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

6 months to
3 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 21 23 18
Rank change year-on-year +2 -5 +10
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 1,648 1,016 1,518
As % of all contract jobs in London 9.28% 8.08% 8.53%
As % of the General category 15.36% 11.97% 13.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,244 749 1,065
10th Percentile £385 £388 £375
25th Percentile £449 £450 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year - -2.33% -4.44%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £650
90th Percentile £701 £750 £745
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -2.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 17 14
10th Percentile £17.42 £21.20 £15.00
25th Percentile £20.36 £22.00 £15.66
Median hourly rate £37.00 £26.45 £18.13
Median % change year-on-year +39.89% +45.89% -20.17%
75th Percentile £50.00 £65.00 £25.73
90th Percentile £74.65 £75.75 £65.90
England median hourly rate £22.57 £22.50 £21.62
% change year-on-year +0.30% +4.09% +6.69%

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 10,726 8,491 11,227
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 60.38% 67.55% 63.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,980 5,735 8,013
10th Percentile £347 £340 £335
25th Percentile £425 £450 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £575 £575
Median % change year-on-year -8.70% - -4.17%
75th Percentile £668 £713 £700
90th Percentile £788 £825 £813
England median daily rate £505 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -3.90% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 195 137 245
10th Percentile £18.37 £15.84 £16.00
25th Percentile £21.93 £22.66 £18.25
Median hourly rate £35.00 £34.00 £28.50
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% +19.30% -10.94%
75th Percentile £49.38 £51.18 £43.75
90th Percentile £70.00 £66.00 £65.02
England median hourly rate £30.50 £27.50 £30.14
% change year-on-year +10.91% -8.76% -9.72%

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 3 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 3 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 3 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 +2 155 £550 +4.76% 108
South London 0 69 £500 +1.52% 7
East London -7 7 £750 +27.66% 18
West London -34 6 £506 +26.56% 15
North London -2 4 £450 +11.25% 1
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 (4.31%) Confluence
2 35 (2.12%) SharePoint
3 11 (0.67%) Apache Spark
3 11 (0.67%) Microsoft Exchange
4 10 (0.61%) Apache
5 8 (0.49%) Apache Airflow
5 8 (0.49%) CMS
5 8 (0.49%) Palantir Foundry
6 7 (0.42%) nginx
7 6 (0.36%) Tomcat
8 5 (0.30%) Camunda
9 3 (0.18%) WebLogic
10 2 (0.12%) Drupal
10 2 (0.12%) OpenROAD
10 2 (0.12%) SAS
11 1 (0.061%) Apache Solr
11 1 (0.061%) Sitecore CMS
11 1 (0.061%) Skype for Business
11 1 (0.061%) WebSphere
11 1 (0.061%) WordPress
Applications
1 47 (2.85%) Microsoft Excel
