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 25 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 135 177 145
Rank change year-on-year +42 -32 -38
Contract jobs citing User Stories 661 427 719
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.17% 1.38% 1.84%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.41% 1.58% 2.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 468 267 492
10th Percentile £352 £358 £388
25th Percentile £413 £425 £447
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -
75th Percentile £588 £614 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £683
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 1 6
10th Percentile £31.49 - £47.13
25th Percentile £44.46 - £50.31
Median hourly rate £67.44 £33.07 £52.75
Median % change year-on-year +103.92% -37.31% -4.09%
75th Percentile £74.26 - £64.30
90th Percentile £87.90 - £68.16
UK median hourly rate £67.44 £31.04 £52.75
% change year-on-year +117.29% -41.17% -4.09%

All Process and 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 27,406 26,969 34,678
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 89.94% 87.30% 88.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,388 16,451 23,708
10th Percentile £300 £313 £313
25th Percentile £405 £419 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £525 £545
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% -3.67% -0.91%
75th Percentile £625 £649 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £533
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.41% -3.18%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,797 990 1,453
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.10 £14.59
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.24 £19.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £36.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -30.14% -20.00% +25.00%
75th Percentile £50.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.75 £75.00 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +27.14%

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 25 November 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 25 November 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 25 November 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 +54 372 £501 -9.00% 106
North of England +13 114 £520 +15.56% 26
South East +2 72 £454 -9.20% 69
Midlands +7 59 £425 -7.61% 28
Yorkshire +12 56 £520 -1.89% 7
North West -4 46 £535 +25.88% 16
West Midlands -2 31 £483 +1.58% 22
East Midlands +7 28 £360 -8.57% 5
South West +4 23 £500 -16.67% 26
North East +2 14 £488 +16.07% 3
East of England -16 9 £425 -10.53% 20
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
1 113 (17.10%) Confluence
2 20 (3.03%) SharePoint
3 11 (1.66%) CMS
4 9 (1.36%) Apache Airflow
5 8 (1.21%) Microsoft Exchange
6 5 (0.76%) nginx
7 4 (0.61%) Drupal
7 4 (0.61%) JBoss
7 4 (0.61%) Oracle Workflow
7 4 (0.61%) WordPress
8 3 (0.45%) Anypoint
9 2 (0.30%) Apache
9 2 (0.30%) Traefik
9 2 (0.30%) WebSphere
10 1 (0.15%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 1 (0.15%) Appian
10 1 (0.15%) Kentico
10 1 (0.15%) SAS
10 1 (0.15%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 27 (4.08%) Microsoft Excel
2 26 (3.93%) MS Visio
3 18 (2.72%) Microsoft Office
3 18 (2.72%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 6 (0.91%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.76%) Chatbot
6 4 (0.61%) Adobe XD
6 4 (0.61%) Sketch
6 4 (0.61%) Trello
7 3 (0.45%) Siemens NX
8 2 (0.30%) InVision
8 2 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
9 1 (0.15%) Fusion 360
9 1 (0.15%) Notion
9 1 (0.15%) Zeplin
Business Applications
1 23 (3.48%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (1.36%) Payment Gateway
3 8 (1.21%) Temenos T24
4 6 (0.91%) SAP S/4HANA
5 4 (0.61%) Endur
5 4 (0.61%) Salesforce CRM
5 4 (0.61%) SAP HR
5 4 (0.61%) SAP PM
