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

6 months to
11 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 25 26 23
Rank change year-on-year +1 -3 +1
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 1,767 969 1,229
As % of all contract jobs in London 8.76% 7.14% 7.57%
As % of the General category 14.44% 10.41% 12.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,335 703 865
10th Percentile £390 £363 £350
25th Percentile £456 £436 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £535 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.90% - -8.70%
75th Percentile £638 £613 £625
90th Percentile £725 £688 £700
England median daily rate £515 £513 £521
% change year-on-year +0.49% -1.68% -3.07%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 19 10
10th Percentile £17.95 £17.80 £16.40
25th Percentile £31.01 £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 £65.75 £46.25 £66.50
90th Percentile £75.85 £72.25 £83.50
England median hourly rate £22.50 £21.70 £26.56
% change year-on-year +3.69% -18.31% +29.57%

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 12,241 9,311 10,150
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 60.72% 68.60% 62.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,796 6,205 7,129
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 £513 £538
% change year-on-year +2.44% -4.65% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 238 183 145
10th Percentile £18.50 £15.84 £17.25
25th Percentile £21.61 £24.50 £23.80
Median hourly rate £28.28 £30.81 £35.50
Median % change year-on-year -8.21% -13.23% +1.43%
75th Percentile £43.75 £49.63 £51.75
90th Percentile £65.00 £63.65 £67.20
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 11 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 11 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 11 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 +12 171 £525 +1.94% 93
South London 0 73 £503 +2.45% 13
West London -20 15 £500 +11.11% 38
East London +8 10 £750 +30.43% 18
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 80 (4.53%) Confluence
2 49 (2.77%) SharePoint
3 16 (0.91%) Microsoft Exchange
4 15 (0.85%) CMS
5 13 (0.74%) Apache
5 13 (0.74%) Apache Spark
6 12 (0.68%) nginx
7 11 (0.62%) Palantir Foundry
8 7 (0.40%) Apache Airflow
8 7 (0.40%) Tomcat
9 6 (0.34%) WordPress
10 5 (0.28%) SAS
11 3 (0.17%) Camunda
11 3 (0.17%) Drupal
11 3 (0.17%) WebLogic
12 2 (0.11%) Jupyter
12 2 (0.11%) Mendix
12 2 (0.11%) OpenROAD
13 1 (0.057%) IIS
13 1 (0.057%) JBoss
Applications
1 43 (2.43%) Microsoft Excel
2 14 (0.79%) Microsoft Office
3 8 (0.45%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 8 (0.45%) Spreadsheet
4 7 (0.40%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.28%) MS Visio
6 3 (0.17%) Chatbot
6 3 (0.17%) Sketch
6 3 (0.17%) Trello
7 2 (0.11%) Adobe XD
8 1 (0.057%) Adobe After Effects
8 1 (0.057%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.057%) Gliffy
Business Applications
1 23 (1.30%) SAP S/4HANA
2 17 (0.96%) Dynamics CRM
2 17 (0.96%) Oracle EBS
3 14 (0.79%) Oracle ERP
4 11 (0.62%) NetSuite
5 6 (0.34%) 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 (0.11%) Exchequer
8 2 (0.11%) Integrated Workplace Management System
8 2 (0.11%) Oracle Financials
8 2 (0.11%) SAP ERP
9 1 (0.057%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 419 (23.71%) AWS
2 355 (20.09%) Azure
3 109 (6.17%) Power Platform
4 97 (5.49%) GCP
5 91 (5.15%) GitHub
6 76 (4.30%) Amazon S3
6 76 (4.30%) Azure DevOps
6 76 (4.30%) Serverless
7 68 (3.85%) Microsoft 365
8 64 (3.62%) GitHub Actions
9 61 (3.45%) Entra ID
10 51 (2.89%) AWS Lambda
11 44 (2.49%) SaaS
12 42 (2.38%) Amazon EC2
12 42 (2.38%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 41 (2.32%) Amazon EKS
14 37 (2.09%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 30 (1.70%) AWS CloudFormation
16 29 (1.64%) PowerApps
17 28 (1.58%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 47 (2.66%) Firewall
