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 7 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 38 27 25
Rank change year-on-year -11 -2 -3
Contract jobs citing Degree 201 154 140
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 5.05% 7.09% 5.88%
As % of the Qualifications category 16.63% 20.92% 21.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 101 84 64
10th Percentile £204 £312 £356
25th Percentile £367 £361 £472
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £457 £550
Median % change year-on-year +1.81% -16.95% +15.79%
75th Percentile £588 £532 £590
90th Percentile £630 £685 £665
England median daily rate £500 £500 £511
% change year-on-year +0.05% -2.20% -4.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 20 21
10th Percentile £17.25 £19.55 £21.25
25th Percentile £28.50 £24.76 £37.55
Median hourly rate £36.00 £35.00 £48.56
Median % change year-on-year +2.86% -27.92% +20.65%
75th Percentile £65.38 £66.29 £62.50
90th Percentile £178.75 £74.48 £93.00
England median hourly rate £39.11 £41.50 £57.35
% change year-on-year -5.76% -27.64% +20.74%

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 1,209 736 648
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 30.38% 33.90% 27.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 787 438 372
10th Percentile £313 £313 £313
25th Percentile £418 £408 £412
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £519 £492 £505
Median % change year-on-year +5.39% -2.57% -3.81%
75th Percentile £618 £619 £625
90th Percentile £688 £715 £725
England median daily rate £525 £525 £538
% change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 112 71 64
10th Percentile £17.25 £15.50 £11.35
25th Percentile £28.50 £20.00 £18.11
Median hourly rate £43.96 £27.38 £40.33
Median % change year-on-year +60.58% -32.11% -5.12%
75th Percentile £64.63 £56.88 £55.25
90th Percentile £83.75 £71.45 £80.16
England median hourly rate £52.50 £25.15 £53.00
% change year-on-year +108.75% -52.55% -3.64%

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 7 September 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 7 September 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 7 September 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 -19 91 £493 +5.80% 347
Cheshire -2 75 £479 +14.05% 78
Lancashire -5 19 £220 -59.35% 74
Merseyside -11 9 £150 -70.00% 31
Cumbria -15 6 £384 - 26
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 27 (13.43%) SharePoint
2 17 (8.46%) Confluence
3 11 (5.47%) Microsoft Exchange
4 6 (2.99%) SharePoint Server
5 5 (2.49%) Camunda
6 3 (1.49%) SAS
7 2 (1.00%) Skype for Business
8 1 (0.50%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 1 (0.50%) JBoss
8 1 (0.50%) Mule
8 1 (0.50%) Mule ESB
8 1 (0.50%) nginx
8 1 (0.50%) WebLogic
Applications
1 47 (23.38%) Microsoft Office
2 17 (8.46%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (4.98%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 10 (4.98%) MS Visio
4 8 (3.98%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.50%) AutoCAD
5 1 (0.50%) MicroStation
Business Applications
1 5 (2.49%) Primavera
1 5 (2.49%) SAP MM
2 4 (1.99%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.50%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.50%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 58 (28.86%) Azure
2 40 (19.90%) Microsoft 365
2 40 (19.90%) Power Platform
3 35 (17.41%) AWS
4 20 (9.95%) GCP
5 15 (7.46%) Azure DevOps
5 15 (7.46%) Entra ID
6 14 (6.97%) Azure Monitor
7 13 (6.47%) Power Automate
7 13 (6.47%) PowerApps
8 12 (5.97%) Azure Sentinel
9 10 (4.98%) Google Kubernetes Engine
9 10 (4.98%) OneDrive
10 9 (4.48%) AWS CloudFormation
11 8 (3.98%) Azure AI
12 7 (3.48%) Microsoft Copilot
13 6 (2.99%) Virtual Private Cloud