2 17 (1.03%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 15 (0.91%) Microsoft Office
4 7 (0.42%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.30%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (0.30%) Trello
6 3 (0.18%) Adobe After Effects
6 3 (0.18%) Adobe XD
6 3 (0.18%) Sketch
7 2 (0.12%) InVision
8 1 (0.061%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.061%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.061%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 27 (1.64%) Dynamics CRM
2 16 (0.97%) SAP S/4HANA
3 13 (0.79%) Oracle ERP
4 8 (0.49%) Oracle EBS
5 6 (0.36%) iTrent
5 6 (0.36%) SAP Payroll
6 5 (0.30%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
7 4 (0.24%) 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 ERP
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
Cloud Services
1 361 (21.91%) AWS
2 309 (18.75%) Azure
3 103 (6.25%) Power Platform
4 84 (5.10%) Serverless
5 68 (4.13%) GitHub
6 65 (3.94%) GCP
7 62 (3.76%) Azure DevOps
8 53 (3.22%) Amazon S3
8 53 (3.22%) Microsoft 365
9 52 (3.16%) AWS Lambda
10 40 (2.43%) AWS CloudFormation
10 40 (2.43%) GitHub Actions
11 38 (2.31%) Dynamics 365
11 38 (2.31%) Entra ID
12 37 (2.25%) Amazon EKS
13 35 (2.12%) Amazon EC2
14 34 (2.06%) OCI
14 34 (2.06%) Virtual Private Cloud
15 32 (1.94%) SaaS
16 31 (1.88%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 30 (1.82%) Firewall
2 27 (1.64%) Network Security
3 21 (1.27%) DNS
4 14 (0.85%) VPN
5 13 (0.79%) WAN
5 13 (0.79%) Wi-Fi
6 12 (0.73%) LAN
7 8 (0.49%) NGFW
7 8 (0.49%) TCP/IP
8 7 (0.42%) DKIM
8 7 (0.42%) Internet
8 7 (0.42%) Wireless
9 6 (0.36%) BGP
9 6 (0.36%) OSPF
10 5 (0.30%) DMARC
10 5 (0.30%) Reverse Proxy
10 5 (0.30%) SD-WAN
10 5 (0.30%) WLAN
11 4 (0.24%) HTTP
11 4 (0.24%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 75 (4.55%) Power BI
2 33 (2.00%) PostgreSQL
3 28 (1.70%) Data Warehouse
4 27 (1.64%) Metadata
5 24 (1.46%) Amazon RDS
5 24 (1.46%) SQL Server
6 22 (1.33%) Data Lake
7 20 (1.21%) MongoDB
8 18 (1.09%) NoSQL
9 15 (0.91%) Tableau
10 14 (0.85%) Delta Lake
11 12 (0.73%) Amazon Athena
11 12 (0.73%) Amazon Redshift
11 12 (0.73%) Azure SQL Database
12 10 (0.61%) DynamoDB
13 9 (0.55%) Data Hub
13 9 (0.55%) Oracle Reports
14 8 (0.49%) Amazon QuickSight
15 7 (0.42%) GIS
15 7 (0.42%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 99 (6.01%) JIRA
2 93 (5.64%) Git
3 53 (3.22%) GitLab
4 50 (3.03%) Jenkins
5 21 (1.27%) Selenium
6 20 (1.21%) Postman
7 15 (0.91%) JUnit
8 13 (0.79%) Mockito
9 10 (0.61%) SonarQube
10 8 (0.49%) CircleCI
10 8 (0.49%) Cypress.io
11 7 (0.42%) Artifactory
11 7 (0.42%) Snyk
12 6 (0.36%) JMeter
13 5 (0.30%) Gradle
13 5 (0.30%) Liquibase
13 5 (0.30%) Maven
14 4 (0.24%) Bitbucket
14 4 (0.24%) Cucumber
14 4 (0.24%) MLflow
General
1 394 (23.91%) Social Skills
2 218 (13.23%) Finance
3 143 (8.68%) Analytical Skills
4 77 (4.67%) Local Government
5 50 (3.03%) Military
6 46 (2.79%) Influencing Skills
6 46 (2.79%) Telecoms
7 42 (2.55%) Marketing
8 33 (2.00%) Documentation Skills
9 31 (1.88%) Banking
