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

6 months to
10 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 29 26 28
Rank change year-on-year -3 +2 -3
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 365 358 223 282
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 7.01% 6.68% 5.65%
As % of the Cloud Services category 18.63% 19.46% 17.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 249 151 191
10th Percentile £133 £156 £150
25th Percentile £163 £205 £185
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £290 £375 £265
Median % change year-on-year -22.67% +41.51% -13.82%
75th Percentile £450 £500 £400
90th Percentile £558 £625 £500
England median daily rate £400 £389 £300
% change year-on-year +2.83% +29.67% -20.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 9 34
10th Percentile £14.25 £16.41 £13.00
25th Percentile £14.88 £17.44 £15.50
Median hourly rate £16.00 £22.09 £16.72
Median % change year-on-year -27.57% +32.14% -16.41%
75th Percentile £23.88 £24.18 £17.72
90th Percentile £69.29 £31.50 £19.60
England median hourly rate £18.87 £21.46 £17.72
% change year-on-year -12.07% +21.11% +1.26%

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 1,922 1,146 1,604
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 37.66% 34.31% 32.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,372 788 1,174
10th Percentile £225 £263 £263
25th Percentile £366 £385 £368
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £460 £475 £487
Median % change year-on-year -3.16% -2.46% -7.24%
75th Percentile £540 £575 £575
90th Percentile £625 £656 £650
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 81 18 72
10th Percentile £15.50 £17.44 £13.65
25th Percentile £21.46 £21.83 £15.50
Median hourly rate £55.00 £27.50 £20.77
Median % change year-on-year +100.00% +32.40% -50.55%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.50 £46.18
90th Percentile £77.50 £98.25 £60.42
England median hourly rate £35.91 £27.50 £22.15
% change year-on-year +30.58% +24.15% -11.40%

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 10 February 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 10 February 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 10 February 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 -7 164 £175 -53.33% 95
Yorkshire +8 163 £350 +12.90% 77
North East -1 34 £288 -42.50% 31
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
1 123 (34.36%) SharePoint
2 89 (24.86%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (2.79%) Exchange Server 2013
4 7 (1.96%) Skype for Business
5 6 (1.68%) Confluence
6 2 (0.56%) IIS
7 1 (0.28%) Apache
7 1 (0.28%) CMS
7 1 (0.28%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 62 (17.32%) Microsoft Office
2 24 (6.70%) Microsoft Excel
3 17 (4.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (2.23%) MS Visio
5 5 (1.40%) Acrobat
6 1 (0.28%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 11 (3.07%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.28%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.28%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 136 (37.99%) Azure
2 73 (20.39%) OneDrive
3 72 (20.11%) Entra ID
4 38 (10.61%) Microsoft Purview
