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

6 months to
19 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 1,627 955 1,489
As % of all contract jobs in London 9.04% 7.69% 8.52%
As % of the General category 15.22% 11.35% 13.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,229 694 1,053
10th Percentile £385 £400 £371
25th Percentile £450 £453 £443
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year - - -6.67%
75th Percentile £619 £613 £650
90th Percentile £720 £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 £22.64 £23.45 £21.50
% change year-on-year -3.48% +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 10,690 8,416 11,012
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 59.43% 67.75% 63.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,919 5,651 7,861
10th Percentile £350 £344 £336
25th Percentile £425 £440 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £565 £575
Median % change year-on-year -4.87% -1.74% -4.17%
75th Percentile £675 £708 £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 193 142 233
10th Percentile £18.75 £15.84 £15.60
25th Percentile £21.93 £23.13 £18.13
Median hourly rate £35.00 £34.00 £28.00
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% +21.43% -6.67%
75th Percentile £46.25 £51.07 £44.75
90th Percentile £67.30 £65.00 £65.00
England median hourly rate £30.58 £27.50 £30.12
% change year-on-year +11.20% -8.70% -5.88%

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 19 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 19 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 19 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 0 150 £550 +4.76% 96
South London +1 65 £500 +1.01% 6
West London -28 10 £506 +26.56% 6
East London -8 8 £750 +27.66% 19
North London -3 2 £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 (4.36%) Confluence
2 35 (2.15%) SharePoint
3 12 (0.74%) Microsoft Exchange
4 11 (0.68%) Apache Spark
5 8 (0.49%) Apache Airflow
5 8 (0.49%) Palantir Foundry
6 7 (0.43%) Apache
6 7 (0.43%) CMS
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%) Apache Solr
11 1 (0.061%) Mule
11 1 (0.061%) Skype for Business
11 1 (0.061%) WebSphere
Applications
1 42 (2.58%) 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 (0.25%) 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 (1.48%) Dynamics CRM
2 16 (0.98%) SAP S/4HANA
3 13 (0.80%) Oracle ERP
4 7 (0.43%) iTrent
4 7 (0.43%) Oracle EBS
5 4 (0.25%) Salesforce CRM
5 4 (0.25%) 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%) NEC Housing
8 1 (0.061%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 357 (21.94%) AWS
2 289 (17.76%) Azure
3 96 (5.90%) Power Platform
4 75 (4.61%) Serverless
5 66 (4.06%) GCP
6 65 (4.00%) GitHub
7 59 (3.63%) Azure DevOps
8 57 (3.50%) Microsoft 365
9 56 (3.44%) Amazon S3
10 51 (3.13%) AWS Lambda
11 42 (2.58%) Amazon EKS
12 40 (2.46%) Amazon EC2
13 37 (2.27%) Dynamics 365
14 36 (2.21%) Entra ID
14 36 (2.21%) GitHub Actions
14 36 (2.21%) Virtual Private Cloud
15 33 (2.03%) AWS CloudFormation
15 33 (2.03%) Power Automate
15 33 (2.03%) SaaS
16 29 (1.78%) Amazon CloudWatch
Communications & Networking
1 28 (1.72%) Firewall
2 23 (1.41%) Network Security
3 17 (1.04%) DNS
4 11 (0.68%) LAN
4 11 (0.68%) WAN
5 10 (0.61%) VPN
6 9 (0.55%) TCP/IP
6 9 (0.55%) Wi-Fi
7 8 (0.49%) DKIM
7 8 (0.49%) NGFW
8 6 (0.37%) DMARC
9 5 (0.31%) BGP
9 5 (0.31%) OSPF
9 5 (0.31%) Wireless
10 4 (0.25%) Reverse Proxy
