Consultant Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Consultant
UK > UK excluding London

The median Consultant daily rate in the UK excluding London is £550, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 17 January 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 31 33 33
Rank change year-on-year +2 0 +31
Contract jobs requiring a Consultant 1,034 785 1,009
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 5.59% 5.64% 5.10%
As % of the Job Titles category 6.17% 6.10% 5.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 648 482 678
10th Percentile £403 £413 £375
25th Percentile £475 £493 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year - +4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £638
90th Percentile £713 £725 £716
UK median daily rate £550 £550 £550
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 12 25
10th Percentile £60.00 £56.30 £42.50
25th Percentile £63.88 £70.39 £52.90
Median hourly rate £77.50 £77.38 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +0.16% +23.80% -0.79%
75th Percentile £81.25 £86.00 £78.00
90th Percentile £89.90 £86.23 £84.20
UK median hourly rate £70.50 £77.38 £63.29
% change year-on-year -8.89% +22.25% -9.59%

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK excluding London

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the UK excluding London. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK excluding London with a recognized job title 16,765 12,859 18,485
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.65% 92.44% 93.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,293 7,626 11,799
10th Percentile £213 £213 £213
25th Percentile £375 £363 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £477 £500
Median % change year-on-year -0.42% -4.60% -
75th Percentile £575 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,694 701 1,496
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.22 £13.46
25th Percentile £17.78 £20.30 £17.72
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £44.20
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -26.47% +52.41%
75th Percentile £60.00 £64.10 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £73.56 £75.20
UK median hourly rate £27.50 £32.50 £41.37
% change year-on-year -15.38% -21.43% +18.19%

Consultant
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Consultant' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Consultant job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Consultant
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Consultant job vacancies in the UK excluding London.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Consultant job vacancies in the UK excluding London

Consultant
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Consultant in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 17 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Consultant in the UK excluding London

Consultant
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Consultant job vacancies in the UK excluding London.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Consultant job vacancies in the UK excluding London

Consultant
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Consultant in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 17 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Consultant in the UK excluding London

Consultant
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 Consultant within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 17 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 -7 278 £595 +8.18% 171
South East -2 276 £540 -1.82% 307
Midlands -13 176 £531 +1.19% 89
North West -2 168 £623 +15.71% 93
West Midlands -7 137 £550 +4.76% 48
South West +8 111 £588 +11.90% 166
Yorkshire +6 101 £550 -12.00% 61
East of England -2 91 £550 -4.35% 83
Scotland +12 67 £508 -7.73% 16
East Midlands -26 38 £505 -2.88% 40
Wales +10 28 £405 -26.36% 25
Northern Ireland +3 12 £405 -22.86% 19
North East -18 9 £620 +3.33% 18
Channel Islands - 2 £600 - 3
South Coast - 1 £550 -
Consultant
UK

Consultant Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London

For the 6 months to 17 January 2026, Consultant contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the UK excluding London region featuring Consultant in the job title.

1 331 (32.01%) Security Cleared
2 266 (25.73%) SC Cleared
3 264 (25.53%) SAP
4 157 (15.18%) Migration
5 147 (14.22%) SAP S/4HANA
6 131 (12.67%) Oracle
7 124 (11.99%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 111 (10.74%) Problem-Solving
9 106 (10.25%) Stakeholder Management
10 100 (9.67%) Microsoft
11 98 (9.48%) Workshop Facilitation
12 86 (8.32%) ERP
13 74 (7.16%) Roadmaps
14 72 (6.96%) Azure
15 68 (6.58%) User Acceptance Testing
16 62 (6.00%) Knowledge Transfer
17 60 (5.80%) Data Migration
18 59 (5.71%) Analytics
19 56 (5.42%) Cybersecurity
20 55 (5.32%) Validation
21 53 (5.13%) CyberArk
22 52 (5.03%) Business Intelligence
23 49 (4.74%) Agile
23 49 (4.74%) Cisco
24 48 (4.64%) Change Management
25 47 (4.55%) Logistics
26 46 (4.45%) DevOps
26 46 (4.45%) DV Cleared
27 45 (4.35%) BPSS Clearance
27 45 (4.35%) Collaborative Working

Consultant Skill Set
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:

