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 31 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 23 12
Rank change year-on-year -4 -11 +30
Contract jobs citing Degree 175 145 285
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 6.64% 6.89% 9.92%
As % of the Qualifications category 20.00% 20.92% 32.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 105 64 126
10th Percentile £224 £193 £200
25th Percentile £350 £356 £270
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £393 £475 £457
Median % change year-on-year -17.26% +4.05% -0.22%
75th Percentile £478 £566 £600
90th Percentile £550 £687 £700
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 34 19 41
10th Percentile £15.50 £22.72 £11.77
25th Percentile £32.99 £25.22 £17.25
Median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £26.66
Median % change year-on-year +39.88% +21.91% +7.05%
75th Percentile £50.74 £33.75 £46.18
90th Percentile £60.61 £46.18 -
England median hourly rate £35.00 £42.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year -17.65% +6.25% -6.98%

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 875 693 881
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 33.21% 32.92% 30.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 601 382 548
10th Percentile £225 £230 £256
25th Percentile £380 £369 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £529
Median % change year-on-year - -10.17% +5.75%
75th Percentile £588 £563 £650
90th Percentile £685 £650 £720
England median daily rate £520 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -0.95% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 79 41 95
10th Percentile £18.20 £24.00 £14.20
25th Percentile £27.58 £30.00 £17.50
Median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £40.25
Median % change year-on-year +39.88% -19.25% +42.73%
75th Percentile £66.25 £55.25 £46.18
90th Percentile £74.26 £74.75 £64.50
England median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £46.39
% change year-on-year -45.54% -0.45% +3.09%

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 31 January 2026.

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 31 January 2026.

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 31 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
Cheshire +2 87 £370 -26.00% 40
Manchester -21 42 £418 -10.83% 114
Lancashire +5 25 £513 -2.38% 62
Merseyside -14 12 £393 -10.17% 15
Cumbria -6 6 £593 +43.64% 8
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 28 (16.00%) SharePoint
2 24 (13.71%) Confluence
3 10 (5.71%) Microsoft Exchange
4 8 (4.57%) Skype for Business
5 7 (4.00%) Exchange Server 2013
6 3 (1.71%) SAS
7 2 (1.14%) Apache Airflow
8 1 (0.57%) Apache
8 1 (0.57%) nginx
Applications
1 33 (18.86%) Microsoft Office
2 17 (9.71%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (7.43%) MS Visio
4 10 (5.71%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (5.71%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.57%) InVision
5 1 (0.57%) Sketch
5 1 (0.57%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 8 (4.57%) Remedy ITSM
2 4 (2.29%) Payment Gateway
3 2 (1.14%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (1.14%) NEC Housing
3 2 (1.14%) Primavera
4 1 (0.57%) Infor M3
4 1 (0.57%) SAP HCM
4 1 (0.57%) SAP IBP
4 1 (0.57%) SAP MM
4 1 (0.57%) SAP Payroll
4 1 (0.57%) SAP PM
4 1 (0.57%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 30 (17.14%) Microsoft 365
2 27 (15.43%) Azure
3 19 (10.86%) AWS
4 18 (10.29%) Power Platform
5 10 (5.71%) Apigee
6 8 (4.57%) GCP
6 8 (4.57%) OneDrive
6 8 (4.57%) SaaS
7 6 (3.43%) GitHub
