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

6 months to
2 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 28 14 10
Rank change year-on-year -14 -4 -2
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 253 221 263
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 6.40% 10.17% 10.89%
As % of the General category 12.59% 16.54% 19.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 142 155 159
10th Percentile £363 £215 £327
25th Percentile £414 £369 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £465 £500
Median % change year-on-year +12.90% -7.00% -7.41%
75th Percentile £638 £578 £623
90th Percentile £731 £650 £688
England median daily rate £525 £502 £520
% change year-on-year +4.58% -3.46% -3.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 8 13
10th Percentile £16.03 £16.11 £16.05
25th Percentile £25.22 £17.30 £18.03
Median hourly rate £25.38 £20.07 £20.00
Median % change year-on-year +26.46% +0.35% +18.69%
75th Percentile £35.78 £32.95 £29.50
90th Percentile £85.00 £67.25 £34.80
England median hourly rate £21.35 £21.95 £24.18
% change year-on-year -2.73% -9.22% +20.30%

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 2,010 1,336 1,328
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 50.87% 61.48% 54.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,142 855 789
10th Percentile £241 £271 £282
25th Percentile £400 £375 £401
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £458 £500
Median % change year-on-year +9.29% -8.50% -
75th Percentile £592 £575 £585
90th Percentile £676 £675 £675
England median daily rate £525 £500 £538
% change year-on-year +5.00% -6.98% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 251 111 85
10th Percentile £16.00 £12.82 £16.10
25th Percentile £24.72 £13.68 £19.18
Median hourly rate £35.00 £24.50 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +42.86% -30.00% +50.28%
75th Percentile £62.88 £48.56 £47.50
90th Percentile £83.75 £70.00 £57.50
England median hourly rate £31.56 £25.15 £38.12
% change year-on-year +25.47% -34.02% +38.62%

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 September 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 September 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 September 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 -14 162 £500 +11.11% 257
Merseyside -9 30 £525 -4.55% 17
Cheshire -9 28 £500 +40.35% 5
Lancashire -7 17 £575 +26.37% 26
Cumbria -25 9 £334 -38.53% 1
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 19 (7.51%) SharePoint
2 10 (3.95%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (2.77%) Confluence
4 4 (1.58%) SharePoint 2013
5 3 (1.19%) SAS
6 2 (0.79%) Apache
6 2 (0.79%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.79%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.79%) CMS
6 2 (0.79%) Oracle Workflow
6 2 (0.79%) WordPress
7 1 (0.40%) Jupyter
7 1 (0.40%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 2 (0.79%) Chatbot
1 2 (0.79%) Microsoft Excel
1 2 (0.79%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.40%) AutoCAD
2 1 (0.40%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (0.40%) MS Visio
2 1 (0.40%) Navisworks
2 1 (0.40%) ProjectWise
2 1 (0.40%) Revit
2 1 (0.40%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 3 (1.19%) Dynamics CRM
1 3 (1.19%) Oracle EBS
2 2 (0.79%) Oracle Cash Management
2 2 (0.79%) Oracle Payables
2 2 (0.79%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
2 2 (0.79%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.40%) Integrated Workplace Management System
3 1 (0.40%) Primavera
3 1 (0.40%) Salesforce CRM