Application Platforms
1 28 (2.71%) SharePoint
2 14 (1.35%) Confluence
2 14 (1.35%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (0.48%) Jupyter
4 3 (0.29%) CMS
4 3 (0.29%) MTS
4 3 (0.29%) WebLogic
5 2 (0.19%) NetWeaver
5 2 (0.19%) OpenStack
5 2 (0.19%) Oracle Service Bus
5 2 (0.19%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 1 (0.097%) Camunda
6 1 (0.097%) Oracle Workflow
6 1 (0.097%) SAS
6 1 (0.097%) SharePoint Server
6 1 (0.097%) Skype for Business
6 1 (0.097%) WebSphere
Applications
1 17 (1.64%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (0.77%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (0.77%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 5 (0.48%) MS Visio
4 4 (0.39%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.39%) Spreadsheet
5 3 (0.29%) Navisworks
5 3 (0.29%) Revit
6 2 (0.19%) ProjectWise
6 2 (0.19%) PTC Creo
7 1 (0.097%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.097%) InVision
7 1 (0.097%) Sketch
7 1 (0.097%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 147 (14.22%) SAP S/4HANA
2 37 (3.58%) Oracle EBS
3 30 (2.90%) Oracle Payables
4 29 (2.80%) Oracle Receivables
5 27 (2.61%) SAP FI
6 25 (2.42%) Oracle EBS R12
7 24 (2.32%) SAP MM
8 23 (2.22%) Oracle Cash Management
9 22 (2.13%) Oracle General Ledger
9 22 (2.13%) SAP HCM
9 22 (2.13%) SAP Payroll
10 21 (2.03%) SAP EWM
11 20 (1.93%) SAP PSCD
12 18 (1.74%) Oracle Assets
12 18 (1.74%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
12 18 (1.74%) SAP WM
13 17 (1.64%) SAP Hybris
14 16 (1.55%) SAP BRIM
15 15 (1.45%) SAP CO
15 15 (1.45%) SAP FI/CO
Cloud Services
1 72 (6.96%) Azure
2 41 (3.97%) OCI
3 37 (3.58%) AWS
4 34 (3.29%) Dynamics 365
5 31 (3.00%) GCP
6 27 (2.61%) Microsoft 365
6 27 (2.61%) Power Platform
7 17 (1.64%) SAP Commerce Cloud
8 15 (1.45%) SuccessFactors
9 14 (1.35%) Entra ID
10 12 (1.16%) SaaS
11 10 (0.97%) Microsoft Copilot
12 9 (0.87%) Azure DevOps
13 8 (0.77%) OneDrive
13 8 (0.77%) PowerApps
14 6 (0.58%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 6 (0.58%) Power Automate
15 5 (0.48%) Azure AI
16 4 (0.39%) Copilot Studio
16 4 (0.39%) ShareGate
Communications & Networking
1 17 (1.64%) Firewall
2 7 (0.68%) SSH
3 6 (0.58%) Kerberos
3 6 (0.58%) Network Security
3 6 (0.58%) SD-WAN
3 6 (0.58%) WAN
4 5 (0.48%) VoIP
5 4 (0.39%) Cisco ISE
6 3 (0.29%) BGP
6 3 (0.29%) Cisco ASA
6 3 (0.29%) Cisco Firepower
6 3 (0.29%) Cisco Nexus
6 3 (0.29%) EIGRP
6 3 (0.29%) OSPF
6 3 (0.29%) VPN
6 3 (0.29%) VSAN
6 3 (0.29%) WebEx
7 2 (0.19%) VLAN
7 2 (0.19%) Wi-Fi
7 2 (0.19%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (2.22%) Oracle Reports
2 22 (2.13%) Power BI
3 19 (1.84%) SAP HANA
4 13 (1.26%) Oracle BI Publisher
4 13 (1.26%) SQL Server
5 11 (1.06%) Data Warehouse
6 9 (0.87%) Metadata
7 8 (0.77%) SAP BW
8 5 (0.48%) Oracle Database
9 4 (0.39%) GIS
9 4 (0.39%) SAP Data Services
9 4 (0.39%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 3 (0.29%) NoSQL
10 3 (0.29%) PostgreSQL
10 3 (0.29%) Snowflake Schema
11 2 (0.19%) Amazon RDS
11 2 (0.19%) DynamoDB
11 2 (0.19%) MongoDB
11 2 (0.19%) QGIS
