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 August 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 25 25 23
Rank change year-on-year 0 -2 +1
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 1,725 992 1,232
As % of all contract jobs in London 8.59% 7.33% 7.60%
As % of the General category 14.14% 10.67% 12.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,303 715 867
10th Percentile £390 £363 £356
25th Percentile £456 £436 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.38% - -8.70%
75th Percentile £638 £613 £625
90th Percentile £725 £698 £700
England median daily rate £518 £513 £520
% change year-on-year +0.98% -1.44% -3.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 19 10
10th Percentile £17.11 £19.42 £16.40
25th Percentile £37.25 £23.18 £18.13
Median hourly rate £47.00 £26.45 £28.97
Median % change year-on-year +77.69% -8.68% -33.96%
75th Percentile £67.24 £46.25 £66.50
90th Percentile £76.45 £72.25 £83.50
England median hourly rate £22.10 £21.70 £27.00
% change year-on-year +1.84% -19.63% +31.71%

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 12,197 9,297 10,131
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 60.72% 68.72% 62.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,765 6,173 7,111
10th Percentile £350 £325 £338
25th Percentile £450 £425 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £575
Median % change year-on-year - -4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £675 £688 £700
90th Percentile £788 £800 £825
England median daily rate £525 £512 £538
% change year-on-year +2.54% -4.83% -2.18%
Number of hourly rates quoted 230 187 146
10th Percentile £18.45 £15.84 £17.25
25th Percentile £21.00 £24.50 £23.80
Median hourly rate £26.89 £30.00 £35.61
Median % change year-on-year -10.37% -15.74% +1.73%
75th Percentile £43.75 £49.63 £51.75
90th Percentile £63.88 £63.75 £67.00
England median hourly rate £32.50 £25.15 £38.12
% change year-on-year +29.22% -34.02% +38.62%

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 August 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 August 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 August 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 +8 166 £538 +4.37% 63
South London +1 67 £519 +5.76% 15
West London -22 13 £500 +11.11% 39
East London +6 10 £750 +30.43% 17
North London -1 5 £400 -27.27% 2
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 73 (4.23%) Confluence
2 50 (2.90%) SharePoint
3 16 (0.93%) Microsoft Exchange
4 15 (0.87%) CMS
5 14 (0.81%) Apache Spark
6 13 (0.75%) Apache
7 11 (0.64%) Palantir Foundry
8 10 (0.58%) nginx
9 6 (0.35%) Apache Airflow
9 6 (0.35%) WordPress
10 5 (0.29%) SAS
10 5 (0.29%) Tomcat
11 3 (0.17%) Camunda
11 3 (0.17%) Drupal
12 2 (0.12%) Mendix
12 2 (0.12%) OpenROAD
12 2 (0.12%) WebLogic
13 1 (0.058%) Headless CMS
13 1 (0.058%) IIS
13 1 (0.058%) PowerExchange
Applications
1 36 (2.09%) Microsoft Excel
2 14 (0.81%) Microsoft Office
3 8 (0.46%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 8 (0.46%) Spreadsheet
4 5 (0.29%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (0.23%) MS Visio