5 32 (8.94%) Power Platform
6 23 (6.42%) Microsoft Copilot
7 17 (4.75%) SaaS
8 13 (3.63%) PowerApps
9 11 (3.07%) AWS
10 10 (2.79%) Rubrik
11 9 (2.51%) Power Automate
12 7 (1.96%) Azure Sentinel
13 6 (1.68%) Azure Logic Apps
13 6 (1.68%) GCP
14 5 (1.40%) Azure Monitor
14 5 (1.40%) Copilot Studio
15 4 (1.12%) Mimecast
15 4 (1.12%) Nutanix
16 3 (0.84%) Azure DevOps
16 3 (0.84%) ShareGate
Communications & Networking
1 36 (10.06%) Wi-Fi
2 25 (6.98%) DNS
3 22 (6.15%) LAN
4 21 (5.87%) WAN
5 20 (5.59%) VPN
6 18 (5.03%) TCP/IP
7 16 (4.47%) Skype
7 16 (4.47%) Wireless
8 14 (3.91%) DHCP
9 12 (3.35%) Firewall
10 10 (2.79%) Unified Communications
11 9 (2.51%) VLAN
12 7 (1.96%) Internet
13 5 (1.40%) VoIP
14 4 (1.12%) NetScaler
15 2 (0.56%) DKIM
15 2 (0.56%) DMARC
15 2 (0.56%) Kerberos
15 2 (0.56%) SMTP
16 1 (0.28%) PSTN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (3.35%) Power BI
2 3 (0.84%) SQL Server
3 2 (0.56%) Azure SQL Database
4 1 (0.28%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 8 (2.23%) JIRA
2 1 (0.28%) Appium
2 1 (0.28%) Jenkins
2 1 (0.28%) MSI
2 1 (0.28%) Selenium
General
1 158 (44.13%) Social Skills
2 70 (19.55%) Finance
3 41 (11.45%) Legal
4 35 (9.78%) Public Sector
5 32 (8.94%) Analytical Skills
6 20 (5.59%) Banking
7 19 (5.31%) Documentation Skills
8 15 (4.19%) Manufacturing
9 14 (3.91%) Telecoms
10 11 (3.07%) Electronics
10 11 (3.07%) Marketing
11 10 (2.79%) Organisational Skills
12 7 (1.96%) Retail
13 5 (1.40%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 4 (1.12%) General Ledger
14 4 (1.12%) Military
15 2 (0.56%) Local Government
15 2 (0.56%) Pharmaceutical
16 1 (0.28%) Law
16 1 (0.28%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 91 (25.42%) IT Support
2 71 (19.83%) Analyst
3 40 (11.17%) 2nd Line Support
3 40 (11.17%) Support Engineer
4 39 (10.89%) Architect
4 39 (10.89%) Support Analyst
5 36 (10.06%) 1st Line Support
6 32 (8.94%) Microsoft 365 Architect
7 31 (8.66%) IT Engineer
8 27 (7.54%) IT Support Engineer
9 25 (6.98%) Desktop Support
10 22 (6.15%) IT Analyst
11 21 (5.87%) IT Support Analyst
12 20 (5.59%) Senior
13 17 (4.75%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 17 (4.75%) Service Analyst
14 16 (4.47%) Service Desk Analyst
15 15 (4.19%) 2nd Line Engineer
15 15 (4.19%) Administrator
15 15 (4.19%) Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (8.10%) Microsoft Graph
2 5 (1.40%) OAuth
3 4 (1.12%) JSON
4 3 (0.84%) LDAP
4 3 (0.84%) OpenID
4 3 (0.84%) SAML
5 2 (0.56%) .NET
5 2 (0.56%) OAuth2
6 1 (0.28%) Middleware
6 1 (0.28%) Software Packaging
6 1 (0.28%) XML
6 1 (0.28%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 36 (10.06%) Onboarding
2 18 (5.03%) Enterprise Software
3 11 (3.07%) Driving Licence
4 10 (2.79%) CMDB
4 10 (2.79%) Data Centre
5 6 (1.68%) Data Protection Act
5 6 (1.68%) Low-Code
5 6 (1.68%) Private Cloud
5 6 (1.68%) Video Conferencing
6 5 (1.40%) iPhone
6 5 (1.40%) Mobile App
7 4 (1.12%) Management Information System
7 4 (1.12%) Public Cloud
8 3 (0.84%) NHS
8 3 (0.84%) Product Ownership
9 2 (0.56%) Smartphone
9 2 (0.56%) Team-Oriented Environment
10 1 (0.28%) CCTV
10 1 (0.28%) Smartcard
10 1 (0.28%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 194 (54.19%) Windows
