Degree Contract Job Trends in the North West

Academic Degree
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the North West with a requirement for Degree qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 19 October 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 27 22 17
Rank change year-on-year -5 -5 +18
Contract jobs citing Degree 149 165 232
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 6.61% 6.91% 8.06%
As % of the Qualifications category 19.43% 24.19% 27.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 79 70 123
10th Percentile £308 £353 £248
25th Percentile £366 £444 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £458 £538 £486
Median % change year-on-year -14.96% +10.70% -5.22%
75th Percentile £528 £587 £542
90th Percentile £703 £638 £636
England median daily rate £502 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +0.35% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 24 38
10th Percentile £15.50 £22.08 £15.75
25th Percentile £19.72 £31.25 £16.53
Median hourly rate £38.72 £45.59 £40.59
Median % change year-on-year -15.07% +12.32% +47.60%
75th Percentile £64.60 £62.50 £46.18
90th Percentile £77.38 £88.85 -
England median hourly rate £34.48 £50.00 £49.14
% change year-on-year -31.04% +1.75% +9.20%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
North West

Degree falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in the North West.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 767 682 858
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 34.03% 28.57% 29.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 488 346 568
10th Percentile £272 £294 £270
25th Percentile £400 £401 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% +2.39%
75th Percentile £638 £600 £638
90th Percentile £716 £675 £700
England median daily rate £525 £526 £550
% change year-on-year -0.24% -4.32% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 78 60 72
10th Percentile £15.50 £18.03 £16.25
25th Percentile £20.00 £24.14 £29.58
Median hourly rate £27.19 £42.66 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year -36.27% -7.62% +15.45%
75th Percentile £57.57 £56.34 -
90th Percentile £70.55 £79.31 £57.34
England median hourly rate £25.15 £52.50 £53.87
% change year-on-year -52.10% -2.54% +19.71%

Degree
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Degree relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Degree job vacancy trend in the North West

Degree
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Degree.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Degree

Degree
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Degree in the North West over the 6 months to 19 October 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Degree in the North West

Degree
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Degree.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Degree

Degree
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Degree in the North West over the 6 months to 19 October 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Degree in the North West

Degree
Contract Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Degree within the North West region over the 6 months to 19 October 2025. 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
Cheshire -12 65 £422 -21.51% 116
Manchester -3 55 £458 -8.50% 420
Lancashire -2 12 £540 +2.86% 164
Merseyside -6 9 £500 +42.86% 51
Cumbria +6 3 - - 31
Degree
England

