Public Sector Contract Job Trends in the North of England

Public Sector
England > North of England

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Public Sector in contract job vacancies in the North of England. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Public Sector over the 6 months leading up to 6 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 13 16 15
Rank change year-on-year +3 -1 -7
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 754 443 364
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 9.87% 10.90% 8.84%
As % of the General category 18.62% 17.93% 15.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 524 320 202
10th Percentile £323 £300 £254
25th Percentile £400 £400 £401
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year - -5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £580 £550 £567
90th Percentile £672 £638 £650
England median daily rate £525 £500 £519
% change year-on-year +5.00% -3.66% -5.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 34 12 16
10th Percentile £15.40 £14.17 £14.85
25th Percentile £21.49 £17.30 £15.87
Median hourly rate £25.49 £20.07 £18.53
Median % change year-on-year +27.01% +8.30% -2.46%
75th Percentile £61.02 £22.42 £28.94
90th Percentile £85.00 £63.04 £33.00
England median hourly rate £21.35 £22.00 £23.99
% change year-on-year -2.95% -8.30% +14.24%

All General Skills
North of England

Public Sector falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring general skills in the North of England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 4,050 2,471 2,304
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England 53.02% 60.80% 55.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,384 1,618 1,233
10th Percentile £283 £240 £294
25th Percentile £400 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £468 £500
Median % change year-on-year +6.95% -6.50% -
75th Percentile £588 £550 £580
90th Percentile £675 £665 £675
England median daily rate £525 £500 £530
% change year-on-year +5.00% -5.66% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 456 151 126
10th Percentile £13.72 £13.00 £14.06
25th Percentile £17.00 £15.50 £16.95
Median hourly rate £31.16 £22.14 £28.25
Median % change year-on-year +40.72% -21.63% +40.76%
75th Percentile £43.99 £47.12 £43.10
90th Percentile £75.50 £70.00 £60.25
England median hourly rate £29.03 £25.15 £35.36
% change year-on-year +15.41% -28.87% +17.87%

Public Sector
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Public Sector relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England.

Public Sector job vacancy trend in the North of England

Public Sector
Daily Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Public Sector.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Public Sector

Public Sector
Daily Rate Histogram in the North of England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Public Sector in the North of England over the 6 months to 6 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Public Sector in the North of England

Public Sector
Hourly Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Public Sector.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North of England citing Public Sector

Public Sector
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North of England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Public Sector in the North of England over the 6 months to 6 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Public Sector in the North of England

Public Sector
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 Public Sector within the North of England region over the 6 months to 6 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
Yorkshire +3 281 £470 -6.00% 212
North West -13 269 £570 +26.67% 384
North East +1 223 £450 -10.00% 146
Public Sector
England

