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

6 months to
28 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 125 160 150
Rank change year-on-year +35 -10 -27
Contract jobs citing User Stories 821 412 588
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.04% 1.68% 1.59%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.41% 1.85% 1.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 575 261 412
10th Percentile £355 £356 £350
25th Percentile £413 £416 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £510 £538
Median % change year-on-year -1.96% -5.12% +2.38%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £600
90th Percentile £650 £675 £656
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £538
% change year-on-year - -6.98% +3.37%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 2 6
10th Percentile £39.16 £54.90 £31.71
25th Percentile £48.86 £57.00 £32.03
Median hourly rate £70.00 £61.75 £42.75
Median % change year-on-year +13.36% +44.44% -33.72%
75th Percentile £74.26 £67.75 £62.94
90th Percentile - £70.60 £69.25
UK median hourly rate £70.00 £53.50 £42.75
% change year-on-year +30.84% +25.15% -33.72%

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 34,120 22,289 31,993
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 84.96% 91.13% 86.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,809 14,625 20,976
10th Percentile £318 £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 -4.40% -0.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,143 919 2,227
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.74 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.38 £18.51 £16.00
Median hourly rate £44.00 £30.45 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +44.50% -13.00% -6.67%
75th Percentile £67.25 £63.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £40.25 £29.15 £35.00
% change year-on-year +38.08% -16.71% -6.27%

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 28 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 28 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 28 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 +51 464 £500 -4.76% 76
North of England +4 139 £466 -1.89% 48
Midlands -6 93 £492 +6.38% 29
West Midlands -17 69 £492 +3.58% 18
North West +5 64 £389 -22.25% 27
South East -60 64 £454 -12.19% 80
Yorkshire -27 51 £505 +18.82% 16
South West -28 28 £475 -17.39% 21
North East -4 24 £454 +13.50% 6
East Midlands -19 24 £463 +17.01% 10
East of England -22 23 £510 +36.00% 14
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
1 159 (19.37%) Confluence
2 21 (2.56%) SharePoint
3 17 (2.07%) CMS
4 9 (1.10%) SAS
5 5 (0.61%) Microsoft Exchange
6 4 (0.49%) Jupyter
7 3 (0.37%) Anypoint
7 3 (0.37%) Camunda
8 2 (0.24%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 2 (0.24%) Drupal
8 2 (0.24%) JBoss
8 2 (0.24%) Sitecore CMS
8 2 (0.24%) 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 (5.85%) Microsoft Excel
2 43 (5.24%) MS Visio
3 26 (3.17%) Microsoft Office
4 21 (2.56%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.37%) Adobe XD
5 3 (0.37%) Chatbot
5 3 (0.37%) InVision
5 3 (0.37%) Notion
5 3 (0.37%) Sketch
5 3 (0.37%) Zeplin
6 2 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.12%) Trello
Business Applications
1 17 (2.07%) Dynamics CRM
2 8 (0.97%) NetSuite
3 7 (0.85%) SAP S/4HANA
4 6 (0.73%) 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%) Teamcenter
6 3 (0.37%) Temenos T24
7 2 (0.24%) Payment Gateway
7 2 (0.24%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 136 (16.57%) Azure
2 70 (8.53%) AWS
3 68 (8.28%) Power Platform
4 49 (5.97%) Azure DevOps
5 25 (3.05%) Salesforce Service Cloud
6 24 (2.92%) Dynamics 365
