Public Sector Contract Job Trends in the North West

Public Sector
England > North West

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

6 months to
6 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 10 9
Rank change year-on-year 0 -1 -4
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 327 230 334
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 12.38% 10.92% 11.65%
As % of the General category 20.64% 18.71% 21.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 249 124 230
10th Percentile £313 £350 £350
25th Percentile £400 £424 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £530
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% -5.66% +6.00%
75th Percentile £538 £615 £657
90th Percentile £625 £686 £725
England median daily rate £500 £523 £528
% change year-on-year -4.44% -0.81% -2.31%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 5 29
10th Percentile £16.32 £13.15 £12.00
25th Percentile £18.50 £15.49 £14.50
Median hourly rate £41.86 £16.13 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year +159.57% +0.78% -20.00%
75th Percentile £50.52 £16.25 £19.50
90th Percentile £67.25 £17.37 £24.04
England median hourly rate £22.00 £25.50 £20.85
% change year-on-year -13.73% +22.29% +4.89%

All General Skills
North West

Public Sector 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 1,584 1,229 1,563
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 59.95% 58.36% 54.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,015 677 993
10th Percentile £200 £263 £263
25th Percentile £353 £360 £394
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% +4.99%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £588
90th Percentile £638 £675 £700
England median daily rate £500 £525 £540
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 131 93 174
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.92 £12.07
25th Percentile £18.50 £20.19 £14.29
Median hourly rate £29.60 £27.50 £19.75
Median % change year-on-year +7.64% +39.24% -14.69%
75th Percentile £45.46 £44.50 £37.25
90th Percentile £72.50 £67.54 £48.00
England median hourly rate £22.81 £30.41 £25.71
% change year-on-year -24.98% +18.26% -2.98%

Public Sector
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

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

Public Sector job vacancy trend in the North West

Public Sector
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

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

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

Public Sector
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Public Sector in the North West over the 6 months to 6 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Public Sector in the North West

Public Sector
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

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

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

Public Sector
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Public Sector in the North West over the 6 months to 6 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Public Sector in the North West

Public Sector
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 Public Sector within the North West region over the 6 months to 6 February 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 +2 207 £450 -10.00% 69
Cheshire +11 54 £436 -7.43% 2
Merseyside -8 28 £510 +4.62% 8
Cumbria -6 14 £537 +7.40% 1
Lancashire -17 8 £455 -24.17% 27
Public Sector
England