6 3 (0.45%) ProductWriter
6 3 (0.45%) Teamcenter
7 2 (0.30%) HFM
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle EBS R12
7 2 (0.30%) Oracle Receivables
7 2 (0.30%) Primavera
7 2 (0.30%) Sage CRM
7 2 (0.30%) Shopify
8 1 (0.15%) Dynamics AX
8 1 (0.15%) OpenLink RightAngle
8 1 (0.15%) SAP CRM
8 1 (0.15%) Summit
Cloud Services
1 90 (13.62%) Azure
2 66 (9.98%) AWS
3 51 (7.72%) Azure DevOps
4 43 (6.51%) Power Platform
5 26 (3.93%) GCP
6 25 (3.78%) GitHub
7 23 (3.48%) Dynamics 365
8 19 (2.87%) Figma
8 19 (2.87%) Serverless
9 16 (2.42%) AWS Lambda
9 16 (2.42%) Miro
9 16 (2.42%) PowerApps
9 16 (2.42%) Snowflake
10 15 (2.27%) Microsoft 365
11 14 (2.12%) SaaS
12 13 (1.97%) Salesforce Service Cloud
13 12 (1.82%) GitHub Actions
13 12 (1.82%) Power Automate
14 10 (1.51%) CloudBees
14 10 (1.51%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 8 (1.21%) WebEx
2 6 (0.91%) Firewall
3 5 (0.76%) DNS
4 3 (0.45%) HTTP
4 3 (0.45%) VPN
5 2 (0.30%) BGP
5 2 (0.30%) FTP
5 2 (0.30%) Internet
5 2 (0.30%) LAN
5 2 (0.30%) Software-Defined Networking
5 2 (0.30%) VLAN
5 2 (0.30%) WAN
6 1 (0.15%) Calico
6 1 (0.15%) Cisco IPT
6 1 (0.15%) SD-WAN
6 1 (0.15%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (5.14%) Power BI
2 23 (3.48%) Data Warehouse
3 17 (2.57%) Tableau
4 16 (2.42%) BigQuery
4 16 (2.42%) PostgreSQL
5 9 (1.36%) Star Schema
6 8 (1.21%) Relational Database
6 8 (1.21%) SQL Server
7 7 (1.06%) Oracle Database
8 6 (0.91%) Amazon Athena
8 6 (0.91%) Metadata
9 5 (0.76%) Data Vault
9 5 (0.76%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 4 (0.61%) Big Data
10 4 (0.61%) NoSQL
10 4 (0.61%) Redis
10 4 (0.61%) Snowflake Schema
11 3 (0.45%) Amazon RDS
11 3 (0.45%) DynamoDB
11 3 (0.45%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 181 (27.38%) JIRA
2 33 (4.99%) Jenkins
3 20 (3.03%) GitLab
4 17 (2.57%) Cucumber
5 14 (2.12%) Git
6 11 (1.66%) JUnit
7 10 (1.51%) Selenium
8 9 (1.36%) Postman
9 7 (1.06%) JMeter
9 7 (1.06%) Zephyr
10 6 (0.91%) MLflow
10 6 (0.91%) Sonatype Nexus
11 5 (0.76%) Cypress.io
11 5 (0.76%) SonarQube
12 4 (0.61%) ER Studio
12 4 (0.61%) ERwin
12 4 (0.61%) PowerDesigner
13 3 (0.45%) Axure RP
13 3 (0.45%) Gatling
13 3 (0.45%) Maven
General
1 265 (40.09%) Social Skills
2 162 (24.51%) Finance
3 130 (19.67%) Analytical Skills
4 76 (11.50%) Public Sector
5 52 (7.87%) Banking
6 39 (5.90%) Marketing
7 34 (5.14%) Documentation Skills
8 29 (4.39%) Retail
9 25 (3.78%) Presentation Skills
10 22 (3.33%) Influencing Skills
10 22 (3.33%) Legal
11 18 (2.72%) Back Office
11 18 (2.72%) Front Office
12 14 (2.12%) Investment Banking
13 12 (1.82%) Organisational Skills
13 12 (1.82%) Telecoms
14 11 (1.66%) Billing
15 10 (1.51%) Manufacturing
16 8 (1.21%) Law
17 7 (1.06%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 307 (46.44%) Analyst
2 284 (42.97%) Business Analyst
3 94 (14.22%) Product Owner
4 71 (10.74%) Senior
5 45 (6.81%) Technical Analyst
6 42 (6.35%) Technical Business Analyst
7 41 (6.20%) Senior Analyst
8 38 (5.75%) Developer
8 38 (5.75%) Senior Business Analyst
9 29 (4.39%) Lead
10 28 (4.24%) Product Manager
11 21 (3.18%) Test Analyst
12 18 (2.72%) Consultant
13 17 (2.57%) Salesforce Business Analyst
14 15 (2.27%) Architect
14 15 (2.27%) Digital Analyst
14 15 (2.27%) Digital Business Analyst
15 14 (2.12%) Automation Engineer
15 14 (2.12%) Salesforce Analyst
16 13 (1.97%) Data Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (2.72%) RESTful
2 17 (2.57%) Spring
3 16 (2.42%) SOAP
4 15 (2.27%) JSON
4 15 (2.27%) Kafka
4 15 (2.27%) Spring Boot
4 15 (2.27%) XML
5 14 (2.12%) ADO
6 13 (1.97%) REST
7 10 (1.51%) OAuth
7 10 (1.51%) OAuth2
7 10 (1.51%) React
8 9 (1.36%) HTML
8 9 (1.36%) Lightning Web Components
9 8 (1.21%) Apache NiFi
9 8 (1.21%) Gherkin
9 8 (1.21%) Middleware
9 8 (1.21%) Node.js
9 8 (1.21%) Playwright
9 8 (1.21%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 221 (33.43%) Product Ownership
2 31 (4.69%) Onboarding
