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 16 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 10 9 10
Rank change year-on-year -1 +1 -2
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 306 230 339
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 12.36% 10.78% 12.88%
As % of the General category 20.22% 18.52% 23.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 231 117 237
10th Percentile £300 £316 £356
25th Percentile £394 £425 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £575
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% -13.04% +15.00%
75th Percentile £538 £625 £703
90th Percentile £638 £720 £725
England median daily rate £500 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% +1.85%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 12 14
10th Percentile £16.43 £15.53 £14.00
25th Percentile £17.38 £15.98 £15.08
Median hourly rate £41.86 £16.65 £17.93
Median % change year-on-year +151.34% -7.10% -10.11%
75th Percentile £44.94 £20.97 £21.00
90th Percentile £67.25 £29.95 £21.50
England median hourly rate £21.97 £22.50 £25.00
% change year-on-year -2.37% -10.00% +25.82%

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 common skills in the North West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for common skills 1,513 1,242 1,471
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 61.11% 58.20% 55.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 979 675 954
10th Percentile £213 £255 £261
25th Percentile £358 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% +3.09%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £600
90th Percentile £650 £675 £703
England median daily rate £500 £538 £550
% change year-on-year -6.98% -2.27% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 133 100 109
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.99 £14.57
25th Percentile £18.50 £18.13 £17.14
Median hourly rate £29.60 £27.44 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year +7.86% +24.74% +10.00%
75th Percentile £45.46 £45.30 £45.88
90th Percentile £67.84 £65.25 £56.52
England median hourly rate £23.50 £30.40 £33.00
% change year-on-year -22.70% -7.88% +32.00%

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 16 December 2025.

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 16 December 2025.

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 16 December 2025. 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 +2 197 £425 -15.00% 46
Cheshire 0 41 £395 -20.40% 8
Merseyside +2 27 £510 +10.27% 5
Cumbria +7 19 £537 +7.40% 1
Lancashire -14 10 £455 +40.00% 25
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 4 (1.31%) Confluence
1 4 (1.31%) SharePoint
2 3 (0.98%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.65%) Adobe Experience Manager
3 2 (0.65%) Apache Airflow
3 2 (0.65%) CMS
3 2 (0.65%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.33%) nginx
4 1 (0.33%) OpenStack
4 1 (0.33%) SAS
Applications
1 24 (7.84%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.65%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.33%) Adobe Premiere
3 1 (0.33%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.33%) Quicktime
3 1 (0.33%) SPSS
3 1 (0.33%) Stata
3 1 (0.33%) Trello
Business Applications
1 14 (4.58%) SAP S/4HANA
2 5 (1.63%) Dynamics CRM
3 3 (0.98%) iTrent
4 1 (0.33%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.33%) Payment Gateway
4 1 (0.33%) Remedy ITSM
4 1 (0.33%) SAP EHS
4 1 (0.33%) SAP ERP
4 1 (0.33%) SAP FI
4 1 (0.33%) SAP HR
4 1 (0.33%) SAP PSCD
4 1 (0.33%) SAP QM
4 1 (0.33%) SAP VC
4 1 (0.33%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 74 (24.18%) Azure
2 62 (20.26%) AWS
3 26 (8.50%) Power Platform
4 22 (7.19%) GCP
5 18 (5.88%) Microsoft 365
5 18 (5.88%) Serverless
6 16 (5.23%) Azure DevOps
7 13 (4.25%) AWS Lambda
8 12 (3.92%) Amazon SQS
