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 2 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 29 20 16
Rank change year-on-year -9 -4 +19
Contract jobs citing Degree 165 164 235
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 6.71% 7.26% 8.78%
As % of the Qualifications category 18.88% 24.81% 28.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 93 64 114
10th Percentile £276 £271 £177
25th Percentile £358 £422 £255
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £532 £452
Median % change year-on-year -20.04% +17.72% -4.95%
75th Percentile £500 £588 £550
90th Percentile £648 £639 £684
England median daily rate £513 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -1.44% -0.95% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 24 33
10th Percentile £15.50 £24.06 £15.75
25th Percentile £34.67 £31.25 £17.25
Median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £40.59
Median % change year-on-year +39.88% -19.93% +84.50%
75th Percentile £55.00 £55.38 £46.18
90th Percentile £72.14 £86.03 -
England median hourly rate £37.48 £42.69 £50.00
% change year-on-year -12.20% -14.62% +11.11%

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 874 661 826
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 35.56% 29.27% 30.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 574 328 541
10th Percentile £227 £258 £255
25th Percentile £400 £393 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £500 £538
Median % change year-on-year -1.60% -6.98% +2.39%
75th Percentile £623 £600 £638
90th Percentile £708 £680 £703
England median daily rate £525 £530 £550
% change year-on-year -0.94% -3.64% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 96 56 68
10th Percentile £16.13 £18.08 £16.25
25th Percentile £22.16 £24.14 £29.58
Median hourly rate £45.46 £34.75 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year +30.82% -24.75% +92.42%
75th Percentile £67.84 £55.38 £46.89
90th Percentile £74.26 £77.67 £55.00
England median hourly rate £25.15 £48.78 £52.50
% change year-on-year -48.44% -7.09% +16.67%

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 2 December 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 2 December 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 2 December 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 -11 75 £388 -27.77% 73
Manchester -17 46 £458 -10.73% 152
Lancashire +2 29 £550 +4.76% 88
Merseyside -13 6 £500 +150.00% 27
Cumbria -3 3 - - 12
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 25 (15.15%) SharePoint
2 17 (10.30%) Confluence
3 9 (5.45%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (4.24%) Exchange Server 2013
4 7 (4.24%) Skype for Business
5 3 (1.82%) SAS
6 2 (1.21%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (1.21%) Mule
6 2 (1.21%) Mule ESB
7 1 (0.61%) Anypoint
7 1 (0.61%) Apache
7 1 (0.61%) JBoss
7 1 (0.61%) nginx
7 1 (0.61%) Tomcat
7 1 (0.61%) WebLogic
Applications
1 28 (16.97%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (8.48%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (5.45%) MS Visio
4 8 (4.85%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (4.24%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (1.21%) Simulink
7 1 (0.61%) InVision
7 1 (0.61%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 4 (2.42%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (1.21%) SAP ERP
3 1 (0.61%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.61%) Maximo
3 1 (0.61%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.61%) SAP HCM
3 1 (0.61%) SAP IBP
3 1 (0.61%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 24 (14.55%) Azure
1 24 (14.55%) Microsoft 365
