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

6 months to
24 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 17 18 12
Rank change year-on-year +1 -6 -5
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 296 172 277
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 8.41% 8.61% 9.86%
As % of the General category 15.53% 14.58% 18.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 174 118 173
10th Percentile £358 £305 £326
25th Percentile £400 £408 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £493
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -3.65% -1.40%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £576
90th Percentile £675 £650 £669
England median daily rate £513 £513 £525
% change year-on-year - -2.38% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 2 29
10th Percentile - - £12.00
25th Percentile - £21.02 £14.50
Median hourly rate £25.38 £21.27 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year +19.32% +32.94% -17.95%
75th Percentile £25.49 £21.52 £27.00
90th Percentile £85.00 - £34.57
England median hourly rate £24.19 £25.08 £24.75
% change year-on-year -3.53% +1.31% +20.38%

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 1,906 1,180 1,492
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 54.18% 59.06% 53.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,074 763 877
10th Percentile £275 £305 £283
25th Percentile £375 £380 £394
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £469 £465 £490
Median % change year-on-year +0.86% -5.10% -2.00%
75th Percentile £581 £575 £575
90th Percentile £650 £675 £656
England median daily rate £520 £520 £535
% change year-on-year - -2.80% -2.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 202 103 196
10th Percentile £16.56 £12.82 £12.50
25th Percentile £25.38 £13.00 £15.38
Median hourly rate £35.91 £29.27 £21.81
Median % change year-on-year +22.69% +34.24% -5.81%
75th Percentile £67.63 £59.65 £37.94
90th Percentile £83.75 £77.25 £49.50
England median hourly rate £32.50 £28.17 £32.12
% change year-on-year +15.39% -12.30% +14.41%

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 24 June 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 24 June 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 24 June 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 +4 198 £500 +11.11% 52
Cheshire +13 38 £450 +8.11% 7
Merseyside -7 25 £510 -21.54% 7
Lancashire -5 13 £575 -4.17% 19
Cumbria -19 11 £424 -17.32%
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 24 (8.11%) SharePoint
2 16 (5.41%) Microsoft Exchange
3 13 (4.39%) Confluence
4 4 (1.35%) SharePoint 2013
5 2 (0.68%) Apache
5 2 (0.68%) CICS
5 2 (0.68%) CMS
5 2 (0.68%) Jupyter
5 2 (0.68%) Oracle Workflow
6 1 (0.34%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.34%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.34%) OpenStack
6 1 (0.34%) SAS
6 1 (0.34%) Skype for Business
6 1 (0.34%) WordPress
Applications
1 5 (1.69%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.01%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.01%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.68%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.34%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.34%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 5 (1.69%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (1.01%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (0.68%) Oracle Cash Management
3 2 (0.68%) Oracle EBS
3 2 (0.68%) Oracle Payables
3 2 (0.68%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 2 (0.68%) SAP ERP
4 1 (0.34%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 72 (24.32%) Azure
2 62 (20.95%) AWS
3 40 (13.51%) Microsoft 365
4 20 (6.76%) Microsoft Copilot
5 18 (6.08%) Serverless
6 17 (5.74%) SaaS
7 14 (4.73%) GitHub
