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 12 May 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 34 25 18
Rank change year-on-year -9 -7 +7
Contract jobs citing Degree 166 135 236
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 5.16% 6.93% 8.81%
As % of the Qualifications category 18.71% 19.26% 29.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 112 80 96
10th Percentile £187 £264 £158
25th Percentile £350 £358 £300
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £400 £466 £505
Median % change year-on-year -14.12% -7.77% +10.68%
75th Percentile £488 £576 £603
90th Percentile £600 £700 £671
England median daily rate £500 £515 £510
% change year-on-year -2.91% +0.98% -5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 16 34
10th Percentile £28.50 £22.61 £11.77
25th Percentile £36.69 £25.37 £19.34
Median hourly rate £57.81 £32.50 £26.39
Median % change year-on-year +77.86% +23.15% -34.84%
75th Percentile £178.75 £33.75 £43.05
90th Percentile - £60.13 £59.32
England median hourly rate £65.00 £53.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year +21.50% +33.75% -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 887 701 805
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 27.59% 35.97% 30.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 589 403 455
10th Percentile £328 £230 £291
25th Percentile £393 £392 £424
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% -2.44% +2.50%
75th Percentile £588 £575 £650
90th Percentile £688 £662 £725
England median daily rate £525 £525 £538
% change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 66 43 128
10th Percentile £22.68 £17.95 £10.95
25th Percentile £30.00 £25.15 £11.77
Median hourly rate £52.78 £32.50 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year +62.38% +102.37% -60.38%
75th Percentile £73.57 £60.00 £39.54
90th Percentile £111.15 £82.85 £70.34
England median hourly rate £48.05 £40.84 £40.00
% change year-on-year +17.65% +2.10% -23.81%

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 12 May 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 12 May 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 12 May 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 75 £402 -14.83% 48
Manchester -16 69 £400 -15.79% 157
Cumbria 0 8 £475 +15.09% 5
Merseyside -16 8 £188 -57.14% 18
Lancashire -7 4 - - 49
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 21 (12.65%) Confluence
1 21 (12.65%) SharePoint
2 7 (4.22%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (1.20%) SAS
3 2 (1.20%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.60%) Apache
4 1 (0.60%) Apache Airflow
4 1 (0.60%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.60%) Camunda
4 1 (0.60%) JBoss
4 1 (0.60%) Mule
4 1 (0.60%) Mule ESB
4 1 (0.60%) WebLogic
Applications
1 44 (26.51%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (6.63%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (6.63%) Microsoft Project
2 11 (6.63%) MS Visio
3 9 (5.42%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.60%) AutoCAD
4 1 (0.60%) MicroStation
4 1 (0.60%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 10 (6.02%) Remedy ITSM
2 4 (2.41%) Payment Gateway
2 4 (2.41%) Primavera
3 3 (1.81%) SAP MM
4 2 (1.20%) NEC Housing
5 1 (0.60%) Dynamics CRM
5 1 (0.60%) Infor M3
5 1 (0.60%) SAP HCM
5 1 (0.60%) SAP Payroll
5 1 (0.60%) SAP PM
5 1 (0.60%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 29 (17.47%) Microsoft 365
2 25 (15.06%) Azure
3 23 (13.86%) AWS
4 13 (7.83%) Power Platform
5 11 (6.63%) Entra ID
6 7 (4.22%) Apigee
6 7 (4.22%) Azure DevOps
6 7 (4.22%) GCP
7 5 (3.01%) Kong
7 5 (3.01%) Microsoft Copilot
