NVQ Level 3 Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

National Vocational Qualification Level 3 (NVQ Level 3)
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the UK excluding London with a requirement for NVQ Level 3 qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 3 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 405 340 384
Rank change year-on-year -65 +44 +79
Contract jobs citing NVQ Level 3 6 6 30
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.031% 0.044% 0.14%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.086% 0.13% 0.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 0 0 23
10th Percentile - - £167
25th Percentile - - £188
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) - - £225
Median % change year-on-year - - -2.17%
75th Percentile - - £255
90th Percentile - - £259
UK median daily rate £215 £325 £225
% change year-on-year -33.93% +44.44% -2.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 3 6
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £18.50 - -
Median hourly rate £19.00 £20.94 £12.25
Median % change year-on-year -9.26% +70.94% -20.25%
75th Percentile £19.50 £36.72 -
90th Percentile - £46.19 -
UK median hourly rate £19.00 £20.94 £12.25
% change year-on-year -9.26% +70.94% -20.25%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK excluding London

NVQ Level 3 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 UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 7,017 4,670 7,775
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 36.26% 34.57% 36.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,478 2,714 4,598
10th Percentile £263 £220 £250
25th Percentile £402 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £535
Median % change year-on-year - -6.54% +1.90%
75th Percentile £600 £620 £644
90th Percentile £703 £700 £711
UK median daily rate £517 £525 £545
% change year-on-year -1.52% -3.67% -0.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 841 360 792
10th Percentile £15.62 £18.62 £14.16
25th Percentile £18.87 £24.18 £21.43
Median hourly rate £25.15 £42.69 £46.39
Median % change year-on-year -41.09% -7.98% +3.09%
75th Percentile £62.50 £67.25 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.68 £75.67 £76.95
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £39.52 £46.18
% change year-on-year -36.36% -14.42% +2.62%

NVQ Level 3
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing NVQ Level 3 relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

NVQ Level 3 job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

NVQ Level 3
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing NVQ Level 3.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing NVQ Level 3

NVQ Level 3
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing NVQ Level 3.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing NVQ Level 3

NVQ Level 3
Contract Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing NVQ Level 3 within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 3 February 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
Midlands -52 5 - - 13
East Midlands - 5 - - 9
South East - 1 - - 20
NVQ Level 3
UK

NVQ Level 3
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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:

Business Applications
1 1 (16.67%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 5 (83.33%) AWS
1 5 (83.33%) Azure
2 1 (16.67%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 1 (16.67%) DNS
1 1 (16.67%) Remote Desktop
1 1 (16.67%) VPN
General
1 5 (83.33%) Fire and Rescue
1 5 (83.33%) Local Government
1 5 (83.33%) Police
2 1 (16.67%) Social Skills
Job Titles
1 5 (83.33%) Help Desk Technician
1 5 (83.33%) ICT Technician
2 1 (16.67%) Analyst
2 1 (16.67%) Service Analyst
2 1 (16.67%) Service Desk Analyst
Miscellaneous
1 5 (83.33%) Driving Licence
2 1 (16.67%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 6 (100.00%) Windows
2 5 (83.33%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 6 (100.00%) Data Protection
1 6 (100.00%) ITIL
1 6 (100.00%) ITSM
1 6 (100.00%) Mathematics
2 5 (83.33%) Agile
2 5 (83.33%) Business Continuity
2 5 (83.33%) Continuous Improvement
2 5 (83.33%) Service Delivery
3 1 (16.67%) Customer Service
3 1 (16.67%) Cybersecurity
3 1 (16.67%) Problem-Solving
Qualifications
1 1 (16.67%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
System Software
1 5 (83.33%) Hyper-V
1 5 (83.33%) VMware Infrastructure
2 1 (16.67%) Active Directory
Vendors
1 5 (83.33%) VMware
2 1 (16.67%) Microsoft