Legal Contract Job Trends in the North West

Legal
England > North West

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Legal in contract job vacancies in the North West. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Legal over the 6 months leading up to 11 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 68 84 65
Rank change year-on-year +16 -19 +25
Contract jobs citing Legal 122 52 53
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 3.06% 2.38% 2.22%
As % of the General category 6.03% 3.88% 4.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 82 42 45
10th Percentile £148 £190 -
25th Percentile £223 £363 £200
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £406 £474 £450
Median % change year-on-year -14.41% +5.28% -14.29%
75th Percentile £597 £594 £600
90th Percentile £750 £699 £850
England median daily rate £525 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 1 1
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - £12.51 £52.50
Median hourly rate £43.96 £12.76 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +244.51% -76.80% +194.75%
75th Percentile - £13.01 £57.50
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £43.96 £22.00 £52.50
% change year-on-year +99.82% -58.10% +148.73%

All General Skills
North West

Legal falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring general skills in the North West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 2,024 1,339 1,312
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 50.78% 61.39% 54.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,158 852 757
10th Percentile £240 £273 £273
25th Percentile £400 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £455 £500
Median % change year-on-year +9.89% -9.00% -
75th Percentile £594 £564 £588
90th Percentile £677 £675 £686
England median daily rate £525 £500 £538
% change year-on-year +5.00% -6.98% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 253 112 80
10th Percentile £14.72 £12.84 £16.00
25th Percentile £24.00 £14.43 £18.02
Median hourly rate £35.11 £23.57 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +48.97% -32.67% +55.35%
75th Percentile £63.75 £50.63 £44.06
90th Percentile £82.60 £70.14 £54.00
England median hourly rate £31.13 £25.15 £38.31
% change year-on-year +23.77% -34.35% +39.31%

Legal
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Legal relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Legal job vacancy trend in the North West

Legal
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Legal.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Legal

Legal
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Legal in the North West over the 6 months to 11 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Legal in the North West

Legal
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Legal.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Legal

Legal
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Legal in the North West over the 6 months to 11 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Legal in the North West

Legal
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 Legal within the North West region over the 6 months to 11 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 -5 52 £563 +12.50% 85
Merseyside +16 33 £211 -67.50% 14
Cumbria -6 17 £320 +60.00% 2
Cheshire -18 12 £550 +25.14% 13
Lancashire -14 7 £500 -2.91% 15
Legal
England

