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

6 months to
1 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 28 25 15
Rank change year-on-year -3 -10 +18
Contract jobs citing Degree 181 145 259
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 5.82% 7.44% 9.18%
As % of the Qualifications category 19.89% 20.45% 30.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 121 81 117
10th Percentile £240 £225 £158
25th Percentile £350 £358 £225
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £400 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -15.79% -5.00% +11.11%
75th Percentile £492 £580 £601
90th Percentile £600 £700 £693
England median daily rate £500 £525 £513
% change year-on-year -4.76% +2.44% -6.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 21 32
10th Percentile £28.50 £22.72 £11.77
25th Percentile - £24.19 £22.51
Median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £26.39
Median % change year-on-year +39.88% +23.15% -9.00%
75th Percentile £49.50 £33.75 £42.88
90th Percentile £64.24 - £46.18
England median hourly rate £51.77 £53.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year -3.23% +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 910 709 854
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 29.25% 36.38% 30.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 605 403 497
10th Percentile £292 £221 £261
25th Percentile £380 £389 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £480 £510
Median % change year-on-year -1.04% -5.88% -
75th Percentile £581 £575 £650
90th Percentile £675 £650 £725
England median daily rate £520 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -0.95% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 89 45 129
10th Percentile £22.68 £22.59 £10.95
25th Percentile £30.00 £25.26 £11.77
Median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £16.06
Median % change year-on-year +39.88% +102.37% -57.17%
75th Percentile £71.50 £60.00 £43.75
90th Percentile £74.57 £82.28 £50.30
England median hourly rate £37.00 £50.00 £37.50
% change year-on-year -26.00% +33.33% -25.00%

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 April 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 April 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 April 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 -6 79 £390 -22.87% 35
Manchester -28 56 £402 -15.37% 146
Lancashire +8 24 £513 - 59
Merseyside -17 12 £200 -54.29% 27
Cumbria 0 7 £500 +21.21% 11
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 22 (12.15%) Confluence
1 22 (12.15%) SharePoint
2 7 (3.87%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (1.10%) SAS
4 1 (0.55%) Apache
4 1 (0.55%) Apache Airflow
4 1 (0.55%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.55%) Camunda
4 1 (0.55%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 39 (21.55%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (6.63%) MS Visio
3 11 (6.08%) Microsoft Project
4 8 (4.42%) Microsoft Excel
5 7 (3.87%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 1 (0.55%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 10 (5.52%) Remedy ITSM
2 4 (2.21%) Payment Gateway
2 4 (2.21%) Primavera
3 3 (1.66%) SAP MM
4 2 (1.10%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (1.10%) NEC Housing
5 1 (0.55%) Infor M3
5 1 (0.55%) SAP HCM
5 1 (0.55%) SAP Payroll
5 1 (0.55%) SAP PM
5 1 (0.55%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 25 (13.81%) Microsoft 365
2 24 (13.26%) Azure
3 23 (12.71%) AWS
4 15 (8.29%) Power Platform
5 13 (7.18%) Entra ID
6 10 (5.52%) Apigee
7 9 (4.97%) GCP
