Public Sector Contract Job Trends in London

Public Sector
England > London

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Public Sector in contract job vacancies in London. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Public Sector over the 6 months leading up to 14 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 21 18
Rank change year-on-year -2 -3 +18
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 1,424 1,229 1,583
As % of all contract jobs in London 9.29% 9.03% 8.54%
As % of the General category 14.46% 13.82% 13.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,044 774 1,094
10th Percentile £381 £350 £386
25th Percentile £431 £443 £456
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -4.55% -2.22%
75th Percentile £605 £638 £650
90th Percentile £688 £762 £743
England median daily rate £500 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 18 12
10th Percentile - £18.52 £15.00
25th Percentile £17.50 £22.00 £15.86
Median hourly rate £25.00 £29.50 £19.75
Median % change year-on-year -15.25% +49.37% -3.28%
75th Percentile £41.25 £41.18 £35.06
90th Percentile £53.00 £65.00 £77.03
England median hourly rate £22.00 £25.00 £21.00
% change year-on-year -12.00% +19.05% +5.63%

All General Skills
London

Public Sector falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring general skills in London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 9,845 8,893 11,768
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 64.20% 65.37% 63.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,419 5,630 8,427
10th Percentile £350 £325 £335
25th Percentile £425 £450 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £535 £575 £575
Median % change year-on-year -6.96% - -4.17%
75th Percentile £669 £700 £688
90th Percentile £788 £825 £800
England median daily rate £500 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 169 110 254
10th Percentile £17.50 £20.68 £16.00
25th Percentile £20.82 £26.06 £18.84
Median hourly rate £29.00 £37.81 £28.88
Median % change year-on-year -23.29% +30.93% -1.28%
75th Percentile £48.75 £55.25 £49.77
90th Percentile £72.50 £78.44 £73.72
England median hourly rate £23.00 £30.00 £25.37
% change year-on-year -23.33% +18.25% -10.98%

Public Sector
Job Vacancy Trend in London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Public Sector relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in London.

Public Sector job vacancy trend in London

Public Sector
Daily Rate Trend in London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in London citing Public Sector.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in London citing Public Sector

Public Sector
Daily Rate Histogram in London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Public Sector in London over the 6 months to 14 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Public Sector in London

Public Sector
Hourly Rate Trend in London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in London citing Public Sector.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in London citing Public Sector

Public Sector
Hourly Rate Histogram in London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Public Sector in London over the 6 months to 14 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Public Sector in London

Public Sector
Contract Job Locations in London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Public Sector within the London region over the 6 months to 14 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
Central London -7 151 £550 +4.76% 35
South London +4 59 £500 -2.44% 12
West London -28 7 £531 +91.44% 13
North London -2 5 £650 +154.90% 6
East London -3 5 £638 +10.87% 17
Public Sector
England