3 1 (0.40%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 59 (23.32%) AWS
2 57 (22.53%) Azure
3 31 (12.25%) Microsoft 365
4 16 (6.32%) SaaS
5 14 (5.53%) OCI
6 12 (4.74%) Dynamics 365
6 12 (4.74%) Microsoft Copilot
7 11 (4.35%) Power Platform
7 11 (4.35%) Serverless
8 10 (3.95%) Google Workspace
9 8 (3.16%) GCP
10 7 (2.77%) Azure DevOps
10 7 (2.77%) Google Drive
11 6 (2.37%) GitHub
12 5 (1.98%) Entra ID
13 4 (1.58%) Amazon S3
13 4 (1.58%) Azure Data Factory
13 4 (1.58%) GitHub Actions
13 4 (1.58%) OneDrive
13 4 (1.58%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 11 (4.35%) Firewall
2 10 (3.95%) BGP
2 10 (3.95%) OSPF
3 9 (3.56%) Wi-Fi
4 8 (3.16%) BIG-IP
4 8 (3.16%) Ethernet VPN
4 8 (3.16%) VXLAN
5 7 (2.77%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
5 7 (2.77%) SD-WAN
5 7 (2.77%) WAN
6 6 (2.37%) WLAN
7 3 (1.19%) Cisco ASA
7 3 (1.19%) Cisco Firepower
7 3 (1.19%) DKIM
7 3 (1.19%) DMARC
7 3 (1.19%) DNS
7 3 (1.19%) EIGRP
7 3 (1.19%) HSRP
7 3 (1.19%) IPsec
8 1 (0.40%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (3.95%) Relational Database
2 9 (3.56%) MongoDB
3 8 (3.16%) Oracle Database
4 7 (2.77%) RDBMS
5 6 (2.37%) Power BI
6 5 (1.98%) Metadata
6 5 (1.98%) Oracle Exadata
6 5 (1.98%) PostgreSQL
7 3 (1.19%) Data Warehouse
7 3 (1.19%) SQL Server
8 2 (0.79%) Amazon QuickSight
8 2 (0.79%) Data Mining
8 2 (0.79%) DocumentDB
8 2 (0.79%) EDMS
8 2 (0.79%) MySQL
8 2 (0.79%) NoSQL
8 2 (0.79%) Oracle BI Publisher
8 2 (0.79%) Oracle Reports
8 2 (0.79%) Tableau
9 1 (0.40%) Data Lake
Development Applications
1 17 (6.72%) GitLab
2 13 (5.14%) JIRA
3 10 (3.95%) Cucumber
3 10 (3.95%) Selenium
4 6 (2.37%) Git
4 6 (2.37%) REST Assured
5 4 (1.58%) Jenkins
5 4 (1.58%) Mockito
6 3 (1.19%) Cypress.io
6 3 (1.19%) JUnit
7 2 (0.79%) Gatling
7 2 (0.79%) JDeveloper
7 2 (0.79%) Postman
7 2 (0.79%) SonarQube
7 2 (0.79%) WebDriver
8 1 (0.40%) Gradle
8 1 (0.40%) JMeter
8 1 (0.40%) Serenity BDD
8 1 (0.40%) TestNG
8 1 (0.40%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 59 (23.32%) Social Skills
2 38 (15.02%) Military
3 24 (9.49%) Finance
4 20 (7.91%) Analytical Skills
5 18 (7.11%) Local Government
6 6 (2.37%) Legal
7 5 (1.98%) Presentation Skills
8 4 (1.58%) Organisational Skills
8 4 (1.58%) Police
9 3 (1.19%) Documentation Skills
9 3 (1.19%) Marketing
10 2 (0.79%) General Ledger
11 1 (0.40%) Banking
11 1 (0.40%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 1 (0.40%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 52 (20.55%) Lead
2 38 (15.02%) Developer
3 36 (14.23%) Senior
4 35 (13.83%) Architect
5 14 (5.53%) Administrator
5 14 (5.53%) Analyst
5 14 (5.53%) Java Developer
6 12 (4.74%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 12 (4.74%) Security Architect
6 12 (4.74%) Senior Developer
7 11 (4.35%) Consultant
7 11 (4.35%) Designer
8 10 (3.95%) Business Analyst
8 10 (3.95%) Lead Developer
8 10 (3.95%) Test Engineer
9 9 (3.56%) Lead Architect
9 9 (3.56%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 9 (3.56%) Technical Architect
9 9 (3.56%) Tester
10 8 (3.16%) Software Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (11.07%) Terraform
2 17 (6.72%) Node.js
3 13 (5.14%) Spring
4 12 (4.74%) Spring Boot
5 11 (4.35%) REST
6 9 (3.56%) Kafka
7 8 (3.16%) OAuth
8 5 (1.98%) Oracle GoldenGate
9 4 (1.58%) AWS CDK
9 4 (1.58%) Django
9 4 (1.58%) Nunjucks
9 4 (1.58%) OpenID
9 4 (1.58%) Oracle Fusion
9 4 (1.58%) Playwright
10 3 (1.19%) ActiveMQ
10 3 (1.19%) JAX-RS
10 3 (1.19%) React
11 2 (0.79%) AngularJS
11 2 (0.79%) Express.js
11 2 (0.79%) GraphQL
Miscellaneous
1 16 (6.32%) Cloud Native
2 11 (4.35%) Legacy Systems
3 9 (3.56%) Management Information System
4 8 (3.16%) Product Ownership
