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

6 months to
16 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 36 40 35
Rank change year-on-year +4 -5 -10
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 365 395 199 185
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 5.29% 4.96% 4.48%
As % of the Cloud Services category 15.53% 14.72% 14.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 253 123 127
10th Percentile £144 £134 £159
25th Percentile £185 £181 £192
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £250 £235 £300
Median % change year-on-year +6.38% -21.67% -
75th Percentile £495 £445 £494
90th Percentile £588 £525 £638
England median daily rate £400 £325 £400
% change year-on-year +23.08% -18.75% +6.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 36 15 10
10th Percentile £16.75 £12.50 £12.00
25th Percentile £17.25 £12.66 £14.44
Median hourly rate £25.38 £13.00 £20.50
Median % change year-on-year +95.23% -36.59% +17.14%
75th Percentile £27.06 £30.63 £21.88
90th Percentile £178.75 - £23.05
England median hourly rate £17.85 £19.27 £20.00
% change year-on-year -7.37% -3.65% +5.26%

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 2,543 1,352 1,287
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 34.08% 33.71% 31.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,645 970 870
10th Percentile £300 £300 £288
25th Percentile £400 £380 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £469 £479
Median % change year-on-year +6.61% -2.09% -4.72%
75th Percentile £588 £538 £575
90th Percentile £675 £625 £650
England median daily rate £525 £512 £525
% change year-on-year +2.64% -2.57% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 136 32 44
10th Percentile £17.50 £12.53 £14.09
25th Percentile £25.38 £12.82 -
Median hourly rate £65.00 £38.30 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year +69.73% +138.45% -41.28%
75th Percentile £70.00 £67.25 £33.38
90th Percentile £77.00 £87.50 £66.23
England median hourly rate £35.50 £26.15 £23.98
% change year-on-year +35.76% +9.07% -25.80%

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 August 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 August 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 August 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 +20 233 £250 -23.08% 103
Yorkshire -7 146 £325 +38.30% 87
North East -35 19 £250 +28.21% 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
1 138 (34.94%) SharePoint
2 85 (21.52%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (2.03%) SharePoint Server
4 5 (1.27%) Confluence
5 3 (0.76%) CMS
6 1 (0.25%) IIS
6 1 (0.25%) Mendix
6 1 (0.25%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 21 (5.32%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (2.03%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.76%) Acrobat
3 3 (0.76%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 8 (2.03%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (0.76%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.25%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 149 (37.72%) Azure
2 106 (26.84%) Entra ID
3 61 (15.44%) Power Platform
4 59 (14.94%) Microsoft Copilot
4 59 (14.94%) OneDrive
5 35 (8.86%) Power Automate
5 35 (8.86%) PowerApps
6 18 (4.56%) AWS
7 17 (4.30%) Azure DevOps
8 16 (4.05%) Microsoft Purview
9 14 (3.54%) Dynamics 365
9 14 (3.54%) GCP
10 13 (3.29%) SaaS
11 11 (2.78%) GitHub
11 11 (2.78%) Google Workspace
12 10 (2.53%) GitHub Actions
