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 17 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 26 24 23
Rank change year-on-year -2 -1 0
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 1,735 1,022 1,259
As % of all contract jobs in London 8.53% 7.61% 7.80%
As % of the General category 13.88% 11.00% 12.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,307 748 808
10th Percentile £385 £363 £350
25th Percentile £463 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £543 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.85% -2.38% -7.08%
75th Percentile £638 £610 £619
90th Percentile £725 £688 £700
England median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 21 9
10th Percentile £16.76 £19.79 £18.13
25th Percentile £22.94 £23.45 £20.00
Median hourly rate £35.00 £30.00 £33.75
Median % change year-on-year +16.67% -11.11% -20.49%
75th Percentile £50.00 £47.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £62.00 £86.25 £90.75
England median hourly rate £21.35 £22.00 £24.09
% change year-on-year -2.95% -8.68% +15.93%

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 12,500 9,290 10,038
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in London 61.45% 69.16% 62.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,971 6,130 6,673
10th Percentile £350 £325 £330
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 £675 £700
90th Percentile £788 £790 £825
England median daily rate £525 £500 £538
% change year-on-year +5.00% -6.98% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 255 183 121
10th Percentile £16.70 £17.00 £18.00
25th Percentile £20.94 £24.64 £24.50
Median hourly rate £28.00 £32.50 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.85% -7.14% +16.67%
75th Percentile £44.31 £49.63 £53.75
90th Percentile £71.30 £65.00 £66.00
England median hourly rate £31.50 £25.15 £38.50
% change year-on-year +25.25% -34.68% +40.00%

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 17 September 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 17 September 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 17 September 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 +1 184 £550 +5.77% 165
South London +1 57 £525 +10.53% 19
West London -22 16 £475 -5.00% 84
East London +10 13 £738 +28.26% 25
North London 0 5 £400 -27.27%
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 73 (4.21%) Confluence
2 50 (2.88%) SharePoint
3 20 (1.15%) CMS
4 17 (0.98%) Microsoft Exchange
5 13 (0.75%) Apache Spark
6 12 (0.69%) Apache
7 10 (0.58%) Palantir Foundry
8 9 (0.52%) nginx
9 7 (0.40%) SAS
10 6 (0.35%) Apache Airflow
10 6 (0.35%) WordPress
11 4 (0.23%) Headless CMS
12 3 (0.17%) Drupal
12 3 (0.17%) Tomcat
13 2 (0.12%) Camunda
13 2 (0.12%) Mendix
13 2 (0.12%) WebLogic
14 1 (0.058%) Anypoint
14 1 (0.058%) Jupyter
14 1 (0.058%) Luigi
Applications
1 35 (2.02%) Microsoft Excel
2 14 (0.81%) Microsoft Office
3 9 (0.52%) Spreadsheet
4 8 (0.46%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (0.35%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.17%) Adobe XD
