ACF2 Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

CA ACF2
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring ACF2 skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 11 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 388 339 359
Rank change year-on-year -49 +20 -
Contract jobs citing ACF2 8 1 29
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.044% 0.007% 0.15%
As % of the System Software category 0.35% 0.052% 1.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 5 1 11
10th Percentile £311 - £415
25th Percentile £313 £558 -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £325 £565 £430
Median % change year-on-year -42.48% +31.40% -
75th Percentile £350 £573 £588
90th Percentile £365 - -
UK median daily rate £325 £565 £560
% change year-on-year -42.48% +0.89% -

All System Software Skills
UK excluding London

ACF2 falls under the System Software category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring system software skills in the UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 2,300 1,929 2,733
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 12.77% 13.89% 14.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,592 1,245 1,831
10th Percentile £190 £185 £170
25th Percentile £316 £313 £269
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £463 £461
Median % change year-on-year +2.70% +0.29% -0.28%
75th Percentile £573 £581 £585
90th Percentile £643 £650 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £501 £500
% change year-on-year -0.10% +0.10% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 109 66 188
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.36 £14.80
25th Percentile £18.87 £20.26 £18.19
Median hourly rate £58.50 £35.00 £53.50
Median % change year-on-year +67.14% -34.58% +167.50%
75th Percentile £75.00 £64.50 £69.62
90th Percentile £90.30 £75.00 £78.60
UK median hourly rate £47.50 £28.41 £52.50
% change year-on-year +67.19% -45.89% +75.00%

ACF2
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing ACF2 relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

ACF2 job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

ACF2
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing ACF2.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing ACF2

ACF2
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing ACF2.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing ACF2

ACF2
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 ACF2 within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 11 January 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
North of England -32 8 £325 -42.48% 2
North West - 8 £325 - 2
ACF2
UK

ACF2
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:

General
1 7 (87.50%) Social Skills
2 2 (25.00%) Analytical Skills
2 2 (25.00%) Banking
2 2 (25.00%) Finance
Job Titles
1 8 (100.00%) Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (100.00%) ISPF
Miscellaneous
1 8 (100.00%) Mainframe
Processes & Methodologies
1 8 (100.00%) Change Management
2 7 (87.50%) Release Management
2 7 (87.50%) Storage Management
3 6 (75.00%) Problem-Solving
Programming Languages
1 8 (100.00%) CLIST
1 8 (100.00%) COBOL
1 8 (100.00%) JCL
1 8 (100.00%) REXX
Qualifications
1 1 (12.50%) BPSS Clearance
System Software
1 8 (100.00%) RACF
1 8 (100.00%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 8 (100.00%) CA Endevor
2 7 (87.50%) Tivoli
2 7 (87.50%) Tivoli Storage Manager
Vendors
1 1 (12.50%) Microsoft