10 4 (0.25%) SSL
10 4 (0.25%) WLAN
11 3 (0.18%) DHCP
11 3 (0.18%) HTTP
11 3 (0.18%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 64 (3.93%) Power BI
2 37 (2.27%) PostgreSQL
3 29 (1.78%) Data Warehouse
4 27 (1.66%) Amazon RDS
4 27 (1.66%) Metadata
5 23 (1.41%) SQL Server
6 21 (1.29%) MongoDB
7 20 (1.23%) Data Lake
8 15 (0.92%) NoSQL
8 15 (0.92%) Tableau
9 14 (0.86%) Delta Lake
10 12 (0.74%) Amazon Athena
10 12 (0.74%) Amazon Redshift
11 10 (0.61%) DynamoDB
12 9 (0.55%) Oracle Reports
13 8 (0.49%) Amazon QuickSight
14 7 (0.43%) GIS
14 7 (0.43%) MySQL
14 7 (0.43%) Oracle Database
14 7 (0.43%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 97 (5.96%) JIRA
2 90 (5.53%) Git
3 56 (3.44%) GitLab
4 50 (3.07%) Jenkins
5 22 (1.35%) Selenium
6 17 (1.04%) Postman
7 11 (0.68%) 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 (0.25%) Cucumber
14 4 (0.25%) Maven
14 4 (0.25%) MLflow
15 3 (0.18%) Appium
15 3 (0.18%) Bitbucket Server
General
1 386 (23.72%) Social Skills
2 211 (12.97%) Finance
3 135 (8.30%) Analytical Skills
4 70 (4.30%) Local Government
5 57 (3.50%) Military
6 41 (2.52%) Telecoms
7 40 (2.46%) Influencing Skills
8 39 (2.40%) Marketing
9 37 (2.27%) Documentation Skills
10 33 (2.03%) Banking
11 31 (1.91%) Legal
12 29 (1.78%) Organisational Skills
13 28 (1.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 27 (1.66%) Police
15 26 (1.60%) Law
16 22 (1.35%) Presentation Skills
17 15 (0.92%) Manufacturing
17 15 (0.92%) Retail
18 14 (0.86%) Electronics
19 12 (0.74%) Billing
Job Titles
1 244 (15.00%) Developer
2 225 (13.83%) Architect
3 170 (10.45%) Senior
4 161 (9.90%) Lead
5 132 (8.11%) Analyst
6 89 (5.47%) Designer
7 75 (4.61%) Business Analyst
8 68 (4.18%) DevOps Engineer
9 57 (3.50%) User Researcher
10 52 (3.20%) Data Engineer
11 51 (3.13%) Consultant
11 51 (3.13%) Project Manager
11 51 (3.13%) Technical Architect
12 47 (2.89%) Solutions Architect
13 43 (2.64%) Delivery Manager
14 42 (2.58%) Senior Developer
15 41 (2.52%) AWS Engineer
15 41 (2.52%) Salesforce Developer
16 39 (2.40%) Security Architect
17 37 (2.27%) Java Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (2.95%) React
1 48 (2.95%) REST
2 46 (2.83%) RESTful
3 45 (2.77%) Node.js
4 41 (2.52%) Lightning Web Components
5 39 (2.40%) Spring
6 34 (2.09%) HTML
7 33 (2.03%) Oracle Fusion
7 33 (2.03%) Spring Boot
8 32 (1.97%) .NET
8 32 (1.97%) Web Services
9 30 (1.84%) AngularJS
10 29 (1.78%) Kafka
11 23 (1.41%) CSS
11 23 (1.41%) SOAP
12 18 (1.11%) Django
13 17 (1.04%) JSON
13 17 (1.04%) Middleware
14 15 (0.92%) PySpark
15 14 (0.86%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 104 (6.39%) Cloud Native
2 57 (3.50%) Onboarding
3 48 (2.95%) Legacy Systems
4 43 (2.64%) Product Ownership
5 34 (2.09%) NHS
6 29 (1.78%) Data Centre
7 25 (1.54%) Distributed Systems
8 24 (1.48%) Management Information System
9 21 (1.29%) Enterprise Software
10 14 (0.86%) Data Structures
10 14 (0.86%) Self-Motivation
11 13 (0.80%) Hybrid Cloud
12 12 (0.74%) Analytical Mindset
12 12 (0.74%) Public Cloud
13 11 (0.68%) AI Agents
13 11 (0.68%) CMDB
13 11 (0.68%) Enterprise Cloud
13 11 (0.68%) Freedom of Information
13 11 (0.68%) Virtual Team
14 10 (0.61%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 50 (3.07%) Linux
2 43 (2.64%) Windows
3 14 (0.86%) Android
3 14 (0.86%) Windows Server
4 11 (0.68%) Apple iOS
5 9 (0.55%) Windows 10
6 8 (0.49%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 6 (0.37%) Mac OS
