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

6 months to
1 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 25 24 15
Rank change year-on-year -1 -9 +20
Contract jobs citing Degree 170 137 234
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 6.80% 6.37% 8.82%
As % of the Qualifications category 19.23% 19.46% 28.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 97 55 116
10th Percentile £268 £181 £187
25th Percentile £350 £356 £256
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £402 £500 £469
Median % change year-on-year -19.60% +6.67% +4.17%
75th Percentile £488 £593 £575
90th Percentile £593 £687 £700
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 20 34
10th Percentile £15.50 £22.57 £15.75
25th Percentile £37.10 £24.14 £17.38
Median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £37.34
Median % change year-on-year +39.88% -12.95% +55.56%
75th Percentile £53.75 £36.86 £46.18
90th Percentile £63.40 £56.70 -
England median hourly rate £38.50 £42.50 £50.00
% change year-on-year -9.41% -15.00% +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 884 704 833
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 35.36% 32.74% 31.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 587 371 550
10th Percentile £223 £213 £255
25th Percentile £381 £359 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -13.64% +7.84%
75th Percentile £600 £576 £645
90th Percentile £688 £672 £720
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 88 52 72
10th Percentile £18.96 £18.35 £16.25
25th Percentile £22.51 £22.72 £29.58
Median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year +39.88% -29.62% +84.72%
75th Percentile £65.75 £51.38 £49.25
90th Percentile £73.90 £74.63 £63.75
England median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £52.35
% change year-on-year -45.54% -11.79% +16.34%

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 1 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 1 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 1 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 -1 78 £358 -28.40% 49
Manchester -12 47 £450 -7.69% 166
Lancashire +6 26 £513 -2.38% 76
Merseyside -13 9 £397 +98.25% 13
Cumbria -1 5 - - 21
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 30 (17.65%) SharePoint
2 22 (12.94%) Confluence
3 9 (5.29%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (4.12%) Exchange Server 2013
4 7 (4.12%) Skype for Business
5 3 (1.76%) SAS
6 2 (1.18%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (1.18%) Mule
6 2 (1.18%) Mule ESB
7 1 (0.59%) Anypoint
7 1 (0.59%) Apache
7 1 (0.59%) JBoss
7 1 (0.59%) nginx
7 1 (0.59%) Tomcat
7 1 (0.59%) WebLogic
Applications
1 29 (17.06%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (8.24%) Microsoft Excel
3 11 (6.47%) MS Visio
4 9 (5.29%) Microsoft Project
5 8 (4.71%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 1 (0.59%) InVision
6 1 (0.59%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 6 (3.53%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (1.76%) SAP S/4HANA
3 2 (1.18%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (1.18%) SAP ERP
4 1 (0.59%) NEC Housing
4 1 (0.59%) Payment Gateway
4 1 (0.59%) SAP HCM
4 1 (0.59%) SAP IBP
4 1 (0.59%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 28 (16.47%) Microsoft 365
2 27 (15.88%) Azure
3 19 (11.18%) AWS
4 17 (10.00%) Power Platform
5 10 (5.88%) GCP
5 10 (5.88%) OneDrive
6 9 (5.29%) Apigee
7 7 (4.12%) SaaS
8 6 (3.53%) GitHub
9 5 (2.94%) Kong
10 4 (2.35%) Azure Logic Apps
10 4 (2.35%) Entra ID
