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 22 June 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 34 27 15
Rank change year-on-year -7 -12 +13
Contract jobs citing Degree 184 142 243
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 5.23% 7.09% 8.57%
As % of the Qualifications category 18.87% 20.67% 31.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 117 86 111
10th Percentile £196 £294 £181
25th Percentile £353 £357 £319
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £443 £456 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.74% -13.24% +8.02%
75th Percentile £523 £579 £594
90th Percentile £617 £700 £670
England median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 15 38
10th Percentile £17.90 £21.02 £11.77
25th Percentile £28.50 £24.38 £25.39
Median hourly rate £39.50 £32.50 £29.39
Median % change year-on-year +21.54% +10.59% -27.60%
75th Percentile £71.81 £67.58 £47.17
90th Percentile £178.75 £81.00 £62.50
England median hourly rate £51.44 £50.00 £40.33
% change year-on-year +2.88% +23.99% -12.81%

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 975 687 775
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 27.73% 34.32% 27.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 637 404 425
10th Percentile £340 £280 £300
25th Percentile £400 £400 £415
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £486 £485 £500
Median % change year-on-year +0.11% -3.00% -3.85%
75th Percentile £610 £580 £613
90th Percentile £689 £700 £695
England median daily rate £525 £525 £538
% change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 80 53 134
10th Percentile £22.23 £17.44 £10.95
25th Percentile £29.74 £21.02 £12.00
Median hourly rate £43.96 £32.00 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year +37.38% +99.25% -60.43%
75th Percentile £72.19 £60.00 £43.59
90th Percentile £86.49 £76.16 £66.97
England median hourly rate £52.50 £30.00 £41.75
% change year-on-year +75.00% -28.14% -24.09%

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 22 June 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 22 June 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 22 June 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
Manchester -13 84 £401 -12.59% 125
Cheshire -1 81 £447 -1.97% 47
Merseyside -12 8 £200 -54.29% 18
Cumbria -13 6 £475 - 10
Lancashire -9 4 - - 52
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 (13.04%) Confluence
2 21 (11.41%) SharePoint
3 7 (3.80%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (1.09%) Camunda
4 2 (1.09%) Skype for Business
5 1 (0.54%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 1 (0.54%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.54%) JBoss
5 1 (0.54%) Mule
5 1 (0.54%) Mule ESB
5 1 (0.54%) SAS
5 1 (0.54%) WebLogic
Applications
1 54 (29.35%) Microsoft Office
2 19 (10.33%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (8.70%) MS Visio
4 12 (6.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 10 (5.43%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.54%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.54%) MicroStation
6 1 (0.54%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 7 (3.80%) Primavera
2 6 (3.26%) SAP MM
3 5 (2.72%) Remedy ITSM
3 5 (2.72%) SAP S/4HANA
4 3 (1.63%) Payment Gateway
5 2 (1.09%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.54%) Infor M3
6 1 (0.54%) NEC Housing
6 1 (0.54%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.54%) SAP PM
Cloud Services
1 36 (19.57%) Azure
2 30 (16.30%) Microsoft 365
3 28 (15.22%) AWS
4 22 (11.96%) Power Platform
5 12 (6.52%) Entra ID
6 11 (5.98%) GCP
6 11 (5.98%) Power Automate
6 11 (5.98%) PowerApps
7 8 (4.35%) Google Kubernetes Engine
