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

6 months to
2 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 21 18
Rank change year-on-year -2 -3 +27
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 1,302 1,286 1,590
As % of all contract jobs in London 9.03% 8.87% 8.68%
As % of the General category 13.67% 13.72% 13.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 947 812 1,114
10th Percentile £375 £331 £388
25th Percentile £439 £441 £456
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -4.55% -3.34%
75th Percentile £620 £638 £658
90th Percentile £688 £742 £745
England median daily rate £500 £525 £539
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.60% -0.19%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 15 10
10th Percentile - £20.80 £17.14
25th Percentile £17.50 £22.14 £20.97
Median hourly rate £25.00 £32.50 £35.05
Median % change year-on-year -23.08% -7.28% +71.65%
75th Percentile £45.00 £40.46 £52.50
90th Percentile £54.70 £56.63 £64.13
England median hourly rate £22.00 £22.39 £21.00
% change year-on-year -1.72% +6.60% +5.66%

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 9,527 9,370 11,808
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 66.07% 64.66% 64.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,205 5,956 8,467
10th Percentile £350 £325 £343
25th Percentile £425 £450 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £535 £575 £575
Median % change year-on-year -6.96% - -4.17%
75th Percentile £673 £700 £700
90th Percentile £775 £814 £800
England median daily rate £500 £534 £550
% change year-on-year -6.37% -2.91% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 178 115 168
10th Percentile £17.50 £17.35 £17.00
25th Percentile £20.82 £23.99 £20.00
Median hourly rate £26.30 £35.00 £32.11
Median % change year-on-year -24.86% +9.02% +4.41%
75th Percentile £45.56 £53.75 £55.63
90th Percentile £70.00 £77.04 £76.63
England median hourly rate £23.58 £30.00 £33.00
% change year-on-year -21.42% -9.09% +29.31%

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 2 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 2 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 2 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 -10 147 £538 +3.12% 52
South London +1 40 £513 +3.80% 9
North London -1 6 £675 +164.71%
West London -25 5 £550 +41.94% 9
East London -1 4 £663 +11.81% 8
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 (4.15%) Confluence
2 42 (3.23%) SharePoint
3 18 (1.38%) nginx
4 12 (0.92%) Apache Airflow
5 9 (0.69%) Apache
6 6 (0.46%) Apache Spark
6 6 (0.46%) Microsoft Exchange
7 4 (0.31%) SAS
8 3 (0.23%) CMS
9 2 (0.15%) Anypoint
9 2 (0.15%) ArcGIS
9 2 (0.15%) Jupyter
10 1 (0.077%) GeoServer
10 1 (0.077%) IIS
10 1 (0.077%) Mule
10 1 (0.077%) Mule ESB
10 1 (0.077%) Oracle SOA Suite
10 1 (0.077%) Oracle Workflow
10 1 (0.077%) Skype for Business
10 1 (0.077%) WebLogic
Applications
1 45 (3.46%) Microsoft Excel
2 25 (1.92%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 21 (1.61%) Microsoft Office
