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

6 months to
30 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 24 21 18
Rank change year-on-year -3 -3 +20
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 1,327 1,252 1,602
As % of all contract jobs in London 8.96% 9.01% 8.69%
As % of the General category 13.84% 13.87% 13.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 968 779 1,111
10th Percentile £375 £350 £400
25th Percentile £436 £436 £456
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £516 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -1.67% -4.55% -2.22%
75th Percentile £620 £638 £653
90th Percentile £688 £758 £743
England median daily rate £500 £523 £535
% change year-on-year -4.31% -2.34% -0.93%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 16 10
10th Percentile - £21.00 £14.81
25th Percentile £17.50 £22.20 £16.42
Median hourly rate £20.84 £33.75 £22.69
Median % change year-on-year -38.25% +48.74% +11.12%
75th Percentile £41.25 £42.45 £52.71
90th Percentile £54.70 £65.00 £79.63
England median hourly rate £22.00 £25.50 £20.85
% change year-on-year -13.73% +22.29% +4.89%

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 9,586 9,024 11,765
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 64.73% 64.97% 63.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,241 5,691 8,420
10th Percentile £350 £330 £336
25th Percentile £425 £450 £456
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £575 £575
Median % change year-on-year -6.52% - -4.17%
75th Percentile £669 £700 £694
90th Percentile £775 £825 £800
England median daily rate £500 £525 £540
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 162 114 243
10th Percentile £17.50 £20.23 £16.04
25th Percentile £20.82 £25.36 £18.90
Median hourly rate £27.50 £35.25 £29.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.99% +21.55% +6.42%
75th Percentile £47.38 £53.11 £52.13
90th Percentile £72.50 £78.40 £73.73
England median hourly rate £22.81 £30.00 £26.00
% change year-on-year -23.97% +15.38% +1.13%

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 30 January 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 30 January 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 30 January 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 -6 150 £550 +5.26% 46
South London +1 46 £500 - 8
East London 0 5 £638 +12.83% 14
North London -2 5 £650 +154.90% 1
West London -30 4 £600 +60.00% 10
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 54 (4.07%) Confluence
2 37 (2.79%) SharePoint
3 15 (1.13%) nginx
4 12 (0.90%) Apache Airflow
5 9 (0.68%) Apache
6 7 (0.53%) Apache Spark
6 7 (0.53%) Microsoft Exchange
7 4 (0.30%) CMS
7 4 (0.30%) SAS
8 2 (0.15%) Anypoint
8 2 (0.15%) ArcGIS
8 2 (0.15%) Camunda
9 1 (0.075%) Appian
9 1 (0.075%) GeoServer
9 1 (0.075%) Jupyter
9 1 (0.075%) Moodle
9 1 (0.075%) Mule
9 1 (0.075%) Mule ESB
9 1 (0.075%) Sitecore CMS
9 1 (0.075%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 43 (3.24%) Microsoft Excel
2 19 (1.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 16 (1.21%) Microsoft Office
