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

6 months to
18 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 22 26 19
Rank change year-on-year +4 -7 +8
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 1,636 962 1,489
As % of all contract jobs in London 9.11% 7.69% 8.52%
As % of the General category 15.32% 11.36% 13.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,237 700 1,053
10th Percentile £384 £400 £371
25th Percentile £450 £454 £443
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year - - -6.67%
75th Percentile £615 £613 £650
90th Percentile £713 £738 £743
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 18 14
10th Percentile £16.80 £21.40 £15.00
25th Percentile £20.65 £22.07 £15.66
Median hourly rate £37.00 £25.76 £18.13
Median % change year-on-year +43.62% +42.10% -27.48%
75th Percentile £50.00 £60.63 £25.73
90th Percentile £76.15 £74.00 £65.90
England median hourly rate £23.83 £23.45 £21.50
% change year-on-year +1.60% +9.07% +4.37%

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 10,678 8,471 11,013
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 59.49% 67.71% 63.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,920 5,694 7,861
10th Percentile £350 £342 £336
25th Percentile £425 £440 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £537 £565 £575
Median % change year-on-year -4.91% -1.74% -4.17%
75th Percentile £675 £709 £700
90th Percentile £788 £825 £825
England median daily rate £513 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -2.38% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 192 142 233
10th Percentile £18.75 £15.84 £15.60
25th Percentile £22.29 £23.13 £18.13
Median hourly rate £35.00 £34.00 £28.00
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% +21.43% -12.28%
75th Percentile £46.56 £51.07 £44.75
90th Percentile £67.40 £65.00 £65.00
England median hourly rate £30.58 £27.45 £30.12
% change year-on-year +11.40% -8.86% -6.75%

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 18 May 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 18 May 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 18 May 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 0 151 £550 +4.76% 99
South London +1 65 £500 +1.01% 6
West London -28 10 £506 +26.56% 8
East London -9 8 £750 +27.66% 20
North London -2 3 £425 -15.00%
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 (4.34%) Confluence
2 35 (2.14%) SharePoint
3 12 (0.73%) Microsoft Exchange
4 11 (0.67%) Apache Spark
5 8 (0.49%) Apache Airflow
5 8 (0.49%) CMS
5 8 (0.49%) Palantir Foundry
6 7 (0.43%) Apache
6 7 (0.43%) Tomcat
7 6 (0.37%) nginx
8 5 (0.31%) Camunda
9 3 (0.18%) WebLogic
10 2 (0.12%) Drupal
10 2 (0.12%) OpenROAD
10 2 (0.12%) SAS
10 2 (0.12%) WordPress
11 1 (0.061%) Anypoint
11 1 (0.061%) Appian
11 1 (0.061%) Jupyter
11 1 (0.061%) R Markdown
Applications
1 45 (2.75%) Microsoft Excel
2 14 (0.86%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (0.86%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (0.37%) Microsoft Project
4 5 (0.31%) MS Visio
