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

6 months to
7 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 127 188 142
Rank change year-on-year +61 -46 -30
Contract jobs citing User Stories 669 414 692
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.16% 1.37% 1.80%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.42% 1.55% 2.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 475 260 475
10th Percentile £354 £350 £388
25th Percentile £413 £422 £433
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £528 £525
Median % change year-on-year -5.21% +0.48% -
75th Percentile £575 £620 £600
90th Percentile £672 £685 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 0 5
10th Percentile £31.49 - £46.55
25th Percentile £47.39 - £50.00
Median hourly rate £56.69 - £52.50
75th Percentile £74.26 - £53.75
90th Percentile £84.01 - £62.04
UK median hourly rate £56.69 £29.00 £52.50
% change year-on-year +95.49% -44.76% -4.55%

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 27,655 26,658 34,191
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 89.31% 87.92% 88.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,614 16,424 23,309
10th Percentile £300 £313 £313
25th Percentile £406 £415 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £525 £545
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% -3.67% -0.91%
75th Percentile £625 £648 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £533
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.50% -3.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,796 941 1,445
10th Percentile £14.92 £15.25 £14.85
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.24 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +18.67%
75th Percentile £50.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.00 £75.00 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.13 £33.00 £42.50
% change year-on-year -23.86% -22.35% +21.43%

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 7 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 7 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 7 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 +59 378 £500 -9.09% 90
North of England +26 117 £520 +15.56% 48
South East -9 75 £475 -6.86% 80
Yorkshire +6 57 £520 -2.58% 16
Midlands +6 54 £425 +5.59% 42
North West +5 49 £515 +22.99% 23
West Midlands -3 31 £490 +4.81% 30
South West -7 24 £500 -16.67% 25
East Midlands -1 23 £360 -6.49% 11
North East +6 13 £525 +25.00% 9
East of England -13 10 £425 - 17
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
1 124 (18.54%) Confluence
2 19 (2.84%) SharePoint
3 11 (1.64%) CMS
4 8 (1.20%) Microsoft Exchange
5 6 (0.90%) Apache Airflow
6 5 (0.75%) nginx
7 4 (0.60%) Drupal
7 4 (0.60%) JBoss
7 4 (0.60%) Oracle Workflow
7 4 (0.60%) 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 33 (4.93%) Microsoft Excel
1 33 (4.93%) MS Visio
2 19 (2.84%) Microsoft Office
3 18 (2.69%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (0.75%) Chatbot
4 5 (0.75%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (0.60%) Adobe XD
5 4 (0.60%) Notion
5 4 (0.60%) Sketch
5 4 (0.60%) Trello
6 2 (0.30%) InVision
6 2 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.15%) Zeplin
Business Applications
1 26 (3.89%) Dynamics CRM
2 9 (1.35%) Payment Gateway
2 9 (1.35%) Temenos T24
3 7 (1.05%) SAP S/4HANA
4 4 (0.60%) Endur
4 4 (0.60%) NetSuite
4 4 (0.60%) Salesforce CRM
4 4 (0.60%) SAP HR
4 4 (0.60%) SAP PM
5 3 (0.45%) ProductWriter
6 2 (0.30%) Oracle EBS R12
6 2 (0.30%) Oracle Receivables
6 2 (0.30%) Primavera
6 2 (0.30%) Shopify
7 1 (0.15%) Dynamics AX