4 8 (0.60%) Microsoft Project
5 7 (0.53%) Mozilla Thunderbird
6 5 (0.38%) Adobe XD
6 5 (0.38%) MS Visio
7 4 (0.30%) Chatbot
7 4 (0.30%) Sketch
7 4 (0.30%) Trello
8 3 (0.23%) InVision
9 2 (0.15%) Adobe After Effects
9 2 (0.15%) Spreadsheet
10 1 (0.075%) Adobe Illustrator
10 1 (0.075%) OmniGraffle
10 1 (0.075%) Oracle Smart View
10 1 (0.075%) Photoshop
10 1 (0.075%) Siemens NX
10 1 (0.075%) UXPin
Business Applications
1 22 (1.66%) Dynamics CRM
2 17 (1.28%) SAP S/4HANA
3 14 (1.06%) Oracle ERP
4 8 (0.60%) SAP Payroll
5 6 (0.45%) iTrent
6 5 (0.38%) Oracle EBS
7 4 (0.30%) Oracle Assets
7 4 (0.30%) Oracle General Ledger
7 4 (0.30%) Oracle Receivables
7 4 (0.30%) Salesforce CRM
8 3 (0.23%) Oracle Cash Management
8 3 (0.23%) SAP HCM
9 2 (0.15%) Exchequer
9 2 (0.15%) Oracle Payables
9 2 (0.15%) SAP Business One
9 2 (0.15%) SAP ERP
9 2 (0.15%) SAP GRC
9 2 (0.15%) SAP HR
9 2 (0.15%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
9 2 (0.15%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 266 (20.05%) AWS
2 261 (19.67%) Azure
3 99 (7.46%) Power Platform
4 72 (5.43%) Serverless
5 62 (4.67%) GitHub
6 58 (4.37%) Microsoft 365
7 56 (4.22%) Azure DevOps
8 46 (3.47%) GCP
9 41 (3.09%) AWS Lambda
10 40 (3.01%) Power Automate
11 37 (2.79%) Amazon S3
11 37 (2.79%) OCI
12 36 (2.71%) Dynamics 365
12 36 (2.71%) GitHub Actions
13 32 (2.41%) Amazon ECS
14 31 (2.34%) PowerApps
15 30 (2.26%) AWS CloudFormation
16 26 (1.96%) SaaS
17 25 (1.88%) PaaS
18 22 (1.66%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 30 (2.26%) Firewall
2 24 (1.81%) DNS
2 24 (1.81%) Network Security
3 17 (1.28%) VPN
4 16 (1.21%) WAN
5 15 (1.13%) Wireless
6 13 (0.98%) TCP/IP
6 13 (0.98%) Wi-Fi
7 12 (0.90%) LAN
8 10 (0.75%) BGP
8 10 (0.75%) OSPF
9 8 (0.60%) HTTP
9 8 (0.60%) SMTP
9 8 (0.60%) SSL
10 7 (0.53%) FTP
10 7 (0.53%) IMAP
10 7 (0.53%) Internet
10 7 (0.53%) OpenLDAP
10 7 (0.53%) SSH
11 6 (0.45%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 67 (5.05%) Power BI
2 44 (3.32%) PostgreSQL
3 26 (1.96%) Metadata
4 20 (1.51%) Data Lake
4 20 (1.51%) SQL Server
5 18 (1.36%) Amazon RDS
6 14 (1.06%) Data Warehouse
6 14 (1.06%) MongoDB
6 14 (1.06%) NoSQL
7 13 (0.98%) Relational Database
8 12 (0.90%) Azure SQL Database
9 10 (0.75%) Power Query
10 9 (0.68%) Data Hub
10 9 (0.68%) Oracle Database
11 8 (0.60%) Amazon Athena
11 8 (0.60%) Amazon Aurora
11 8 (0.60%) DynamoDB
12 7 (0.53%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 7 (0.53%) Tableau
13 6 (0.45%) Amazon Redshift
Development Applications
1 83 (6.25%) JIRA
2 70 (5.28%) Git
3 34 (2.56%) Jenkins
4 33 (2.49%) GitLab
5 27 (2.03%) Postman
6 22 (1.66%) Selenium
7 7 (0.53%) JUnit
7 7 (0.53%) Vagrant
8 6 (0.45%) Cypress.io
9 5 (0.38%) Gradle
9 5 (0.38%) MLflow
10 4 (0.30%) Cucumber
10 4 (0.30%) JMeter
10 4 (0.30%) Liquibase
10 4 (0.30%) Mockito
11 3 (0.23%) Android Studio
11 3 (0.23%) Appium
11 3 (0.23%) Axure RP
11 3 (0.23%) Pa11y
11 3 (0.23%) REST Assured
General
1 388 (29.24%) Social Skills
2 217 (16.35%) Finance
3 122 (9.19%) Analytical Skills
4 71 (5.35%) Telecoms