10 4 (2.35%) GitHub Copilot
10 4 (2.35%) Smartsheet
11 3 (1.76%) Azure DevOps
11 3 (1.76%) Azure Monitor
11 3 (1.76%) Azure Sentinel
11 3 (1.76%) Dynamics 365
12 2 (1.18%) AWS Lambda
12 2 (1.18%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 13 (7.65%) Skype
2 11 (6.47%) SSH
3 9 (5.29%) DNS
4 8 (4.71%) Firewall
4 8 (4.71%) Unified Communications
5 7 (4.12%) VPN
6 6 (3.53%) Internet
7 5 (2.94%) Wi-Fi
8 4 (2.35%) BGP
8 4 (2.35%) HTTP
8 4 (2.35%) HTTPS
8 4 (2.35%) Network Security
9 3 (1.76%) Software-Defined Networking
9 3 (1.76%) SSL
9 3 (1.76%) VLAN
10 2 (1.18%) SAN
11 1 (0.59%) LAN
11 1 (0.59%) OSPF
11 1 (0.59%) VoIP
11 1 (0.59%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (4.71%) Power BI
2 6 (3.53%) Relational Database
3 4 (2.35%) Data Warehouse
3 4 (2.35%) MySQL
3 4 (2.35%) PostgreSQL
4 3 (1.76%) SQL Server
5 2 (1.18%) Cognos Framework Manager
5 2 (1.18%) Cognos Report Studio
5 2 (1.18%) Cognos Transformer
5 2 (1.18%) OLAP
5 2 (1.18%) OLAP Cube
5 2 (1.18%) Oracle Database
5 2 (1.18%) Qlik Sense
5 2 (1.18%) SAP HANA
5 2 (1.18%) Star Schema
6 1 (0.59%) Amazon Redshift
6 1 (0.59%) Base SAS
6 1 (0.59%) SAS Data Integration Studio
6 1 (0.59%) Snowflake Schema
6 1 (0.59%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 31 (18.24%) JIRA
2 9 (5.29%) Git
3 7 (4.12%) GitLab
3 7 (4.12%) Jenkins
4 5 (2.94%) Postman
5 2 (1.18%) TestRail
6 1 (0.59%) Cucumber
6 1 (0.59%) JUnit
6 1 (0.59%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 108 (63.53%) Social Skills
2 58 (34.12%) Finance
3 39 (22.94%) Analytical Skills
4 25 (14.71%) Banking
5 12 (7.06%) Influencing Skills
5 12 (7.06%) Public Sector
6 10 (5.88%) Organisational Skills
7 8 (4.71%) Legal
8 7 (4.12%) Documentation Skills
8 7 (4.12%) Presentation Skills
9 4 (2.35%) Local Government
9 4 (2.35%) Retail
10 3 (1.76%) Investment Banking
10 3 (1.76%) Law
10 3 (1.76%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (1.18%) Billing
11 2 (1.18%) Corporate Banking
11 2 (1.18%) Manufacturing
11 2 (1.18%) Military
11 2 (1.18%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 37 (21.76%) Analyst
2 24 (14.12%) Lead
3 18 (10.59%) Developer
4 15 (8.82%) Business Analyst
5 10 (5.88%) Senior
6 9 (5.29%) Java Developer
7 8 (4.71%) Support Analyst
8 7 (4.12%) 1st Line Support
8 7 (4.12%) Cybersecurity Engineer
8 7 (4.12%) Operational Support Analyst
8 7 (4.12%) Operations Analyst
8 7 (4.12%) Operations Support Analyst
8 7 (4.12%) Project Manager
9 6 (3.53%) IT Support
10 5 (2.94%) Architect
10 5 (2.94%) Designer
10 5 (2.94%) IT Technician
10 5 (2.94%) Platform Engineer
10 5 (2.94%) Service Desk Technician
10 5 (2.94%) Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (9.41%) JSON
2 14 (8.24%) XML
3 11 (6.47%) Spring
4 10 (5.88%) OAuth
4 10 (5.88%) Spring Boot
5 9 (5.29%) JWT
5 9 (5.29%) RESTful
6 8 (4.71%) Hibernate
7 7 (4.12%) REST
7 7 (4.12%) SOAP
8 6 (3.53%) Swagger
9 5 (2.94%) OAuth2
9 5 (2.94%) OpenAPI
10 4 (2.35%) JAX-RS
10 4 (2.35%) Spring MVC
10 4 (2.35%) Spring Security
11 3 (1.76%) Middleware
12 2 (1.18%) .NET
12 2 (1.18%) J2EE
12 2 (1.18%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 14 (8.24%) Virtual Team
2 11 (6.47%) Tandem
3 8 (4.71%) Enterprise Software
3 8 (4.71%) Management Information System
3 8 (4.71%) Product Ownership
4 7 (4.12%) Onboarding
5 5 (2.94%) Data Protection Act
5 5 (2.94%) Low-Code
5 5 (2.94%) PMI
5 5 (2.94%) Video Conferencing
6 4 (2.35%) Data Centre
6 4 (2.35%) Driving Licence
6 4 (2.35%) PKI
7 3 (1.76%) Handset
7 3 (1.76%) Self-Motivation
7 3 (1.76%) Synthetic Data
8 2 (1.18%) Cloud Native
