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

6 months to
2 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 11 8
Rank change year-on-year -1 -3 -3
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 321 212 328
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 10.30% 10.83% 11.69%
As % of the General category 17.95% 18.52% 21.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 234 131 219
10th Percentile £333 £335 £350
25th Percentile £400 £409 £436
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% -4.76% +5.00%
75th Percentile £538 £600 £667
90th Percentile £625 £656 £725
England median daily rate £500 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 4 34
10th Percentile - £12.88 £12.00
25th Percentile - £14.82 £14.50
Median hourly rate £25.38 £16.01 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year +58.50% +0.08% -20.00%
75th Percentile - £16.20 £21.00
90th Percentile £44.94 £16.23 £32.05
England median hourly rate £22.10 £22.39 £24.00
% change year-on-year -1.27% -6.73% +20.00%

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 1,788 1,145 1,497
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 57.34% 58.51% 53.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,096 701 915
10th Percentile £198 £266 £300
25th Percentile £358 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £551 £580 £588
90th Percentile £638 £675 £699
England median daily rate £500 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 160 109 205
10th Percentile £17.33 £15.00 £12.50
25th Percentile £21.73 £21.00 £14.50
Median hourly rate £35.25 £29.80 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year +18.29% +56.84% -29.24%
75th Percentile £57.81 £50.00 £37.25
90th Percentile £76.00 £76.50 £49.60
England median hourly rate £25.77 £30.00 £26.40
% change year-on-year -14.10% +13.64% -24.57%

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 2 April 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 2 April 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 2 April 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 +2 209 £450 -10.00% 66
Cheshire +11 48 £425 -0.06% 7
Merseyside -7 33 £510 +2.00% 7
Cumbria -2 12 £500 -4.76%
Lancashire -18 6 £525 -12.50% 20
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 13 (4.05%) SharePoint
2 11 (3.43%) Confluence
3 10 (3.12%) Microsoft Exchange
4 4 (1.25%) CMS
5 2 (0.62%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 2 (0.62%) CICS
5 2 (0.62%) OpenStack
5 2 (0.62%) Skype for Business
6 1 (0.31%) Apache
6 1 (0.31%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.31%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.31%) SAS
Applications
1 16 (4.98%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.56%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (1.25%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.93%) Chatbot
5 2 (0.62%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.31%) Adobe Premiere
6 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.31%) Quicktime
Business Applications
1 6 (1.87%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (1.56%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (0.93%) iTrent
4 1 (0.31%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.31%) Payment Gateway
4 1 (0.31%) SAP ERP
4 1 (0.31%) SAP FI
4 1 (0.31%) SAP HR
4 1 (0.31%) SAP PSCD
Cloud Services
1 80 (24.92%) Azure
2 60 (18.69%) AWS
3 31 (9.66%) Microsoft 365
4 26 (8.10%) Power Platform
5 23 (7.17%) GitHub
6 20 (6.23%) Serverless
7 18 (5.61%) Dynamics 365
8 16 (4.98%) GCP
9 15 (4.67%) Microsoft Copilot
10 14 (4.36%) Azure DevOps
10 14 (4.36%) Entra ID
11 13 (4.05%) Power Automate
12 12 (3.74%) AWS Lambda
12 12 (3.74%) GitHub Actions
12 12 (3.74%) PowerApps
