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

6 months to
4 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 133 175 136
Rank change year-on-year +42 -39 -17
Contract jobs citing User Stories 707 385 666
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.12% 1.47% 1.75%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.42% 1.65% 2.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 507 243 468
10th Percentile £338 £350 £375
25th Percentile £409 £416 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.41% -2.38% -2.33%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £600
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 16 0 6
10th Percentile £37.25 - £50.63
25th Percentile £48.86 - £51.25
Median hourly rate £60.61 - £59.25
75th Percentile £74.26 - £67.17
90th Percentile £84.01 - £70.03
UK median hourly rate £60.61 £29.00 £59.25
% change year-on-year +109.00% -51.05% -1.25%

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 29,221 23,402 33,182
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 87.65% 89.60% 87.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,693 14,362 22,190
10th Percentile £306 £310 £300
25th Percentile £410 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £640 £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 1,820 750 1,958
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.62 £13.41
25th Percentile £17.87 £21.01 £16.69
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £35.25
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -0.71% +0.71%
75th Percentile £60.00 £63.75 £61.75
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £73.75
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year -22.62% -7.14% +9.38%

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 4 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 4 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 4 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 +44 389 £500 -4.76% 67
North of England +18 131 £488 +8.33% 34
South East -18 70 £478 -6.37% 71
Midlands -5 65 £459 -3.47% 30
North West +7 60 £402 -15.37% 18
Yorkshire -8 55 £513 +2.50% 8
West Midlands -15 40 £492 +2.71% 20
East Midlands -6 25 £360 -6.49% 9
South West -13 25 £485 -19.17% 7
North East -1 18 £488 +21.88% 8
East of England -24 14 £513 +59.55% 15
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 (22.21%) Confluence
2 21 (2.97%) SharePoint
3 12 (1.70%) CMS
4 8 (1.13%) Microsoft Exchange
4 8 (1.13%) SAS
5 3 (0.42%) Anypoint
5 3 (0.42%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (0.42%) Drupal
5 3 (0.42%) WordPress
6 2 (0.28%) Apache
6 2 (0.28%) Sitecore CMS
6 2 (0.28%) Traefik
6 2 (0.28%) WebSphere
7 1 (0.14%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 1 (0.14%) Kentico
7 1 (0.14%) nginx
7 1 (0.14%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 44 (6.22%) Microsoft Excel
2 34 (4.81%) MS Visio
3 32 (4.53%) Microsoft Office
4 21 (2.97%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.71%) Adobe XD
5 5 (0.71%) Chatbot
5 5 (0.71%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.71%) Sketch
6 4 (0.57%) Notion
6 4 (0.57%) Trello
7 3 (0.42%) InVision
7 3 (0.42%) Zeplin
Business Applications
1 20 (2.83%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (1.27%) Payment Gateway
3 8 (1.13%) SAP S/4HANA
4 5 (0.71%) NetSuite
5 3 (0.42%) Endur
5 3 (0.42%) Oracle Receivables
5 3 (0.42%) ProductWriter
6 2 (0.28%) Oracle EBS R12
6 2 (0.28%) Oracle ERP
6 2 (0.28%) Primavera
6 2 (0.28%) Shopify
7 1 (0.14%) Exchequer
7 1 (0.14%) Fidessa
7 1 (0.14%) HFM
7 1 (0.14%) OpenLink RightAngle
7 1 (0.14%) Oracle Financials
7 1 (0.14%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.14%) SAP BPC
7 1 (0.14%) Temenos T24
7 1 (0.14%) thinkFolio
