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

6 months to
1 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 37 40 37
Rank change year-on-year +3 -3 -11
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 365 404 221 181
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 5.28% 5.49% 4.41%
As % of the Cloud Services category 16.00% 15.08% 13.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 260 135 111
10th Percentile £162 £127 £158
25th Percentile £190 £170 £191
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £305 £228 £375
Median % change year-on-year +34.07% -39.33% +17.19%
75th Percentile £491 £446 £500
90th Percentile £551 £563 £588
England median daily rate £400 £325 £400
% change year-on-year +23.08% -18.75% +14.29%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 15 9
10th Percentile £13.45 - £16.35
25th Percentile £16.19 £12.82 £17.44
Median hourly rate £19.00 £16.00 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year +18.75% -23.81% +20.00%
75th Percentile £28.75 £18.87 £23.14
90th Percentile £178.75 £18.95 £25.84
England median hourly rate £17.75 £20.43 £22.00
% change year-on-year -13.12% -7.16% +18.53%

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 2,525 1,466 1,302
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 33.02% 36.44% 31.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,619 1,052 835
10th Percentile £300 £295 £300
25th Percentile £400 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £453 £490
Median % change year-on-year +10.38% -7.55% -2.00%
75th Percentile £588 £538 £575
90th Percentile £675 £638 £650
England median daily rate £525 £501 £530
% change year-on-year +4.90% -5.57% -3.59%
Number of hourly rates quoted 119 29 22
10th Percentile £17.10 £12.82 £12.54
25th Percentile £26.25 £15.50 £20.50
Median hourly rate £60.00 £18.87 £29.25
Median % change year-on-year +217.97% -35.49% -11.36%
75th Percentile £70.00 £52.50 £46.18
90th Percentile £77.00 £71.91 £71.33
England median hourly rate £32.50 £25.15 £35.00
% change year-on-year +29.22% -28.14% +6.06%

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 1 October 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 1 October 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 1 October 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 +14 235 £319 +27.60% 189
Yorkshire -3 147 £225 +2.27% 130
North East -34 25 £273 +39.74% 38
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
1 147 (36.39%) SharePoint
2 82 (20.30%) Microsoft Exchange
3 15 (3.71%) SharePoint Server
4 5 (1.24%) Confluence
5 1 (0.25%) CMS
5 1 (0.25%) Exchange Server 2010
5 1 (0.25%) IIS
5 1 (0.25%) Mendix
5 1 (0.25%) SharePoint 2010
5 1 (0.25%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 23 (5.69%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (2.72%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.99%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (0.99%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.74%) Acrobat
5 1 (0.25%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 8 (1.98%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.50%) SAP R/3
2 2 (0.50%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.25%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.25%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 159 (39.36%) Azure
2 120 (29.70%) Entra ID
3 69 (17.08%) Power Platform
4 61 (15.10%) OneDrive
5 54 (13.37%) Microsoft Copilot
6 32 (7.92%) PowerApps
7 31 (7.67%) Power Automate
8 18 (4.46%) Azure AI
9 16 (3.96%) AWS
9 16 (3.96%) Azure DevOps
