Microsoft 365 Contract Job Trends in the North of England

Microsoft 365 (M365, Office 365, O365)
England > North of England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North of England requiring Microsoft 365 skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 16 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 29 28 26
Rank change year-on-year -1 -2 -3
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 365 329 204 272
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 6.78% 6.03% 5.81%
As % of the Cloud Services category 17.97% 17.94% 17.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 228 134 189
10th Percentile £133 £156 £150
25th Percentile £160 £206 £188
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £228 £400 £270
Median % change year-on-year -43.13% +48.15% -15.63%
75th Percentile £438 £501 £425
90th Percentile £547 £625 £528
England median daily rate £388 £382 £301
% change year-on-year +1.57% +26.75% -18.65%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 9 22
10th Percentile £14.25 £16.41 £13.00
25th Percentile £15.19 £17.44 £15.69
Median hourly rate £16.88 £22.09 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year -23.61% +24.66% -11.40%
75th Percentile £21.44 £24.18 £19.75
90th Percentile £69.27 £31.50 £21.35
England median hourly rate £18.87 £21.46 £18.50
% change year-on-year -12.07% +16.00% +8.62%

All Cloud Computing Skills
North of England

Microsoft 365 falls under the Cloud Services category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring cloud computing skills in the North of England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for cloud computing skills 1,831 1,137 1,557
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 37.73% 33.63% 33.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,321 759 1,155
10th Percentile £220 £275 £263
25th Percentile £360 £400 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £538 £575 £588
90th Percentile £625 £663 £657
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 62 20 52
10th Percentile £15.50 £17.44 £15.58
25th Percentile £18.87 £23.40 £17.72
Median hourly rate £43.84 £35.00 £29.31
Median % change year-on-year +25.26% +19.43% +15.35%
75th Percentile £60.00 £62.88 £46.18
90th Percentile £70.00 £97.18 £72.58
England median hourly rate £30.00 £28.75 £22.50
% change year-on-year +4.35% +27.78% -0.32%

Microsoft 365
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Microsoft 365 relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England.

Microsoft 365 job vacancy trend in the North of England

Microsoft 365
Daily Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Microsoft 365.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365
Daily Rate Histogram in the North of England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft 365 in the North of England over the 6 months to 16 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft 365 in the North of England

Microsoft 365
Hourly Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Microsoft 365.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North of England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft 365 in the North of England over the 6 months to 16 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft 365 in the North of England

Microsoft 365
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 Microsoft 365 within the North of England region over the 6 months to 16 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
North West -6 158 £175 -55.30% 86
Yorkshire +1 141 £325 -4.41% 77
North East -3 33 £225 -55.00% 35
Microsoft 365
England