11 2 (0.19%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 26 (2.51%) JIRA
2 9 (0.87%) GitLab
3 8 (0.77%) Hudson
4 7 (0.68%) Git
5 2 (0.19%) Jenkins
5 2 (0.19%) Oracle Forms
5 2 (0.19%) Tricentis qTest
6 1 (0.097%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.097%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.097%) JUnit
6 1 (0.097%) LSMW
6 1 (0.097%) NeoLoad
6 1 (0.097%) Postman
6 1 (0.097%) Rational Rhapsody
6 1 (0.097%) SonarQube
6 1 (0.097%) Visual Studio
6 1 (0.097%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 260 (25.15%) Social Skills
2 218 (21.08%) Finance
3 131 (12.67%) Public Sector
4 90 (8.70%) Analytical Skills
5 52 (5.03%) Manufacturing
6 34 (3.29%) Presentation Skills
7 32 (3.09%) Telecoms
8 27 (2.61%) Documentation Skills
9 24 (2.32%) Billing
10 23 (2.22%) General Ledger
11 19 (1.84%) Marketing
12 18 (1.74%) Local Government
13 13 (1.26%) Banking
14 12 (1.16%) Legal
14 12 (1.16%) Pharmaceutical
15 9 (0.87%) Retail
16 7 (0.68%) Electronics
16 7 (0.68%) Law
16 7 (0.68%) Organisational Skills
17 6 (0.58%) Inclusion and Diversity
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (3.77%) Oracle Fusion
2 35 (3.38%) SAP Fiori
3 34 (3.29%) REST
4 26 (2.51%) Web Services
5 21 (2.03%) SOAP
6 18 (1.74%) XML
7 13 (1.26%) LDAP
8 12 (1.16%) BAPI
9 11 (1.06%) SAP Basis
10 10 (0.97%) OAuth
10 10 (0.97%) SAML
11 9 (0.87%) Middleware
12 8 (0.77%) JSON
13 7 (0.68%) SAP TM
14 6 (0.58%) SAP Business Workflow
15 5 (0.48%) .NET
15 5 (0.48%) OpenID
16 4 (0.39%) OAuth2
17 3 (0.29%) Node.js
17 3 (0.29%) scikit-learn
Miscellaneous
1 37 (3.58%) Onboarding
2 27 (2.61%) Legacy Systems
3 14 (1.35%) Product Ownership
4 12 (1.16%) Data Protection Act
4 12 (1.16%) Security Posture
5 11 (1.06%) Replication
6 10 (0.97%) Data Centre
7 9 (0.87%) Management Information System
8 8 (0.77%) Data Structures
9 7 (0.68%) SCADA
10 6 (0.58%) Public Cloud
11 5 (0.48%) Beowulf
11 5 (0.48%) Operational Technology
11 5 (0.48%) SCORM
12 4 (0.39%) Contract for Difference
12 4 (0.39%) Educational Technology
12 4 (0.39%) FMCG
12 4 (0.39%) Hybrid Cloud
12 4 (0.39%) NHS
12 4 (0.39%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 29 (2.80%) Windows
2 21 (2.03%) Linux
3 7 (0.68%) AIX
3 7 (0.68%) Solaris
4 5 (0.48%) Unix
4 5 (0.48%) Windows 10
4 5 (0.48%) Windows Server
5 4 (0.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (0.29%) VMS
7 2 (0.19%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2003
7 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2008
8 1 (0.097%) CentOS
8 1 (0.097%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 157 (15.18%) Migration
2 124 (11.99%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 111 (10.74%) Problem-Solving
4 106 (10.25%) Stakeholder Management
5 98 (9.48%) Workshop Facilitation
6 86 (8.32%) ERP
7 74 (7.16%) Roadmaps
8 68 (6.58%) User Acceptance Testing
9 62 (6.00%) Knowledge Transfer
10 60 (5.80%) Data Migration
11 59 (5.71%) Analytics
12 56 (5.42%) Cybersecurity
13 55 (5.32%) Validation
14 52 (5.03%) Business Intelligence
15 49 (4.74%) Agile
16 48 (4.64%) Change Management
17 47 (4.55%) Logistics
18 46 (4.45%) DevOps