7 5 (3.01%) OneDrive
7 5 (3.01%) Power Automate
7 5 (3.01%) PowerApps
8 4 (2.41%) Figma
9 3 (1.81%) Dynamics 365
9 3 (1.81%) GitHub
9 3 (1.81%) GitHub Copilot
9 3 (1.81%) OpenShift
9 3 (1.81%) SaaS
10 2 (1.20%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 13 (7.83%) VPN
2 12 (7.23%) Skype
3 11 (6.63%) Firewall
4 9 (5.42%) Wireless
5 8 (4.82%) DNS
6 6 (3.61%) LAN
6 6 (3.61%) WAN
7 5 (3.01%) DHCP
7 5 (3.01%) Network Security
7 5 (3.01%) VLAN
7 5 (3.01%) Wi-Fi
8 4 (2.41%) TCP/IP
9 3 (1.81%) Cisco ISE
10 2 (1.20%) HTTP
10 2 (1.20%) HTTPS
10 2 (1.20%) Internet
10 2 (1.20%) SAN
10 2 (1.20%) SSH
10 2 (1.20%) SSL
11 1 (0.60%) BGP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (4.22%) Power BI
1 7 (4.22%) Relational Database
2 6 (3.61%) SQL Server
3 5 (3.01%) PostgreSQL
4 3 (1.81%) Data Warehouse
4 3 (1.81%) Hadoop
4 3 (1.81%) MySQL
4 3 (1.81%) Oracle Database
4 3 (1.81%) RDBMS
5 2 (1.20%) Apache Cassandra
5 2 (1.20%) MongoDB
5 2 (1.20%) NoSQL
5 2 (1.20%) Tableau
6 1 (0.60%) Amazon Redshift
6 1 (0.60%) Base SAS
6 1 (0.60%) Cognos Framework Manager
6 1 (0.60%) Cognos Report Studio
6 1 (0.60%) Cognos Transformer
6 1 (0.60%) SAP HANA
6 1 (0.60%) SAS Data Integration Studio
Development Applications
1 30 (18.07%) JIRA
2 11 (6.63%) Git
3 7 (4.22%) Postman
4 4 (2.41%) GitLab
5 2 (1.20%) ClearCase
5 2 (1.20%) Jenkins
5 2 (1.20%) JUnit
6 1 (0.60%) Cucumber
6 1 (0.60%) Eclipse
6 1 (0.60%) IntelliJ
6 1 (0.60%) MLflow
6 1 (0.60%) SoapUI
General
1 77 (46.39%) Social Skills
2 67 (40.36%) Finance
3 39 (23.49%) Analytical Skills
4 30 (18.07%) Banking
5 19 (11.45%) Public Sector
6 13 (7.83%) Organisational Skills
7 10 (6.02%) Influencing Skills
7 10 (6.02%) Telecoms
8 8 (4.82%) Documentation Skills
8 8 (4.82%) Legal
9 7 (4.22%) Presentation Skills
10 5 (3.01%) Corporate Banking
10 5 (3.01%) Manufacturing
10 5 (3.01%) Retail
11 3 (1.81%) Retail Banking
12 2 (1.20%) Agriculture
12 2 (1.20%) Environmental Health
12 2 (1.20%) Law
12 2 (1.20%) Marketing
12 2 (1.20%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 42 (25.30%) Analyst
2 24 (14.46%) Business Analyst
3 17 (10.24%) Developer
4 14 (8.43%) IT Analyst
5 13 (7.83%) Support Analyst
6 12 (7.23%) IT Support
6 12 (7.23%) IT Support Analyst
7 11 (6.63%) Senior
8 10 (6.02%) 1st Line Support
8 10 (6.02%) Project Manager
9 9 (5.42%) Architect
10 8 (4.82%) Designer
10 8 (4.82%) UX Designer
11 7 (4.22%) Java Developer
12 6 (3.61%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
12 6 (3.61%) Microsoft Engineer
12 6 (3.61%) Network Engineer
13 5 (3.01%) Banking Business Analyst
13 5 (3.01%) Consultant
13 5 (3.01%) Technical Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (10.84%) XML
2 14 (8.43%) JSON
3 13 (7.83%) REST
4 11 (6.63%) SOAP
5 9 (5.42%) Swagger
6 8 (4.82%) OAuth
7 7 (4.22%) .NET
7 7 (4.22%) HTML
7 7 (4.22%) JWT
8 6 (3.61%) 802.1X
8 6 (3.61%) Spring
8 6 (3.61%) Spring Boot
9 5 (3.01%) Hibernate
9 5 (3.01%) OpenAPI
9 5 (3.01%) RESTful
10 4 (2.41%) Middleware
11 3 (1.81%) CSS
11 3 (1.81%) Oracle Fusion
11 3 (1.81%) Spring MVC
11 3 (1.81%) Spring Security
Miscellaneous
1 15 (9.04%) Management Information System
2 13 (7.83%) Onboarding
3 11 (6.63%) Product Ownership
4 6 (3.61%) PKI
5 5 (3.01%) Security Posture
5 5 (3.01%) Self-Motivation
6 4 (2.41%) Cloud Native
6 4 (2.41%) Digital Wallet
7 3 (1.81%) AI Agents
7 3 (1.81%) Data Structures
7 3 (1.81%) Graphic Design
7 3 (1.81%) IoT
7 3 (1.81%) Life Science
7 3 (1.81%) PMI
8 2 (1.20%) Cloud Security Posture
8 2 (1.20%) Enterprise Software
8 2 (1.20%) Legacy Systems
8 2 (1.20%) Social Media
8 2 (1.20%) Tandem
8 2 (1.20%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 34 (20.48%) Windows
2 22 (13.25%) Windows 10