Degree
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West 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 24 (16.11%) SharePoint
2 17 (11.41%) Confluence
3 9 (6.04%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (4.70%) Exchange Server 2013
4 7 (4.70%) Skype for Business
5 2 (1.34%) Mule
5 2 (1.34%) Mule ESB
6 1 (0.67%) Anypoint
6 1 (0.67%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.67%) JBoss
6 1 (0.67%) nginx
6 1 (0.67%) SAS
6 1 (0.67%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.67%) WebLogic
Applications
1 26 (17.45%) Microsoft Office
2 18 (12.08%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (6.71%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 10 (6.71%) MS Visio
4 6 (4.03%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (1.34%) Simulink
6 1 (0.67%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.67%) InVision
6 1 (0.67%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 4 (2.68%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (1.34%) SAP ERP
3 1 (0.67%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.67%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 1 (0.67%) Maximo
3 1 (0.67%) SAP IBP
3 1 (0.67%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 26 (17.45%) Azure
2 23 (15.44%) Microsoft 365
3 14 (9.40%) Power Platform
4 13 (8.72%) SaaS
5 10 (6.71%) OneDrive
6 9 (6.04%) AWS
7 6 (4.03%) GCP
8 4 (2.68%) Azure Logic Apps
8 4 (2.68%) Azure Sentinel
8 4 (2.68%) Entra ID
8 4 (2.68%) Google Analytics
8 4 (2.68%) Smartsheet
9 3 (2.01%) GitHub
10 2 (1.34%) Amazon SQS
10 2 (1.34%) AWS Lambda
10 2 (1.34%) Dynamics 365
10 2 (1.34%) OpenShift
10 2 (1.34%) Power Automate
10 2 (1.34%) PowerApps
10 2 (1.34%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 11 (7.38%) SSH
2 9 (6.04%) Network Security
3 7 (4.70%) DNS
3 7 (4.70%) Firewall
3 7 (4.70%) Skype
4 6 (4.03%) Internet
5 5 (3.36%) Unified Communications
5 5 (3.36%) Wi-Fi
6 3 (2.01%) Intrusion Detection
6 3 (2.01%) VPN
7 2 (1.34%) BGP
7 2 (1.34%) MPLS
7 2 (1.34%) OSPF
7 2 (1.34%) VLAN
8 1 (0.67%) IP Telephony
8 1 (0.67%) LAN
8 1 (0.67%) SSL
8 1 (0.67%) VoIP
8 1 (0.67%) WAN
8 1 (0.67%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (4.03%) Power BI
2 4 (2.68%) Mixpanel
2 4 (2.68%) SQL Server
3 3 (2.01%) Tableau
4 2 (1.34%) Data Warehouse
4 2 (1.34%) Qlik Sense
4 2 (1.34%) Star Schema
5 1 (0.67%) BusinessObjects
5 1 (0.67%) Cognos Framework Manager
5 1 (0.67%) Cognos Report Studio
5 1 (0.67%) Cognos Transformer
5 1 (0.67%) OLAP
5 1 (0.67%) OLAP Cube
5 1 (0.67%) Oracle Database
5 1 (0.67%) Oracle Discoverer
5 1 (0.67%) Oracle Reports
5 1 (0.67%) PostgreSQL
5 1 (0.67%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.67%) SAP BW
5 1 (0.67%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 28 (18.79%) JIRA
2 4 (2.68%) GitLab
3 3 (2.01%) Jenkins
4 2 (1.34%) JUnit
4 2 (1.34%) TestRail
5 1 (0.67%) Ant
5 1 (0.67%) Cucumber
5 1 (0.67%) Eclipse
5 1 (0.67%) IntelliJ
5 1 (0.67%) NUnit
5 1 (0.67%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 82 (55.03%) Social Skills
2 42 (28.19%) Analytical Skills
3 38 (25.50%) Finance
4 13 (8.72%) Influencing Skills
5 11 (7.38%) Banking
6 8 (5.37%) Presentation Skills
7 7 (4.70%) Public Sector
8 5 (3.36%) Documentation Skills
8 5 (3.36%) Legal
8 5 (3.36%) Publishing
9 4 (2.68%) Manufacturing
10 3 (2.01%) Aerospace
10 3 (2.01%) Investment Banking
10 3 (2.01%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (2.01%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (1.34%) Aeronautics
11 2 (1.34%) Automotive
11 2 (1.34%) Billing
11 2 (1.34%) Law
11 2 (1.34%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 33 (22.15%) Analyst
2 15 (10.07%) Senior
3 10 (6.71%) Architect
3 10 (6.71%) Lead
4 9 (6.04%) Developer
5 8 (5.37%) Business Analyst
6 7 (4.70%) Operational Support Analyst
6 7 (4.70%) Operations Analyst
6 7 (4.70%) Operations Support Analyst
6 7 (4.70%) Support Analyst
7 6 (4.03%) Cybersecurity Engineer
8 5 (3.36%) Designer
8 5 (3.36%) IT Support
8 5 (3.36%) IT Support Technician
8 5 (3.36%) IT Technician
8 5 (3.36%) Service Desk Support
