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

6 months to
15 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 29 29 21
Rank change year-on-year 0 -8 +2
Contract jobs citing Degree 160 108 216
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 5.48% 6.43% 6.71%
As % of the Qualifications category 10.93% 11.71% 12.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 96 69 95
10th Percentile £369 £306 £331
25th Percentile £496 £363 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £681 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year +23.86% - -
75th Percentile £738 £675 £688
90th Percentile £759 £740 £746
England median daily rate £500 £525 £514
% change year-on-year -4.76% +2.14% -6.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 18 56
10th Percentile £23.60 £55.00 £33.92
25th Percentile £34.88 £57.81 £40.00
Median hourly rate £72.54 £65.00 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +11.60% +18.18% -16.03%
75th Percentile £93.75 £75.00 £64.44
90th Percentile £119.00 £75.75 £83.40
England median hourly rate £45.46 £52.50 £37.50
% change year-on-year -13.41% +40.00% -16.67%

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 1,464 922 1,798
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 50.10% 54.91% 55.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 880 601 1,181
10th Percentile £355 £250 £338
25th Percentile £450 £450 £467
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £550 £568
Median % change year-on-year -2.27% -3.08% -1.99%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £675
90th Percentile £738 £725 £735
England median daily rate £520 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -0.95% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 208 76 189
10th Percentile £17.69 £25.26 £23.63
25th Percentile £19.94 £55.00 £40.00
Median hourly rate £35.00 £65.00 £57.29
Median % change year-on-year -46.15% +13.47% -11.87%
75th Percentile £65.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £77.35 £75.00 £80.00
England median hourly rate £27.50 £52.00 £39.92
% change year-on-year -47.12% +30.26% -20.16%

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 15 March 2026.

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 15 March 2026.