4 9 (0.69%) Mozilla Thunderbird
5 8 (0.61%) MS Visio
6 7 (0.54%) Microsoft Project
6 7 (0.54%) Trello
7 5 (0.38%) Sketch
8 4 (0.31%) Adobe XD
8 4 (0.31%) InVision
9 3 (0.23%) Chatbot
9 3 (0.23%) Spreadsheet
10 2 (0.15%) Adobe After Effects
10 2 (0.15%) Adobe Illustrator
10 2 (0.15%) OmniGraffle
10 2 (0.15%) Photoshop
10 2 (0.15%) UXPin
11 1 (0.077%) Oracle Smart View
11 1 (0.077%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 17 (1.31%) SAP S/4HANA
2 16 (1.23%) Dynamics CRM
3 12 (0.92%) Oracle ERP
4 8 (0.61%) Oracle EBS
5 7 (0.54%) SAP Payroll
6 6 (0.46%) iTrent
7 4 (0.31%) Integrated Workplace Management System
7 4 (0.31%) Oracle Assets
7 4 (0.31%) Oracle General Ledger
7 4 (0.31%) Oracle Receivables
7 4 (0.31%) Salesforce CRM
7 4 (0.31%) SAP ERP
8 3 (0.23%) Loan IQ
8 3 (0.23%) Oracle Cash Management
8 3 (0.23%) Oracle Payables
8 3 (0.23%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
8 3 (0.23%) Remedy ITSM
8 3 (0.23%) SAP HCM
9 2 (0.15%) Oracle Payroll
9 2 (0.15%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 265 (20.35%) Azure
2 259 (19.89%) AWS
3 109 (8.37%) Power Platform
4 67 (5.15%) Microsoft 365
5 65 (4.99%) Serverless
6 58 (4.45%) GitHub
7 54 (4.15%) Azure DevOps
8 43 (3.30%) GCP
9 40 (3.07%) Power Automate
10 39 (3.00%) Amazon S3
11 37 (2.84%) AWS Lambda
11 37 (2.84%) GitHub Actions
12 32 (2.46%) PowerApps
13 31 (2.38%) Amazon ECS
14 30 (2.30%) Dynamics 365
14 30 (2.30%) OCI
15 29 (2.23%) AWS CloudFormation
16 26 (2.00%) Entra ID
17 22 (1.69%) SaaS
18 21 (1.61%) Amazon EC2
Communications & Networking
1 37 (2.84%) Firewall
2 26 (2.00%) DNS
2 26 (2.00%) Network Security
3 18 (1.38%) WAN
4 17 (1.31%) VPN
5 16 (1.23%) Wireless
6 14 (1.08%) LAN
7 13 (1.00%) BGP
7 13 (1.00%) OSPF
7 13 (1.00%) TCP/IP
7 13 (1.00%) Wi-Fi
8 12 (0.92%) SD-WAN
9 11 (0.84%) SSL
10 10 (0.77%) HTTP
11 9 (0.69%) FTP
11 9 (0.69%) IMAP
11 9 (0.69%) Internet
11 9 (0.69%) OpenLDAP
11 9 (0.69%) SMTP
11 9 (0.69%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 71 (5.45%) Power BI
2 45 (3.46%) PostgreSQL
3 28 (2.15%) Metadata
4 22 (1.69%) Data Lake
5 20 (1.54%) Amazon RDS
5 20 (1.54%) SQL Server
6 16 (1.23%) Data Warehouse
6 16 (1.23%) Relational Database
7 13 (1.00%) Azure SQL Database
7 13 (1.00%) Oracle Database
8 11 (0.84%) MongoDB
9 10 (0.77%) NoSQL
10 9 (0.69%) Amazon Aurora
10 9 (0.69%) Power Query
11 8 (0.61%) Amazon Athena
11 8 (0.61%) Data Hub
12 7 (0.54%) Oracle Reports
12 7 (0.54%) Spark SQL
12 7 (0.54%) Tableau
13 6 (0.46%) Amazon QuickSight
Development Applications
1 83 (6.37%) JIRA
2 69 (5.30%) Git
3 36 (2.76%) Jenkins
4 27 (2.07%) GitLab
5 23 (1.77%) Postman
6 18 (1.38%) Selenium
7 9 (0.69%) Vagrant
8 8 (0.61%) JUnit
9 6 (0.46%) Cypress.io
10 5 (0.38%) Gradle
10 5 (0.38%) Mockito
11 4 (0.31%) Axure RP
11 4 (0.31%) GCC
11 4 (0.31%) Liquibase
11 4 (0.31%) MLflow
11 4 (0.31%) REST Assured
12 3 (0.23%) Android Studio
12 3 (0.23%) Cucumber
12 3 (0.23%) SonarQube
13 2 (0.15%) Artifactory
General
1 399 (30.65%) Social Skills
2 206 (15.82%) Finance
3 126 (9.68%) Analytical Skills
4 74 (5.68%) Telecoms