8 5 (3.36%) Service Desk Technician
8 5 (3.36%) Support Technician
9 4 (2.68%) Project Manager
9 4 (2.68%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (4.03%) Web Services
2 5 (3.36%) HTML
2 5 (3.36%) JSON
2 5 (3.36%) XML
3 4 (2.68%) REST
3 4 (2.68%) SOAP
3 4 (2.68%) Spring
4 3 (2.01%) AngularJS
4 3 (2.01%) CSS
4 3 (2.01%) J2EE
4 3 (2.01%) LDAP
4 3 (2.01%) Middleware
5 2 (1.34%) pytest
5 2 (1.34%) SAP PI
5 2 (1.34%) Spring Boot
5 2 (1.34%) TensorFlow
6 1 (0.67%) OAuth
6 1 (0.67%) RESTful
6 1 (0.67%) scikit-learn
6 1 (0.67%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 15 (10.07%) Management Information System
2 11 (7.38%) Tandem
3 7 (4.70%) Data Protection Act
3 7 (4.70%) Enterprise Software
3 7 (4.70%) Onboarding
4 5 (3.36%) Hybrid Cloud
4 5 (3.36%) Low-Code
4 5 (3.36%) Product Ownership
4 5 (3.36%) Video Conferencing
4 5 (3.36%) Virtual Team
5 4 (2.68%) Cloud Native
5 4 (2.68%) Cyberattack
5 4 (2.68%) Self-Motivation
6 3 (2.01%) CMDB
6 3 (2.01%) PMI
7 2 (1.34%) Analogue Electronics
7 2 (1.34%) Data Structures
7 2 (1.34%) Learning Management System
7 2 (1.34%) PKI
7 2 (1.34%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 25 (16.78%) Windows
2 11 (7.38%) Unix
3 2 (1.34%) Windows Server
4 1 (0.67%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 59 (39.60%) Computer Science
2 51 (34.23%) Problem-Solving
3 44 (29.53%) Stakeholder Management
4 41 (27.52%) ITIL
5 35 (23.49%) Agile
5 35 (23.49%) Project Management
6 26 (17.45%) Change Management
7 24 (16.11%) Cybersecurity
8 23 (15.44%) Analytics
9 21 (14.09%) Continuous Improvement
10 20 (13.42%) Incident Response
10 20 (13.42%) Service Management
11 18 (12.08%) ITSM
11 18 (12.08%) Project Delivery
11 18 (12.08%) Release Management
11 18 (12.08%) User Experience
12 17 (11.41%) Business Intelligence
13 16 (10.74%) Problem Management
14 15 (10.07%) Data Protection
15 14 (9.40%) Migration
Programming Languages
1 16 (10.74%) Python
2 14 (9.40%) SQL
3 8 (5.37%) Java
4 6 (4.03%) PowerShell
5 5 (3.36%) JavaScript
6 4 (2.68%) Kusto Query Language
7 2 (1.34%) PL/SQL
8 1 (0.67%) Bash
8 1 (0.67%) C#
8 1 (0.67%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 1 (0.67%) R
8 1 (0.67%) VBA
Qualifications
1 43 (28.86%) Computer Science Degree
2 18 (12.08%) Security Cleared
3 10 (6.71%) Master's Degree
4 9 (6.04%) SC Cleared
5 7 (4.70%) Azure Certification
5 7 (4.70%) BPSS Clearance
5 7 (4.70%) CISSP
6 6 (4.03%) CISM
6 6 (4.03%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 6 (4.03%) PMI Certification
6 6 (4.03%) PMP
7 5 (3.36%) ITIL Certification
8 4 (2.68%) AWS Certification
9 3 (2.01%) CISA
9 3 (2.01%) Cisco Certification
9 3 (2.01%) GSEC
9 3 (2.01%) Microsoft Certification
10 2 (1.34%) CIMA
10 2 (1.34%) GCIA
10 2 (1.34%) GCIH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (6.04%) QA
2 7 (4.70%) NIST
3 5 (3.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (2.68%) Data Quality
4 4 (2.68%) GDPR
5 3 (2.01%) HIPAA
5 3 (2.01%) P3O
5 3 (2.01%) PCI DSS
5 3 (2.01%) PMO
6 2 (1.34%) NCSC
7 1 (0.67%) Accessibility
7 1 (0.67%) Basel III
7 1 (0.67%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 1 (0.67%) COBIT
7 1 (0.67%) Cyber Essentials
7 1 (0.67%) GRC
7 1 (0.67%) IEC 61131
7 1 (0.67%) PMBOK
7 1 (0.67%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 19 (12.75%) Active Directory
2 3 (2.01%) Docker
Systems Management
1 14 (9.40%) Microsoft Intune
1 14 (9.40%) SCCM
2 4 (2.68%) QRadar
2 4 (2.68%) Single Sign-On
2 4 (2.68%) Terraform
3 3 (2.01%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 3 (2.01%) Ansible
3 3 (2.01%) Kubernetes
4 2 (1.34%) HP ALM
5 1 (0.67%) Control-M
5 1 (0.67%) Jamf Pro
5 1 (0.67%) Microsoft Clustering
Vendors
1 53 (35.57%) Microsoft
2 20 (13.42%) ServiceNow
3 12 (8.05%) IBM
4 8 (5.37%) SAP
5 7 (4.70%) Cisco
6 6 (4.03%) Gemalto
6 6 (4.03%) Splunk
6 6 (4.03%) Thales
7 5 (3.36%) Google
7 5 (3.36%) Oracle
8 4 (2.68%) ArcSight
8 4 (2.68%) Hotjar
8 4 (2.68%) Zscaler
9 3 (2.01%) Palo Alto
9 3 (2.01%) Planview
10 2 (1.34%) AppDynamics
10 2 (1.34%) Capita
10 2 (1.34%) Dynatrace
10 2 (1.34%) F5
10 2 (1.34%) LogRhythm