8 7 (3.80%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 5 (2.72%) Azure DevOps
9 5 (2.72%) Microsoft Copilot
9 5 (2.72%) OneDrive
10 4 (2.17%) Figma
10 4 (2.17%) SaaS
11 3 (1.63%) Apigee
11 3 (1.63%) Dynamics 365
11 3 (1.63%) Kong
11 3 (1.63%) OpenShift
12 2 (1.09%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 23 (12.50%) Firewall
2 15 (8.15%) VPN
3 12 (6.52%) DNS
3 12 (6.52%) Wireless
4 9 (4.89%) WAN
4 9 (4.89%) Wi-Fi
5 7 (3.80%) LAN
5 7 (3.80%) Network Security
5 7 (3.80%) Skype
5 7 (3.80%) VLAN
6 5 (2.72%) DHCP
7 4 (2.17%) BGP
7 4 (2.17%) Internet
7 4 (2.17%) MPLS
7 4 (2.17%) OSPF
7 4 (2.17%) SSL
7 4 (2.17%) TCP/IP
8 3 (1.63%) Cisco ISE
8 3 (1.63%) FTP
8 3 (1.63%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (8.70%) Power BI
2 6 (3.26%) SQL Server
3 3 (1.63%) Hadoop
3 3 (1.63%) Relational Database
3 3 (1.63%) Tableau
4 2 (1.09%) Apache Cassandra
4 2 (1.09%) MongoDB
4 2 (1.09%) NoSQL
4 2 (1.09%) Oracle Database
4 2 (1.09%) PostgreSQL
4 2 (1.09%) Power Query
4 2 (1.09%) RDBMS
5 1 (0.54%) Amazon Redshift
5 1 (0.54%) Big Data
5 1 (0.54%) Data Lake
5 1 (0.54%) Data Mining
5 1 (0.54%) Data Vault
5 1 (0.54%) Data Warehouse
5 1 (0.54%) MySQL
5 1 (0.54%) SAP BW
Development Applications
1 34 (18.48%) JIRA
2 5 (2.72%) Git
2 5 (2.72%) Postman
3 2 (1.09%) ClearCase
3 2 (1.09%) Cucumber
3 2 (1.09%) GitLab
3 2 (1.09%) JUnit
4 1 (0.54%) Bitbucket
4 1 (0.54%) Eclipse
4 1 (0.54%) IntelliJ
4 1 (0.54%) MLflow
4 1 (0.54%) Selenium
4 1 (0.54%) SoapUI
4 1 (0.54%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 81 (44.02%) Social Skills
2 68 (36.96%) Finance
3 46 (25.00%) Analytical Skills
4 23 (12.50%) Banking
5 16 (8.70%) Public Sector
6 14 (7.61%) Manufacturing
7 11 (5.98%) Influencing Skills
8 10 (5.43%) Telecoms
9 8 (4.35%) Documentation Skills
9 8 (4.35%) Organisational Skills
10 7 (3.80%) Legal
11 5 (2.72%) Retail
12 4 (2.17%) Presentation Skills
13 3 (1.63%) Corporate Banking
13 3 (1.63%) Marketing
14 2 (1.09%) Agriculture
14 2 (1.09%) Aviation
14 2 (1.09%) Environmental Health
14 2 (1.09%) Pharmaceutical
14 2 (1.09%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 47 (25.54%) Analyst
2 22 (11.96%) Business Analyst
3 17 (9.24%) IT Analyst
4 15 (8.15%) Support Analyst
5 14 (7.61%) IT Support
5 14 (7.61%) IT Support Analyst
6 11 (5.98%) Architect
6 11 (5.98%) Senior
7 10 (5.43%) Consultant
7 10 (5.43%) Security Engineer
8 9 (4.89%) Network Engineer
8 9 (4.89%) Security Consultant
9 8 (4.35%) Developer
10 6 (3.26%) Coordinator
10 6 (3.26%) Designer
10 6 (3.26%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
10 6 (3.26%) Microsoft Engineer
10 6 (3.26%) Project Coordinator
10 6 (3.26%) Project Manager
10 6 (3.26%) UX Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (6.52%) XML
2 10 (5.43%) REST
3 9 (4.89%) JSON
4 8 (4.35%) 802.1X
4 8 (4.35%) SOAP
5 7 (3.80%) HTML
6 6 (3.26%) Swagger
7 5 (2.72%) .NET
8 4 (2.17%) CSS
8 4 (2.17%) OAuth
9 3 (1.63%) JWT
9 3 (1.63%) LangChain
9 3 (1.63%) Middleware
9 3 (1.63%) OpenAPI
9 3 (1.63%) PyTorch
10 2 (1.09%) Oracle Fusion
10 2 (1.09%) React
10 2 (1.09%) scikit-learn
10 2 (1.09%) WinForms
10 2 (1.09%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 29 (15.76%) Management Information System
2 16 (8.70%) Onboarding
3 14 (7.61%) Security Posture
4 13 (7.07%) Cloud Native
5 8 (4.35%) Product Ownership
6 7 (3.80%) PKI
7 5 (2.72%) Life Science
8 4 (2.17%) Data Structures
8 4 (2.17%) Legacy Systems
8 4 (2.17%) Self-Motivation
9 3 (1.63%) AI Agents
9 3 (1.63%) Digital Wallet
9 3 (1.63%) Distributed Systems
9 3 (1.63%) Graphic Design
9 3 (1.63%) Tandem
10 2 (1.09%) Algorithms
10 2 (1.09%) Analytical Mindset
10 2 (1.09%) Cloud Security Posture
10 2 (1.09%) IoT
