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

6 months to
23 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 12 9
Rank change year-on-year +1 -3 -3
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 323 213 327
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 11.72% 10.43% 11.66%
As % of the General category 19.60% 17.97% 21.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 249 116 222
10th Percentile £325 £350 £350
25th Percentile £400 £417 £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 £685 £725
England median daily rate £500 £518 £525
% change year-on-year -3.43% -1.38% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 4 31
10th Percentile £21.33 £12.88 £12.00
25th Percentile £32.54 £14.82 £14.50
Median hourly rate £41.86 £16.01 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year +161.39% +0.08% -20.00%
75th Percentile £44.94 £16.20 £20.25
90th Percentile - £16.23 £34.21
England median hourly rate £22.00 £25.50 £21.00
% change year-on-year -13.73% +21.43% +5.00%

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 1,648 1,185 1,519
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 59.80% 58.00% 54.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,046 673 945
10th Percentile £200 £264 £265
25th Percentile £356 £363 £395
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% +4.17%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £588
90th Percentile £638 £674 £688
England median daily rate £500 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 131 97 188
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.96 £12.42
25th Percentile £18.77 £21.05 £14.43
Median hourly rate £30.49 £28.75 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +6.05% +62.25% -29.12%
75th Percentile £50.23 £46.18 £37.20
90th Percentile £74.26 £71.43 £46.18
England median hourly rate £23.50 £30.79 £26.00
% change year-on-year -23.68% +18.43% -13.33%

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 23 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 23 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 23 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 +2 212 £450 -10.00% 50
Cheshire +7 53 £447 -3.92% 3
Merseyside -11 26 £510 +2.00% 6
Cumbria 0 13 £528 +5.55%
Lancashire -22 6 £455 -24.17% 19
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 11 (3.41%) Confluence
2 7 (2.17%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.55%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (0.62%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 2 (0.62%) Apache Airflow
4 2 (0.62%) CICS
4 2 (0.62%) CMS
4 2 (0.62%) OpenStack
4 2 (0.62%) Skype for Business
5 1 (0.31%) Apache
5 1 (0.31%) Jupyter
5 1 (0.31%) SAS
Applications
1 22 (6.81%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.24%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.24%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.31%) Adobe Premiere
3 1 (0.31%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.31%) MS Visio
3 1 (0.31%) Quicktime
3 1 (0.31%) Trello
Business Applications
1 12 (3.72%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (1.24%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (0.93%) iTrent
4 1 (0.31%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.31%) Payment Gateway
4 1 (0.31%) SAP EHS
4 1 (0.31%) SAP ERP
4 1 (0.31%) SAP FI
4 1 (0.31%) SAP HR
4 1 (0.31%) SAP PSCD
4 1 (0.31%) SAP QM
4 1 (0.31%) SAP VC
Cloud Services
1 72 (22.29%) Azure
2 61 (18.89%) AWS
3 28 (8.67%) Power Platform
4 23 (7.12%) GitHub
5 20 (6.19%) Microsoft 365
5 20 (6.19%) Serverless
6 18 (5.57%) GCP
7 14 (4.33%) AWS Lambda
8 13 (4.02%) Azure DevOps
8 13 (4.02%) GitHub Actions
9 12 (3.72%) Power Automate
9 12 (3.72%) PowerApps
10 11 (3.41%) Amazon SQS