6 3 (0.17%) Chatbot
6 3 (0.17%) MS Visio
6 3 (0.17%) Sketch
7 2 (0.12%) Trello
8 1 (0.058%) Gliffy
Business Applications
1 20 (1.15%) SAP S/4HANA
2 18 (1.04%) Dynamics CRM
3 17 (0.98%) Oracle ERP
4 16 (0.92%) Oracle EBS
5 12 (0.69%) NetSuite
6 6 (0.35%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
7 4 (0.23%) iTrent
7 4 (0.23%) SAP FI
8 3 (0.17%) Exchequer
8 3 (0.17%) Oracle Payroll
8 3 (0.17%) PeopleSoft HCM
8 3 (0.17%) Remedy ITSM
8 3 (0.17%) Salesforce CRM
8 3 (0.17%) SAP CO
8 3 (0.17%) SAP FI/CO
8 3 (0.17%) SAP HR
9 2 (0.12%) Changepoint
9 2 (0.12%) SAP ERP
10 1 (0.058%) Oracle Applications
10 1 (0.058%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 387 (22.31%) AWS
2 345 (19.88%) Azure
3 109 (6.28%) Power Platform
4 92 (5.30%) GCP
5 82 (4.73%) GitHub
6 75 (4.32%) Serverless
7 73 (4.21%) Azure DevOps
8 71 (4.09%) Microsoft 365
9 70 (4.03%) Entra ID
10 67 (3.86%) Amazon S3
11 59 (3.40%) GitHub Actions
12 46 (2.65%) AWS Lambda
13 45 (2.59%) SaaS
14 39 (2.25%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 37 (2.13%) Amazon EKS
16 34 (1.96%) Virtual Private Cloud
17 32 (1.84%) Amazon EC2
18 31 (1.79%) AWS CloudFormation
19 28 (1.61%) Power Automate
19 28 (1.61%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 48 (2.77%) Firewall
2 30 (1.73%) DNS
3 29 (1.67%) Network Security
4 14 (0.81%) LAN
4 14 (0.81%) WAN
5 11 (0.63%) VPN
6 10 (0.58%) Cisco IPT
6 10 (0.58%) NGFW
6 10 (0.58%) TCP/IP
7 7 (0.40%) DHCP
7 7 (0.40%) Wi-Fi
8 6 (0.35%) DKIM
8 6 (0.35%) DMARC
8 6 (0.35%) Wireshark
9 5 (0.29%) 5G
9 5 (0.29%) HTTPS
9 5 (0.29%) NGN
9 5 (0.29%) Radio Access Network
9 5 (0.29%) Reverse Proxy
9 5 (0.29%) tcpdump
Database & Business Intelligence
1 68 (3.92%) Power BI
2 59 (3.40%) PostgreSQL
3 38 (2.19%) Metadata
4 33 (1.90%) Data Warehouse
5 31 (1.79%) Amazon RDS
6 25 (1.44%) Data Lake
7 24 (1.38%) MongoDB
8 23 (1.33%) NoSQL
9 21 (1.21%) Amazon Redshift
9 21 (1.21%) MySQL
10 20 (1.15%) Amazon Aurora
11 18 (1.04%) Amazon Athena
11 18 (1.04%) SQL Server
12 15 (0.86%) Relational Database
12 15 (0.86%) Tableau
13 13 (0.75%) Oracle Database
13 13 (0.75%) Oracle Reports
14 12 (0.69%) Delta Lake
15 11 (0.63%) Redis
16 10 (0.58%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 105 (6.05%) JIRA
2 97 (5.59%) Git
3 69 (3.98%) Jenkins
4 62 (3.57%) GitLab
5 11 (0.63%) JUnit
5 11 (0.63%) SonarQube
6 10 (0.58%) Maven
7 9 (0.52%) CircleCI
7 9 (0.52%) Cypress.io
7 9 (0.52%) Mockito
7 9 (0.52%) Selenium
8 7 (0.40%) Cucumber
9 6 (0.35%) Postman
10 5 (0.29%) JMeter
10 5 (0.29%) Snyk
11 4 (0.23%) Bitbucket
12 3 (0.17%) Artifactory
12 3 (0.17%) Gradle
12 3 (0.17%) REST Assured
12 3 (0.17%) VTune
General
1 557 (32.10%) Social Skills
2 177 (10.20%) Finance
3 167 (9.63%) Analytical Skills
4 113 (6.51%) Local Government
5 95 (5.48%) Military
6 70 (4.03%) Influencing Skills
7 49 (2.82%) Legal
8 48 (2.77%) Organisational Skills
9 41 (2.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 36 (2.07%) Documentation Skills
10 36 (2.07%) Law
10 36 (2.07%) Police
11 25 (1.44%) Telecoms