5 66 (4.97%) Marketing
6 61 (4.60%) Manufacturing
7 58 (4.37%) Local Government
8 51 (3.84%) Electronics
9 38 (2.86%) Military
10 32 (2.41%) Legal
11 31 (2.34%) Documentation Skills
12 28 (2.11%) Influencing Skills
12 28 (2.11%) Presentation Skills
13 20 (1.51%) Organisational Skills
13 20 (1.51%) Retail
14 17 (1.28%) Banking
14 17 (1.28%) Law
15 15 (1.13%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 12 (0.90%) Police
17 11 (0.83%) Billing
Job Titles
1 179 (13.49%) Developer
2 158 (11.91%) Architect
3 154 (11.61%) Senior
4 128 (9.65%) Analyst
5 118 (8.89%) Lead
6 77 (5.80%) Business Analyst
7 67 (5.05%) Consultant
8 62 (4.67%) Designer
9 60 (4.52%) DevOps Engineer
10 42 (3.17%) Project Manager
11 39 (2.94%) User Researcher
12 38 (2.86%) Solutions Architect
13 35 (2.64%) AWS Engineer
14 34 (2.56%) Data Engineer
15 33 (2.49%) Service Designer
16 31 (2.34%) Technical Architect
17 29 (2.19%) Azure Engineer
17 29 (2.19%) Senior Developer
18 26 (1.96%) Senior Analyst
19 25 (1.88%) Product Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 63 (4.75%) REST
2 40 (3.01%) Oracle Fusion
3 37 (2.79%) React
3 37 (2.79%) RESTful
4 33 (2.49%) Node.js
4 33 (2.49%) Web Services
5 32 (2.41%) .NET
6 31 (2.34%) JSON
7 27 (2.03%) AngularJS
7 27 (2.03%) SOAP
7 27 (2.03%) Spring
8 26 (1.96%) HTML
9 25 (1.88%) Kafka
10 23 (1.73%) CSS
10 23 (1.73%) Lightning Web Components
10 23 (1.73%) Spring Boot
11 22 (1.66%) XML
12 17 (1.28%) OAuth
13 13 (0.98%) LangChain
13 13 (0.98%) PyTorch
Miscellaneous
1 65 (4.90%) Cloud Native
2 53 (3.99%) Onboarding
3 39 (2.94%) Legacy Systems
4 34 (2.56%) Product Ownership
5 29 (2.19%) Data Centre
6 25 (1.88%) AI Agents
7 23 (1.73%) NHS
8 18 (1.36%) Management Information System
9 17 (1.28%) Public Cloud
9 17 (1.28%) Replication
10 16 (1.21%) Security Posture
11 15 (1.13%) Data Structures
12 13 (0.98%) Enterprise Software
12 13 (0.98%) Virtual Team
13 12 (0.90%) Security Operations Centre
14 11 (0.83%) Data Protection Act
15 10 (0.75%) Analytical Mindset
15 10 (0.75%) Distributed Systems
16 9 (0.68%) Cyber Threat
16 9 (0.68%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 49 (3.69%) Linux
2 47 (3.54%) Windows
3 17 (1.28%) Mac OS
4 14 (1.06%) Android
4 14 (1.06%) VMS
5 7 (0.53%) Amazon Linux
5 7 (0.53%) Ubuntu
6 6 (0.45%) Unix
6 6 (0.45%) Windows Server
7 5 (0.38%) Apple iOS
8 3 (0.23%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.075%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 1 (0.075%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 332 (25.02%) Agile
2 202 (15.22%) CI/CD
3 178 (13.41%) DevOps
4 173 (13.04%) Stakeholder Management
5 163 (12.28%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 148 (11.15%) Problem-Solving
7 126 (9.50%) AI
8 124 (9.34%) Business Intelligence
9 110 (8.29%) Roadmaps
10 109 (8.21%) Continuous Improvement
11 105 (7.91%) Migration
12 103 (7.76%) Decision-Making
13 94 (7.08%) Infrastructure as Code
14 88 (6.63%) Analytics
14 88 (6.63%) User Research
15 85 (6.41%) Containerisation
16 76 (5.73%) Test Automation
17 74 (5.58%) Workshop Facilitation
