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 24 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 29 24 32
Rank change year-on-year -5 +8 -3
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 365 382 249 252
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 6.64% 7.78% 5.18%
As % of the Cloud Services category 18.30% 22.21% 17.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 270 177 163
10th Percentile £134 £150 £143
25th Percentile £166 £205 £185
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £325 £375 £260
Median % change year-on-year -13.33% +44.23% -14.61%
75th Percentile £475 £500 £409
90th Percentile £566 £625 £506
England median daily rate £425 £400 £308
% change year-on-year +6.13% +30.08% -18.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 16 35
10th Percentile £14.25 - £13.00
25th Percentile £15.88 £12.50 £13.38
Median hourly rate £25.38 £24.18 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.96% +51.13% -20.00%
75th Percentile - £30.63 £17.72
90th Percentile £65.51 - £19.55
England median hourly rate £18.94 £21.00 £17.69
% change year-on-year -9.83% +18.71% +1.09%

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 2,087 1,121 1,468
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 36.30% 35.03% 30.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,474 834 1,049
10th Percentile £257 £258 £263
25th Percentile £388 £381 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year - - -9.52%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £563
90th Percentile £635 £650 £644
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 100 29 85
10th Percentile £18.36 £12.50 £13.35
25th Percentile £25.66 £24.18 £15.50
Median hourly rate £59.00 £28.75 £16.94
Median % change year-on-year +105.22% +69.77% -51.61%
75th Percentile £73.81 £43.39 £23.61
90th Percentile £81.40 £97.03 £46.18
England median hourly rate £37.50 £26.50 £21.00
% change year-on-year +41.51% +26.19% -16.00%

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 24 March 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 24 March 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 24 March 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 -9 187 £218 -44.45% 119
Yorkshire 0 177 £425 +41.67% 50
North East -20 21 £194 -60.05% 22
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
1 138 (36.13%) SharePoint
2 96 (25.13%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (1.57%) Confluence
4 3 (0.79%) Exchange Server 2013
5 2 (0.52%) CMS
6 1 (0.26%) Apache
6 1 (0.26%) IIS
6 1 (0.26%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 47 (12.30%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (3.93%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (1.83%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (1.31%) Acrobat
5 2 (0.52%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.26%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.26%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 12 (3.14%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.52%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.26%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 140 (36.65%) Azure
2 83 (21.73%) Entra ID
3 70 (18.32%) OneDrive
4 48 (12.57%) Microsoft Purview
5 43 (11.26%) Microsoft Copilot
6 41 (10.73%) Power Platform
7 23 (6.02%) PowerApps
8 18 (4.71%) Power Automate
9 16 (4.19%) SaaS
10 14 (3.66%) Dynamics 365
11 12 (3.14%) AWS
12 11 (2.88%) Azure DevOps
12 11 (2.88%) Rubrik
13 7 (1.83%) Azure Logic Apps
13 7 (1.83%) Azure Monitor
13 7 (1.83%) PaaS
14 6 (1.57%) Azure Sentinel
14 6 (1.57%) Copilot Studio
15 5 (1.31%) GCP
15 5 (1.31%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 37 (9.69%) Wi-Fi
2 25 (6.54%) LAN
3 24 (6.28%) WAN
4 22 (5.76%) VPN
5 19 (4.97%) DNS
6 15 (3.93%) TCP/IP
7 14 (3.66%) Wireless
8 13 (3.40%) DHCP
9 11 (2.88%) Firewall
10 10 (2.62%) Skype
11 6 (1.57%) Unified Communications
11 6 (1.57%) VLAN
11 6 (1.57%) VoIP
12 4 (1.05%) NetScaler
13 2 (0.52%) DKIM
13 2 (0.52%) DMARC
13 2 (0.52%) Internet
13 2 (0.52%) Kerberos
13 2 (0.52%) PSTN
13 2 (0.52%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (3.93%) Power BI
2 3 (0.79%) Azure SQL Database
3 2 (0.52%) SQL Server
4 1 (0.26%) Data Lake
4 1 (0.26%) Data Warehouse
4 1 (0.26%) Electronic Patient Records
4 1 (0.26%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 10 (2.62%) JIRA
2 1 (0.26%) MSI
2 1 (0.26%) Postman
General
1 155 (40.58%) Social Skills
2 67 (17.54%) Finance
3 53 (13.87%) Legal
4 50 (13.09%) Public Sector
5 28 (7.33%) Analytical Skills
6 22 (5.76%) Banking
7 21 (5.50%) Documentation Skills
8 15 (3.93%) Manufacturing
9 14 (3.66%) Organisational Skills
10 13 (3.40%) Telecoms
11 10 (2.62%) Electronics
11 10 (2.62%) Marketing
12 9 (2.36%) Local Government
13 7 (1.83%) Retail
14 6 (1.57%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 4 (1.05%) General Ledger
16 2 (0.52%) Law
16 2 (0.52%) Military
17 1 (0.26%) Pharmaceutical
