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

6 months to
6 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 26 13 12
Rank change year-on-year -13 -1 -3
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 269 236 237
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 6.77% 10.82% 9.86%
As % of the General category 13.21% 17.56% 17.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 157 172 121
10th Percentile £363 £215 £330
25th Percentile £420 £393 £412
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £570 £450 £493
Median % change year-on-year +26.67% -8.72% -6.10%
75th Percentile £650 £559 £600
90th Percentile £750 £650 £688
England median daily rate £525 £500 £519
% change year-on-year +5.00% -3.66% -5.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 8 10
10th Percentile £13.59 £16.11 £15.95
25th Percentile £22.99 £17.30 £16.70
Median hourly rate £25.49 £20.07 £18.62
Median % change year-on-year +27.01% +7.77% +3.89%
75th Percentile £69.66 £32.95 £29.88
90th Percentile £85.00 £67.25 £36.40
England median hourly rate £21.35 £22.00 £23.99
% change year-on-year -2.95% -8.30% +14.24%

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 2,037 1,344 1,371
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 51.23% 61.59% 57.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,135 875 744
10th Percentile £234 £265 £294
25th Percentile £400 £375 £398
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £490
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -8.16% -2.00%
75th Percentile £600 £559 £575
90th Percentile £688 £684 £674
England median daily rate £525 £500 £530
% change year-on-year +5.00% -5.66% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 268 111 83
10th Percentile £14.06 £12.82 £16.00
25th Percentile £21.00 £15.50 £18.03
Median hourly rate £35.05 £24.50 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +43.07% -30.00% +55.56%
75th Percentile £63.75 £48.56 £46.18
90th Percentile £79.13 £65.25 £62.50
England median hourly rate £29.03 £25.15 £35.36
% change year-on-year +15.41% -28.87% +17.87%

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 October 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 October 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 October 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 -11 181 £556 +27.14% 309
Cheshire -5 24 £511 +17.02% 15
Merseyside -14 24 £525 -1.87% 34
Lancashire -11 23 £575 +26.37% 48
Cumbria -30 11 £376 -30.69% 6
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 14 (5.20%) SharePoint
2 9 (3.35%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (2.23%) Confluence
4 5 (1.86%) SAS
5 4 (1.49%) SharePoint 2013
6 3 (1.12%) Apache
6 3 (1.12%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (1.12%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.74%) Oracle Workflow
7 2 (0.74%) WordPress
8 1 (0.37%) Jupyter
8 1 (0.37%) nginx
8 1 (0.37%) Skype for Business
8 1 (0.37%) Traefik
Applications
1 1 (0.37%) AutoCAD
1 1 (0.37%) Microsoft Office
1 1 (0.37%) Navisworks
1 1 (0.37%) ProjectWise
1 1 (0.37%) Revit
1 1 (0.37%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 3 (1.12%) Oracle EBS
2 2 (0.74%) Oracle Cash Management
2 2 (0.74%) Oracle Payables
2 2 (0.74%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
2 2 (0.74%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.37%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.37%) Integrated Workplace Management System
3 1 (0.37%) Primavera
3 1 (0.37%) Salesforce CRM
3 1 (0.37%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 63 (23.42%) AWS
2 45 (16.73%) Azure
3 25 (9.29%) Microsoft 365
4 18 (6.69%) SaaS
5 13 (4.83%) OCI
6 11 (4.09%) Google Workspace