2 90 (25.14%) Windows 10
3 24 (6.70%) Mac OS
3 24 (6.70%) Windows Server
4 20 (5.59%) Android
5 13 (3.63%) Apple iOS
6 6 (1.68%) Windows Server 2012
7 4 (1.12%) Linux
7 4 (1.12%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (0.56%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 1 (0.28%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 84 (23.46%) Customer Service
2 73 (20.39%) Problem-Solving
3 56 (15.64%) ITIL
4 51 (14.25%) Migration
5 40 (11.17%) ITSM
6 35 (9.78%) Service Management
7 34 (9.50%) Business Intelligence
8 27 (7.54%) Cybersecurity
8 27 (7.54%) Problem Management
9 25 (6.98%) Data Loss Prevention
9 25 (6.98%) Stakeholder Management
10 24 (6.70%) E-Discovery
11 23 (6.42%) User Experience
12 22 (6.15%) Agile
12 22 (6.15%) Incident Response
12 22 (6.15%) Records Management
13 20 (5.59%) Information Governance
14 19 (5.31%) Continuous Improvement
14 19 (5.31%) Mobile Device Management
14 19 (5.31%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 64 (17.88%) PowerShell
2 14 (3.91%) Kusto Query Language
3 6 (1.68%) Python
4 4 (1.12%) Bash
5 2 (0.56%) JavaScript
5 2 (0.56%) SQL
6 1 (0.28%) Java
6 1 (0.28%) Perl
Qualifications
1 50 (13.97%) Degree
2 41 (11.45%) Security Cleared
3 33 (9.22%) SC Cleared
4 17 (4.75%) Microsoft Certification
5 12 (3.35%) Computer Science Degree
6 6 (1.68%) A+ Certification
7 3 (0.84%) Azure Certification
7 3 (0.84%) BPSS Clearance
7 3 (0.84%) DBS Check
7 3 (0.84%) Network+ Certification
7 3 (0.84%) PMI Certification
7 3 (0.84%) PMP
8 2 (0.56%) ACSP
8 2 (0.56%) ACTC
8 2 (0.56%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 1 (0.28%) CCNA
9 1 (0.28%) CISM
9 1 (0.28%) CISSP
9 1 (0.28%) Master's Degree
9 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (9.50%) GDPR
2 11 (3.07%) FINRA
2 11 (3.07%) MiFID
3 10 (2.79%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 8 (2.23%) SLA
5 4 (1.12%) Data Quality
5 4 (1.12%) NIST
6 3 (0.84%) Cyber Essentials
6 3 (0.84%) PCI DSS
7 1 (0.28%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 1 (0.28%) COBIT
7 1 (0.28%) HIPAA
7 1 (0.28%) QA
7 1 (0.28%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 1 (0.28%) SOC 2
System Software
1 164 (45.81%) Active Directory
2 15 (4.19%) VMware Infrastructure
3 13 (3.63%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (1.68%) vSphere
5 5 (1.40%) Hyper-V
6 4 (1.12%) Docker
7 1 (0.28%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 71 (19.83%) Microsoft Intune
2 46 (12.85%) SCCM
3 10 (2.79%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 9 (2.51%) Jamf Pro
5 7 (1.96%) Single Sign-On
6 6 (1.68%) Norton AntiVirus
7 5 (1.40%) Kubernetes
8 3 (0.84%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
9 1 (0.28%) AirWatch
9 1 (0.28%) Ansible
9 1 (0.28%) SCOM
9 1 (0.28%) Terraform
Vendors
1 265 (74.02%) Microsoft
2 45 (12.57%) ServiceNow
3 31 (8.66%) Cisco
4 24 (6.70%) Apple
5 18 (5.03%) Citrix
6 17 (4.75%) VMware
7 16 (4.47%) HP
8 11 (3.07%) Bomgar
8 11 (3.07%) Dell
8 11 (3.07%) iManage
8 11 (3.07%) Remedy
8 11 (3.07%) SAP
9 10 (2.79%) Veeam
10 9 (2.51%) Meraki
11 7 (1.96%) Google
12 6 (1.68%) McAfee
12 6 (1.68%) Symantec
13 5 (1.40%) Adobe
13 5 (1.40%) MobileIron
14 4 (1.12%) F5