17 1 (0.26%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 90 (23.56%) IT Support
2 55 (14.40%) Analyst
3 45 (11.78%) Architect
4 43 (11.26%) Support Engineer
5 41 (10.73%) IT Engineer
6 36 (9.42%) 1st Line Support
6 36 (9.42%) 2nd Line Support
6 36 (9.42%) IT Support Engineer
7 35 (9.16%) Microsoft 365 Architect
8 27 (7.07%) Support Analyst
9 19 (4.97%) Desktop Support
9 19 (4.97%) Senior
10 18 (4.71%) IT Analyst
11 16 (4.19%) IT Support Analyst
11 16 (4.19%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
12 15 (3.93%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 14 (3.66%) 2nd Line Engineer
13 14 (3.66%) Service Analyst
14 13 (3.40%) Administrator
14 13 (3.40%) Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (9.42%) Microsoft Graph
2 6 (1.57%) .NET
3 5 (1.31%) OAuth
4 3 (0.79%) .NET Framework
4 3 (0.79%) JSON
4 3 (0.79%) LDAP
4 3 (0.79%) OpenID
4 3 (0.79%) REST
4 3 (0.79%) SAML
4 3 (0.79%) SOAP
4 3 (0.79%) Web Services
5 2 (0.52%) OAuth2
6 1 (0.26%) Software Packaging
6 1 (0.26%) XML
6 1 (0.26%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 32 (8.38%) Onboarding
2 13 (3.40%) Data Centre
3 12 (3.14%) Enterprise Software
4 10 (2.62%) CMDB
4 10 (2.62%) Driving Licence
5 6 (1.57%) Data Protection Act
5 6 (1.57%) Private Cloud
6 5 (1.31%) NHS
7 4 (1.05%) Management Information System
7 4 (1.05%) Product Ownership
7 4 (1.05%) Public Cloud
8 3 (0.79%) Housing Association
8 3 (0.79%) iPhone
8 3 (0.79%) Low-Code
9 2 (0.52%) IoT
9 2 (0.52%) PKI
9 2 (0.52%) Team-Oriented Environment
10 1 (0.26%) Cloud Security Posture
10 1 (0.26%) Mobile App
10 1 (0.26%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 196 (51.31%) Windows
2 93 (24.35%) Windows 10
3 22 (5.76%) Android
3 22 (5.76%) Windows Server
4 18 (4.71%) Mac OS
5 11 (2.88%) Apple iOS
6 4 (1.05%) Linux
6 4 (1.05%) Windows Server 2012
6 4 (1.05%) Windows Server 2019
7 2 (0.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.26%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 84 (21.99%) Customer Service
2 60 (15.71%) Problem-Solving
3 47 (12.30%) Migration
4 45 (11.78%) ITIL
5 35 (9.16%) Data Loss Prevention
5 35 (9.16%) ITSM
6 30 (7.85%) E-Discovery
7 27 (7.07%) Business Intelligence
8 26 (6.81%) Records Management
8 26 (6.81%) Service Management
8 26 (6.81%) Stakeholder Management
9 25 (6.54%) Agile
9 25 (6.54%) Cybersecurity
9 25 (6.54%) Information Governance
10 24 (6.28%) Project Delivery
11 23 (6.02%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 23 (6.02%) User Experience
12 22 (5.76%) Data Governance
12 22 (5.76%) Data Protection
12 22 (5.76%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 69 (18.06%) PowerShell
2 16 (4.19%) Kusto Query Language
3 6 (1.57%) Python
4 4 (1.05%) Bash
5 3 (0.79%) C#
5 3 (0.79%) SQL
6 2 (0.52%) JavaScript
7 1 (0.26%) Perl
Qualifications
1 40 (10.47%) Degree
2 37 (9.69%) Security Cleared
3 35 (9.16%) SC Cleared
4 21 (5.50%) Microsoft Certification
5 9 (2.36%) Computer Science Degree
6 4 (1.05%) A+ Certification
7 3 (0.79%) Azure Certification
7 3 (0.79%) BPSS Clearance
7 3 (0.79%) DBS Check
7 3 (0.79%) Network+ Certification
7 3 (0.79%) PMI Certification
7 3 (0.79%) PMP
8 2 (0.52%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 1 (0.26%) CCNA
9 1 (0.26%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (0.26%) CISM
9 1 (0.26%) CISSP
9 1 (0.26%) ITIL Certification
9 1 (0.26%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 39 (10.21%) GDPR
2 12 (3.14%) FINRA
2 12 (3.14%) MiFID
3 11 (2.88%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 6 (1.57%) SLA
5 4 (1.05%) Cyber Essentials
5 4 (1.05%) Data Quality
5 4 (1.05%) NIST
6 2 (0.52%) PCI DSS
7 1 (0.26%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 1 (0.26%) COBIT
7 1 (0.26%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 1 (0.26%) HIPAA
7 1 (0.26%) PMO
7 1 (0.26%) QA
7 1 (0.26%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 1 (0.26%) SOC 2
System Software
1 154 (40.31%) Active Directory
2 14 (3.66%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (1.57%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (1.31%) Hyper-V
4 5 (1.31%) vSphere
5 4 (1.05%) Docker
5 4 (1.05%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 63 (16.49%) Microsoft Intune
2 25 (6.54%) SCCM
3 12 (3.14%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 11 (2.88%) Single Sign-On
5 8 (2.09%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (1.05%) Kubernetes
6 4 (1.05%) Norton AntiVirus
7 1 (0.26%) CA Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.26%) SCOM
Vendors
1 299 (78.27%) Microsoft
2 42 (10.99%) ServiceNow
3 32 (8.38%) Cisco
4 19 (4.97%) Apple
5 18 (4.71%) Citrix
6 16 (4.19%) Bomgar
6 16 (4.19%) HP
6 16 (4.19%) iManage
6 16 (4.19%) VMware
7 12 (3.14%) Remedy
8 11 (2.88%) Dell
9 10 (2.62%) SAP
9 10 (2.62%) Veeam
10 9 (2.36%) Meraki
11 6 (1.57%) Google
12 5 (1.31%) Adobe
12 5 (1.31%) MobileIron
13 4 (1.05%) F5
13 4 (1.05%) McAfee
13 4 (1.05%) Symantec