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

6 months to
8 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 25 24 23
Rank change year-on-year -1 -1 0
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 1,794 1,036 1,286
As % of all contract jobs in London 8.88% 7.73% 7.97%
As % of the General category 14.34% 11.28% 12.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,357 740 793
10th Percentile £381 £363 £350
25th Percentile £463 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £511 £525
Median % change year-on-year +7.58% -2.62% -6.67%
75th Percentile £638 £620 £625
90th Percentile £713 £688 £700
England median daily rate £525 £500 £518
% change year-on-year +5.00% -3.38% -5.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 21 13
10th Percentile £16.82 £19.79 £18.13
25th Percentile £18.24 £23.45 £20.00
Median hourly rate £35.00 £30.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +16.67% -7.69% -26.85%
75th Percentile £50.00 £47.00 £44.08
90th Percentile £59.00 £86.25 £72.50
England median hourly rate £21.35 £22.05 £23.99
% change year-on-year -3.17% -8.09% +14.24%

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 12,507 9,186 10,071
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 61.88% 68.58% 62.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,970 6,041 6,540
10th Percentile £350 £329 £330
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 £675 £700
90th Percentile £780 £788 £825
England median daily rate £525 £500 £530
% change year-on-year +5.00% -5.66% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 293 174 120
10th Percentile £15.88 £18.06 £17.48
25th Percentile £20.02 £24.65 £25.62
Median hourly rate £28.55 £31.75 £35.25
Median % change year-on-year -10.08% -9.93% +8.46%
75th Percentile £47.50 £47.38 £53.75
90th Percentile £68.60 £68.67 £68.33
England median hourly rate £29.00 £25.15 £35.00
% change year-on-year +15.31% -28.14% +16.67%

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 8 October 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 8 October 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 8 October 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 +8 182 £548 +4.29% 148
South London 0 62 £525 +6.06% 12
West London -13 20 £450 -10.00% 34
East London +13 13 £600 +20.00% 17
North London 0 5 £400 -27.27% 1
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 78 (4.35%) Confluence
2 51 (2.84%) SharePoint
3 21 (1.17%) CMS
4 19 (1.06%) Microsoft Exchange
5 13 (0.72%) Apache Spark
6 12 (0.67%) Apache
7 10 (0.56%) nginx
8 7 (0.39%) SAS
9 6 (0.33%) Apache Airflow
9 6 (0.33%) Headless CMS
9 6 (0.33%) Palantir Foundry
10 5 (0.28%) WordPress
11 3 (0.17%) Oracle Workflow
12 2 (0.11%) Drupal
12 2 (0.11%) Mendix
13 1 (0.056%) Anypoint
13 1 (0.056%) Jupyter
13 1 (0.056%) Luigi
13 1 (0.056%) Mule
13 1 (0.056%) Umbraco
Applications
1 38 (2.12%) Microsoft Excel
2 15 (0.84%) Microsoft Office
3 9 (0.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (0.45%) Spreadsheet