7 23 (2.80%) Microsoft 365
8 22 (2.68%) GitHub
9 20 (2.44%) GCP
9 20 (2.44%) SaaS
10 17 (2.07%) Power Automate
10 17 (2.07%) PowerApps
11 13 (1.58%) Azure Data Factory
11 13 (1.58%) Figma
11 13 (1.58%) Lucidchart
11 13 (1.58%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
12 11 (1.34%) Miro
13 9 (1.10%) GitHub Actions
14 8 (0.97%) OpenShift
14 8 (0.97%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 8 (0.97%) Network Security
2 7 (0.85%) Firewall
3 6 (0.73%) HTTP
4 5 (0.61%) DNS
4 5 (0.61%) WebEx
5 3 (0.37%) FTP
6 2 (0.24%) 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
7 1 (0.12%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 54 (6.58%) Power BI
2 23 (2.80%) Data Warehouse
3 22 (2.68%) Metadata
4 14 (1.71%) Tableau
5 13 (1.58%) SQL Server
6 10 (1.22%) Relational Database
7 9 (1.10%) BigQuery
7 9 (1.10%) NoSQL
7 9 (1.10%) PostgreSQL
8 7 (0.85%) Data Lake
8 7 (0.85%) Delta Lake
9 4 (0.49%) Parquet
10 3 (0.37%) Amazon Athena
10 3 (0.37%) Amazon RDS
10 3 (0.37%) Big Data
10 3 (0.37%) Data Mining
10 3 (0.37%) Data Vault
10 3 (0.37%) OLAP
11 2 (0.24%) Metadata Repository
11 2 (0.24%) Oracle OLAP
Development Applications
1 210 (25.58%) JIRA
2 23 (2.80%) Postman
3 20 (2.44%) Jenkins
4 16 (1.95%) Git
5 12 (1.46%) GitLab
6 11 (1.34%) Selenium
7 9 (1.10%) Cucumber
7 9 (1.10%) Zephyr
8 7 (0.85%) JUnit
9 6 (0.73%) SonarQube
10 5 (0.61%) Balsamiq
10 5 (0.61%) TestRail
11 4 (0.49%) JMeter
11 4 (0.49%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
11 4 (0.49%) TeamCity
12 3 (0.37%) Axure RP
12 3 (0.37%) REST Assured
12 3 (0.37%) Sonatype Nexus
12 3 (0.37%) SpecFlow
13 2 (0.24%) Tricentis qTest
General
1 329 (40.07%) Social Skills
2 220 (26.80%) Finance
3 207 (25.21%) Analytical Skills
4 114 (13.89%) Public Sector
5 94 (11.45%) Banking
6 62 (7.55%) Documentation Skills
7 48 (5.85%) Retail
8 46 (5.60%) Presentation Skills
9 33 (4.02%) Marketing
10 23 (2.80%) Influencing Skills
11 21 (2.56%) Legal
12 17 (2.07%) Organisational Skills
13 16 (1.95%) Financial Institution
14 15 (1.83%) Military
15 13 (1.58%) Front Office
16 12 (1.46%) Investment Banking
16 12 (1.46%) Retail Banking
17 8 (0.97%) General Ledger
17 8 (0.97%) Manufacturing
17 8 (0.97%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 458 (55.79%) Analyst
2 429 (52.25%) Business Analyst
3 136 (16.57%) Senior
4 93 (11.33%) Senior Analyst
5 88 (10.72%) Product Owner
6 86 (10.48%) Senior Business Analyst
7 56 (6.82%) Developer
8 54 (6.58%) Technical Analyst
9 51 (6.21%) Technical Business Analyst
10 50 (6.09%) Product Manager
11 43 (5.24%) Salesforce Business Analyst
12 42 (5.12%) Salesforce Analyst
13 27 (3.29%) Data Analyst
13 27 (3.29%) Lead
14 26 (3.17%) Implementation Analyst
15 24 (2.92%) Data Business Analyst
15 24 (2.92%) Designer
15 24 (2.92%) SC Cleared Business Analyst
16 23 (2.80%) Banking Analyst
16 23 (2.80%) Financial Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (3.78%) REST
2 16 (1.95%) ADO
3 15 (1.83%) React
3 15 (1.83%) RESTful
4 13 (1.58%) XML
5 12 (1.46%) VML
6 10 (1.22%) JSON
7 9 (1.10%) HTML
7 9 (1.10%) Kafka
7 9 (1.10%) Node.js
8 8 (0.97%) Lightning Web Components
9 7 (0.85%) AngularJS
9 7 (0.85%) CSS
10 6 (0.73%) .NET
10 6 (0.73%) FHIR
10 6 (0.73%) SOAP
10 6 (0.73%) Spring
10 6 (0.73%) Spring Boot
11 5 (0.61%) ASP.NET
11 5 (0.61%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 266 (32.40%) Product Ownership
2 23 (2.80%) Data Protection Act
2 23 (2.80%) Onboarding
3 22 (2.68%) Analytical Mindset
4 21 (2.56%) Self-Motivation
5 19 (2.31%) Legacy Systems
6 16 (1.95%) CMDB
7 15 (1.83%) Management Information System
8 14 (1.71%) Data Structures
9 13 (1.58%) Cloud Native
10 12 (1.46%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 12 (1.46%) PMI