10 15 (3.71%) GCP
11 13 (3.22%) SaaS
12 11 (2.72%) GitHub
12 11 (2.72%) Google Workspace
12 11 (2.72%) Microsoft Purview
13 9 (2.23%) Copilot Studio
13 9 (2.23%) Miro
14 7 (1.73%) Google Drive
15 6 (1.49%) GitHub Actions
16 5 (1.24%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 37 (9.16%) VPN
2 32 (7.92%) DNS
3 23 (5.69%) DHCP
4 22 (5.45%) Firewall
5 18 (4.46%) VLAN
6 13 (3.22%) LAN
6 13 (3.22%) TCP/IP
7 12 (2.97%) Wi-Fi
7 12 (2.97%) Wireless
8 9 (2.23%) SAN
8 9 (2.23%) VoIP
8 9 (2.23%) WLAN
9 8 (1.98%) WAN
10 7 (1.73%) BGP
10 7 (1.73%) Cisco ASA
10 7 (1.73%) Cisco Nexus
10 7 (1.73%) OSPF
11 6 (1.49%) Cisco Firepower
11 6 (1.49%) Network Security
11 6 (1.49%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (5.94%) Power BI
2 9 (2.23%) SQL Server
3 6 (1.49%) Amazon RDS
4 4 (0.99%) Metadata
5 2 (0.50%) EDRMS
6 1 (0.25%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.25%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.25%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 17 (4.21%) JIRA
2 3 (0.74%) Browser DevTools
2 3 (0.74%) Claude Code
2 3 (0.74%) Fiddler
2 3 (0.74%) MSI
3 2 (0.50%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
3 2 (0.50%) Zephyr
4 1 (0.25%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.25%) Terragrunt
General
1 154 (38.12%) Social Skills
2 48 (11.88%) Analytical Skills
3 36 (8.91%) Public Sector
4 34 (8.42%) Finance
5 29 (7.18%) Legal
6 16 (3.96%) Organisational Skills
7 15 (3.71%) Manufacturing
8 12 (2.97%) Law
9 9 (2.23%) Documentation Skills
10 6 (1.49%) Banking
11 5 (1.24%) Games
11 5 (1.24%) Influencing Skills
11 5 (1.24%) Telecoms
12 4 (0.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 4 (0.99%) Pharmaceutical
12 4 (0.99%) Police
12 4 (0.99%) Retail
13 3 (0.74%) Presentation Skills
14 2 (0.50%) Advertising
15 1 (0.25%) Billing
Job Titles
1 86 (21.29%) IT Support
2 59 (14.60%) Support Engineer
3 49 (12.13%) IT Engineer
4 48 (11.88%) Analyst
4 48 (11.88%) IT Support Engineer
5 29 (7.18%) 2nd Line Support
6 28 (6.93%) Architect
7 27 (6.68%) Service Analyst
7 27 (6.68%) Service Desk Analyst
8 25 (6.19%) Senior
9 22 (5.45%) Lead
10 21 (5.20%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 18 (4.46%) 1st Line Support
12 17 (4.21%) Developer
12 17 (4.21%) IT Analyst
12 17 (4.21%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
13 16 (3.96%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
13 16 (3.96%) Solutions Architect
14 15 (3.71%) Deployment Engineer
14 15 (3.71%) Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (2.72%) Microsoft Graph
2 8 (1.98%) OAuth
2 8 (1.98%) Terraform
3 5 (1.24%) OpenID
3 5 (1.24%) SAML
3 5 (1.24%) YAML
4 3 (0.74%) FIDO
4 3 (0.74%) OAuth2
5 2 (0.50%) ADO
5 2 (0.50%) JSON
5 2 (0.50%) LDAP
5 2 (0.50%) ODBC
5 2 (0.50%) React
5 2 (0.50%) REST
5 2 (0.50%) SPFx
5 2 (0.50%) XSLT
6 1 (0.25%) A2A Protocol
6 1 (0.25%) EDI
6 1 (0.25%) HTML5 Canvas
6 1 (0.25%) Model Context Protocol
Miscellaneous
1 34 (8.42%) Onboarding
2 19 (4.70%) Driving Licence
3 18 (4.46%) Enterprise Software
4 15 (3.71%) CMDB
5 13 (3.22%) Management Information System
6 12 (2.97%) Data Centre
7 10 (2.48%) Analytical Mindset
8 9 (2.23%) Blackberry
8 9 (2.23%) Self-Motivation
9 8 (1.98%) Mobile App
9 8 (1.98%) Video Conferencing
10 7 (1.73%) Handset
11 6 (1.49%) Data Protection Act
12 5 (1.24%) Animation
12 5 (1.24%) PKI
13 4 (0.99%) NHS
13 4 (0.99%) Product Ownership
13 4 (0.99%) Smartphone
14 3 (0.74%) Legacy Systems
14 3 (0.74%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 218 (53.96%) Windows
2 77 (19.06%) Windows 10