Public Sector
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in London 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 60 (4.21%) Confluence
2 36 (2.53%) SharePoint
3 14 (0.98%) nginx
4 12 (0.84%) Apache Airflow
5 9 (0.63%) Apache
6 7 (0.49%) Apache Spark
6 7 (0.49%) Microsoft Exchange
7 4 (0.28%) CMS
7 4 (0.28%) SAS
8 3 (0.21%) ArcGIS
9 2 (0.14%) Camunda
9 2 (0.14%) Jupyter
9 2 (0.14%) Tomcat
10 1 (0.070%) Anypoint
10 1 (0.070%) Appian
10 1 (0.070%) GeoServer
10 1 (0.070%) Moodle
10 1 (0.070%) Oracle Workflow
10 1 (0.070%) Skype for Business
10 1 (0.070%) WebSphere
Applications
1 49 (3.44%) Microsoft Excel
2 17 (1.19%) Microsoft Office
2 17 (1.19%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 8 (0.56%) Microsoft Project
4 7 (0.49%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.35%) Adobe XD
5 5 (0.35%) Mozilla Thunderbird
6 4 (0.28%) Chatbot
6 4 (0.28%) Sketch
6 4 (0.28%) Trello
7 3 (0.21%) InVision
8 2 (0.14%) Adobe After Effects
8 2 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
9 1 (0.070%) Adobe Illustrator
9 1 (0.070%) OmniGraffle
9 1 (0.070%) Photoshop
9 1 (0.070%) Siemens NX
9 1 (0.070%) UXPin
Business Applications
1 20 (1.40%) Dynamics CRM
2 15 (1.05%) Oracle ERP
2 15 (1.05%) SAP S/4HANA
3 9 (0.63%) SAP Payroll
4 6 (0.42%) iTrent
5 4 (0.28%) Salesforce CRM
6 3 (0.21%) Exchequer
6 3 (0.21%) Oracle EBS
6 3 (0.21%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
7 2 (0.14%) Oracle Assets
7 2 (0.14%) Oracle General Ledger
7 2 (0.14%) Oracle Receivables
7 2 (0.14%) SAP Business One
7 2 (0.14%) SAP ERP
7 2 (0.14%) SAP GRC
7 2 (0.14%) SAP HCM
7 2 (0.14%) SAP HR
7 2 (0.14%) Unit4 Business World
8 1 (0.070%) NEC Housing
8 1 (0.070%) Oracle Cash Management
Cloud Services
1 290 (20.37%) AWS
2 270 (18.96%) Azure
3 95 (6.67%) Power Platform
4 81 (5.69%) Serverless
5 64 (4.49%) GitHub
6 58 (4.07%) Azure DevOps
7 50 (3.51%) AWS Lambda
8 49 (3.44%) GCP
9 48 (3.37%) Microsoft 365
10 41 (2.88%) Amazon S3
11 37 (2.60%) GitHub Actions
12 36 (2.53%) OCI
13 35 (2.46%) Dynamics 365
14 33 (2.32%) AWS CloudFormation
15 32 (2.25%) Amazon ECS
16 30 (2.11%) Amazon EKS
16 30 (2.11%) Power Automate
17 24 (1.69%) Amazon EC2
17 24 (1.69%) Entra ID
18 23 (1.62%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 27 (1.90%) Firewall
2 26 (1.83%) Network Security
3 21 (1.47%) DNS
4 17 (1.19%) WAN
5 15 (1.05%) VPN
5 15 (1.05%) Wireless
6 13 (0.91%) LAN
6 13 (0.91%) Wi-Fi
7 11 (0.77%) TCP/IP
8 10 (0.70%) BGP
8 10 (0.70%) OSPF
9 7 (0.49%) HTTP
9 7 (0.49%) SD-WAN
10 6 (0.42%) Internet
10 6 (0.42%) SMTP
11 5 (0.35%) FTP
11 5 (0.35%) IMAP
11 5 (0.35%) OpenLDAP
11 5 (0.35%) SSH
11 5 (0.35%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 72 (5.06%) Power BI
2 40 (2.81%) PostgreSQL
3 24 (1.69%) Data Lake
4 23 (1.62%) Metadata
5 21 (1.47%) Amazon RDS
6 20 (1.40%) SQL Server
7 18 (1.26%) Data Warehouse
8 15 (1.05%) Azure SQL Database
8 15 (1.05%) NoSQL
9 14 (0.98%) MongoDB
10 12 (0.84%) Relational Database
11 10 (0.70%) Amazon Athena
11 10 (0.70%) Tableau
12 9 (0.63%) Amazon Redshift
12 9 (0.63%) Data Hub
12 9 (0.63%) Power Query
13 8 (0.56%) DynamoDB
13 8 (0.56%) SQL Server Reporting Services
14 7 (0.49%) BigQuery
14 7 (0.49%) Delta Lake
Development Applications
1 86 (6.04%) JIRA
2 69 (4.85%) Git
3 41 (2.88%) GitLab
4 37 (2.60%) Jenkins
5 29 (2.04%) Postman