3 9 (5.42%) Linux
4 4 (2.41%) Unix
4 4 (2.41%) Windows Server
5 3 (1.81%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 3 (1.81%) Windows Server 2019
6 2 (1.20%) Windows 7
7 1 (0.60%) AIX
7 1 (0.60%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.60%) Solaris
7 1 (0.60%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 67 (40.36%) Agile
2 49 (29.52%) Problem-Solving
3 46 (27.71%) Computer Science
4 33 (19.88%) Stakeholder Management
5 30 (18.07%) ITIL
6 25 (15.06%) DevOps
7 24 (14.46%) ITSM
8 23 (13.86%) AI
8 23 (13.86%) Change Management
8 23 (13.86%) Customer Service
9 20 (12.05%) CI/CD
9 20 (12.05%) Service Management
10 19 (11.45%) Project Management
10 19 (11.45%) Workshop Facilitation
11 17 (10.24%) Requirements Gathering
11 17 (10.24%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 16 (9.64%) Continuous Improvement
12 16 (9.64%) Project Delivery
12 16 (9.64%) Scrum
13 15 (9.04%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 25 (15.06%) SQL
2 17 (10.24%) Python
3 13 (7.83%) Java
4 10 (6.02%) PowerShell
5 7 (4.22%) C#
6 4 (2.41%) Bash
6 4 (2.41%) VB
7 3 (1.81%) C++
7 3 (1.81%) JavaScript
7 3 (1.81%) R
7 3 (1.81%) TypeScript
8 2 (1.20%) PL/SQL
8 2 (1.20%) Shell Script
8 2 (1.20%) VB6
8 2 (1.20%) VBScript
9 1 (0.60%) Groovy
9 1 (0.60%) Kusto Query Language
9 1 (0.60%) Perl
9 1 (0.60%) SAS Macro
Qualifications
1 41 (24.70%) Computer Science Degree
2 26 (15.66%) Security Cleared
3 17 (10.24%) Master's Degree
4 16 (9.64%) BPSS Clearance
5 15 (9.04%) Microsoft Certification
6 12 (7.23%) SC Cleared
7 10 (6.02%) A+ Certification
8 9 (5.42%) CCNA
8 9 (5.42%) Cisco Certification
8 9 (5.42%) MBA
8 9 (5.42%) Network+ Certification
9 7 (4.22%) CCNP
9 7 (4.22%) CISSP
9 7 (4.22%) PMI Certification
9 7 (4.22%) PMP
10 5 (3.01%) ITIL Certification
11 4 (2.41%) Azure Certification
12 3 (1.81%) AWS Certification
12 3 (1.81%) SAFe Agilist
13 2 (1.20%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (6.02%) NIST
2 8 (4.82%) GDPR
2 8 (4.82%) QA
3 7 (4.22%) Accessibility
4 6 (3.61%) GRC
4 6 (3.61%) PSD2
5 5 (3.01%) PCI DSS
5 5 (3.01%) SLA
6 3 (1.81%) Basel III
6 3 (1.81%) IFRS
6 3 (1.81%) IFRS 17
6 3 (1.81%) ISO 8583
6 3 (1.81%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 2 (1.20%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 2 (1.20%) Data Quality
7 2 (1.20%) HIPAA
7 2 (1.20%) ISO 20022
7 2 (1.20%) P3O
7 2 (1.20%) PMO
8 1 (0.60%) SEPA
System Software
1 20 (12.05%) Active Directory
2 11 (6.63%) Docker
3 4 (2.41%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (1.81%) Hyper-V
5 2 (1.20%) BitLocker
5 2 (1.20%) Firmware
6 1 (0.60%) NFS
6 1 (0.60%) Veritas Volume Manager
6 1 (0.60%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.60%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 11 (6.63%) Kubernetes
2 6 (3.61%) Ansible
3 3 (1.81%) Cisco Prime
3 3 (1.81%) SCCM
3 3 (1.81%) Terraform
4 2 (1.20%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 2 (1.20%) Progress Chef
5 1 (0.60%) CA Single Sign-On
5 1 (0.60%) PowerBroker
5 1 (0.60%) Red Hat Satellite
5 1 (0.60%) SCOM
5 1 (0.60%) SCOrch
5 1 (0.60%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (0.60%) Tivoli
5 1 (0.60%) Tivoli Storage Manager
5 1 (0.60%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 55 (33.13%) Microsoft
2 18 (10.84%) Cisco
3 12 (7.23%) Oracle
3 12 (7.23%) ServiceNow
4 10 (6.02%) Citrix
4 10 (6.02%) Remedy
5 8 (4.82%) SAP
5 8 (4.82%) Splunk
6 7 (4.22%) Aruba
7 6 (3.61%) ForeScout
8 5 (3.01%) CheckPoint
8 5 (3.01%) CyberArk
8 5 (3.01%) MuleSoft
8 5 (3.01%) Palo Alto
8 5 (3.01%) Red Hat
9 4 (2.41%) Broadcom
9 4 (2.41%) Ekahau
9 4 (2.41%) IBM
9 4 (2.41%) VMware
10 3 (1.81%) EMC