11 11 (1.34%) Virtual Team
12 9 (1.10%) AI Agents
12 9 (1.10%) NHS
13 8 (0.97%) Marketing Technology
13 8 (0.97%) SWIFT Messaging Network
14 7 (0.85%) Reinsurance
15 6 (0.73%) Greenfield Project
15 6 (0.73%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 13 (1.58%) Linux
2 11 (1.34%) Windows
3 4 (0.49%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 3 (0.37%) Unix
5 2 (0.24%) CentOS
5 2 (0.24%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 533 (64.92%) Agile
2 329 (40.07%) Acceptance Criteria
3 258 (31.43%) Stakeholder Management
4 209 (25.46%) Workshop Facilitation
5 192 (23.39%) Requirements Gathering
6 185 (22.53%) Scrum
7 184 (22.41%) Business Analysis
8 167 (20.34%) User Acceptance Testing
9 152 (18.51%) DevOps
9 152 (18.51%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 149 (18.15%) Problem-Solving
11 141 (17.17%) Roadmaps
12 120 (14.62%) Sprint Planning
13 119 (14.49%) Data Modelling
14 113 (13.76%) Migration
15 105 (12.79%) Product Backlog
16 101 (12.30%) Backlog Management
17 97 (11.81%) Analytics
18 94 (11.45%) Continuous Improvement
19 85 (10.35%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 101 (12.30%) SQL
2 54 (6.58%) Python
3 35 (4.26%) Java
4 23 (2.80%) JavaScript
5 15 (1.83%) C#
6 9 (1.10%) PowerShell
6 9 (1.10%) TypeScript
7 6 (0.73%) Apex Code
7 6 (0.73%) Korn
8 5 (0.61%) Kotlin
9 4 (0.49%) R
9 4 (0.49%) Scala
9 4 (0.49%) T-SQL
9 4 (0.49%) VBA
10 3 (0.37%) XPath
11 2 (0.24%) Google Apps Script
11 2 (0.24%) PHP
11 2 (0.24%) PL/SQL
11 2 (0.24%) Ruby
12 1 (0.12%) SOQL
Qualifications
1 153 (18.64%) Security Cleared
2 120 (14.62%) SC Cleared
3 87 (10.60%) Degree
4 38 (4.63%) CBAP
5 34 (4.14%) BPSS Clearance
6 32 (3.90%) IIBA
7 21 (2.56%) CSPO
8 16 (1.95%) PMI Certification
9 11 (1.34%) Master's Degree
10 7 (0.85%) ISTQB
11 6 (0.73%) Computer Science Degree
11 6 (0.73%) ISEB
11 6 (0.73%) MBA
12 5 (0.61%) DV Cleared
13 4 (0.49%) AWS Certification
13 4 (0.49%) PMP
14 2 (0.24%) Azure Certification
14 2 (0.24%) DBS Check
14 2 (0.24%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
14 2 (0.24%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 113 (13.76%) QA
2 50 (6.09%) Data Quality
3 40 (4.87%) Accessibility
4 25 (3.05%) GDPR
5 14 (1.71%) SLA
6 11 (1.34%) WCAG
7 7 (0.85%) NIST
8 6 (0.73%) GxP
8 6 (0.73%) HL7
9 5 (0.61%) PSD2
10 4 (0.49%) ISO 20022
10 4 (0.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 4 (0.49%) PCI DSS
11 3 (0.37%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 3 (0.37%) GMP
11 3 (0.37%) GRC
11 3 (0.37%) SNOMED CT
11 3 (0.37%) Solvency II
12 2 (0.24%) EU AI Act
12 2 (0.24%) NCSC
System Software
1 22 (2.68%) Docker
2 7 (0.85%) Active Directory
3 5 (0.61%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.24%) IAG
5 1 (0.12%) Ceph
5 1 (0.12%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.12%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 24 (2.92%) Kubernetes
2 12 (1.46%) Ansible
3 11 (1.34%) Terraform
4 7 (0.85%) SCCM
5 5 (0.61%) HP Quality Center
5 5 (0.61%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (0.37%) Progress Chef
7 2 (0.24%) CASB
7 2 (0.24%) HP ALM
7 2 (0.24%) Jamf Pro
8 1 (0.12%) Argo
8 1 (0.12%) CloudHub
8 1 (0.12%) Grafana
8 1 (0.12%) Kibana
Vendors
1 117 (14.25%) Microsoft
2 88 (10.72%) Salesforce
3 46 (5.60%) SAP
4 45 (5.48%) ServiceNow
5 24 (2.92%) Oracle
6 19 (2.31%) Databricks
7 16 (1.95%) Google
8 15 (1.83%) Adobe
9 13 (1.58%) Cisco
10 10 (1.22%) Splunk
10 10 (1.22%) Workday
11 9 (1.10%) Pega
12 8 (0.97%) MuleSoft
12 8 (0.97%) Zscaler
12 8 (0.97%) Zuora
13 7 (0.85%) Citrix
13 7 (0.85%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud
14 6 (0.73%) Fortinet
14 6 (0.73%) Guidewire
14 6 (0.73%) VMware