7 1 (0.15%) Fidessa
7 1 (0.15%) HFM
7 1 (0.15%) OpenLink RightAngle
7 1 (0.15%) Summit
7 1 (0.15%) thinkFolio
Cloud Services
1 93 (13.90%) Azure
2 66 (9.87%) AWS
3 51 (7.62%) Azure DevOps
3 51 (7.62%) Power Platform
4 26 (3.89%) Dynamics 365
4 26 (3.89%) GCP
4 26 (3.89%) GitHub
5 19 (2.84%) Figma
5 19 (2.84%) Serverless
6 17 (2.54%) Microsoft 365
7 16 (2.39%) AWS Lambda
7 16 (2.39%) Miro
7 16 (2.39%) Power Automate
7 16 (2.39%) PowerApps
7 16 (2.39%) SaaS
7 16 (2.39%) Snowflake
8 14 (2.09%) Salesforce Service Cloud
9 13 (1.94%) GitHub Actions
10 11 (1.64%) Entra ID
11 10 (1.49%) CloudBees
Communications & Networking
1 8 (1.20%) WebEx
2 5 (0.75%) DNS
2 5 (0.75%) Firewall
3 4 (0.60%) 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 44 (6.58%) Power BI
2 21 (3.14%) Tableau
3 20 (2.99%) Data Warehouse
4 16 (2.39%) PostgreSQL
5 13 (1.94%) BigQuery
6 9 (1.35%) SQL Server
7 8 (1.20%) Metadata
7 8 (1.20%) Relational Database
7 8 (1.20%) Star Schema
8 7 (1.05%) Oracle Database
9 6 (0.90%) Amazon Athena
9 6 (0.90%) Data Vault
9 6 (0.90%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 4 (0.60%) Big Data
10 4 (0.60%) NoSQL
10 4 (0.60%) Redis
10 4 (0.60%) Snowflake Schema
11 3 (0.45%) Amazon RDS
11 3 (0.45%) DynamoDB
11 3 (0.45%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 191 (28.55%) JIRA
2 35 (5.23%) Jenkins
3 20 (2.99%) GitLab
4 18 (2.69%) Cucumber
5 15 (2.24%) Git
6 12 (1.79%) Selenium
7 11 (1.64%) JUnit
8 10 (1.49%) Postman
9 8 (1.20%) Zephyr
10 7 (1.05%) JMeter
11 6 (0.90%) Cypress.io
11 6 (0.90%) Sonatype Nexus
12 5 (0.75%) SonarQube
13 4 (0.60%) ER Studio
13 4 (0.60%) ERwin
13 4 (0.60%) PowerDesigner
13 4 (0.60%) TeamCity
13 4 (0.60%) TestRail
14 3 (0.45%) Axure RP
14 3 (0.45%) Maven
General
1 282 (42.15%) Social Skills
2 175 (26.16%) Finance
3 136 (20.33%) Analytical Skills
4 74 (11.06%) Public Sector
5 59 (8.82%) Banking
6 36 (5.38%) Marketing
7 35 (5.23%) Documentation Skills
8 32 (4.78%) Retail
9 27 (4.04%) Presentation Skills
10 24 (3.59%) Legal
11 22 (3.29%) Influencing Skills
12 20 (2.99%) Front Office
13 18 (2.69%) Back Office
14 15 (2.24%) Investment Banking
15 13 (1.94%) Telecoms
16 12 (1.79%) Organisational Skills
17 11 (1.64%) Billing
18 10 (1.49%) Manufacturing
19 7 (1.05%) Financial Institution
19 7 (1.05%) General Ledger
Job Titles
1 308 (46.04%) Analyst
2 288 (43.05%) Business Analyst
3 99 (14.80%) Product Owner
4 72 (10.76%) Senior
5 44 (6.58%) Technical Analyst
6 42 (6.28%) Technical Business Analyst
7 40 (5.98%) Senior Analyst
8 38 (5.68%) Senior Business Analyst
9 35 (5.23%) Developer
10 30 (4.48%) Lead
11 29 (4.33%) Product Manager
12 20 (2.99%) Consultant
12 20 (2.99%) Salesforce Business Analyst
13 19 (2.84%) Test Analyst
14 17 (2.54%) Salesforce Analyst
15 15 (2.24%) Architect
15 15 (2.24%) Designer
15 15 (2.24%) Digital Analyst
15 15 (2.24%) Digital Business Analyst
16 14 (2.09%) Automation Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (2.69%) RESTful
2 17 (2.54%) Spring
3 16 (2.39%) JSON
3 16 (2.39%) SOAP
3 16 (2.39%) XML
4 15 (2.24%) Kafka
4 15 (2.24%) Spring Boot
5 14 (2.09%) REST
6 13 (1.94%) ADO
7 10 (1.49%) HTML
7 10 (1.49%) Lightning Web Components
7 10 (1.49%) OAuth
7 10 (1.49%) OAuth2
7 10 (1.49%) React
8 9 (1.35%) Playwright
9 8 (1.20%) Apache NiFi
9 8 (1.20%) Gherkin
9 8 (1.20%) Middleware
9 8 (1.20%) Node.js
9 8 (1.20%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 230 (34.38%) Product Ownership
2 28 (4.19%) Onboarding
3 19 (2.84%) Cloud Native
3 19 (2.84%) Data Structures
4 15 (2.24%) Analytical Mindset
5 14 (2.09%) Greenfield Project
5 14 (2.09%) PMI
6 13 (1.94%) Data Protection Act