Microsoft 365
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
1 106 (32.22%) SharePoint
2 77 (23.40%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (3.04%) Exchange Server 2013
4 7 (2.13%) Skype for Business
5 3 (0.91%) Confluence
6 2 (0.61%) IIS
7 1 (0.30%) Apache
7 1 (0.30%) CMS
7 1 (0.30%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 53 (16.11%) Microsoft Office
2 27 (8.21%) Microsoft Excel
3 18 (5.47%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (2.43%) MS Visio
5 5 (1.52%) Acrobat
6 1 (0.30%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 8 (2.43%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.30%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.30%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 123 (37.39%) Azure
2 59 (17.93%) OneDrive
3 58 (17.63%) Entra ID
4 26 (7.90%) Power Platform
5 24 (7.29%) Microsoft Purview
6 18 (5.47%) Microsoft Copilot
7 13 (3.95%) SaaS
8 9 (2.74%) AWS
9 8 (2.43%) PowerApps
9 8 (2.43%) Rubrik
10 7 (2.13%) GCP
11 6 (1.82%) Power Automate
12 5 (1.52%) Azure Logic Apps
12 5 (1.52%) Copilot Studio
13 4 (1.22%) Azure Monitor
13 4 (1.22%) Azure Sentinel
13 4 (1.22%) Dynamics 365
13 4 (1.22%) Google Workspace
13 4 (1.22%) Mimecast
14 3 (0.91%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 28 (8.51%) Wi-Fi
2 20 (6.08%) DNS
3 18 (5.47%) VPN
4 16 (4.86%) Wireless
5 15 (4.56%) LAN
5 15 (4.56%) TCP/IP
6 14 (4.26%) WAN
7 13 (3.95%) Skype
8 11 (3.34%) DHCP
9 8 (2.43%) VLAN
10 7 (2.13%) Firewall
10 7 (2.13%) Internet
11 6 (1.82%) Unified Communications
12 4 (1.22%) VoIP
13 2 (0.61%) DKIM
13 2 (0.61%) DMARC
13 2 (0.61%) Kerberos
13 2 (0.61%) NetScaler
13 2 (0.61%) SMTP
13 2 (0.61%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (3.34%) Power BI
2 3 (0.91%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.30%) Azure SQL Database
3 1 (0.30%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 6 (1.82%) JIRA
2 1 (0.30%) Appium
2 1 (0.30%) Jenkins
2 1 (0.30%) MSI
2 1 (0.30%) Selenium
General
1 148 (44.98%) Social Skills
2 59 (17.93%) Finance
3 35 (10.64%) Public Sector
4 30 (9.12%) Legal
5 29 (8.81%) Analytical Skills
6 17 (5.17%) Banking
7 15 (4.56%) Documentation Skills
8 13 (3.95%) Telecoms
9 12 (3.65%) Manufacturing
10 11 (3.34%) Electronics
10 11 (3.34%) Marketing
11 7 (2.13%) Organisational Skills
12 6 (1.82%) Retail
13 5 (1.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 4 (1.22%) General Ledger
15 3 (0.91%) Military
16 2 (0.61%) Local Government
16 2 (0.61%) Pharmaceutical
17 1 (0.30%) Italian Language
17 1 (0.30%) Polish Language
Job Titles
1 91 (27.66%) IT Support
2 71 (21.58%) Analyst
3 41 (12.46%) Support Engineer
4 37 (11.25%) 2nd Line Support
5 36 (10.94%) Support Analyst
6 34 (10.33%) 1st Line Support
7 32 (9.73%) Architect
8 30 (9.12%) IT Engineer
9 25 (7.60%) Microsoft 365 Architect
10 24 (7.29%) Desktop Support
10 24 (7.29%) IT Support Engineer
11 21 (6.38%) IT Analyst
12 19 (5.78%) IT Support Analyst
12 19 (5.78%) Service Analyst
13 18 (5.47%) Service Desk Analyst
14 17 (5.17%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 17 (5.17%) Senior
15 15 (4.56%) Business Analyst
16 13 (3.95%) Administrator
17 12 (3.65%) Support Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (5.47%) Microsoft Graph
2 5 (1.52%) OAuth
3 3 (0.91%) LDAP
3 3 (0.91%) OpenID
3 3 (0.91%) SAML
4 2 (0.61%) JSON
4 2 (0.61%) OAuth2
4 2 (0.61%) XMPP
5 1 (0.30%) .NET
5 1 (0.30%) Middleware
5 1 (0.30%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 34 (10.33%) Onboarding
2 19 (5.78%) Enterprise Software
3 12 (3.65%) Data Centre
4 11 (3.34%) Driving Licence
5 10 (3.04%) CMDB
6 6 (1.82%) Video Conferencing