7 6 (0.37%) Solaris
7 6 (0.37%) Windows Server 2008
7 6 (0.37%) Windows Server 2019
8 5 (0.31%) Unix
8 5 (0.31%) VMS
9 3 (0.18%) Amazon Linux
9 3 (0.18%) Windows Server 2016
10 2 (0.12%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 406 (24.95%) Agile
2 259 (15.92%) CI/CD
3 252 (15.49%) DevOps
4 216 (13.28%) Stakeholder Management
5 171 (10.51%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 155 (9.53%) Decision-Making
7 151 (9.28%) Continuous Improvement
8 150 (9.22%) Problem-Solving
9 148 (9.10%) Roadmaps
10 147 (9.04%) Migration
11 133 (8.17%) Infrastructure as Code
12 127 (7.81%) Containerisation
13 126 (7.74%) AI
13 126 (7.74%) Data Modelling
14 117 (7.19%) User Research
15 116 (7.13%) Analytics
16 108 (6.64%) Test Automation
17 99 (6.08%) Digital Transformation Programme
17 99 (6.08%) Service Design
18 83 (5.10%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 191 (11.74%) Python
2 132 (8.11%) SQL
3 110 (6.76%) Java
4 80 (4.92%) JavaScript
5 50 (3.07%) TypeScript
6 41 (2.52%) Apex Code
7 38 (2.34%) C#
8 35 (2.15%) PowerShell
8 35 (2.15%) Ruby
9 26 (1.60%) Bash
10 18 (1.11%) PL/SQL
11 13 (0.80%) Kotlin
12 12 (0.74%) Bicep
13 11 (0.68%) R
14 10 (0.61%) Go
14 10 (0.61%) Shell Script
15 7 (0.43%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 5 (0.31%) C
16 5 (0.31%) T-SQL
17 4 (0.25%) Scala
Qualifications
1 921 (56.61%) Security Cleared
2 708 (43.52%) SC Cleared
3 62 (3.81%) DV Cleared
4 49 (3.01%) Degree
5 42 (2.58%) BPSS Clearance
6 25 (1.54%) CISSP
7 24 (1.48%) Azure Certification
8 20 (1.23%) AWS Certification
9 18 (1.11%) Microsoft Certification
10 17 (1.04%) Cisco Certification
11 14 (0.86%) CISM
12 13 (0.80%) PMP
13 12 (0.74%) (ISC)2 CCSP
14 10 (0.61%) APMP
14 10 (0.61%) CIMA
15 9 (0.55%) ACCA
16 8 (0.49%) CCSP
16 8 (0.49%) CTC Cleared
17 7 (0.43%) ISTQB
17 7 (0.43%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 119 (7.31%) Accessibility
2 74 (4.55%) Data Quality
3 70 (4.30%) QA
4 49 (3.01%) WCAG
5 42 (2.58%) GDPR
6 38 (2.34%) PMO
7 35 (2.15%) NCSC
8 26 (1.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 12 (0.74%) Actionable Recommendations
9 12 (0.74%) SLA
10 11 (0.68%) 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 (0.25%) IFRS 9
17 3 (0.18%) NIST 800
System Software
1 113 (6.95%) Docker
2 32 (1.97%) Active Directory
3 5 (0.31%) Virtual Machines
3 5 (0.31%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (0.25%) Virtual Desktop
4 4 (0.25%) VMware ESXi
5 3 (0.18%) Oracle RAC
6 2 (0.12%) Postfix
6 2 (0.12%) Squid
7 1 (0.061%) FreeRADIUS
7 1 (0.061%) IAG
7 1 (0.061%) NLBS
7 1 (0.061%) Sendmail
7 1 (0.061%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.061%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 143 (8.79%) Terraform
2 118 (7.25%) Kubernetes
3 33 (2.03%) Grafana
4 30 (1.84%) Ansible
4 30 (1.84%) Prometheus
5 12 (0.74%) 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
11 1 (0.061%) Consul
11 1 (0.061%) RSA Archer
11 1 (0.061%) Suricata
11 1 (0.061%) Sysdig
Vendors
1 162 (9.96%) Microsoft
2 93 (5.72%) Salesforce
3 85 (5.22%) Oracle
4 52 (3.20%) SAP
5 47 (2.89%) Databricks
6 45 (2.77%) ServiceNow
7 34 (2.09%) Google
8 18 (1.11%) MuleSoft
9 17 (1.04%) Cisco
9 17 (1.04%) Foundry
9 17 (1.04%) IBM
10 16 (0.98%) Atlassian
11 15 (0.92%) Splunk
12 13 (0.80%) Red Hat
13 11 (0.68%) Virgin Media
13 11 (0.68%) VMware
14 10 (0.61%) OpenAI
15 9 (0.55%) Palo Alto
16 8 (0.49%) Palantir
16 8 (0.49%) Zscaler