Public Sector
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 23 (3.05%) Apache Spark
2 22 (2.92%) Apache
2 22 (2.92%) Apache Airflow
3 18 (2.39%) Confluence
3 18 (2.39%) Jupyter
4 17 (2.25%) SharePoint
5 9 (1.19%) Microsoft Exchange
5 9 (1.19%) SAS
6 5 (0.66%) CMS
6 5 (0.66%) WordPress
7 4 (0.53%) SharePoint 2013
8 3 (0.40%) Palantir Foundry
9 2 (0.27%) nginx
9 2 (0.27%) Oracle Workflow
10 1 (0.13%) Drupal
10 1 (0.13%) Skype for Business
10 1 (0.13%) Traefik
Applications
1 6 (0.80%) Spreadsheet
2 4 (0.53%) Microsoft Project
3 3 (0.40%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (0.40%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.27%) Microsoft Excel
4 2 (0.27%) Navisworks
4 2 (0.27%) ProjectWise
4 2 (0.27%) Revit
5 1 (0.13%) AutoCAD
5 1 (0.13%) Sketch
5 1 (0.13%) UserZoom
Business Applications
1 4 (0.53%) Oracle EBS
1 4 (0.53%) SAP S/4HANA
1 4 (0.53%) SystmOne
2 2 (0.27%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.27%) Integrated Workplace Management System
2 2 (0.27%) NEC Housing
2 2 (0.27%) Oracle Cash Management
2 2 (0.27%) Oracle Payables
2 2 (0.27%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 1 (0.13%) Primavera
3 1 (0.13%) Salesforce CRM
3 1 (0.13%) SAP ERP
3 1 (0.13%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 196 (25.99%) AWS
2 113 (14.99%) Azure
3 44 (5.84%) Power Platform
4 42 (5.57%) GitHub
4 42 (5.57%) Serverless
5 37 (4.91%) Microsoft 365
6 33 (4.38%) GitHub Actions
7 30 (3.98%) Amazon S3
7 30 (3.98%) AWS Lambda
8 25 (3.32%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 24 (3.18%) Azure DevOps
10 23 (3.05%) GCP
11 22 (2.92%) SaaS
12 21 (2.79%) Amazon EKS
12 21 (2.79%) Google Analytics
13 20 (2.65%) OCI
14 15 (1.99%) Amazon ECS
15 14 (1.86%) Amazon EC2
15 14 (1.86%) Google Workspace
16 11 (1.46%) Amazon SQS
Communications & Networking
1 29 (3.85%) Firewall
2 22 (2.92%) WAN
3 21 (2.79%) BGP
3 21 (2.79%) OSPF
4 20 (2.65%) Wi-Fi
5 15 (1.99%) DNS
5 15 (1.99%) LAN
6 14 (1.86%) WLAN
7 13 (1.72%) BIG-IP
7 13 (1.72%) SD-WAN
7 13 (1.72%) VXLAN
8 12 (1.59%) Ethernet VPN
8 12 (1.59%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
9 10 (1.33%) TCP/IP
10 9 (1.19%) IPsec
10 9 (1.19%) VPN
11 8 (1.06%) Cisco ASA
11 8 (1.06%) Cisco Firepower
11 8 (1.06%) VoIP
11 8 (1.06%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (4.38%) MongoDB
2 32 (4.24%) Power BI
3 24 (3.18%) Data Warehouse
4 21 (2.79%) Metadata
5 12 (1.59%) Relational Database
6 10 (1.33%) Amazon RDS
6 10 (1.33%) Looker
7 9 (1.19%) DynamoDB
8 8 (1.06%) Oracle Database
9 7 (0.93%) DocumentDB
9 7 (0.93%) NoSQL
10 6 (0.80%) PostgreSQL
10 6 (0.80%) RDBMS
11 5 (0.66%) Amazon Redshift
11 5 (0.66%) BigQuery
11 5 (0.66%) SQL Server
11 5 (0.66%) Tableau
12 4 (0.53%) Amazon Athena
12 4 (0.53%) Big Data
12 4 (0.53%) Oracle Exadata
Development Applications
1 70 (9.28%) GitLab
2 29 (3.85%) JIRA
3 28 (3.71%) Jenkins
4 22 (2.92%) Cucumber
4 22 (2.92%) Git
4 22 (2.92%) Selenium
5 13 (1.72%) REST Assured
6 8 (1.06%) fastlane
6 8 (1.06%) JUnit
7 6 (0.80%) Cypress.io
8 5 (0.66%) Gatling
8 5 (0.66%) Gradle
8 5 (0.66%) TestNG
9 4 (0.53%) Android Studio