18 73 (5.50%) Project Management
19 71 (5.35%) Programme Management
Programming Languages
1 160 (12.06%) Python
2 125 (9.42%) SQL
3 79 (5.95%) Java
4 64 (4.82%) JavaScript
5 42 (3.17%) PowerShell
6 41 (3.09%) C#
7 34 (2.56%) TypeScript
8 31 (2.34%) Ruby
9 22 (1.66%) Bash
10 21 (1.58%) Apex Code
11 12 (0.90%) PL/SQL
12 11 (0.83%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 10 (0.75%) Go
14 8 (0.60%) R
15 7 (0.53%) Bicep
15 7 (0.53%) C
15 7 (0.53%) Groovy
16 6 (0.45%) Kotlin
17 4 (0.30%) JSX
17 4 (0.30%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 782 (58.93%) Security Cleared
2 577 (43.48%) SC Cleared
3 66 (4.97%) Degree
4 47 (3.54%) DV Cleared
5 27 (2.03%) Azure Certification
5 27 (2.03%) BPSS Clearance
6 19 (1.43%) AWS Certification
7 16 (1.21%) CISSP
8 14 (1.06%) PMP
9 12 (0.90%) Computer Science Degree
9 12 (0.90%) Microsoft Certification
10 11 (0.83%) CISM
11 10 (0.75%) APMP
11 10 (0.75%) OSCP
12 9 (0.68%) CIMA
12 9 (0.68%) PMI Certification
13 8 (0.60%) ACCA
13 8 (0.60%) ISTQB
13 8 (0.60%) TOGAF Certification
14 7 (0.53%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 62 (4.67%) Accessibility
2 51 (3.84%) QA
3 50 (3.77%) GDPR
4 44 (3.32%) Data Quality
5 38 (2.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 28 (2.11%) NIST
7 26 (1.96%) NCSC
8 24 (1.81%) PMO
9 15 (1.13%) GRC
10 14 (1.06%) WCAG
11 10 (0.75%) Actionable Recommendations
11 10 (0.75%) HIPAA
12 7 (0.53%) Cyber Essentials
13 5 (0.38%) NIST 800
13 5 (0.38%) SLA
14 4 (0.30%) PCI DSS
14 4 (0.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
15 3 (0.23%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
15 3 (0.23%) IFRS
16 2 (0.15%) IFRS 9
System Software
1 98 (7.39%) Docker
2 24 (1.81%) Active Directory
3 8 (0.60%) Squid
4 7 (0.53%) DFS Replication
4 7 (0.53%) Dovecot
4 7 (0.53%) Postfix
4 7 (0.53%) Virtual Machines
5 6 (0.45%) VMware Infrastructure
6 5 (0.38%) Hyper-V
7 4 (0.30%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.15%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (0.15%) vSphere
9 1 (0.075%) IAG
9 1 (0.075%) NLBS
9 1 (0.075%) Virtual Servers
9 1 (0.075%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 117 (8.82%) Terraform
2 106 (7.99%) Kubernetes
3 22 (1.66%) Grafana
4 20 (1.51%) Ansible
5 19 (1.43%) Prometheus
6 9 (0.68%) Jamf Pro
7 8 (0.60%) Nessus
8 7 (0.53%) Argo
8 7 (0.53%) Microsoft Intune
8 7 (0.53%) Packer
8 7 (0.53%) Proxmox
8 7 (0.53%) Single Sign-On
9 5 (0.38%) Consul
10 4 (0.30%) SCCM
11 3 (0.23%) FortiGate
12 2 (0.15%) CloudHub
12 2 (0.15%) Fluentd
12 2 (0.15%) Microsoft Clustering
12 2 (0.15%) Progress Chef
12 2 (0.15%) Puppet
Vendors
1 152 (11.45%) Microsoft
2 93 (7.01%) SAP
3 80 (6.03%) Oracle
4 64 (4.82%) Salesforce
5 41 (3.09%) ServiceNow
6 30 (2.26%) Cisco
7 28 (2.11%) Databricks
8 19 (1.43%) Google
9 18 (1.36%) VMware
10 17 (1.28%) MuleSoft
11 16 (1.21%) Apple
11 16 (1.21%) Palo Alto
11 16 (1.21%) Virgin Media
12 15 (1.13%) Splunk
13 12 (0.90%) Fortinet
14 11 (0.83%) Dell
15 10 (0.75%) HP
16 9 (0.68%) CyberArk
16 9 (0.68%) Juniper
16 9 (0.68%) OpenAI