6 3 (0.17%) Chatbot
6 3 (0.17%) Sketch
6 3 (0.17%) Trello
7 2 (0.12%) Adobe XD
8 1 (0.058%) Adobe After Effects
8 1 (0.058%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.058%) Gliffy
Business Applications
1 21 (1.22%) SAP S/4HANA
2 17 (0.99%) Dynamics CRM
2 17 (0.99%) Oracle EBS
3 14 (0.81%) Oracle ERP
4 11 (0.64%) NetSuite
5 6 (0.35%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
6 4 (0.23%) iTrent
6 4 (0.23%) Salesforce CRM
6 4 (0.23%) SAP FI
7 3 (0.17%) Oracle Payroll
7 3 (0.17%) PeopleSoft HCM
7 3 (0.17%) Remedy ITSM
7 3 (0.17%) SAP CO
7 3 (0.17%) SAP FI/CO
7 3 (0.17%) SAP HR
8 2 (0.12%) Exchequer
8 2 (0.12%) Oracle Financials
8 2 (0.12%) SAP ERP
9 1 (0.058%) Primavera
9 1 (0.058%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 407 (23.59%) AWS
2 350 (20.29%) Azure
3 101 (5.86%) Power Platform
4 94 (5.45%) GCP
5 88 (5.10%) GitHub
6 75 (4.35%) Azure DevOps
7 71 (4.12%) Amazon S3
7 71 (4.12%) Serverless
8 68 (3.94%) Microsoft 365
9 63 (3.65%) Entra ID
10 62 (3.59%) GitHub Actions
11 46 (2.67%) AWS Lambda
12 45 (2.61%) SaaS
13 38 (2.20%) Amazon EKS
13 38 (2.20%) Virtual Private Cloud
14 36 (2.09%) Amazon EC2
15 34 (1.97%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 31 (1.80%) AWS CloudFormation
17 30 (1.74%) PowerApps
18 29 (1.68%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 47 (2.72%) Firewall
2 31 (1.80%) DNS
3 29 (1.68%) Network Security
4 14 (0.81%) VPN
5 12 (0.70%) LAN
5 12 (0.70%) WAN
6 10 (0.58%) NGFW
7 9 (0.52%) TCP/IP
8 8 (0.46%) DHCP
9 7 (0.41%) DKIM
10 6 (0.35%) Cisco IPT
10 6 (0.35%) DMARC
10 6 (0.35%) Wi-Fi
11 5 (0.29%) Reverse Proxy
11 5 (0.29%) Wireless
12 4 (0.23%) HTTP
12 4 (0.23%) HTTPS
12 4 (0.23%) Intranet
13 3 (0.17%) Kerberos
13 3 (0.17%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 65 (3.77%) Power BI
2 57 (3.30%) PostgreSQL
3 37 (2.14%) Data Warehouse
4 33 (1.91%) Amazon RDS
5 28 (1.62%) Metadata
6 26 (1.51%) Data Lake
7 25 (1.45%) MongoDB
7 25 (1.45%) SQL Server
8 24 (1.39%) NoSQL
9 23 (1.33%) Amazon Redshift
10 20 (1.16%) MySQL
11 18 (1.04%) Amazon Athena
11 18 (1.04%) Amazon Aurora
12 17 (0.99%) Delta Lake
13 15 (0.87%) Relational Database
14 14 (0.81%) Oracle Reports
14 14 (0.81%) Tableau
15 12 (0.70%) Redis
16 8 (0.46%) Oracle Database
16 8 (0.46%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 102 (5.91%) Git
2 99 (5.74%) JIRA
3 70 (4.06%) Jenkins
4 59 (3.42%) GitLab
5 13 (0.75%) SonarQube
6 12 (0.70%) JUnit
6 12 (0.70%) Mockito
7 10 (0.58%) CircleCI
8 9 (0.52%) Maven
9 8 (0.46%) Selenium
10 7 (0.41%) Cypress.io
10 7 (0.41%) Snyk
11 5 (0.29%) Artifactory
11 5 (0.29%) JMeter
11 5 (0.29%) Postman
12 4 (0.23%) Bitbucket
12 4 (0.23%) Bitbucket Server
12 4 (0.23%) Cucumber
12 4 (0.23%) DbUnit
12 4 (0.23%) jMock
General
1 503 (29.16%) Social Skills
2 190 (11.01%) Finance
3 153 (8.87%) Analytical Skills
4 104 (6.03%) Local Government
5 83 (4.81%) Military
6 64 (3.71%) Influencing Skills
7 45 (2.61%) Legal
8 39 (2.26%) Organisational Skills
9 38 (2.20%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 38 (2.20%) Police