3 52 (12.87%) Windows Server
4 27 (6.68%) Android
5 25 (6.19%) Apple iOS
6 8 (1.98%) Mac OS
7 7 (1.73%) Linux
8 5 (1.24%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (0.74%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.50%) Windows 7
10 2 (0.50%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.25%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.25%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 101 (25.00%) Problem-Solving
2 90 (22.28%) ITIL
3 85 (21.04%) Customer Service
4 47 (11.63%) Service Management
5 43 (10.64%) Continuous Improvement
6 38 (9.41%) ITSM
6 38 (9.41%) Migration
7 34 (8.42%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 32 (7.92%) Agile
9 31 (7.67%) Stakeholder Management
9 31 (7.67%) User Experience
10 29 (7.18%) AI
10 29 (7.18%) Incident Management
11 27 (6.68%) DevOps
12 25 (6.19%) Cybersecurity
13 24 (5.94%) Computer Science
14 22 (5.45%) Data Protection
15 21 (5.20%) Analytics
15 21 (5.20%) Change Management
15 21 (5.20%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 46 (11.39%) PowerShell
2 10 (2.48%) Python
3 6 (1.49%) SQL
4 5 (1.24%) T-SQL
4 5 (1.24%) TypeScript
5 4 (0.99%) JavaScript
6 3 (0.74%) C#
7 2 (0.50%) Bicep
8 1 (0.25%) Bash
8 1 (0.25%) C
8 1 (0.25%) Google Apps Script
8 1 (0.25%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 66 (16.34%) Degree
2 54 (13.37%) Security Cleared
3 36 (8.91%) SC Cleared
4 27 (6.68%) Microsoft Certification
5 23 (5.69%) Computer Science Degree
6 16 (3.96%) BPSS Clearance
7 9 (2.23%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 8 (1.98%) A+ Certification
8 8 (1.98%) Cisco Certification
8 8 (1.98%) Network+ Certification
9 7 (1.73%) CCNP
9 7 (1.73%) DV Cleared
10 6 (1.49%) DBS Check
11 5 (1.24%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 4 (0.99%) Azure Certification
13 3 (0.74%) PMI Certification
13 3 (0.74%) PMP
14 2 (0.50%) ITIL Certification
14 2 (0.50%) MCSE
14 2 (0.50%) Numerate Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (5.94%) SLA
2 7 (1.73%) Cyber Essentials
2 7 (1.73%) Data Quality
3 6 (1.49%) GDPR
4 5 (1.24%) Accessibility
4 5 (1.24%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 5 (1.24%) NIST
4 5 (1.24%) WCAG
5 4 (0.99%) GRC
5 4 (0.99%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 4 (0.99%) PMO
5 4 (0.99%) QA
6 2 (0.50%) Actionable Recommendations
6 2 (0.50%) IASME
7 1 (0.25%) Disclosure Scotland
7 1 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 42001
7 1 (0.25%) ITGC
System Software
1 194 (48.02%) Active Directory
2 24 (5.94%) VMware Infrastructure
3 22 (5.45%) Hyper-V
4 19 (4.70%) Virtual Desktop
5 3 (0.74%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.25%) 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 88 (21.78%) Microsoft Intune
2 29 (7.18%) SCCM
3 12 (2.97%) Jamf Pro
4 10 (2.48%) Single Sign-On
5 4 (0.99%) WSUS
6 3 (0.74%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
7 2 (0.50%) FortiGate
8 1 (0.25%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 1 (0.25%) Cisco CUCM
8 1 (0.25%) Failover Clustering
8 1 (0.25%) Kubernetes
8 1 (0.25%) PaperCut
8 1 (0.25%) Tivoli
8 1 (0.25%) Tivoli Storage Manager
Vendors
1 307 (75.99%) Microsoft
2 66 (16.34%) ServiceNow
3 29 (7.18%) VMware
4 28 (6.93%) Cisco
5 19 (4.70%) iManage
6 17 (4.21%) Google
7 16 (3.96%) Apple
8 15 (3.71%) Citrix
9 12 (2.97%) Remedy
10 11 (2.72%) Bomgar
11 9 (2.23%) CyberArk
11 9 (2.23%) Sophos
12 8 (1.98%) SAP
12 8 (1.98%) Splunk
13 7 (1.73%) BeyondTrust
13 7 (1.73%) CheckPoint
13 7 (1.73%) Okta
13 7 (1.73%) Ribbon
14 5 (1.24%) Meraki
14 5 (1.24%) Perforce