8 6 (3.31%) Azure DevOps
8 6 (3.31%) Kong
8 6 (3.31%) OneDrive
8 6 (3.31%) Power Automate
8 6 (3.31%) PowerApps
9 5 (2.76%) Microsoft Copilot
10 4 (2.21%) GitHub
10 4 (2.21%) GitHub Copilot
10 4 (2.21%) SaaS
11 3 (1.66%) Azure Logic Apps
11 3 (1.66%) Dynamics 365
11 3 (1.66%) Figma
12 2 (1.10%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 15 (8.29%) Firewall
2 11 (6.08%) Skype
2 11 (6.08%) VPN
3 8 (4.42%) DNS
3 8 (4.42%) VLAN
4 7 (3.87%) Wireless
5 6 (3.31%) LAN
5 6 (3.31%) WAN
6 5 (2.76%) DHCP
6 5 (2.76%) Network Security
6 5 (2.76%) Wi-Fi
7 4 (2.21%) BGP
7 4 (2.21%) HTTP
7 4 (2.21%) HTTPS
7 4 (2.21%) TCP/IP
8 3 (1.66%) Software-Defined Networking
8 3 (1.66%) SSH
8 3 (1.66%) Unified Communications
9 2 (1.10%) SAN
9 2 (1.10%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (3.87%) Power BI
1 7 (3.87%) Relational Database
2 5 (2.76%) PostgreSQL
3 4 (2.21%) Data Warehouse
3 4 (2.21%) MySQL
3 4 (2.21%) SQL Server
4 3 (1.66%) Hadoop
5 2 (1.10%) Qlik Sense
5 2 (1.10%) RDBMS
5 2 (1.10%) SAP HANA
5 2 (1.10%) Tableau
6 1 (0.55%) Apache Cassandra
6 1 (0.55%) Base SAS
6 1 (0.55%) Data Lake
6 1 (0.55%) Data Vault
6 1 (0.55%) MongoDB
6 1 (0.55%) OLAP
6 1 (0.55%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.55%) SAS Visual Analytics
6 1 (0.55%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 31 (17.13%) JIRA
2 12 (6.63%) Git
3 9 (4.97%) Postman
4 5 (2.76%) GitLab
5 4 (2.21%) Jenkins
6 1 (0.55%) IntelliJ
6 1 (0.55%) JUnit
6 1 (0.55%) MLflow
6 1 (0.55%) SoapUI
General
1 96 (53.04%) Social Skills
2 66 (36.46%) Finance
3 39 (21.55%) Analytical Skills
4 31 (17.13%) Banking
5 22 (12.15%) Public Sector
6 13 (7.18%) Influencing Skills
6 13 (7.18%) Organisational Skills
7 10 (5.52%) Documentation Skills
8 7 (3.87%) Legal
8 7 (3.87%) Presentation Skills
9 6 (3.31%) Telecoms
10 5 (2.76%) Corporate Banking
10 5 (2.76%) Manufacturing
10 5 (2.76%) Retail
11 3 (1.66%) Retail Banking
12 2 (1.10%) Environmental Health
12 2 (1.10%) Law
12 2 (1.10%) Local Government
12 2 (1.10%) Pharmaceutical
13 1 (0.55%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 41 (22.65%) Analyst
2 24 (13.26%) Business Analyst
3 20 (11.05%) Lead
4 18 (9.94%) Developer
5 10 (5.52%) 1st Line Support
5 10 (5.52%) Project Manager
6 9 (4.97%) Java Developer
6 9 (4.97%) Senior
6 9 (4.97%) Support Analyst
7 8 (4.42%) IT Analyst
7 8 (4.42%) IT Support
7 8 (4.42%) IT Support Analyst
8 7 (3.87%) Architect
8 7 (3.87%) Designer
8 7 (3.87%) UX Designer
9 6 (3.31%) Microsoft 365 Engineer
9 6 (3.31%) Microsoft Engineer
9 6 (3.31%) Network Engineer
9 6 (3.31%) Technical Analyst
9 6 (3.31%) Technical Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (9.94%) XML
2 17 (9.39%) JSON
3 12 (6.63%) REST
4 11 (6.08%) SOAP
5 10 (5.52%) JWT
5 10 (5.52%) OAuth
5 10 (5.52%) Swagger
6 9 (4.97%) Spring
6 9 (4.97%) Spring Boot
7 8 (4.42%) Hibernate
7 8 (4.42%) RESTful
8 6 (3.31%) HTML
8 6 (3.31%) OpenAPI
9 5 (2.76%) .NET
10 4 (2.21%) 802.1X
10 4 (2.21%) JAX-RS
10 4 (2.21%) OAuth2
10 4 (2.21%) Spring MVC
10 4 (2.21%) Spring Security
11 3 (1.66%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 15 (8.29%) Virtual Team
2 14 (7.73%) Management Information System
3 13 (7.18%) Product Ownership
4 9 (4.97%) Onboarding
5 5 (2.76%) Self-Motivation
6 4 (2.21%) Data Centre
6 4 (2.21%) Digital Wallet
6 4 (2.21%) PKI
6 4 (2.21%) Security Posture
7 3 (1.66%) Cloud Native
7 3 (1.66%) Driving Licence
7 3 (1.66%) Handset
7 3 (1.66%) IoT
7 3 (1.66%) PMI
7 3 (1.66%) Tandem
8 2 (1.10%) AI Agents
8 2 (1.10%) Cyber Threat
8 2 (1.10%) Data Structures
8 2 (1.10%) Enterprise Software
