Public Sector Contract Job Trends in Manchester

Public Sector
North West > Manchester

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Public Sector in contract job vacancies in Manchester. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Public Sector over the 6 months leading up to 5 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 4 12
Rank change year-on-year -1 +8 -6
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 197 157 159
As % of all contract jobs in Manchester 16.68% 14.95% 10.34%
As % of the General category 27.94% 24.84% 20.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 169 78 100
10th Percentile £311 £344 £324
25th Percentile £400 £428 £459
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £500 £575
Median % change year-on-year -15.00% -13.04% +10.84%
75th Percentile £525 £613 £688
90th Percentile £604 £750 £726
North West median daily rate £450 £500 £550
% change year-on-year -10.00% -9.09% +10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 6 7
10th Percentile - £15.95 -
25th Percentile - £16.02 £12.00
Median hourly rate £13.85 £16.19 £13.00
Median % change year-on-year -14.44% +24.52% -35.00%
75th Percentile - £26.19 £16.49
90th Percentile - £29.75 £18.01
North West median hourly rate £41.86 £16.53 £16.44
% change year-on-year +153.24% +0.56% -17.83%

All General Skills
Manchester

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 Manchester.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 705 632 789
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester 59.70% 60.19% 51.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 485 356 539
10th Percentile £301 £294 £254
25th Percentile £375 £380 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% +2.30%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £598
90th Percentile £638 £688 £688
North West median daily rate £450 £475 £500
% change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% +4.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 47 35 36
10th Percentile £16.15 £15.94 £12.00
25th Percentile £18.26 £21.25 £15.75
Median hourly rate £22.00 £32.50 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year -32.31% +71.05% -24.00%
75th Percentile £31.40 £33.75 £43.75
90th Percentile £64.25 £63.00 £58.75
North West median hourly rate £29.60 £25.43 £21.00
% change year-on-year +16.40% +21.10% -2.33%

Public Sector
Job Vacancy Trend in Manchester

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Public Sector relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester.

Public Sector job vacancy trend in Manchester

Public Sector
Daily Rate Trend in Manchester

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Manchester citing Public Sector.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Manchester citing Public Sector

Public Sector
Daily Rate Histogram in Manchester

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Public Sector in Manchester over the 6 months to 5 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Public Sector in Manchester

Public Sector
Hourly Rate Trend in Manchester

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Manchester citing Public Sector.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Manchester citing Public Sector

Public Sector
Contract Job Locations in Manchester

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 Manchester region over the 6 months to 5 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
Salford +4 2 £500 -
Bolton - 2 £606 - 2
Cheadle - 2 £550 -
Ashton-under-Lyne 0 1 - -
Public Sector
North West