2 15 (9.09%) AWS
3 14 (8.48%) Power Platform
4 12 (7.27%) SaaS
5 10 (6.06%) OneDrive
6 8 (4.85%) GCP
7 7 (4.24%) Apigee
7 7 (4.24%) GitHub
8 5 (3.03%) Azure Logic Apps
8 5 (3.03%) Azure Sentinel
9 4 (2.42%) Entra ID
9 4 (2.42%) GitHub Copilot
9 4 (2.42%) Smartsheet
10 3 (1.82%) Azure Monitor
10 3 (1.82%) Kong
11 2 (1.21%) Dynamics 365
11 2 (1.21%) Power Automate
11 2 (1.21%) PowerApps
11 2 (1.21%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 11 (6.67%) SSH
2 9 (5.45%) Firewall
3 8 (4.85%) DNS
3 8 (4.85%) Skype
3 8 (4.85%) Unified Communications
4 7 (4.24%) Network Security
5 6 (3.64%) Internet
6 5 (3.03%) Wi-Fi
7 4 (2.42%) HTTP
7 4 (2.42%) HTTPS
8 3 (1.82%) BGP
8 3 (1.82%) Intrusion Detection
8 3 (1.82%) Software-Defined Networking
8 3 (1.82%) VLAN
9 2 (1.21%) SSL
9 2 (1.21%) VPN
10 1 (0.61%) IP Telephony
10 1 (0.61%) LAN
10 1 (0.61%) VoIP
10 1 (0.61%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (3.64%) Power BI
2 5 (3.03%) PostgreSQL
2 5 (3.03%) Relational Database
3 4 (2.42%) Data Warehouse
3 4 (2.42%) MySQL
4 2 (1.21%) Cognos Framework Manager
4 2 (1.21%) Cognos Report Studio
4 2 (1.21%) Cognos Transformer
4 2 (1.21%) OLAP
4 2 (1.21%) OLAP Cube
4 2 (1.21%) Qlik Sense
4 2 (1.21%) SQL Server
4 2 (1.21%) Star Schema
5 1 (0.61%) Amazon RDS
5 1 (0.61%) Amazon Redshift
5 1 (0.61%) Base SAS
5 1 (0.61%) Oracle Database
5 1 (0.61%) SAP HANA
5 1 (0.61%) SAS Data Integration Studio
5 1 (0.61%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 26 (15.76%) JIRA
2 9 (5.45%) Git
3 8 (4.85%) GitLab
4 7 (4.24%) Jenkins
5 4 (2.42%) Postman
6 2 (1.21%) JUnit
6 2 (1.21%) TestRail
7 1 (0.61%) Ant
7 1 (0.61%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.61%) Eclipse
7 1 (0.61%) IntelliJ
7 1 (0.61%) NUnit
7 1 (0.61%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 103 (62.42%) Social Skills
2 45 (27.27%) Analytical Skills
3 44 (26.67%) Finance
4 13 (7.88%) Banking
5 11 (6.67%) Influencing Skills
5 11 (6.67%) Public Sector
6 7 (4.24%) Legal
7 6 (3.64%) Documentation Skills
7 6 (3.64%) Presentation Skills
8 5 (3.03%) Organisational Skills
9 4 (2.42%) Local Government
10 3 (1.82%) Aerospace
10 3 (1.82%) Investment Banking
10 3 (1.82%) Publishing
11 2 (1.21%) Billing
11 2 (1.21%) Law
11 2 (1.21%) Manufacturing
11 2 (1.21%) Marketing
11 2 (1.21%) Military
11 2 (1.21%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 32 (19.39%) Analyst
2 26 (15.76%) Lead
3 18 (10.91%) Developer
4 14 (8.48%) Senior
5 10 (6.06%) Java Developer
6 9 (5.45%) Business Analyst
7 8 (4.85%) Architect
8 7 (4.24%) Cybersecurity Engineer
8 7 (4.24%) Operational Support Analyst
8 7 (4.24%) Operations Analyst
8 7 (4.24%) Operations Support Analyst
8 7 (4.24%) Support Analyst
9 5 (3.03%) IT Support
9 5 (3.03%) IT Support Technician
9 5 (3.03%) IT Technician
9 5 (3.03%) Platform Engineer
9 5 (3.03%) Project Manager
9 5 (3.03%) Security Engineer
9 5 (3.03%) Service Desk Technician
9 5 (3.03%) Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (7.88%) JSON
2 12 (7.27%) Spring
2 12 (7.27%) XML
3 10 (6.06%) Spring Boot
4 9 (5.45%) Hibernate
4 9 (5.45%) RESTful
5 8 (4.85%) OAuth
6 7 (4.24%) JWT
6 7 (4.24%) REST
6 7 (4.24%) SOAP
7 6 (3.64%) Web Services
8 5 (3.03%) HTML
8 5 (3.03%) OAuth2
9 4 (2.42%) JAX-RS
9 4 (2.42%) Spring MVC
9 4 (2.42%) Spring Security
10 3 (1.82%) AngularJS
10 3 (1.82%) CSS
10 3 (1.82%) J2EE
10 3 (1.82%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 19 (11.52%) Virtual Team
2 12 (7.27%) Management Information System
3 11 (6.67%) Tandem
4 10 (6.06%) Product Ownership
5 9 (5.45%) Onboarding
6 7 (4.24%) Enterprise Software
7 6 (3.64%) Data Protection Act
8 5 (3.03%) Low-Code