14 5 (2.49%) OpenShift
14 5 (2.49%) Serverless
15 4 (1.99%) AWS KMS
Communications & Networking
1 25 (12.44%) Firewall
2 14 (6.97%) SSL
3 13 (6.47%) VPN
4 12 (5.97%) Network Security
5 10 (4.98%) Wireless
6 7 (3.48%) DNS
7 6 (2.99%) WAN
8 5 (2.49%) Wi-Fi
9 4 (1.99%) BGP
9 4 (1.99%) Internet
9 4 (1.99%) MPLS
9 4 (1.99%) OSPF
9 4 (1.99%) SSH
10 3 (1.49%) Cisco ISE
10 3 (1.49%) FTP
10 3 (1.49%) LAN
10 3 (1.49%) VLAN
11 2 (1.00%) Cisco Nexus
11 2 (1.00%) Multicast
11 2 (1.00%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (14.43%) Power BI
2 17 (8.46%) SQL Server
3 12 (5.97%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 11 (5.47%) MySQL
5 3 (1.49%) Metadata
5 3 (1.49%) Power Query
6 2 (1.00%) Amazon Redshift
6 2 (1.00%) Data Vault
6 2 (1.00%) EDRMS
6 2 (1.00%) Oracle Database
6 2 (1.00%) Relational Database
7 1 (0.50%) Apache Cassandra
7 1 (0.50%) Big Data
7 1 (0.50%) Data Mining
7 1 (0.50%) MongoDB
7 1 (0.50%) NoSQL
7 1 (0.50%) PostgreSQL
7 1 (0.50%) RDBMS
7 1 (0.50%) SAP BW
7 1 (0.50%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 22 (10.95%) JIRA
2 8 (3.98%) GitLab
3 6 (2.99%) Git
3 6 (2.99%) Jenkins
4 5 (2.49%) JUnit
5 4 (1.99%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (1.49%) Bitbucket Server
6 3 (1.49%) Gradle
6 3 (1.49%) Maven
6 3 (1.49%) Mockito
6 3 (1.49%) REST Assured
6 3 (1.49%) SonarQube
7 2 (1.00%) ClearCase
7 2 (1.00%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.50%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.50%) Eclipse
8 1 (0.50%) IntelliJ
8 1 (0.50%) Postman
8 1 (0.50%) Robot Framework
8 1 (0.50%) Selenium
General
1 68 (33.83%) Social Skills
2 50 (24.88%) Finance
3 41 (20.40%) Analytical Skills
4 22 (10.95%) Manufacturing
5 12 (5.97%) Banking
6 8 (3.98%) Legal
7 7 (3.48%) Organisational Skills
7 7 (3.48%) Telecoms
8 5 (2.49%) Influencing Skills
8 5 (2.49%) Public Sector
9 4 (1.99%) Documentation Skills
10 3 (1.49%) Aerospace
10 3 (1.49%) Automotive
10 3 (1.49%) Local Government
10 3 (1.49%) Marketing
10 3 (1.49%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (1.00%) French Language
11 2 (1.00%) Law
11 2 (1.00%) Police
11 2 (1.00%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 32 (15.92%) Analyst
2 19 (9.45%) Security Engineer
3 15 (7.46%) IT Analyst
3 15 (7.46%) Senior
4 14 (6.97%) Developer
5 13 (6.47%) Cloud Engineer
5 13 (6.47%) Support Analyst
6 12 (5.97%) IT Support
6 12 (5.97%) IT Support Analyst
6 12 (5.97%) Lead
7 10 (4.98%) Cloud Security Engineer
7 10 (4.98%) DBA
7 10 (4.98%) SQL DBA
8 9 (4.48%) Architect
8 9 (4.48%) Consultant
9 8 (3.98%) Business Analyst
9 8 (3.98%) Security Consultant
10 7 (3.48%) Network Engineer
10 7 (3.48%) Operations Analyst
10 7 (3.48%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (10.45%) Terraform
2 7 (3.48%) HTML
2 7 (3.48%) Microsoft Graph
2 7 (3.48%) REST
3 6 (2.99%) CSS
4 5 (2.49%) 802.1X
4 5 (2.49%) React
4 5 (2.49%) SOAP
5 4 (1.99%) JPA
5 4 (1.99%) Kafka
5 4 (1.99%) Lightning Web Components
5 4 (1.99%) Spring Boot
6 3 (1.49%) .NET
6 3 (1.49%) ARM Templates
6 3 (1.49%) Azure Blueprints
6 3 (1.49%) Hibernate
6 3 (1.49%) Middleware
6 3 (1.49%) PySpark
6 3 (1.49%) Redux
6 3 (1.49%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 36 (17.91%) Management Information System
2 16 (7.96%) Security Posture
3 14 (6.97%) Cloud Native
3 14 (6.97%) Onboarding
4 10 (4.98%) PKI
5 9 (4.48%) Clustering
5 9 (4.48%) Replication
6 8 (3.98%) Enterprise Cloud
7 7 (3.48%) Data Structures
8 6 (2.99%) Distributed Systems
9 5 (2.49%) Product Ownership
10 4 (1.99%) Legacy Systems
10 4 (1.99%) Life Science
10 4 (1.99%) Tandem
11 3 (1.49%) Cloud Security Posture
12 2 (1.00%) Analytical Mindset
12 2 (1.00%) Driving Licence
12 2 (1.00%) Hybrid Cloud
12 2 (1.00%) Self-Motivation