10 30 (1.82%) Legal
11 28 (1.70%) Organisational Skills
12 27 (1.64%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 27 (1.64%) Presentation Skills
13 25 (1.52%) Law
13 25 (1.52%) Manufacturing
14 24 (1.46%) Police
15 19 (1.15%) Electronics
15 19 (1.15%) Retail
16 11 (0.67%) Billing
Job Titles
1 238 (14.44%) Developer
2 225 (13.65%) Architect
3 176 (10.68%) Senior
4 154 (9.34%) Lead
5 139 (8.43%) Analyst
6 91 (5.52%) Designer
7 76 (4.61%) Business Analyst
8 66 (4.00%) DevOps Engineer
9 56 (3.40%) Consultant
9 56 (3.40%) User Researcher
10 53 (3.22%) Data Engineer
10 53 (3.22%) Project Manager
11 49 (2.97%) Technical Architect
12 47 (2.85%) Solutions Architect
13 44 (2.67%) Delivery Manager
14 41 (2.49%) Senior Developer
15 39 (2.37%) Azure Engineer
15 39 (2.37%) Salesforce Developer
16 38 (2.31%) Service Designer
17 36 (2.18%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 56 (3.40%) REST
2 49 (2.97%) RESTful
3 47 (2.85%) React
4 46 (2.79%) Node.js
5 42 (2.55%) Spring
6 38 (2.31%) Oracle Fusion
7 36 (2.18%) Lightning Web Components
7 36 (2.18%) Spring Boot
8 35 (2.12%) .NET
8 35 (2.12%) Web Services
9 34 (2.06%) HTML
10 31 (1.88%) AngularJS
11 27 (1.64%) Kafka
12 25 (1.52%) SOAP
13 23 (1.40%) CSS
14 18 (1.09%) JSON
15 17 (1.03%) Middleware
16 15 (0.91%) PySpark
17 14 (0.85%) OAuth
18 13 (0.79%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 104 (6.31%) Cloud Native
2 61 (3.70%) Onboarding
3 51 (3.09%) Legacy Systems
4 40 (2.43%) Product Ownership
5 35 (2.12%) NHS
6 31 (1.88%) Data Centre
7 24 (1.46%) Distributed Systems
8 23 (1.40%) Management Information System
9 22 (1.33%) Enterprise Software
10 18 (1.09%) Self-Motivation
11 17 (1.03%) Public Cloud
12 15 (0.91%) Hybrid Cloud
13 13 (0.79%) Analytical Mindset
13 13 (0.79%) Data Structures
14 12 (0.73%) AI Agents
15 11 (0.67%) CMDB
15 11 (0.67%) Enterprise Cloud
15 11 (0.67%) Security Posture
16 10 (0.61%) Low-Code
17 9 (0.55%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 50 (3.03%) Linux
2 48 (2.91%) Windows
3 14 (0.85%) Windows Server
4 11 (0.67%) Android
5 9 (0.55%) Windows 10
6 7 (0.42%) Apple iOS
6 7 (0.42%) VMS
7 6 (0.36%) Mac OS
7 6 (0.36%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 5 (0.30%) Solaris
8 5 (0.30%) Unix
8 5 (0.30%) Windows Server 2008
8 5 (0.30%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (0.18%) Windows Server 2016
10 2 (0.12%) Amazon Linux
11 1 (0.061%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 409 (24.82%) Agile
2 260 (15.78%) CI/CD
3 251 (15.23%) DevOps
4 216 (13.11%) Stakeholder Management
5 182 (11.04%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 154 (9.34%) Continuous Improvement
6 154 (9.34%) Migration
7 152 (9.22%) Roadmaps
8 151 (9.16%) Decision-Making
9 146 (8.86%) Problem-Solving
10 136 (8.25%) Infrastructure as Code
11 134 (8.13%) AI
12 131 (7.95%) Containerisation
13 125 (7.58%) Analytics
14 122 (7.40%) User Research
15 114 (6.92%) Data Modelling
16 107 (6.49%) Test Automation
17 103 (6.25%) Digital Transformation Programme