5 68 (5.22%) Marketing
6 63 (4.84%) Manufacturing
7 61 (4.69%) Local Government
8 54 (4.15%) Electronics
9 35 (2.69%) Legal
10 34 (2.61%) Military
11 28 (2.15%) Documentation Skills
11 28 (2.15%) Influencing Skills
12 25 (1.92%) Presentation Skills
13 21 (1.61%) Retail
14 19 (1.46%) Organisational Skills
15 17 (1.31%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 15 (1.15%) Law
17 13 (1.00%) Police
18 11 (0.84%) Banking
19 7 (0.54%) Billing
Job Titles
1 169 (12.98%) Developer
2 165 (12.67%) Architect
3 159 (12.21%) Senior
4 132 (10.14%) Analyst
5 126 (9.68%) Lead
6 72 (5.53%) Business Analyst
7 64 (4.92%) Consultant
8 58 (4.45%) DevOps Engineer
9 57 (4.38%) Designer
10 43 (3.30%) Solutions Architect
11 40 (3.07%) Project Manager
12 37 (2.84%) Technical Architect
13 34 (2.61%) Service Designer
14 33 (2.53%) Data Engineer
15 31 (2.38%) AWS Engineer
15 31 (2.38%) User Researcher
16 28 (2.15%) Senior Analyst
17 26 (2.00%) Azure Engineer
18 24 (1.84%) Data Architect
18 24 (1.84%) Senior Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 62 (4.76%) REST
2 40 (3.07%) Oracle Fusion
3 35 (2.69%) RESTful
4 34 (2.61%) React
5 33 (2.53%) .NET
6 32 (2.46%) Web Services
7 30 (2.30%) JSON
8 29 (2.23%) HTML
9 27 (2.07%) Node.js
10 26 (2.00%) AngularJS
10 26 (2.00%) CSS
10 26 (2.00%) SOAP
11 25 (1.92%) Spring
12 24 (1.84%) Kafka
13 22 (1.69%) Spring Boot
14 21 (1.61%) XML
15 20 (1.54%) Lightning Web Components
16 16 (1.23%) LDAP
16 16 (1.23%) OAuth
17 12 (0.92%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 64 (4.92%) Cloud Native
2 51 (3.92%) Onboarding
3 37 (2.84%) Legacy Systems
4 34 (2.61%) Product Ownership
5 27 (2.07%) Data Centre
6 26 (2.00%) AI Agents
7 25 (1.92%) NHS
8 19 (1.46%) Replication
9 18 (1.38%) Management Information System
10 15 (1.15%) Public Cloud
11 14 (1.08%) Security Posture
12 13 (1.00%) Data Structures
12 13 (1.00%) Virtual Team
13 12 (0.92%) Distributed Systems
14 10 (0.77%) Analytical Mindset
14 10 (0.77%) Enterprise Software
14 10 (0.77%) Low-Code
14 10 (0.77%) Security Operations Centre
15 9 (0.69%) Data Protection Act
16 8 (0.61%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 56 (4.30%) Windows
2 49 (3.76%) Linux
3 16 (1.23%) Mac OS
3 16 (1.23%) VMS
4 13 (1.00%) Android
5 9 (0.69%) Amazon Linux
5 9 (0.69%) Ubuntu
6 7 (0.54%) Unix
7 6 (0.46%) Windows Server
8 3 (0.23%) Apple iOS
9 2 (0.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 2 (0.15%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.077%) Kali Linux
10 1 (0.077%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 355 (27.27%) Agile
2 197 (15.13%) CI/CD
3 179 (13.75%) DevOps
4 168 (12.90%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 156 (11.98%) Problem-Solving
5 156 (11.98%) Stakeholder Management
6 136 (10.45%) Business Intelligence
7 125 (9.60%) AI
8 122 (9.37%) Continuous Improvement
9 109 (8.37%) Decision-Making
10 104 (7.99%) Migration
11 103 (7.91%) Roadmaps
12 93 (7.14%) Infrastructure as Code
13 83 (6.37%) User Research
14 82 (6.30%) Analytics
