Security Cleared Contract Job Trends in the North West

Security Clearance
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the North West with a requirement for Security Cleared qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 29 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 2 3 3
Rank change year-on-year +1 0 -1
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 767 390 399
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 19.68% 18.15% 16.81%
As % of the Qualifications category 62.77% 53.21% 60.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 519 236 219
10th Percentile £357 £338 £294
25th Percentile £440 £431 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £530 £556 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.72% +11.25% -9.09%
75th Percentile £630 £650 £603
90th Percentile £688 £730 £703
England median daily rate £550 £538 £550
% change year-on-year +2.33% -2.27% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 50 47 37
10th Percentile £26.18 £16.45 £18.03
25th Percentile £33.04 £22.16 £22.22
Median hourly rate £48.75 £27.38 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year +78.08% -40.72% -
75th Percentile £72.37 £54.00 £55.79
90th Percentile £83.75 £68.35 £77.09
England median hourly rate £65.00 £25.15 £61.60
% change year-on-year +158.45% -59.17% +2.67%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
North West

Security Cleared falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in the North West.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 1,222 733 660
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 31.35% 34.11% 27.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 782 462 347
10th Percentile £301 £311 £294
25th Percentile £422 £410 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £524 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.75% - -4.76%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £600
90th Percentile £675 £723 £686
England median daily rate £530 £525 £525
% change year-on-year +0.95% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 126 72 58
10th Percentile £17.94 £15.50 £17.68
25th Percentile £28.50 £19.72 £22.71
Median hourly rate £43.96 £28.32 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year +55.21% -38.67% +0.33%
75th Percentile £63.94 £59.79 £57.45
90th Percentile £80.00 £71.32 £81.48
England median hourly rate £52.50 £25.15 £53.00
% change year-on-year +108.75% -52.55% -1.24%

Security Cleared
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Security Cleared relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Security Cleared job vacancy trend in the North West

Security Cleared
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Security Cleared.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Security Cleared

Security Cleared
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Security Cleared in the North West over the 6 months to 29 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Security Cleared in the North West

Security Cleared
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Security Cleared.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Security Cleared

Security Cleared
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Security Cleared in the North West over the 6 months to 29 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Security Cleared in the North West

Security Cleared
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 Security Cleared within the North West region over the 6 months to 29 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 +1 295 £574 +4.27% 275
Cumbria 0 201 £499 -3.86% 15
Lancashire 0 160 £600 +9.09% 73
Cheshire +2 94 £528 -15.60% 28
Merseyside -19 14 £625 -16.67% 8
Security Cleared
England