2 31 (1.75%) DNS
3 30 (1.70%) Network Security
4 14 (0.79%) VPN
5 12 (0.68%) LAN
5 12 (0.68%) WAN
6 10 (0.57%) NGFW
7 9 (0.51%) TCP/IP
8 8 (0.45%) DHCP
9 7 (0.40%) DKIM
10 6 (0.34%) Cisco IPT
10 6 (0.34%) DMARC
10 6 (0.34%) Wi-Fi
11 5 (0.28%) HTTP
11 5 (0.28%) Reverse Proxy
11 5 (0.28%) Wireless
12 4 (0.23%) 4G
12 4 (0.23%) HTTPS
12 4 (0.23%) Intranet
13 3 (0.17%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 73 (4.13%) Power BI
2 53 (3.00%) PostgreSQL
3 40 (2.26%) Data Warehouse
4 34 (1.92%) Amazon RDS
5 28 (1.58%) Data Lake
6 27 (1.53%) Metadata
7 25 (1.41%) NoSQL
8 23 (1.30%) Amazon Redshift
8 23 (1.30%) SQL Server
9 22 (1.25%) MongoDB
10 20 (1.13%) Delta Lake
11 18 (1.02%) MySQL
12 17 (0.96%) Amazon Athena
12 17 (0.96%) Tableau
13 15 (0.85%) Relational Database
14 14 (0.79%) Amazon Aurora
14 14 (0.79%) Oracle Reports
15 11 (0.62%) Redis
16 9 (0.51%) Oracle Database
17 8 (0.45%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 106 (6.00%) Git
1 106 (6.00%) JIRA
2 72 (4.07%) Jenkins
3 63 (3.57%) GitLab
4 14 (0.79%) JUnit
5 13 (0.74%) SonarQube
6 12 (0.68%) Mockito
7 10 (0.57%) CircleCI
8 9 (0.51%) Maven
9 8 (0.45%) Cypress.io
9 8 (0.45%) Selenium
10 7 (0.40%) Snyk
11 6 (0.34%) JMeter
12 5 (0.28%) Artifactory
12 5 (0.28%) Postman
13 4 (0.23%) Bitbucket
13 4 (0.23%) Bitbucket Server
13 4 (0.23%) Cucumber
13 4 (0.23%) DbUnit
13 4 (0.23%) jMock
General
1 506 (28.64%) Social Skills
2 198 (11.21%) Finance
3 161 (9.11%) Analytical Skills
4 105 (5.94%) Local Government
5 82 (4.64%) Military
6 63 (3.57%) Influencing Skills
7 45 (2.55%) Legal
8 39 (2.21%) Organisational Skills
8 39 (2.21%) Police
9 38 (2.15%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 31 (1.75%) Documentation Skills
11 25 (1.41%) Law
12 24 (1.36%) Marketing
12 24 (1.36%) Telecoms
13 23 (1.30%) Banking
14 16 (0.91%) Presentation Skills
15 11 (0.62%) Publishing
16 8 (0.45%) Billing
16 8 (0.45%) Manufacturing
16 8 (0.45%) Retail
Job Titles
1 287 (16.24%) Architect
2 235 (13.30%) Developer
3 215 (12.17%) Lead
4 203 (11.49%) Senior
5 127 (7.19%) Analyst
6 79 (4.47%) Designer
7 76 (4.30%) Delivery Manager
8 71 (4.02%) DevOps Engineer
9 65 (3.68%) Solutions Architect
10 62 (3.51%) Data Engineer
11 59 (3.34%) Business Analyst
12 57 (3.23%) User Researcher
13 55 (3.11%) Technical Architect
14 46 (2.60%) Consultant
15 45 (2.55%) Data Architect
15 45 (2.55%) Java Developer
16 43 (2.43%) Project Manager
16 43 (2.43%) Software Engineer
17 42 (2.38%) AWS Engineer
18 38 (2.15%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 69 (3.90%) REST
2 59 (3.34%) React
3 50 (2.83%) Spring
4 49 (2.77%) RESTful
5 43 (2.43%) Node.js
6 41 (2.32%) Django
7 39 (2.21%) Spring Boot
8 36 (2.04%) HTML
9 35 (1.98%) Oracle Fusion
10 34 (1.92%) Kafka
11 33 (1.87%) .NET
12 32 (1.81%) Lightning Web Components
13 30 (1.70%) PySpark
13 30 (1.70%) SOAP
14 28 (1.58%) AngularJS
15 27 (1.53%) Web Services
16 25 (1.41%) CSS
17 22 (1.25%) JSON
18 19 (1.08%) Middleware
19 16 (0.91%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 117 (6.62%) Cloud Native
2 78 (4.41%) Onboarding
3 63 (3.57%) NHS
4 59 (3.34%) Product Ownership
5 57 (3.23%) Legacy Systems
6 36 (2.04%) Distributed Systems
7 34 (1.92%) Management Information System
8 26 (1.47%) Enterprise Software
9 24 (1.36%) Analytical Mindset
9 24 (1.36%) Data Centre
10 18 (1.02%) Data Structures
11 17 (0.96%) Low-Code
12 16 (0.91%) AI Agents
13 15 (0.85%) Self-Motivation
14 14 (0.79%) Hybrid Cloud
15 13 (0.74%) Public Cloud
15 13 (0.74%) Replication
16 12 (0.68%) Virtual Team
17 11 (0.62%) CMDB
17 11 (0.62%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 50 (2.83%) Linux
2 42 (2.38%) Windows
3 16 (0.91%) Windows Server
4 11 (0.62%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 10 (0.57%) Android
5 10 (0.57%) Windows 10
6 9 (0.51%) Apple iOS
7 6 (0.34%) Mac OS
7 6 (0.34%) Solaris
7 6 (0.34%) Windows Server 2008
7 6 (0.34%) Windows Server 2019
8 5 (0.28%) Amazon Linux
