Security Cleared Contract Job Trends in the South West

Security Clearance
England > South West

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the South West with a requirement for Security Cleared qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 28 September 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 1 1 1
Rank change year-on-year 0 0 0
Contract jobs citing Security Cleared 876 1,094 1,577
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the South West 44.53% 42.57% 48.30%
As % of the Qualifications category 83.67% 85.20% 88.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 527 668 1,002
10th Percentile £275 £400 £413
25th Percentile £450 £488 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £575 £579
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% -0.69% +0.78%
75th Percentile £649 £668 £675
90th Percentile £738 £738 £729
England median daily rate £538 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -2.27% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 138 98 146
10th Percentile £18.51 £50.00 £48.32
25th Percentile £20.82 £61.56 £56.34
Median hourly rate £25.15 £70.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -64.07% +7.69% -
75th Percentile £33.75 £74.33 £79.59
90th Percentile £71.13 £85.00 £83.40
England median hourly rate £25.15 £61.60 £60.00
% change year-on-year -59.17% +2.67% +4.35%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
South West

Security Cleared 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 1,047 1,284 1,775
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 53.23% 49.96% 54.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 647 768 1,127
10th Percentile £213 £371 £400
25th Percentile £401 £463 £483
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £551 £575
Median % change year-on-year -0.18% -4.17% +4.55%
75th Percentile £644 £656 £675
90th Percentile £738 £734 £729
England median daily rate £525 £528 £550
% change year-on-year -0.57% -4.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 147 105 169
10th Percentile £18.51 £41.00 £35.40
25th Percentile £20.82 £60.75 £50.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £70.00 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year -64.07% +12.00% +2.46%
75th Percentile £33.75 £74.00 £78.00
90th Percentile £71.00 £83.00 £83.40
England median hourly rate £25.15 £53.00 £53.50
% change year-on-year -52.55% -0.93% +18.89%

Security Cleared
Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

Job postings citing Security Cleared as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the South West.

Job vacancy trend for Security Cleared in the South West

Security Cleared
Daily Rate Trend in the South West

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

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

Security Cleared
Daily Rate Histogram in the South West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Security Cleared in the South West over the 6 months to 28 September 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Security Cleared in the South West

Security Cleared
Hourly Rate Trend in the South West

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

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

Security Cleared
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Security Cleared in the South West over the 6 months to 28 September 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Security Cleared in the South West

Security Cleared
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 Security Cleared within the South West region over the 6 months to 28 September 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 0 301 £575 +4.55% 78
Bristol 0 271 £550 +4.76% 181
Gloucestershire 0 138 £550 -8.33% 159
Devon 0 68 £538 -10.42% 22
Somerset 0 66 £400 -33.33% 37
Dorset +2 20 £545 -12.10% 16
Cornwall +5 4 £158 - 2
Security Cleared
England