Security Cleared
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 27 (3.52%) Microsoft Exchange
2 23 (3.00%) SharePoint
3 15 (1.96%) Skype for Business
4 12 (1.56%) SAS
5 6 (0.78%) Confluence
6 5 (0.65%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.39%) Apache
7 3 (0.39%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.26%) Jupyter
8 2 (0.26%) Oracle Workflow
8 2 (0.26%) SharePoint 2013
9 1 (0.13%) Exchange Server 2010
9 1 (0.13%) IIS
9 1 (0.13%) NetWeaver
9 1 (0.13%) nginx
9 1 (0.13%) SharePoint 2010
9 1 (0.13%) Traefik
Applications
1 27 (3.52%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (0.65%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.39%) AutoCAD
3 3 (0.39%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.13%) Navisworks
4 1 (0.13%) ProjectWise
4 1 (0.13%) Revit
Business Applications
1 10 (1.30%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (1.04%) Oracle Payables
3 5 (0.65%) Remedy ITSM
3 5 (0.65%) SAP HR
3 5 (0.65%) Teamcenter
4 3 (0.39%) Oracle EBS
4 3 (0.39%) SAP MDG
5 2 (0.26%) Oracle Cash Management
5 2 (0.26%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 2 (0.26%) SAP PLM
6 1 (0.13%) Dynamics AX
6 1 (0.13%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle Assets
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle E-Business Tax
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle ERP
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle General Ledger
6 1 (0.13%) Primavera
6 1 (0.13%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.13%) SAP MM
6 1 (0.13%) SAP PM
Cloud Services
1 112 (14.60%) Azure
2 103 (13.43%) AWS
3 37 (4.82%) Microsoft 365
4 31 (4.04%) Power Platform
5 30 (3.91%) Azure DevOps
6 28 (3.65%) SuccessFactors
7 24 (3.13%) Entra ID
8 19 (2.48%) OCI
9 18 (2.35%) SaaS
10 17 (2.22%) GCP
10 17 (2.22%) GitHub
10 17 (2.22%) Serverless
11 15 (1.96%) Azure Monitor
12 11 (1.43%) Google Workspace
13 10 (1.30%) GitHub Actions
14 9 (1.17%) Azure AKS
15 8 (1.04%) Power Automate
16 7 (0.91%) Google Drive
17 6 (0.78%) Amazon ECS
17 6 (0.78%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 62 (8.08%) Firewall
2 38 (4.95%) Wireless
3 36 (4.69%) VPN
4 32 (4.17%) Network Security
5 31 (4.04%) WAN
6 26 (3.39%) DNS
6 26 (3.39%) Wi-Fi
7 25 (3.26%) BGP
7 25 (3.26%) OSPF
8 23 (3.00%) LAN
9 21 (2.74%) Cisco ASA
9 21 (2.74%) VLAN
10 20 (2.61%) DHCP
11 19 (2.48%) Structured Cabling
12 18 (2.35%) EIGRP
12 18 (2.35%) Skype
13 17 (2.22%) Cisco Firepower
13 17 (2.22%) NetScaler
14 16 (2.09%) SAN
15 14 (1.83%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 47 (6.13%) SQL Server
2 30 (3.91%) MySQL
3 25 (3.26%) PostgreSQL
4 22 (2.87%) Oracle Database
5 17 (2.22%) MongoDB
6 16 (2.09%) Power BI
7 15 (1.96%) Relational Database
8 11 (1.43%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 10 (1.30%) RDBMS
10 8 (1.04%) Oracle Exadata
11 6 (0.78%) NoSQL
12 5 (0.65%) Data Warehouse
13 4 (0.52%) Metadata
14 3 (0.39%) Data Lake
14 3 (0.39%) Oracle Database 12c
15 2 (0.26%) Amazon QuickSight
15 2 (0.26%) Amazon Redshift
15 2 (0.26%) Big Data
15 2 (0.26%) Oracle BI Publisher
15 2 (0.26%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 32 (4.17%) GitLab
2 17 (2.22%) Git
3 13 (1.69%) Selenium
4 11 (1.43%) Cucumber
4 11 (1.43%) Jenkins
5 10 (1.30%) JIRA
5 10 (1.30%) REST Assured
6 5 (0.65%) Gatling
7 4 (0.52%) MSI
8 3 (0.39%) Mockito