7 10 (3.72%) GitHub
7 10 (3.72%) Serverless
8 9 (3.35%) GCP
8 9 (3.35%) Power Platform
9 7 (2.60%) Azure DevOps
9 7 (2.60%) Google Drive
10 6 (2.23%) Amazon S3
10 6 (2.23%) AWS KMS
10 6 (2.23%) GitHub Actions
10 6 (2.23%) Microsoft Copilot
11 5 (1.86%) Amazon EC2
11 5 (1.86%) Amazon ECS
12 4 (1.49%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 4 (1.49%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 11 (4.09%) Firewall
2 10 (3.72%) Wi-Fi
3 9 (3.35%) BGP
3 9 (3.35%) OSPF
4 8 (2.97%) SD-WAN
4 8 (2.97%) WAN
5 7 (2.60%) BIG-IP
5 7 (2.60%) Ethernet VPN
5 7 (2.60%) VXLAN
6 6 (2.23%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
6 6 (2.23%) WLAN
7 4 (1.49%) DNS
8 3 (1.12%) Cisco ASA
8 3 (1.12%) Cisco Firepower
8 3 (1.12%) DKIM
8 3 (1.12%) DMARC
8 3 (1.12%) EIGRP
8 3 (1.12%) HSRP
8 3 (1.12%) IPsec
9 2 (0.74%) LAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (3.35%) Relational Database
2 8 (2.97%) MongoDB
3 7 (2.60%) Oracle Database
3 7 (2.60%) Power BI
4 6 (2.23%) RDBMS
5 5 (1.86%) Metadata
6 4 (1.49%) Data Warehouse
6 4 (1.49%) Oracle Exadata
6 4 (1.49%) PowerCenter
7 2 (0.74%) Amazon QuickSight
7 2 (0.74%) DocumentDB
7 2 (0.74%) EDMS
7 2 (0.74%) Oracle BI Publisher
7 2 (0.74%) Oracle Reports
8 1 (0.37%) Amazon RDS
8 1 (0.37%) Amazon Redshift
8 1 (0.37%) Big Data
8 1 (0.37%) Data Lake
8 1 (0.37%) PostgreSQL
8 1 (0.37%) SAS Enterprise Guide
Development Applications
1 20 (7.43%) GitLab
2 13 (4.83%) Cucumber
3 12 (4.46%) JIRA
3 12 (4.46%) Selenium
4 10 (3.72%) Jenkins
5 7 (2.60%) Git
5 7 (2.60%) REST Assured
6 5 (1.86%) JUnit
7 3 (1.12%) Cypress.io
7 3 (1.12%) Gatling
7 3 (1.12%) Maven
7 3 (1.12%) Mockito
7 3 (1.12%) TestNG
8 2 (0.74%) JDeveloper
8 2 (0.74%) Sonatype Nexus
8 2 (0.74%) WebDriver
9 1 (0.37%) JMeter
9 1 (0.37%) MSI
9 1 (0.37%) SonarQube
9 1 (0.37%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 70 (26.02%) Social Skills
2 42 (15.61%) Military
3 22 (8.18%) Finance
4 19 (7.06%) Analytical Skills
5 13 (4.83%) Local Government
6 6 (2.23%) Influencing Skills
6 6 (2.23%) Presentation Skills
7 5 (1.86%) Legal
7 5 (1.86%) Police
8 4 (1.49%) Organisational Skills
9 3 (1.12%) Marketing
10 2 (0.74%) Documentation Skills
10 2 (0.74%) General Ledger
11 1 (0.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 47 (17.47%) Lead
2 39 (14.50%) Architect
2 39 (14.50%) Senior
3 34 (12.64%) Developer
4 18 (6.69%) Analyst
5 15 (5.58%) Consultant
5 15 (5.58%) Security Architect
6 14 (5.20%) Administrator
6 14 (5.20%) Solutions Architect
6 14 (5.20%) Test Engineer
7 12 (4.46%) Business Analyst
7 12 (4.46%) Java Developer
8 11 (4.09%) Designer
8 11 (4.09%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 9 (3.35%) Lead Developer
10 8 (2.97%) Content Designer
10 8 (2.97%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 8 (2.97%) Technical Architect
11 7 (2.60%) Product Manager
11 7 (2.60%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (10.78%) Terraform
2 18 (6.69%) Node.js
3 12 (4.46%) REST
3 12 (4.46%) Spring Boot
4 10 (3.72%) Spring
5 9 (3.35%) Kafka
6 7 (2.60%) OAuth
7 6 (2.23%) RESTful
8 5 (1.86%) Playwright
9 4 (1.49%) AWS CDK
9 4 (1.49%) Django
9 4 (1.49%) Oracle Fusion
9 4 (1.49%) Oracle GoldenGate
10 3 (1.12%) Middleware
10 3 (1.12%) PySpark
10 3 (1.12%) React
11 2 (0.74%) GraphQL
11 2 (0.74%) Nunjucks
11 2 (0.74%) OAuth2
11 2 (0.74%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 19 (7.06%) Cloud Native
2 11 (4.09%) Legacy Systems
2 11 (4.09%) Management Information System
3 8 (2.97%) Data Centre
3 8 (2.97%) Product Ownership
4 7 (2.60%) Hybrid Cloud
4 7 (2.60%) NHS
5 6 (2.23%) Onboarding
5 6 (2.23%) Self-Motivation
6 5 (1.86%) Taxonomies
7 4 (1.49%) Public Cloud
7 4 (1.49%) Replication
