Degree Contract Job Trends in the South West

Academic Degree
England > South West

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the South West with a requirement for Degree qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 29 November 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 25 29 22
Rank change year-on-year +4 -7 +8
Contract jobs citing Degree 157 146 213
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 6.88% 6.36% 6.87%
As % of the Qualifications category 12.29% 12.44% 12.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 97 73 103
10th Percentile £212 £165 £322
25th Percentile £500 £350 £456
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £600 £550
Median % change year-on-year - +9.09% +4.76%
75th Percentile £738 £725 £644
90th Percentile £743 £756 £743
England median daily rate £517 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -0.65% -0.95% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 15 54
10th Percentile £27.58 £53.95 £33.00
25th Percentile - £60.75 £50.48
Median hourly rate £33.50 £65.50 £58.42
Median % change year-on-year -48.85% +12.13% -10.13%
75th Percentile £73.44 £75.00 £83.40
90th Percentile £116.48 - -
England median hourly rate £37.50 £42.50 £50.00
% change year-on-year -11.76% -15.00% +11.11%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
South West

Degree 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 South West.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 1,277 1,174 1,736
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 55.98% 51.15% 56.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 802 722 1,084
10th Percentile £263 £350 £377
25th Percentile £450 £461 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £570 £575
Median % change year-on-year -3.51% -0.87% +2.13%
75th Percentile £675 £675 £675
90th Percentile £744 £750 £726
England median daily rate £525 £530 £550
% change year-on-year -0.94% -3.64% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 165 84 181
10th Percentile £17.90 £30.00 £36.00
25th Percentile £22.63 £57.25 £50.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £66.00 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year -61.89% +5.60% -3.85%
75th Percentile £63.75 £71.56 £78.00
90th Percentile £73.25 £75.00 £83.40
England median hourly rate £25.15 £50.00 £53.50
% change year-on-year -49.70% -6.54% +18.89%

Degree
Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Degree relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West.

Degree job vacancy trend in the South West

Degree
Daily Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Degree.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Degree

Degree
Daily Rate Histogram in the South West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Degree in the South West over the 6 months to 29 November 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Degree in the South West

Degree
Hourly Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Degree.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Degree

Degree
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Degree in the South West over the 6 months to 29 November 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Degree in the South West

Degree
Contract Job Locations in the South West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Degree within the South West region over the 6 months to 29 November 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
Wiltshire +7 67 £725 +3.57% 38
Bristol -3 47 £550 +56.92% 107
Gloucestershire -6 13 £500 -9.17% 47
Devon +6 12 £220 -18.52% 28
Somerset -4 12 £541 -14.43% 42
Dorset +6 4 £165 - 29
Cornwall -4 1 £500 - 2
Degree
England