6 23 (1.62%) Selenium
7 9 (0.63%) JUnit
8 7 (0.49%) Cypress.io
9 6 (0.42%) JMeter
9 6 (0.42%) MLflow
10 5 (0.35%) Gradle
10 5 (0.35%) Liquibase
10 5 (0.35%) Vagrant
11 4 (0.28%) Cucumber
11 4 (0.28%) Mockito
12 3 (0.21%) Android Studio
12 3 (0.21%) Appium
12 3 (0.21%) Axure RP
12 3 (0.21%) Bitbucket
12 3 (0.21%) REST Assured
General
1 399 (28.02%) Social Skills
2 225 (15.80%) Finance
3 123 (8.64%) Analytical Skills
4 66 (4.63%) Telecoms
5 62 (4.35%) Local Government
6 60 (4.21%) Marketing
7 55 (3.86%) Manufacturing
8 45 (3.16%) Electronics
9 39 (2.74%) Military
10 34 (2.39%) Legal
11 32 (2.25%) Documentation Skills
12 29 (2.04%) Influencing Skills
12 29 (2.04%) Presentation Skills
13 21 (1.47%) Banking
14 20 (1.40%) Organisational Skills
14 20 (1.40%) Retail
15 18 (1.26%) Law
16 15 (1.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 13 (0.91%) Police
18 11 (0.77%) Billing
Job Titles
1 184 (12.92%) Developer
2 177 (12.43%) Architect
3 175 (12.29%) Senior
4 138 (9.69%) Analyst
5 119 (8.36%) Lead
6 85 (5.97%) Business Analyst
7 71 (4.99%) Designer
8 69 (4.85%) DevOps Engineer
9 57 (4.00%) Consultant
10 48 (3.37%) User Researcher
11 44 (3.09%) Project Manager
12 40 (2.81%) Solutions Architect
13 37 (2.60%) Service Designer
14 35 (2.46%) AWS Engineer
14 35 (2.46%) Data Engineer
14 35 (2.46%) Technical Architect
15 32 (2.25%) Azure Engineer
15 32 (2.25%) Senior Developer
16 29 (2.04%) Security Architect
16 29 (2.04%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 58 (4.07%) REST
2 38 (2.67%) Node.js
2 38 (2.67%) Oracle Fusion
2 38 (2.67%) React
2 38 (2.67%) RESTful
3 34 (2.39%) .NET
4 33 (2.32%) Web Services
5 30 (2.11%) JSON
5 30 (2.11%) Spring
6 27 (1.90%) AngularJS
6 27 (1.90%) CSS
6 27 (1.90%) HTML
7 25 (1.76%) SOAP
8 24 (1.69%) Kafka
9 23 (1.62%) Lightning Web Components
9 23 (1.62%) Spring Boot
10 19 (1.33%) XML
11 17 (1.19%) OAuth
12 13 (0.91%) Middleware
12 13 (0.91%) PySpark
Miscellaneous
1 76 (5.34%) Cloud Native
2 56 (3.93%) Onboarding
3 39 (2.74%) Legacy Systems
4 38 (2.67%) Product Ownership
5 37 (2.60%) Data Centre
6 23 (1.62%) AI Agents
7 22 (1.54%) NHS
8 18 (1.26%) Management Information System
8 18 (1.26%) Public Cloud
9 16 (1.12%) Security Posture
10 15 (1.05%) Enterprise Software
11 14 (0.98%) Replication
12 13 (0.91%) Data Structures
12 13 (0.91%) Self-Motivation
13 12 (0.84%) Hybrid Cloud
14 11 (0.77%) Distributed Systems
14 11 (0.77%) Security Operations Centre
15 10 (0.70%) Data Protection Act
16 9 (0.63%) Greenfield Project
17 8 (0.56%) Cyber Threat
Operating Systems
1 54 (3.79%) Linux
2 53 (3.72%) Windows
3 18 (1.26%) Mac OS
4 16 (1.12%) Android
5 12 (0.84%) VMS
6 10 (0.70%) Windows Server
7 6 (0.42%) Amazon Linux
7 6 (0.42%) Apple iOS
7 6 (0.42%) Unix
8 5 (0.35%) Ubuntu
9 4 (0.28%) Windows 10
10 3 (0.21%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 2 (0.14%) Solaris
11 2 (0.14%) Windows Server 2008
11 2 (0.14%) Windows Server 2019
12 1 (0.070%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 355 (24.93%) Agile
2 223 (15.66%) CI/CD
3 198 (13.90%) DevOps
4 183 (12.85%) Stakeholder Management
5 160 (11.24%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 151 (10.60%) Problem-Solving
7 124 (8.71%) AI
8 122 (8.57%) Continuous Improvement
9 121 (8.50%) Decision-Making
9 121 (8.50%) Migration
9 121 (8.50%) Roadmaps
