12 (1.64%) Military
16 11 (1.50%) Retail Banking
17 10 (1.37%) Telecoms
18 9 (1.23%) General Ledger
Job Titles
1 382 (52.19%) Analyst
2 360 (49.18%) Business Analyst
3 115 (15.71%) Senior
4 77 (10.52%) Product Owner
5 72 (9.84%) Senior Analyst
6 67 (9.15%) Senior Business Analyst
7 51 (6.97%) Developer
8 38 (5.19%) Technical Analyst
9 35 (4.78%) Technical Business Analyst
10 34 (4.64%) Product Manager
11 32 (4.37%) Lead
12 28 (3.83%) Salesforce Business Analyst
13 26 (3.55%) Salesforce Analyst
14 24 (3.28%) Data Analyst
14 24 (3.28%) SC Cleared Business Analyst
15 22 (3.01%) Designer
16 21 (2.87%) Financial Analyst
17 20 (2.73%) Data Business Analyst
18 18 (2.46%) Digital Business Analyst
18 18 (2.46%) Finance Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (2.87%) REST
2 18 (2.46%) React
3 15 (2.05%) JSON
3 15 (2.05%) XML
4 14 (1.91%) ADO
4 14 (1.91%) Spring
5 13 (1.78%) Spring Boot
6 11 (1.50%) Kafka
6 11 (1.50%) RESTful
7 10 (1.37%) HTML
7 10 (1.37%) Node.js
8 9 (1.23%) Lightning Web Components
8 9 (1.23%) Web Services
8 9 (1.23%) XMPP
9 8 (1.09%) Apache NiFi
9 8 (1.09%) CSS
9 8 (1.09%) VML
10 7 (0.96%) Playwright
11 6 (0.82%) .NET
11 6 (0.82%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 222 (30.33%) Product Ownership
2 21 (2.87%) Analytical Mindset
3 20 (2.73%) Onboarding
4 17 (2.32%) PMI
5 16 (2.19%) Data Structures
6 14 (1.91%) Legacy Systems
7 12 (1.64%) CMDB
7 12 (1.64%) Data Protection Act
8 11 (1.50%) Self-Motivation
9 10 (1.37%) Management Information System
10 9 (1.23%) Cloud Native
10 9 (1.23%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 8 (1.09%) Greenfield Project
11 8 (1.09%) NHS
12 7 (0.96%) Low-Code
12 7 (0.96%) Mobile App
12 7 (0.96%) SWIFT Messaging Network
13 6 (0.82%) Hybrid Cloud
13 6 (0.82%) Marketing Technology
14 5 (0.68%) Data Centre
Operating Systems
1 20 (2.73%) Windows
2 17 (2.32%) Linux
3 8 (1.09%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 8 (1.09%) Windows Server
4 4 (0.55%) VMS
5 1 (0.14%) Android
5 1 (0.14%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 506 (69.13%) Agile
2 268 (36.61%) Acceptance Criteria
3 229 (31.28%) Stakeholder Management
4 188 (25.68%) Scrum
5 184 (25.14%) Requirements Gathering
6 178 (24.32%) Workshop Facilitation
7 160 (21.86%) Business Analysis
8 143 (19.54%) Problem-Solving
9 134 (18.31%) DevOps
10 126 (17.21%) User Acceptance Testing
11 125 (17.08%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 110 (15.03%) Roadmaps
13 105 (14.34%) Data Modelling
14 103 (14.07%) Migration
15 93 (12.70%) Product Backlog
15 93 (12.70%) Use Case
16 91 (12.43%) Sprint Planning
17 86 (11.75%) Backlog Management
18 83 (11.34%) Analytics
19 80 (10.93%) SDLC
Programming Languages
1 95 (12.98%) SQL
2 56 (7.65%) Python
3 33 (4.51%) Java
4 18 (2.46%) JavaScript
5 17 (2.32%) PowerShell
6 16 (2.19%) C#
7 14 (1.91%) Bash
8 10 (1.37%) TypeScript
9 9 (1.23%) Perl
10 8 (1.09%) Scala
11 6 (0.82%) Korn
12 5 (0.68%) Apex Code
13 4 (0.55%) VBA
14 3 (0.41%) Go
14 3 (0.41%) T-SQL
14 3 (0.41%) XPath
15 2 (0.27%) Google Apps Script
15 2 (0.27%) Kotlin
15 2 (0.27%) PHP
15 2 (0.27%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 136 (18.58%) Security Cleared
2 111 (15.16%) SC Cleared
3 89 (12.16%) Degree
4 42 (5.74%) CBAP
5 30 (4.10%) IIBA
6 26 (3.55%) BPSS Clearance
7 22 (3.01%) PMI Certification
8 19 (2.60%) CSPO
9 8 (1.09%) Master's Degree
10 6 (0.82%) CCDP
10 6 (0.82%) CCNA
10 6 (0.82%) CCNP
10 6 (0.82%) CFA
10 6 (0.82%) Cisco Certification
10 6 (0.82%) DV Cleared
10 6 (0.82%) MBA
10 6 (0.82%) PMP
11 5 (0.68%) AWS Certification
11 5 (0.68%) Azure Certification
11 5 (0.68%) ISEB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 95 (12.98%) QA
2 39 (5.33%) Accessibility
3 32 (4.37%) Data Quality
4 24 (3.28%) GDPR
5 16 (2.19%) WCAG
6 11 (1.50%) PSD2
7 8 (1.09%) SLA
8 6 (0.82%) ISO 8583
8 6 (0.82%) PCI DSS
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 (0.27%) Basel III
11 2 (0.27%) EU AI Act
11 2 (0.27%) GMP
11 2 (0.27%) NCSC
11 2 (0.27%) PMO
12 1 (0.14%) EMIR
System Software
1 24 (3.28%) Docker
2 11 (1.50%) Active Directory
3 9 (1.23%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.14%) etcd
4 1 (0.14%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 29 (3.96%) Kubernetes
2 17 (2.32%) Terraform
3 12 (1.64%) Ansible
4 7 (0.96%) NetBackup
5 5 (0.68%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 5 (0.68%) Grafana
5 5 (0.68%) Progress Chef
6 4 (0.55%) HP Quality Center
6 4 (0.55%) Puppet
6 4 (0.55%) SCCM
7 3 (0.41%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.27%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.27%) HP ALM
8 2 (0.27%) Istio
9 1 (0.14%) Argo
9 1 (0.14%) CASB
9 1 (0.14%) CloudHub
9 1 (0.14%) Kibana
Vendors
1 113 (15.44%) Microsoft
2 81 (11.07%) Salesforce
3 38 (5.19%) ServiceNow
4 33 (4.51%) Oracle
4 33 (4.51%) SAP
5 21 (2.87%) Databricks
6 15 (2.05%) Red Hat
7 14 (1.91%) Adobe
7 14 (1.91%) VMware
8 12 (1.64%) Cisco
8 12 (1.64%) MuleSoft
9 10 (1.37%) Citrix
10 9 (1.23%) Google
11 7 (0.96%) Commvault
11 7 (0.96%) Workday
12 6 (0.82%) Guidewire
12 6 (0.82%) Zuora
13 5 (0.68%) Cognizant
13 5 (0.68%) Pega
13 5 (0.68%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud