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

6 months to
16 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 24 17
Rank change year-on-year +1 -7 +12
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 1,631 1,045 1,517
As % of all contract jobs in London 9.42% 8.25% 8.46%
As % of the General category 15.38% 12.25% 13.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,229 766 1,054
10th Percentile £387 £382 £375
25th Percentile £443 £453 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year - -2.78% -1.82%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £650
90th Percentile £701 £750 £745
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 17 12
10th Percentile £17.50 £21.20 £15.00
25th Percentile £19.51 £22.27 £15.38
Median hourly rate £31.39 £37.50 £18.25
Median % change year-on-year -16.31% +105.48% -19.64%
75th Percentile £50.00 £47.50 £34.06
90th Percentile £74.65 £66.50 £68.30
England median hourly rate £22.50 £22.90 £22.50
% change year-on-year -1.75% +1.78% +12.22%

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 10,602 8,532 11,332
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 61.22% 67.36% 63.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,903 5,763 8,088
10th Percentile £348 £333 £331
25th Percentile £425 £447 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £575 £575
Median % change year-on-year -8.70% - -4.17%
75th Percentile £663 £706 £700
90th Percentile £788 £825 £800
England median daily rate £500 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 182 139 252
10th Percentile £18.25 £15.84 £16.00
25th Percentile £21.73 £23.99 £18.25
Median hourly rate £35.00 £34.65 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +1.01% +15.50% -7.69%
75th Percentile £50.00 £51.63 £47.81
90th Percentile £72.50 £65.50 £68.75
England median hourly rate £29.00 £28.75 £28.00
% change year-on-year +0.87% +2.68% -20.00%

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 16 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 16 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 16 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 -1 151 £550 +4.76% 82
South London +1 69 £500 +1.52% 6
East London -6 8 £750 +25.00% 14
North London -3 5 £525 +52.28% 3
West London -34 4 £506 +26.56% 9
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 67 (4.11%) Confluence
2 39 (2.39%) SharePoint
3 13 (0.80%) Microsoft Exchange
4 11 (0.67%) Apache
4 11 (0.67%) nginx
5 9 (0.55%) Apache Spark
6 8 (0.49%) Apache Airflow
7 6 (0.37%) CMS
7 6 (0.37%) Tomcat
8 5 (0.31%) Camunda
8 5 (0.31%) Palantir Foundry
9 4 (0.25%) SAS
10 3 (0.18%) WebLogic
11 2 (0.12%) ArcGIS
11 2 (0.12%) Drupal
11 2 (0.12%) Jupyter
11 2 (0.12%) OpenROAD
12 1 (0.061%) Anypoint
12 1 (0.061%) GeoServer
12 1 (0.061%) R Markdown
Applications
1 47 (2.88%) Microsoft Excel
2 16 (0.98%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 13 (0.80%) Microsoft Office
4 8 (0.49%) Microsoft Project
4 8 (0.49%) MS Visio
5 6 (0.37%) Trello
6 5 (0.31%) Spreadsheet
7 3 (0.18%) Adobe After Effects
7 3 (0.18%) Adobe XD
7 3 (0.18%) Sketch
8 2 (0.12%) InVision
9 1 (0.061%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 1 (0.061%) Chatbot
9 1 (0.061%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 24 (1.47%) Dynamics CRM
2 13 (0.80%) SAP S/4HANA
3 11 (0.67%) Oracle ERP
4 9 (0.55%) SAP Payroll
5 8 (0.49%) Oracle EBS
6 5 (0.31%) iTrent
6 5 (0.31%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
7 4 (0.25%) Salesforce CRM
8 3 (0.18%) Exchequer
9 2 (0.12%) Integrated Workplace Management System
9 2 (0.12%) Loan IQ
9 2 (0.12%) Oracle Payroll
9 2 (0.12%) SAP GRC
9 2 (0.12%) SAP HCM
9 2 (0.12%) Workday HCM
10 1 (0.061%) NEC Housing
10 1 (0.061%) Oracle Assets
10 1 (0.061%) Oracle Cash Management
10 1 (0.061%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
10 1 (0.061%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 371 (22.75%) AWS
2 295 (18.09%) Azure
3 96 (5.89%) Power Platform
4 91 (5.58%) Serverless
5 66 (4.05%) GCP
6 65 (3.99%) GitHub
7 64 (3.92%) Azure DevOps
8 58 (3.56%) AWS Lambda
9 53 (3.25%) Amazon S3
10 52 (3.19%) Microsoft 365
11 44 (2.70%) AWS CloudFormation
12 38 (2.33%) Amazon EKS
13 36 (2.21%) GitHub Actions
14 35 (2.15%) Dynamics 365
14 35 (2.15%) OCI
15 34 (2.08%) Amazon EC2
15 34 (2.08%) Entra ID
16 33 (2.02%) Virtual Private Cloud
17 32 (1.96%) SaaS
18 29 (1.78%) Amazon ECS
Communications & Networking
1 28 (1.72%) Network Security
2 27 (1.66%) Firewall
3 20 (1.23%) DNS
4 15 (0.92%) VPN
5 14 (0.86%) WAN
6 13 (0.80%) LAN
6 13 (0.80%) Wi-Fi
7 10 (0.61%) Wireless
8 9 (0.55%) TCP/IP
9 8 (0.49%) Internet
10 7 (0.43%) BGP
10 7 (0.43%) OSPF
11 6 (0.37%) NGFW
11 6 (0.37%) WLAN
12 5 (0.31%) DKIM
12 5 (0.31%) Reverse Proxy
12 5 (0.31%) SD-WAN
13 4 (0.25%) DHCP
13 4 (0.25%) HTTP
13 4 (0.25%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 73 (4.48%) Power BI
2 35 (2.15%) PostgreSQL
3 29 (1.78%) Data Warehouse
4 28 (1.72%) Metadata
5 25 (1.53%) SQL Server
6 23 (1.41%) Amazon RDS
7 21 (1.29%) Data Lake
8 20 (1.23%) MongoDB
9 18 (1.10%) Tableau
10 17 (1.04%) NoSQL
11 14 (0.86%) Amazon Athena
11 14 (0.86%) Amazon Redshift
12 13 (0.80%) Delta Lake
13 12 (0.74%) Azure SQL Database
14 11 (0.67%) DynamoDB
15 9 (0.55%) Data Hub
15 9 (0.55%) Relational Database
16 8 (0.49%) Amazon QuickSight
17 7 (0.43%) BigQuery
17 7 (0.43%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 96 (5.89%) JIRA
2 90 (5.52%) Git
3 52 (3.19%) GitLab
4 44 (2.70%) Jenkins
5 24 (1.47%) Postman
6 23 (1.41%) Selenium
7 13 (0.80%) JUnit
8 10 (0.61%) Mockito
9 8 (0.49%) SonarQube
10 7 (0.43%) Artifactory
10 7 (0.43%) JMeter
11 6 (0.37%) Liquibase
11 6 (0.37%) Snyk
12 5 (0.31%) CircleCI
12 5 (0.31%) Cypress.io
12 5 (0.31%) Gradle
13 4 (0.25%) Bitbucket
13 4 (0.25%) Cucumber
13 4 (0.25%) Maven
13 4 (0.25%) MLflow
General
1 408 (25.02%) Social Skills
2 228 (13.98%) Finance
3 146 (8.95%) Analytical Skills
4 72 (4.41%) Local Government
5 48 (2.94%) Marketing
5 48 (2.94%) Telecoms
6 46 (2.82%) Military
7 44 (2.70%) Influencing Skills
8 36 (2.21%) Manufacturing
9 35 (2.15%) Documentation Skills
10 34 (2.08%) Legal
11 32 (1.96%) Banking
12 28 (1.72%) Presentation Skills
13 27 (1.66%) Electronics
14 23 (1.41%) Law
14 23 (1.41%) Police
15 21 (1.29%) Organisational Skills
16 20 (1.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 19 (1.16%) Retail
18 12 (0.74%) Billing
Job Titles
1 229 (14.04%) Architect
2 228 (13.98%) Developer
3 184 (11.28%) Senior
4 148 (9.07%) Analyst
5 138 (8.46%) Lead
6 87 (5.33%) Designer
7 83 (5.09%) Business Analyst
8 64 (3.92%) DevOps Engineer
9 56 (3.43%) Data Engineer
9 56 (3.43%) User Researcher
10 54 (3.31%) Solutions Architect
11 52 (3.19%) Consultant
12 50 (3.07%) Project Manager
13 47 (2.88%) Technical Architect
14 46 (2.82%) Delivery Manager
15 44 (2.70%) Senior Developer
16 39 (2.39%) Service Designer
17 38 (2.33%) Salesforce Developer
18 37 (2.27%) Security Architect
19 36 (2.21%) Azure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 58 (3.56%) REST
2 48 (2.94%) React
3 47 (2.88%) RESTful
4 45 (2.76%) Node.js
5 39 (2.39%) .NET
5 39 (2.39%) Oracle Fusion
6 38 (2.33%) Web Services
7 35 (2.15%) Lightning Web Components
7 35 (2.15%) Spring
8 34 (2.08%) AngularJS
8 34 (2.08%) HTML
9 29 (1.78%) Spring Boot
10 27 (1.66%) SOAP
11 26 (1.59%) Kafka
12 23 (1.41%) CSS
13 21 (1.29%) JSON
14 18 (1.10%) Middleware
15 17 (1.04%) PySpark
16 15 (0.92%) XML
17 13 (0.80%) Pandas
Miscellaneous
1 107 (6.56%) Cloud Native
2 59 (3.62%) Onboarding
3 49 (3.00%) Legacy Systems
4 40 (2.45%) Product Ownership
5 35 (2.15%) Data Centre
6 34 (2.08%) NHS
7 23 (1.41%) Distributed Systems
8 21 (1.29%) Enterprise Software
9 18 (1.10%) Management Information System
9 18 (1.10%) Public Cloud
10 16 (0.98%) Data Structures
10 16 (0.98%) Self-Motivation
11 15 (0.92%) Hybrid Cloud
12 14 (0.86%) Security Posture
13 13 (0.80%) AI Agents
14 10 (0.61%) Greenfield Project
14 10 (0.61%) Replication
15 9 (0.55%) CMDB
15 9 (0.55%) Data Protection Act
15 9 (0.55%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 52 (3.19%) Linux
2 51 (3.13%) Windows
3 15 (0.92%) Windows Server
4 13 (0.80%) Android
5 9 (0.55%) Windows 10
6 8 (0.49%) Mac OS
7 7 (0.43%) Apple iOS
7 7 (0.43%) VMS
8 6 (0.37%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 5 (0.31%) Solaris
9 5 (0.31%) Unix
9 5 (0.31%) Windows Server 2008
9 5 (0.31%) Windows Server 2019
10 3 (0.18%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.061%) Amazon Linux
11 1 (0.061%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 409 (25.08%) Agile
2 251 (15.39%) CI/CD
3 239 (14.65%) DevOps
4 212 (13.00%) Stakeholder Management
5 185 (11.34%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 155 (9.50%) Continuous Improvement
7 153 (9.38%) Problem-Solving
8 152 (9.32%) Decision-Making
8 152 (9.32%) Roadmaps
9 148 (9.07%) Migration
10 136 (8.34%) AI
11 129 (7.91%) Infrastructure as Code
12 125 (7.66%) Analytics
13 124 (7.60%) Containerisation
14 115 (7.05%) User Research
15 113 (6.93%) Data Modelling
16 109 (6.68%) Test Automation