13 9 (2.80%) Amazon S3
13 9 (2.80%) OneDrive
14 8 (2.49%) Amazon SQS
15 7 (2.18%) Amazon EKS
15 7 (2.18%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 19 (5.92%) Firewall
2 9 (2.80%) WAN
3 8 (2.49%) VPN
3 8 (2.49%) Wi-Fi
4 7 (2.18%) DNS
5 6 (1.87%) LAN
6 5 (1.56%) Wireless
7 4 (1.25%) DHCP
7 4 (1.25%) MPLS
7 4 (1.25%) VLAN
8 3 (0.93%) BGP
8 3 (0.93%) Cisco ISE
8 3 (0.93%) Network Security
8 3 (0.93%) OSPF
8 3 (0.93%) SNMP
8 3 (0.93%) TCP/IP
9 2 (0.62%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
9 2 (0.62%) SD-WAN
9 2 (0.62%) Skype
9 2 (0.62%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (4.36%) MongoDB
2 11 (3.43%) PostgreSQL
3 10 (3.12%) Power BI
4 8 (2.49%) DocumentDB
5 7 (2.18%) MySQL
6 6 (1.87%) Looker
6 6 (1.87%) NoSQL
6 6 (1.87%) Relational Database
6 6 (1.87%) SQL Server
7 5 (1.56%) BigQuery
7 5 (1.56%) Redis
8 4 (1.25%) Metadata
8 4 (1.25%) Tableau
9 3 (0.93%) Data Warehouse
9 3 (0.93%) RDBMS
9 3 (0.93%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 2 (0.62%) Data Mining
10 2 (0.62%) DataStage
10 2 (0.62%) DynamoDB
10 2 (0.62%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 31 (9.66%) GitLab
2 22 (6.85%) Git
3 15 (4.67%) JIRA
4 9 (2.80%) Postman
5 8 (2.49%) Cypress.io
5 8 (2.49%) Jenkins
5 8 (2.49%) JUnit
5 8 (2.49%) Mocha
5 8 (2.49%) Mockito
6 7 (2.18%) CircleCI
7 6 (1.87%) Cucumber
7 6 (1.87%) SonarQube
8 3 (0.93%) Selenium
9 2 (0.62%) Jasmine
10 1 (0.31%) Axure RP
10 1 (0.31%) InstallShield
10 1 (0.31%) JMeter
10 1 (0.31%) MSI
General
1 69 (21.50%) Social Skills
2 36 (11.21%) Finance
3 24 (7.48%) Analytical Skills
4 16 (4.98%) Local Government
5 15 (4.67%) Military
6 11 (3.43%) Banking
7 7 (2.18%) Documentation Skills
8 6 (1.87%) Legal
8 6 (1.87%) Manufacturing
9 5 (1.56%) Influencing Skills
9 5 (1.56%) Marketing
9 5 (1.56%) Telecoms
10 4 (1.25%) Electronics
10 4 (1.25%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 4 (1.25%) Organisational Skills
11 3 (0.93%) Presentation Skills
12 2 (0.62%) Corporate Banking
12 2 (0.62%) Digital Economy
13 1 (0.31%) Digital Health
13 1 (0.31%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 85 (26.48%) Developer
2 39 (12.15%) Senior
3 37 (11.53%) Java Developer
4 31 (9.66%) Analyst
4 31 (9.66%) Architect
5 30 (9.35%) Lead
6 16 (4.98%) Tester
7 14 (4.36%) DevOps Engineer
7 14 (4.36%) Full-Stack Developer
7 14 (4.36%) Senior Developer
8 12 (3.74%) Designer
9 11 (3.43%) Software Developer
10 10 (3.12%) Business Analyst
10 10 (3.12%) Lead Developer
10 10 (3.12%) Senior Java Developer
10 10 (3.12%) Technical Architect
11 9 (2.80%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 9 (2.80%) Test Engineer
12 8 (2.49%) Front-End Developer (Client-Side Developer)
12 8 (2.49%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (11.21%) Spring
2 35 (10.90%) Spring Boot
3 28 (8.72%) Node.js
4 17 (5.30%) React
5 15 (4.67%) REST
6 13 (4.05%) RESTful
7 12 (3.74%) Kafka
8 11 (3.43%) HTML
8 11 (3.43%) Jest
8 11 (3.43%) Playwright
9 9 (2.80%) CSS
10 8 (2.49%) AngularJS
10 8 (2.49%) JAX-RS
10 8 (2.49%) Spring MVC
11 7 (2.18%) ActiveMQ
11 7 (2.18%) Hibernate
11 7 (2.18%) JSON
12 6 (1.87%) OAuth
13 4 (1.25%) OAuth2
13 4 (1.25%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 24 (7.48%) Onboarding
2 19 (5.92%) Product Ownership
3 12 (3.74%) Cloud Native
4 10 (3.12%) Data Centre
5 7 (2.18%) Operational Technology
6 6 (1.87%) Enterprise Software
6 6 (1.87%) Legacy Systems
7 5 (1.56%) NHS
7 5 (1.56%) Public Cloud
8 4 (1.25%) Distributed Systems
8 4 (1.25%) Mobile App
9 3 (0.93%) Housing Association
10 2 (0.62%) BYOD
10 2 (0.62%) Cyber Threat
10 2 (0.62%) Graphic Design
10 2 (0.62%) Low-Code
10 2 (0.62%) Mainframe
10 2 (0.62%) Private Cloud
10 2 (0.62%) Replication
