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 21 November 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 24 28 23
Rank change year-on-year +4 -5 +8
Contract jobs citing Degree 150 150 214
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 6.70% 6.26% 6.89%
As % of the Qualifications category 11.97% 12.35% 12.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 90 76 105
10th Percentile £208 £178 £365
25th Percentile £450 £369 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £579 £591 £550
Median % change year-on-year -1.95% +7.36% +4.76%
75th Percentile £725 £725 £638
90th Percentile £739 £756 £735
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 13 52
10th Percentile £27.28 £52.60 £33.00
25th Percentile - £60.75 £48.43
Median hourly rate £33.50 £65.50 £56.91
Median % change year-on-year -48.85% +15.09% -12.45%
75th Percentile £73.75 £75.00 £83.40
90th Percentile £119.00 - -
England median hourly rate £35.25 £42.50 £50.00
% change year-on-year -17.06% -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 1,253 1,215 1,731
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 55.99% 50.71% 55.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 785 752 1,081
10th Percentile £263 £350 £376
25th Percentile £450 £461 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £575 £575
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% - +2.22%
75th Percentile £669 £675 £675
90th Percentile £750 £750 £725
England median daily rate £525 £526 £550
% change year-on-year -0.24% -4.32% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 162 77 179
10th Percentile £17.74 £30.00 £33.00
25th Percentile £22.66 £55.00 £49.56
Median hourly rate £25.15 £65.50 £62.05
Median % change year-on-year -61.60% +5.56% -4.54%
75th Percentile £63.75 £71.25 £78.00
90th Percentile £73.75 £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 21 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 21 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 21 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 +6 58 £700 - 44
Bristol -6 45 £550 +22.22% 145
Devon +11 14 £190 -29.63% 33
Somerset -3 13 £633 +22.52% 50
Gloucestershire -6 13 £500 -9.17% 65
Dorset +3 4 £165 - 27
Cornwall -3 1 £500 - 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 37 (24.67%) Confluence
2 11 (7.33%) SharePoint
3 10 (6.67%) Microsoft Exchange
4 5 (3.33%) Skype for Business
5 2 (1.33%) Apache
Applications
1 57 (38.00%) Microsoft Office
2 26 (17.33%) Microsoft Project
3 11 (7.33%) MS Visio
4 8 (5.33%) Microsoft Excel
5 4 (2.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 1 (0.67%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 1 (0.67%) Camtasia
6 1 (0.67%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.67%) InVision
6 1 (0.67%) PTC Creo
6 1 (0.67%) Simulink
6 1 (0.67%) Sketch
6 1 (0.67%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 6 (4.00%) Primavera
1 6 (4.00%) Remedy ITSM
1 6 (4.00%) SAP EWM
1 6 (4.00%) SAP WM
2 2 (1.33%) SAP Oil and Gas
3 1 (0.67%) Cerner Millennium
3 1 (0.67%) NEC Housing
3 1 (0.67%) SystmOne
3 1 (0.67%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 12 (8.00%) AWS
2 11 (7.33%) Azure
2 11 (7.33%) Power Platform
3 10 (6.67%) Lucidchart
3 10 (6.67%) OCI
4 4 (2.67%) GitHub
4 4 (2.67%) Microsoft 365
5 3 (2.00%) Azure DevOps
5 3 (2.00%) Entra ID
5 3 (2.00%) GCP