12 22 (1.27%) Marketing
13 20 (1.15%) Banking
14 13 (0.75%) Manufacturing
14 13 (0.75%) Presentation Skills
15 12 (0.69%) Publishing
16 9 (0.52%) Retail
17 7 (0.40%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 291 (16.77%) Architect
2 223 (12.85%) Lead
3 198 (11.41%) Senior
4 196 (11.30%) Developer
5 123 (7.09%) Analyst
6 79 (4.55%) Designer
7 71 (4.09%) Delivery Manager
8 66 (3.80%) DevOps Engineer
8 66 (3.80%) Solutions Architect
9 60 (3.46%) Consultant
10 59 (3.40%) User Researcher
11 54 (3.11%) Business Analyst
12 50 (2.88%) Data Architect
12 50 (2.88%) Technical Architect
13 48 (2.77%) Data Engineer
14 41 (2.36%) Software Engineer
15 39 (2.25%) Java Developer
16 37 (2.13%) Project Manager
17 36 (2.07%) AWS Engineer
18 35 (2.02%) AWS Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 176 (10.14%) Terraform
2 70 (4.03%) REST
3 49 (2.82%) Django
4 47 (2.71%) React
4 47 (2.71%) Spring
5 44 (2.54%) RESTful
6 39 (2.25%) Spring Boot
7 35 (2.02%) Oracle Fusion
8 34 (1.96%) Node.js
9 32 (1.84%) Kafka
10 30 (1.73%) .NET
10 30 (1.73%) SOAP
11 27 (1.56%) Web Services
12 26 (1.50%) HTML
12 26 (1.50%) Lightning Web Components
13 25 (1.44%) PySpark
14 22 (1.27%) AngularJS
14 22 (1.27%) JSON
15 19 (1.10%) CSS
16 18 (1.04%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 115 (6.63%) Cloud Native
2 76 (4.38%) Onboarding
3 63 (3.63%) NHS
4 61 (3.52%) Product Ownership
5 52 (3.00%) Legacy Systems
6 41 (2.36%) Management Information System
7 31 (1.79%) Distributed Systems
8 30 (1.73%) Enterprise Software
9 27 (1.56%) Analytical Mindset
10 21 (1.21%) AI Agents
10 21 (1.21%) Data Structures
11 18 (1.04%) Low-Code
12 15 (0.86%) Data Centre
12 15 (0.86%) Replication
13 14 (0.81%) CMDB
13 14 (0.81%) Self-Motivation
14 13 (0.75%) Freedom of Information
14 13 (0.75%) Virtual Team
15 12 (0.69%) Cyber Threat
15 12 (0.69%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 48 (2.77%) Linux
2 40 (2.31%) Windows
3 13 (0.75%) Android
4 11 (0.63%) Windows 10
4 11 (0.63%) Windows Server
5 10 (0.58%) Apple iOS
5 10 (0.58%) Mac OS
6 8 (0.46%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 7 (0.40%) Unix
8 5 (0.29%) Amazon Linux
9 3 (0.17%) Ubuntu
10 2 (0.12%) Solaris
10 2 (0.12%) VMS
10 2 (0.12%) Windows Server 2008
10 2 (0.12%) Windows Server 2019
11 1 (0.058%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 555 (31.99%) Agile
2 401 (23.11%) Stakeholder Management
3 307 (17.69%) CI/CD
4 306 (17.64%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 292 (16.83%) Continuous Improvement
6 285 (16.43%) DevOps
7 223 (12.85%) Decision-Making
8 205 (11.82%) AI
9 192 (11.07%) Problem-Solving
10 180 (10.37%) Infrastructure as Code
11 168 (9.68%) Digital Transformation Programme
12 159 (9.16%) Migration
13 157 (9.05%) Roadmaps
14 150 (8.65%) Analytics
15 142 (8.18%) Data Modelling
16 134 (7.72%) Technical Leadership
17 128 (7.38%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
18 118 (6.80%) Containerisation
19 114 (6.57%) User Research
20 111 (6.40%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 229 (13.20%) Python