9 4 (0.53%) Crashlytics
9 4 (0.53%) Maven
9 4 (0.53%) Serenity BDD
9 4 (0.53%) Sonatype Nexus
9 4 (0.53%) WebDriver
9 4 (0.53%) Xcode
General
1 229 (30.37%) Social Skills
2 62 (8.22%) Finance
3 58 (7.69%) Military
4 55 (7.29%) Analytical Skills
5 54 (7.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 25 (3.32%) Influencing Skills
7 21 (2.79%) Local Government
8 13 (1.72%) Legal
9 12 (1.59%) Police
10 9 (1.19%) Documentation Skills
10 9 (1.19%) Presentation Skills
11 8 (1.06%) Marketing
11 8 (1.06%) Organisational Skills
12 5 (0.66%) Retail
13 4 (0.53%) Banking
13 4 (0.53%) General Ledger
13 4 (0.53%) Law
13 4 (0.53%) Publishing
14 2 (0.27%) Digital Health
15 1 (0.13%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 131 (17.37%) Developer
2 123 (16.31%) Senior
3 106 (14.06%) Lead
4 77 (10.21%) Analyst
5 74 (9.81%) Architect
6 46 (6.10%) DevOps Engineer
7 44 (5.84%) Designer
8 34 (4.51%) Business Analyst
9 28 (3.71%) Senior Developer
10 27 (3.58%) Delivery Manager
10 27 (3.58%) Network Engineer
11 26 (3.45%) Java Developer
11 26 (3.45%) Software Developer
12 25 (3.32%) AWS Engineer
13 24 (3.18%) Data Engineer
14 22 (2.92%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 22 (2.92%) Solutions Architect
14 22 (2.92%) Test Engineer
15 21 (2.79%) AWS DevOps Engineer
15 21 (2.79%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 111 (14.72%) Terraform
2 42 (5.57%) Node.js
3 32 (4.24%) REST
4 30 (3.98%) Spring Boot
5 29 (3.85%) Kafka
5 29 (3.85%) RESTful
6 27 (3.58%) Spring
7 16 (2.12%) CSS
8 15 (1.99%) HTML
9 12 (1.59%) Web Services
10 11 (1.46%) OAuth
10 11 (1.46%) PySpark
11 10 (1.33%) Play Framework
11 10 (1.33%) Playwright
11 10 (1.33%) React
12 9 (1.19%) AngularJS
12 9 (1.19%) Jest
12 9 (1.19%) Nunjucks
13 8 (1.06%) Express.js
13 8 (1.06%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 60 (7.96%) Cloud Native
2 56 (7.43%) NHS
3 44 (5.84%) Product Ownership
4 21 (2.79%) Data Centre
5 18 (2.39%) Management Information System
6 17 (2.25%) Onboarding
7 14 (1.86%) Legacy Systems
8 12 (1.59%) Enterprise Software
8 12 (1.59%) Hybrid Cloud
8 12 (1.59%) Self-Motivation
9 9 (1.19%) Blog
9 9 (1.19%) Mobile App
10 8 (1.06%) CMDB
10 8 (1.06%) Public Cloud
11 7 (0.93%) Data Structures
11 7 (0.93%) Distributed Systems
11 7 (0.93%) PKI
12 5 (0.66%) Mainframe
12 5 (0.66%) Taxonomies
13 4 (0.53%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 24 (3.18%) Linux
2 12 (1.59%) Unix
3 7 (0.93%) Android
3 7 (0.93%) Apple iOS
3 7 (0.93%) Windows
4 6 (0.80%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 5 (0.66%) Mac OS
6 4 (0.53%) AIX
7 3 (0.40%) CentOS
8 1 (0.13%) Mac OS X
8 1 (0.13%) Solaris
8 1 (0.13%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
8 1 (0.13%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.13%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.13%) Windows 7
8 1 (0.13%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 271 (35.94%) Agile
2 178 (23.61%) Stakeholder Management
3 166 (22.02%) CI/CD
4 136 (18.04%) DevOps
5 119 (15.78%) Continuous Improvement
5 119 (15.78%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 94 (12.47%) Infrastructure as Code