5 4 (0.24%) Trello
6 3 (0.18%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.12%) Adobe After Effects
7 2 (0.12%) Adobe XD
7 2 (0.12%) Chatbot
7 2 (0.12%) Sketch
8 1 (0.061%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.061%) InVision
8 1 (0.061%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 24 (1.47%) Dynamics CRM
2 16 (0.98%) SAP S/4HANA
3 13 (0.79%) Oracle ERP
4 7 (0.43%) iTrent
4 7 (0.43%) Oracle EBS
5 4 (0.24%) Salesforce CRM
5 4 (0.24%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
6 3 (0.18%) Exchequer
6 3 (0.18%) PeopleSoft HCM
6 3 (0.18%) SAP Payroll
7 2 (0.12%) Integrated Workplace Management System
7 2 (0.12%) Loan IQ
7 2 (0.12%) Oracle Financials
7 2 (0.12%) Oracle Payroll
7 2 (0.12%) SAP ERP
7 2 (0.12%) SAP GRC
7 2 (0.12%) SAP HCM
7 2 (0.12%) Workday HCM
8 1 (0.061%) Oracle Cash Management
8 1 (0.061%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
Cloud Services
1 358 (21.88%) AWS
2 291 (17.79%) Azure
3 99 (6.05%) Power Platform
4 75 (4.58%) Serverless
5 66 (4.03%) GitHub
6 65 (3.97%) GCP
7 58 (3.55%) Azure DevOps
8 57 (3.48%) Microsoft 365
9 56 (3.42%) Amazon S3
10 52 (3.18%) AWS Lambda
11 42 (2.57%) Amazon EKS
12 40 (2.44%) Amazon EC2
13 37 (2.26%) GitHub Actions
14 36 (2.20%) Dynamics 365
14 36 (2.20%) Entra ID
14 36 (2.20%) Virtual Private Cloud
15 34 (2.08%) AWS CloudFormation
16 31 (1.89%) Power Automate
16 31 (1.89%) SaaS
17 30 (1.83%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 29 (1.77%) Firewall
2 23 (1.41%) Network Security
3 18 (1.10%) DNS
4 12 (0.73%) LAN
4 12 (0.73%) WAN
5 10 (0.61%) VPN
5 10 (0.61%) Wi-Fi
6 9 (0.55%) TCP/IP
7 8 (0.49%) DKIM
7 8 (0.49%) NGFW
8 6 (0.37%) DMARC
8 6 (0.37%) Wireless
9 5 (0.31%) BGP
9 5 (0.31%) OSPF
9 5 (0.31%) WLAN
10 4 (0.24%) Internet
10 4 (0.24%) Reverse Proxy
10 4 (0.24%) SD-WAN
10 4 (0.24%) SSL
11 3 (0.18%) DHCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 68 (4.16%) Power BI
2 37 (2.26%) PostgreSQL
3 29 (1.77%) Data Warehouse
4 27 (1.65%) Amazon RDS
4 27 (1.65%) Metadata
5 23 (1.41%) SQL Server
6 21 (1.28%) Data Lake
6 21 (1.28%) MongoDB
7 15 (0.92%) NoSQL
7 15 (0.92%) Tableau
8 14 (0.86%) Delta Lake
9 12 (0.73%) Amazon Athena
9 12 (0.73%) Amazon Redshift
10 10 (0.61%) DynamoDB
11 9 (0.55%) Oracle Reports
12 8 (0.49%) Amazon QuickSight
12 8 (0.49%) GIS
12 8 (0.49%) Relational Database
13 7 (0.43%) Azure SQL Database
13 7 (0.43%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 96 (5.87%) JIRA
2 89 (5.44%) Git
3 56 (3.42%) GitLab
4 50 (3.06%) Jenkins
5 22 (1.34%) Selenium
6 17 (1.04%) Postman
7 11 (0.67%) JUnit
8 10 (0.61%) Mockito
9 9 (0.55%) SonarQube
10 8 (0.49%) CircleCI
10 8 (0.49%) Cypress.io
11 7 (0.43%) Artifactory
11 7 (0.43%) Snyk
12 6 (0.37%) JMeter
13 5 (0.31%) Gradle
14 4 (0.24%) Cucumber
14 4 (0.24%) Maven
14 4 (0.24%) MLflow
15 3 (0.18%) DbUnit
15 3 (0.18%) jMock
General
1 388 (23.72%) Social Skills
2 213 (13.02%) Finance
3 136 (8.31%) Analytical Skills
4 71 (4.34%) Local Government
5 56 (3.42%) Military
6 41 (2.51%) Telecoms
7 40 (2.44%) Influencing Skills