Public Sector
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Manchester 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 3 (1.52%) Confluence
2 2 (1.02%) Adobe Experience Manager
2 2 (1.02%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.51%) CMS
3 1 (0.51%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.51%) nginx
3 1 (0.51%) OpenStack
3 1 (0.51%) SAS
Applications
1 15 (7.61%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.51%) Adobe Premiere
2 1 (0.51%) Chatbot
2 1 (0.51%) MS Visio
2 1 (0.51%) Quicktime
2 1 (0.51%) SPSS
2 1 (0.51%) Stata
2 1 (0.51%) Trello
Business Applications
1 6 (3.05%) SAP S/4HANA
2 5 (2.54%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (1.02%) SAP ERP
4 1 (0.51%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.51%) SAP FI
4 1 (0.51%) SAP HR
4 1 (0.51%) SAP PSCD
Cloud Services
1 55 (27.92%) Azure
2 50 (25.38%) AWS
3 25 (12.69%) Power Platform
4 18 (9.14%) GCP
5 16 (8.12%) Serverless
6 14 (7.11%) Microsoft 365
7 12 (6.09%) Amazon SQS
8 11 (5.58%) AWS Lambda
9 10 (5.08%) Google Tag Manager
9 10 (5.08%) PowerApps
10 9 (4.57%) Azure DevOps
10 9 (4.57%) Google Analytics
10 9 (4.57%) Power Automate
11 8 (4.06%) SaaS
12 7 (3.55%) Dynamics 365
12 7 (3.55%) GitHub
13 5 (2.54%) AWS CloudFormation
14 4 (2.03%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 4 (2.03%) AWS Step Functions
14 4 (2.03%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 6 (3.05%) Firewall
1 6 (3.05%) Wireless
2 3 (1.52%) DHCP
2 3 (1.52%) DNS
2 3 (1.52%) VPN
3 2 (1.02%) BGP
3 2 (1.02%) OSPF
3 2 (1.02%) TCP/IP
3 2 (1.02%) WAN
3 2 (1.02%) Wi-Fi
4 1 (0.51%) DMZ
4 1 (0.51%) EIGRP
4 1 (0.51%) Ethernet
4 1 (0.51%) IPsec
4 1 (0.51%) LAN
4 1 (0.51%) MPLS
4 1 (0.51%) SNMP
4 1 (0.51%) SSH
4 1 (0.51%) SSL
4 1 (0.51%) TACACS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (8.12%) Power BI
2 11 (5.58%) Redis
3 10 (5.08%) BigQuery
3 10 (5.08%) Looker
3 10 (5.08%) MongoDB
3 10 (5.08%) PostgreSQL
4 5 (2.54%) Data Warehouse
4 5 (2.54%) DocumentDB
4 5 (2.54%) DynamoDB
4 5 (2.54%) MySQL
4 5 (2.54%) NoSQL
4 5 (2.54%) Relational Database
5 4 (2.03%) Metadata
5 4 (2.03%) RDBMS
6 3 (1.52%) Apache Cassandra
7 2 (1.02%) Amazon RDS
7 2 (1.02%) Azure SQL Database
7 2 (1.02%) Big Data
7 2 (1.02%) SQL Server
7 2 (1.02%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 18 (9.14%) GitLab
2 14 (7.11%) Git
3 8 (4.06%) JIRA
3 8 (4.06%) SonarQube
4 7 (3.55%) Cypress.io
5 5 (2.54%) Cucumber
5 5 (2.54%) Jenkins
5 5 (2.54%) Postman
6 4 (2.03%) CircleCI
6 4 (2.03%) JUnit
6 4 (2.03%) Mockito
7 3 (1.52%) Mocha
7 3 (1.52%) Selenium
8 2 (1.02%) Gradle
8 2 (1.02%) Jasmine
8 2 (1.02%) Maven
8 2 (1.02%) SonarLint
9 1 (0.51%) Artifactory
9 1 (0.51%) Browser DevTools
9 1 (0.51%) MSI
General
1 47 (23.86%) Social Skills
2 22 (11.17%) Finance
3 10 (5.08%) Analytical Skills
3 10 (5.08%) Manufacturing
4 9 (4.57%) Telecoms
5 8 (4.06%) Electronics
5 8 (4.06%) Influencing Skills
5 8 (4.06%) Marketing
5 8 (4.06%) Military
6 5 (2.54%) Local Government
7 4 (2.03%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 3 (1.52%) Documentation Skills
8 3 (1.52%) Legal
8 3 (1.52%) Presentation Skills
9 1 (0.51%) Banking
9 1 (0.51%) Digital Health
9 1 (0.51%) Digital Healthcare
9 1 (0.51%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 44 (22.34%) Developer
2 27 (13.71%) Analyst
3 23 (11.68%) Architect
4 20 (10.15%) Senior
5 15 (7.61%) Java Developer
6 11 (5.58%) Full-Stack Developer
7 10 (5.08%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 10 (5.08%) Lead
8 9 (4.57%) Business Analyst
8 9 (4.57%) Technical Architect
8 9 (4.57%) Test Engineer
9 8 (4.06%) AWS Engineer
9 8 (4.06%) Designer
9 8 (4.06%) DevOps Engineer
10 6 (3.05%) Consultant
10 6 (3.05%) Data Architect
10 6 (3.05%) IT Support
10 6 (3.05%) Performance Analyst
10 6 (3.05%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 5 (2.54%) 2nd Line Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (10.66%) Node.js
1 21 (10.66%) Spring Boot
2 17 (8.63%) Spring
3 11 (5.58%) React
4 10 (5.08%) HTML
4 10 (5.08%) Playwright