Security Cleared
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the South West by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 23 (2.63%) Microsoft Exchange
1 23 (2.63%) SharePoint
2 19 (2.17%) Confluence
3 13 (1.48%) Skype for Business
4 8 (0.91%) Apache
5 4 (0.46%) IIS
6 3 (0.34%) Camunda
6 3 (0.34%) nginx
6 3 (0.34%) SharePoint Server
7 2 (0.23%) Alfresco
7 2 (0.23%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.23%) Documentum
7 2 (0.23%) Oracle Workflow
8 1 (0.11%) Anypoint
8 1 (0.11%) Apache Airflow
8 1 (0.11%) Jupyter
8 1 (0.11%) MS Project Server
8 1 (0.11%) Tomcat
Applications
1 29 (3.31%) Microsoft Office
2 26 (2.97%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (1.60%) Microsoft Project
4 7 (0.80%) Simulink
5 5 (0.57%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.57%) Stateflow
6 4 (0.46%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 1 (0.11%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 9 (1.03%) Primavera
2 6 (0.68%) SAP EWM
2 6 (0.68%) SAP WM
3 5 (0.57%) Remedy ITSM
4 3 (0.34%) assyst
4 3 (0.34%) Maximo
4 3 (0.34%) Oracle ERP
5 2 (0.23%) Oracle Payroll
5 2 (0.23%) Oracle SCM
5 2 (0.23%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
6 1 (0.11%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.11%) Oracle Applications
6 1 (0.11%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 113 (12.90%) Azure
2 85 (9.70%) AWS
3 41 (4.68%) Microsoft 365
4 30 (3.42%) GitHub
5 21 (2.40%) Azure DevOps
5 21 (2.40%) GCP
5 21 (2.40%) Serverless
6 14 (1.60%) OpenShift
7 12 (1.37%) npm
8 9 (1.03%) Azure Sentinel
8 9 (1.03%) Entra ID
9 8 (0.91%) OCI
10 7 (0.80%) AWS CloudFormation
10 7 (0.80%) AWS Lambda
11 6 (0.68%) Amazon S3
11 6 (0.68%) IaaS
11 6 (0.68%) Power Platform
12 5 (0.57%) Azure Key Vault
12 5 (0.57%) GitHub Actions
12 5 (0.57%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 37 (4.22%) DNS
2 36 (4.11%) Firewall
3 25 (2.85%) VPN
4 24 (2.74%) Network Security
5 22 (2.51%) BGP
5 22 (2.51%) Skype
6 18 (2.05%) DHCP
7 15 (1.71%) Unified Communications
8 11 (1.26%) PABX
8 11 (1.26%) VoIP
9 9 (1.03%) MPLS
9 9 (1.03%) TCP/IP
10 8 (0.91%) WAN
11 7 (0.80%) IPsec
11 7 (0.80%) Wireshark
12 6 (0.68%) 5G
12 6 (0.68%) LAN
12 6 (0.68%) OSPF
12 6 (0.68%) VSAN
13 5 (0.57%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (2.51%) PostgreSQL
2 12 (1.37%) Relational Database
3 11 (1.26%) SQL Server
4 8 (0.91%) Elasticsearch
5 7 (0.80%) Oracle Database
6 6 (0.68%) MongoDB
6 6 (0.68%) MySQL
6 6 (0.68%) Power BI
7 4 (0.46%) Big Data
7 4 (0.46%) RDBMS
7 4 (0.46%) Redis
7 4 (0.46%) Tableau
8 3 (0.34%) Amazon RDS
8 3 (0.34%) Geospatial Data
9 2 (0.23%) Hadoop
9 2 (0.23%) InfluxDB
9 2 (0.23%) Looker
9 2 (0.23%) NoSQL
10 1 (0.11%) Apache Hive
10 1 (0.11%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 40 (4.57%) JIRA
2 28 (3.20%) Git
3 25 (2.85%) Jenkins
4 19 (2.17%) GitLab
5 15 (1.71%) Cypress.io
6 11 (1.26%) SonarQube
7 9 (1.03%) MSI
8 8 (0.91%) Bitbucket
9 7 (0.80%) AdminStudio
9 7 (0.80%) InstallShield
9 7 (0.80%) Selenium
10 5 (0.57%) Maven
10 5 (0.57%) Oracle APEX
10 5 (0.57%) Postman
10 5 (0.57%) Rational DOORS
10 5 (0.57%) Rational Team Concert
11 4 (0.46%) REST Assured
12 3 (0.34%) Artifactory
12 3 (0.34%) Cucumber
