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 12 April 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 31 30 18
Rank change year-on-year -1 -12 +6
Contract jobs citing Degree 154 103 234
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 4.87% 6.01% 7.30%
As % of the Qualifications category 10.01% 10.81% 12.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 97 70 117
10th Percentile £210 £150 £160
25th Percentile £425 £355 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £650 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year +23.81% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £738 £606 £688
90th Percentile £748 £738 £718
England median daily rate £500 £525 £513
% change year-on-year -4.76% +2.44% -6.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 19 47
10th Percentile £15.31 £55.00 £31.60
25th Percentile £32.50 £59.38 £37.50
Median hourly rate £70.75 £65.00 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +8.85% +18.18% -15.38%
75th Percentile £91.06 £75.00 £61.25
90th Percentile £119.00 £78.55 £83.40
England median hourly rate £54.50 £54.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year - +36.25% -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 1,539 953 1,836
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 48.70% 55.63% 57.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 961 622 1,224
10th Percentile £350 £250 £351
25th Percentile £450 £450 £465
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% - -4.35%
75th Percentile £624 £638 £669
90th Percentile £725 £725 £725
England median daily rate £520 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -0.95% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 197 78 176
10th Percentile £17.87 £18.51 £19.60
25th Percentile £22.75 £41.88 £37.19
Median hourly rate £57.35 £64.50 £57.33
Median % change year-on-year -11.09% +12.51% -12.14%
75th Percentile £67.84 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £85.25 £75.00 £80.00
England median hourly rate £43.00 £50.00 £39.44
% change year-on-year -14.00% +26.79% -23.43%

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 12 April 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 12 April 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 12 April 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 +6 69 £725 +24.73% 21
Bristol -11 38 £475 +26.67% 55
Somerset -5 15 £249 -51.95% 24
Devon -12 14 £265 +65.47% 25
Dorset -7 7 £400 -27.27% 10
Gloucestershire -7 7 £500 +66.67% 50
Cornwall - 1 - - 4
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 41 (26.62%) Confluence
2 16 (10.39%) SharePoint
3 7 (4.55%) Apache
4 3 (1.95%) Microsoft Exchange
5 2 (1.30%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.65%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 70 (45.45%) Microsoft Office
2 45 (29.22%) Microsoft Project
3 20 (12.99%) Microsoft Excel
4 14 (9.09%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (1.95%) MS Visio
6 2 (1.30%) Trello
7 1 (0.65%) InVision
7 1 (0.65%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 4 (2.60%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (1.30%) NEC Housing
2 2 (1.30%) NetSuite
2 2 (1.30%) Primavera
2 2 (1.30%) SAP Oil and Gas
3 1 (0.65%) Cerner Millennium
3 1 (0.65%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 21 (13.64%) Power Platform
2 13 (8.44%) Azure
3 11 (7.14%) Microsoft 365
4 9 (5.84%) AWS
5 7 (4.55%) Azure DevOps