8 12 (3.92%) GitHub
8 12 (3.92%) SaaS
9 11 (3.59%) Google Tag Manager
10 10 (3.27%) Google Analytics
10 10 (3.27%) PowerApps
11 9 (2.94%) Power Automate
12 8 (2.61%) Entra ID
13 7 (2.29%) Dynamics 365
13 7 (2.29%) Google Workspace
14 6 (1.96%) AWS CloudFormation
14 6 (1.96%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 19 (6.21%) Firewall
2 11 (3.59%) WAN
3 10 (3.27%) DNS
4 8 (2.61%) Wi-Fi
5 7 (2.29%) LAN
5 7 (2.29%) Wireless
6 6 (1.96%) DHCP
6 6 (1.96%) TCP/IP
6 6 (1.96%) VPN
7 5 (1.63%) Cisco ISE
8 4 (1.31%) DMZ
8 4 (1.31%) MPLS
8 4 (1.31%) NetScaler
8 4 (1.31%) VLAN
9 3 (0.98%) BGP
9 3 (0.98%) Network Security
9 3 (0.98%) SAN
9 3 (0.98%) SNMP
10 2 (0.65%) Internet
10 2 (0.65%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (5.88%) Power BI
2 14 (4.58%) PostgreSQL
3 12 (3.92%) MongoDB
4 11 (3.59%) BigQuery
4 11 (3.59%) Looker
4 11 (3.59%) Redis
5 10 (3.27%) MySQL
6 8 (2.61%) Relational Database
7 6 (1.96%) Data Warehouse
8 5 (1.63%) DocumentDB
8 5 (1.63%) DynamoDB
8 5 (1.63%) Metadata
8 5 (1.63%) NoSQL
9 4 (1.31%) RDBMS
9 4 (1.31%) SQL Server
10 3 (0.98%) Apache Cassandra
10 3 (0.98%) Azure SQL Database
10 3 (0.98%) Big Data
11 2 (0.65%) SAP HANA
11 2 (0.65%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 23 (7.52%) GitLab
2 19 (6.21%) Git
3 11 (3.59%) Postman
4 10 (3.27%) JIRA
5 8 (2.61%) Jenkins
5 8 (2.61%) SonarQube
6 6 (1.96%) Cucumber
6 6 (1.96%) JUnit
7 5 (1.63%) Cypress.io
7 5 (1.63%) Selenium
8 4 (1.31%) Mockito
9 2 (0.65%) CircleCI
9 2 (0.65%) Gradle
9 2 (0.65%) Jasmine
9 2 (0.65%) Maven
9 2 (0.65%) MSI
9 2 (0.65%) SonarLint
10 1 (0.33%) Browser DevTools
10 1 (0.33%) MLflow
10 1 (0.33%) REST Assured
General
1 63 (20.59%) Social Skills
2 35 (11.44%) Finance
3 21 (6.86%) Military
4 16 (5.23%) Analytical Skills
5 14 (4.58%) Telecoms
6 13 (4.25%) Local Government
7 12 (3.92%) Manufacturing
8 11 (3.59%) Documentation Skills
8 11 (3.59%) Marketing
9 10 (3.27%) Electronics
10 9 (2.94%) Influencing Skills
11 5 (1.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 4 (1.31%) Legal
13 3 (0.98%) Banking
13 3 (0.98%) Organisational Skills
14 2 (0.65%) Law
14 2 (0.65%) Presentation Skills
15 1 (0.33%) Digital Health
15 1 (0.33%) Digital Healthcare
Job Titles
1 57 (18.63%) Developer
2 47 (15.36%) Analyst
3 31 (10.13%) Architect
4 29 (9.48%) Senior
5 23 (7.52%) Java Developer
6 20 (6.54%) Lead
7 18 (5.88%) Consultant
8 15 (4.90%) Business Analyst
9 13 (4.25%) AWS Engineer
9 13 (4.25%) DevOps Engineer
10 12 (3.92%) Technical Architect
11 10 (3.27%) Full-Stack Developer
11 10 (3.27%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 9 (2.94%) Senior Developer
12 9 (2.94%) Test Engineer
13 8 (2.61%) Data Architect
13 8 (2.61%) Network Engineer
13 8 (2.61%) Senior Java Developer
14 7 (2.29%) Software Engineer
14 7 (2.29%) Systems Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (9.48%) Spring Boot
2 25 (8.17%) Spring
3 20 (6.54%) Node.js
4 16 (5.23%) JSON
4 16 (5.23%) RESTful
5 13 (4.25%) React
6 11 (3.59%) Kafka
7 10 (3.27%) HTML
8 9 (2.94%) AngularJS
9 8 (2.61%) Playwright
9 8 (2.61%) REST
10 6 (1.96%) Jest
10 6 (1.96%) Spring MVC
10 6 (1.96%) Spring Security
11 5 (1.63%) Hibernate
11 5 (1.63%) HTML5 Canvas
11 5 (1.63%) JAX-RS
11 5 (1.63%) XML
12 4 (1.31%) 802.1X
12 4 (1.31%) Thymeleaf
Miscellaneous
1 26 (8.50%) Onboarding
2 16 (5.23%) Data Centre
3 10 (3.27%) Product Ownership
4 9 (2.94%) Cloud Native
5 7 (2.29%) Hybrid Cloud
5 7 (2.29%) NHS
6 6 (1.96%) Distributed Systems
6 6 (1.96%) Public Cloud
7 5 (1.63%) Legacy Systems
7 5 (1.63%) Low-Code
8 4 (1.31%) Analytical Mindset
8 4 (1.31%) Data Structures
9 3 (0.98%) N-Tier
9 3 (0.98%) Operational Technology
10 2 (0.65%) Clustering
10 2 (0.65%) Driving Licence
10 2 (0.65%) Fibre Optics
10 2 (0.65%) Mobile App
10 2 (0.65%) Taxonomies
11 1 (0.33%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 19 (6.21%) Windows