2 154 (8.88%) SQL
3 112 (6.46%) Java
4 86 (4.96%) JavaScript
5 63 (3.63%) TypeScript
6 45 (2.59%) PowerShell
7 35 (2.02%) C#
8 30 (1.73%) Bash
9 27 (1.56%) Bicep
10 24 (1.38%) Apex Code
11 22 (1.27%) Groovy
12 18 (1.04%) PL/SQL
13 17 (0.98%) Ruby
14 14 (0.81%) R
15 11 (0.63%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 11 (0.63%) Kotlin
16 10 (0.58%) Scala
17 8 (0.46%) Go
18 6 (0.35%) Search Processing Language
18 6 (0.35%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 957 (55.16%) Security Cleared
2 849 (48.93%) SC Cleared
3 105 (6.05%) BPSS Clearance
4 92 (5.30%) DV Cleared
5 52 (3.00%) Degree
6 44 (2.54%) AWS Certification
7 37 (2.13%) Azure Certification
8 33 (1.90%) Microsoft Certification
9 32 (1.84%) CISSP
10 20 (1.15%) Cisco Certification
10 20 (1.15%) CISM
11 15 (0.86%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 13 (0.75%) ITIL Certification
12 13 (0.75%) Master's Degree
13 10 (0.58%) CCNP
14 9 (0.52%) (ISC)2 CCSP
14 9 (0.52%) CTC Cleared
14 9 (0.52%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
15 8 (0.46%) CRISC
15 8 (0.46%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 125 (7.20%) Accessibility
2 96 (5.53%) Data Quality
3 71 (4.09%) QA
4 54 (3.11%) GDPR
5 51 (2.94%) WCAG
6 46 (2.65%) PMO
7 41 (2.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 41 (2.36%) NCSC
8 32 (1.84%) NIST
9 22 (1.27%) Cyber Essentials
10 16 (0.92%) GRC
11 15 (0.86%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 11 (0.63%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 11 (0.63%) PCI DSS
13 10 (0.58%) SLA
14 9 (0.52%) Actionable Recommendations
15 8 (0.46%) Government Security Classifications
16 5 (0.29%) NIST 800
16 5 (0.29%) P3O
16 5 (0.29%) PERC
System Software
1 129 (7.44%) Docker
2 44 (2.54%) Active Directory
3 9 (0.52%) Virtual Desktop
4 7 (0.40%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.12%) Postfix
6 1 (0.058%) Ceph
6 1 (0.058%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.058%) Oracle RAC
6 1 (0.058%) Squid
6 1 (0.058%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.058%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 133 (7.67%) Kubernetes
2 42 (2.42%) Grafana
3 35 (2.02%) Prometheus
4 26 (1.50%) Ansible
4 26 (1.50%) Microsoft Intune
5 13 (0.75%) Kibana
6 10 (0.58%) Single Sign-On
7 9 (0.52%) SCCM
8 8 (0.46%) Argo
9 5 (0.29%) Puppet
10 4 (0.23%) Istio
11 3 (0.17%) Jamf Pro
11 3 (0.17%) Karpenter
12 2 (0.12%) AirWatch
12 2 (0.12%) Consul
12 2 (0.12%) Docker Swarm
12 2 (0.12%) Kustomize
12 2 (0.12%) Oracle RMAN
12 2 (0.12%) Salt
13 1 (0.058%) Podman
Vendors
1 238 (13.72%) Microsoft
2 122 (7.03%) Oracle
3 83 (4.78%) Salesforce
4 64 (3.69%) Google
5 60 (3.46%) ServiceNow
6 46 (2.65%) Databricks
7 39 (2.25%) SAP
8 21 (1.21%) Foundry
9 18 (1.04%) Cisco
10 17 (0.98%) Palantir
11 16 (0.92%) Palo Alto
12 13 (0.75%) IBM
13 12 (0.69%) Splunk
14 11 (0.63%) Informatica
15 9 (0.52%) OpenAI
16 8 (0.46%) CrowdStrike
16 8 (0.46%) Juniper
16 8 (0.46%) VMware
17 6 (0.35%) Atlassian
17 6 (0.35%) Fortinet