10 2 (1.09%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 43 (23.37%) Windows
2 23 (12.50%) Linux
3 16 (8.70%) Windows 10
4 12 (6.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 7 (3.80%) Unix
6 4 (2.17%) Windows Server
7 3 (1.63%) AIX
7 3 (1.63%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (1.09%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.54%) Android
9 1 (0.54%) Apple iOS
9 1 (0.54%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 69 (37.50%) Agile
2 48 (26.09%) Problem-Solving
3 42 (22.83%) Computer Science
4 37 (20.11%) ITIL
5 33 (17.93%) Stakeholder Management
6 32 (17.39%) Change Management
7 31 (16.85%) DevOps
7 31 (16.85%) Roadmaps
8 24 (13.04%) CI/CD
8 24 (13.04%) Scrum
9 23 (12.50%) AI
10 22 (11.96%) Project Management
11 21 (11.41%) Service Management
12 20 (10.87%) Continuous Improvement
12 20 (10.87%) Customer Service
12 20 (10.87%) Data Analysis
13 19 (10.33%) Analytics
13 19 (10.33%) Validation
14 18 (9.78%) ITSM
15 17 (9.24%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 36 (19.57%) Python
2 27 (14.67%) SQL
3 22 (11.96%) PowerShell
4 15 (8.15%) Java
5 13 (7.07%) Bash
6 5 (2.72%) C#
6 5 (2.72%) JavaScript
7 4 (2.17%) VB
8 2 (1.09%) C++
8 2 (1.09%) Perl
8 2 (1.09%) R
8 2 (1.09%) Shell Script
8 2 (1.09%) TypeScript
8 2 (1.09%) VB6
8 2 (1.09%) VBScript
9 1 (0.54%) Bicep
9 1 (0.54%) Groovy
9 1 (0.54%) Kusto Query Language
9 1 (0.54%) MATLAB
9 1 (0.54%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 35 (19.02%) Computer Science Degree
2 21 (11.41%) Security Cleared
3 20 (10.87%) CISSP
4 16 (8.70%) BPSS Clearance
4 16 (8.70%) Microsoft Certification
5 14 (7.61%) Master's Degree
5 14 (7.61%) SC Cleared
6 12 (6.52%) Cisco Certification
7 11 (5.98%) AWS Certification
8 10 (5.43%) Azure Certification
8 10 (5.43%) CCNP
9 9 (4.89%) A+ Certification
9 9 (4.89%) Network+ Certification
10 8 (4.35%) CCNA
11 7 (3.80%) ITIL Certification
11 7 (3.80%) MBA
12 5 (2.72%) PMI Certification
12 5 (2.72%) PMP
13 4 (2.17%) CEH
13 4 (2.17%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (5.43%) NIST
2 7 (3.80%) GRC
3 6 (3.26%) GDPR
3 6 (3.26%) SLA
4 5 (2.72%) Accessibility
4 5 (2.72%) IFRS
4 5 (2.72%) PCI DSS
4 5 (2.72%) QA
5 4 (2.17%) PSD2
6 3 (1.63%) Data Quality
6 3 (1.63%) IFRS 17
6 3 (1.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 3 (1.63%) PMO
7 2 (1.09%) California Consumer Privacy Act
7 2 (1.09%) GAAP
7 2 (1.09%) HIPAA
7 2 (1.09%) ISO 8583
7 2 (1.09%) P3O
7 2 (1.09%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 1 (0.54%) Basel III
System Software
1 21 (11.41%) Active Directory
2 13 (7.07%) Docker
3 3 (1.63%) Hyper-V
3 3 (1.63%) NFS
3 3 (1.63%) Veritas Volume Manager
3 3 (1.63%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (1.09%) BitLocker
4 2 (1.09%) Firmware
4 2 (1.09%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 14 (7.61%) Kubernetes
2 12 (6.52%) Terraform
3 11 (5.98%) Progress Chef
4 8 (4.35%) Ansible
5 3 (1.63%) Cisco Prime
5 3 (1.63%) PowerBroker
5 3 (1.63%) Tivoli
5 3 (1.63%) Tivoli Storage Manager
6 2 (1.09%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 2 (1.09%) SCCM
7 1 (0.54%) CA Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.54%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (0.54%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 61 (33.15%) Microsoft
2 19 (10.33%) SAP
3 17 (9.24%) Cisco
4 15 (8.15%) ServiceNow
5 14 (7.61%) Red Hat
6 13 (7.07%) Google
7 10 (5.43%) Oracle
8 8 (4.35%) Splunk
9 6 (3.26%) Aruba
9 6 (3.26%) Databricks
9 6 (3.26%) ForeScout
9 6 (3.26%) Fortinet
9 6 (3.26%) IBM
9 6 (3.26%) Remedy
10 5 (2.72%) Citrix
10 5 (2.72%) CyberArk
10 5 (2.72%) UiPath
11 4 (2.17%) Adobe
11 4 (2.17%) CheckPoint
11 4 (2.17%) Palo Alto