10 120 (8.43%) Business Intelligence
11 110 (7.72%) Infrastructure as Code
12 102 (7.16%) User Research
13 98 (6.88%) Analytics
14 95 (6.67%) Containerisation
15 84 (5.90%) Test Automation
16 78 (5.48%) Digital Transformation Programme
17 77 (5.41%) Data Modelling
17 77 (5.41%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 170 (11.94%) Python
2 124 (8.71%) SQL
3 82 (5.76%) Java
4 69 (4.85%) JavaScript
5 41 (2.88%) C#
6 38 (2.67%) PowerShell
7 37 (2.60%) TypeScript
8 31 (2.18%) Ruby
9 25 (1.76%) Bash
10 22 (1.54%) Apex Code
11 12 (0.84%) Go
12 10 (0.70%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 10 (0.70%) PL/SQL
13 9 (0.63%) R
14 8 (0.56%) Bicep
15 7 (0.49%) C
15 7 (0.49%) Kotlin
16 5 (0.35%) Groovy
16 5 (0.35%) Shell Script
17 4 (0.28%) JSX
Qualifications
1 832 (58.43%) Security Cleared
2 617 (43.33%) SC Cleared
3 67 (4.71%) Degree
4 51 (3.58%) DV Cleared
5 34 (2.39%) BPSS Clearance
6 27 (1.90%) Azure Certification
7 17 (1.19%) AWS Certification
7 17 (1.19%) CISSP
8 14 (0.98%) PMP
9 13 (0.91%) CISM
10 11 (0.77%) Computer Science Degree
10 11 (0.77%) Microsoft Certification
11 10 (0.70%) APMP
11 10 (0.70%) CIMA
11 10 (0.70%) Cisco Certification
11 10 (0.70%) OSCP
12 9 (0.63%) ACCA
12 9 (0.63%) ISTQB
12 9 (0.63%) PMI Certification
13 8 (0.56%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 82 (5.76%) Accessibility
2 53 (3.72%) QA
3 51 (3.58%) Data Quality
3 51 (3.58%) GDPR
4 36 (2.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 28 (1.97%) NIST
5 28 (1.97%) PMO
6 26 (1.83%) NCSC
7 23 (1.62%) WCAG
8 14 (0.98%) GRC
9 11 (0.77%) Actionable Recommendations
10 10 (0.70%) HIPAA
11 8 (0.56%) SLA
12 6 (0.42%) Cyber Essentials
12 6 (0.42%) Government Security Classifications
13 5 (0.35%) NIST 800
14 4 (0.28%) PCI DSS
15 3 (0.21%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
15 3 (0.21%) IFRS
15 3 (0.21%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 106 (7.44%) Docker
2 26 (1.83%) Active Directory
3 8 (0.56%) Virtual Machines
3 8 (0.56%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (0.42%) Squid
5 5 (0.35%) DFS Replication
5 5 (0.35%) Dovecot
5 5 (0.35%) Hyper-V
5 5 (0.35%) Postfix
5 5 (0.35%) VMware ESXi
6 3 (0.21%) vSphere
7 2 (0.14%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (0.14%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.070%) IAG
8 1 (0.070%) NLBS
8 1 (0.070%) Oracle RAC
8 1 (0.070%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 138 (9.69%) Terraform
2 119 (8.36%) Kubernetes
3 24 (1.69%) Grafana
4 22 (1.54%) Ansible
5 21 (1.47%) Prometheus
6 9 (0.63%) Jamf Pro
6 9 (0.63%) Microsoft Intune
7 8 (0.56%) Argo
8 7 (0.49%) Packer
9 6 (0.42%) Nessus
9 6 (0.42%) Single Sign-On
10 5 (0.35%) Consul
10 5 (0.35%) Proxmox
10 5 (0.35%) SCCM
11 4 (0.28%) FortiGate
12 3 (0.21%) vCenter Server
13 2 (0.14%) Fluentd
13 2 (0.14%) Progress Chef
13 2 (0.14%) Puppet
13 2 (0.14%) vRealize
Vendors
1 144 (10.11%) Microsoft
2 86 (6.04%) SAP
3 78 (5.48%) Oracle
4 69 (4.85%) Salesforce
5 44 (3.09%) ServiceNow
6 34 (2.39%) Databricks
7 30 (2.11%) Cisco
8 22 (1.54%) Google
8 22 (1.54%) VMware
9 17 (1.19%) MuleSoft
9 17 (1.19%) Virgin Media
10 16 (1.12%) Apple
10 16 (1.12%) Splunk
11 13 (0.91%) Palo Alto
12 12 (0.84%) Dell
12 12 (0.84%) IBM
12 12 (0.84%) Red Hat
13 11 (0.77%) Fortinet
13 11 (0.77%) HP
14 9 (0.63%) Atlassian