11 10 (3.10%) Google Tag Manager
12 9 (2.79%) Amazon S3
12 9 (2.79%) Entra ID
12 9 (2.79%) Google Analytics
13 8 (2.48%) Dynamics 365
14 7 (2.17%) Amazon EKS
14 7 (2.17%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 17 (5.26%) Firewall
2 8 (2.48%) VPN
2 8 (2.48%) WAN
3 6 (1.86%) DNS
3 6 (1.86%) Wi-Fi
3 6 (1.86%) Wireless
4 5 (1.55%) LAN
5 4 (1.24%) DHCP
5 4 (1.24%) MPLS
6 3 (0.93%) Cisco ISE
6 3 (0.93%) Network Security
6 3 (0.93%) SNMP
6 3 (0.93%) VLAN
7 2 (0.62%) Internet
7 2 (0.62%) SAN
7 2 (0.62%) SD-WAN
7 2 (0.62%) Skype
7 2 (0.62%) TACACS
7 2 (0.62%) TCP/IP
7 2 (0.62%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (5.26%) Power BI
2 12 (3.72%) MongoDB
3 10 (3.10%) Looker
4 9 (2.79%) DocumentDB
4 9 (2.79%) PostgreSQL
4 9 (2.79%) Redis
5 8 (2.48%) BigQuery
6 6 (1.86%) MySQL
7 5 (1.55%) Data Warehouse
7 5 (1.55%) Relational Database
8 4 (1.24%) Metadata
8 4 (1.24%) NoSQL
8 4 (1.24%) SQL Server
9 3 (0.93%) Big Data
9 3 (0.93%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 2 (0.62%) Data Lake
10 2 (0.62%) DynamoDB
10 2 (0.62%) RDBMS
10 2 (0.62%) SAP HANA
10 2 (0.62%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 36 (11.15%) GitLab
2 25 (7.74%) Git
3 14 (4.33%) JIRA
4 10 (3.10%) Cypress.io
5 9 (2.79%) Jenkins
6 8 (2.48%) JUnit
6 8 (2.48%) Mocha
6 8 (2.48%) Postman
7 7 (2.17%) CircleCI
7 7 (2.17%) SonarQube
8 6 (1.86%) Mockito
9 5 (1.55%) Cucumber
10 3 (0.93%) Selenium
11 2 (0.62%) Jasmine
11 2 (0.62%) MSI
12 1 (0.31%) Axure RP
12 1 (0.31%) Browser DevTools
12 1 (0.31%) InstallShield
12 1 (0.31%) JMeter
12 1 (0.31%) MLflow
General
1 65 (20.12%) Social Skills
2 33 (10.22%) Finance
3 18 (5.57%) Analytical Skills
4 14 (4.33%) Military
5 10 (3.10%) Local Government
6 8 (2.48%) Banking
6 8 (2.48%) Manufacturing
6 8 (2.48%) Telecoms
7 7 (2.17%) Influencing Skills
7 7 (2.17%) Marketing
8 6 (1.86%) Electronics
8 6 (1.86%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 6 (1.86%) Legal
9 5 (1.55%) Documentation Skills
10 4 (1.24%) Organisational Skills
11 2 (0.62%) Corporate Banking
11 2 (0.62%) Digital Economy
11 2 (0.62%) Presentation Skills
12 1 (0.31%) Digital Health
12 1 (0.31%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 82 (25.39%) Developer
2 35 (10.84%) Analyst
3 33 (10.22%) Architect
4 31 (9.60%) Senior
5 29 (8.98%) Java Developer
6 26 (8.05%) Lead
7 16 (4.95%) Full-Stack Developer
8 15 (4.64%) DevOps Engineer
9 13 (4.02%) Business Analyst
10 12 (3.72%) Designer
11 11 (3.41%) Consultant
11 11 (3.41%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 11 (3.41%) Technical Architect
12 9 (2.79%) AWS Engineer
12 9 (2.79%) Lead Developer
12 9 (2.79%) Project Manager
12 9 (2.79%) Senior Developer
12 9 (2.79%) Software Developer
13 8 (2.48%) Administrator
13 8 (2.48%) Test Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (10.53%) Spring
1 34 (10.53%) Spring Boot
2 31 (9.60%) Node.js
3 19 (5.88%) React
4 16 (4.95%) REST
5 14 (4.33%) HTML
5 14 (4.33%) RESTful
6 13 (4.02%) Jest
6 13 (4.02%) Playwright
7 10 (3.10%) JSON
7 10 (3.10%) Kafka
8 8 (2.48%) AngularJS
8 8 (2.48%) CSS
9 7 (2.17%) Hibernate
9 7 (2.17%) Spring MVC
10 6 (1.86%) HTML5 Canvas
10 6 (1.86%) JAX-RS
11 5 (1.55%) ActiveMQ
11 5 (1.55%) Oracle Fusion
11 5 (1.55%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 24 (7.43%) Onboarding
2 15 (4.64%) Data Centre
2 15 (4.64%) Product Ownership
3 12 (3.72%) Cloud Native
4 7 (2.17%) Legacy Systems
5 5 (1.55%) Low-Code
5 5 (1.55%) NHS
6 4 (1.24%) Distributed Systems
6 4 (1.24%) Enterprise Software
6 4 (1.24%) Operational Technology
6 4 (1.24%) Public Cloud
7 3 (0.93%) Mobile App
8 2 (0.62%) BYOD
8 2 (0.62%) Clustering
8 2 (0.62%) e-Learning
8 2 (0.62%) Mainframe
8 2 (0.62%) Management Information System
8 2 (0.62%) VSAM
9 1 (0.31%) Replication
9 1 (0.31%) Tandem