7 6 (3.43%) Kong
8 5 (2.86%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (2.86%) Entra ID
9 4 (2.29%) Azure Logic Apps
9 4 (2.29%) GitHub Copilot
10 3 (1.71%) AWS Lambda
10 3 (1.71%) Azure Monitor
10 3 (1.71%) Azure Sentinel
10 3 (1.71%) Dynamics 365
10 3 (1.71%) Serverless
11 2 (1.14%) Amazon SQS
Communications & Networking
1 16 (9.14%) Skype
2 13 (7.43%) DNS
3 9 (5.14%) VPN
4 8 (4.57%) Firewall
4 8 (4.57%) Unified Communications
5 7 (4.00%) SSH
6 6 (3.43%) Internet
6 6 (3.43%) Wi-Fi
7 5 (2.86%) DHCP
8 4 (2.29%) BGP
8 4 (2.29%) HTTP
8 4 (2.29%) HTTPS
8 4 (2.29%) Network Security
8 4 (2.29%) VLAN
9 3 (1.71%) Software-Defined Networking
10 2 (1.14%) LAN
10 2 (1.14%) SAN
10 2 (1.14%) SSL
10 2 (1.14%) WAN
11 1 (0.57%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (5.14%) Power BI
2 6 (3.43%) Relational Database
3 5 (2.86%) Data Warehouse
4 4 (2.29%) MySQL
4 4 (2.29%) PostgreSQL
5 3 (1.71%) SQL Server
6 2 (1.14%) Amazon Redshift
6 2 (1.14%) Cognos Framework Manager
6 2 (1.14%) Cognos Report Studio
6 2 (1.14%) Cognos Transformer
6 2 (1.14%) OLAP
6 2 (1.14%) OLAP Cube
6 2 (1.14%) Oracle Database
6 2 (1.14%) Qlik Sense
6 2 (1.14%) SAP HANA
6 2 (1.14%) Star Schema
7 1 (0.57%) Base SAS
7 1 (0.57%) SAP BW
7 1 (0.57%) SAS Data Integration Studio
7 1 (0.57%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 31 (17.71%) JIRA
2 11 (6.29%) Git
3 8 (4.57%) Postman
4 4 (2.29%) GitLab
4 4 (2.29%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.57%) MLflow
5 1 (0.57%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 110 (62.86%) Social Skills
2 62 (35.43%) Finance
3 45 (25.71%) Analytical Skills
4 29 (16.57%) Banking
5 16 (9.14%) Public Sector
6 13 (7.43%) Organisational Skills
7 12 (6.86%) Documentation Skills
8 10 (5.71%) Influencing Skills
9 8 (4.57%) Legal
9 8 (4.57%) Presentation Skills
10 5 (2.86%) Retail
11 4 (2.29%) Corporate Banking
11 4 (2.29%) Local Government
11 4 (2.29%) Manufacturing
11 4 (2.29%) Telecoms
12 2 (1.14%) Marketing
12 2 (1.14%) Military
12 2 (1.14%) Pharmaceutical
12 2 (1.14%) Retail Banking
13 1 (0.57%) General Ledger
Job Titles
1 44 (25.14%) Analyst
2 23 (13.14%) Lead
3 21 (12.00%) Business Analyst
4 18 (10.29%) Developer
5 14 (8.00%) Support Analyst
6 11 (6.29%) IT Support
7 8 (4.57%) 1st Line Support
7 8 (4.57%) Java Developer
7 8 (4.57%) Project Manager
8 7 (4.00%) Architect
8 7 (4.00%) Cybersecurity Engineer
8 7 (4.00%) Operational Support Analyst
8 7 (4.00%) Operations Analyst
8 7 (4.00%) Operations Support Analyst
8 7 (4.00%) Senior
9 6 (3.43%) Banking Business Analyst
9 6 (3.43%) Designer
9 6 (3.43%) IT Analyst
9 6 (3.43%) IT Support Analyst
9 6 (3.43%) Technical Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (10.29%) JSON
2 17 (9.71%) XML
3 11 (6.29%) OAuth
3 11 (6.29%) REST
3 11 (6.29%) SOAP
4 10 (5.71%) JWT
4 10 (5.71%) Swagger
5 9 (5.14%) RESTful
6 8 (4.57%) Hibernate
6 8 (4.57%) Spring
6 8 (4.57%) Spring Boot
7 6 (3.43%) OpenAPI
8 5 (2.86%) OAuth2
9 4 (2.29%) JAX-RS
9 4 (2.29%) Spring MVC
9 4 (2.29%) Spring Security
10 3 (1.71%) .NET
10 3 (1.71%) HTML
11 2 (1.14%) Oracle Fusion
11 2 (1.14%) PyTorch
Miscellaneous
1 15 (8.57%) Virtual Team
2 11 (6.29%) Management Information System
3 10 (5.71%) Onboarding
4 9 (5.14%) Enterprise Software
5 8 (4.57%) Product Ownership
6 7 (4.00%) Tandem
7 5 (2.86%) Low-Code
7 5 (2.86%) Video Conferencing
8 4 (2.29%) Digital Wallet
8 4 (2.29%) Driving Licence
8 4 (2.29%) PKI
9 3 (1.71%) Data Centre
9 3 (1.71%) Data Protection Act
9 3 (1.71%) Handset
9 3 (1.71%) Operational Technology
9 3 (1.71%) PMI
9 3 (1.71%) SCADA
9 3 (1.71%) Self-Motivation
10 2 (1.14%) AI Agents