8 2 (1.18%) Learning Management System
8 2 (1.18%) Operational Technology
8 2 (1.18%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 37 (21.76%) Windows
2 11 (6.47%) Unix
3 7 (4.12%) Windows 10
3 7 (4.12%) Windows Server
4 4 (2.35%) Linux
4 4 (2.35%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 1 (0.59%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.59%) Mac OS
5 1 (0.59%) Solaris
5 1 (0.59%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 66 (38.82%) Agile
2 60 (35.29%) Computer Science
3 50 (29.41%) Problem-Solving
4 49 (28.82%) Project Management
5 47 (27.65%) ITIL
6 45 (26.47%) Stakeholder Management
7 38 (22.35%) Change Management
8 37 (21.76%) Continuous Improvement
8 37 (21.76%) Cybersecurity
9 33 (19.41%) Project Delivery
10 32 (18.82%) DevOps
11 24 (14.12%) Six Sigma
12 23 (13.53%) CI/CD
13 22 (12.94%) PRINCE2
13 22 (12.94%) Service Delivery
14 20 (11.76%) Business Intelligence
14 20 (11.76%) Validation
15 18 (10.59%) Microservices
16 17 (10.00%) ITSM
16 17 (10.00%) Lean Six Sigma
Programming Languages
1 25 (14.71%) SQL
2 21 (12.35%) Python
3 14 (8.24%) Java
4 9 (5.29%) PowerShell
5 5 (2.94%) Bash
6 4 (2.35%) Perl
7 3 (1.76%) C#
7 3 (1.76%) Kusto Query Language
7 3 (1.76%) PL/SQL
8 2 (1.18%) R
9 1 (0.59%) C++
9 1 (0.59%) JavaScript
9 1 (0.59%) SAS Macro
9 1 (0.59%) TypeScript
9 1 (0.59%) VBA
Qualifications
1 48 (28.24%) Computer Science Degree
2 32 (18.82%) Security Cleared
3 15 (8.82%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
4 14 (8.24%) SC Cleared
5 13 (7.65%) BPSS Clearance
5 13 (7.65%) Master's Degree
6 9 (5.29%) Azure Certification
7 8 (4.71%) CISSP
7 8 (4.71%) PMI Certification
7 8 (4.71%) PMP
8 7 (4.12%) CISM
9 6 (3.53%) MBA
10 5 (2.94%) Cisco Certification
10 5 (2.94%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 4 (2.35%) AWS Certification
11 4 (2.35%) CCNA
11 4 (2.35%) CCNP
12 3 (1.76%) A+ Certification
12 3 (1.76%) CCDP
12 3 (1.76%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (6.47%) QA
2 9 (5.29%) NIST
3 7 (4.12%) GDPR
4 6 (3.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 4 (2.35%) P3O
5 4 (2.35%) PCI DSS
5 4 (2.35%) PMO
6 3 (1.76%) Accessibility
6 3 (1.76%) Data Quality
6 3 (1.76%) HIPAA
7 2 (1.18%) Basel III
7 2 (1.18%) NCSC
7 2 (1.18%) PSD2
7 2 (1.18%) SLA
8 1 (0.59%) Cyber Essentials
8 1 (0.59%) GRC
8 1 (0.59%) IEC 61131
8 1 (0.59%) IFRS
8 1 (0.59%) IFRS 17
8 1 (0.59%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 23 (13.53%) Active Directory
2 12 (7.06%) Docker
3 5 (2.94%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (1.18%) Firmware
5 1 (0.59%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.59%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 15 (8.82%) SCCM
2 13 (7.65%) Microsoft Intune
3 12 (7.06%) Kubernetes
4 4 (2.35%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 4 (2.35%) Ansible
4 4 (2.35%) QRadar
4 4 (2.35%) Terraform
5 2 (1.18%) HP ALM
6 1 (0.59%) Control-M
6 1 (0.59%) Microsoft Clustering
6 1 (0.59%) Red Hat Satellite
6 1 (0.59%) SCOM
6 1 (0.59%) SCOrch
6 1 (0.59%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.59%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 58 (34.12%) Microsoft
2 12 (7.06%) IBM
3 11 (6.47%) Citrix
3 11 (6.47%) Splunk
4 10 (5.88%) Oracle
4 10 (5.88%) SAP
5 9 (5.29%) Cisco
6 7 (4.12%) ServiceNow
7 6 (3.53%) Gemalto
7 6 (3.53%) MuleSoft
7 6 (3.53%) Remedy
7 6 (3.53%) Thales
8 5 (2.94%) VMware
9 4 (2.35%) ArcSight
9 4 (2.35%) Red Hat
10 3 (1.76%) HP
10 3 (1.76%) LogRhythm
10 3 (1.76%) Planview
11 2 (1.18%) Apple
11 2 (1.18%) EMC