Degree
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South 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 46 (29.30%) Confluence
2 11 (7.01%) SharePoint
3 10 (6.37%) Microsoft Exchange
4 5 (3.18%) Skype for Business
5 2 (1.27%) Apache
Applications
1 66 (42.04%) Microsoft Office
2 39 (24.84%) Microsoft Project
3 11 (7.01%) MS Visio
4 8 (5.10%) Microsoft Excel
5 4 (2.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 1 (0.64%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 1 (0.64%) Camtasia
6 1 (0.64%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.64%) InVision
6 1 (0.64%) PTC Creo
6 1 (0.64%) Simulink
6 1 (0.64%) Sketch
6 1 (0.64%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 6 (3.82%) Primavera
1 6 (3.82%) Remedy ITSM
1 6 (3.82%) SAP EWM
1 6 (3.82%) SAP WM
2 2 (1.27%) SAP Oil and Gas
3 1 (0.64%) Cerner Millennium
3 1 (0.64%) NEC Housing
3 1 (0.64%) SystmOne
3 1 (0.64%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 12 (7.64%) AWS
2 11 (7.01%) Azure
2 11 (7.01%) Power Platform
3 10 (6.37%) Lucidchart
3 10 (6.37%) OCI
4 4 (2.55%) GitHub
5 3 (1.91%) Azure DevOps
5 3 (1.91%) Entra ID
5 3 (1.91%) GCP
5 3 (1.91%) Microsoft 365
5 3 (1.91%) OpenShift
5 3 (1.91%) Power Automate
5 3 (1.91%) PowerApps
6 2 (1.27%) Dynamics 365
7 1 (0.64%) Asana
7 1 (0.64%) AWS CloudFormation
7 1 (0.64%) Azure Sentinel
7 1 (0.64%) Figma
7 1 (0.64%) IaaS
7 1 (0.64%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 10 (6.37%) Unified Communications
2 9 (5.73%) DNS
2 9 (5.73%) Skype
3 5 (3.18%) BGP
3 5 (3.18%) DHCP
4 4 (2.55%) IPsec
4 4 (2.55%) MPLS
4 4 (2.55%) VPN
5 1 (0.64%) 4G
5 1 (0.64%) 5G
5 1 (0.64%) 5G NR
5 1 (0.64%) LTE
5 1 (0.64%) MIMO
5 1 (0.64%) OSPF
5 1 (0.64%) Radio Access Network
5 1 (0.64%) Software-Defined Networking
5 1 (0.64%) VLAN
5 1 (0.64%) VoIP
5 1 (0.64%) WAAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (7.01%) Power BI
2 6 (3.82%) PostgreSQL
3 2 (1.27%) Amazon RDS
3 2 (1.27%) Electronic Patient Records
3 2 (1.27%) SQL Server
4 1 (0.64%) Amazon Athena
4 1 (0.64%) Amazon Aurora
4 1 (0.64%) Data Warehouse
4 1 (0.64%) DynamoDB
4 1 (0.64%) Looker
4 1 (0.64%) MongoDB
4 1 (0.64%) MySQL
4 1 (0.64%) Oracle Database
4 1 (0.64%) SQL Server Analysis Services
4 1 (0.64%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 1 (0.64%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 1 (0.64%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 39 (24.84%) JIRA
2 6 (3.82%) Git
3 4 (2.55%) GitLab
4 3 (1.91%) Bitbucket
4 3 (1.91%) Jenkins
5 2 (1.27%) Artifactory
6 1 (0.64%) Rational DOORS
6 1 (0.64%) Rational Team Concert
General
1 101 (64.33%) Social Skills
2 66 (42.04%) Analytical Skills
3 32 (20.38%) Military
4 20 (12.74%) Finance
5 18 (11.46%) Public Sector
6 11 (7.01%) Aerospace
6 11 (7.01%) Manufacturing
6 11 (7.01%) Organisational Skills
7 6 (3.82%) Presentation Skills
8 4 (2.55%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 4 (2.55%) Influencing Skills
9 3 (1.91%) Automotive
9 3 (1.91%) Legal
9 3 (1.91%) Pharmaceutical
9 3 (1.91%) Telecoms
10 2 (1.27%) Documentation Skills
11 1 (0.64%) Aviation
11 1 (0.64%) Games
11 1 (0.64%) Police
11 1 (0.64%) Retail
Job Titles
1 25 (15.92%) Architect
2 23 (14.65%) Service Architect
3 15 (9.55%) Lead
4 12 (7.64%) Analyst
5 10 (6.37%) Information Security Advisor
5 10 (6.37%) Security Advisor
5 10 (6.37%) Technical Writer
6 9 (5.73%) Developer
7 8 (5.10%) Wintel Engineer
8 7 (4.46%) Consultant
8 7 (4.46%) Security Engineer
9 6 (3.82%) Junior
9 6 (3.82%) Management Consultant
9 6 (3.82%) SAP Consultant
9 6 (3.82%) SAP WM Consultant
9 6 (3.82%) Security Analyst
9 6 (3.82%) Senior
10 5 (3.18%) Incident Manager
10 5 (3.18%) Technical Manager
10 5 (3.18%) Technical Programme Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (4.46%) CSS
1 7 (4.46%) HTML
2 4 (2.55%) JDO
2 4 (2.55%) NETCONF
2 4 (2.55%) RESTCONF
3 3 (1.91%) AngularJS
3 3 (1.91%) Node.js
3 3 (1.91%) React