Operating Systems
1 21 (6.50%) Linux
2 17 (5.26%) Windows
3 10 (3.10%) Unix
4 8 (2.48%) Mac OS
5 7 (2.17%) Android
6 5 (1.55%) Mac OS X
6 5 (1.55%) Windows 10
7 4 (1.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 3 (0.93%) Apple iOS
9 2 (0.62%) AIX
9 2 (0.62%) Solaris
9 2 (0.62%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.31%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.31%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 88 (27.24%) Agile
2 61 (18.89%) CI/CD
3 59 (18.27%) DevOps
4 47 (14.55%) Microservices
5 41 (12.69%) Continuous Improvement
6 40 (12.38%) Test Automation
7 38 (11.76%) Problem-Solving
8 35 (10.84%) User Experience
9 25 (7.74%) Containerisation
9 25 (7.74%) Stakeholder Management
9 25 (7.74%) Validation
10 24 (7.43%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 24 (7.43%) User Research
11 23 (7.12%) Analytics
11 23 (7.12%) Change Management
12 21 (6.50%) Business Intelligence
13 20 (6.19%) Infrastructure as Code
13 20 (6.19%) Migration
13 20 (6.19%) TDD
14 19 (5.88%) Full-Stack Development
Programming Languages
1 58 (17.96%) Java
2 30 (9.29%) JavaScript
3 26 (8.05%) Python
4 22 (6.81%) TypeScript
5 15 (4.64%) SQL
6 11 (3.41%) PowerShell
7 4 (1.24%) Bash
7 4 (1.24%) C#
7 4 (1.24%) Go
8 3 (0.93%) ABAP
8 3 (0.93%) Ruby
9 2 (0.62%) COBOL
9 2 (0.62%) Kusto Query Language
9 2 (0.62%) Perl
9 2 (0.62%) Shell Script
9 2 (0.62%) VB
9 2 (0.62%) VBScript
10 1 (0.31%) Kotlin
10 1 (0.31%) PL/SQL
10 1 (0.31%) ProC
Qualifications
1 162 (50.15%) Security Cleared
2 82 (25.39%) SC Cleared
3 21 (6.50%) BPSS Clearance
4 17 (5.26%) Degree
5 6 (1.86%) Computer Science Degree
6 5 (1.55%) DV Cleared
7 4 (1.24%) Azure Certification
7 4 (1.24%) Microsoft Certification
8 3 (0.93%) AWS Certification
8 3 (0.93%) ISTQB
8 3 (0.93%) Master's Degree
9 2 (0.62%) CISM
9 2 (0.62%) CISSP
9 2 (0.62%) ITIL Certification
9 2 (0.62%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 2 (0.62%) MBA
10 1 (0.31%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
10 1 (0.31%) Cisco Certification
10 1 (0.31%) PMI Certification
10 1 (0.31%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 44 (13.62%) Accessibility
2 15 (4.64%) WCAG
3 14 (4.33%) Data Quality
3 14 (4.33%) QA
4 6 (1.86%) NIST
5 5 (1.55%) GDPR
5 5 (1.55%) PMO
6 4 (1.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 3 (0.93%) IFRS
7 3 (0.93%) SLA
8 2 (0.62%) Cyber Essentials
8 2 (0.62%) IFRS 17
8 2 (0.62%) PSD2
9 1 (0.31%) CRD IV
9 1 (0.31%) FINREP
9 1 (0.31%) GRC
9 1 (0.31%) ISO 20022
9 1 (0.31%) NCSC
9 1 (0.31%) SEPA
9 1 (0.31%) SOC 2
System Software
1 36 (11.15%) Docker
2 10 (3.10%) Active Directory
3 4 (1.24%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.62%) BitLocker
4 2 (0.62%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.62%) ISA Server
5 1 (0.31%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.31%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 38 (11.76%) Kubernetes
2 36 (11.15%) Terraform
3 5 (1.55%) Ansible
3 5 (1.55%) Grafana
4 4 (1.24%) Prometheus
4 4 (1.24%) SCCM
5 3 (0.93%) Microsoft Intune
6 2 (0.62%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 1 (0.31%) Cisco CUCM
7 1 (0.31%) Cisco Prime
7 1 (0.31%) Failover Clustering
7 1 (0.31%) FortiGate
7 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Clustering
7 1 (0.31%) Nagios
7 1 (0.31%) Norton AntiVirus
7 1 (0.31%) Packer
Vendors
1 53 (16.41%) Microsoft
2 23 (7.12%) SAP
3 22 (6.81%) Oracle
4 13 (4.02%) Cisco
4 13 (4.02%) Virgin Media
5 12 (3.72%) Google
6 7 (2.17%) ServiceNow
6 7 (2.17%) VMware
7 6 (1.86%) Adobe
7 6 (1.86%) Apple
7 6 (1.86%) Palo Alto
8 5 (1.55%) Dell
8 5 (1.55%) HP
8 5 (1.55%) PeopleSoft
9 4 (1.24%) Dynatrace
9 4 (1.24%) IBM
9 4 (1.24%) Meraki
9 4 (1.24%) Splunk
10 3 (0.93%) Workday
11 2 (0.62%) Blue Prism