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

6 months to
22 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 24 18
Rank change year-on-year +1 -6 +10
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 1,644 1,056 1,512
As % of all contract jobs in London 9.41% 8.31% 8.52%
As % of the General category 15.43% 12.31% 13.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,239 776 1,049
10th Percentile £387 £382 £375
25th Percentile £443 £450 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -2.33% -4.44%
75th Percentile £610 £625 £650
90th Percentile £703 £750 £745
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 17 12
10th Percentile £17.50 £21.20 £15.00
25th Percentile £18.17 £22.27 £15.38
Median hourly rate £31.39 £37.50 £18.25
Median % change year-on-year -16.31% +105.48% -10.63%
75th Percentile £50.00 £47.50 £34.06
90th Percentile £74.05 £66.50 £68.30
England median hourly rate £22.64 £22.50 £22.50
% change year-on-year +0.60% - +12.50%

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 10,652 8,580 11,214
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 60.95% 67.48% 63.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,942 5,802 7,998
10th Percentile £343 £338 £331
25th Percentile £425 £446 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £575 £575
Median % change year-on-year -8.70% - -4.17%
75th Percentile £663 £703 £700
90th Percentile £785 £825 £800
England median daily rate £500 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 186 138 250
10th Percentile £17.75 £15.84 £15.95
25th Percentile £22.87 £23.64 £18.39
Median hourly rate £35.00 £34.25 £29.50
Median % change year-on-year +2.19% +16.10% -9.23%
75th Percentile £50.00 £51.81 £46.50
90th Percentile £72.50 £65.75 £68.83
England median hourly rate £30.00 £28.60 £29.00
% change year-on-year +4.90% -1.38% -17.14%

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 22 April 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 22 April 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 22 April 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 -2 152 £550 +4.76% 86
South London +1 71 £500 +2.04% 9
East London -6 8 £750 +27.66% 23
North London -3 5 £525 +52.28% 3
West London -37 4 £506 +26.56% 14
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 71 (4.32%) Confluence
2 40 (2.43%) SharePoint
3 13 (0.79%) Microsoft Exchange
4 11 (0.67%) Apache
4 11 (0.67%) nginx
5 10 (0.61%) Apache Spark
6 9 (0.55%) Apache Airflow
7 7 (0.43%) CMS
8 6 (0.36%) Tomcat
9 5 (0.30%) Camunda
9 5 (0.30%) Palantir Foundry
10 3 (0.18%) WebLogic
11 2 (0.12%) ArcGIS
11 2 (0.12%) Drupal
11 2 (0.12%) OpenROAD
11 2 (0.12%) SAS
12 1 (0.061%) Apache Solr
12 1 (0.061%) Sitecore CMS
12 1 (0.061%) WebSphere
12 1 (0.061%) WordPress
Applications
1 48 (2.92%) Microsoft Excel
2 16 (0.97%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 12 (0.73%) Microsoft Office
4 8 (0.49%) MS Visio
5 7 (0.43%) Microsoft Project
6 6 (0.36%) Trello
7 5 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
8 3 (0.18%) Adobe After Effects