Public Sector
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 9 (2.75%) Confluence
2 5 (1.53%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.92%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (0.61%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 2 (0.61%) Apache Airflow
4 2 (0.61%) CMS
4 2 (0.61%) OpenStack
4 2 (0.61%) Skype for Business
5 1 (0.31%) Apache
5 1 (0.31%) CICS
5 1 (0.31%) SAS
Applications
1 25 (7.65%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.22%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (0.92%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.31%) Adobe Premiere
4 1 (0.31%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.31%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.31%) Quicktime
4 1 (0.31%) Trello
Business Applications
1 13 (3.98%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (1.22%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (0.92%) iTrent
4 2 (0.61%) SAP ERP
5 1 (0.31%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.31%) Payment Gateway
5 1 (0.31%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.31%) SAP EHS
5 1 (0.31%) SAP FI
5 1 (0.31%) SAP HR
5 1 (0.31%) SAP PSCD
5 1 (0.31%) SAP QM
5 1 (0.31%) SAP VC
5 1 (0.31%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 78 (23.85%) Azure
2 65 (19.88%) AWS
3 27 (8.26%) Power Platform
4 23 (7.03%) GitHub
5 22 (6.73%) GCP
6 20 (6.12%) Microsoft 365
6 20 (6.12%) Serverless
7 14 (4.28%) AWS Lambda
7 14 (4.28%) Azure DevOps
8 13 (3.98%) GitHub Actions
9 12 (3.67%) Amazon SQS
10 11 (3.36%) Google Tag Manager
10 11 (3.36%) PowerApps
11 10 (3.06%) Google Analytics
11 10 (3.06%) Power Automate
12 9 (2.75%) Entra ID
13 8 (2.45%) Amazon S3
13 8 (2.45%) Dynamics 365
14 6 (1.83%) Amazon EC2
14 6 (1.83%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 20 (6.12%) Firewall
2 11 (3.36%) WAN
3 8 (2.45%) DNS
3 8 (2.45%) VPN
3 8 (2.45%) Wi-Fi
4 7 (2.14%) LAN
4 7 (2.14%) Wireless
5 5 (1.53%) Cisco ISE
6 4 (1.22%) DHCP
6 4 (1.22%) MPLS
6 4 (1.22%) NetScaler
6 4 (1.22%) Network Security
6 4 (1.22%) TCP/IP
6 4 (1.22%) VLAN
7 3 (0.92%) BGP
7 3 (0.92%) SAN
7 3 (0.92%) SNMP
8 2 (0.61%) Internet
8 2 (0.61%) TACACS
8 2 (0.61%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (5.20%) Power BI
2 11 (3.36%) Looker
2 11 (3.36%) PostgreSQL
3 10 (3.06%) MongoDB
4 9 (2.75%) BigQuery
4 9 (2.75%) DocumentDB
4 9 (2.75%) Redis
5 8 (2.45%) MySQL
6 7 (2.14%) Data Warehouse
7 6 (1.83%) Metadata
8 5 (1.53%) Relational Database
9 4 (1.22%) NoSQL
10 3 (0.92%) Apache Cassandra
10 3 (0.92%) Big Data
10 3 (0.92%) SQL Server
11 2 (0.61%) Azure SQL Database
11 2 (0.61%) RDBMS
11 2 (0.61%) SAP HANA
11 2 (0.61%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 2 (0.61%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 37 (11.31%) GitLab
2 24 (7.34%) Git
3 12 (3.67%) JIRA
4 10 (3.06%) Cypress.io
4 10 (3.06%) Postman
5 9 (2.75%) Jenkins
5 9 (2.75%) JUnit
6 8 (2.45%) Mocha
7 7 (2.14%) CircleCI
7 7 (2.14%) Cucumber
7 7 (2.14%) SonarQube
8 5 (1.53%) Mockito
8 5 (1.53%) Selenium
9 2 (0.61%) Jasmine
9 2 (0.61%) JMeter
9 2 (0.61%) MSI
10 1 (0.31%) Artifactory
10 1 (0.31%) Axure RP
10 1 (0.31%) InstallShield
10 1 (0.31%) Rational DOORS
General
1 73 (22.32%) Social Skills
2 40 (12.23%) Finance
3 17 (5.20%) Military
4 15 (4.59%) Analytical Skills
5 13 (3.98%) Telecoms
6 12 (3.67%) Manufacturing
7 11 (3.36%) Marketing
8 10 (3.06%) Electronics
8 10 (3.06%) Local Government
9 7 (2.14%) Documentation Skills
10 6 (1.83%) Banking
10 6 (1.83%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 6 (1.83%) Influencing Skills
11 5 (1.53%) Legal
11 5 (1.53%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (0.92%) Presentation Skills
13 2 (0.61%) Digital Economy
14 1 (0.31%) Corporate Banking
14 1 (0.31%) Digital Health
14 1 (0.31%) Law
Job Titles
1 73 (22.32%) Developer
2 38 (11.62%) Analyst
3 34 (10.40%) Architect
4 30 (9.17%) Senior
5 25 (7.65%) Java Developer
5 25 (7.65%) Lead
6 15 (4.59%) DevOps Engineer
6 15 (4.59%) Full-Stack Developer
7 12 (3.67%) Business Analyst
7 12 (3.67%) Consultant
7 12 (3.67%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 11 (3.36%) Designer
8 11 (3.36%) Test Engineer
9 10 (3.06%) Technical Architect
10 9 (2.75%) AWS Engineer
10 9 (2.75%) Project Manager
11 8 (2.45%) Azure Engineer
11 8 (2.45%) Data Architect
11 8 (2.45%) Senior Developer
11 8 (2.45%) Software Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (11.31%) Spring
1 37 (11.31%) Spring Boot
2 30 (9.17%) Node.js
3 18 (5.50%) React
4 17 (5.20%) REST
5 14 (4.28%) HTML
5 14 (4.28%) RESTful
6 13 (3.98%) Jest
6 13 (3.98%) Playwright
7 12 (3.67%) JSON
8 9 (2.75%) Kafka
9 8 (2.45%) AngularJS
9 8 (2.45%) CSS
10 7 (2.14%) Hibernate
10 7 (2.14%) Spring MVC