Cloud Services
1 109 (15.42%) Azure
2 75 (10.61%) AWS
3 63 (8.91%) Power Platform
4 46 (6.51%) Azure DevOps
5 26 (3.68%) GCP
6 23 (3.25%) Microsoft 365
7 21 (2.97%) GitHub
8 19 (2.69%) Dynamics 365
9 18 (2.55%) PowerApps
10 17 (2.40%) Power Automate
10 17 (2.40%) SaaS
10 17 (2.40%) Salesforce Service Cloud
11 16 (2.26%) Miro
12 15 (2.12%) Figma
13 14 (1.98%) GitHub Actions
13 14 (1.98%) Snowflake
14 12 (1.70%) Lucidchart
15 11 (1.56%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
15 11 (1.56%) Serverless
16 10 (1.41%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 8 (1.13%) WebEx
2 4 (0.57%) Firewall
2 4 (0.57%) HTTP
3 3 (0.42%) DNS
3 3 (0.42%) FTP
4 2 (0.28%) BGP
4 2 (0.28%) Software-Defined Networking
4 2 (0.28%) VLAN
4 2 (0.28%) VPN
5 1 (0.14%) Calico
5 1 (0.14%) Cisco IPT
5 1 (0.14%) Internet
5 1 (0.14%) LAN
5 1 (0.14%) SD-WAN
5 1 (0.14%) WAN
5 1 (0.14%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 51 (7.21%) Power BI
2 23 (3.25%) Data Warehouse
3 19 (2.69%) Tableau
4 15 (2.12%) PostgreSQL
5 13 (1.84%) BigQuery
6 12 (1.70%) Metadata
6 12 (1.70%) SQL Server
7 11 (1.56%) NoSQL
8 7 (0.99%) Amazon Athena
8 7 (0.99%) Data Lake
8 7 (0.99%) Star Schema
9 6 (0.85%) Data Vault
9 6 (0.85%) Relational Database
10 5 (0.71%) Amazon RDS
10 5 (0.71%) Big Data
10 5 (0.71%) MongoDB
11 4 (0.57%) Oracle Database
11 4 (0.57%) Snowflake Schema
12 3 (0.42%) DynamoDB
12 3 (0.42%) Redis
Development Applications
1 203 (28.71%) JIRA
2 34 (4.81%) Jenkins
3 19 (2.69%) GitLab
4 16 (2.26%) Git
5 15 (2.12%) Cucumber
6 13 (1.84%) JUnit
7 12 (1.70%) Postman
7 12 (1.70%) Selenium
8 8 (1.13%) SonarQube
8 8 (1.13%) Zephyr
9 7 (0.99%) JMeter
10 6 (0.85%) Sonatype Nexus
11 5 (0.71%) Axure RP
11 5 (0.71%) REST Assured
12 4 (0.57%) Cypress.io
12 4 (0.57%) ER Studio
12 4 (0.57%) ERwin
12 4 (0.57%) PowerDesigner
12 4 (0.57%) TeamCity
12 4 (0.57%) TestRail
General
1 293 (41.44%) Social Skills
2 197 (27.86%) Finance
3 160 (22.63%) Analytical Skills
4 83 (11.74%) Public Sector
5 77 (10.89%) Banking
6 52 (7.36%) Documentation Skills
7 38 (5.37%) Presentation Skills
8 33 (4.67%) Retail
9 27 (3.82%) Influencing Skills
10 23 (3.25%) Legal
11 22 (3.11%) Marketing
12 14 (1.98%) Back Office
13 13 (1.84%) Investment Banking
13 13 (1.84%) Organisational Skills
14 12 (1.70%) Front Office
15 11 (1.56%) Financial Institution
16 10 (1.41%) Telecoms
17 9 (1.27%) General Ledger
17 9 (1.27%) Military
17 9 (1.27%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 366 (51.77%) Analyst
2 345 (48.80%) Business Analyst
3 105 (14.85%) Senior
4 80 (11.32%) Product Owner
5 67 (9.48%) Senior Analyst
6 61 (8.63%) Senior Business Analyst
7 43 (6.08%) Developer
8 41 (5.80%) Technical Analyst
9 38 (5.37%) Technical Business Analyst
10 32 (4.53%) Product Manager
11 27 (3.82%) Lead
11 27 (3.82%) Salesforce Business Analyst
12 25 (3.54%) Salesforce Analyst
13 22 (3.11%) Designer
14 21 (2.97%) SC Cleared Business Analyst
15 20 (2.83%) Consultant
15 20 (2.83%) Digital Business Analyst
15 20 (2.83%) Financial Analyst
16 18 (2.55%) Data Analyst
16 18 (2.55%) Test Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (3.11%) REST
2 17 (2.40%) React
3 15 (2.12%) Spring
4 14 (1.98%) JSON
4 14 (1.98%) RESTful
4 14 (1.98%) Spring Boot
4 14 (1.98%) XML
5 13 (1.84%) Kafka
6 12 (1.70%) ADO
7 9 (1.27%) HTML
7 9 (1.27%) Web Services
8 8 (1.13%) Apache NiFi
8 8 (1.13%) Node.js
8 8 (1.13%) SOAP
8 8 (1.13%) VML
8 8 (1.13%) XMPP
9 7 (0.99%) Hibernate
9 7 (0.99%) Lightning Web Components
9 7 (0.99%) Playwright
10 6 (0.85%) CSS
Miscellaneous
1 219 (30.98%) Product Ownership
2 23 (3.25%) Onboarding
3 21 (2.97%) Analytical Mindset
4 19 (2.69%) PMI
5 16 (2.26%) Data Structures
6 12 (1.70%) Legacy Systems
7 10 (1.41%) Cloud Native