19 45 (4.35%) Collaborative Working
20 43 (4.16%) Process Improvement
Programming Languages
1 39 (3.77%) SQL
2 35 (3.38%) ABAP
3 25 (2.42%) Python
4 22 (2.13%) PowerShell
5 8 (0.77%) Bash
5 8 (0.77%) JavaScript
6 7 (0.68%) Groovy
7 6 (0.58%) PL/SQL
8 5 (0.48%) Java
9 3 (0.29%) C#
9 3 (0.29%) TypeScript
9 3 (0.29%) VBA
10 2 (0.19%) Apex Code
10 2 (0.19%) C
10 2 (0.19%) C++
10 2 (0.19%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 2 (0.19%) X++
11 1 (0.097%) PHP
11 1 (0.097%) R
11 1 (0.097%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 331 (32.01%) Security Cleared
2 266 (25.73%) SC Cleared
3 46 (4.45%) DV Cleared
4 45 (4.35%) BPSS Clearance
5 26 (2.51%) Degree
6 20 (1.93%) CISSP
7 15 (1.45%) CISM
8 12 (1.16%) Cisco Certification
8 12 (1.16%) SAP Certification
9 8 (0.77%) CCNP
9 8 (0.77%) Microsoft Certification
10 4 (0.39%) ACCA
10 4 (0.39%) CCIE
10 4 (0.39%) CIMA
10 4 (0.39%) Computer Science Degree
11 3 (0.29%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 3 (0.29%) AWS Certification
11 3 (0.29%) CESG Certified Professional
11 3 (0.29%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 3 (0.29%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (4.16%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 33 (3.19%) NIST
3 26 (2.51%) QA
4 24 (2.32%) GDPR
5 17 (1.64%) Data Quality
5 17 (1.64%) GRC
6 12 (1.16%) Actionable Recommendations
7 8 (0.77%) NCSC
7 8 (0.77%) PMO
8 7 (0.68%) JSP 440
9 6 (0.58%) SOC 2
10 5 (0.48%) COBIT
10 5 (0.48%) Cyber Essentials
10 5 (0.48%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 5 (0.48%) PCI DSS
11 4 (0.39%) RMADS
12 3 (0.29%) ISO 19650
12 3 (0.29%) NIST 800
12 3 (0.29%) SLA
13 2 (0.19%) Accessibility
System Software
1 31 (3.00%) Active Directory
2 12 (1.16%) Docker
3 11 (1.06%) VMware NSX
4 10 (0.97%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (0.48%) Slurm Workload Manager
6 3 (0.29%) vSphere
7 1 (0.097%) Ceph
7 1 (0.097%) Firmware
7 1 (0.097%) KVM
7 1 (0.097%) NDS
7 1 (0.097%) NetIQ eDirectory
7 1 (0.097%) QEMU
7 1 (0.097%) Terminal Services
7 1 (0.097%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.097%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 21 (2.03%) Kubernetes
2 15 (1.45%) Terraform
3 10 (0.97%) PingFederate
3 10 (0.97%) Single Sign-On
4 8 (0.77%) Grafana
5 7 (0.68%) Prometheus
6 6 (0.58%) Ansible
6 6 (0.58%) SCCM
7 5 (0.48%) Podman
8 4 (0.39%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 3 (0.29%) Microsoft Intune
10 2 (0.19%) EMC NetWorker
10 2 (0.19%) EMC VPLEX
10 2 (0.19%) EnCase
10 2 (0.19%) FTK
10 2 (0.19%) NetBackup
10 2 (0.19%) vRealize
11 1 (0.097%) Cisco UCCE
11 1 (0.097%) Control-M
11 1 (0.097%) WhatsUp Gold
Vendors
1 264 (25.53%) SAP
2 131 (12.67%) Oracle
3 100 (9.67%) Microsoft
4 53 (5.13%) CyberArk
5 49 (4.74%) Cisco
6 34 (3.29%) Aruba
7 31 (3.00%) ServiceNow
8 26 (2.51%) Workday
9 20 (1.93%) Google
10 17 (1.64%) VMware
11 13 (1.26%) Adobe
11 13 (1.26%) Ariba
12 12 (1.16%) OpenText
12 12 (1.16%) Salesforce
13 10 (0.97%) BMC
14 9 (0.87%) Remedy
15 8 (0.77%) Atlassian
15 8 (0.77%) Databricks
15 8 (0.77%) Dynatrace
15 8 (0.77%) IFS