7 88 (11.67%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
8 87 (11.54%) Digital Transformation Programme
9 80 (10.61%) Test Automation
10 77 (10.21%) Analytics
11 75 (9.95%) User Research
12 70 (9.28%) Decision-Making
12 70 (9.28%) Mentoring
13 68 (9.02%) Roadmaps
14 66 (8.75%) Containerisation
15 64 (8.49%) Microservices
16 60 (7.96%) User Experience
17 58 (7.69%) Problem-Solving
18 54 (7.16%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 95 (12.60%) Python
2 76 (10.08%) SQL
3 71 (9.42%) Java
4 48 (6.37%) JavaScript
5 32 (4.24%) TypeScript
6 16 (2.12%) Scala
7 13 (1.72%) Bash
8 10 (1.33%) Kotlin
9 9 (1.19%) PowerShell
10 7 (0.93%) Shell Script
11 6 (0.80%) C#
12 5 (0.66%) PHP
13 4 (0.53%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 4 (0.53%) Swift
14 3 (0.40%) Go
14 3 (0.40%) Ruby
15 2 (0.27%) Groovy
15 2 (0.27%) PL/SQL
15 2 (0.27%) T-SQL
16 1 (0.13%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 318 (42.18%) Security Cleared
2 270 (35.81%) SC Cleared
3 78 (10.34%) BPSS Clearance
4 17 (2.25%) Degree
5 15 (1.99%) Cisco Certification
6 14 (1.86%) AWS Certification
6 14 (1.86%) CCNP
7 9 (1.19%) Azure Certification
8 6 (0.80%) DBS Check
8 6 (0.80%) DV Cleared
9 4 (0.53%) ITIL Certification
10 3 (0.40%) PMI Certification
11 2 (0.27%) CIPFA
11 2 (0.27%) CISM
11 2 (0.27%) CISSP
11 2 (0.27%) ISTQB
11 2 (0.27%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
11 2 (0.27%) Microsoft Certification
11 2 (0.27%) PMP
11 2 (0.27%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 98 (13.00%) Accessibility
2 48 (6.37%) Data Quality
3 47 (6.23%) QA
4 40 (5.31%) WCAG
5 16 (2.12%) GDPR
6 11 (1.46%) PMO
7 9 (1.19%) NCSC
8 8 (1.06%) Actionable Recommendations
9 7 (0.93%) SLA
10 5 (0.66%) HL7
11 3 (0.40%) NIST
12 2 (0.27%) IFRS
12 2 (0.27%) ISO 19650
12 2 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27001
12 2 (0.27%) SNOMED CT
13 1 (0.13%) Cyber Essentials
13 1 (0.13%) Disclosure Scotland
13 1 (0.13%) NIST 800
13 1 (0.13%) Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)
System Software
1 79 (10.48%) Docker
2 11 (1.46%) Active Directory
3 5 (0.66%) Oracle RAC
4 1 (0.13%) BitLocker
4 1 (0.13%) Microsoft App-V
Systems Management
1 52 (6.90%) Kubernetes
2 26 (3.45%) Ansible
3 23 (3.05%) Grafana
4 14 (1.86%) Prometheus
5 10 (1.33%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (0.66%) Data Guard
7 4 (0.53%) Oracle RMAN
7 4 (0.53%) Packer
8 3 (0.40%) Consul
8 3 (0.40%) Kibana
8 3 (0.40%) Progress Chef
8 3 (0.40%) ZABBIX
9 2 (0.27%) HAProxy
9 2 (0.27%) Istio
9 2 (0.27%) SCCM
10 1 (0.13%) Argo
10 1 (0.13%) CASB
10 1 (0.13%) Cisco CUCM
10 1 (0.13%) linkerd
10 1 (0.13%) Puppet
Vendors
1 58 (7.69%) Microsoft
2 40 (5.31%) Google
3 29 (3.85%) Oracle
4 24 (3.18%) ServiceNow
5 22 (2.92%) Cisco
6 18 (2.39%) Splunk
7 17 (2.25%) Dynatrace
7 17 (2.25%) Palo Alto
8 13 (1.72%) F5
9 11 (1.46%) Arista
9 11 (1.46%) Aruba
9 11 (1.46%) Databricks
9 11 (1.46%) Trend Micro
10 10 (1.33%) CheckPoint
11 9 (1.19%) SAP
12 6 (0.80%) Informatica
13 5 (0.66%) Apple
13 5 (0.66%) Confluent
13 5 (0.66%) Palantir
14 4 (0.53%) UiPath