3 3 (1.91%) Ruby on Rails
3 3 (1.91%) Spring
3 3 (1.91%) Vue
4 2 (1.27%) Apache NiFi
4 2 (1.27%) REST
5 1 (0.64%) Django
5 1 (0.64%) JFC
5 1 (0.64%) OpenMP
5 1 (0.64%) PyTorch
5 1 (0.64%) SailPoint
5 1 (0.64%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 28 (17.83%) Management Information System
2 24 (15.29%) Product Ownership
3 12 (7.64%) PKI
4 10 (6.37%) Security Posture
5 6 (3.82%) Cyber Defence
5 6 (3.82%) Legacy Systems
6 5 (3.18%) Cloud Native
7 4 (2.55%) Private Cloud
8 3 (1.91%) Educational Technology
8 3 (1.91%) e-Learning
8 3 (1.91%) Low-Code
8 3 (1.91%) Onboarding
8 3 (1.91%) Operational Technology
8 3 (1.91%) Self-Motivation
9 2 (1.27%) Algorithms
9 2 (1.27%) Cyber Threat
9 2 (1.27%) Data Protection Act
9 2 (1.27%) Digital Media
9 2 (1.27%) NHS
10 1 (0.64%) Data Structures
Operating Systems
1 14 (8.92%) Windows
2 8 (5.10%) Windows Server
3 7 (4.46%) Linux
4 4 (2.55%) Windows 10
5 3 (1.91%) CentOS
5 3 (1.91%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 3 (1.91%) Ubuntu
5 3 (1.91%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 60 (38.22%) Agile
2 48 (30.57%) Critical Thinking
3 45 (28.66%) Computer Science
3 45 (28.66%) Problem-Solving
4 43 (27.39%) Service Management
5 41 (26.11%) ITIL
6 28 (17.83%) Analytical Thinking
7 26 (16.56%) Knowledge Transfer
8 24 (15.29%) Business Continuity
8 24 (15.29%) TOGAF
9 23 (14.65%) Acceptance Criteria
9 23 (14.65%) Security Patching
9 23 (14.65%) Service Design
10 18 (11.46%) Stakeholder Management
11 17 (10.83%) ERP
12 16 (10.19%) Project Management
13 14 (8.92%) DevOps
13 14 (8.92%) Software Engineering
13 14 (8.92%) Waterfall
14 13 (8.28%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 17 (10.83%) Python
2 15 (9.55%) SQL
3 14 (8.92%) PowerShell
4 8 (5.10%) JavaScript
5 4 (2.55%) Ada
5 4 (2.55%) Java
6 3 (1.91%) Ruby
6 3 (1.91%) TypeScript
7 2 (1.27%) C
7 2 (1.27%) Fortran
8 1 (0.64%) C#
8 1 (0.64%) C++
8 1 (0.64%) MATLAB
8 1 (0.64%) PL/SQL
8 1 (0.64%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 97 (61.78%) Security Cleared
2 90 (57.32%) SC Cleared
3 24 (15.29%) Computer Science Degree
4 23 (14.65%) TOGAF Certification
5 21 (13.38%) Master's Degree
6 17 (10.83%) DV Cleared
7 11 (7.01%) BPSS Clearance
7 11 (7.01%) Microsoft Certification
8 10 (6.37%) CCNP
8 10 (6.37%) Cisco Certification
8 10 (6.37%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 9 (5.73%) MCSE
10 7 (4.46%) CISSP
11 6 (3.82%) APMP
11 6 (3.82%) CompTIA CySA+
11 6 (3.82%) Network+ Certification
11 6 (3.82%) SANS
11 6 (3.82%) SAP Certification
12 5 (3.18%) CCNA
12 5 (3.18%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (7.01%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 10 (6.37%) Def Stans
2 10 (6.37%) GRC
2 10 (6.37%) Sarbanes-Oxley
3 5 (3.18%) QA
4 4 (2.55%) P3O
5 3 (1.91%) Data Quality
5 3 (1.91%) NCSC
5 3 (1.91%) NIST
6 2 (1.27%) GDPR
6 2 (1.27%) PMO
7 1 (0.64%) HIPAA
7 1 (0.64%) ISO 22301
7 1 (0.64%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 11 (7.01%) Active Directory
1 11 (7.01%) VMware Infrastructure
2 5 (3.18%) Microsoft Virtual Server
2 5 (3.18%) Virtual Servers
3 4 (2.55%) Docker
3 4 (2.55%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.64%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 23 (14.65%) OPNET
2 11 (7.01%) Ansible
3 8 (5.10%) Kubernetes
3 8 (5.10%) WSUS
4 7 (4.46%) Terraform
5 6 (3.82%) SCCM
6 3 (1.91%) Argo
6 3 (1.91%) SCOM
7 1 (0.64%) Dell DRAC
7 1 (0.64%) Packer
7 1 (0.64%) PowerCLI
7 1 (0.64%) Puppet
Vendors
1 36 (22.93%) Atlassian
2 29 (18.47%) Remedy
3 24 (15.29%) Microsoft
3 24 (15.29%) ServiceNow
4 15 (9.55%) Oracle
5 12 (7.64%) VMware
6 10 (6.37%) Cisco
7 8 (5.10%) Red Hat
7 8 (5.10%) SAP
8 6 (3.82%) SolarWinds
8 6 (3.82%) Veeam
9 5 (3.18%) Splunk
10 3 (1.91%) Blue Prism
10 3 (1.91%) Google
11 2 (1.27%) Adobe
11 2 (1.27%) Cerner
11 2 (1.27%) Salesforce
12 1 (0.64%) Dell
12 1 (0.64%) Ericsson
12 1 (0.64%) HP