7 14 (4.73%) OCI
8 13 (4.39%) Dynamics 365
8 13 (4.39%) Power Platform
9 12 (4.05%) Entra ID
10 11 (3.72%) GCP
11 10 (3.38%) Amazon S3
12 9 (3.04%) Amazon EC2
12 9 (3.04%) Azure DevOps
12 9 (3.04%) Google Workspace
12 9 (3.04%) Power Automate
13 8 (2.70%) AWS Lambda
13 8 (2.70%) OneDrive
14 7 (2.36%) Google Drive
Communications & Networking
1 15 (5.07%) Firewall
2 8 (2.70%) BIG-IP
2 8 (2.70%) Ethernet VPN
2 8 (2.70%) VXLAN
2 8 (2.70%) WAN
2 8 (2.70%) Wi-Fi
3 7 (2.36%) BGP
3 7 (2.36%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
3 7 (2.36%) OSPF
3 7 (2.36%) SD-WAN
4 6 (2.03%) WLAN
5 5 (1.69%) DNS
6 3 (1.01%) DKIM
6 3 (1.01%) DMARC
7 2 (0.68%) LAN
7 2 (0.68%) VPN
8 1 (0.34%) IPv6
8 1 (0.34%) Kerberos
8 1 (0.34%) TCP/IP
8 1 (0.34%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (5.07%) MongoDB
2 7 (2.36%) Relational Database
3 6 (2.03%) DocumentDB
4 5 (1.69%) Metadata
4 5 (1.69%) Oracle Database
4 5 (1.69%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (1.35%) RDBMS
5 4 (1.35%) Tableau
6 3 (1.01%) MySQL
6 3 (1.01%) NoSQL
6 3 (1.01%) Power BI
6 3 (1.01%) SQL Server
7 2 (0.68%) Data Lake
7 2 (0.68%) Data Mining
7 2 (0.68%) Data Warehouse
7 2 (0.68%) DataStage
7 2 (0.68%) Oracle BI Publisher
7 2 (0.68%) Oracle Exadata
7 2 (0.68%) Oracle Reports
8 1 (0.34%) Amazon Redshift
Development Applications
1 32 (10.81%) GitLab
2 20 (6.76%) JIRA
3 10 (3.38%) Selenium
4 9 (3.04%) Cucumber
4 9 (3.04%) Git
5 8 (2.70%) Jenkins
6 7 (2.36%) Mockito
7 6 (2.03%) Cypress.io
7 6 (2.03%) JUnit
8 5 (1.69%) Mocha
8 5 (1.69%) REST Assured
9 4 (1.35%) Postman
10 3 (1.01%) CircleCI
10 3 (1.01%) SonarQube
11 2 (0.68%) Gatling
11 2 (0.68%) JDeveloper
11 2 (0.68%) JMeter
11 2 (0.68%) WebDriver
12 1 (0.34%) Serenity BDD
12 1 (0.34%) TestNG
General
1 62 (20.95%) Social Skills
2 32 (10.81%) Military
3 28 (9.46%) Finance
4 22 (7.43%) Analytical Skills
5 16 (5.41%) Local Government
6 8 (2.70%) Banking
6 8 (2.70%) Legal
7 6 (2.03%) Organisational Skills
8 5 (1.69%) Documentation Skills
9 4 (1.35%) Presentation Skills
10 3 (1.01%) Influencing Skills
11 2 (0.68%) Corporate Banking
11 2 (0.68%) Digital Economy
11 2 (0.68%) General Ledger
11 2 (0.68%) Marketing
12 1 (0.34%) Manufacturing
12 1 (0.34%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 68 (22.97%) Developer
2 47 (15.88%) Lead
3 38 (12.84%) Senior
4 33 (11.15%) Architect
5 27 (9.12%) Java Developer
6 17 (5.74%) Analyst
6 17 (5.74%) Lead Developer
7 15 (5.07%) Software Developer
7 15 (5.07%) Tester
8 14 (4.73%) Administrator
8 14 (4.73%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 14 (4.73%) Senior Developer
9 13 (4.39%) Designer
10 11 (3.72%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 11 (3.72%) Technical Architect
11 10 (3.38%) Consultant
11 10 (3.38%) Lead Architect
11 10 (3.38%) Senior Java Developer
11 10 (3.38%) Test Engineer
12 9 (3.04%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (8.78%) Spring
2 25 (8.45%) Node.js
3 24 (8.11%) Spring Boot
4 15 (5.07%) REST
5 14 (4.73%) Kafka
6 10 (3.38%) React
7 9 (3.04%) OAuth
8 7 (2.36%) Playwright
8 7 (2.36%) RESTful
9 6 (2.03%) ActiveMQ
9 6 (2.03%) JAX-RS
9 6 (2.03%) Jest
10 5 (1.69%) AngularJS
10 5 (1.69%) OpenID
11 4 (1.35%) CSS
11 4 (1.35%) HTML
11 4 (1.35%) Nunjucks
12 3 (1.01%) ARM Templates
12 3 (1.01%) GraphQL
12 3 (1.01%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 24 (8.11%) Cloud Native
2 16 (5.41%) Product Ownership
3 11 (3.72%) Data Centre
3 11 (3.72%) Legacy Systems
4 9 (3.04%) Onboarding
5 8 (2.70%) Management Information System
6 7 (2.36%) NHS
6 7 (2.36%) Operational Technology
7 6 (2.03%) Enterprise Software
7 6 (2.03%) Hybrid Cloud
7 6 (2.03%) Public Cloud
8 5 (1.69%) Self-Motivation
9 3 (1.01%) Distributed Systems
9 3 (1.01%) Freedom of Information
9 3 (1.01%) Housing Association
9 3 (1.01%) Mobile App
