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 6 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 115 137 161
Rank change year-on-year +22 +24 -37
Contract jobs citing User Stories 1,016 572 493
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.21% 2.08% 1.51%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.61% 2.29% 1.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 666 382 312
10th Percentile £363 £351 £357
25th Percentile £419 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £532
Median % change year-on-year - -6.02% +1.33%
75th Percentile £580 £604 £600
90th Percentile £650 £725 £650
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 3 2
10th Percentile £35.00 £30.30 £33.01
25th Percentile £52.50 £30.75 £33.02
Median hourly rate £70.00 £31.49 £33.04
Median % change year-on-year +122.29% -4.68% -37.67%
75th Percentile £83.00 - £33.05
90th Percentile £90.57 - £33.06
UK median hourly rate £70.00 £31.49 £33.04
% change year-on-year +122.29% -4.68% -37.67%

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 38,985 25,002 28,134
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 84.82% 90.76% 85.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,023 15,883 17,863
10th Percentile £325 £300 £313
25th Percentile £425 £404 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
75th Percentile £636 £626 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £750
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -3.31%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,626 1,462 1,386
10th Percentile £14.22 £14.25 £14.47
25th Percentile £18.28 £17.61 £20.00
Median hourly rate £43.56 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +73.20% -41.51% +1.18%
75th Percentile £68.00 £50.00 £66.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £68.75 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £41.00 £25.15 £42.69
% change year-on-year +63.02% -41.09% +2.13%

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 6 September 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 6 September 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 6 September 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 +5 587 £525 - 359
North of England -22 143 £500 +8.11% 79
Midlands +5 129 £450 +5.88% 43
West Midlands +18 99 £450 -1.10% 31
North West -30 65 £500 +8.70% 44
South East -61 65 £450 -5.26% 80
Yorkshire -16 60 £500 +2.30% 21
South West -13 45 £480 -4.00% 56
East of England 0 32 £495 +9.94% 16
East Midlands -16 30 £455 +23.81% 12
North East -24 19 £420 -4.00% 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
1 172 (16.93%) Confluence
2 26 (2.56%) CMS
3 17 (1.67%) SharePoint
4 11 (1.08%) Camunda
5 5 (0.49%) Jupyter
6 4 (0.39%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 3 (0.30%) Cloud Foundry
7 3 (0.30%) Headless CMS
7 3 (0.30%) Kentico
8 2 (0.20%) JBoss
8 2 (0.20%) Smallworld
9 1 (0.098%) Apache
9 1 (0.098%) Apache Airflow
9 1 (0.098%) Apache Solr
9 1 (0.098%) Apache Superset
9 1 (0.098%) Drupal
9 1 (0.098%) Moodle
9 1 (0.098%) SAS
9 1 (0.098%) Tomcat
9 1 (0.098%) Totara
Applications
1 45 (4.43%) MS Visio
2 32 (3.15%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (1.28%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 12 (1.18%) Microsoft Office
5 7 (0.69%) Notion
6 5 (0.49%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.20%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 2 (0.20%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.098%) Gliffy
8 1 (0.098%) Microsoft Project
8 1 (0.098%) Trello
Business Applications
1 22 (2.17%) Dynamics CRM
2 16 (1.57%) SAP S/4HANA
3 5 (0.49%) ProductWriter
3 5 (0.49%) Teamcenter
4 4 (0.39%) Salesforce CRM
5 3 (0.30%) NetSuite
5 3 (0.30%) SAP SD
6 2 (0.20%) Dynamics AX
6 2 (0.20%) Dynamics GP
6 2 (0.20%) Dynamics NAV
6 2 (0.20%) Dynamics SL
6 2 (0.20%) Endur
6 2 (0.20%) Infor CloudSuite