17 106 (6.50%) Business Intelligence
18 103 (6.32%) Digital Transformation Programme
19 96 (5.89%) Service Design
Programming Languages
1 205 (12.57%) Python
2 139 (8.52%) SQL
3 94 (5.76%) Java
4 80 (4.90%) JavaScript
5 48 (2.94%) TypeScript
6 43 (2.64%) C#
7 40 (2.45%) Ruby
8 35 (2.15%) Apex Code
9 33 (2.02%) PowerShell
10 25 (1.53%) Bash
11 15 (0.92%) PL/SQL
12 12 (0.74%) R
13 11 (0.67%) Bicep
13 11 (0.67%) Go
13 11 (0.67%) Kotlin
14 9 (0.55%) Shell Script
15 6 (0.37%) C
15 6 (0.37%) T-SQL
16 5 (0.31%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 4 (0.25%) Scala
Qualifications
1 933 (57.20%) Security Cleared
2 704 (43.16%) SC Cleared
3 56 (3.43%) DV Cleared
4 54 (3.31%) Degree
5 46 (2.82%) BPSS Clearance
6 25 (1.53%) Azure Certification
6 25 (1.53%) CISSP
7 21 (1.29%) AWS Certification
8 16 (0.98%) Cisco Certification
8 16 (0.98%) CISM
9 14 (0.86%) PMP
10 11 (0.67%) APMP
10 11 (0.67%) CIMA
10 11 (0.67%) Microsoft Certification
11 10 (0.61%) ACCA
12 9 (0.55%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 9 (0.55%) PMI Certification
13 8 (0.49%) OSCP
13 8 (0.49%) TOGAF Certification
14 7 (0.43%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 100 (6.13%) Accessibility
2 70 (4.29%) Data Quality
3 65 (3.99%) QA
4 47 (2.88%) GDPR
5 40 (2.45%) NCSC
6 39 (2.39%) PMO
7 38 (2.33%) WCAG
8 36 (2.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 17 (1.04%) NIST
10 15 (0.92%) GRC
11 12 (0.74%) Actionable Recommendations
11 12 (0.74%) SLA
12 10 (0.61%) Cyber Essentials
13 9 (0.55%) PCI DSS
14 7 (0.43%) Government Security Classifications
14 7 (0.43%) NIST 800
15 5 (0.31%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
16 4 (0.25%) HMG Security Policy Framework
16 4 (0.25%) IFRS
17 3 (0.18%) IFRS 9
System Software
1 124 (7.60%) Docker
2 32 (1.96%) Active Directory
3 8 (0.49%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (0.43%) Virtual Machines
4 7 (0.43%) VMware ESXi
5 5 (0.31%) Hyper-V
6 3 (0.18%) Oracle RAC
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%) Postfix
8 1 (0.061%) Sendmail
8 1 (0.061%) Squid
8 1 (0.061%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 153 (9.38%) Terraform
2 130 (7.97%) Kubernetes
3 28 (1.72%) Ansible
4 27 (1.66%) Grafana
5 24 (1.47%) Prometheus
6 10 (0.61%) Microsoft Intune
7 6 (0.37%) Packer
7 6 (0.37%) Puppet
7 6 (0.37%) Single Sign-On
8 5 (0.31%) Argo
8 5 (0.31%) Consul
9 4 (0.25%) SCCM
10 3 (0.18%) Jamf Pro
10 3 (0.18%) Kibana
10 3 (0.18%) Oracle RMAN
10 3 (0.18%) Salt
10 3 (0.18%) vCenter Server
11 2 (0.12%) FortiGate
11 2 (0.12%) Microsoft Clustering
11 2 (0.12%) vRealize
Vendors
1 162 (9.93%) Microsoft
2 91 (5.58%) Oracle
2 91 (5.58%) Salesforce
3 62 (3.80%) SAP
4 53 (3.25%) Databricks
5 44 (2.70%) ServiceNow
6 33 (2.02%) Google
7 24 (1.47%) Cisco
8 22 (1.35%) VMware
9 20 (1.23%) IBM
10 19 (1.16%) MuleSoft
11 16 (0.98%) Atlassian
11 16 (0.98%) Foundry
12 13 (0.80%) Virgin Media
13 12 (0.74%) Red Hat
13 12 (0.74%) Splunk
14 11 (0.67%) OpenAI
15 10 (0.61%) Fortinet
15 10 (0.61%) Palo Alto
16 8 (0.49%) Zscaler