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 25 January 2026.

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

6 months to
25 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 34 34 34
Rank change year-on-year 0 0 +29
Contract jobs requiring a Consultant 1,029 767 1,010
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 5.46% 5.58% 4.93%
As % of the Job Titles category 6.02% 6.04% 5.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 640 472 679
10th Percentile £403 £413 £375
25th Percentile £469 £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 £713 £719
UK median daily rate £550 £550 £550
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 11 26
10th Percentile - £71.19 £42.50
25th Percentile £56.25 £73.19 £52.90
Median hourly rate £60.00 £82.50 £62.15
Median % change year-on-year -27.27% +32.75% -1.36%
75th Percentile £80.50 £86.00 £75.06
90th Percentile £85.53 £86.25 £83.50
UK median hourly rate £62.50 £82.50 £63.29
% change year-on-year -24.24% +30.35% -6.93%

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 17,103 12,709 19,113
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.74% 92.41% 93.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,441 7,519 12,111
10th Percentile £213 £213 £213
25th Percentile £375 £363 £372
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £478 £480 £498
Median % change year-on-year -0.42% -3.62% -0.50%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £600
90th Percentile £678 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,758 679 1,722
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.24 £13.24
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.30 £16.57
Median hourly rate £27.21 £31.08 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -12.45% -22.30% +35.59%
75th Percentile £60.90 £64.30 £63.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £73.75 £74.00
UK median hourly rate £28.50 £32.50 £37.88
% change year-on-year -12.31% -14.19% +11.40%

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 25 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 25 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 25 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
South East -4 273 £540 -1.82% 357
North of England -6 270 £597 +8.45% 175
Midlands -15 179 £531 +1.19% 91
North West -4 161 £623 +15.71% 94
West Midlands -11 137 £550 +4.76% 48
South West +11 116 £588 +11.90% 183
Yorkshire +8 99 £550 -7.37% 67
East of England +7 95 £550 -2.22% 79
Scotland +18 63 £500 -9.09% 17
East Midlands -24 41 £505 -2.88% 41
Wales +11 28 £405 -26.36% 31
Northern Ireland +1 12 £405 -22.86% 19
North East -18 10 £525 -12.50% 14
Channel Islands - 2 £600 -
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 25 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.

1 327 (31.78%) Security Cleared
2 266 (25.85%) SC Cleared
3 260 (25.27%) SAP
4 157 (15.26%) Migration
5 152 (14.77%) SAP S/4HANA
6 128 (12.44%) Oracle
7 123 (11.95%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 111 (10.79%) Problem-Solving
9 102 (9.91%) Stakeholder Management
10 101 (9.82%) Workshop Facilitation
11 100 (9.72%) Microsoft
12 94 (9.14%) ERP
13 82 (7.97%) Azure
14 68 (6.61%) User Acceptance Testing
15 66 (6.41%) Roadmaps
16 64 (6.22%) Knowledge Transfer
17 60 (5.83%) Analytics
17 60 (5.83%) Data Migration
18 55 (5.34%) Validation
19 54 (5.25%) Cybersecurity
20 52 (5.05%) Business Intelligence
20 52 (5.05%) CyberArk
21 49 (4.76%) Change Management
22 48 (4.66%) Cisco
23 47 (4.57%) Logistics
24 44 (4.28%) Agile
24 44 (4.28%) DevOps
25 43 (4.18%) Collaborative Working
25 43 (4.18%) DV Cleared
26 42 (4.08%) BPSS Clearance

