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

6 months to
1 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 39 23 21
Rank change year-on-year -16 -2 +1
Contract jobs citing Degree 132 130 243
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 3.90% 7.57% 7.49%
As % of the Qualifications category 8.99% 13.83% 13.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 71 98 119
10th Percentile £150 £145 £160
25th Percentile £319 £239 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £480 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.28% -8.67% -4.55%
75th Percentile £630 £594 £686
90th Percentile £706 £658 £703
England median daily rate £500 £508 £500
% change year-on-year -1.50% +1.53% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 18 63
10th Percentile £14.00 £55.00 £36.25
25th Percentile £16.72 £57.81 £40.00
Median hourly rate £35.00 £65.00 £57.33
Median % change year-on-year -46.15% +13.38% -13.36%
75th Percentile £49.42 £73.75 £72.50
90th Percentile £75.09 £79.08 £74.80
England median hourly rate £55.00 £51.25 £40.00
% change year-on-year +7.32% +28.13% -15.79%

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 1,469 940 1,771
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 43.37% 54.71% 54.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 899 583 1,134
10th Percentile £340 £220 £363
25th Percentile £431 £419 £468
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £533 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -3.09% - -5.01%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £663
90th Percentile £705 £700 £725
England median daily rate £525 £525 £538
% change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 202 100 192
10th Percentile £17.87 £18.51 £21.26
25th Percentile £21.33 £18.87 £40.00
Median hourly rate £55.00 £37.50 £63.50
Median % change year-on-year +46.67% -40.94% -2.31%
75th Percentile £67.25 £67.50 £72.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £80.00
England median hourly rate £47.54 £32.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year +46.28% -18.75% -27.25%

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 1 June 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 1 June 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 1 June 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
Bristol -21 32 £505 +36.49% 97
Wiltshire -6 31 £620 +5.53% 31
Somerset -3 26 £249 -60.59% 25
Devon -18 20 £314 +96.41% 26
Gloucestershire -6 11 £575 +35.29% 69
Dorset -9 9 £475 -13.64% 24
Cornwall - 1 - - 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 18 (13.64%) SharePoint
2 10 (7.58%) Apache
3 9 (6.82%) Confluence
4 4 (3.03%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (2.27%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 31 (23.48%) Microsoft Office
2 21 (15.91%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (12.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 9 (6.82%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (1.52%) MS Visio
5 2 (1.52%) Trello
Business Applications
1 4 (3.03%) Payment Gateway
2 2 (1.52%) NetSuite
3 1 (0.76%) NEC Housing
Cloud Services
1 23 (17.42%) Power Platform
2 20 (15.15%) Azure
3 16 (12.12%) Microsoft 365
4 13 (9.85%) AWS
5 5 (3.79%) Azure DevOps
5 5 (3.79%) GitHub
6 3 (2.27%) GCP
7 2 (1.52%) Dynamics 365
7 2 (1.52%) Entra ID
7 2 (1.52%) Power Automate
8 1 (0.76%) Asana
8 1 (0.76%) Azure Data Factory
8 1 (0.76%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 1 (0.76%) Cloud Composer
8 1 (0.76%) GitHub Actions
8 1 (0.76%) Google Compute Engine
8 1 (0.76%) Google Kubernetes Engine