5 9 (4.57%) Kafka
6 8 (4.06%) Jest
7 7 (3.55%) JSON
7 7 (3.55%) REST
7 7 (3.55%) RESTful
8 5 (2.54%) AngularJS
8 5 (2.54%) CSS
8 5 (2.54%) HTML5 Canvas
9 4 (2.03%) ActiveMQ
9 4 (2.03%) JAX-RS
10 3 (1.52%) J2EE
10 3 (1.52%) Sass
10 3 (1.52%) Spring Security
10 3 (1.52%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 18 (9.14%) Onboarding
2 11 (5.58%) Product Ownership
3 7 (3.55%) Cloud Native
3 7 (3.55%) Data Centre
4 5 (2.54%) Legacy Systems
4 5 (2.54%) Low-Code
4 5 (2.54%) NHS
5 4 (2.03%) Hybrid Cloud
5 4 (2.03%) Mobile App
5 4 (2.03%) Public Cloud
6 3 (1.52%) N-Tier
7 2 (1.02%) Analytical Mindset
7 2 (1.02%) Data Structures
7 2 (1.02%) Distributed Systems
7 2 (1.02%) Fibre Optics
8 1 (0.51%) Digital Signage
8 1 (0.51%) Enterprise Software
8 1 (0.51%) Freedom of Information
8 1 (0.51%) Greenfield Project
8 1 (0.51%) Legacy Code
Operating Systems
1 10 (5.08%) Linux
2 7 (3.55%) Windows
3 6 (3.05%) Android
3 6 (3.05%) Mac OS
4 3 (1.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 2 (1.02%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.51%) Mac OS X
6 1 (0.51%) Unix
6 1 (0.51%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.51%) Windows Server 2016
6 1 (0.51%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 52 (26.40%) Agile
2 33 (16.75%) DevOps
3 32 (16.24%) CI/CD
4 30 (15.23%) User Experience
5 29 (14.72%) Microservices
6 24 (12.18%) Continuous Improvement
7 23 (11.68%) Test Automation
8 22 (11.17%) Business Intelligence
9 19 (9.64%) Problem-Solving
10 18 (9.14%) User Research
11 17 (8.63%) Stakeholder Management
12 16 (8.12%) Analytics
13 15 (7.61%) Containerisation
14 14 (7.11%) Full-Stack Development
14 14 (7.11%) Service Design
15 13 (6.60%) Validation
16 12 (6.09%) Change Management
16 12 (6.09%) Mentoring
16 12 (6.09%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 12 (6.09%) TDD
Programming Languages
1 40 (20.30%) Java
2 20 (10.15%) Python
3 18 (9.14%) JavaScript
4 13 (6.60%) SQL
4 13 (6.60%) TypeScript
5 5 (2.54%) Bash
6 4 (2.03%) C#
7 3 (1.52%) Shell Script
8 2 (1.02%) C
8 2 (1.02%) C++
8 2 (1.02%) Go
8 2 (1.02%) Perl
8 2 (1.02%) PowerShell
8 2 (1.02%) Ruby
9 1 (0.51%) ABAP
9 1 (0.51%) Bicep
9 1 (0.51%) Kotlin
9 1 (0.51%) PL/SQL
9 1 (0.51%) ProC
9 1 (0.51%) Rust
Qualifications
1 89 (45.18%) Security Cleared
2 52 (26.40%) SC Cleared
3 16 (8.12%) BPSS Clearance
4 3 (1.52%) ISTQB
4 3 (1.52%) Microsoft Certification
5 2 (1.02%) Degree
6 1 (0.51%) AWS Certification
6 1 (0.51%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
6 1 (0.51%) Azure Certification
6 1 (0.51%) CCA
6 1 (0.51%) CISM
6 1 (0.51%) CISSP
6 1 (0.51%) Computer Science Degree
6 1 (0.51%) CTC Cleared
6 1 (0.51%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (16.24%) Accessibility
2 14 (7.11%) Data Quality
3 12 (6.09%) QA
4 10 (5.08%) WCAG
5 2 (1.02%) GDPR
5 2 (1.02%) IEC 61508
5 2 (1.02%) ISO 26262
5 2 (1.02%) PMO
6 1 (0.51%) CRD IV
6 1 (0.51%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.51%) FINREP
6 1 (0.51%) IEC 62304
6 1 (0.51%) IFRS
System Software
1 19 (9.64%) Docker
2 3 (1.52%) Active Directory
2 3 (1.52%) Virtual Desktop
2 3 (1.52%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (1.02%) ISA Server
4 1 (0.51%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.51%) UAG
4 1 (0.51%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 21 (10.66%) Terraform
2 18 (9.14%) Kubernetes
3 5 (2.54%) Microsoft Intune
4 3 (1.52%) Prometheus
4 3 (1.52%) SCCM
5 2 (1.02%) Ansible
5 2 (1.02%) Packer
6 1 (0.51%) AirWatch
6 1 (0.51%) Cisco CUCM
6 1 (0.51%) Failover Clustering
6 1 (0.51%) FortiGate
6 1 (0.51%) Grafana
6 1 (0.51%) Microsoft Clustering
Vendors
1 28 (14.21%) Microsoft
2 16 (8.12%) Virgin Media
3 15 (7.61%) Google
3 15 (7.61%) SAP
4 9 (4.57%) Oracle
5 8 (4.06%) Cisco
6 6 (3.05%) Apple
7 5 (2.54%) Dell
7 5 (2.54%) HP
7 5 (2.54%) VMware
8 4 (2.03%) Adobe
8 4 (2.03%) Dynatrace
9 3 (1.52%) Pega
9 3 (1.52%) Red Hat
9 3 (1.52%) ServiceNow
9 3 (1.52%) Splunk
10 2 (1.02%) F5
10 2 (1.02%) Fortinet
10 2 (1.02%) Informatica
10 2 (1.02%) Palo Alto