3 21 (3.18%) Cloud Native
4 17 (2.57%) Data Structures
5 15 (2.27%) Analytical Mindset
5 15 (2.27%) Reinsurance
6 14 (2.12%) Data Protection Act
6 14 (2.12%) Greenfield Project
6 14 (2.12%) Legacy Systems
7 13 (1.97%) PMI
8 12 (1.82%) Mobile App
9 11 (1.66%) Algorithms
10 10 (1.51%) SWIFT Messaging Network
11 9 (1.36%) Management Information System
11 9 (1.36%) Marketing Technology
11 9 (1.36%) SCADA
12 7 (1.06%) Derivative
13 6 (0.91%) Digital Media
13 6 (0.91%) Operational Technology
13 6 (0.91%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 19 (2.87%) Linux
1 19 (2.87%) Windows
2 7 (1.06%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
2 7 (1.06%) Windows Server
3 5 (0.76%) VMS
4 1 (0.15%) Android
4 1 (0.15%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 487 (73.68%) Agile
2 201 (30.41%) Scrum
3 175 (26.48%) Stakeholder Management
4 173 (26.17%) Acceptance Criteria
5 138 (20.88%) Requirements Gathering
6 132 (19.97%) Problem-Solving
7 116 (17.55%) Business Analysis
8 115 (17.40%) Roadmaps
8 115 (17.40%) Workshop Facilitation
9 112 (16.94%) DevOps
10 108 (16.34%) Product Backlog
11 106 (16.04%) User Acceptance Testing
12 105 (15.89%) Backlog Management
13 99 (14.98%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 81 (12.25%) Analytics
14 81 (12.25%) Use Case
15 79 (11.95%) Continuous Improvement
16 78 (11.80%) Sprint Planning
17 76 (11.50%) Epics
17 76 (11.50%) Migration
Programming Languages
1 65 (9.83%) SQL
2 54 (8.17%) Python
3 43 (6.51%) Java
4 20 (3.03%) Bash
5 12 (1.82%) PowerShell
6 9 (1.36%) JavaScript
7 8 (1.21%) Apex Code
7 8 (1.21%) Perl
7 8 (1.21%) Scala
8 6 (0.91%) C#
9 5 (0.76%) TypeScript
10 4 (0.61%) Korn
10 4 (0.61%) VBA
11 3 (0.45%) Go
12 2 (0.30%) Ruby
12 2 (0.30%) XPath
13 1 (0.15%) Groovy
13 1 (0.15%) PHP
13 1 (0.15%) SOQL
13 1 (0.15%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 91 (13.77%) Security Cleared
2 81 (12.25%) Degree
3 69 (10.44%) SC Cleared
4 21 (3.18%) BPSS Clearance
5 17 (2.57%) CSPO
6 16 (2.42%) PMI Certification
7 15 (2.27%) CBAP
8 11 (1.66%) Computer Science Degree
9 10 (1.51%) DV Cleared
10 6 (0.91%) CCNA
10 6 (0.91%) Cisco Certification
11 5 (0.76%) CCDP
11 5 (0.76%) CCNP
11 5 (0.76%) CFA
12 4 (0.61%) Azure Certification
12 4 (0.61%) PMP
13 3 (0.45%) ISEB
13 3 (0.45%) ISTQB
13 3 (0.45%) OCP
13 3 (0.45%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 83 (12.56%) QA
2 27 (4.08%) Accessibility
3 26 (3.93%) GDPR
4 18 (2.72%) WCAG
5 15 (2.27%) Data Quality
6 14 (2.12%) PSD2
7 12 (1.82%) PCI DSS
8 6 (0.91%) ISO 8583
9 5 (0.76%) SEPA
9 5 (0.76%) SLA
10 4 (0.61%) FIPS 140-2
11 3 (0.45%) COBIT
11 3 (0.45%) HL7
11 3 (0.45%) ISO 20022
11 3 (0.45%) PMO
12 2 (0.30%) EMIR
12 2 (0.30%) HIPAA
12 2 (0.30%) MiFID
12 2 (0.30%) NCSC
12 2 (0.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 24 (3.63%) Docker
2 9 (1.36%) Active Directory
3 8 (1.21%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.15%) etcd
4 1 (0.15%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.15%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 20 (3.03%) Ansible
1 20 (3.03%) Kubernetes
2 14 (2.12%) NetBackup
2 14 (2.12%) Terraform
3 6 (0.91%) Kubeflow
3 6 (0.91%) Single Sign-On
4 5 (0.76%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 5 (0.76%) Progress Chef
5 4 (0.61%) Grafana
5 4 (0.61%) Puppet
6 2 (0.30%) CloudHub
6 2 (0.30%) FortiGate
6 2 (0.30%) Istio
7 1 (0.15%) Argo
7 1 (0.15%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 94 (14.22%) Microsoft
2 69 (10.44%) Salesforce
3 33 (4.99%) Oracle
4 25 (3.78%) SAP
5 23 (3.48%) ServiceNow
6 21 (3.18%) Red Hat
7 14 (2.12%) Commvault
8 13 (1.97%) VMware
9 12 (1.82%) MuleSoft
10 11 (1.66%) Citrix
11 10 (1.51%) Cisco
11 10 (1.51%) Databricks
11 10 (1.51%) Veritas
12 9 (1.36%) Adobe
13 8 (1.21%) Pega
13 8 (1.21%) Temenos
14 6 (0.91%) Workday
15 5 (0.76%) Atlassian
15 5 (0.76%) Google
15 5 (0.76%) HubSpot