13 2 (0.23%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 219 (25.00%) Public Sector
2 201 (22.95%) Social Skills
3 76 (8.68%) Analytical Skills
4 68 (7.76%) Finance
5 50 (5.71%) Telecoms
6 47 (5.37%) Military
7 40 (4.57%) Manufacturing
8 38 (4.34%) Electronics
8 38 (4.34%) Marketing
9 37 (4.22%) Organisational Skills
10 23 (2.63%) Aerospace
11 16 (1.83%) Documentation Skills
12 13 (1.48%) Aviation
13 9 (1.03%) Legal
14 8 (0.91%) Influencing Skills
14 8 (0.91%) Presentation Skills
15 6 (0.68%) Back Office
16 4 (0.46%) Law
16 4 (0.46%) Local Government
16 4 (0.46%) Police
Job Titles
1 121 (13.81%) Architect
2 66 (7.53%) Developer
3 55 (6.28%) Lead
4 47 (5.37%) Analyst
5 46 (5.25%) Support Engineer
6 43 (4.91%) Consultant
7 39 (4.45%) Administrator
7 39 (4.45%) Senior
8 32 (3.65%) Desktop Support
8 32 (3.65%) IT Support
9 31 (3.54%) IT Engineer
10 25 (2.85%) Desktop Engineer
11 23 (2.63%) Project Manager
12 22 (2.51%) Network Engineer
13 21 (2.40%) Solutions Architect
14 19 (2.17%) Integration Architect
14 19 (2.17%) Service Manager
15 18 (2.05%) Desktop Support Engineer
15 18 (2.05%) Support Analyst
16 17 (1.94%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (3.77%) React
2 30 (3.42%) Node.js
3 19 (2.17%) AngularJS
4 12 (1.37%) Middleware
4 12 (1.37%) OpenID
5 11 (1.26%) REST
6 10 (1.14%) Elastic Stack
6 10 (1.14%) FastAPI
7 9 (1.03%) HTML
7 9 (1.03%) SOAP
7 9 (1.03%) XML
8 8 (0.91%) Apache NiFi
8 8 (0.91%) YAML
9 7 (0.80%) AWS CDK
9 7 (0.80%) NETCONF
9 7 (0.80%) Oracle Fusion
9 7 (0.80%) Qt
9 7 (0.80%) RESTCONF
10 6 (0.68%) SAML
10 6 (0.68%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 48 (5.48%) PKI
2 33 (3.77%) Management Information System
2 33 (3.77%) Onboarding
3 22 (2.51%) CMDB
4 21 (2.40%) Driving Licence
5 19 (2.17%) Self-Motivation
6 18 (2.05%) Data Centre
6 18 (2.05%) Security Posture
7 15 (1.71%) Cloud Native
8 12 (1.37%) Cyber Threat
8 12 (1.37%) Private Cloud
9 11 (1.26%) Cyber Defence
9 11 (1.26%) Smartphone
10 9 (1.03%) Product Ownership
11 8 (0.91%) Enterprise Software
12 7 (0.80%) Hybrid Cloud
12 7 (0.80%) Operational Technology
13 6 (0.68%) Data Protection Act
14 5 (0.57%) Legacy Applications
14 5 (0.57%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 175 (19.98%) Windows
2 62 (7.08%) Linux
3 58 (6.62%) Windows 10
4 33 (3.77%) Windows Server
5 11 (1.26%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 8 (0.91%) Ubuntu
6 8 (0.91%) Windows Server 2012
7 7 (0.80%) Android
7 7 (0.80%) Windows 7
8 6 (0.68%) Apple iOS
9 5 (0.57%) Windows Server 2016
10 4 (0.46%) CentOS
10 4 (0.46%) Mac OS
10 4 (0.46%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.34%) Windows Server 2008
12 2 (0.23%) Unix
12 2 (0.23%) Windows Server 2003
13 1 (0.11%) Robot Operating System
13 1 (0.11%) Solaris
13 1 (0.11%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 113 (12.90%) Agile
2 98 (11.19%) ITIL
3 90 (10.27%) Migration
3 90 (10.27%) Problem-Solving
4 89 (10.16%) Stakeholder Management
5 87 (9.93%) Service Management
6 84 (9.59%) DevOps
7 68 (7.76%) CI/CD
8 59 (6.74%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 58 (6.62%) Customer Service
10 56 (6.39%) Workflow
11 54 (6.16%) Risk Management
12 53 (6.05%) Change Management