9 3 (1.01%) Replication
10 2 (0.68%) Mainframe
10 2 (0.68%) SCADA
10 2 (0.68%) VSAM
Operating Systems
1 20 (6.76%) Linux
2 12 (4.05%) Unix
3 10 (3.38%) Windows
4 6 (2.03%) Mac OS X
5 4 (1.35%) AIX
5 4 (1.35%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (1.01%) Windows 10
7 2 (0.68%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.68%) Solaris
8 1 (0.34%) Android
8 1 (0.34%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.34%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 90 (30.41%) Agile
2 61 (20.61%) CI/CD
3 56 (18.92%) DevOps
4 42 (14.19%) Microservices
5 41 (13.85%) Continuous Improvement
6 40 (13.51%) Test Automation
7 33 (11.15%) Stakeholder Management
8 32 (10.81%) Migration
9 30 (10.14%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 24 (8.11%) Infrastructure as Code
10 24 (8.11%) Problem-Solving
11 23 (7.77%) Mentoring
11 23 (7.77%) Technical Leadership
12 22 (7.43%) Digital Transformation Programme
12 22 (7.43%) Roadmaps
12 22 (7.43%) User Experience
13 20 (6.76%) TDD
14 19 (6.42%) Containerisation
14 19 (6.42%) Cybersecurity
15 17 (5.74%) AI
Programming Languages
1 56 (18.92%) Java
2 28 (9.46%) JavaScript
3 22 (7.43%) Python
4 17 (5.74%) SQL
5 16 (5.41%) TypeScript
6 9 (3.04%) PowerShell
7 2 (0.68%) C#
7 2 (0.68%) COBOL
7 2 (0.68%) PL/SQL
8 1 (0.34%) Bash
8 1 (0.34%) Bicep
8 1 (0.34%) Go
8 1 (0.34%) Kotlin
8 1 (0.34%) Kusto Query Language
8 1 (0.34%) PHP
8 1 (0.34%) Scala
8 1 (0.34%) Shell Script
8 1 (0.34%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 134 (45.27%) Security Cleared
2 84 (28.38%) SC Cleared
3 17 (5.74%) BPSS Clearance
4 16 (5.41%) Degree
5 7 (2.36%) Microsoft Certification
6 4 (1.35%) Azure Certification
7 3 (1.01%) Master's Degree
8 2 (0.68%) CCNA
8 2 (0.68%) Cisco Certification
8 2 (0.68%) Computer Science Degree
8 2 (0.68%) DBS Check
8 2 (0.68%) DV Cleared
8 2 (0.68%) ISTQB
8 2 (0.68%) ITIL Certification
8 2 (0.68%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 2 (0.68%) MBA
8 2 (0.68%) PMI Certification
8 2 (0.68%) PMP
9 1 (0.34%) AWS Certification
9 1 (0.34%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (10.47%) Accessibility
2 13 (4.39%) WCAG
3 12 (4.05%) QA
4 10 (3.38%) Data Quality
4 10 (3.38%) PMO
5 7 (2.36%) NIST
6 6 (2.03%) GDPR
7 4 (1.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 4 (1.35%) SLA
8 2 (0.68%) GRC
8 2 (0.68%) IFRS
8 2 (0.68%) IFRS 17
8 2 (0.68%) NIST 800
9 1 (0.34%) Basel III
9 1 (0.34%) NCSC
9 1 (0.34%) SOC 2
9 1 (0.34%) Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)
System Software
1 29 (9.80%) Docker
2 21 (7.09%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.68%) Oracle RAC
3 2 (0.68%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.34%) BitLocker
4 1 (0.34%) GPFS
4 1 (0.34%) NFS
4 1 (0.34%) Virtual Desktop
4 1 (0.34%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.34%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 38 (12.84%) Terraform
2 27 (9.12%) Kubernetes
3 14 (4.73%) Ansible
4 6 (2.03%) Grafana
5 3 (1.01%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 3 (1.01%) Prometheus
5 3 (1.01%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.68%) Data Guard
6 2 (0.68%) Microsoft Intune
6 2 (0.68%) Oracle RMAN
6 2 (0.68%) SCCM
7 1 (0.34%) Argo
7 1 (0.34%) CASB
7 1 (0.34%) Cisco CUCM
7 1 (0.34%) Norton AntiVirus
7 1 (0.34%) Packer
7 1 (0.34%) vRealize
7 1 (0.34%) VxRail
Vendors
1 49 (16.55%) Microsoft
2 12 (4.05%) Oracle
3 10 (3.38%) Google
4 9 (3.04%) Palo Alto
4 9 (3.04%) ServiceNow
5 8 (2.70%) Aruba
5 8 (2.70%) F5
6 7 (2.36%) Arista
6 7 (2.36%) SAP
7 4 (1.35%) IBM
7 4 (1.35%) PeopleSoft
8 3 (1.01%) Virgin Media
8 3 (1.01%) VMware
9 2 (0.68%) Automation Anywhere
9 2 (0.68%) BeyondTrust
9 2 (0.68%) Cisco
9 2 (0.68%) OpenAI
9 2 (0.68%) Salesforce
9 2 (0.68%) Tanium
9 2 (0.68%) Thycotic