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

6 months to
2 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 28 26 30
Rank change year-on-year -2 +4 -4
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 365 381 238 276
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 7.09% 7.28% 5.64%
As % of the Cloud Services category 19.19% 20.91% 17.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 264 158 185
10th Percentile £133 £150 £145
25th Percentile £163 £206 £185
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £304 £379 £270
Median % change year-on-year -19.79% +40.37% -12.20%
75th Percentile £475 £501 £400
90th Percentile £563 £625 £500
England median daily rate £400 £375 £300
% change year-on-year +6.67% +25.00% -20.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 13 35
10th Percentile - £12.50 £13.00
25th Percentile £14.25 £17.44 £14.50
Median hourly rate £16.00 £24.18 £16.50
Median % change year-on-year -33.83% +46.55% -17.50%
75th Percentile £29.53 £30.63 £17.72
90th Percentile £69.35 - £19.05
England median hourly rate £19.00 £21.46 £17.69
% change year-on-year -11.46% +21.31% +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 1,985 1,138 1,570
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 36.92% 34.79% 32.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,406 801 1,121
10th Percentile £220 £263 £263
25th Percentile £375 £390 £369
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £471 £475 £477
Median % change year-on-year -0.95% -0.42% -9.14%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £575
90th Percentile £630 £650 £650
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 80 22 91
10th Percentile £15.50 £12.99 £15.00
25th Percentile £26.13 £21.83 £16.06
Median hourly rate £57.00 £28.13 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year +102.67% +60.71% -64.49%
75th Percentile £74.00 £39.66 £26.50
90th Percentile £80.10 £95.73 £62.00
England median hourly rate £40.00 £27.50 £21.37
% change year-on-year +45.45% +28.69% -14.52%

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 2 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 2 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 2 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
Yorkshire +7 178 £363 +26.09% 76
North West -10 177 £213 -46.88% 112
North East -7 29 £195 -61.00% 30
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
1 132 (34.65%) SharePoint
2 95 (24.93%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (1.84%) Exchange Server 2013
4 5 (1.31%) Confluence
5 4 (1.05%) Skype for Business
6 1 (0.26%) Apache
6 1 (0.26%) CMS
6 1 (0.26%) IIS
6 1 (0.26%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 54 (14.17%) Microsoft Office
2 19 (4.99%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (3.15%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (1.31%) Acrobat
4 5 (1.31%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.26%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.26%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 12 (3.15%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.26%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.26%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 144 (37.80%) Azure
2 80 (21.00%) Entra ID
3 74 (19.42%) OneDrive
4 46 (12.07%) Microsoft Purview
5 39 (10.24%) Power Platform
6 34 (8.92%) Microsoft Copilot
7 20 (5.25%) PowerApps
8 19 (4.99%) SaaS
9 15 (3.94%) Power Automate
10 12 (3.15%) AWS
11 11 (2.89%) Rubrik
12 6 (1.57%) Azure Logic Apps
12 6 (1.57%) Azure Sentinel
13 5 (1.31%) Copilot Studio
13 5 (1.31%) GCP
14 4 (1.05%) Azure Monitor
14 4 (1.05%) Dynamics 365
14 4 (1.05%) Google Workspace
14 4 (1.05%) IaaS
14 4 (1.05%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 36 (9.45%) Wi-Fi
2 24 (6.30%) DNS
3 23 (6.04%) LAN
3 23 (6.04%) VPN
4 22 (5.77%) WAN
5 17 (4.46%) TCP/IP
6 15 (3.94%) Wireless
7 14 (3.67%) DHCP
7 14 (3.67%) Skype
8 11 (2.89%) Firewall
9 10 (2.62%) Unified Communications
10 7 (1.84%) Internet
10 7 (1.84%) 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%) Kerberos
13 2 (0.52%) SMTP
14 1 (0.26%) PSTN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (3.41%) Power BI
2 2 (0.52%) Azure SQL Database
2 2 (0.52%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.26%) Electronic Patient Records
3 1 (0.26%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 9 (2.36%) JIRA
2 1 (0.26%) MSI
2 1 (0.26%) Postman
General
1 161 (42.26%) Social Skills
2 69 (18.11%) Finance
3 49 (12.86%) Legal
4 41 (10.76%) Public Sector
5 28 (7.35%) Analytical Skills