8 3 (0.18%) Adobe XD
8 3 (0.18%) Sketch
9 2 (0.12%) InVision
10 1 (0.061%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 1 (0.061%) Chatbot
10 1 (0.061%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 26 (1.58%) Dynamics CRM
2 14 (0.85%) SAP S/4HANA
3 10 (0.61%) Oracle ERP
4 8 (0.49%) Oracle EBS
4 8 (0.49%) SAP Payroll
5 5 (0.30%) iTrent
5 5 (0.30%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
6 4 (0.24%) Salesforce CRM
7 3 (0.18%) Exchequer
8 2 (0.12%) Integrated Workplace Management System
8 2 (0.12%) Loan IQ
8 2 (0.12%) Oracle Payroll
8 2 (0.12%) SAP GRC
8 2 (0.12%) SAP HCM
8 2 (0.12%) Workday HCM
9 1 (0.061%) NEC Housing
9 1 (0.061%) Oracle Assets
9 1 (0.061%) Oracle Cash Management
9 1 (0.061%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
9 1 (0.061%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 367 (22.32%) AWS
2 303 (18.43%) Azure
3 98 (5.96%) Power Platform
4 90 (5.47%) Serverless
5 65 (3.95%) Azure DevOps
5 65 (3.95%) GCP
6 64 (3.89%) GitHub
7 55 (3.35%) Amazon S3
7 55 (3.35%) AWS Lambda
8 53 (3.22%) Microsoft 365
9 44 (2.68%) AWS CloudFormation
10 37 (2.25%) Amazon EKS
10 37 (2.25%) Dynamics 365
10 37 (2.25%) GitHub Actions
11 36 (2.19%) Entra ID
11 36 (2.19%) SaaS
12 35 (2.13%) Amazon EC2
13 34 (2.07%) Virtual Private Cloud
14 33 (2.01%) OCI
15 30 (1.82%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 28 (1.70%) Firewall
1 28 (1.70%) Network Security
2 21 (1.28%) DNS
3 14 (0.85%) VPN
4 13 (0.79%) WAN
4 13 (0.79%) Wi-Fi
5 12 (0.73%) LAN
6 8 (0.49%) Internet
6 8 (0.49%) TCP/IP
6 8 (0.49%) Wireless
7 7 (0.43%) DKIM
8 6 (0.36%) BGP
8 6 (0.36%) NGFW
8 6 (0.36%) OSPF
9 5 (0.30%) DMARC
9 5 (0.30%) Reverse Proxy
9 5 (0.30%) SD-WAN
9 5 (0.30%) WLAN
10 4 (0.24%) HTTP
10 4 (0.24%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 72 (4.38%) Power BI
2 33 (2.01%) PostgreSQL
3 28 (1.70%) Metadata
4 27 (1.64%) Data Warehouse
5 25 (1.52%) SQL Server
6 24 (1.46%) Amazon RDS
7 21 (1.28%) Data Lake
8 20 (1.22%) MongoDB
9 17 (1.03%) NoSQL
9 17 (1.03%) Tableau
10 15 (0.91%) Amazon Redshift
11 14 (0.85%) Delta Lake
12 13 (0.79%) Amazon Athena
13 12 (0.73%) Azure SQL Database
14 10 (0.61%) DynamoDB
15 9 (0.55%) Data Hub
16 8 (0.49%) Amazon QuickSight
16 8 (0.49%) Oracle Reports
17 7 (0.43%) MySQL
17 7 (0.43%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 101 (6.14%) JIRA
2 96 (5.84%) Git
3 52 (3.16%) GitLab
4 47 (2.86%) Jenkins
5 23 (1.40%) Selenium
6 20 (1.22%) Postman
7 13 (0.79%) JUnit
8 11 (0.67%) Mockito
9 9 (0.55%) SonarQube
10 7 (0.43%) Artifactory
10 7 (0.43%) JMeter
11 6 (0.36%) Snyk
12 5 (0.30%) CircleCI
12 5 (0.30%) Cypress.io
12 5 (0.30%) Gradle
12 5 (0.30%) Liquibase
12 5 (0.30%) Maven
13 4 (0.24%) Bitbucket
13 4 (0.24%) Cucumber
13 4 (0.24%) MLflow
General
1 411 (25.00%) Social Skills
2 223 (13.56%) Finance
3 145 (8.82%) Analytical Skills
4 76 (4.62%) Local Government
5 47 (2.86%) Military
5 47 (2.86%) Telecoms
6 46 (2.80%) Marketing
7 44 (2.68%) Influencing Skills
8 34 (2.07%) Documentation Skills
9 33 (2.01%) Legal
9 33 (2.01%) Manufacturing