8 2 (1.10%) Graphic Design
Operating Systems
1 35 (19.34%) Windows
2 17 (9.39%) Windows 10
3 10 (5.52%) Linux
4 8 (4.42%) Windows Server
5 5 (2.76%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (2.21%) Unix
7 3 (1.66%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.55%) Mac OS
8 1 (0.55%) Solaris
8 1 (0.55%) VMS
8 1 (0.55%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (44.20%) Agile
2 53 (29.28%) Computer Science
3 50 (27.62%) Problem-Solving
4 41 (22.65%) ITIL
5 37 (20.44%) Change Management
5 37 (20.44%) Continuous Improvement
5 37 (20.44%) DevOps
6 33 (18.23%) Stakeholder Management
7 32 (17.68%) Project Management
8 29 (16.02%) Project Delivery
9 24 (13.26%) AI
9 24 (13.26%) ITSM
9 24 (13.26%) PRINCE2
10 23 (12.71%) Cybersecurity
11 22 (12.15%) CI/CD
11 22 (12.15%) Service Delivery
12 20 (11.05%) Workshop Facilitation
13 19 (10.50%) Customer Service
13 19 (10.50%) Six Sigma
13 19 (10.50%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 24 (13.26%) SQL
2 19 (10.50%) Python
3 15 (8.29%) Java
4 12 (6.63%) PowerShell
5 6 (3.31%) Bash
6 5 (2.76%) C#
7 4 (2.21%) Perl
8 3 (1.66%) C++
8 3 (1.66%) R
9 2 (1.10%) JavaScript
9 2 (1.10%) Kusto Query Language
9 2 (1.10%) TypeScript
10 1 (0.55%) Groovy
10 1 (0.55%) PL/SQL
10 1 (0.55%) SAS Macro
10 1 (0.55%) Shell Script
10 1 (0.55%) VB
10 1 (0.55%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 42 (23.20%) Computer Science Degree
2 37 (20.44%) Security Cleared
3 19 (10.50%) SC Cleared
4 18 (9.94%) BPSS Clearance
5 16 (8.84%) Master's Degree
6 15 (8.29%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
7 12 (6.63%) CCNA
7 12 (6.63%) Cisco Certification
8 11 (6.08%) Microsoft Certification
9 10 (5.52%) CCNP
10 9 (4.97%) MBA
11 8 (4.42%) CISSP
12 7 (3.87%) PMI Certification
12 7 (3.87%) PMP
13 6 (3.31%) A+ Certification
13 6 (3.31%) ITIL Certification
14 5 (2.76%) Azure Certification
14 5 (2.76%) Network+ Certification
15 4 (2.21%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 3 (1.66%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (5.52%) NIST
2 9 (4.97%) QA
3 7 (3.87%) GDPR
4 6 (3.31%) Accessibility
4 6 (3.31%) GRC
4 6 (3.31%) PSD2
5 5 (2.76%) PCI DSS
5 5 (2.76%) SLA
6 4 (2.21%) Data Quality
6 4 (2.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 3 (1.66%) Basel III
7 3 (1.66%) IFRS
7 3 (1.66%) IFRS 17
7 3 (1.66%) ISO 8583
8 2 (1.10%) ISO 20022
8 2 (1.10%) P3O
8 2 (1.10%) PMO
9 1 (0.55%) NCSC
9 1 (0.55%) NEBOSH
9 1 (0.55%) SEPA
System Software
1 21 (11.60%) Active Directory
2 13 (7.18%) Docker
3 7 (3.87%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (1.66%) Hyper-V
5 2 (1.10%) Firmware
6 1 (0.55%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.55%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 13 (7.18%) Kubernetes
2 6 (3.31%) Ansible
3 4 (2.21%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 3 (1.66%) Cisco Prime
4 3 (1.66%) Terraform
5 2 (1.10%) SCCM
5 2 (1.10%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.55%) CA Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.55%) Progress Chef
6 1 (0.55%) Red Hat Satellite
6 1 (0.55%) SCOM
6 1 (0.55%) SCOrch
6 1 (0.55%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 53 (29.28%) Microsoft
2 16 (8.84%) Cisco
3 15 (8.29%) Citrix
4 10 (5.52%) Remedy
4 10 (5.52%) ServiceNow
4 10 (5.52%) Splunk
5 8 (4.42%) Oracle
5 8 (4.42%) SAP
6 7 (3.87%) VMware
7 6 (3.31%) MuleSoft
8 5 (2.76%) Aruba
8 5 (2.76%) CheckPoint
8 5 (2.76%) IBM
8 5 (2.76%) Palo Alto
8 5 (2.76%) Red Hat
9 4 (2.21%) Broadcom
9 4 (2.21%) CyberArk
9 4 (2.21%) Ekahau
9 4 (2.21%) ForeScout
10 3 (1.66%) EMC