5 3 (2.00%) OpenShift
5 3 (2.00%) Power Automate
5 3 (2.00%) PowerApps
6 2 (1.33%) Dynamics 365
7 1 (0.67%) Amazon ECS
7 1 (0.67%) AWS CloudFormation
7 1 (0.67%) Azure Sentinel
7 1 (0.67%) Figma
7 1 (0.67%) IaaS
7 1 (0.67%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 13 (8.67%) Unified Communications
2 12 (8.00%) DNS
3 9 (6.00%) Skype
4 8 (5.33%) BGP
5 7 (4.67%) IPsec
5 7 (4.67%) MPLS
5 7 (4.67%) VPN
6 5 (3.33%) DHCP
7 1 (0.67%) 4G
7 1 (0.67%) 5G
7 1 (0.67%) 5G NR
7 1 (0.67%) LTE
7 1 (0.67%) MIMO
7 1 (0.67%) OSPF
7 1 (0.67%) Radio Access Network
7 1 (0.67%) Software-Defined Networking
7 1 (0.67%) VLAN
7 1 (0.67%) VoIP
7 1 (0.67%) WAAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (7.33%) Power BI
2 6 (4.00%) PostgreSQL
3 2 (1.33%) Amazon RDS
3 2 (1.33%) Electronic Patient Records
3 2 (1.33%) Oracle Database
3 2 (1.33%) SQL Server
4 1 (0.67%) Amazon Athena
4 1 (0.67%) Amazon Aurora
4 1 (0.67%) Data Warehouse
4 1 (0.67%) DynamoDB
4 1 (0.67%) Looker
4 1 (0.67%) MongoDB
4 1 (0.67%) MySQL
4 1 (0.67%) RDBMS
4 1 (0.67%) Relational Database
4 1 (0.67%) SQL Server Analysis Services
4 1 (0.67%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 1 (0.67%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 1 (0.67%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 29 (19.33%) JIRA
2 6 (4.00%) Git
3 4 (2.67%) GitLab
4 3 (2.00%) Bitbucket
4 3 (2.00%) Jenkins
5 2 (1.33%) Artifactory
6 1 (0.67%) Rational DOORS
6 1 (0.67%) Rational Team Concert
General
1 92 (61.33%) Social Skills
2 57 (38.00%) Analytical Skills
3 22 (14.67%) Military
4 18 (12.00%) Finance
5 17 (11.33%) Public Sector
6 11 (7.33%) Manufacturing
6 11 (7.33%) Organisational Skills
7 10 (6.67%) Aerospace
8 6 (4.00%) Presentation Skills
9 4 (2.67%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 4 (2.67%) Influencing Skills
9 4 (2.67%) Pharmaceutical
10 3 (2.00%) Automotive
10 3 (2.00%) Legal
10 3 (2.00%) Telecoms
11 2 (1.33%) Documentation Skills
12 1 (0.67%) Back Office
12 1 (0.67%) Games
12 1 (0.67%) Law
12 1 (0.67%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 16 (10.67%) Lead
2 15 (10.00%) Architect
3 13 (8.67%) Service Architect
4 12 (8.00%) Analyst
5 10 (6.67%) Developer
5 10 (6.67%) Information Security Advisor
5 10 (6.67%) Security Advisor
5 10 (6.67%) Technical Writer
6 8 (5.33%) Wintel Engineer
7 7 (4.67%) Consultant
7 7 (4.67%) Network Engineer
7 7 (4.67%) Security Engineer
8 6 (4.00%) Junior
8 6 (4.00%) Management Consultant
8 6 (4.00%) SAP Consultant
8 6 (4.00%) SAP WM Consultant
8 6 (4.00%) Security Analyst
8 6 (4.00%) Senior
9 5 (3.33%) Incident Manager
9 5 (3.33%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (4.67%) CSS
1 7 (4.67%) HTML
1 7 (4.67%) NETCONF
1 7 (4.67%) RESTCONF
2 4 (2.67%) JDO
3 3 (2.00%) AngularJS
3 3 (2.00%) Node.js
3 3 (2.00%) React
3 3 (2.00%) Ruby on Rails
3 3 (2.00%) Spring
3 3 (2.00%) Vue
4 2 (1.33%) Apache NiFi
4 2 (1.33%) REST
5 1 (0.67%) Django
5 1 (0.67%) JFC
5 1 (0.67%) OpenMP
5 1 (0.67%) PyTorch
5 1 (0.67%) SailPoint
5 1 (0.67%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 27 (18.00%) Management Information System
2 15 (10.00%) PKI
3 14 (9.33%) Product Ownership
4 10 (6.67%) Security Posture
5 6 (4.00%) Cyber Defence
5 6 (4.00%) Legacy Systems
6 5 (3.33%) Cloud Native
7 4 (2.67%) Educational Technology
7 4 (2.67%) Operational Technology