10 30 (1.82%) Banking
11 29 (1.76%) Presentation Skills
12 24 (1.46%) Electronics
12 24 (1.46%) Law
13 23 (1.40%) Organisational Skills
13 23 (1.40%) Police
14 22 (1.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 19 (1.16%) Retail
16 12 (0.73%) Billing
Job Titles
1 232 (14.11%) Developer
2 230 (13.99%) Architect
3 177 (10.77%) Senior
4 146 (8.88%) Analyst
5 144 (8.76%) Lead
6 87 (5.29%) Designer
7 80 (4.87%) Business Analyst
8 66 (4.01%) DevOps Engineer
9 59 (3.59%) User Researcher
10 54 (3.28%) Data Engineer
10 54 (3.28%) Solutions Architect
11 52 (3.16%) Consultant
11 52 (3.16%) Project Manager
12 47 (2.86%) Technical Architect
13 45 (2.74%) Delivery Manager
14 41 (2.49%) Senior Developer
15 39 (2.37%) Salesforce Developer
16 38 (2.31%) Azure Engineer
16 38 (2.31%) Service Designer
17 36 (2.19%) AWS Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 55 (3.35%) REST
2 49 (2.98%) RESTful
3 46 (2.80%) React
4 45 (2.74%) Node.js
5 39 (2.37%) Oracle Fusion
6 37 (2.25%) .NET
6 37 (2.25%) Spring
6 37 (2.25%) Web Services
7 36 (2.19%) Lightning Web Components
8 34 (2.07%) AngularJS
8 34 (2.07%) HTML
9 31 (1.89%) Spring Boot
10 26 (1.58%) Kafka
11 25 (1.52%) SOAP
12 22 (1.34%) CSS
13 19 (1.16%) JSON
14 17 (1.03%) Middleware
15 16 (0.97%) PySpark
16 14 (0.85%) XML
17 11 (0.67%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 110 (6.69%) Cloud Native
2 61 (3.71%) Onboarding
3 50 (3.04%) Legacy Systems
4 39 (2.37%) Product Ownership
5 36 (2.19%) NHS
6 34 (2.07%) Data Centre
7 24 (1.46%) Distributed Systems
8 21 (1.28%) Management Information System
9 20 (1.22%) Enterprise Software
10 18 (1.09%) Self-Motivation
11 17 (1.03%) Public Cloud
12 15 (0.91%) Hybrid Cloud
13 14 (0.85%) Data Structures
14 13 (0.79%) AI Agents
14 13 (0.79%) Security Posture
15 11 (0.67%) Replication
16 10 (0.61%) Analytical Mindset
16 10 (0.61%) Greenfield Project
17 9 (0.55%) Enterprise Cloud
17 9 (0.55%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 54 (3.28%) Linux
2 49 (2.98%) Windows
3 14 (0.85%) Windows Server
4 12 (0.73%) Android
5 9 (0.55%) Windows 10
6 7 (0.43%) Apple iOS
6 7 (0.43%) Mac OS
6 7 (0.43%) VMS
7 6 (0.36%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 5 (0.30%) Solaris
8 5 (0.30%) Unix
8 5 (0.30%) Windows Server 2008
8 5 (0.30%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (0.18%) Windows Server 2016
10 2 (0.12%) Amazon Linux
11 1 (0.061%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 410 (24.94%) Agile
2 257 (15.63%) CI/CD
3 246 (14.96%) DevOps
4 216 (13.14%) Stakeholder Management
5 187 (11.37%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 160 (9.73%) Continuous Improvement
7 152 (9.25%) Migration
8 151 (9.18%) Decision-Making
9 150 (9.12%) Roadmaps
10 148 (9.00%) Problem-Solving
11 132 (8.03%) AI
12 131 (7.97%) Infrastructure as Code
13 128 (7.79%) Containerisation
14 124 (7.54%) Analytics
15 116 (7.06%) User Research
16 114 (6.93%) Data Modelling
17 108 (6.57%) Test Automation
18 103 (6.27%) Digital Transformation Programme
19 102 (6.20%) Business Intelligence
