Cyber Essentials Contract Job Trends in the Midlands

Cyber Essentials
England > Midlands

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the Midlands requiring Cyber Essentials skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 9 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
9 May 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 173 112 127
Rank change year-on-year -61 +15 +22
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 7 9 6
As % of all contract jobs in the Midlands 0.16% 0.47% 0.22%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 1.09% 2.74% 1.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 2 4 4
10th Percentile £396 £290 £530
25th Percentile £420 £313 £575
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £460 £325 £675
Median % change year-on-year +41.54% -51.85% +12.50%
75th Percentile £500 £331 £775
90th Percentile £524 £343 -
England median daily rate £540 £550 £515
% change year-on-year -1.82% +6.80% -8.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 0 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £58.43 - -
Median hourly rate £63.14 - -
75th Percentile £67.84 - -
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £44.25 £78.40 -
% change year-on-year -43.56% - -

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
Midlands

Cyber Essentials falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills in the Midlands.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 642 328 391
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Midlands 14.88% 16.95% 14.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 425 233 267
10th Percentile £304 £196 £254
25th Percentile £380 £325 £354
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year - -10.00% +4.17%
75th Percentile £538 £541 £613
90th Percentile £650 £600 £753
England median daily rate £500 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -2.44% -2.38% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 12 43
10th Percentile £12.94 - £11.25
25th Percentile £13.20 £14.70 £13.00
Median hourly rate £20.00 £25.59 £14.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.84% +82.79% -38.64%
75th Percentile £31.75 £31.76 £26.15
90th Percentile £67.84 £50.43 £58.75
England median hourly rate £31.86 £37.02 £22.34
% change year-on-year -13.94% +65.71% -40.43%

Cyber Essentials
Job Vacancy Trend in the Midlands

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Cyber Essentials relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the Midlands.

Cyber Essentials job vacancy trend in the Midlands

Cyber Essentials
Daily Rate Trend in the Midlands

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Midlands citing Cyber Essentials.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Midlands citing Cyber Essentials

Cyber Essentials
Daily Rate Histogram in the Midlands

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Cyber Essentials in the Midlands over the 6 months to 9 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Cyber Essentials in the Midlands

Cyber Essentials
Hourly Rate Trend in the Midlands

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Midlands citing Cyber Essentials.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Midlands citing Cyber Essentials

Cyber Essentials
Contract Job Locations in the Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Cyber Essentials within the Midlands region over the 6 months to 9 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
West Midlands -53 7 £460 +41.54% 15
Cyber Essentials
England

Cyber Essentials
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Midlands 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:

Cloud Services
1 3 (42.86%) GitHub
1 3 (42.86%) Microsoft 365
2 1 (14.29%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 2 (28.57%) Firewall
1 2 (28.57%) Network Security
2 1 (14.29%) VLAN
2 1 (14.29%) Wireless
General
1 4 (57.14%) Social Skills
2 3 (42.86%) Analytical Skills
3 1 (14.29%) Legal
Job Titles
1 3 (42.86%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 2 (28.57%) Business Change Manager
2 2 (28.57%) Business Manager
2 2 (28.57%) Change Manager
3 1 (14.29%) Cybersecurity Engineer
3 1 (14.29%) Information Security Engineer
3 1 (14.29%) Network Engineer
3 1 (14.29%) Security Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 3 (42.86%) Analytical Mindset
2 1 (14.29%) Management Information System
2 1 (14.29%) NHS
2 1 (14.29%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 3 (42.86%) Linux
1 3 (42.86%) Windows
1 3 (42.86%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 4 (57.14%) Information Security
2 3 (42.86%) Containerisation
2 3 (42.86%) Cybersecurity
2 3 (42.86%) Infrastructure as Code
2 3 (42.86%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 3 (42.86%) Problem Management
2 3 (42.86%) Problem-Solving
2 3 (42.86%) Strategic Thinking
2 3 (42.86%) User Experience
3 2 (28.57%) Data Discovery
3 2 (28.57%) Data Management
3 2 (28.57%) Information Management
4 1 (14.29%) Business Change Management
4 1 (14.29%) Change Management
4 1 (14.29%) Data Loss Prevention
4 1 (14.29%) Information Governance
4 1 (14.29%) Risk Management
4 1 (14.29%) Security Operations
4 1 (14.29%) Security Patching
4 1 (14.29%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 3 (42.86%) Bash
1 3 (42.86%) PowerShell
1 3 (42.86%) Python
Qualifications
1 4 (57.14%) CCNA
1 4 (57.14%) Cisco Certification
2 3 (42.86%) DV Cleared
2 3 (42.86%) MCSE
2 3 (42.86%) Microsoft Certification
2 3 (42.86%) RHCA
2 3 (42.86%) SC Cleared
2 3 (42.86%) Security Cleared
2 3 (42.86%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
3 1 (14.29%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (100.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 1 (14.29%) NIST
System Software
1 3 (42.86%) Docker
1 3 (42.86%) Hyper-V
1 3 (42.86%) VMware Infrastructure
2 1 (14.29%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 3 (42.86%) Ansible
1 3 (42.86%) Kubernetes
1 3 (42.86%) Podman
1 3 (42.86%) Terraform
Vendors
1 5 (71.43%) Cisco
2 3 (42.86%) Atlassian
2 3 (42.86%) VMware
3 1 (14.29%) Aruba
3 1 (14.29%) CheckPoint
3 1 (14.29%) Fortinet
3 1 (14.29%) Microsoft
21 Cyber Essentials jobs in the Midlands