15 81 (6.22%) Containerisation
16 77 (5.91%) Service Design
17 75 (5.76%) Data Modelling
18 73 (5.61%) Programme Management
19 72 (5.53%) Workshop Facilitation
Programming Languages
1 165 (12.67%) Python
2 135 (10.37%) SQL
3 87 (6.68%) Java
4 62 (4.76%) JavaScript
5 45 (3.46%) PowerShell
6 38 (2.92%) C#
7 30 (2.30%) TypeScript
8 25 (1.92%) Ruby
9 24 (1.84%) Bash
10 19 (1.46%) Apex Code
11 15 (1.15%) PL/SQL
12 13 (1.00%) Go
13 11 (0.84%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 10 (0.77%) Groovy
15 9 (0.69%) C
15 9 (0.69%) C++
16 8 (0.61%) Bicep
16 8 (0.61%) Kotlin
16 8 (0.61%) R
17 4 (0.31%) JSX
Qualifications
1 760 (58.37%) Security Cleared
2 580 (44.55%) SC Cleared
3 67 (5.15%) Degree
4 50 (3.84%) DV Cleared
5 31 (2.38%) BPSS Clearance
6 29 (2.23%) Azure Certification
7 21 (1.61%) AWS Certification
8 19 (1.46%) CISSP
9 12 (0.92%) CISM
10 11 (0.84%) Computer Science Degree
10 11 (0.84%) Microsoft Certification
10 11 (0.84%) PMI Certification
10 11 (0.84%) PMP
11 10 (0.77%) OSCP
12 8 (0.61%) CREST Certified
12 8 (0.61%) ISTQB
12 8 (0.61%) TOGAF Certification
13 7 (0.54%) Cisco Certification
13 7 (0.54%) CTC Cleared
13 7 (0.54%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 59 (4.53%) Accessibility
2 50 (3.84%) GDPR
3 47 (3.61%) QA
4 45 (3.46%) Data Quality
5 39 (3.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 31 (2.38%) NIST
7 25 (1.92%) PMO
8 24 (1.84%) NCSC
9 14 (1.08%) GRC
10 13 (1.00%) Cyber Essentials
10 13 (1.00%) WCAG
11 10 (0.77%) HIPAA
12 8 (0.61%) Actionable Recommendations
13 5 (0.38%) NIST 800
14 4 (0.31%) SLA
15 3 (0.23%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
15 3 (0.23%) PCI DSS
15 3 (0.23%) Sarbanes-Oxley
16 2 (0.15%) Def Stans
16 2 (0.15%) HL7
System Software
1 95 (7.30%) Docker
2 30 (2.30%) Active Directory
3 10 (0.77%) Squid
4 9 (0.69%) DFS Replication
4 9 (0.69%) Dovecot
4 9 (0.69%) Postfix
5 7 (0.54%) Virtual Machines
6 5 (0.38%) Hyper-V
6 5 (0.38%) VMware Infrastructure
7 4 (0.31%) Virtual Desktop
7 4 (0.31%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.15%) vSphere
9 1 (0.077%) IAG
9 1 (0.077%) Virtual Servers
9 1 (0.077%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 120 (9.22%) Terraform
2 104 (7.99%) Kubernetes
3 25 (1.92%) Grafana
4 21 (1.61%) Ansible
4 21 (1.61%) Prometheus
5 11 (0.84%) Microsoft Intune
6 10 (0.77%) Nessus
6 10 (0.77%) Single Sign-On
7 9 (0.69%) Proxmox
8 8 (0.61%) Jamf Pro
8 8 (0.61%) SCCM
9 7 (0.54%) Packer
10 5 (0.38%) Argo
10 5 (0.38%) Consul
11 4 (0.31%) CSIRT
11 4 (0.31%) QRadar
12 3 (0.23%) FortiGate
13 2 (0.15%) CloudHub
13 2 (0.15%) Fluentd
13 2 (0.15%) vRealize
Vendors
1 178 (13.67%) Microsoft
2 99 (7.60%) SAP
3 84 (6.45%) Oracle
4 58 (4.45%) Salesforce
5 45 (3.46%) ServiceNow
6 34 (2.61%) Cisco
7 21 (1.61%) Databricks
8 18 (1.38%) VMware
9 17 (1.31%) Fortinet
10 16 (1.23%) Apple
10 16 (1.23%) Google
10 16 (1.23%) MuleSoft
10 16 (1.23%) Palo Alto
10 16 (1.23%) Splunk
11 15 (1.15%) Virgin Media
12 13 (1.00%) HP
13 12 (0.92%) Juniper
14 9 (0.69%) CyberArk
14 9 (0.69%) Dell
14 9 (0.69%) Jaspersoft