8 5 (3.03%) Video Conferencing
9 4 (2.42%) Cloud Native
9 4 (2.42%) Cyberattack
9 4 (2.42%) Data Centre
9 4 (2.42%) Driving Licence
9 4 (2.42%) PMI
9 4 (2.42%) Self-Motivation
10 3 (1.82%) Handset
10 3 (1.82%) PKI
10 3 (1.82%) Synthetic Data
11 2 (1.21%) Analytical Mindset
11 2 (1.21%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 31 (18.79%) Windows
2 11 (6.67%) Unix
3 6 (3.64%) Windows Server
4 4 (2.42%) Linux
4 4 (2.42%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 1 (0.61%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.61%) Solaris
5 1 (0.61%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 67 (40.61%) Computer Science
2 60 (36.36%) Problem-Solving
3 57 (34.55%) Agile
4 53 (32.12%) ITIL
5 48 (29.09%) Project Management
6 43 (26.06%) Stakeholder Management
7 42 (25.45%) Cybersecurity
8 39 (23.64%) Continuous Improvement
9 37 (22.42%) Change Management
10 32 (19.39%) Project Delivery
11 28 (16.97%) DevOps
12 24 (14.55%) CI/CD
12 24 (14.55%) Service Delivery
13 23 (13.94%) Six Sigma
14 21 (12.73%) PRINCE2
15 20 (12.12%) Incident Response
16 19 (11.52%) Analytics
17 18 (10.91%) Business Intelligence
18 17 (10.30%) Budget Management
19 16 (9.70%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 21 (12.73%) Python
2 20 (12.12%) SQL
3 16 (9.70%) Java
4 11 (6.67%) PowerShell
5 5 (3.03%) Bash
5 5 (3.03%) JavaScript
5 5 (3.03%) Kusto Query Language
6 4 (2.42%) Perl
7 2 (1.21%) PL/SQL
7 2 (1.21%) R
8 1 (0.61%) C#
8 1 (0.61%) SAS Macro
8 1 (0.61%) VBA
Qualifications
1 51 (30.91%) Computer Science Degree
2 28 (16.97%) Security Cleared
3 15 (9.09%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
4 14 (8.48%) SC Cleared
5 9 (5.45%) BPSS Clearance
5 9 (5.45%) Master's Degree
6 8 (4.85%) Azure Certification
7 7 (4.24%) CISSP
8 6 (3.64%) CISM
8 6 (3.64%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 6 (3.64%) PMI Certification
8 6 (3.64%) PMP
9 5 (3.03%) ITIL Certification
10 4 (2.42%) AWS Certification
10 4 (2.42%) Cisco Certification
11 3 (1.82%) ACCA
11 3 (1.82%) CCDP
11 3 (1.82%) CCNA
11 3 (1.82%) CCNP
11 3 (1.82%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (4.85%) NIST
1 8 (4.85%) QA
2 6 (3.64%) GDPR
3 5 (3.03%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (2.42%) Data Quality
5 3 (1.82%) HIPAA
5 3 (1.82%) P3O
5 3 (1.82%) PCI DSS
5 3 (1.82%) PMO
6 2 (1.21%) NCSC
7 1 (0.61%) Accessibility
7 1 (0.61%) Basel III
7 1 (0.61%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 1 (0.61%) COBIT
7 1 (0.61%) Cyber Essentials
7 1 (0.61%) GAAP
7 1 (0.61%) IEC 61131
7 1 (0.61%) PMBOK
7 1 (0.61%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 1 (0.61%) SLA
System Software
1 22 (13.33%) Active Directory
2 11 (6.67%) Docker
3 4 (2.42%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.61%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 15 (9.09%) SCCM
2 13 (7.88%) Microsoft Intune
3 11 (6.67%) Kubernetes
4 4 (2.42%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 4 (2.42%) Ansible
4 4 (2.42%) QRadar
4 4 (2.42%) Single Sign-On
4 4 (2.42%) Terraform
5 2 (1.21%) HP ALM
6 1 (0.61%) Control-M
6 1 (0.61%) Microsoft Clustering
6 1 (0.61%) Red Hat Satellite
6 1 (0.61%) SCOM
6 1 (0.61%) SCOrch
6 1 (0.61%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 59 (35.76%) Microsoft
2 14 (8.48%) ServiceNow
3 13 (7.88%) IBM
4 10 (6.06%) SAP
4 10 (6.06%) Splunk
5 8 (4.85%) Oracle
6 6 (3.64%) Citrix
6 6 (3.64%) Gemalto
6 6 (3.64%) Thales
7 5 (3.03%) Cisco
8 4 (2.42%) ArcSight
8 4 (2.42%) MuleSoft
8 4 (2.42%) Red Hat
8 4 (2.42%) VMware
8 4 (2.42%) Zscaler
9 3 (1.82%) LogRhythm
9 3 (1.82%) Palo Alto
9 3 (1.82%) Planview
10 2 (1.21%) AppDynamics
10 2 (1.21%) Dynatrace