8 39 (2.38%) Marketing
9 37 (2.26%) Documentation Skills
10 33 (2.02%) Banking
11 31 (1.89%) Legal
12 29 (1.77%) Organisational Skills
13 27 (1.65%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 27 (1.65%) Police
14 25 (1.53%) Law
15 23 (1.41%) Presentation Skills
16 16 (0.98%) Manufacturing
16 16 (0.98%) Retail
17 14 (0.86%) Electronics
18 12 (0.73%) Billing
Job Titles
1 244 (14.91%) Developer
2 227 (13.88%) Architect
3 172 (10.51%) Senior
4 158 (9.66%) Lead
5 134 (8.19%) Analyst
6 90 (5.50%) Designer
7 77 (4.71%) Business Analyst
8 68 (4.16%) DevOps Engineer
9 57 (3.48%) User Researcher
10 53 (3.24%) Data Engineer
10 53 (3.24%) Project Manager
11 52 (3.18%) Consultant
12 51 (3.12%) Technical Architect
13 47 (2.87%) Solutions Architect
14 42 (2.57%) Delivery Manager
14 42 (2.57%) Senior Developer
15 41 (2.51%) Salesforce Developer
16 40 (2.44%) AWS Engineer
17 39 (2.38%) Security Architect
18 37 (2.26%) Java Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (2.93%) React
1 48 (2.93%) REST
2 47 (2.87%) RESTful
3 46 (2.81%) Node.js
4 41 (2.51%) Lightning Web Components
5 39 (2.38%) Spring
6 34 (2.08%) HTML
6 34 (2.08%) Oracle Fusion
7 33 (2.02%) Spring Boot
8 32 (1.96%) .NET
8 32 (1.96%) Web Services
9 30 (1.83%) AngularJS
10 29 (1.77%) Kafka
11 23 (1.41%) CSS
11 23 (1.41%) SOAP
12 17 (1.04%) Django
12 17 (1.04%) Middleware
13 16 (0.98%) JSON
14 15 (0.92%) PySpark
15 14 (0.86%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 106 (6.48%) Cloud Native
2 58 (3.55%) Onboarding
3 50 (3.06%) Legacy Systems
4 43 (2.63%) Product Ownership
5 33 (2.02%) NHS
6 30 (1.83%) Data Centre
7 25 (1.53%) Distributed Systems
8 24 (1.47%) Management Information System
9 21 (1.28%) Enterprise Software
10 15 (0.92%) Self-Motivation
11 14 (0.86%) Data Structures
11 14 (0.86%) Hybrid Cloud
12 12 (0.73%) Analytical Mindset
12 12 (0.73%) Public Cloud
13 11 (0.67%) AI Agents
13 11 (0.67%) CMDB
13 11 (0.67%) Enterprise Cloud
13 11 (0.67%) Freedom of Information
13 11 (0.67%) Virtual Team
14 10 (0.61%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 50 (3.06%) Linux
2 45 (2.75%) Windows
3 15 (0.92%) Windows Server
4 13 (0.79%) Android
5 10 (0.61%) Apple iOS
6 9 (0.55%) Windows 10
7 8 (0.49%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 6 (0.37%) Solaris
8 6 (0.37%) VMS
8 6 (0.37%) Windows Server 2008
8 6 (0.37%) Windows Server 2019
9 5 (0.31%) Mac OS
9 5 (0.31%) Unix
10 3 (0.18%) Amazon Linux
10 3 (0.18%) Windows Server 2016
11 2 (0.12%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 404 (24.69%) Agile
2 259 (15.83%) CI/CD
3 250 (15.28%) DevOps
4 219 (13.39%) Stakeholder Management
5 172 (10.51%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 152 (9.29%) Decision-Making
7 151 (9.23%) Continuous Improvement
8 149 (9.11%) Problem-Solving
9 148 (9.05%) Migration
9 148 (9.05%) Roadmaps
10 133 (8.13%) Infrastructure as Code
11 128 (7.82%) Containerisation
12 126 (7.70%) Data Modelling
13 125 (7.64%) AI
14 117 (7.15%) Analytics
14 117 (7.15%) User Research
15 109 (6.66%) Test Automation