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 15 March 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
Wiltshire +8 74 £725 +24.73% 34
Bristol +4 47 £537 +45.20% 66
Somerset -13 10 £469 -9.59% 26
Devon -6 9 £335 +109.38% 21
Gloucestershire -8 9 £500 +33.33% 62
Dorset -1 7 £400 -27.27% 17
Cornwall -6 1 - - 5
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 47 (29.38%) Confluence
2 6 (3.75%) Apache
3 5 (3.13%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (3.13%) SharePoint
4 2 (1.25%) Skype for Business
5 1 (0.63%) Apache Airflow
Applications
1 70 (43.75%) Microsoft Office
2 44 (27.50%) Microsoft Project
3 9 (5.63%) Microsoft Excel
4 7 (4.38%) MS Visio
5 5 (3.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 2 (1.25%) Trello
7 1 (0.63%) InVision
7 1 (0.63%) PTC Creo
7 1 (0.63%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 6 (3.75%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (1.25%) NEC Housing
2 2 (1.25%) Primavera
2 2 (1.25%) SAP Oil and Gas
3 1 (0.63%) Cerner Millennium
3 1 (0.63%) SAP EWM
3 1 (0.63%) SAP WM
3 1 (0.63%) SystmOne
3 1 (0.63%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 17 (10.63%) Azure
2 13 (8.13%) AWS
3 12 (7.50%) Power Platform
4 7 (4.38%) Azure DevOps
5 5 (3.13%) GitHub
5 5 (3.13%) Power Automate
6 4 (2.50%) Dynamics 365
6 4 (2.50%) Entra ID
6 4 (2.50%) Lucidchart
6 4 (2.50%) OCI
7 3 (1.88%) GCP
7 3 (1.88%) OpenShift
7 3 (1.88%) PowerApps
8 2 (1.25%) Asana
8 2 (1.25%) Microsoft 365
9 1 (0.63%) Amazon EC2
9 1 (0.63%) AWS CloudFormation
9 1 (0.63%) Azure Data Factory
9 1 (0.63%) Cloud Computing
9 1 (0.63%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 5 (3.13%) Skype
2 3 (1.88%) 4G
2 3 (1.88%) 5G
2 3 (1.88%) LTE
2 3 (1.88%) Radio Access Network
2 3 (1.88%) Unified Communications
3 2 (1.25%) 2G
3 2 (1.25%) 3G
3 2 (1.25%) BGP
3 2 (1.25%) Cisco IOS
3 2 (1.25%) DHCP
3 2 (1.25%) DNS
3 2 (1.25%) Firewall
3 2 (1.25%) Network Security
3 2 (1.25%) OSPF
4 1 (0.63%) EIGRP
4 1 (0.63%) ICMP
4 1 (0.63%) L2TP
4 1 (0.63%) MPLS
4 1 (0.63%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (7.50%) Power BI
2 4 (2.50%) Electronic Patient Records
2 4 (2.50%) PostgreSQL
3 3 (1.88%) Data Warehouse
4 2 (1.25%) Oracle Database
4 2 (1.25%) SQL Server
4 2 (1.25%) Star Schema
5 1 (0.63%) Amazon Aurora
5 1 (0.63%) Amazon RDS
5 1 (0.63%) DynamoDB
5 1 (0.63%) Geospatial Data
5 1 (0.63%) GIS
5 1 (0.63%) Looker
5 1 (0.63%) Metadata
5 1 (0.63%) MongoDB
5 1 (0.63%) MySQL
5 1 (0.63%) Oracle Reports
5 1 (0.63%) Snowflake Schema
5 1 (0.63%) Spatial Data
5 1 (0.63%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 54 (33.75%) JIRA
2 7 (4.38%) Git
3 6 (3.75%) GitLab
4 3 (1.88%) Artifactory
4 3 (1.88%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.63%) Atlassian Bamboo
5 1 (0.63%) Bitbucket
General
1 92 (57.50%) Social Skills
2 68 (42.50%) Analytical Skills
3 42 (26.25%) Military
4 23 (14.38%) Finance
4 23 (14.38%) Public Sector
5 10 (6.25%) Organisational Skills
6 8 (5.00%) Influencing Skills
7 6 (3.75%) Aerospace
8 5 (3.13%) Manufacturing
8 5 (3.13%) Telecoms
9 4 (2.50%) Back Office
10 3 (1.88%) Documentation Skills
10 3 (1.88%) Electronics
10 3 (1.88%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 3 (1.88%) Legal
11 2 (1.25%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (1.25%) Police
11 2 (1.25%) Presentation Skills
12 1 (0.63%) Aviation
12 1 (0.63%) Banking
Job Titles
1 35 (21.88%) Architect
2 30 (18.75%) Service Architect
3 18 (11.25%) Analyst
4 11 (6.88%) Lead
5 10 (6.25%) Project Manager
5 10 (6.25%) Technical Manager
6 9 (5.63%) Delivery Manager
7 8 (5.00%) Business Analyst
7 8 (5.00%) Developer
8 7 (4.38%) Security Engineer
9 6 (3.75%) Junior
9 6 (3.75%) Security Analyst
10 5 (3.13%) DevOps Engineer
10 5 (3.13%) Incident Manager
10 5 (3.13%) Programme Manager
10 5 (3.13%) Senior
10 5 (3.13%) Software Engineer
10 5 (3.13%) Technical Delivery Manager
10 5 (3.13%) Technical Programme Manager
10 5 (3.13%) Wintel Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (5.00%) REST
2 6 (3.75%) CSS
2 6 (3.75%) HTML
3 4 (2.50%) React
4 3 (1.88%) AngularJS
4 3 (1.88%) Apache NiFi
4 3 (1.88%) JDO
4 3 (1.88%) Node.js
4 3 (1.88%) Ruby on Rails
4 3 (1.88%) Spring
4 3 (1.88%) Vue
5 2 (1.25%) FHIR
5 2 (1.25%) Oracle Fusion