12 2 (1.00%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 45 (22.39%) Windows
2 27 (13.43%) Linux
3 15 (7.46%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 11 (5.47%) Windows Server
5 9 (4.48%) Windows 10
6 7 (3.48%) Unix
7 3 (1.49%) AIX
8 1 (0.50%) Android
8 1 (0.50%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.50%) CentOS
8 1 (0.50%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.50%) VMS
8 1 (0.50%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 54 (26.87%) Agile
2 52 (25.87%) Computer Science
3 47 (23.38%) ITIL
4 44 (21.89%) Problem-Solving
5 38 (18.91%) DevOps
6 33 (16.42%) CI/CD
7 31 (15.42%) Change Management
8 26 (12.94%) Scrum
8 26 (12.94%) Stakeholder Management
9 24 (11.94%) Continuous Improvement
9 24 (11.94%) Roadmaps
10 23 (11.44%) AI
10 23 (11.44%) Business Intelligence
10 23 (11.44%) Cybersecurity
11 22 (10.95%) Analytics
11 22 (10.95%) Cloud Security
12 19 (9.45%) Incident Management
12 19 (9.45%) Service Management
13 18 (8.96%) Data Analysis
13 18 (8.96%) SIEM
Programming Languages
1 48 (23.88%) Python
2 44 (21.89%) PowerShell
3 34 (16.92%) SQL
4 25 (12.44%) Java
5 17 (8.46%) Bash
6 10 (4.98%) Bicep
6 10 (4.98%) T-SQL
7 7 (3.48%) JavaScript
8 4 (1.99%) Apex Code
8 4 (1.99%) Search Processing Language
9 3 (1.49%) C#
9 3 (1.49%) Kusto Query Language
9 3 (1.49%) VB
10 2 (1.00%) Perl
10 2 (1.00%) Scala
10 2 (1.00%) Shell Script
10 2 (1.00%) TypeScript
10 2 (1.00%) VB6
11 1 (0.50%) MATLAB
11 1 (0.50%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 38 (18.91%) Computer Science Degree
2 27 (13.43%) Microsoft Certification
3 26 (12.94%) CISSP
4 24 (11.94%) Security Cleared
5 22 (10.95%) Azure Certification
5 22 (10.95%) SC Cleared
6 18 (8.96%) BPSS Clearance
7 12 (5.97%) AWS Certification
7 12 (5.97%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 10 (4.98%) Cisco Certification
9 8 (3.98%) CCNP
10 7 (3.48%) A+ Certification
10 7 (3.48%) CISM
10 7 (3.48%) ITIL Certification
10 7 (3.48%) Network+ Certification
11 6 (2.99%) DBS Check
11 6 (2.99%) HNC
12 5 (2.49%) CCNA
12 5 (2.49%) CEH
12 5 (2.49%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (4.98%) NIST
2 7 (3.48%) GDPR
3 6 (2.99%) Data Quality
3 6 (2.99%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 5 (2.49%) PCI DSS
4 5 (2.49%) QA
4 5 (2.49%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 4 (1.99%) Accessibility
5 4 (1.99%) GRC
5 4 (1.99%) SLA
6 2 (1.00%) Cyber Essentials
6 2 (1.00%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 2 (1.00%) GAAP
6 2 (1.00%) IFRS
7 1 (0.50%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.50%) HIPAA
7 1 (0.50%) IEC 61508
7 1 (0.50%) ISO 20022
7 1 (0.50%) PMO
7 1 (0.50%) SEPA
System Software
1 17 (8.46%) Active Directory
2 14 (6.97%) Docker
3 11 (5.47%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (1.49%) NFS
4 3 (1.49%) Veritas Volume Manager
5 2 (1.00%) Firmware
6 1 (0.50%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.50%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 19 (9.45%) Kubernetes
2 16 (7.96%) Progress Chef
3 10 (4.98%) Ansible
3 10 (4.98%) SCOM
4 3 (1.49%) CASB
4 3 (1.49%) Cisco Prime
4 3 (1.49%) PowerBroker
4 3 (1.49%) Tivoli
4 3 (1.49%) Tivoli Storage Manager
5 2 (1.00%) Microsoft Intune
5 2 (1.00%) SCCM
6 1 (0.50%) Functional Safety
6 1 (0.50%) Istio
6 1 (0.50%) Network Intrusion Detection System
6 1 (0.50%) QRadar
Vendors
1 72 (35.82%) Microsoft
2 23 (11.44%) ServiceNow
3 21 (10.45%) SAP
4 18 (8.96%) Splunk
5 17 (8.46%) Google
6 16 (7.96%) Cisco
6 16 (7.96%) Red Hat
7 10 (4.98%) IBM
7 10 (4.98%) Oracle
8 7 (3.48%) Databricks
9 6 (2.99%) Bomgar
9 6 (2.99%) Ribbon
9 6 (2.99%) Salesforce
10 5 (2.49%) Adobe
10 5 (2.49%) ForeScout
10 5 (2.49%) Thales
10 5 (2.49%) UiPath
11 4 (1.99%) CyberArk
11 4 (1.99%) Gemalto
11 4 (1.99%) Veracode