9 4 (0.23%) Unix
10 3 (0.17%) Ubuntu
10 3 (0.17%) Windows Server 2016
11 2 (0.11%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 558 (31.58%) Agile
2 331 (18.73%) Stakeholder Management
3 320 (18.11%) CI/CD
4 313 (17.71%) DevOps
5 275 (15.56%) Continuous Improvement
5 275 (15.56%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 199 (11.26%) Decision-Making
7 185 (10.47%) AI
8 178 (10.07%) Infrastructure as Code
9 174 (9.85%) Problem-Solving
10 173 (9.79%) Migration
11 160 (9.05%) Roadmaps
12 156 (8.83%) Analytics
13 151 (8.55%) Digital Transformation Programme
14 147 (8.32%) Data Modelling
15 129 (7.30%) Containerisation
16 117 (6.62%) Technical Leadership
17 114 (6.45%) User Research
17 114 (6.45%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
18 107 (6.06%) Service Design
Programming Languages
1 240 (13.58%) Python
2 179 (10.13%) SQL
3 129 (7.30%) Java
4 100 (5.66%) JavaScript
5 65 (3.68%) TypeScript
6 39 (2.21%) PowerShell
7 35 (1.98%) C#
8 34 (1.92%) Bash
9 30 (1.70%) Apex Code
10 26 (1.47%) Bicep
11 25 (1.41%) Ruby
12 23 (1.30%) PL/SQL
13 20 (1.13%) Groovy
14 12 (0.68%) Kotlin
15 11 (0.62%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 11 (0.62%) R
16 9 (0.51%) Shell Script
17 8 (0.45%) Scala
18 7 (0.40%) Go
19 6 (0.34%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 988 (55.91%) Security Cleared
2 848 (47.99%) SC Cleared
3 87 (4.92%) DV Cleared
4 85 (4.81%) BPSS Clearance
5 44 (2.49%) Degree
6 38 (2.15%) AWS Certification
7 34 (1.92%) CISSP
8 33 (1.87%) Azure Certification
9 27 (1.53%) Microsoft Certification
10 23 (1.30%) Cisco Certification
11 22 (1.25%) CISM
12 12 (0.68%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 11 (0.62%) ITIL Certification
14 10 (0.57%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
14 10 (0.57%) CCNP
14 10 (0.57%) CTC Cleared
15 8 (0.45%) APMG
16 7 (0.40%) CCSP
16 7 (0.40%) PMI Certification
16 7 (0.40%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 144 (8.15%) Accessibility
2 97 (5.49%) Data Quality
3 74 (4.19%) QA
4 60 (3.40%) WCAG
5 55 (3.11%) GDPR
6 51 (2.89%) PMO
7 42 (2.38%) NCSC
8 35 (1.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 25 (1.41%) NIST
10 20 (1.13%) Cyber Essentials
11 14 (0.79%) SLA
12 13 (0.74%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 13 (0.74%) Government Security Classifications
13 12 (0.68%) GRC
14 11 (0.62%) HMG Security Policy Framework
14 11 (0.62%) PCI DSS
15 9 (0.51%) Actionable Recommendations
16 5 (0.28%) NIST 800
17 4 (0.23%) PERC
17 4 (0.23%) Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)
System Software
1 143 (8.09%) Docker
2 41 (2.32%) Active Directory
3 9 (0.51%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (0.34%) Virtual Desktop
5 3 (0.17%) Oracle RAC
5 3 (0.17%) Postfix
5 3 (0.17%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.11%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.057%) Ceph
7 1 (0.057%) FreeRADIUS
7 1 (0.057%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.057%) Sendmail
7 1 (0.057%) Squid
Systems Management
1 178 (10.07%) Terraform
2 134 (7.58%) Kubernetes
3 39 (2.21%) Grafana
4 30 (1.70%) Ansible
4 30 (1.70%) Prometheus
5 20 (1.13%) Microsoft Intune
6 10 (0.57%) Single Sign-On
7 9 (0.51%) Kibana
8 8 (0.45%) Argo
9 6 (0.34%) Puppet
9 6 (0.34%) SCCM
10 5 (0.28%) Istio
11 3 (0.17%) Jamf Pro
11 3 (0.17%) Oracle RMAN
11 3 (0.17%) Salt
12 2 (0.11%) Consul
12 2 (0.11%) Docker Swarm
12 2 (0.11%) Kustomize
13 1 (0.057%) Karpenter
13 1 (0.057%) Sysdig
Vendors
1 216 (12.22%) Microsoft
2 115 (6.51%) Oracle
3 93 (5.26%) Salesforce
4 59 (3.34%) Google
5 58 (3.28%) ServiceNow
6 56 (3.17%) Databricks
7 41 (2.32%) SAP
8 20 (1.13%) Cisco
8 20 (1.13%) Foundry
8 20 (1.13%) IBM
9 18 (1.02%) Palantir
10 15 (0.85%) Palo Alto
11 14 (0.79%) Atlassian
12 12 (0.68%) VMware
13 11 (0.62%) MuleSoft
13 11 (0.62%) OpenAI
14 10 (0.57%) Juniper
14 10 (0.57%) Red Hat
15 8 (0.45%) Informatica
15 8 (0.45%) Splunk