6 5 (3.25%) Power Automate
7 4 (2.60%) Dynamics 365
7 4 (2.60%) GitHub
8 3 (1.95%) PowerApps
9 2 (1.30%) Asana
9 2 (1.30%) Entra ID
10 1 (0.65%) Azure Data Factory
10 1 (0.65%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 1 (0.65%) Cloud Composer
10 1 (0.65%) Figma
10 1 (0.65%) GCP
10 1 (0.65%) GitHub Actions
10 1 (0.65%) IaaS
10 1 (0.65%) Stackdriver
Communications & Networking
1 3 (1.95%) 4G
1 3 (1.95%) 5G
1 3 (1.95%) LTE
1 3 (1.95%) Radio Access Network
1 3 (1.95%) Skype
2 2 (1.30%) 2G
2 2 (1.30%) 3G
2 2 (1.30%) BGP
2 2 (1.30%) Cisco IOS
2 2 (1.30%) Firewall
2 2 (1.30%) Network Security
2 2 (1.30%) OSPF
3 1 (0.65%) Cisco ASA
3 1 (0.65%) EIGRP
3 1 (0.65%) ICMP
3 1 (0.65%) L2TP
3 1 (0.65%) MIMO
3 1 (0.65%) SSH
3 1 (0.65%) TACACS
3 1 (0.65%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (13.64%) Power BI
2 4 (2.60%) Electronic Patient Records
3 3 (1.95%) Data Warehouse
4 2 (1.30%) Relational Database
4 2 (1.30%) Star Schema
5 1 (0.65%) Big Data
5 1 (0.65%) BigQuery
5 1 (0.65%) Geospatial Data
5 1 (0.65%) GIS
5 1 (0.65%) Metadata
5 1 (0.65%) Oracle Database
5 1 (0.65%) Oracle Reports
5 1 (0.65%) Power Query
5 1 (0.65%) Snowflake Schema
5 1 (0.65%) Spatial Data
5 1 (0.65%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 52 (33.77%) JIRA
2 7 (4.55%) GitLab
3 4 (2.60%) Git
4 3 (1.95%) Artifactory
5 2 (1.30%) Jenkins
6 1 (0.65%) Atlassian Bamboo
General
1 85 (55.19%) Social Skills
2 61 (39.61%) Analytical Skills
3 44 (28.57%) Military
4 27 (17.53%) Finance
5 20 (12.99%) Public Sector
6 17 (11.04%) Organisational Skills
7 8 (5.19%) Influencing Skills
8 5 (3.25%) Aerospace
8 5 (3.25%) Telecoms
9 4 (2.60%) Back Office
9 4 (2.60%) Presentation Skills
10 3 (1.95%) Documentation Skills
10 3 (1.95%) Electronics
10 3 (1.95%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 3 (1.95%) Legal
11 2 (1.30%) General Ledger
11 2 (1.30%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (1.30%) Police
12 1 (0.65%) Aviation
12 1 (0.65%) Banking
Job Titles
1 34 (22.08%) Architect
2 30 (19.48%) Service Architect
3 14 (9.09%) Analyst
4 12 (7.79%) Lead
5 11 (7.14%) Project Manager
6 10 (6.49%) Technical Manager
7 9 (5.84%) Delivery Manager
8 7 (4.55%) Project Officer
8 7 (4.55%) Project Support Officer
8 7 (4.55%) Security Engineer
8 7 (4.55%) Support Engineer
8 7 (4.55%) Support Officer
9 6 (3.90%) Business Analyst
9 6 (3.90%) Security Analyst
9 6 (3.90%) Technical Engineer
9 6 (3.90%) Technical Support
9 6 (3.90%) Technical Support Engineer
10 5 (3.25%) DevOps Engineer
10 5 (3.25%) Technical Delivery Manager
10 5 (3.25%) Technical Programme Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (5.84%) REST
2 6 (3.90%) JDO
3 3 (1.95%) Apache NiFi
3 3 (1.95%) CSS
3 3 (1.95%) HTML
4 2 (1.30%) FHIR
4 2 (1.30%) Oracle Fusion
4 2 (1.30%) SOAP
4 2 (1.30%) Web Services
5 1 (0.65%) .NET
5 1 (0.65%) ASP.NET
5 1 (0.65%) EDI
5 1 (0.65%) EDIFACT
5 1 (0.65%) Entity Framework
5 1 (0.65%) Flash
5 1 (0.65%) JSON
5 1 (0.65%) Kafka
5 1 (0.65%) LDAP
5 1 (0.65%) RESTful
5 1 (0.65%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 35 (22.73%) Product Ownership
2 18 (11.69%) Management Information System
3 6 (3.90%) Cyber Defence
3 6 (3.90%) Legacy Systems
4 5 (3.25%) Onboarding
4 5 (3.25%) PKI
5 3 (1.95%) Low-Code
5 3 (1.95%) NHS
5 3 (1.95%) PMI
5 3 (1.95%) Self-Motivation
6 2 (1.30%) Data Protection Act
6 2 (1.30%) Freedom of Information
7 1 (0.65%) Cloud Native
7 1 (0.65%) Clustering