8 1 (0.76%) Stackdriver
Communications & Networking
1 5 (3.79%) Network Security
2 4 (3.03%) DHCP
2 4 (3.03%) DNS
3 2 (1.52%) 2G
3 2 (1.52%) 3G
3 2 (1.52%) 4G
3 2 (1.52%) 5G
3 2 (1.52%) BGP
3 2 (1.52%) Cisco IOS
3 2 (1.52%) Firewall
3 2 (1.52%) LTE
3 2 (1.52%) OSPF
3 2 (1.52%) Radio Access Network
3 2 (1.52%) VPN
4 1 (0.76%) Cisco Nexus
4 1 (0.76%) DMVPN
4 1 (0.76%) Telepresence
4 1 (0.76%) Unified Communications
4 1 (0.76%) VSAN
4 1 (0.76%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (17.42%) Power BI
2 5 (3.79%) Relational Database
3 4 (3.03%) Data Warehouse
3 4 (3.03%) Oracle Database
4 3 (2.27%) SQL Server
5 2 (1.52%) Big Data
5 2 (1.52%) BigQuery
5 2 (1.52%) Electronic Patient Records
5 2 (1.52%) GIS
5 2 (1.52%) Star Schema
6 1 (0.76%) Apache Cassandra
6 1 (0.76%) Elasticsearch
6 1 (0.76%) Geospatial Data
6 1 (0.76%) HBase
6 1 (0.76%) MongoDB
6 1 (0.76%) NoSQL
6 1 (0.76%) PostgreSQL
6 1 (0.76%) RDBMS
6 1 (0.76%) Snowflake Schema
6 1 (0.76%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 20 (15.15%) JIRA
2 9 (6.82%) GitLab
3 6 (4.55%) Git
4 4 (3.03%) Cucumber
4 4 (3.03%) Jenkins
4 4 (3.03%) Postman
4 4 (3.03%) REST Assured
5 3 (2.27%) Artifactory
6 1 (0.76%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.76%) JUnit
6 1 (0.76%) Selenium
6 1 (0.76%) Visual Studio
General
1 64 (48.48%) Social Skills
2 27 (20.45%) Finance
3 23 (17.42%) Analytical Skills
4 22 (16.67%) Organisational Skills
5 18 (13.64%) Military
5 18 (13.64%) Public Sector
6 10 (7.58%) Aerospace
7 6 (4.55%) Automotive
8 4 (3.03%) Influencing Skills
8 4 (3.03%) Legal
8 4 (3.03%) Presentation Skills
9 3 (2.27%) Back Office
9 3 (2.27%) Electronics
9 3 (2.27%) Telecoms
10 2 (1.52%) Aviation
10 2 (1.52%) Banking
10 2 (1.52%) General Ledger
10 2 (1.52%) Police
11 1 (0.76%) Digital Healthcare
11 1 (0.76%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 12 (9.09%) Analyst
2 10 (7.58%) Administrator
2 10 (7.58%) Project Officer
2 10 (7.58%) Project Support Officer
2 10 (7.58%) Support Officer
3 9 (6.82%) Delivery Manager
3 9 (6.82%) Lead
3 9 (6.82%) Software Engineer
4 8 (6.06%) Support Engineer
5 7 (5.30%) Project Manager
5 7 (5.30%) Technical Engineer
5 7 (5.30%) Technical Support
5 7 (5.30%) Technical Support Engineer
6 6 (4.55%) Architect
6 6 (4.55%) Data Engineer
6 6 (4.55%) Developer
6 6 (4.55%) Digital Product Manager
6 6 (4.55%) Product Manager
7 5 (3.79%) DevOps Engineer
7 5 (3.79%) Technical Delivery Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (7.58%) REST
2 7 (5.30%) JDO
3 5 (3.79%) React
4 4 (3.03%) Playwright
5 3 (2.27%) Apache NiFi
5 3 (2.27%) Kafka
5 3 (2.27%) Web Services
6 2 (1.52%) .NET
6 2 (1.52%) ASP.NET
6 2 (1.52%) FHIR
6 2 (1.52%) Oracle Fusion
6 2 (1.52%) SOAP
6 2 (1.52%) Spring
6 2 (1.52%) Spring Boot
7 1 (0.76%) ASP.NET Core
7 1 (0.76%) Dapper ORM
7 1 (0.76%) Entity Framework
7 1 (0.76%) IDoc
7 1 (0.76%) PySpark
7 1 (0.76%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 12 (9.09%) Self-Motivation
2 9 (6.82%) Management Information System
2 9 (6.82%) Product Ownership
3 6 (4.55%) Legacy Systems
4 4 (3.03%) Enterprise Software
4 4 (3.03%) Freedom of Information
4 4 (3.03%) Onboarding
5 3 (2.27%) Cyber Defence
5 3 (2.27%) PMI
6 2 (1.52%) Cloud Native
6 2 (1.52%) Clustering
6 2 (1.52%) CSOC
6 2 (1.52%) Cyber Security Posture
6 2 (1.52%) Cyber Threat
6 2 (1.52%) PKI
6 2 (1.52%) Security Operations Centre
6 2 (1.52%) Security Posture
7 1 (0.76%) Data Centre
7 1 (0.76%) Greenfield Project
7 1 (0.76%) SWIFT Messaging Network
Operating Systems
1 13 (9.85%) Windows
2 10 (7.58%) Linux
3 7 (5.30%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 5 (3.79%) Ubuntu