6 13 (1.94%) Legacy Systems
7 12 (1.79%) Mobile App
8 11 (1.64%) Algorithms
8 11 (1.64%) SWIFT Messaging Network
9 10 (1.49%) Reinsurance
10 9 (1.35%) Management Information System
11 8 (1.20%) SCADA
11 8 (1.20%) Self-Motivation
12 7 (1.05%) Derivative
13 6 (0.90%) Enterprise Software
13 6 (0.90%) Marketing Technology
13 6 (0.90%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 19 (2.84%) Linux
1 19 (2.84%) Windows
2 7 (1.05%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
2 7 (1.05%) Windows Server
3 5 (0.75%) VMS
4 1 (0.15%) Android
4 1 (0.15%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 490 (73.24%) Agile
2 201 (30.04%) Scrum
3 182 (27.20%) Acceptance Criteria
4 176 (26.31%) Stakeholder Management
5 143 (21.38%) Requirements Gathering
6 136 (20.33%) Problem-Solving
7 126 (18.83%) Business Analysis
8 125 (18.68%) Workshop Facilitation
9 120 (17.94%) Roadmaps
10 112 (16.74%) DevOps
11 109 (16.29%) Product Backlog
12 107 (15.99%) User Acceptance Testing
13 104 (15.55%) Backlog Management
14 103 (15.40%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 88 (13.15%) Sprint Planning
16 84 (12.56%) Continuous Improvement
17 79 (11.81%) Analytics
18 76 (11.36%) Data Modelling
19 75 (11.21%) Migration
19 75 (11.21%) Use Case
Programming Languages
1 74 (11.06%) SQL
2 54 (8.07%) Python
3 44 (6.58%) Java
4 20 (2.99%) Bash
5 12 (1.79%) JavaScript
5 12 (1.79%) PowerShell
6 9 (1.35%) Apex Code
6 9 (1.35%) Scala
7 8 (1.20%) C#
7 8 (1.20%) Perl
8 6 (0.90%) TypeScript
9 4 (0.60%) Korn
10 3 (0.45%) Go
10 3 (0.45%) VBA
10 3 (0.45%) XPath
11 2 (0.30%) Ruby
11 2 (0.30%) T-SQL
12 1 (0.15%) Groovy
12 1 (0.15%) PHP
12 1 (0.15%) R
Qualifications
1 87 (13.00%) Security Cleared
2 82 (12.26%) Degree
3 68 (10.16%) SC Cleared
4 23 (3.44%) CBAP
5 22 (3.29%) CSPO
6 19 (2.84%) BPSS Clearance
7 17 (2.54%) PMI Certification
8 11 (1.64%) Computer Science Degree
9 10 (1.49%) DV Cleared
10 6 (0.90%) CCNA
10 6 (0.90%) Cisco Certification
10 6 (0.90%) IIBA
11 5 (0.75%) Azure Certification
11 5 (0.75%) CCDP
11 5 (0.75%) CCNP
11 5 (0.75%) CFA
12 4 (0.60%) AWS Certification
12 4 (0.60%) Master's Degree
12 4 (0.60%) PMP
13 3 (0.45%) OCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 86 (12.86%) QA
2 27 (4.04%) GDPR
3 26 (3.89%) Accessibility
4 18 (2.69%) WCAG
5 16 (2.39%) Data Quality
6 14 (2.09%) PSD2
7 12 (1.79%) PCI DSS
8 9 (1.35%) SLA
9 6 (0.90%) ISO 8583
10 5 (0.75%) SEPA
11 4 (0.60%) FIPS 140-2
12 3 (0.45%) COBIT
12 3 (0.45%) HIPAA
12 3 (0.45%) HL7
12 3 (0.45%) ISO 20022
13 2 (0.30%) EMIR
13 2 (0.30%) MiFID
13 2 (0.30%) NCSC
13 2 (0.30%) PMO
13 2 (0.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
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 23 (3.44%) Kubernetes
2 20 (2.99%) Ansible
3 14 (2.09%) NetBackup
3 14 (2.09%) Terraform
4 6 (0.90%) Single Sign-On
5 5 (0.75%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 5 (0.75%) Progress Chef
6 4 (0.60%) Grafana
6 4 (0.60%) Puppet
7 3 (0.45%) Kubeflow
8 2 (0.30%) CloudHub
8 2 (0.30%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.30%) Istio
9 1 (0.15%) Argo
9 1 (0.15%) CASB
9 1 (0.15%) HP ALM
9 1 (0.15%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 95 (14.20%) Microsoft
2 75 (11.21%) Salesforce
3 33 (4.93%) Oracle
4 28 (4.19%) SAP
5 25 (3.74%) ServiceNow
6 21 (3.14%) Red Hat
7 14 (2.09%) Commvault
8 13 (1.94%) MuleSoft
8 13 (1.94%) VMware
9 12 (1.79%) Databricks
10 11 (1.64%) Cisco
10 11 (1.64%) Citrix
11 10 (1.49%) Veritas
12 9 (1.35%) Adobe
12 9 (1.35%) Pega
12 9 (1.35%) Temenos
13 6 (0.90%) Google
13 6 (0.90%) Workday
14 5 (0.75%) Atlassian
14 5 (0.75%) HubSpot