7 4 (2.67%) Private Cloud
8 3 (2.00%) e-Learning
8 3 (2.00%) Low-Code
8 3 (2.00%) Onboarding
8 3 (2.00%) Self-Motivation
9 2 (1.33%) Algorithms
9 2 (1.33%) Cyber Threat
9 2 (1.33%) Data Protection Act
9 2 (1.33%) Digital Media
9 2 (1.33%) NHS
10 1 (0.67%) Learning Management System
Operating Systems
1 14 (9.33%) Windows
2 8 (5.33%) Windows Server
3 7 (4.67%) Linux
4 4 (2.67%) Windows 10
5 3 (2.00%) CentOS
5 3 (2.00%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 3 (2.00%) Ubuntu
5 3 (2.00%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 48 (32.00%) Agile
2 47 (31.33%) Computer Science
3 46 (30.67%) Problem-Solving
4 40 (26.67%) Critical Thinking
5 35 (23.33%) Service Management
6 30 (20.00%) ITIL
7 17 (11.33%) ERP
8 16 (10.67%) Analytical Thinking
8 16 (10.67%) Knowledge Transfer
8 16 (10.67%) Stakeholder Management
8 16 (10.67%) Validation
9 15 (10.00%) System Testing
10 14 (9.33%) Business Continuity
10 14 (9.33%) DevOps
10 14 (9.33%) Software Engineering
10 14 (9.33%) TOGAF
11 13 (8.67%) Acceptance Criteria
11 13 (8.67%) Cybersecurity
11 13 (8.67%) Security Patching
11 13 (8.67%) Service Design
Programming Languages
1 20 (13.33%) Python
2 15 (10.00%) SQL
3 14 (9.33%) PowerShell
4 8 (5.33%) JavaScript
5 4 (2.67%) Ada
5 4 (2.67%) Java
6 3 (2.00%) Ruby
6 3 (2.00%) TypeScript
7 2 (1.33%) C
7 2 (1.33%) Fortran
8 1 (0.67%) C#
8 1 (0.67%) C++
8 1 (0.67%) MATLAB
8 1 (0.67%) PL/SQL
8 1 (0.67%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 87 (58.00%) Security Cleared
2 80 (53.33%) SC Cleared
3 24 (16.00%) Computer Science Degree
4 21 (14.00%) Master's Degree
5 16 (10.67%) DV Cleared
6 13 (8.67%) CCNP
6 13 (8.67%) Cisco Certification
6 13 (8.67%) TOGAF Certification
7 11 (7.33%) BPSS Clearance
7 11 (7.33%) Microsoft Certification
8 10 (6.67%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 9 (6.00%) MCSE
10 7 (4.67%) CISSP
11 6 (4.00%) CompTIA CySA+
11 6 (4.00%) Network+ Certification
11 6 (4.00%) SANS
11 6 (4.00%) SAP Certification
12 5 (3.33%) CCNA
12 5 (3.33%) ITIL Certification
13 4 (2.67%) APMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (7.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 10 (6.67%) Def Stans
2 10 (6.67%) GRC
2 10 (6.67%) Sarbanes-Oxley
3 4 (2.67%) NCSC
3 4 (2.67%) P3O
3 4 (2.67%) QA
4 3 (2.00%) Data Quality
4 3 (2.00%) NIST
5 2 (1.33%) GDPR
5 2 (1.33%) PMO
6 1 (0.67%) HIPAA
6 1 (0.67%) ISO 22301
6 1 (0.67%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 14 (9.33%) VMware Infrastructure
2 11 (7.33%) Active Directory
3 7 (4.67%) VMware ESXi
4 5 (3.33%) Microsoft Virtual Server
4 5 (3.33%) Virtual Servers
5 4 (2.67%) Docker
6 1 (0.67%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 14 (9.33%) Ansible
2 13 (8.67%) OPNET
3 8 (5.33%) Kubernetes
3 8 (5.33%) WSUS
4 7 (4.67%) Terraform
5 6 (4.00%) SCCM
6 3 (2.00%) Argo
6 3 (2.00%) SCOM
7 1 (0.67%) Dell DRAC
7 1 (0.67%) Packer
7 1 (0.67%) PowerCLI
7 1 (0.67%) Puppet
Vendors
1 27 (18.00%) Atlassian
2 24 (16.00%) Microsoft
3 19 (12.67%) Remedy
4 16 (10.67%) Oracle
5 15 (10.00%) VMware
6 13 (8.67%) Cisco
6 13 (8.67%) ServiceNow
7 8 (5.33%) Red Hat
7 8 (5.33%) SAP
8 6 (4.00%) SolarWinds
8 6 (4.00%) Veeam
9 5 (3.33%) Splunk
10 3 (2.00%) Blue Prism
10 3 (2.00%) Google
11 2 (1.33%) Adobe
11 2 (1.33%) Cerner
11 2 (1.33%) Salesforce
12 1 (0.67%) Ericsson
12 1 (0.67%) NetIQ
12 1 (0.67%) Nokia