6 22 (5.77%) Banking
7 21 (5.51%) Documentation Skills
8 16 (4.20%) Manufacturing
9 13 (3.41%) Organisational Skills
9 13 (3.41%) Telecoms
10 10 (2.62%) Electronics
10 10 (2.62%) Marketing
11 7 (1.84%) Retail
12 5 (1.31%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 4 (1.05%) General Ledger
14 2 (0.52%) Law
14 2 (0.52%) Local Government
14 2 (0.52%) Military
15 1 (0.26%) Pharmaceutical
15 1 (0.26%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 96 (25.20%) IT Support
2 64 (16.80%) Analyst
3 45 (11.81%) Architect
4 40 (10.50%) 2nd Line Support
4 40 (10.50%) Support Engineer
5 37 (9.71%) 1st Line Support
6 35 (9.19%) Microsoft 365 Architect
7 34 (8.92%) IT Engineer
8 33 (8.66%) Support Analyst
9 30 (7.87%) IT Support Engineer
10 22 (5.77%) Desktop Support
10 22 (5.77%) IT Analyst
11 20 (5.25%) IT Support Analyst
12 19 (4.99%) Senior
13 17 (4.46%) Service Analyst
14 16 (4.20%) IT Technician
14 16 (4.20%) Service Desk Analyst
15 15 (3.94%) 2nd Line Engineer
15 15 (3.94%) Administrator
15 15 (3.94%) Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (8.14%) Microsoft Graph
2 5 (1.31%) OAuth
3 3 (0.79%) .NET
3 3 (0.79%) JSON
3 3 (0.79%) LDAP
3 3 (0.79%) OpenID
3 3 (0.79%) SAML
4 2 (0.52%) OAuth2
5 1 (0.26%) Software Packaging
5 1 (0.26%) XML
5 1 (0.26%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 33 (8.66%) Onboarding
2 16 (4.20%) Enterprise Software
3 13 (3.41%) Data Centre
4 11 (2.89%) Driving Licence
5 10 (2.62%) CMDB
6 6 (1.57%) Data Protection Act
6 6 (1.57%) Low-Code
6 6 (1.57%) Private Cloud
6 6 (1.57%) Video Conferencing
7 5 (1.31%) NHS
8 4 (1.05%) Management Information System
8 4 (1.05%) Public Cloud
9 3 (0.79%) iPhone
9 3 (0.79%) Product Ownership
10 2 (0.52%) PKI
10 2 (0.52%) Team-Oriented Environment
11 1 (0.26%) Hybrid Cloud
11 1 (0.26%) IoT
11 1 (0.26%) Legacy Applications
11 1 (0.26%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 203 (53.28%) Windows
2 97 (25.46%) Windows 10
3 24 (6.30%) Windows Server
4 20 (5.25%) Android
5 18 (4.72%) Mac OS
6 12 (3.15%) Apple iOS
7 5 (1.31%) Windows Server 2012
8 4 (1.05%) Linux
8 4 (1.05%) Windows Server 2019
9 2 (0.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.26%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 89 (23.36%) Customer Service
2 71 (18.64%) Problem-Solving
3 52 (13.65%) Migration
4 48 (12.60%) ITIL
5 35 (9.19%) ITSM
6 33 (8.66%) Business Intelligence
6 33 (8.66%) Data Loss Prevention
7 32 (8.40%) Service Management
8 29 (7.61%) E-Discovery
9 27 (7.09%) Cybersecurity
9 27 (7.09%) Stakeholder Management
10 26 (6.82%) Records Management
11 25 (6.56%) Information Governance
12 24 (6.30%) Problem Management
12 24 (6.30%) User Experience
13 23 (6.04%) Agile
14 22 (5.77%) Incident Response
14 22 (5.77%) Project Delivery
15 21 (5.51%) Data Governance
15 21 (5.51%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 67 (17.59%) PowerShell
2 13 (3.41%) Kusto Query Language
3 5 (1.31%) Python
4 4 (1.05%) Bash
5 2 (0.52%) SQL
6 1 (0.26%) JavaScript
6 1 (0.26%) Perl
Qualifications
1 48 (12.60%) Degree
2 41 (10.76%) Security Cleared
3 35 (9.19%) SC Cleared
4 19 (4.99%) Microsoft Certification
5 11 (2.89%) 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
9 1 (0.26%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 39 (10.24%) GDPR
2 12 (3.15%) FINRA
2 12 (3.15%) MiFID
3 10 (2.62%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 7 (1.84%) SLA
5 4 (1.05%) Data Quality
6 3 (0.79%) Cyber Essentials
6 3 (0.79%) NIST
7 2 (0.52%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.26%) California Consumer Privacy Act
8 1 (0.26%) COBIT
8 1 (0.26%) HIPAA
8 1 (0.26%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 1 (0.26%) SOC 2
System Software
1 167 (43.83%) Active Directory
2 14 (3.67%) VMware Infrastructure
3 10 (2.62%) 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 71 (18.64%) Microsoft Intune
2 37 (9.71%) SCCM
3 12 (3.15%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 11 (2.89%) Single Sign-On
5 7 (1.84%) Jamf Pro
6 6 (1.57%) Norton AntiVirus
7 4 (1.05%) Kubernetes
8 1 (0.26%) CA Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.26%) SCOM
Vendors
1 287 (75.33%) Microsoft
2 44 (11.55%) ServiceNow
3 32 (8.40%) Cisco
4 18 (4.72%) Apple
4 18 (4.72%) Citrix
5 16 (4.20%) HP
5 16 (4.20%) VMware
6 14 (3.67%) Bomgar
6 14 (3.67%) iManage
7 12 (3.15%) Remedy
8 11 (2.89%) Dell
9 10 (2.62%) SAP
9 10 (2.62%) Veeam
10 9 (2.36%) Meraki
11 8 (2.10%) Google
12 6 (1.57%) McAfee
12 6 (1.57%) Symantec
13 5 (1.31%) Adobe
13 5 (1.31%) MobileIron
14 4 (1.05%) F5