2 13 (4.25%) Linux
3 9 (2.94%) Mac OS
4 8 (2.61%) Android
5 7 (2.29%) Windows 10
6 6 (1.96%) Apple iOS
7 4 (1.31%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 2 (0.65%) Unix
8 2 (0.65%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.33%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.33%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.33%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 56 (18.30%) Agile
2 45 (14.71%) DevOps
3 43 (14.05%) CI/CD
4 37 (12.09%) Microservices
5 33 (10.78%) Problem-Solving
6 29 (9.48%) Continuous Improvement
7 28 (9.15%) Stakeholder Management
8 27 (8.82%) User Experience
9 26 (8.50%) Business Intelligence
9 26 (8.50%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 25 (8.17%) Containerisation
10 25 (8.17%) Test Automation
11 22 (7.19%) Analytics
12 21 (6.86%) Change Management
13 20 (6.54%) Validation
14 18 (5.88%) Infrastructure as Code
14 18 (5.88%) User Research
15 17 (5.56%) Full-Stack Development
15 17 (5.56%) Migration
16 16 (5.23%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 52 (16.99%) Java
2 30 (9.80%) Python
3 18 (5.88%) SQL
4 15 (4.90%) JavaScript
5 11 (3.59%) PowerShell
5 11 (3.59%) TypeScript
6 7 (2.29%) Bash
7 5 (1.63%) Perl
8 4 (1.31%) C#
8 4 (1.31%) Go
8 4 (1.31%) Shell Script
9 3 (0.98%) ABAP
9 3 (0.98%) C++
9 3 (0.98%) Kusto Query Language
10 2 (0.65%) C
10 2 (0.65%) PL/SQL
10 2 (0.65%) Ruby
10 2 (0.65%) VB
10 2 (0.65%) VBScript
11 1 (0.33%) ProC
Qualifications
1 166 (54.25%) Security Cleared
2 100 (32.68%) SC Cleared
3 19 (6.21%) BPSS Clearance
4 11 (3.59%) Degree
5 6 (1.96%) Computer Science Degree
6 5 (1.63%) ISTQB
7 4 (1.31%) Azure Certification
7 4 (1.31%) DV Cleared
7 4 (1.31%) Microsoft Certification
8 2 (0.65%) AWS Certification
8 2 (0.65%) CCNP
8 2 (0.65%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (0.33%) APMG
9 1 (0.33%) CCDP
9 1 (0.33%) CCIE
9 1 (0.33%) CISM
9 1 (0.33%) CISSP
9 1 (0.33%) CTC Cleared
9 1 (0.33%) ITIL Certification
9 1 (0.33%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (9.15%) Accessibility
2 15 (4.90%) Data Quality
3 13 (4.25%) QA
4 7 (2.29%) NIST
5 6 (1.96%) WCAG
6 3 (0.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 3 (0.98%) PMO
7 2 (0.65%) IEC 61508
7 2 (0.65%) ISO 26262
7 2 (0.65%) PSD2
7 2 (0.65%) SLA
8 1 (0.33%) COBIT
8 1 (0.33%) CRD IV
8 1 (0.33%) FINREP
8 1 (0.33%) GDPR
8 1 (0.33%) IEC 62304
8 1 (0.33%) IFRS
8 1 (0.33%) ISO 20022
8 1 (0.33%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.33%) SEPA
System Software
1 33 (10.78%) Docker
2 9 (2.94%) Active Directory
3 8 (2.61%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (1.31%) UAG
5 3 (0.98%) Virtual Desktop
6 2 (0.65%) BitLocker
6 2 (0.65%) ISA Server
7 1 (0.33%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.33%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 32 (10.46%) Terraform
2 30 (9.80%) Kubernetes
3 8 (2.61%) Microsoft Intune
4 7 (2.29%) SCCM
5 5 (1.63%) Ansible
6 3 (0.98%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 3 (0.98%) Packer
6 3 (0.98%) Prometheus
7 2 (0.65%) Cisco CUCM
7 2 (0.65%) Microsoft Clustering
7 2 (0.65%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
8 1 (0.33%) AirWatch
8 1 (0.33%) Cisco Prime
8 1 (0.33%) Failover Clustering
8 1 (0.33%) FortiGate
8 1 (0.33%) Grafana
8 1 (0.33%) Nagios
8 1 (0.33%) Nessus
8 1 (0.33%) SELinux
8 1 (0.33%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 46 (15.03%) Microsoft
2 30 (9.80%) SAP
3 19 (6.21%) Google
3 19 (6.21%) Oracle
4 18 (5.88%) Cisco
5 15 (4.90%) Virgin Media
6 9 (2.94%) Palo Alto
6 9 (2.94%) ServiceNow
6 9 (2.94%) VMware
7 8 (2.61%) Apple
8 7 (2.29%) Meraki
9 6 (1.96%) Adobe
9 6 (1.96%) Dell
10 5 (1.63%) HP
10 5 (1.63%) Splunk
11 4 (1.31%) Dynatrace
11 4 (1.31%) Red Hat
12 3 (0.98%) F5
12 3 (0.98%) LogRhythm
12 3 (0.98%) Workday