5 6 (0.33%) Microsoft Project
6 4 (0.22%) Chatbot
7 3 (0.17%) Adobe XD
7 3 (0.17%) MS Visio
7 3 (0.17%) Sketch
8 2 (0.11%) Trello
9 1 (0.056%) Gliffy
Business Applications
1 22 (1.23%) SAP S/4HANA
2 18 (1.00%) Oracle ERP
3 17 (0.95%) Dynamics CRM
3 17 (0.95%) Oracle EBS
4 13 (0.72%) NetSuite
5 6 (0.33%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
6 5 (0.28%) Exchequer
6 5 (0.28%) SAP FI
7 4 (0.22%) iTrent
7 4 (0.22%) Salesforce CRM
7 4 (0.22%) SAP CO
7 4 (0.22%) SAP FI/CO
8 3 (0.17%) PeopleSoft HCM
8 3 (0.17%) Remedy ITSM
8 3 (0.17%) SAP HR
9 2 (0.11%) Changepoint
9 2 (0.11%) Oracle Payroll
9 2 (0.11%) SAP ERP
9 2 (0.11%) Workday HCM
10 1 (0.056%) NEC Housing
Cloud Services
1 377 (21.01%) AWS
2 357 (19.90%) Azure
3 114 (6.35%) Power Platform
4 93 (5.18%) GCP
5 91 (5.07%) GitHub
6 82 (4.57%) Azure DevOps
7 79 (4.40%) Entra ID
8 73 (4.07%) Serverless
9 71 (3.96%) Microsoft 365
10 67 (3.73%) Amazon S3
11 64 (3.57%) GitHub Actions
12 49 (2.73%) SaaS
13 41 (2.29%) AWS Lambda
14 40 (2.23%) Amazon EKS
15 38 (2.12%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 32 (1.78%) Amazon EC2
16 32 (1.78%) Virtual Private Cloud
17 29 (1.62%) Power Automate
17 29 (1.62%) PowerApps
18 28 (1.56%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 45 (2.51%) Firewall
2 31 (1.73%) DNS
2 31 (1.73%) Network Security
3 12 (0.67%) WAN
4 11 (0.61%) Cisco IPT
4 11 (0.61%) LAN
4 11 (0.61%) VPN
5 10 (0.56%) NGFW
5 10 (0.56%) TCP/IP
6 8 (0.45%) Wi-Fi
7 7 (0.39%) DHCP
8 6 (0.33%) DKIM
8 6 (0.33%) DMARC
8 6 (0.33%) Wireshark
9 5 (0.28%) 5G
9 5 (0.28%) NGN
9 5 (0.28%) Radio Access Network
9 5 (0.28%) Reverse Proxy
9 5 (0.28%) SD-WAN
9 5 (0.28%) tcpdump
Database & Business Intelligence
1 72 (4.01%) Power BI
2 61 (3.40%) PostgreSQL
3 43 (2.40%) Metadata
4 33 (1.84%) Data Warehouse
5 31 (1.73%) Amazon RDS
6 26 (1.45%) Data Lake
7 24 (1.34%) MongoDB
8 22 (1.23%) Amazon Aurora
8 22 (1.23%) NoSQL
9 21 (1.17%) Amazon Redshift
9 21 (1.17%) SQL Server
10 20 (1.11%) MySQL
11 18 (1.00%) Amazon Athena
11 18 (1.00%) Oracle Database
11 18 (1.00%) Relational Database
12 14 (0.78%) Redis
13 13 (0.72%) Tableau
14 11 (0.61%) Delta Lake
14 11 (0.61%) Oracle Reports
15 10 (0.56%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 107 (5.96%) JIRA
2 86 (4.79%) Git
3 72 (4.01%) Jenkins
4 66 (3.68%) GitLab
5 17 (0.95%) Selenium
6 13 (0.72%) JUnit
7 11 (0.61%) Cucumber
8 10 (0.56%) Cypress.io
9 9 (0.50%) Maven
9 9 (0.50%) Postman
9 9 (0.50%) SonarQube
10 8 (0.45%) JMeter
10 8 (0.45%) Mockito
11 7 (0.39%) CircleCI
12 5 (0.28%) REST Assured
12 5 (0.28%) TestNG
13 4 (0.22%) Bitbucket
13 4 (0.22%) MSI
14 3 (0.17%) Liquibase
14 3 (0.17%) VTune
General
1 600 (33.44%) Social Skills
2 179 (9.98%) Finance
3 178 (9.92%) Analytical Skills
4 123 (6.86%) Local Government
5 98 (5.46%) Military
6 76 (4.24%) Influencing Skills
7 54 (3.01%) Legal
8 46 (2.56%) Organisational Skills
9 42 (2.34%) Police
10 39 (2.17%) Documentation Skills