10 33 (1.91%) Documentation Skills
11 26 (1.51%) Law
12 24 (1.39%) Marketing
13 23 (1.33%) Telecoms
14 22 (1.28%) Banking
15 14 (0.81%) Presentation Skills
16 11 (0.64%) Publishing
17 8 (0.46%) Billing
17 8 (0.46%) Manufacturing
17 8 (0.46%) Retail
Job Titles
1 282 (16.35%) Architect
2 225 (13.04%) Developer
3 213 (12.35%) Lead
4 197 (11.42%) Senior
5 119 (6.90%) Analyst
6 78 (4.52%) Delivery Manager
6 78 (4.52%) Designer
7 70 (4.06%) DevOps Engineer
8 65 (3.77%) Solutions Architect
9 57 (3.30%) Data Engineer
9 57 (3.30%) User Researcher
10 55 (3.19%) Technical Architect
11 54 (3.13%) Business Analyst
12 47 (2.72%) Data Architect
13 46 (2.67%) Consultant
14 42 (2.43%) AWS Engineer
14 42 (2.43%) Java Developer
14 42 (2.43%) Software Engineer
15 40 (2.32%) Project Manager
16 36 (2.09%) AWS Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 70 (4.06%) REST
2 58 (3.36%) React
3 47 (2.72%) Spring
4 46 (2.67%) RESTful
5 42 (2.43%) Django
6 40 (2.32%) Node.js
7 38 (2.20%) Spring Boot
8 35 (2.03%) Oracle Fusion
9 34 (1.97%) HTML
9 34 (1.97%) Kafka
10 32 (1.86%) Lightning Web Components
11 30 (1.74%) SOAP
12 29 (1.68%) .NET
13 28 (1.62%) AngularJS
13 28 (1.62%) Web Services
14 27 (1.57%) PySpark
15 23 (1.33%) CSS
16 22 (1.28%) JSON
17 17 (0.99%) Middleware
18 16 (0.93%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 112 (6.49%) Cloud Native
2 79 (4.58%) Onboarding
3 62 (3.59%) NHS
4 55 (3.19%) Product Ownership
5 54 (3.13%) Legacy Systems
6 36 (2.09%) Distributed Systems
7 35 (2.03%) Management Information System
8 27 (1.57%) Enterprise Software
9 23 (1.33%) Analytical Mindset
10 19 (1.10%) Data Centre
11 18 (1.04%) Data Structures
11 18 (1.04%) Low-Code
12 16 (0.93%) AI Agents
13 15 (0.87%) Replication
14 13 (0.75%) Hybrid Cloud
14 13 (0.75%) Self-Motivation
15 12 (0.70%) Security Operations Centre
15 12 (0.70%) Virtual Team
16 11 (0.64%) Enterprise Cloud
16 11 (0.64%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 48 (2.78%) Linux
2 41 (2.38%) Windows
3 13 (0.75%) Windows Server
4 11 (0.64%) Android
4 11 (0.64%) Windows 10
5 9 (0.52%) Apple iOS
5 9 (0.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (0.35%) Mac OS
7 4 (0.23%) Amazon Linux
7 4 (0.23%) Solaris
7 4 (0.23%) Unix
7 4 (0.23%) Windows Server 2008
7 4 (0.23%) Windows Server 2019
8 3 (0.17%) Ubuntu
9 2 (0.12%) VMS
9 2 (0.12%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 545 (31.59%) Agile
2 333 (19.30%) Stakeholder Management
3 306 (17.74%) CI/CD
4 305 (17.68%) DevOps
5 279 (16.17%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 274 (15.88%) Continuous Improvement
7 194 (11.25%) Decision-Making
8 183 (10.61%) AI
9 172 (9.97%) Infrastructure as Code
9 172 (9.97%) Problem-Solving
10 165 (9.57%) Migration
11 162 (9.39%) Roadmaps
12 152 (8.81%) Analytics
13 151 (8.75%) Digital Transformation Programme
14 148 (8.58%) Data Modelling
15 122 (7.07%) Containerisation
16 118 (6.84%) Technical Leadership
17 116 (6.72%) User Research
17 116 (6.72%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
18 107 (6.20%) Service Design
Programming Languages