5 7 (2.77%) Data Centre
5 7 (2.77%) NHS
6 6 (2.37%) Hybrid Cloud
6 6 (2.37%) Onboarding
6 6 (2.37%) Operational Technology
7 5 (1.98%) Self-Motivation
7 5 (1.98%) Taxonomies
8 4 (1.58%) Cyber Threat
8 4 (1.58%) Public Cloud
8 4 (1.58%) Replication
9 3 (1.19%) Enterprise Software
9 3 (1.19%) Freedom of Information
9 3 (1.19%) Housing Association
10 2 (0.79%) CSOC
10 2 (0.79%) Data Protection Act
10 2 (0.79%) Educational Technology
Operating Systems
1 14 (5.53%) Linux
2 7 (2.77%) Unix
3 5 (1.98%) AIX
3 5 (1.98%) Windows
4 3 (1.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 1 (0.40%) Android
5 1 (0.40%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.40%) CentOS
5 1 (0.40%) Mac OS
5 1 (0.40%) Mac OS X
5 1 (0.40%) Solaris
5 1 (0.40%) Windows 10
5 1 (0.40%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 58 (22.92%) Agile
2 44 (17.39%) Stakeholder Management
3 43 (17.00%) CI/CD
4 38 (15.02%) DevOps
5 33 (13.04%) Continuous Improvement
6 32 (12.65%) Test Automation
7 31 (12.25%) Migration
8 25 (9.88%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 23 (9.09%) Digital Transformation Programme
9 23 (9.09%) Infrastructure as Code
9 23 (9.09%) Mentoring
9 23 (9.09%) Microservices
10 22 (8.70%) Technical Leadership
11 21 (8.30%) Cybersecurity
12 20 (7.91%) Roadmaps
13 17 (6.72%) AI
13 17 (6.72%) ERP
13 17 (6.72%) Risk Management
13 17 (6.72%) User Experience
14 16 (6.32%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 31 (12.25%) Java
2 24 (9.49%) Python
3 23 (9.09%) JavaScript
4 17 (6.72%) SQL
5 7 (2.77%) TypeScript
6 5 (1.98%) PowerShell
7 4 (1.58%) Shell Script
8 2 (0.79%) Bash
8 2 (0.79%) PHP
8 2 (0.79%) PL/SQL
9 1 (0.40%) Bicep
9 1 (0.40%) C#
9 1 (0.40%) Kotlin
9 1 (0.40%) Scala
9 1 (0.40%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 115 (45.45%) Security Cleared
2 86 (33.99%) SC Cleared
3 14 (5.53%) BPSS Clearance
4 6 (2.37%) Degree
5 3 (1.19%) Azure Certification
5 3 (1.19%) ITIL Certification
5 3 (1.19%) Microsoft Certification
6 2 (0.79%) AWS Certification
6 2 (0.79%) DBS Check
7 1 (0.40%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
7 1 (0.40%) Oracle Certification
7 1 (0.40%) PMI Certification
7 1 (0.40%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (9.09%) Accessibility
2 13 (5.14%) QA
3 11 (4.35%) Data Quality
4 9 (3.56%) WCAG
5 8 (3.16%) PMO
6 5 (1.98%) GDPR
7 4 (1.58%) NIST
8 2 (0.79%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 2 (0.79%) NCSC
8 2 (0.79%) NIST 800
8 2 (0.79%) SLA
9 1 (0.40%) ISO 19650
9 1 (0.40%) Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)
System Software
1 20 (7.91%) Docker
2 13 (5.14%) Active Directory
3 6 (2.37%) Oracle RAC
4 1 (0.40%) BitLocker
4 1 (0.40%) Microsoft App-V
4 1 (0.40%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 14 (5.53%) Ansible
1 14 (5.53%) Kubernetes
2 6 (2.37%) Data Guard
3 5 (1.98%) Oracle RMAN
4 3 (1.19%) Single Sign-On
5 2 (0.79%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 2 (0.79%) Grafana
5 2 (0.79%) Prometheus
5 2 (0.79%) SCCM
6 1 (0.40%) Argo
6 1 (0.40%) CASB
6 1 (0.40%) Cisco CUCM
6 1 (0.40%) Microsoft Intune
6 1 (0.40%) Oracle ZFS
6 1 (0.40%) Packer
Vendors
1 37 (14.62%) Microsoft
2 17 (6.72%) Oracle
3 11 (4.35%) Palo Alto
4 10 (3.95%) Google
5 9 (3.56%) ServiceNow
6 8 (3.16%) F5
7 7 (2.77%) Arista
8 6 (2.37%) Aruba
9 4 (1.58%) Cisco
9 4 (1.58%) SAP
10 3 (1.19%) CheckPoint
11 2 (0.79%) BeyondTrust
11 2 (0.79%) CyberArk
11 2 (0.79%) Databricks
11 2 (0.79%) OpenAI
11 2 (0.79%) Tanium
11 2 (0.79%) Thycotic
11 2 (0.79%) Trend Micro
12 1 (0.40%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud
12 1 (0.40%) Tenable