8 3 (1.12%) Enterprise Software
8 3 (1.12%) Freedom of Information
9 2 (0.74%) CSOC
9 2 (0.74%) Cyber Threat
9 2 (0.74%) Data Protection Act
9 2 (0.74%) Distributed Systems
9 2 (0.74%) Educational Technology
9 2 (0.74%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 14 (5.20%) Linux
2 7 (2.60%) Unix
3 5 (1.86%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 5 (1.86%) Windows
4 4 (1.49%) AIX
5 2 (0.74%) CentOS
6 1 (0.37%) Android
6 1 (0.37%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.37%) Mac OS X
6 1 (0.37%) Solaris
6 1 (0.37%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.37%) Windows 7
6 1 (0.37%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 60 (22.30%) Agile
2 56 (20.82%) Stakeholder Management
3 45 (16.73%) CI/CD
4 42 (15.61%) Continuous Improvement
5 41 (15.24%) DevOps
6 33 (12.27%) Migration
7 32 (11.90%) Test Automation
8 30 (11.15%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 28 (10.41%) Microservices
10 24 (8.92%) Infrastructure as Code
10 24 (8.92%) Mentoring
11 23 (8.55%) Cybersecurity
12 22 (8.18%) Roadmaps
12 22 (8.18%) Technical Leadership
13 21 (7.81%) Risk Management
14 20 (7.43%) Decision-Making
14 20 (7.43%) User Experience
15 19 (7.06%) Architectural Patterns
16 18 (6.69%) Digital Transformation Programme
16 18 (6.69%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 31 (11.52%) Java
2 24 (8.92%) Python
3 21 (7.81%) JavaScript
4 19 (7.06%) SQL
5 9 (3.35%) TypeScript
6 6 (2.23%) PowerShell
7 4 (1.49%) Bash
7 4 (1.49%) Shell Script
8 2 (0.74%) PHP
8 2 (0.74%) PL/SQL
9 1 (0.37%) Bicep
9 1 (0.37%) C#
9 1 (0.37%) Go
9 1 (0.37%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 131 (48.70%) Security Cleared
2 105 (39.03%) SC Cleared
3 18 (6.69%) BPSS Clearance
4 6 (2.23%) AWS Certification
5 3 (1.12%) Azure Certification
5 3 (1.12%) Degree
6 2 (0.74%) CISM
6 2 (0.74%) CISSP
6 2 (0.74%) DBS Check
6 2 (0.74%) ITIL Certification
6 2 (0.74%) Microsoft Certification
7 1 (0.37%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
7 1 (0.37%) DV Cleared
7 1 (0.37%) Oracle Certification
7 1 (0.37%) PMI Certification
7 1 (0.37%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (11.52%) Accessibility
2 18 (6.69%) QA
3 11 (4.09%) Data Quality
4 10 (3.72%) PMO
5 8 (2.97%) WCAG
6 6 (2.23%) NCSC
7 5 (1.86%) GDPR
8 3 (1.12%) NIST
9 2 (0.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 1 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials
10 1 (0.37%) ISO 19650
10 1 (0.37%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.37%) SLA
10 1 (0.37%) Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)
System Software
1 20 (7.43%) Docker
2 10 (3.72%) Active Directory
3 5 (1.86%) Oracle RAC
4 1 (0.37%) BitLocker
4 1 (0.37%) Microsoft App-V
Systems Management
1 14 (5.20%) Kubernetes
2 13 (4.83%) Ansible
3 5 (1.86%) Data Guard
4 4 (1.49%) Oracle RMAN
5 3 (1.12%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.74%) Grafana
6 2 (0.74%) Packer
6 2 (0.74%) Prometheus
6 2 (0.74%) SCCM
7 1 (0.37%) CASB
7 1 (0.37%) Cisco CUCM
7 1 (0.37%) Consul
7 1 (0.37%) HAProxy
7 1 (0.37%) Istio
7 1 (0.37%) Jamf Pro
7 1 (0.37%) linkerd
7 1 (0.37%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (0.37%) Oracle ZFS
7 1 (0.37%) Rancher
7 1 (0.37%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 30 (11.15%) Microsoft
2 18 (6.69%) Oracle
3 12 (4.46%) Google
4 10 (3.72%) Palo Alto
5 7 (2.60%) Aruba
5 7 (2.60%) F5
5 7 (2.60%) ServiceNow
6 6 (2.23%) Arista
6 6 (2.23%) Informatica
7 5 (1.86%) Cisco
8 3 (1.12%) CheckPoint
9 2 (0.74%) Databricks
9 2 (0.74%) OpenAI
9 2 (0.74%) SAP
9 2 (0.74%) Splunk
9 2 (0.74%) Trend Micro
10 1 (0.37%) ESET
10 1 (0.37%) Okta
10 1 (0.37%) Tanium
10 1 (0.37%) Tenable