7 5 (1.52%) iPhone
7 5 (1.52%) Low-Code
7 5 (1.52%) Mobile App
8 4 (1.22%) Data Protection Act
8 4 (1.22%) Management Information System
8 4 (1.22%) Private Cloud
9 3 (0.91%) Clustering
9 3 (0.91%) Product Ownership
9 3 (0.91%) Public Cloud
10 2 (0.61%) NHS
10 2 (0.61%) Smartphone
10 2 (0.61%) Team-Oriented Environment
11 1 (0.30%) CCTV
11 1 (0.30%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 182 (55.32%) Windows
2 79 (24.01%) Windows 10
3 24 (7.29%) Mac OS
4 22 (6.69%) Windows Server
5 19 (5.78%) Android
6 10 (3.04%) Apple iOS
7 4 (1.22%) Linux
7 4 (1.22%) Windows Server 2012
8 2 (0.61%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 2 (0.61%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 77 (23.40%) Customer Service
2 74 (22.49%) Problem-Solving
3 59 (17.93%) ITIL
4 47 (14.29%) Migration
5 37 (11.25%) ITSM
6 33 (10.03%) Business Intelligence
7 32 (9.73%) Service Management
8 24 (7.29%) Problem Management
9 23 (6.99%) Cybersecurity
9 23 (6.99%) Stakeholder Management
10 21 (6.38%) Continuous Improvement
10 21 (6.38%) User Experience
11 19 (5.78%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 19 (5.78%) Mobile Device Management
12 18 (5.47%) Agile
12 18 (5.47%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 17 (5.17%) Service Delivery
14 16 (4.86%) Digital Transformation Programme
14 16 (4.86%) Incident Response
15 15 (4.56%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 47 (14.29%) PowerShell
2 9 (2.74%) Kusto Query Language
3 4 (1.22%) Bash
4 2 (0.61%) JavaScript
4 2 (0.61%) Python
5 1 (0.30%) Java
5 1 (0.30%) Perl
5 1 (0.30%) SQL
Qualifications
1 46 (13.98%) Degree
2 40 (12.16%) Security Cleared
3 32 (9.73%) SC Cleared
4 14 (4.26%) Microsoft Certification
5 13 (3.95%) Computer Science Degree
6 6 (1.82%) A+ Certification
7 5 (1.52%) BPSS Clearance
7 5 (1.52%) DBS Check
8 3 (0.91%) PMI Certification
8 3 (0.91%) PMP
9 2 (0.61%) ACSP
9 2 (0.61%) ACTC
9 2 (0.61%) Azure Certification
9 2 (0.61%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 2 (0.61%) Network+ Certification
10 1 (0.30%) CCNA
10 1 (0.30%) Cisco Certification
10 1 (0.30%) CISSP
10 1 (0.30%) Master's Degree
10 1 (0.30%) MCT
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (7.90%) GDPR
2 11 (3.34%) SLA
3 7 (2.13%) FINRA
3 7 (2.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 7 (2.13%) MiFID
4 4 (1.22%) Data Quality
5 3 (0.91%) NIST
5 3 (0.91%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.30%) COBIT
6 1 (0.30%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.30%) QA
6 1 (0.30%) SOC 2
System Software
1 151 (45.90%) Active Directory
2 13 (3.95%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (3.34%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (1.52%) Hyper-V
5 4 (1.22%) vSphere
6 2 (0.61%) Docker
Systems Management
1 67 (20.36%) Microsoft Intune
2 42 (12.77%) SCCM
3 7 (2.13%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 7 (2.13%) Jamf Pro
4 6 (1.82%) Norton AntiVirus
4 6 (1.82%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (0.91%) Kubernetes
5 3 (0.91%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
6 2 (0.61%) Microsoft Clustering
7 1 (0.30%) AirWatch
7 1 (0.30%) Ansible
7 1 (0.30%) SCOM
7 1 (0.30%) Terraform
Vendors
1 238 (72.34%) Microsoft
2 43 (13.07%) ServiceNow
3 27 (8.21%) Apple
3 27 (8.21%) Cisco
4 16 (4.86%) HP
5 15 (4.56%) Citrix
5 15 (4.56%) VMware
6 11 (3.34%) Dell
6 11 (3.34%) SAP
7 9 (2.74%) Meraki
8 8 (2.43%) Bomgar
8 8 (2.43%) Google
8 8 (2.43%) iManage
8 8 (2.43%) Remedy
8 8 (2.43%) Veeam
9 6 (1.82%) McAfee
9 6 (1.82%) Symantec
10 5 (1.52%) Adobe
10 5 (1.52%) MobileIron
11 3 (0.91%) Workday