13 9 (2.28%) Azure AI
14 7 (1.77%) Azure Logic Apps
14 7 (1.77%) Copilot Studio
14 7 (1.77%) Google Drive
Communications & Networking
1 33 (8.35%) VPN
2 24 (6.08%) DNS
3 16 (4.05%) DHCP
4 15 (3.80%) LAN
5 13 (3.29%) Firewall
5 13 (3.29%) VLAN
6 12 (3.04%) Wi-Fi
7 10 (2.53%) TCP/IP
8 9 (2.28%) SAN
8 9 (2.28%) VoIP
8 9 (2.28%) WAN
9 8 (2.03%) Wireless
10 7 (1.77%) WLAN
11 5 (1.27%) Cisco ASA
11 5 (1.27%) NAS
12 4 (1.01%) BGP
12 4 (1.01%) Cisco Nexus
12 4 (1.01%) IPsec
12 4 (1.01%) OSPF
12 4 (1.01%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (5.57%) Power BI
2 6 (1.52%) Amazon RDS
2 6 (1.52%) SQL Server
3 4 (1.01%) Metadata
4 3 (0.76%) Data Warehouse
5 2 (0.51%) Azure SQL Database
5 2 (0.51%) Data Lake
5 2 (0.51%) EDRMS
6 1 (0.25%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.25%) Power Query
6 1 (0.25%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 17 (4.30%) JIRA
2 4 (1.01%) MSI
3 3 (0.76%) Browser DevTools
3 3 (0.76%) Fiddler
4 2 (0.51%) Jenkins
4 2 (0.51%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
4 2 (0.51%) Terragrunt
4 2 (0.51%) Zephyr
General
1 147 (37.22%) Social Skills
2 53 (13.42%) Public Sector
3 43 (10.89%) Legal
4 42 (10.63%) Analytical Skills
5 29 (7.34%) Finance
6 13 (3.29%) Organisational Skills
7 12 (3.04%) Law
8 10 (2.53%) Documentation Skills
8 10 (2.53%) Manufacturing
9 9 (2.28%) Local Government
10 7 (1.77%) Telecoms
11 6 (1.52%) Banking
12 5 (1.27%) Games
12 5 (1.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 4 (1.01%) Pharmaceutical
13 4 (1.01%) Police
14 3 (0.76%) Retail
15 2 (0.51%) Advertising
15 2 (0.51%) Influencing Skills
15 2 (0.51%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 94 (23.80%) IT Support
2 65 (16.46%) Support Engineer
3 57 (14.43%) IT Engineer
4 56 (14.18%) IT Support Engineer
5 48 (12.15%) Analyst
6 29 (7.34%) 2nd Line Support
7 27 (6.84%) Architect
8 25 (6.33%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
9 24 (6.08%) Service Analyst
9 24 (6.08%) Service Desk Analyst
10 23 (5.82%) 1st Line Support
11 21 (5.32%) 2nd Line Engineer
12 20 (5.06%) IT Analyst
13 19 (4.81%) Senior
14 17 (4.30%) Solutions Architect
15 16 (4.05%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
15 16 (4.05%) Support Analyst
16 15 (3.80%) Designer
17 13 (3.29%) Administrator
17 13 (3.29%) Deployment Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (4.56%) Microsoft Graph
2 8 (2.03%) OAuth
3 5 (1.27%) OpenID
3 5 (1.27%) REST
3 5 (1.27%) SAML
3 5 (1.27%) YAML
4 3 (0.76%) .NET
4 3 (0.76%) .NET Framework
4 3 (0.76%) FIDO
4 3 (0.76%) JSON
4 3 (0.76%) OAuth2
4 3 (0.76%) SOAP
4 3 (0.76%) Web Services
5 2 (0.51%) LDAP
5 2 (0.51%) ODBC
5 2 (0.51%) React
5 2 (0.51%) SPFx
5 2 (0.51%) XSLT
6 1 (0.25%) EDI
6 1 (0.25%) HTML5 Canvas
Miscellaneous
1 31 (7.85%) Onboarding
2 15 (3.80%) Enterprise Software
3 11 (2.78%) Data Centre
3 11 (2.78%) Driving Licence
3 11 (2.78%) Management Information System
4 10 (2.53%) Analytical Mindset
5 8 (2.03%) CMDB
6 7 (1.77%) Blackberry
6 7 (1.77%) Mobile App
6 7 (1.77%) Self-Motivation
7 5 (1.27%) Animation
7 5 (1.27%) Handset
7 5 (1.27%) Video Conferencing
8 4 (1.01%) NHS
8 4 (1.01%) PKI
8 4 (1.01%) Product Ownership
9 3 (0.76%) Freedom of Information
9 3 (0.76%) Housing Association
9 3 (0.76%) Low-Code
9 3 (0.76%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 222 (56.20%) Windows
2 85 (21.52%) Windows 10
3 45 (11.39%) Windows Server
4 23 (5.82%) Android
5 18 (4.56%) Apple iOS
6 6 (1.52%) Linux
6 6 (1.52%) Mac OS