13 50 (5.71%) Business Intelligence
14 48 (5.48%) Programme Management
14 48 (5.48%) Project Management
14 48 (5.48%) Service Delivery
15 46 (5.25%) Asset Management
15 46 (5.25%) Cybersecurity
15 46 (5.25%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 75 (8.56%) Python
2 43 (4.91%) JavaScript
3 41 (4.68%) PowerShell
4 36 (4.11%) SQL
5 32 (3.65%) TypeScript
6 24 (2.74%) C++
7 22 (2.51%) Bash
7 22 (2.51%) Java
8 21 (2.40%) C
9 19 (2.17%) Ada
10 15 (1.71%) C#
11 10 (1.14%) Go
12 8 (0.91%) Shell Script
13 7 (0.80%) MATLAB
13 7 (0.80%) VBScript
14 6 (0.68%) Fortran
15 5 (0.57%) PL/SQL
16 3 (0.34%) Perl
16 3 (0.34%) R
16 3 (0.34%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 647 (73.86%) SC Cleared
2 221 (25.23%) DV Cleared
3 56 (6.39%) Degree
4 28 (3.20%) Microsoft Certification
5 27 (3.08%) BPSS Clearance
6 22 (2.51%) CCNP
6 22 (2.51%) Cisco Certification
7 19 (2.17%) CISSP
7 19 (2.17%) Master's Degree
8 18 (2.05%) Computer Science Degree
9 16 (1.83%) ITIL Certification
10 13 (1.48%) CESG Certified Professional
11 11 (1.26%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
12 9 (1.03%) MCSE
13 8 (0.91%) A+ Certification
13 8 (0.91%) CISM
13 8 (0.91%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 7 (0.80%) AWS Certification
14 7 (0.80%) Azure Certification
15 6 (0.68%) APMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 44 (5.02%) NCSC
2 33 (3.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 33 (3.77%) QA
3 28 (3.20%) NIST
3 28 (3.20%) SLA
4 18 (2.05%) JSP 440
5 17 (1.94%) Def Stans
6 14 (1.60%) RMADS
7 12 (1.37%) GRC
7 12 (1.37%) PMO
8 10 (1.14%) GDPR
9 7 (0.80%) IEC 61508
9 7 (0.80%) MISRA
9 7 (0.80%) MISRA C
10 5 (0.57%) Data Quality
11 4 (0.46%) NIST 800
11 4 (0.46%) P3O
12 3 (0.34%) Cyber Essentials
12 3 (0.34%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 2 (0.23%) Accessibility
System Software
1 70 (7.99%) Active Directory
2 56 (6.39%) VMware Infrastructure
3 55 (6.28%) Docker
4 19 (2.17%) VMware ESXi
5 14 (1.60%) Virtual Machines
6 12 (1.37%) VMware NSX
7 8 (0.91%) Virtual Desktop
8 7 (0.80%) Hyper-V
8 7 (0.80%) vSphere
9 6 (0.68%) Microsoft App-V
10 5 (0.57%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 5 (0.57%) Virtual Servers
11 2 (0.23%) Firmware
12 1 (0.11%) RACF
12 1 (0.11%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 65 (7.42%) Terraform
2 52 (5.94%) Kubernetes
3 46 (5.25%) Ansible
4 25 (2.85%) SCCM
5 19 (2.17%) Grafana
5 19 (2.17%) vCenter Server
6 15 (1.71%) Prometheus
7 14 (1.60%) Microsoft Intune
8 11 (1.26%) WSUS
9 9 (1.03%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 9 (1.03%) OPNET
10 8 (0.91%) Kibana
11 6 (0.68%) MIIS
11 6 (0.68%) Puppet
11 6 (0.68%) Single Sign-On
12 5 (0.57%) logstash
13 4 (0.46%) Argo
13 4 (0.46%) Data Guard
13 4 (0.46%) PingFederate
13 4 (0.46%) VxRail
Vendors
1 139 (15.87%) Microsoft
2 75 (8.56%) VMware
3 52 (5.94%) SAP
4 50 (5.71%) Cisco
5 42 (4.79%) ServiceNow
6 38 (4.34%) Oracle
7 17 (1.94%) Juniper
7 17 (1.94%) SolarWinds
8 16 (1.83%) Atlassian
8 16 (1.83%) Dell
8 16 (1.83%) HP
8 16 (1.83%) Remedy
9 15 (1.71%) Red Hat
10 13 (1.48%) Splunk
11 9 (1.03%) Veeam
12 8 (0.91%) Google
12 8 (0.91%) McAfee
13 7 (0.80%) Computacenter
13 7 (0.80%) Twitter
14 6 (0.68%) F5