18 102 (6.19%) Service Design
19 99 (6.01%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 197 (11.95%) Python
2 138 (8.37%) SQL
3 110 (6.67%) Java
4 80 (4.85%) JavaScript
5 54 (3.28%) TypeScript
6 40 (2.43%) Ruby
7 39 (2.37%) C#
8 36 (2.18%) Apex Code
8 36 (2.18%) PowerShell
9 26 (1.58%) Bash
10 17 (1.03%) PL/SQL
11 14 (0.85%) Bicep
12 12 (0.73%) Kotlin
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 (0.30%) C
15 5 (0.30%) T-SQL
16 4 (0.24%) Scala
Qualifications
1 929 (56.37%) Security Cleared
2 702 (42.60%) SC Cleared
3 67 (4.07%) DV Cleared
4 54 (3.28%) Degree
5 48 (2.91%) BPSS Clearance
6 28 (1.70%) Azure Certification
7 25 (1.52%) CISSP
8 22 (1.33%) AWS Certification
9 17 (1.03%) Cisco Certification
10 15 (0.91%) CISM
11 14 (0.85%) Microsoft Certification
12 13 (0.79%) PMP
13 11 (0.67%) APMP
14 10 (0.61%) (ISC)2 CCSP
14 10 (0.61%) CIMA
15 9 (0.55%) ACCA
15 9 (0.55%) CTC Cleared
16 8 (0.49%) PMI Certification
17 7 (0.42%) ISTQB
17 7 (0.42%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 110 (6.67%) Accessibility
2 72 (4.37%) Data Quality
3 70 (4.25%) QA
4 46 (2.79%) WCAG
5 42 (2.55%) GDPR
6 39 (2.37%) PMO
7 37 (2.25%) NCSC
8 30 (1.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 14 (0.85%) NIST
10 12 (0.73%) SLA
11 11 (0.67%) Actionable Recommendations
11 11 (0.67%) Cyber Essentials
11 11 (0.67%) GRC
12 9 (0.55%) PCI DSS
13 7 (0.42%) Government Security Classifications
14 6 (0.36%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
15 5 (0.30%) IFRS
15 5 (0.30%) NIST 800
16 4 (0.24%) HMG Security Policy Framework
16 4 (0.24%) IFRS 9
System Software
1 124 (7.52%) Docker
2 33 (2.00%) Active Directory
3 8 (0.49%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (0.42%) Virtual Machines
5 6 (0.36%) VMware ESXi
6 4 (0.24%) Hyper-V
6 4 (0.24%) Virtual Desktop
7 3 (0.18%) Oracle RAC
8 2 (0.12%) Postfix
8 2 (0.12%) VMware NSX
8 2 (0.12%) vSphere
9 1 (0.061%) FreeRADIUS
9 1 (0.061%) IAG
9 1 (0.061%) NLBS
9 1 (0.061%) Sendmail
9 1 (0.061%) Squid
9 1 (0.061%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 153 (9.28%) Terraform
2 133 (8.07%) Kubernetes
3 32 (1.94%) Grafana
4 29 (1.76%) Ansible
4 29 (1.76%) Prometheus
5 12 (0.73%) Microsoft Intune
6 6 (0.36%) Kibana
6 6 (0.36%) Puppet
6 6 (0.36%) Single Sign-On
7 5 (0.30%) Argo
8 3 (0.18%) Consul
8 3 (0.18%) Jamf Pro
8 3 (0.18%) Oracle RMAN
8 3 (0.18%) Salt
8 3 (0.18%) SCCM
8 3 (0.18%) vCenter Server
9 2 (0.12%) Microsoft Clustering
9 2 (0.12%) Packer
9 2 (0.12%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.061%) AirWatch
Vendors
1 174 (10.56%) Microsoft
2 91 (5.52%) Oracle
3 90 (5.46%) Salesforce
4 57 (3.46%) SAP
5 50 (3.03%) Databricks
6 43 (2.61%) ServiceNow
7 35 (2.12%) Google
8 21 (1.27%) Cisco
9 19 (1.15%) Foundry
9 19 (1.15%) IBM
10 18 (1.09%) MuleSoft
10 18 (1.09%) VMware
11 16 (0.97%) Atlassian
12 13 (0.79%) Virgin Media
13 12 (0.73%) OpenAI
13 12 (0.73%) Red Hat
13 12 (0.73%) Splunk
14 10 (0.61%) Fortinet
14 10 (0.61%) Palo Alto
15 9 (0.55%) ForgeRock