11 36 (2.01%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 34 (1.90%) Law
13 22 (1.23%) Telecoms
14 19 (1.06%) Banking
15 17 (0.95%) Marketing
15 17 (0.95%) Presentation Skills
16 15 (0.84%) Publishing
17 13 (0.72%) Manufacturing
18 10 (0.56%) Billing
19 8 (0.45%) Retail
Job Titles
1 307 (17.11%) Architect
2 229 (12.76%) Senior
3 223 (12.43%) Lead
4 184 (10.26%) Developer
5 139 (7.75%) Analyst
6 80 (4.46%) Designer
7 76 (4.24%) Consultant
8 71 (3.96%) User Researcher
9 70 (3.90%) Delivery Manager
9 70 (3.90%) Solutions Architect
10 69 (3.85%) Business Analyst
10 69 (3.85%) DevOps Engineer
11 49 (2.73%) Data Engineer
11 49 (2.73%) Technical Architect
12 47 (2.62%) Data Architect
13 40 (2.23%) Security Architect
14 39 (2.17%) Java Developer
15 38 (2.12%) Service Designer
15 38 (2.12%) Software Engineer
16 36 (2.01%) Cloud Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 177 (9.87%) Terraform
2 80 (4.46%) REST
3 46 (2.56%) Spring
4 45 (2.51%) Django
5 43 (2.40%) React
6 38 (2.12%) RESTful
7 35 (1.95%) Spring Boot
8 34 (1.90%) Node.js
9 32 (1.78%) Oracle Fusion
10 31 (1.73%) Kafka
11 30 (1.67%) .NET
11 30 (1.67%) SOAP
12 26 (1.45%) Web Services
13 24 (1.34%) JSON
14 23 (1.28%) PySpark
15 22 (1.23%) HTML
16 20 (1.11%) AngularJS
16 20 (1.11%) Middleware
17 19 (1.06%) OAuth
18 18 (1.00%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 113 (6.30%) Cloud Native
2 86 (4.79%) Onboarding
3 67 (3.73%) Product Ownership
4 61 (3.40%) NHS
5 55 (3.07%) Legacy Systems
6 48 (2.68%) Management Information System
7 40 (2.23%) Enterprise Software
8 28 (1.56%) Analytical Mindset
8 28 (1.56%) Distributed Systems
9 24 (1.34%) Data Structures
10 23 (1.28%) AI Agents
11 17 (0.95%) Replication
12 16 (0.89%) Low-Code
13 15 (0.84%) Taxonomies
14 14 (0.78%) Data Protection Act
15 13 (0.72%) CMDB
15 13 (0.72%) Data Centre
15 13 (0.72%) Enterprise Cloud
15 13 (0.72%) Freedom of Information
15 13 (0.72%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 47 (2.62%) Linux
2 42 (2.34%) Windows
3 13 (0.72%) Windows 10
4 12 (0.67%) Android
5 9 (0.50%) Apple iOS
5 9 (0.50%) Mac OS
5 9 (0.50%) Windows Server
6 6 (0.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 5 (0.28%) Amazon Linux
7 5 (0.28%) Unix
8 2 (0.11%) Ubuntu
8 2 (0.11%) VMS
9 1 (0.056%) Solaris
9 1 (0.056%) Windows Server 2008
9 1 (0.056%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 565 (31.49%) Agile
2 469 (26.14%) Stakeholder Management
3 326 (18.17%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 315 (17.56%) CI/CD
5 306 (17.06%) Continuous Improvement
6 292 (16.28%) DevOps
7 234 (13.04%) Decision-Making
8 217 (12.10%) AI
9 213 (11.87%) Problem-Solving
10 183 (10.20%) Infrastructure as Code
11 182 (10.14%) Migration
12 176 (9.81%) Digital Transformation Programme
13 168 (9.36%) Roadmaps
14 160 (8.92%) Analytics
15 146 (8.14%) Data Modelling
16 135 (7.53%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
17 134 (7.47%) User Research
18 132 (7.36%) Technical Leadership
19 120 (6.69%) Software Engineering