6 2 (0.20%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.20%) Oracle Payables
6 2 (0.20%) Payment Gateway
6 2 (0.20%) SAP ERP
6 2 (0.20%) SAP MDG
6 2 (0.20%) Temenos T24
6 2 (0.20%) Workfront
Cloud Services
1 208 (20.47%) Azure
2 107 (10.53%) Power Platform
3 101 (9.94%) AWS
4 95 (9.35%) Azure DevOps
5 41 (4.04%) Dynamics 365
6 34 (3.35%) SaaS
7 30 (2.95%) GCP
8 29 (2.85%) PowerApps
9 28 (2.76%) GitHub
10 26 (2.56%) Power Automate
11 24 (2.36%) Microsoft 365
12 23 (2.26%) Salesforce Service Cloud
13 20 (1.97%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
14 15 (1.48%) Figma
15 14 (1.38%) Entra ID
15 14 (1.38%) Snowflake
16 11 (1.08%) Azure Data Factory
16 11 (1.08%) Lucidchart
17 10 (0.98%) Miro
17 10 (0.98%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 4 (0.39%) Wi-Fi
2 3 (0.30%) Broadband
2 3 (0.30%) HTTP
2 3 (0.30%) Intranet
3 2 (0.20%) SD-WAN
3 2 (0.20%) WAN
3 2 (0.20%) Wireless
4 1 (0.098%) 5G
4 1 (0.098%) Internet
4 1 (0.098%) NFC
4 1 (0.098%) SSH
4 1 (0.098%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 65 (6.40%) Power BI
2 39 (3.84%) Metadata
3 27 (2.66%) Data Warehouse
4 19 (1.87%) Relational Database
4 19 (1.87%) SQL Server
5 13 (1.28%) PostgreSQL
6 9 (0.89%) Data Lake
6 9 (0.89%) Parquet
7 8 (0.79%) Big Data
8 7 (0.69%) Delta Lake
9 6 (0.59%) Tableau
10 5 (0.49%) Amazon RDS
10 5 (0.49%) BigQuery
10 5 (0.49%) Data Hub
10 5 (0.49%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 5 (0.49%) Star Schema
11 4 (0.39%) ClickHouse
12 3 (0.30%) NoSQL
12 3 (0.30%) SAP BW
13 2 (0.20%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 250 (24.61%) JIRA
2 28 (2.76%) Git
3 24 (2.36%) GitLab
4 23 (2.26%) Jenkins
4 23 (2.26%) Postman
5 17 (1.67%) Gradle
6 16 (1.57%) Maven
7 14 (1.38%) JUnit
7 14 (1.38%) Mockito
7 14 (1.38%) SonarQube
8 11 (1.08%) Selenium
9 10 (0.98%) REST Assured
10 9 (0.89%) Sonatype Nexus
11 8 (0.79%) Bitbucket Server
12 7 (0.69%) Cucumber
12 7 (0.69%) Team Foundation Server
13 6 (0.59%) Bitbucket
14 5 (0.49%) Atlassian Bamboo
15 4 (0.39%) Balsamiq
16 3 (0.30%) Zephyr
General
1 420 (41.34%) Social Skills
2 285 (28.05%) Finance
3 276 (27.17%) Analytical Skills
4 148 (14.57%) Banking
5 138 (13.58%) Public Sector
6 78 (7.68%) Documentation Skills
7 66 (6.50%) Retail
8 34 (3.35%) Influencing Skills
8 34 (3.35%) Legal
8 34 (3.35%) Marketing
9 29 (2.85%) Investment Banking
10 27 (2.66%) Presentation Skills
11 26 (2.56%) Manufacturing
12 23 (2.26%) Organisational Skills
13 21 (2.07%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 17 (1.67%) Retail Banking
15 16 (1.57%) Front Office
15 16 (1.57%) Pharmaceutical
15 16 (1.57%) Telecoms
16 15 (1.48%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 520 (51.18%) Analyst
2 469 (46.16%) Business Analyst
3 149 (14.67%) Senior
4 118 (11.61%) Product Owner
5 111 (10.93%) Developer
6 87 (8.56%) Senior Analyst
7 84 (8.27%) Senior Business Analyst
8 77 (7.58%) Technical Analyst
9 69 (6.79%) Product Manager
10 64 (6.30%) Lead
10 64 (6.30%) Technical Business Analyst
11 40 (3.94%) Salesforce Analyst
11 40 (3.94%) Salesforce Business Analyst
12 33 (3.25%) Consultant
13 26 (2.56%) Senior Developer
14 25 (2.46%) Financial Analyst
15 23 (2.26%) Data Analyst
15 23 (2.26%) Digital Business Analyst
16 22 (2.17%) Finance Business Analyst
17 21 (2.07%) Digital Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (4.33%) REST
2 36 (3.54%) JSON
3 26 (2.56%) RESTful
4 24 (2.36%) Spring Boot
5 23 (2.26%) Terraform
6 22 (2.17%) Kafka
7 20 (1.97%) HTML
7 20 (1.97%) React
8 18 (1.77%) AngularJS
9 16 (1.57%) Spring
10 15 (1.48%) CSS
11 14 (1.38%) Hibernate
11 14 (1.38%) JPA
11 14 (1.38%) SOAP
12 13 (1.28%) Lightning Web Components
13 12 (1.18%) OAuth
14 11 (1.08%) .NET
14 11 (1.08%) OpenID
15 10 (0.98%) Vue
16 9 (0.89%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 354 (34.84%) Product Ownership
2 47 (4.63%) Onboarding
3 35 (3.44%) Analytical Mindset
4 33 (3.25%) Data Protection Act