8 3 (0.39%) Serenity BDD
8 3 (0.39%) Sonatype Nexus
8 3 (0.39%) Toad
8 3 (0.39%) WebDriver
9 2 (0.26%) ClearCase
9 2 (0.26%) Cypress.io
9 2 (0.26%) Rational DOORS
9 2 (0.26%) Team Foundation Server
9 2 (0.26%) TestNG
9 2 (0.26%) Visual Studio Coded UI
General
1 141 (18.38%) Social Skills
2 124 (16.17%) Public Sector
3 54 (7.04%) Military
4 43 (5.61%) Analytical Skills
5 22 (2.87%) Finance
6 21 (2.74%) Documentation Skills
7 20 (2.61%) Manufacturing
8 19 (2.48%) Legal
9 9 (1.17%) Aerospace
9 9 (1.17%) Organisational Skills
10 8 (1.04%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 7 (0.91%) Presentation Skills
12 5 (0.65%) Police
13 4 (0.52%) Retail
14 3 (0.39%) General Ledger
14 3 (0.39%) Influencing Skills
14 3 (0.39%) Local Government
15 2 (0.26%) Billing
15 2 (0.26%) Marketing
15 2 (0.26%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 112 (14.60%) Architect
2 102 (13.30%) Lead
3 67 (8.74%) Consultant
4 63 (8.21%) Senior
5 62 (8.08%) Network Engineer
6 50 (6.52%) DBA
7 42 (5.48%) Unix Engineer
8 41 (5.35%) Analyst
9 39 (5.08%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 38 (4.95%) Administrator
11 36 (4.69%) Developer
12 31 (4.04%) SQL DBA
13 30 (3.91%) Technical Architect
14 26 (3.39%) DevOps Engineer
15 23 (3.00%) Security Architect
16 22 (2.87%) Lead Architect
17 21 (2.74%) Infrastructure Engineer
18 20 (2.61%) Desktop Engineer
18 20 (2.61%) Senior Consultant
19 17 (2.22%) Oracle DBA
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 57 (7.43%) Terraform
2 21 (2.74%) Node.js
3 19 (2.48%) REST
4 16 (2.09%) Spring
4 16 (2.09%) Spring Boot
5 15 (1.96%) OAuth
6 14 (1.83%) Kafka
7 8 (1.04%) Oracle GoldenGate
8 7 (0.91%) Playwright
9 6 (0.78%) AWS CDK
9 6 (0.78%) OpenID
10 5 (0.65%) Nunjucks
10 5 (0.65%) RESTful
10 5 (0.65%) SOAP
10 5 (0.65%) XML
11 4 (0.52%) .NET
11 4 (0.52%) PySpark
12 3 (0.39%) JAX-RS
12 3 (0.39%) OAuth2
12 3 (0.39%) Spring Cloud
Miscellaneous
1 40 (5.22%) Onboarding
2 30 (3.91%) Data Centre
3 28 (3.65%) Clustering
4 25 (3.26%) Replication
5 20 (2.61%) Cloud Native
6 16 (2.09%) CMDB
7 14 (1.83%) Legacy Systems
8 13 (1.69%) Enterprise Software
9 12 (1.56%) Hybrid Cloud
10 11 (1.43%) Management Information System
10 11 (1.43%) Public Cloud
11 10 (1.30%) PKI
11 10 (1.30%) Product Ownership
12 8 (1.04%) Operational Technology
13 6 (0.78%) Cyber Threat
13 6 (0.78%) Data Protection Act
13 6 (0.78%) Driving Licence
14 5 (0.65%) CSOC
14 5 (0.65%) Distributed Systems
14 5 (0.65%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 83 (10.82%) Windows
2 57 (7.43%) Unix
3 53 (6.91%) Solaris
4 39 (5.08%) Windows 10
5 38 (4.95%) Linux
5 38 (4.95%) Windows Server
6 19 (2.48%) Windows 7
7 11 (1.43%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 8 (1.04%) AIX
9 5 (0.65%) Android
9 5 (0.65%) CentOS
9 5 (0.65%) Mac OS
9 5 (0.65%) Windows Server 2003
10 2 (0.26%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.26%) VMS
10 2 (0.26%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 98 (12.78%) Stakeholder Management
2 89 (11.60%) Cybersecurity
3 86 (11.21%) DevOps
3 86 (11.21%) Migration
4 83 (10.82%) ITIL
5 77 (10.04%) CI/CD
6 76 (9.91%) Continuous Improvement
7 67 (8.74%) ITSM
7 67 (8.74%) Service Management
8 62 (8.08%) Agile
9 57 (7.43%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 55 (7.17%) Problem-Solving
11 53 (6.91%) Project Delivery
12 51 (6.65%) High Availability