Legal
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 11 (9.02%) Microsoft Exchange
2 4 (3.28%) SharePoint
Applications
1 3 (2.46%) Acrobat
2 2 (1.64%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.82%) AutoCAD
3 1 (0.82%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.82%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.82%) MicroStation
Business Applications
1 3 (2.46%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.82%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 27 (22.13%) Microsoft 365
2 19 (15.57%) Azure
3 11 (9.02%) Entra ID
4 4 (3.28%) SaaS
5 3 (2.46%) IaaS
6 2 (1.64%) Mimecast
6 2 (1.64%) OneDrive
6 2 (1.64%) Power Automate
6 2 (1.64%) Power Platform
6 2 (1.64%) PowerApps
7 1 (0.82%) Azure DevOps
7 1 (0.82%) Dynamics 365
7 1 (0.82%) Microsoft Purview
7 1 (0.82%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 14 (11.48%) VPN
2 10 (8.20%) Wi-Fi
3 6 (4.92%) Firewall
3 6 (4.92%) SSL
4 5 (4.10%) LAN
4 5 (4.10%) TCP/IP
4 5 (4.10%) WAN
4 5 (4.10%) Wireless
5 3 (2.46%) Network Security
6 2 (1.64%) BGP
6 2 (1.64%) CATAPAN
6 2 (1.64%) Cisco ASA
6 2 (1.64%) Cisco ISE
6 2 (1.64%) Cisco Nexus
6 2 (1.64%) DNS
6 2 (1.64%) MPLS
6 2 (1.64%) OSPF
6 2 (1.64%) SMS
6 2 (1.64%) VLAN
6 2 (1.64%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.82%) Data Mining
1 1 (0.82%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 4 (3.28%) MSI
General
1 41 (33.61%) Finance
1 41 (33.61%) Social Skills
2 21 (17.21%) Organisational Skills
3 17 (13.93%) Analytical Skills
4 12 (9.84%) Law
5 6 (4.92%) Banking
6 5 (4.10%) Legal Technology
6 5 (4.10%) Public Sector
7 4 (3.28%) Documentation Skills
7 4 (3.28%) Retail
8 3 (2.46%) Military
9 2 (1.64%) Advertising
9 2 (1.64%) Investment Banking
9 2 (1.64%) Marketing
10 1 (0.82%) Financial Institution
10 1 (0.82%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.82%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 16 (13.11%) Analyst
2 13 (10.66%) Service Analyst
2 13 (10.66%) Service Desk Analyst
3 10 (8.20%) Project Manager
4 7 (5.74%) 1st Line Support
4 7 (5.74%) Lead
5 6 (4.92%) Administrator
5 6 (4.92%) Development Manager
5 6 (4.92%) Senior
5 6 (4.92%) Software Development Manager
5 6 (4.92%) Software Manager
6 5 (4.10%) Developer
6 5 (4.10%) Network Engineer
7 4 (3.28%) Applications Packager
7 4 (3.28%) Architect
7 4 (3.28%) Desktop Engineer
7 4 (3.28%) Lead Developer
7 4 (3.28%) Lead Software Developer
7 4 (3.28%) Senior Manager
7 4 (3.28%) Software Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (3.28%) ISPF
1 4 (3.28%) Middleware
2 2 (1.64%) JSON
2 2 (1.64%) SailPoint
3 1 (0.82%) .NET
3 1 (0.82%) JDBC
3 1 (0.82%) Microsoft Graph
3 1 (0.82%) OAuth
3 1 (0.82%) OpenID
3 1 (0.82%) REST
3 1 (0.82%) RESTful
3 1 (0.82%) SAML
3 1 (0.82%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 20 (16.39%) Podcast
1 20 (16.39%) Virtual Team
1 20 (16.39%) Web Conferencing
2 5 (4.10%) Operational Technology
3 4 (3.28%) Clustering
3 4 (3.28%) Mainframe
4 3 (2.46%) Blackberry
4 3 (2.46%) Driving Licence
4 3 (2.46%) Enterprise Software
4 3 (2.46%) Onboarding
4 3 (2.46%) Smartphone
5 2 (1.64%) Data Centre
5 2 (1.64%) Management Information System
5 2 (1.64%) PKI
6 1 (0.82%) AI Agents
6 1 (0.82%) Algorithms
6 1 (0.82%) Enterprise Storage
6 1 (0.82%) Legacy Systems
6 1 (0.82%) Reference Data
6 1 (0.82%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 35 (28.69%) Windows
2 25 (20.49%) Windows 10
3 4 (3.28%) zOS
4 3 (2.46%) Windows Server
5 2 (1.64%) Linux
5 2 (1.64%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.82%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.82%) Unix
6 1 (0.82%) Windows Server 2012
6 1 (0.82%) Windows Server 2016
6 1 (0.82%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 32 (26.23%) Customer Service
2 18 (14.75%) Problem-Solving
3 17 (13.93%) Migration
4 16 (13.11%) ITIL
5 15 (12.30%) Data Protection
6 12 (9.84%) Stakeholder Management
7 11 (9.02%) Agile
8 10 (8.20%) PRINCE2
9 9 (7.38%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 8 (6.56%) AI
10 8 (6.56%) Application Packaging
10 8 (6.56%) Case Management
10 8 (6.56%) Continuous Improvement
10 8 (6.56%) Project Delivery
10 8 (6.56%) Roadmaps
11 7 (5.74%) Risk Management
12 6 (4.92%) Change Management
12 6 (4.92%) Cybersecurity
12 6 (4.92%) Project Management
12 6 (4.92%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 4 (3.28%) PowerShell
2 2 (1.64%) SQL
3 1 (0.82%) C#
3 1 (0.82%) JavaScript
3 1 (0.82%) Python
Qualifications
1 20 (16.39%) BPSS Clearance
1 20 (16.39%) Security Cleared
2 19 (15.57%) SC Cleared
3 8 (6.56%) Degree
4 4 (3.28%) PMP
5 3 (2.46%) Cisco Certification
5 3 (2.46%) PMI Certification
6 2 (1.64%) CCNP
6 2 (1.64%) CISSP
7 1 (0.82%) CCIE
7 1 (0.82%) CGEIT
7 1 (0.82%) Chartered Engineer
7 1 (0.82%) CISA
7 1 (0.82%) CISM
7 1 (0.82%) CREST Certified
7 1 (0.82%) CRISC
7 1 (0.82%) DBS Check
7 1 (0.82%) GCFA
7 1 (0.82%) GCIA
7 1 (0.82%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (1.64%) GDPR
1 2 (1.64%) GRC
1 2 (1.64%) NIST
2 1 (0.82%) COBIT
2 1 (0.82%) Data Quality
2 1 (0.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 1 (0.82%) NCSC
2 1 (0.82%) Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)
System Software
1 25 (20.49%) Active Directory
2 4 (3.28%) RACF
2 4 (3.28%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (1.64%) Firmware
4 1 (0.82%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 10 (8.20%) SCCM
2 4 (3.28%) Microsoft Intune
2 4 (3.28%) OMEGAMON
3 3 (2.46%) McAfee ePO
4 2 (1.64%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (0.82%) CASB
5 1 (0.82%) WSUS
Vendors
1 20 (16.39%) Microsoft
2 19 (15.57%) ServiceNow
3 14 (11.48%) iManage
4 8 (6.56%) Cisco
5 7 (5.74%) Bomgar
6 4 (3.28%) F5
6 4 (3.28%) IBM
6 4 (3.28%) VMware
7 3 (2.46%) Adobe
7 3 (2.46%) Intapp
7 3 (2.46%) Juniper
7 3 (2.46%) Litera
7 3 (2.46%) McAfee
7 3 (2.46%) Remedy
7 3 (2.46%) SolarWinds
8 2 (1.64%) CyberArk
8 2 (1.64%) Ekahau
8 2 (1.64%) Fortinet
8 2 (1.64%) Meraki
8 2 (1.64%) Palo Alto