5 32 (3.15%) Cloud Native
6 28 (2.76%) Self-Motivation
7 25 (2.46%) CMDB
7 25 (2.46%) Data Structures
8 22 (2.17%) Management Information System
9 20 (1.97%) AI Agents
9 20 (1.97%) Virtual Team
10 18 (1.77%) Enterprise Software
11 16 (1.57%) Legacy Systems
12 13 (1.28%) Greenfield Project
12 13 (1.28%) Life Science
12 13 (1.28%) Mobile App
13 11 (1.08%) FMCG
13 11 (1.08%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
13 11 (1.08%) Operational Technology
14 10 (0.98%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 11 (1.08%) Linux
2 5 (0.49%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
2 5 (0.49%) Unix
2 5 (0.49%) Windows
3 4 (0.39%) Android
3 4 (0.39%) Apple iOS
4 3 (0.30%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 692 (68.11%) Agile
2 419 (41.24%) Acceptance Criteria
3 417 (41.04%) Stakeholder Management
4 320 (31.50%) Requirements Gathering
5 276 (27.17%) Workshop Facilitation
6 266 (26.18%) Scrum
7 246 (24.21%) User Acceptance Testing
8 236 (23.23%) Business Analysis
9 209 (20.57%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 208 (20.47%) DevOps
11 204 (20.08%) Problem-Solving
12 201 (19.78%) Continuous Improvement
13 199 (19.59%) Sprint Planning
14 176 (17.32%) Roadmaps
15 170 (16.73%) Product Backlog
16 166 (16.34%) Backlog Management
17 153 (15.06%) Backlog Refinement
18 150 (14.76%) Validation
19 144 (14.17%) AI
20 143 (14.07%) Backlog Prioritisation
Programming Languages
1 149 (14.67%) SQL
2 72 (7.09%) Python
3 62 (6.10%) Java
4 57 (5.61%) JavaScript
5 22 (2.17%) C#
6 13 (1.28%) Apex Code
7 12 (1.18%) TypeScript
8 10 (0.98%) Scala
9 8 (0.79%) Kotlin
10 5 (0.49%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 5 (0.49%) Korn
11 3 (0.30%) R
11 3 (0.30%) SOQL
11 3 (0.30%) T-SQL
12 2 (0.20%) Bash
12 2 (0.20%) Magik
12 2 (0.20%) PowerShell
12 2 (0.20%) Ruby
12 2 (0.20%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.20%) SOSL
Qualifications
1 175 (17.22%) Security Cleared
2 142 (13.98%) SC Cleared
3 76 (7.48%) Degree
4 33 (3.25%) BPSS Clearance
5 20 (1.97%) Computer Science Degree
6 19 (1.87%) Microsoft Certification
7 15 (1.48%) IIBA
8 14 (1.38%) CSPO
9 11 (1.08%) CBAP
9 11 (1.08%) PMI Certification
10 10 (0.98%) DV Cleared
11 9 (0.89%) PMP
12 8 (0.79%) CISSP
13 7 (0.69%) ISTQB
14 5 (0.49%) AWS Certification
14 5 (0.49%) ISEB
15 4 (0.39%) Master's Degree
16 3 (0.30%) Azure Certification
16 3 (0.30%) DBS Check
16 3 (0.30%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 120 (11.81%) QA
2 68 (6.69%) Data Quality
3 39 (3.84%) Accessibility
4 18 (1.77%) GDPR
5 16 (1.57%) GRC
6 9 (0.89%) GxP
7 8 (0.79%) 21 CFR Part 11
8 7 (0.69%) ISO 20022
9 6 (0.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 6 (0.59%) NIST
10 5 (0.49%) WCAG
11 4 (0.39%) SEPA
11 4 (0.39%) Solvency II
12 3 (0.30%) HL7
12 3 (0.30%) ISO 15022
12 3 (0.30%) PCI DSS
12 3 (0.30%) SLA
13 2 (0.20%) COBIT
13 2 (0.20%) PMO
13 2 (0.20%) SNOMED CT
System Software
1 35 (3.44%) Docker
2 13 (1.28%) Active Directory
3 7 (0.69%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (0.59%) IAG
5 2 (0.20%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.098%) Ceph
6 1 (0.098%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 25 (2.46%) Kubernetes
2 17 (1.67%) Ansible
3 8 (0.79%) Single Sign-On
4 7 (0.69%) Grafana
5 6 (0.59%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.30%) Argo
6 3 (0.30%) HP ALM
7 1 (0.098%) Check_MK
7 1 (0.098%) Jamf Pro
7 1 (0.098%) Kibana
7 1 (0.098%) Podman
7 1 (0.098%) SCCM
Vendors
1 151 (14.86%) Microsoft
2 86 (8.46%) Salesforce
3 51 (5.02%) SAP
4 44 (4.33%) ServiceNow
5 22 (2.17%) Google
6 19 (1.87%) Databricks
7 14 (1.38%) Oracle
8 12 (1.18%) IBM
9 9 (0.89%) Pega
9 9 (0.89%) Veracode
10 8 (0.79%) CyberArk
11 7 (0.69%) Adobe
11 7 (0.69%) Splunk
11 7 (0.69%) Zscaler
12 5 (0.49%) Alteryx
12 5 (0.49%) ION Trading
12 5 (0.49%) Kronos
12 5 (0.49%) MuleSoft
12 5 (0.49%) Okta
12 5 (0.49%) Ping Identity