7 1 (0.65%) Data Centre
7 1 (0.65%) Fixed Income
7 1 (0.65%) Greenfield Project
7 1 (0.65%) SWIFT Messaging Network
Operating Systems
1 12 (7.79%) Linux
2 9 (5.84%) Windows
3 7 (4.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 7 (4.55%) Ubuntu
4 4 (2.60%) Windows 10
5 3 (1.95%) CentOS
5 3 (1.95%) Debian
5 3 (1.95%) Rocky
5 3 (1.95%) Windows Server
5 3 (1.95%) Windows Server 2012
6 1 (0.65%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 85 (55.19%) Agile
2 48 (31.17%) Critical Thinking
3 44 (28.57%) Service Management
4 41 (26.62%) Computer Science
5 40 (25.97%) Problem-Solving
6 39 (25.32%) ITIL
7 38 (24.68%) Knowledge Transfer
8 36 (23.38%) Analytical Thinking
9 33 (21.43%) TOGAF
10 31 (20.13%) Acceptance Criteria
11 30 (19.48%) Business Continuity
11 30 (19.48%) Security Patching
11 30 (19.48%) Service Design
12 28 (18.18%) Project Management
13 24 (15.58%) Stakeholder Management
14 23 (14.94%) PRINCE2
15 21 (13.64%) Waterfall
16 20 (12.99%) Analytics
17 15 (9.74%) CI/CD
17 15 (9.74%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 16 (10.39%) SQL
2 15 (9.74%) Python
3 9 (5.84%) PowerShell
4 8 (5.19%) JavaScript
5 3 (1.95%) Go
5 3 (1.95%) PHP
6 2 (1.30%) C#
6 2 (1.30%) PL/SQL
7 1 (0.65%) Bash
7 1 (0.65%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 1 (0.65%) Java
7 1 (0.65%) Scala
7 1 (0.65%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 91 (59.09%) Security Cleared
2 81 (52.60%) SC Cleared
3 32 (20.78%) TOGAF Certification
4 23 (14.94%) Computer Science Degree
5 14 (9.09%) APMP
5 14 (9.09%) DV Cleared
6 8 (5.19%) PMI Certification
6 8 (5.19%) PMP
7 7 (4.55%) CISSP
7 7 (4.55%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
8 6 (3.90%) CompTIA CySA+
8 6 (3.90%) Network+ Certification
8 6 (3.90%) SANS
9 5 (3.25%) Master's Degree
9 5 (3.25%) Microsoft Certification
10 4 (2.60%) MCSE
10 4 (2.60%) PRINCE2 Certification
11 3 (1.95%) Cisco Certification
11 3 (1.95%) DBS Check
11 3 (1.95%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (6.49%) QA
2 7 (4.55%) Data Quality
2 7 (4.55%) GDPR
3 3 (1.95%) PMO
4 2 (1.30%) Accessibility
4 2 (1.30%) HL7
4 2 (1.30%) SNOMED CT
5 1 (0.65%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.65%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (0.65%) GMP
5 1 (0.65%) HMG Security Policy Framework
5 1 (0.65%) ISO 20022
5 1 (0.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 1 (0.65%) NIST
System Software
1 5 (3.25%) Docker
1 5 (3.25%) VMware Infrastructure
2 4 (2.60%) Active Directory
3 2 (1.30%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.65%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.65%) KVM
4 1 (0.65%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 30 (19.48%) OPNET
2 11 (7.14%) Kubernetes
3 6 (3.90%) Ansible
4 5 (3.25%) Terraform
5 3 (1.95%) SCOM
5 3 (1.95%) WSUS
6 2 (1.30%) vCenter Server
7 1 (0.65%) Grafana
7 1 (0.65%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.65%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.65%) Puppet
Vendors
1 39 (25.32%) ServiceNow
2 35 (22.73%) Atlassian
3 34 (22.08%) Microsoft
3 34 (22.08%) Remedy
4 8 (5.19%) Oracle
5 6 (3.90%) Red Hat
6 5 (3.25%) Blue Prism
6 5 (3.25%) VMware
7 3 (1.95%) Cisco
7 3 (1.95%) Databricks
8 2 (1.30%) Automation Anywhere
8 2 (1.30%) Cerner
8 2 (1.30%) Google
8 2 (1.30%) Huawei
8 2 (1.30%) Intel
8 2 (1.30%) NEC
8 2 (1.30%) SAP
8 2 (1.30%) UiPath
9 1 (0.65%) Alteryx
9 1 (0.65%) Ericsson