11 6 (1.83%) HTML5 Canvas
11 6 (1.83%) Spring Security
12 5 (1.53%) JAX-RS
12 5 (1.53%) Oracle Fusion
12 5 (1.53%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 28 (8.56%) Onboarding
2 17 (5.20%) Data Centre
3 13 (3.98%) Product Ownership
4 11 (3.36%) Cloud Native
5 8 (2.45%) NHS
6 6 (1.83%) Legacy Systems
7 5 (1.53%) Low-Code
7 5 (1.53%) Operational Technology
8 4 (1.22%) Distributed Systems
8 4 (1.22%) Mobile App
8 4 (1.22%) Public Cloud
9 3 (0.92%) Enterprise Software
10 2 (0.61%) Data Structures
10 2 (0.61%) e-Learning
10 2 (0.61%) Management Information System
10 2 (0.61%) Taxonomies
11 1 (0.31%) Graphic Design
11 1 (0.31%) PKI
11 1 (0.31%) Smartphone
11 1 (0.31%) Video Editing
Operating Systems
1 20 (6.12%) Windows
2 18 (5.50%) Linux
3 9 (2.75%) Mac OS
4 8 (2.45%) Android
5 7 (2.14%) Windows 10
6 6 (1.83%) Apple iOS
7 5 (1.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 5 (1.53%) Unix
8 2 (0.61%) Mac OS X
8 2 (0.61%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.31%) AIX
9 1 (0.31%) Solaris
9 1 (0.31%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.31%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 76 (23.24%) Agile
2 61 (18.65%) CI/CD
3 59 (18.04%) DevOps
4 44 (13.46%) Microservices
5 38 (11.62%) Test Automation
6 37 (11.31%) Continuous Improvement
7 36 (11.01%) User Experience
8 33 (10.09%) Problem-Solving
9 27 (8.26%) Containerisation
10 26 (7.95%) Stakeholder Management
10 26 (7.95%) Validation
11 25 (7.65%) Business Intelligence
11 25 (7.65%) Change Management
11 25 (7.65%) User Research
12 24 (7.34%) Analytics
12 24 (7.34%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 21 (6.42%) Full-Stack Development
14 20 (6.12%) Migration
15 19 (5.81%) Infrastructure as Code
15 19 (5.81%) Service Design
Programming Languages
1 58 (17.74%) Java
2 29 (8.87%) JavaScript
3 24 (7.34%) Python
4 22 (6.73%) TypeScript
5 14 (4.28%) SQL
6 12 (3.67%) PowerShell
7 7 (2.14%) Bash
8 4 (1.22%) C#
8 4 (1.22%) Go
9 3 (0.92%) ABAP
9 3 (0.92%) Kusto Query Language
9 3 (0.92%) Perl
9 3 (0.92%) Ruby
10 2 (0.61%) C
10 2 (0.61%) C++
10 2 (0.61%) Shell Script
10 2 (0.61%) VB
10 2 (0.61%) VBScript
11 1 (0.31%) COBOL
11 1 (0.31%) ProC
Qualifications
1 166 (50.76%) Security Cleared
2 85 (25.99%) SC Cleared
3 20 (6.12%) BPSS Clearance
4 15 (4.59%) Degree
5 6 (1.83%) Computer Science Degree
5 6 (1.83%) DV Cleared
6 5 (1.53%) Azure Certification
7 3 (0.92%) AWS Certification
7 3 (0.92%) ISTQB
7 3 (0.92%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 2 (0.61%) CCNP
8 2 (0.61%) Cisco Certification
8 2 (0.61%) CISM
8 2 (0.61%) CISSP
8 2 (0.61%) ITIL Certification
8 2 (0.61%) Master's Degree
8 2 (0.61%) Microsoft Certification
9 1 (0.31%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
9 1 (0.31%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 1 (0.31%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (14.07%) Accessibility
2 17 (5.20%) Data Quality
3 16 (4.89%) WCAG
4 12 (3.67%) QA
5 8 (2.45%) NIST
6 5 (1.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 5 (1.53%) PMO
7 4 (1.22%) SLA
8 3 (0.92%) GDPR
8 3 (0.92%) IFRS
9 2 (0.61%) Cyber Essentials
9 2 (0.61%) IEC 61508
9 2 (0.61%) IFRS 17
9 2 (0.61%) ISO 26262
9 2 (0.61%) PSD2
10 1 (0.31%) COBIT
10 1 (0.31%) GRC
10 1 (0.31%) IEC 62304
10 1 (0.31%) NCSC
10 1 (0.31%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 37 (11.31%) Docker
2 11 (3.36%) Active Directory
3 5 (1.53%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.61%) BitLocker
4 2 (0.61%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.61%) ISA Server
5 1 (0.31%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.31%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 39 (11.93%) Kubernetes
2 34 (10.40%) Terraform
3 6 (1.83%) SCCM
4 5 (1.53%) Ansible
4 5 (1.53%) Microsoft Intune
5 4 (1.22%) Grafana
5 4 (1.22%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.92%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 2 (0.61%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
8 1 (0.31%) AirWatch
8 1 (0.31%) Cisco CUCM
8 1 (0.31%) Cisco Prime
8 1 (0.31%) Failover Clustering
8 1 (0.31%) FortiGate
8 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Clustering
8 1 (0.31%) Nagios
8 1 (0.31%) Norton AntiVirus
8 1 (0.31%) Packer
8 1 (0.31%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 54 (16.51%) Microsoft
2 28 (8.56%) SAP
3 23 (7.03%) Oracle
4 17 (5.20%) Cisco
5 15 (4.59%) Virgin Media
6 14 (4.28%) Google
7 10 (3.06%) ServiceNow
8 9 (2.75%) Palo Alto
9 8 (2.45%) Apple
10 7 (2.14%) Meraki
10 7 (2.14%) VMware
11 6 (1.83%) Adobe
11 6 (1.83%) Dell
12 5 (1.53%) HP
12 5 (1.53%) PeopleSoft
13 4 (1.22%) Dynatrace
13 4 (1.22%) Splunk
14 3 (0.92%) F5
14 3 (0.92%) LogRhythm
14 3 (0.92%) Workday