4 5 (3.79%) Windows Server
5 4 (3.03%) Debian
5 4 (3.03%) Rocky
6 3 (2.27%) Windows 10
7 2 (1.52%) Solaris
7 2 (1.52%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.76%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 54 (40.91%) Agile
2 41 (31.06%) Computer Science
3 35 (26.52%) Problem-Solving
4 28 (21.21%) Continuous Improvement
5 24 (18.18%) Project Management
6 21 (15.91%) Analytics
6 21 (15.91%) PRINCE2
7 18 (13.64%) CI/CD
7 18 (13.64%) Software Engineering
7 18 (13.64%) Waterfall
8 16 (12.12%) Stakeholder Management
9 15 (11.36%) Change Control
9 15 (11.36%) Decision-Making
9 15 (11.36%) DevOps
10 13 (9.85%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 11 (8.33%) Collaborative Working
11 11 (8.33%) Critical Thinking
11 11 (8.33%) Knowledge Transfer
11 11 (8.33%) Project Planning
11 11 (8.33%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 18 (13.64%) Python
2 15 (11.36%) SQL
3 10 (7.58%) JavaScript
4 6 (4.55%) Ada
4 6 (4.55%) Java
5 5 (3.79%) PowerShell
6 4 (3.03%) Apex Code
6 4 (3.03%) Go
7 3 (2.27%) PHP
8 2 (1.52%) Bash
8 2 (1.52%) C#
9 1 (0.76%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 1 (0.76%) PL/SQL
9 1 (0.76%) Scala
9 1 (0.76%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 62 (46.97%) Security Cleared
2 46 (34.85%) SC Cleared
3 27 (20.45%) Computer Science Degree
4 15 (11.36%) DV Cleared
5 10 (7.58%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
6 9 (6.82%) APMP
7 8 (6.06%) Chartered Engineer
8 7 (5.30%) PMI Certification
8 7 (5.30%) PMP
9 6 (4.55%) Master's Degree
10 5 (3.79%) Cisco Certification
10 5 (3.79%) SANS
10 5 (3.79%) TOGAF Certification
11 4 (3.03%) CCNP
11 4 (3.03%) ISTQB
11 4 (3.03%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
11 4 (3.03%) PRINCE2 Certification
12 3 (2.27%) BPSS Clearance
12 3 (2.27%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 2 (1.52%) CBAP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (8.33%) QA
2 8 (6.06%) GDPR
3 6 (4.55%) Data Quality
4 4 (3.03%) Accessibility
5 3 (2.27%) Def Stans
5 3 (2.27%) IEC 61508
5 3 (2.27%) PMO
6 2 (1.52%) HL7
6 2 (1.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 2 (1.52%) SNOMED CT
7 1 (0.76%) Cyber Essentials
7 1 (0.76%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 1 (0.76%) GMP
7 1 (0.76%) HMG Security Policy Framework
7 1 (0.76%) ISO 20022
7 1 (0.76%) NIST
System Software
1 8 (6.06%) VMware Infrastructure
2 6 (4.55%) Docker
3 5 (3.79%) Active Directory
3 5 (3.79%) Hyper-V
4 4 (3.03%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (2.27%) VMware Workstation
6 2 (1.52%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.76%) KVM
7 1 (0.76%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 10 (7.58%) Kubernetes
2 6 (4.55%) Ansible
3 5 (3.79%) Terraform
4 3 (2.27%) Functional Safety
4 3 (2.27%) OPNET
5 2 (1.52%) Computer Incident Response Team
5 2 (1.52%) vCenter Server
6 1 (0.76%) Data Guard
6 1 (0.76%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
6 1 (0.76%) Grafana
6 1 (0.76%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
6 1 (0.76%) Oracle RMAN
6 1 (0.76%) Progress Chef
6 1 (0.76%) Prometheus
6 1 (0.76%) Puppet
Vendors
1 35 (26.52%) Microsoft
2 14 (10.61%) ServiceNow
3 8 (6.06%) Oracle
3 8 (6.06%) VMware
4 5 (3.79%) Cisco
5 4 (3.03%) ArcSight
5 4 (3.03%) Conga
5 4 (3.03%) Databricks
5 4 (3.03%) GoCardless
5 4 (3.03%) Salesforce
6 3 (2.27%) Atlassian
6 3 (2.27%) Google
6 3 (2.27%) Red Hat
6 3 (2.27%) Remedy
7 2 (1.52%) Alteryx
7 2 (1.52%) Automation Anywhere
7 2 (1.52%) Blue Prism
7 2 (1.52%) Huawei
7 2 (1.52%) Intel
7 2 (1.52%) UiPath