20 119 (6.63%) Service Design
Programming Languages
1 235 (13.10%) Python
2 168 (9.36%) SQL
3 113 (6.30%) Java
4 89 (4.96%) JavaScript
5 61 (3.40%) TypeScript
6 47 (2.62%) PowerShell
7 35 (1.95%) C#
8 33 (1.84%) Bash
9 32 (1.78%) Bicep
10 25 (1.39%) Groovy
11 17 (0.95%) PL/SQL
12 16 (0.89%) Apex Code
12 16 (0.89%) R
13 14 (0.78%) Scala
14 13 (0.72%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 13 (0.72%) Ruby
15 9 (0.50%) Go
15 9 (0.50%) Kotlin
16 6 (0.33%) Search Processing Language
17 5 (0.28%) Perl
Qualifications
1 984 (54.85%) Security Cleared
2 877 (48.89%) SC Cleared
3 136 (7.58%) BPSS Clearance
4 95 (5.30%) DV Cleared
5 58 (3.23%) Degree
6 50 (2.79%) AWS Certification
7 41 (2.29%) Azure Certification
8 34 (1.90%) Microsoft Certification
9 30 (1.67%) CISSP
10 19 (1.06%) Cisco Certification
11 18 (1.00%) CISM
12 16 (0.89%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 13 (0.72%) ITIL Certification
13 13 (0.72%) Master's Degree
14 11 (0.61%) TOGAF Certification
15 10 (0.56%) (ISC)2 CCSP
15 10 (0.56%) PMI Certification
16 9 (0.50%) CRISC
16 9 (0.50%) CTC Cleared
16 9 (0.50%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 128 (7.13%) Accessibility
2 114 (6.35%) Data Quality
3 84 (4.68%) QA
4 53 (2.95%) GDPR
5 47 (2.62%) WCAG
6 43 (2.40%) PMO
7 40 (2.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 40 (2.23%) NCSC
8 34 (1.90%) NIST
9 19 (1.06%) Cyber Essentials
10 16 (0.89%) GRC
11 13 (0.72%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 11 (0.61%) Actionable Recommendations
12 11 (0.61%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 9 (0.50%) SLA
14 8 (0.45%) Government Security Classifications
15 7 (0.39%) PCI DSS
16 5 (0.28%) NIST 800
16 5 (0.28%) P3O
16 5 (0.28%) PERC
System Software
1 126 (7.02%) Docker
2 48 (2.68%) Active Directory
3 11 (0.61%) Virtual Desktop
4 7 (0.39%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.11%) Postfix
6 1 (0.056%) Ceph
6 1 (0.056%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.056%) Microsoft App-V
6 1 (0.056%) Squid
6 1 (0.056%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 134 (7.47%) Kubernetes
2 48 (2.68%) Grafana
3 34 (1.90%) Prometheus
4 31 (1.73%) Microsoft Intune
5 23 (1.28%) Ansible
6 14 (0.78%) Kibana
7 11 (0.61%) Single Sign-On
8 9 (0.50%) Argo
8 9 (0.50%) SCCM
9 4 (0.22%) Istio
9 4 (0.22%) Karpenter
9 4 (0.22%) Puppet
10 3 (0.17%) Jamf Pro
11 2 (0.11%) AirWatch
11 2 (0.11%) Consul
11 2 (0.11%) Docker Swarm
11 2 (0.11%) Kustomize
11 2 (0.11%) QRadar
11 2 (0.11%) Salt
12 1 (0.056%) CloudHub
Vendors
1 260 (14.49%) Microsoft
2 128 (7.13%) Oracle
3 74 (4.12%) Google
3 74 (4.12%) Salesforce
4 61 (3.40%) ServiceNow
5 47 (2.62%) Databricks
6 46 (2.56%) SAP
7 18 (1.00%) Cisco
8 16 (0.89%) Palo Alto
9 14 (0.78%) Splunk
10 13 (0.72%) Foundry
10 13 (0.72%) Palantir
11 11 (0.61%) Informatica
11 11 (0.61%) OpenAI
11 11 (0.61%) Workday
12 9 (0.50%) CrowdStrike
12 9 (0.50%) IBM
12 9 (0.50%) Juniper
13 7 (0.39%) CyberArk
13 7 (0.39%) NEC