COBOL Contract Job Trends in the North of England

COBOL
England > North of England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North of England requiring COBOL skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 12 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 203 158 187
Rank change year-on-year -45 +29 +27
Contract jobs citing COBOL 21 4 4
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 0.41% 0.12% 0.081%
As % of the Programming Languages category 1.36% 0.45% 0.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 17 1 0
10th Percentile £313 - -
25th Percentile £325 - -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £375 £378 -
Median % change year-on-year -0.79% - -
75th Percentile £436 - -
90th Percentile £463 - -
England median daily rate £413 £504 £463
% change year-on-year -18.11% +8.92% -0.43%

All Programming Languages
North of England

COBOL falls under the Programming Languages category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring coding skills in the North of England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for coding skills 1,545 887 1,302
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 29.84% 26.39% 26.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,064 592 936
10th Percentile £336 £338 £313
25th Percentile £400 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year - - -9.52%
75th Percentile £538 £566 £563
90th Percentile £625 £638 £625
England median daily rate £512 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -2.57% -4.55% -4.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 66 18 63
10th Percentile £41.94 £29.90 £37.63
25th Percentile £52.50 £46.18 £43.57
Median hourly rate £63.50 £65.25 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year -2.68% +41.29% -2.78%
75th Percentile £74.26 £86.00 £56.75
90th Percentile £81.25 £98.25 £72.37
England median hourly rate £65.00 £63.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year +3.17% +5.00% -7.69%

COBOL
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing COBOL relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England.

COBOL job vacancy trend in the North of England

COBOL
Daily Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing COBOL.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing COBOL

COBOL
Daily Rate Histogram in the North of England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing COBOL in the North of England over the 6 months to 12 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for COBOL in the North of England

COBOL
Hourly Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing COBOL.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing COBOL

COBOL
Contract Job Locations in the North of England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing COBOL within the North of England region over the 6 months to 12 February 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
North West -8 17 £365 -3.44% 1
Yorkshire -57 4 £413 -
COBOL
England

COBOL
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North of England 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 10 (47.62%) CICS
2 4 (19.05%) CMS
Business Applications
1 4 (19.05%) VisionPLUS
Communications & Networking
1 6 (28.57%) Firewall
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (28.57%) DataStage
Development Applications
1 3 (14.29%) ChangeMan
General
1 20 (95.24%) Social Skills
2 9 (42.86%) Finance
3 6 (28.57%) Influencing Skills
4 5 (23.81%) Banking
5 2 (9.52%) Analytical Skills
5 2 (9.52%) Public Sector
6 1 (4.76%) Advertising
6 1 (4.76%) Documentation Skills
6 1 (4.76%) Financial Institution
6 1 (4.76%) Legal
Job Titles
1 11 (52.38%) Administrator
2 6 (28.57%) Designer
2 6 (28.57%) Infrastructure Designer
3 4 (19.05%) Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (52.38%) ISPF
2 6 (28.57%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 21 (100.00%) Mainframe
2 7 (33.33%) VSAM
3 6 (28.57%) BYOD
3 6 (28.57%) Data Centre
Operating Systems
1 6 (28.57%) AIX
1 6 (28.57%) Linux
1 6 (28.57%) Solaris
1 6 (28.57%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 10 (47.62%) Change Management
1 10 (47.62%) Storage Management
2 9 (42.86%) Problem-Solving
2 9 (42.86%) Release Management
3 6 (28.57%) Business Case
3 6 (28.57%) Design Patterns
3 6 (28.57%) Process Improvement
3 6 (28.57%) Roadmaps
4 4 (19.05%) DevOps
5 3 (14.29%) Agile
5 3 (14.29%) Batch Scheduling
6 1 (4.76%) Collaborative Working
6 1 (4.76%) Continuous Improvement
6 1 (4.76%) Project Delivery
6 1 (4.76%) Risk Management
6 1 (4.76%) SDLC
6 1 (4.76%) Software Delivery
6 1 (4.76%) Stakeholder Management
6 1 (4.76%) Strategic Roadmap
6 1 (4.76%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 13 (61.90%) JCL
2 12 (57.14%) REXX
3 11 (52.38%) CLIST
Qualifications
1 3 (14.29%) BPSS Clearance
2 2 (9.52%) Security Cleared
System Software
1 11 (52.38%) ACF2
1 11 (52.38%) RACF
1 11 (52.38%) Time Sharing Option
2 2 (9.52%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 14 (66.67%) CA Endevor
2 10 (47.62%) Tivoli
2 10 (47.62%) Tivoli Storage Manager
Vendors
1 6 (28.57%) IBM
1 6 (28.57%) VMware
2 3 (14.29%) Microsoft