5 2 (1.25%) SOAP
5 2 (1.25%) Web Services
6 1 (0.63%) ASP.NET Core
6 1 (0.63%) Dapper ORM
6 1 (0.63%) Entity Framework
6 1 (0.63%) RESTful
6 1 (0.63%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 34 (21.25%) Product Ownership
2 25 (15.63%) Management Information System
3 7 (4.38%) Onboarding
3 7 (4.38%) PKI
4 6 (3.75%) Cyber Defence
4 6 (3.75%) Legacy Systems
5 4 (2.50%) Cloud Native
6 3 (1.88%) Low-Code
6 3 (1.88%) NHS
6 3 (1.88%) Self-Motivation
7 2 (1.25%) Clustering
7 2 (1.25%) Data Protection Act
7 2 (1.25%) PMI
7 2 (1.25%) Security Posture
8 1 (0.63%) Cyber Threat
8 1 (0.63%) Fixed Income
8 1 (0.63%) Greenfield Project
8 1 (0.63%) Replication
8 1 (0.63%) SWIFT Messaging Network
8 1 (0.63%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 12 (7.50%) Linux
1 12 (7.50%) Windows
2 6 (3.75%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
2 6 (3.75%) Ubuntu
3 5 (3.13%) Windows Server
4 4 (2.50%) Windows 10
5 3 (1.88%) CentOS
5 3 (1.88%) Windows Server 2012
6 2 (1.25%) Debian
6 2 (1.25%) Rocky
7 1 (0.63%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 81 (50.63%) Agile
2 52 (32.50%) Critical Thinking
3 50 (31.25%) Computer Science
4 48 (30.00%) Problem-Solving
5 47 (29.38%) Service Management
6 43 (26.88%) ITIL
7 36 (22.50%) Analytical Thinking
8 33 (20.63%) TOGAF
9 32 (20.00%) Knowledge Transfer
10 31 (19.38%) Acceptance Criteria
11 30 (18.75%) Business Continuity
11 30 (18.75%) Security Patching
11 30 (18.75%) Service Design
12 25 (15.63%) Stakeholder Management
13 21 (13.13%) Analytics
13 21 (13.13%) Project Management
14 17 (10.63%) CI/CD
14 17 (10.63%) DevOps
14 17 (10.63%) PRINCE2
15 15 (9.38%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 20 (12.50%) Python
2 19 (11.88%) SQL
3 13 (8.13%) PowerShell
4 11 (6.88%) JavaScript
5 4 (2.50%) TypeScript
6 3 (1.88%) Java
6 3 (1.88%) PHP
6 3 (1.88%) Ruby
7 2 (1.25%) C#
7 2 (1.25%) Go
7 2 (1.25%) PL/SQL
8 1 (0.63%) Bash
8 1 (0.63%) C
8 1 (0.63%) C++
8 1 (0.63%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 1 (0.63%) Fortran
8 1 (0.63%) Scala
Qualifications
1 96 (60.00%) Security Cleared
2 86 (53.75%) SC Cleared
3 32 (20.00%) TOGAF Certification
4 27 (16.88%) Computer Science Degree
5 18 (11.25%) DV Cleared
6 13 (8.13%) APMP
7 9 (5.63%) Master's Degree
8 7 (4.38%) CISSP
8 7 (4.38%) Microsoft Certification
8 7 (4.38%) PMI Certification
8 7 (4.38%) PMP
9 6 (3.75%) CompTIA CySA+
9 6 (3.75%) MCSE
9 6 (3.75%) Network+ Certification
9 6 (3.75%) SANS
10 5 (3.13%) Cisco Certification
11 4 (2.50%) BPSS Clearance
11 4 (2.50%) CCNP
11 4 (2.50%) PRINCE2 Certification
12 3 (1.88%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (6.88%) QA
2 7 (4.38%) GDPR
3 4 (2.50%) Data Quality
3 4 (2.50%) Sarbanes-Oxley
4 3 (1.88%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 2 (1.25%) Def Stans
5 2 (1.25%) GRC
5 2 (1.25%) HL7
5 2 (1.25%) NIST
5 2 (1.25%) SNOMED CT
6 1 (0.63%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.63%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 1 (0.63%) GMP
6 1 (0.63%) HMG Security Policy Framework
6 1 (0.63%) ISO 20022
6 1 (0.63%) NCSC
6 1 (0.63%) PMO
6 1 (0.63%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 7 (4.38%) Active Directory
1 7 (4.38%) VMware Infrastructure
2 6 (3.75%) Docker
3 2 (1.25%) Microsoft Virtual Server
3 2 (1.25%) Virtual Servers
3 2 (1.25%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.63%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.63%) KVM
4 1 (0.63%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 30 (18.75%) OPNET
2 12 (7.50%) Kubernetes
3 8 (5.00%) Ansible
4 7 (4.38%) Terraform
5 5 (3.13%) WSUS
6 3 (1.88%) Argo
6 3 (1.88%) SCOM
7 2 (1.25%) SCCM
7 2 (1.25%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.63%) Packer
8 1 (0.63%) PowerCLI
8 1 (0.63%) Progress Chef
8 1 (0.63%) Puppet
Vendors
1 37 (23.13%) Atlassian
2 36 (22.50%) Remedy
3 32 (20.00%) ServiceNow
4 25 (15.63%) Microsoft
5 13 (8.13%) Oracle
6 9 (5.63%) Red Hat
7 8 (5.00%) VMware
8 5 (3.13%) Blue Prism
8 5 (3.13%) Cisco
9 4 (2.50%) Google
10 3 (1.88%) Databricks
10 3 (1.88%) SAP
10 3 (1.88%) SolarWinds
10 3 (1.88%) Veeam
11 2 (1.25%) Cerner
11 2 (1.25%) Huawei
11 2 (1.25%) Intel
11 2 (1.25%) NEC
11 2 (1.25%) Salesforce
11 2 (1.25%) Splunk