10 2 (1.14%) Renewable Energy
Operating Systems
1 40 (22.86%) Windows
2 13 (7.43%) Windows 10
3 9 (5.14%) Windows Server
4 8 (4.57%) Unix
5 5 (2.86%) Linux
6 4 (2.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (1.71%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.57%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.57%) Mac OS
8 1 (0.57%) Solaris
8 1 (0.57%) VMS
8 1 (0.57%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 72 (41.14%) Agile
2 57 (32.57%) Computer Science
3 54 (30.86%) Problem-Solving
4 46 (26.29%) ITIL
5 45 (25.71%) Project Management
6 44 (25.14%) Stakeholder Management
7 38 (21.71%) Continuous Improvement
8 36 (20.57%) Cybersecurity
9 34 (19.43%) Change Management
10 32 (18.29%) DevOps
11 30 (17.14%) Project Delivery
12 26 (14.86%) Validation
13 24 (13.71%) Six Sigma
14 22 (12.57%) PRINCE2
14 22 (12.57%) Service Delivery
15 21 (12.00%) CI/CD
15 21 (12.00%) Customer Service
16 20 (11.43%) ITSM
17 19 (10.86%) AI
17 19 (10.86%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 24 (13.71%) SQL
2 22 (12.57%) Python
3 12 (6.86%) Java
4 11 (6.29%) PowerShell
5 5 (2.86%) Bash
6 4 (2.29%) C#
6 4 (2.29%) Perl
7 3 (1.71%) Kusto Query Language
8 2 (1.14%) C++
9 1 (0.57%) JavaScript
9 1 (0.57%) PL/SQL
9 1 (0.57%) R
9 1 (0.57%) SAS Macro
9 1 (0.57%) TypeScript
9 1 (0.57%) VB
9 1 (0.57%) VBA
9 1 (0.57%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 47 (26.86%) Computer Science Degree
2 36 (20.57%) Security Cleared
3 17 (9.71%) Master's Degree
4 16 (9.14%) BPSS Clearance
5 15 (8.57%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
6 14 (8.00%) SC Cleared
7 9 (5.14%) MBA
8 8 (4.57%) CISSP
9 7 (4.00%) Azure Certification
9 7 (4.00%) CISM
9 7 (4.00%) PMI Certification
9 7 (4.00%) PMP
10 6 (3.43%) A+ Certification
10 6 (3.43%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 6 (3.43%) Microsoft Certification
11 5 (2.86%) Cisco Certification
12 4 (2.29%) AWS Certification
12 4 (2.29%) CCNA
12 4 (2.29%) CCNP
12 4 (2.29%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (5.14%) GDPR
1 9 (5.14%) NIST
1 9 (5.14%) QA
2 7 (4.00%) PCI DSS
3 6 (3.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 5 (2.86%) PSD2
5 4 (2.29%) Data Quality
5 4 (2.29%) GRC
6 3 (1.71%) Accessibility
6 3 (1.71%) HIPAA
6 3 (1.71%) ISO 8583
6 3 (1.71%) P3O
6 3 (1.71%) PMO
6 3 (1.71%) SLA
7 2 (1.14%) Basel III
7 2 (1.14%) IFRS
7 2 (1.14%) IFRS 17
7 2 (1.14%) NCSC
8 1 (0.57%) ISO 20022
8 1 (0.57%) PMBOK
System Software
1 28 (16.00%) Active Directory
2 13 (7.43%) Docker
3 7 (4.00%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (1.71%) Hyper-V
5 2 (1.14%) Firmware
6 1 (0.57%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.57%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 16 (9.14%) SCCM
2 12 (6.86%) Microsoft Intune
3 11 (6.29%) Kubernetes
4 5 (2.86%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 4 (2.29%) QRadar
6 3 (1.71%) Ansible
6 3 (1.71%) Terraform
7 2 (1.14%) Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.57%) CA Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.57%) Control-M
8 1 (0.57%) Red Hat Satellite
8 1 (0.57%) SCOM
8 1 (0.57%) SCOrch
8 1 (0.57%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 64 (36.57%) Microsoft
2 13 (7.43%) Citrix
3 10 (5.71%) Cisco
4 9 (5.14%) IBM
4 9 (5.14%) ServiceNow
4 9 (5.14%) Splunk
5 8 (4.57%) Oracle
5 8 (4.57%) Remedy
5 8 (4.57%) SAP
6 7 (4.00%) VMware
7 6 (3.43%) Gemalto
7 6 (3.43%) MuleSoft
7 6 (3.43%) Thales
8 4 (2.29%) ArcSight
8 4 (2.29%) Red Hat
9 3 (1.71%) LogRhythm
10 2 (1.14%) CheckPoint
10 2 (1.14%) NetApp
10 2 (1.14%) Palo Alto
10 2 (1.14%) Veritas