12 51 (6.65%) Roadmaps
13 48 (6.26%) Technical Leadership
14 46 (6.00%) Incident Management
14 46 (6.00%) Infrastructure as Code
15 42 (5.48%) Disaster Recovery
16 41 (5.35%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 66 (8.60%) SQL
2 62 (8.08%) Python
3 58 (7.56%) PowerShell
4 42 (5.48%) Java
5 22 (2.87%) JavaScript
6 16 (2.09%) VBScript
7 15 (1.96%) VB
8 11 (1.43%) T-SQL
9 10 (1.30%) Bicep
10 9 (1.17%) TypeScript
11 8 (1.04%) Bash
12 5 (0.65%) C#
13 3 (0.39%) Go
13 3 (0.39%) Shell Script
14 2 (0.26%) ABAP
14 2 (0.26%) PL/SQL
14 2 (0.26%) Search Processing Language
14 2 (0.26%) VB6
15 1 (0.13%) Kusto Query Language
15 1 (0.13%) VBA
Qualifications
1 636 (82.92%) SC Cleared
2 69 (9.00%) BPSS Clearance
3 43 (5.61%) Microsoft Certification
4 38 (4.95%) DV Cleared
5 29 (3.78%) Cisco Certification
6 26 (3.39%) CCNA
7 25 (3.26%) Degree
8 21 (2.74%) Azure Certification
9 16 (2.09%) CCNP
10 14 (1.83%) DBS Check
11 11 (1.43%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 11 (1.43%) Network+ Certification
11 11 (1.43%) Server+ Certification
12 9 (1.17%) CISSP
13 8 (1.04%) MCSA
13 8 (1.04%) MCSE
13 8 (1.04%) VCAP
13 8 (1.04%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 6 (0.78%) AWS Certification
14 6 (0.78%) HNC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (4.95%) NIST
2 31 (4.04%) NCSC
3 29 (3.78%) SLA
4 25 (3.26%) GRC
4 25 (3.26%) PMO
5 22 (2.87%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 18 (2.35%) Data Quality
7 12 (1.56%) Accessibility
7 12 (1.56%) QA
8 11 (1.43%) GDPR
9 6 (0.78%) NIST 800
10 2 (0.26%) Actionable Recommendations
10 2 (0.26%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.26%) IEC 61508
10 2 (0.26%) JSP 440
10 2 (0.26%) PCI DSS
10 2 (0.26%) WCAG
11 1 (0.13%) COBIT
11 1 (0.13%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.13%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 50 (6.52%) Active Directory
2 30 (3.91%) VMware Infrastructure
3 28 (3.65%) Docker
4 25 (3.26%) Virtual Machines
5 20 (2.61%) Hyper-V
6 16 (2.09%) BitLocker
6 16 (2.09%) Oracle RAC
7 12 (1.56%) Citrix Hypervisor
8 10 (1.30%) VMware ESXi
8 10 (1.30%) vSphere
9 7 (0.91%) XenApp
9 7 (0.91%) XenDesktop
10 4 (0.52%) Virtual Desktop
11 1 (0.13%) Microsoft App-V
11 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.13%) Squid
11 1 (0.13%) Virtual Servers
11 1 (0.13%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 34 (4.43%) Ansible
2 33 (4.30%) Kubernetes
3 31 (4.04%) SCCM
4 16 (2.09%) Data Guard
5 11 (1.43%) Oracle RMAN
6 10 (1.30%) Grafana
6 10 (1.30%) Microsoft Intune
6 10 (1.30%) SCOM
6 10 (1.30%) vCenter Server
7 9 (1.17%) Prometheus
8 8 (1.04%) Failover Clustering
9 7 (0.91%) SysTrack
10 6 (0.78%) Single Sign-On
11 4 (0.52%) Nagios
11 4 (0.52%) Oracle ZFS
12 3 (0.39%) McAfee ePO
12 3 (0.39%) Microsoft Clustering
13 2 (0.26%) CASB
13 2 (0.26%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
13 2 (0.26%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 134 (17.47%) Microsoft
2 76 (9.91%) Oracle
3 72 (9.39%) ServiceNow
4 63 (8.21%) Cisco
5 56 (7.30%) SAP
6 37 (4.82%) Palo Alto
7 35 (4.56%) VMware
8 21 (2.74%) Citrix
9 18 (2.35%) CheckPoint
10 15 (1.96%) F5
11 13 (1.69%) Google
12 12 (1.56%) Splunk
13 10 (1.30%) Aruba
14 8 (1.04%) Meraki
15 7 (0.91%) Nexthink
16 6 (0.78%) Databricks
16 6 (0.78%) Ivanti
17 5 (0.65%) Arista
17 5 (0.65%) Qualtrics
17 5 (0.65%) Remedy