10 2 (0.62%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 23 (7.17%) Linux
2 17 (5.30%) Windows
3 13 (4.05%) Unix
4 7 (2.18%) Mac OS
4 7 (2.18%) Mac OS X
4 7 (2.18%) Windows 10
5 5 (1.56%) Android
6 3 (0.93%) AIX
6 3 (0.93%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (0.62%) Solaris
7 2 (0.62%) Windows 7
8 1 (0.31%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.31%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 99 (30.84%) Agile
2 59 (18.38%) DevOps
3 56 (17.45%) CI/CD
4 49 (15.26%) Microservices
5 46 (14.33%) Test Automation
6 41 (12.77%) Continuous Improvement
7 40 (12.46%) Problem-Solving
8 34 (10.59%) User Experience
9 27 (8.41%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 27 (8.41%) Stakeholder Management
10 25 (7.79%) Containerisation
10 25 (7.79%) TDD
11 24 (7.48%) Migration
12 23 (7.17%) Digital Transformation Programme
12 23 (7.17%) Validation
13 22 (6.85%) Change Management
14 21 (6.54%) Analytics
15 20 (6.23%) User Research
16 17 (5.30%) Full-Stack Development
17 16 (4.98%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 64 (19.94%) Java
2 33 (10.28%) JavaScript
3 22 (6.85%) Python
4 19 (5.92%) TypeScript
5 16 (4.98%) SQL
6 13 (4.05%) PowerShell
7 4 (1.25%) C#
8 3 (0.93%) Go
8 3 (0.93%) Ruby
9 2 (0.62%) Bash
9 2 (0.62%) COBOL
9 2 (0.62%) Kotlin
9 2 (0.62%) Kusto Query Language
9 2 (0.62%) VB
9 2 (0.62%) VBScript
10 1 (0.31%) ABAP
10 1 (0.31%) Perl
10 1 (0.31%) PL/SQL
10 1 (0.31%) ProC
10 1 (0.31%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 155 (48.29%) Security Cleared
2 69 (21.50%) SC Cleared
3 22 (6.85%) Degree
4 13 (4.05%) BPSS Clearance
5 6 (1.87%) Computer Science Degree
5 6 (1.87%) Microsoft Certification
6 5 (1.56%) DV Cleared
7 4 (1.25%) Azure Certification
8 3 (0.93%) Cisco Certification
8 3 (0.93%) ISTQB
8 3 (0.93%) ITIL Certification
8 3 (0.93%) Master's Degree
9 2 (0.62%) AWS Certification
9 2 (0.62%) CCNA
9 2 (0.62%) CCNP
9 2 (0.62%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 2 (0.62%) MBA
9 2 (0.62%) PMI Certification
9 2 (0.62%) PMP
10 1 (0.31%) APMG
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (11.53%) Accessibility
2 14 (4.36%) Data Quality
2 14 (4.36%) WCAG
3 12 (3.74%) QA
4 9 (2.80%) NIST
5 6 (1.87%) GDPR
6 5 (1.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 5 (1.56%) PMO
7 4 (1.25%) SLA
8 3 (0.93%) IFRS
9 2 (0.62%) GRC
9 2 (0.62%) IFRS 17
9 2 (0.62%) PSD2
10 1 (0.31%) CRD IV
10 1 (0.31%) Cyber Essentials
10 1 (0.31%) FINREP
10 1 (0.31%) ISO 20022
10 1 (0.31%) NIST 800
10 1 (0.31%) SEPA
10 1 (0.31%) SOC 2
System Software
1 32 (9.97%) Docker
2 16 (4.98%) Active Directory
3 4 (1.25%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.62%) BitLocker
4 2 (0.62%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.62%) ISA Server
4 2 (0.62%) Virtual Desktop
4 2 (0.62%) vSphere
5 1 (0.31%) GPFS
5 1 (0.31%) NFS
5 1 (0.31%) Oracle RAC
5 1 (0.31%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 33 (10.28%) Kubernetes
2 31 (9.66%) Terraform
3 6 (1.87%) Grafana
4 5 (1.56%) Ansible
5 4 (1.25%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 4 (1.25%) Microsoft Intune
5 4 (1.25%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.93%) SCCM
7 1 (0.31%) Cisco CUCM
7 1 (0.31%) Cisco Prime
7 1 (0.31%) Data Guard
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%) Oracle RMAN
7 1 (0.31%) vRealize
7 1 (0.31%) VxRail
Vendors
1 60 (18.69%) Microsoft
2 23 (7.17%) Oracle
3 16 (4.98%) SAP
4 13 (4.05%) Virgin Media
5 12 (3.74%) Cisco
6 9 (2.80%) ServiceNow
7 8 (2.49%) Google
7 8 (2.49%) Palo Alto
8 7 (2.18%) VMware
9 5 (1.56%) PeopleSoft
10 4 (1.25%) Adobe
10 4 (1.25%) Apple
10 4 (1.25%) IBM
10 4 (1.25%) Meraki
10 4 (1.25%) Splunk
11 3 (0.93%) Aruba
11 3 (0.93%) Dell
11 3 (0.93%) F5
11 3 (0.93%) HP
11 3 (0.93%) Workday