16 99 (6.05%) Digital Transformation Programme
16 99 (6.05%) Service Design
17 87 (5.32%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 191 (11.67%) Python
2 134 (8.19%) SQL
3 109 (6.66%) Java
4 80 (4.89%) JavaScript
5 50 (3.06%) TypeScript
6 41 (2.51%) Apex Code
7 37 (2.26%) C#
8 35 (2.14%) PowerShell
8 35 (2.14%) Ruby
9 26 (1.59%) Bash
10 18 (1.10%) PL/SQL
11 13 (0.79%) Kotlin
12 12 (0.73%) Bicep
12 12 (0.73%) R
13 10 (0.61%) Go
13 10 (0.61%) Shell Script
14 8 (0.49%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 5 (0.31%) C
15 5 (0.31%) T-SQL
16 4 (0.24%) Scala
Qualifications
1 926 (56.60%) Security Cleared
2 704 (43.03%) SC Cleared
3 70 (4.28%) DV Cleared
4 49 (3.00%) Degree
5 42 (2.57%) BPSS Clearance
6 25 (1.53%) CISSP
7 24 (1.47%) Azure Certification
8 20 (1.22%) AWS Certification
9 17 (1.04%) Cisco Certification
9 17 (1.04%) Microsoft Certification
10 14 (0.86%) CISM
11 13 (0.79%) PMP
12 12 (0.73%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 10 (0.61%) APMP
13 10 (0.61%) CIMA
14 9 (0.55%) ACCA
14 9 (0.55%) CTC Cleared
15 8 (0.49%) CCSP
16 7 (0.43%) ISTQB
16 7 (0.43%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 118 (7.21%) Accessibility
2 74 (4.52%) Data Quality
3 70 (4.28%) QA
4 48 (2.93%) WCAG
5 42 (2.57%) GDPR
6 38 (2.32%) PMO
7 35 (2.14%) NCSC
8 26 (1.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 12 (0.73%) Actionable Recommendations
9 12 (0.73%) SLA
10 11 (0.67%) NIST
11 10 (0.61%) Cyber Essentials
12 8 (0.49%) GRC
12 8 (0.49%) PCI DSS
13 7 (0.43%) Government Security Classifications
14 6 (0.37%) HMG Security Policy Framework
15 5 (0.31%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
15 5 (0.31%) IFRS
16 4 (0.24%) IFRS 9
17 3 (0.18%) NIST 800
System Software
1 114 (6.97%) Docker
2 33 (2.02%) Active Directory
3 7 (0.43%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (0.37%) Virtual Machines
4 6 (0.37%) VMware ESXi
5 4 (0.24%) Virtual Desktop
6 3 (0.18%) Oracle RAC
7 2 (0.12%) Postfix
7 2 (0.12%) Squid
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%) Virtual Servers
8 1 (0.061%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 144 (8.80%) Terraform
2 118 (7.21%) Kubernetes
3 33 (2.02%) Grafana
4 30 (1.83%) Ansible
4 30 (1.83%) Prometheus
5 12 (0.73%) Microsoft Intune
6 8 (0.49%) Single Sign-On
7 7 (0.43%) Puppet
8 5 (0.31%) Argo
8 5 (0.31%) Kibana
9 3 (0.18%) Oracle RMAN
9 3 (0.18%) Salt
10 2 (0.12%) Jamf Pro
10 2 (0.12%) Microsoft Clustering
10 2 (0.12%) Progress Chef
10 2 (0.12%) SCCM
10 2 (0.12%) vCenter Server
11 1 (0.061%) Consul
11 1 (0.061%) RSA Archer
11 1 (0.061%) Sysdig
Vendors
1 163 (9.96%) Microsoft
2 93 (5.68%) Salesforce
3 87 (5.32%) Oracle
4 52 (3.18%) SAP
5 48 (2.93%) Databricks
6 45 (2.75%) ServiceNow
7 33 (2.02%) Google
8 19 (1.16%) IBM
9 18 (1.10%) MuleSoft
10 17 (1.04%) Cisco
10 17 (1.04%) Foundry
11 16 (0.98%) Atlassian
12 15 (0.92%) Splunk
13 13 (0.79%) Red Hat
13 13 (0.79%) VMware
14 11 (0.67%) OpenAI
14 11 (0.67%) Virgin Media
15 9 (0.55%) Palo Alto
16 8 (0.49%) Palantir
16 8 (0.49%) Zscaler