1 228 (13.22%) Python
2 171 (9.91%) SQL
3 121 (7.01%) Java
4 94 (5.45%) JavaScript
5 61 (3.54%) TypeScript
6 41 (2.38%) PowerShell
7 33 (1.91%) C#
8 31 (1.80%) Bash
9 30 (1.74%) Apex Code
10 25 (1.45%) Bicep
11 24 (1.39%) Ruby
12 22 (1.28%) PL/SQL
13 20 (1.16%) Groovy
14 12 (0.70%) Kotlin
15 11 (0.64%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 11 (0.64%) R
16 8 (0.46%) Scala
17 7 (0.41%) Shell Script
18 6 (0.35%) Go
18 6 (0.35%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 969 (56.17%) Security Cleared
2 839 (48.64%) SC Cleared
3 84 (4.87%) DV Cleared
4 82 (4.75%) BPSS Clearance
5 42 (2.43%) Degree
6 40 (2.32%) AWS Certification
7 32 (1.86%) Azure Certification
7 32 (1.86%) CISSP
8 27 (1.57%) Microsoft Certification
9 20 (1.16%) Cisco Certification
9 20 (1.16%) CISM
10 12 (0.70%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 11 (0.64%) ITIL Certification
12 10 (0.58%) CCNP
12 10 (0.58%) CTC Cleared
13 9 (0.52%) (ISC)2 CCSP
14 8 (0.46%) APMG
14 8 (0.46%) Master's Degree
15 7 (0.41%) PMI Certification
15 7 (0.41%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 136 (7.88%) Accessibility
2 92 (5.33%) Data Quality
3 70 (4.06%) QA
4 54 (3.13%) GDPR
4 54 (3.13%) WCAG
5 46 (2.67%) PMO
6 41 (2.38%) NCSC
7 32 (1.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 24 (1.39%) NIST
9 20 (1.16%) Cyber Essentials
10 13 (0.75%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 12 (0.70%) GRC
11 12 (0.70%) SLA
12 11 (0.64%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 11 (0.64%) PCI DSS
13 9 (0.52%) Actionable Recommendations
13 9 (0.52%) Government Security Classifications
14 5 (0.29%) NIST 800
15 4 (0.23%) PERC
15 4 (0.23%) Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)
System Software
1 134 (7.77%) Docker
2 41 (2.38%) Active Directory
3 8 (0.46%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (0.35%) Virtual Desktop
5 3 (0.17%) Postfix
6 2 (0.12%) Oracle RAC
6 2 (0.12%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.12%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.058%) Ceph
7 1 (0.058%) FreeRADIUS
7 1 (0.058%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.058%) Sendmail
7 1 (0.058%) Squid
Systems Management
1 170 (9.86%) Terraform
2 132 (7.65%) Kubernetes
3 40 (2.32%) Grafana
4 31 (1.80%) Prometheus
5 28 (1.62%) Ansible
6 21 (1.22%) Microsoft Intune
7 10 (0.58%) Kibana
7 10 (0.58%) Single Sign-On
8 8 (0.46%) Argo
9 6 (0.35%) Puppet
9 6 (0.35%) SCCM
10 5 (0.29%) Istio
11 3 (0.17%) Jamf Pro
11 3 (0.17%) Salt
12 2 (0.12%) Consul
12 2 (0.12%) Docker Swarm
12 2 (0.12%) Karpenter
12 2 (0.12%) Kustomize
12 2 (0.12%) Oracle RMAN
13 1 (0.058%) SELinux
Vendors
1 218 (12.64%) Microsoft
2 114 (6.61%) Oracle
3 91 (5.28%) Salesforce
4 60 (3.48%) Google
5 57 (3.30%) Databricks
6 56 (3.25%) ServiceNow
7 39 (2.26%) SAP
8 20 (1.16%) Cisco
8 20 (1.16%) Foundry
9 18 (1.04%) Palantir
10 15 (0.87%) IBM
10 15 (0.87%) Palo Alto
11 12 (0.70%) Atlassian
12 11 (0.64%) MuleSoft
12 11 (0.64%) OpenAI
13 10 (0.58%) Juniper
14 9 (0.52%) Informatica
14 9 (0.52%) VMware
15 8 (0.46%) Red Hat
15 8 (0.46%) Splunk