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

6 months to
13 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 30 27 24
Rank change year-on-year -3 -3 -1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 365 313 210 277
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 6.58% 6.32% 5.90%
As % of the Cloud Services category 17.56% 18.72% 17.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 219 135 195
10th Percentile £132 £156 £150
25th Percentile £160 £205 £189
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £225 £400 £270
Median % change year-on-year -43.75% +48.15% -13.60%
75th Percentile £438 £505 £431
90th Percentile £538 £625 £533
England median daily rate £385 £400 £300
% change year-on-year -3.75% +33.33% -17.81%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 9 23
10th Percentile £14.25 £16.41 £13.00
25th Percentile £15.19 £17.44 £15.88
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 £21.20
England median hourly rate £18.87 £21.46 £18.50
% change year-on-year -12.07% +16.00% +8.82%

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 1,782 1,122 1,577
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 37.47% 33.76% 33.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,290 743 1,170
10th Percentile £219 £275 £260
25th Percentile £360 £390 £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 £660 £650
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 20 53
10th Percentile £15.50 £17.44 £15.65
25th Percentile £18.87 £23.40 £17.72
Median hourly rate £42.69 £35.00 £23.61
Median % change year-on-year +21.96% +48.24% -5.56%
75th Percentile £60.00 £62.88 £46.18
90th Percentile £70.00 £97.18 £71.40
England median hourly rate £27.50 £28.21 £22.50
% change year-on-year -2.50% +25.36% -0.07%