7 10 (1.41%) Data Protection Act
8 9 (1.27%) CMDB
8 9 (1.27%) Management Information System
8 9 (1.27%) SWIFT Messaging Network
9 8 (1.13%) Greenfield Project
9 8 (1.13%) Mobile App
9 8 (1.13%) NHS
10 7 (0.99%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 7 (0.99%) Self-Motivation
11 6 (0.85%) Hybrid Cloud
11 6 (0.85%) Low-Code
12 5 (0.71%) e-Learning
12 5 (0.71%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 20 (2.83%) Windows
2 16 (2.26%) Linux
3 7 (0.99%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 7 (0.99%) Windows Server
4 5 (0.71%) VMS
5 1 (0.14%) Android
5 1 (0.14%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 496 (70.16%) Agile
2 251 (35.50%) Acceptance Criteria
3 229 (32.39%) Stakeholder Management
4 200 (28.29%) Scrum
5 174 (24.61%) Requirements Gathering
6 169 (23.90%) Workshop Facilitation
7 160 (22.63%) Business Analysis
8 140 (19.80%) Problem-Solving
9 131 (18.53%) DevOps
10 122 (17.26%) User Acceptance Testing
11 119 (16.83%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 108 (15.28%) Roadmaps
13 94 (13.30%) Migration
14 91 (12.87%) Data Modelling
14 91 (12.87%) Sprint Planning
15 88 (12.45%) Use Case
16 87 (12.31%) Backlog Management
17 86 (12.16%) Product Backlog
18 82 (11.60%) Analytics
19 77 (10.89%) SDLC
Programming Languages
1 95 (13.44%) SQL
2 55 (7.78%) Python
3 32 (4.53%) Java
4 18 (2.55%) Bash
5 17 (2.40%) C#
6 14 (1.98%) JavaScript
6 14 (1.98%) PowerShell
7 9 (1.27%) Scala
7 9 (1.27%) TypeScript
8 8 (1.13%) Perl
9 5 (0.71%) Korn
10 4 (0.57%) T-SQL
11 3 (0.42%) Apex Code
11 3 (0.42%) Go
11 3 (0.42%) PHP
11 3 (0.42%) XPath
12 2 (0.28%) PL/SQL
12 2 (0.28%) VBA
13 1 (0.14%) Groovy
13 1 (0.14%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 125 (17.68%) Security Cleared
2 101 (14.29%) SC Cleared
3 88 (12.45%) Degree
4 43 (6.08%) CBAP
5 28 (3.96%) IIBA
6 26 (3.68%) BPSS Clearance
7 23 (3.25%) PMI Certification
8 20 (2.83%) CSPO
9 8 (1.13%) Master's Degree
10 6 (0.85%) CFA
10 6 (0.85%) DV Cleared
10 6 (0.85%) MBA
11 5 (0.71%) AWS Certification
11 5 (0.71%) Azure Certification
11 5 (0.71%) CCDP
11 5 (0.71%) CCNA
11 5 (0.71%) CCNP
11 5 (0.71%) Cisco Certification
11 5 (0.71%) ISEB
11 5 (0.71%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 93 (13.15%) QA
2 34 (4.81%) Accessibility
3 27 (3.82%) GDPR
4 24 (3.39%) Data Quality
5 18 (2.55%) WCAG
6 17 (2.40%) PSD2
7 8 (1.13%) PCI DSS
7 8 (1.13%) SLA
8 6 (0.85%) ISO 20022
8 6 (0.85%) ISO 8583
9 5 (0.71%) SEPA
10 4 (0.57%) HL7
11 3 (0.42%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 3 (0.42%) GxP
12 2 (0.28%) Basel III
12 2 (0.28%) GMP
12 2 (0.28%) NCSC
12 2 (0.28%) PMO
13 1 (0.14%) EMIR
13 1 (0.14%) GAMP
System Software
1 24 (3.39%) Docker
2 8 (1.13%) Active Directory
2 8 (1.13%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (0.14%) etcd
3 1 (0.14%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 27 (3.82%) Kubernetes
2 17 (2.40%) Ansible
3 14 (1.98%) Terraform
4 12 (1.70%) NetBackup
5 5 (0.71%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 5 (0.71%) Progress Chef
6 4 (0.57%) Grafana
6 4 (0.57%) HP Quality Center
6 4 (0.57%) Puppet
7 2 (0.28%) FortiGate
7 2 (0.28%) Istio
7 2 (0.28%) SCCM
7 2 (0.28%) Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.14%) Argo
8 1 (0.14%) CASB
8 1 (0.14%) CloudHub
8 1 (0.14%) HP ALM
Vendors
1 112 (15.84%) Microsoft
2 80 (11.32%) Salesforce
3 32 (4.53%) SAP
4 31 (4.38%) ServiceNow
5 29 (4.10%) Oracle
6 19 (2.69%) Red Hat
7 18 (2.55%) Databricks
8 13 (1.84%) VMware
9 12 (1.70%) Commvault
10 11 (1.56%) Cisco
11 10 (1.41%) MuleSoft
12 8 (1.13%) Adobe
12 8 (1.13%) Citrix
12 8 (1.13%) Google
12 8 (1.13%) Veritas
13 6 (0.85%) Guidewire
13 6 (0.85%) Workday
14 5 (0.71%) Cognizant
14 5 (0.71%) Pega
14 5 (0.71%) Zuora