7 5 (1.27%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (0.51%) Windows 7
8 2 (0.51%) Windows Server 2012
8 2 (0.51%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.25%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.25%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 86 (21.77%) Customer Service
1 86 (21.77%) ITIL
2 85 (21.52%) Problem-Solving
3 44 (11.14%) Service Management
4 36 (9.11%) Continuous Improvement
4 36 (9.11%) ITSM
5 35 (8.86%) Migration
6 34 (8.61%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 30 (7.59%) Agile
8 27 (6.84%) DevOps
8 27 (6.84%) Incident Management
9 25 (6.33%) Computer Science
9 25 (6.33%) User Experience
10 23 (5.82%) AI
10 23 (5.82%) Analytics
10 23 (5.82%) Data Loss Prevention
11 19 (4.81%) Change Management
11 19 (4.81%) Data Protection
11 19 (4.81%) Digital Transformation Programme
11 19 (4.81%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 41 (10.38%) PowerShell
2 8 (2.03%) Python
2 8 (2.03%) SQL
3 5 (1.27%) T-SQL
4 4 (1.01%) C#
5 3 (0.76%) JavaScript
5 3 (0.76%) Kusto Query Language
6 2 (0.51%) Bicep
6 2 (0.51%) Shell Script
6 2 (0.51%) TypeScript
7 1 (0.25%) Bash
7 1 (0.25%) Google Apps Script
Qualifications
1 60 (15.19%) Degree
2 50 (12.66%) Security Cleared
3 36 (9.11%) SC Cleared
4 30 (7.59%) Microsoft Certification
5 24 (6.08%) Computer Science Degree
6 11 (2.78%) BPSS Clearance
7 10 (2.53%) A+ Certification
7 10 (2.53%) Network+ Certification
8 9 (2.28%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 7 (1.77%) DBS Check
10 6 (1.52%) DV Cleared
11 5 (1.27%) Cisco Certification
12 4 (1.01%) CCNP
12 4 (1.01%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 2 (0.51%) Azure Certification
13 2 (0.51%) ITIL Certification
13 2 (0.51%) MCSE
13 2 (0.51%) Numerate Degree
13 2 (0.51%) PMI Certification
13 2 (0.51%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (4.30%) SLA
2 9 (2.28%) GDPR
3 5 (1.27%) Accessibility
3 5 (1.27%) Cyber Essentials
3 5 (1.27%) QA
3 5 (1.27%) WCAG
4 4 (1.01%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 4 (1.01%) Data Quality
4 4 (1.01%) NIST
5 3 (0.76%) GRC
5 3 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 2 (0.51%) IASME
7 1 (0.25%) Disclosure Scotland
7 1 (0.25%) FINRA
7 1 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 42001
7 1 (0.25%) MiFID
7 1 (0.25%) PMO
System Software
1 190 (48.10%) Active Directory
2 14 (3.54%) Hyper-V
2 14 (3.54%) VMware Infrastructure
3 12 (3.04%) Virtual Desktop
4 4 (1.01%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.51%) Docker
6 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 1 (0.25%) Terminal Services
6 1 (0.25%) Virtual Servers
6 1 (0.25%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 78 (19.75%) Microsoft Intune
2 21 (5.32%) SCCM
3 16 (4.05%) Jamf Pro
4 9 (2.28%) Single Sign-On
4 9 (2.28%) Terraform
5 4 (1.01%) WSUS
6 3 (0.76%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
7 2 (0.51%) Kubernetes
8 1 (0.25%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 1 (0.25%) Cisco CUCM
8 1 (0.25%) Tivoli
8 1 (0.25%) Tivoli Storage Manager
Vendors
1 293 (74.18%) Microsoft
2 65 (16.46%) ServiceNow
3 23 (5.82%) Cisco
4 22 (5.57%) iManage
5 18 (4.56%) VMware
6 17 (4.30%) Google
7 16 (4.05%) Bomgar
8 15 (3.80%) Citrix
9 13 (3.29%) Apple
10 12 (3.04%) Remedy
11 9 (2.28%) CyberArk
11 9 (2.28%) Sophos
12 7 (1.77%) BeyondTrust
12 7 (1.77%) Splunk
13 6 (1.52%) Ribbon
14 5 (1.27%) Adobe
14 5 (1.27%) Perforce
15 4 (1.01%) CheckPoint
15 4 (1.01%) Meraki
15 4 (1.01%) SAP