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 13 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 13 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 13 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 -4 156 £190 -52.50% 90
Yorkshire -3 127 £304 -10.59% 75
North East +3 33 £225 -55.00% 33
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 96 (30.67%) SharePoint
2 68 (21.73%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (3.19%) Exchange Server 2013
4 7 (2.24%) Skype for Business
5 3 (0.96%) Confluence
6 2 (0.64%) IIS
7 1 (0.32%) Apache
7 1 (0.32%) CMS
7 1 (0.32%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 53 (16.93%) Microsoft Office
2 27 (8.63%) Microsoft Excel
3 18 (5.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (2.56%) MS Visio
5 5 (1.60%) Acrobat
6 1 (0.32%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.32%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 8 (2.56%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.32%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.32%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 120 (38.34%) Azure
2 54 (17.25%) Entra ID
3 49 (15.65%) OneDrive
4 27 (8.63%) Power Platform
5 19 (6.07%) Microsoft Purview
6 14 (4.47%) Microsoft Copilot
7 13 (4.15%) SaaS
8 9 (2.88%) AWS
9 8 (2.56%) PowerApps
10 7 (2.24%) GCP
11 6 (1.92%) Power Automate
12 5 (1.60%) Azure Logic Apps
12 5 (1.60%) Copilot Studio
12 5 (1.60%) Dynamics 365
12 5 (1.60%) Rubrik
13 4 (1.28%) Azure Monitor
13 4 (1.28%) Azure Sentinel
13 4 (1.28%) Google Workspace
13 4 (1.28%) Mimecast
14 3 (0.96%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 28 (8.95%) Wi-Fi
2 21 (6.71%) DNS
3 18 (5.75%) VPN
4 16 (5.11%) LAN
4 16 (5.11%) TCP/IP
4 16 (5.11%) Wireless
5 15 (4.79%) WAN
6 13 (4.15%) Skype
7 12 (3.83%) DHCP
8 8 (2.56%) VLAN
9 7 (2.24%) Firewall
9 7 (2.24%) Internet
10 6 (1.92%) Unified Communications
11 4 (1.28%) VoIP
12 2 (0.64%) DKIM
12 2 (0.64%) DMARC
12 2 (0.64%) Kerberos
12 2 (0.64%) NetScaler
12 2 (0.64%) SMTP
12 2 (0.64%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (3.51%) Power BI
2 3 (0.96%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.32%) Azure SQL Database
3 1 (0.32%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 6 (1.92%) JIRA
2 1 (0.32%) Appium
2 1 (0.32%) Jenkins
2 1 (0.32%) MSI
2 1 (0.32%) Selenium
General
1 141 (45.05%) Social Skills
2 54 (17.25%) Finance
3 32 (10.22%) Public Sector
4 27 (8.63%) Analytical Skills
5 25 (7.99%) Legal
6 17 (5.43%) Banking
7 12 (3.83%) Manufacturing
7 12 (3.83%) Telecoms
8 11 (3.51%) Documentation Skills
8 11 (3.51%) Electronics
8 11 (3.51%) Marketing
9 7 (2.24%) Organisational Skills
10 6 (1.92%) Retail
11 5 (1.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 4 (1.28%) General Ledger
13 3 (0.96%) Military
14 2 (0.64%) Local Government
14 2 (0.64%) Pharmaceutical
15 1 (0.32%) Italian Language
15 1 (0.32%) Polish Language
Job Titles
1 90 (28.75%) IT Support
2 69 (22.04%) Analyst
3 41 (13.10%) Support Engineer
4 37 (11.82%) 2nd Line Support
5 35 (11.18%) Support Analyst
6 32 (10.22%) 1st Line Support
7 31 (9.90%) IT Engineer
8 25 (7.99%) Architect
9 24 (7.67%) Desktop Support
9 24 (7.67%) IT Support Engineer
10 20 (6.39%) IT Analyst
11 18 (5.75%) IT Support Analyst
12 17 (5.43%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 17 (5.43%) Microsoft 365 Architect
12 17 (5.43%) Senior
12 17 (5.43%) Service Analyst
13 16 (5.11%) Service Desk Analyst
14 15 (4.79%) Business Analyst
15 12 (3.83%) IT Technician
15 12 (3.83%) Support Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (4.15%) Microsoft Graph
2 5 (1.60%) OAuth
3 3 (0.96%) LDAP
3 3 (0.96%) OpenID
3 3 (0.96%) SAML
4 2 (0.64%) JSON
4 2 (0.64%) OAuth2
4 2 (0.64%) XMPP
5 1 (0.32%) Middleware
5 1 (0.32%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 31 (9.90%) Onboarding
2 19 (6.07%) Enterprise Software
3 12 (3.83%) Data Centre
4 11 (3.51%) Driving Licence
5 10 (3.19%) CMDB
6 6 (1.92%) Video Conferencing
7 5 (1.60%) iPhone
7 5 (1.60%) Low-Code
7 5 (1.60%) Mobile App
8 4 (1.28%) Data Protection Act
8 4 (1.28%) Private Cloud
9 3 (0.96%) Clustering
9 3 (0.96%) Management Information System
9 3 (0.96%) Product Ownership
9 3 (0.96%) Public Cloud
10 2 (0.64%) Smartphone
10 2 (0.64%) Team-Oriented Environment
11 1 (0.32%) CCTV
11 1 (0.32%) Fat Client
11 1 (0.32%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 177 (56.55%) Windows
2 76 (24.28%) Windows 10
3 24 (7.67%) Mac OS
4 23 (7.35%) Windows Server
5 19 (6.07%) Android
6 10 (3.19%) Apple iOS
7 4 (1.28%) Windows Server 2012
8 3 (0.96%) Linux
8 3 (0.96%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.32%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 1 (0.32%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.32%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 73 (23.32%) Customer Service
2 72 (23.00%) Problem-Solving
3 57 (18.21%) ITIL
4 45 (14.38%) Migration
5 37 (11.82%) ITSM
6 33 (10.54%) Business Intelligence
7 31 (9.90%) Service Management
8 24 (7.67%) Stakeholder Management
9 22 (7.03%) Cybersecurity
10 21 (6.71%) Continuous Improvement
10 21 (6.71%) Problem Management
11 19 (6.07%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 19 (6.07%) Mobile Device Management
11 19 (6.07%) User Experience
12 18 (5.75%) Agile
12 18 (5.75%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 17 (5.43%) Service Delivery
14 16 (5.11%) Digital Transformation Programme
15 15 (4.79%) Project Delivery
15 15 (4.79%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 42 (13.42%) PowerShell
2 6 (1.92%) Kusto Query Language
3 4 (1.28%) Bash
4 2 (0.64%) JavaScript
4 2 (0.64%) Python
5 1 (0.32%) Java
5 1 (0.32%) Perl
5 1 (0.32%) SQL
Qualifications
1 45 (14.38%) Degree
2 37 (11.82%) Security Cleared
3 30 (9.58%) SC Cleared
4 13 (4.15%) Microsoft Certification
5 12 (3.83%) Computer Science Degree
6 6 (1.92%) BPSS Clearance
7 5 (1.60%) A+ Certification
7 5 (1.60%) DBS Check
8 3 (0.96%) PMI Certification
8 3 (0.96%) PMP
9 2 (0.64%) ACSP
9 2 (0.64%) ACTC
9 2 (0.64%) Azure Certification
10 1 (0.32%) CCNA
10 1 (0.32%) Cisco Certification
10 1 (0.32%) CISM
10 1 (0.32%) CISSP
10 1 (0.32%) MCP
10 1 (0.32%) MCT
10 1 (0.32%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (5.75%) GDPR
2 10 (3.19%) SLA
3 6 (1.92%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (1.28%) Data Quality
4 4 (1.28%) FINRA
4 4 (1.28%) MiFID
5 3 (0.96%) NIST
5 3 (0.96%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.32%) COBIT
6 1 (0.32%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.32%) QA
6 1 (0.32%) SOC 2
System Software
1 146 (46.65%) Active Directory
2 13 (4.15%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (3.51%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (1.60%) Hyper-V
5 4 (1.28%) vSphere
6 2 (0.64%) Docker
Systems Management
1 66 (21.09%) Microsoft Intune
2 41 (13.10%) SCCM
3 7 (2.24%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 7 (2.24%) Jamf Pro
4 6 (1.92%) Single Sign-On
5 5 (1.60%) Norton AntiVirus
6 3 (0.96%) Kubernetes
6 3 (0.96%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
7 2 (0.64%) Microsoft Clustering
8 1 (0.32%) AirWatch
8 1 (0.32%) Ansible
8 1 (0.32%) SCOM
8 1 (0.32%) Terraform
Vendors
1 223 (71.25%) Microsoft
2 40 (12.78%) ServiceNow
3 27 (8.63%) Apple
3 27 (8.63%) Cisco
4 16 (5.11%) HP
4 16 (5.11%) VMware
5 15 (4.79%) Citrix
6 11 (3.51%) Dell
6 11 (3.51%) SAP
7 9 (2.88%) Meraki
8 8 (2.56%) Google
8 8 (2.56%) Remedy
8 8 (2.56%) Veeam
9 6 (1.92%) Bomgar
9 6 (1.92%) iManage
10 5 (1.60%) Adobe
10 5 (1.60%) McAfee
10 5 (1.60%) MobileIron
10 5 (1.60%) Symantec
11 3 (0.96%) Workday