20 99 (6.02%) Service Design
Programming Languages
1 199 (12.10%) Python
2 137 (8.33%) SQL
3 100 (6.08%) Java
4 81 (4.93%) JavaScript
5 46 (2.80%) TypeScript
6 42 (2.55%) C#
7 38 (2.31%) Ruby
8 36 (2.19%) Apex Code
9 34 (2.07%) PowerShell
10 25 (1.52%) Bash
11 15 (0.91%) PL/SQL
12 12 (0.73%) Bicep
12 12 (0.73%) R
13 11 (0.67%) Go
13 11 (0.67%) Kotlin
14 9 (0.55%) Shell Script
15 6 (0.36%) C
15 6 (0.36%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 5 (0.30%) T-SQL
17 4 (0.24%) Scala
Qualifications
1 930 (56.57%) Security Cleared
2 705 (42.88%) SC Cleared
3 58 (3.53%) DV Cleared
4 55 (3.35%) Degree
5 46 (2.80%) BPSS Clearance
6 27 (1.64%) Azure Certification
7 25 (1.52%) CISSP
8 22 (1.34%) AWS Certification
9 16 (0.97%) Cisco Certification
9 16 (0.97%) CISM
10 14 (0.85%) PMP
11 11 (0.67%) APMP
11 11 (0.67%) CIMA
11 11 (0.67%) Microsoft Certification
12 10 (0.61%) ACCA
13 9 (0.55%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 9 (0.55%) PMI Certification
14 8 (0.49%) CTC Cleared
14 8 (0.49%) OSCP
14 8 (0.49%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 101 (6.14%) Accessibility
2 70 (4.26%) Data Quality
3 67 (4.08%) QA
4 49 (2.98%) GDPR
5 41 (2.49%) NCSC
6 40 (2.43%) WCAG
7 38 (2.31%) PMO
8 36 (2.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 17 (1.03%) NIST
10 15 (0.91%) GRC
11 12 (0.73%) Actionable Recommendations
11 12 (0.73%) SLA
12 10 (0.61%) Cyber Essentials
13 9 (0.55%) PCI DSS
14 8 (0.49%) Government Security Classifications
15 7 (0.43%) NIST 800
16 5 (0.30%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
17 4 (0.24%) HMG Security Policy Framework
17 4 (0.24%) IFRS
18 3 (0.18%) IFRS 9
System Software
1 123 (7.48%) Docker
2 32 (1.95%) Active Directory
3 8 (0.49%) Virtual Machines
3 8 (0.49%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (0.36%) VMware ESXi
5 5 (0.30%) Hyper-V
6 3 (0.18%) Oracle RAC
7 2 (0.12%) Postfix
7 2 (0.12%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (0.12%) VMware NSX
7 2 (0.12%) vSphere
8 1 (0.061%) FreeRADIUS
8 1 (0.061%) IAG
8 1 (0.061%) NLBS
8 1 (0.061%) Sendmail
8 1 (0.061%) Squid
8 1 (0.061%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 154 (9.37%) Terraform
2 131 (7.97%) Kubernetes
3 29 (1.76%) Grafana
4 28 (1.70%) Ansible
5 26 (1.58%) Prometheus
6 10 (0.61%) Microsoft Intune
7 6 (0.36%) Consul
7 6 (0.36%) Packer
7 6 (0.36%) Puppet
7 6 (0.36%) Single Sign-On
8 5 (0.30%) Argo
9 4 (0.24%) Kibana
9 4 (0.24%) SCCM
10 3 (0.18%) Jamf Pro
10 3 (0.18%) Oracle RMAN
10 3 (0.18%) Salt
10 3 (0.18%) vCenter Server
11 2 (0.12%) Microsoft Clustering
11 2 (0.12%) Progress Chef
11 2 (0.12%) vRealize
Vendors
1 162 (9.85%) Microsoft
2 93 (5.66%) Salesforce
3 88 (5.35%) Oracle
4 59 (3.59%) SAP
5 54 (3.28%) Databricks
6 46 (2.80%) ServiceNow
7 36 (2.19%) Google
8 22 (1.34%) Cisco
9 20 (1.22%) MuleSoft
9 20 (1.22%) VMware
10 19 (1.16%) IBM
11 16 (0.97%) Atlassian
11 16 (0.97%) Foundry
12 14 (0.85%) Virgin Media
13 12 (0.73%) OpenAI
13 12 (0.73%) Red Hat
14 11 (0.67%) Splunk
15 10 (0.61%) Fortinet
15 10 (0.61%) Palo Alto
16 8 (0.49%) ForgeRock