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 (2.72%) SharePoint
2 14 (1.36%) Confluence
2 14 (1.36%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (0.58%) Jupyter
4 3 (0.29%) MTS
5 2 (0.19%) CMS
5 2 (0.19%) NetWeaver
5 2 (0.19%) OpenStack
5 2 (0.19%) Oracle Workflow
6 1 (0.097%) ArcGIS
6 1 (0.097%) Camunda
6 1 (0.097%) SAS
6 1 (0.097%) SharePoint Server
6 1 (0.097%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 18 (1.75%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (0.78%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (0.78%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (0.39%) Microsoft Project
3 4 (0.39%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.39%) Spreadsheet
4 3 (0.29%) Navisworks
4 3 (0.29%) PTC Creo
4 3 (0.29%) Revit
5 2 (0.19%) ProjectWise
6 1 (0.097%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.097%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 152 (14.77%) SAP S/4HANA
2 37 (3.60%) Oracle EBS
3 30 (2.92%) Oracle Payables
3 30 (2.92%) Oracle Receivables
4 28 (2.72%) SAP FI
5 25 (2.43%) Oracle EBS R12
6 24 (2.33%) SAP MM
7 23 (2.24%) Oracle Cash Management
7 23 (2.24%) SAP PSCD
8 22 (2.14%) Oracle General Ledger
8 22 (2.14%) SAP Payroll
9 21 (2.04%) SAP EWM
10 20 (1.94%) SAP HCM
11 19 (1.85%) Oracle Assets
12 18 (1.75%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
12 18 (1.75%) SAP Hybris
12 18 (1.75%) SAP WM
13 17 (1.65%) SAP BRIM
14 14 (1.36%) SAP CO
14 14 (1.36%) SAP FI/CO
Cloud Services
1 82 (7.97%) Azure
2 42 (4.08%) OCI
3 35 (3.40%) AWS
3 35 (3.40%) Dynamics 365
4 30 (2.92%) GCP
5 29 (2.82%) Power Platform
6 26 (2.53%) Microsoft 365
7 18 (1.75%) SAP Commerce Cloud
8 15 (1.46%) Entra ID
9 13 (1.26%) SuccessFactors
10 12 (1.17%) SaaS
11 11 (1.07%) Microsoft Copilot
12 10 (0.97%) Azure DevOps
13 9 (0.87%) PowerApps
14 8 (0.78%) OneDrive
15 7 (0.68%) Power Automate
16 5 (0.49%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 5 (0.49%) Azure AI
17 4 (0.39%) Copilot Studio
17 4 (0.39%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 16 (1.55%) Firewall
2 6 (0.58%) Network Security
2 6 (0.58%) SSH
3 5 (0.49%) Kerberos
3 5 (0.49%) SD-WAN
3 5 (0.49%) WAN
4 4 (0.39%) Cisco ISE
5 3 (0.29%) BGP
5 3 (0.29%) Cisco ASA
5 3 (0.29%) Cisco Firepower
5 3 (0.29%) Cisco Nexus
5 3 (0.29%) EIGRP
5 3 (0.29%) OSPF
5 3 (0.29%) SAN
5 3 (0.29%) VPN
5 3 (0.29%) VSAN
5 3 (0.29%) WebEx
6 2 (0.19%) Intranet
6 2 (0.19%) SSL
6 2 (0.19%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (2.33%) Power BI
2 21 (2.04%) Oracle Reports
3 19 (1.85%) SAP HANA
4 14 (1.36%) Oracle BI Publisher
5 13 (1.26%) SQL Server
6 11 (1.07%) Data Warehouse
7 9 (0.87%) Metadata
8 8 (0.78%) SAP BW
9 5 (0.49%) GIS
10 4 (0.39%) Oracle Database
10 4 (0.39%) SAP Data Services
10 4 (0.39%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 3 (0.29%) NoSQL
11 3 (0.29%) PostgreSQL
11 3 (0.29%) Snowflake Schema
12 2 (0.19%) EDMS
12 2 (0.19%) MongoDB
12 2 (0.19%) MS Access
12 2 (0.19%) Oracle BI EE
12 2 (0.19%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 26 (2.53%) JIRA
2 8 (0.78%) GitLab
2 8 (0.78%) Hudson
3 7 (0.68%) Git
4 3 (0.29%) Oracle Forms
5 2 (0.19%) Jenkins
5 2 (0.19%) Tricentis qTest
6 1 (0.097%) Appium
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%) MSTest
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%) Toad
6 1 (0.097%) Visual Studio
6 1 (0.097%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 254 (24.68%) Social Skills
2 217 (21.09%) Finance
3 130 (12.63%) Public Sector
4 86 (8.36%) Analytical Skills
5 49 (4.76%) Manufacturing
6 32 (3.11%) Presentation Skills
6 32 (3.11%) Telecoms
7 27 (2.62%) Billing
8 24 (2.33%) Documentation Skills
8 24 (2.33%) General Ledger
9 18 (1.75%) Marketing
10 15 (1.46%) Local Government
11 13 (1.26%) Legal
12 12 (1.17%) Banking
13 11 (1.07%) Pharmaceutical
14 9 (0.87%) Retail
15 8 (0.78%) Law
16 7 (0.68%) Organisational Skills
17 6 (0.58%) Aerospace
17 6 (0.58%) Aviation
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (3.79%) Oracle Fusion
2 35 (3.40%) SAP Fiori
3 32 (3.11%) REST
4 26 (2.53%) Web Services
5 18 (1.75%) SOAP
6 16 (1.55%) XML
7 14 (1.36%) BAPI
8 13 (1.26%) LDAP
9 10 (0.97%) SAP Basis
10 9 (0.87%) SAML
11 7 (0.68%) Middleware
11 7 (0.68%) OAuth
11 7 (0.68%) SAP TM
12 6 (0.58%) .NET
12 6 (0.58%) JSON
12 6 (0.58%) SAP Business Workflow
13 5 (0.49%) OpenID
14 3 (0.29%) IDoc
14 3 (0.29%) scikit-learn
14 3 (0.29%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 36 (3.50%) Onboarding
2 23 (2.24%) Legacy Systems
3 14 (1.36%) Product Ownership
4 12 (1.17%) Security Posture
5 11 (1.07%) Data Protection Act
5 11 (1.07%) Replication
6 10 (0.97%) Data Centre
7 9 (0.87%) Management Information System
8 8 (0.78%) Data Structures
8 8 (0.78%) Public Cloud
9 7 (0.68%) SCADA
10 6 (0.58%) Beowulf
11 5 (0.49%) NHS
11 5 (0.49%) Operational Technology
11 5 (0.49%) SCORM
12 4 (0.39%) Cloud Native
12 4 (0.39%) Contract for Difference
12 4 (0.39%) Educational Technology
12 4 (0.39%) FMCG
12 4 (0.39%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 30 (2.92%) Windows
2 20 (1.94%) Linux
3 6 (0.58%) AIX
3 6 (0.58%) Solaris
3 6 (0.58%) Windows Server
4 5 (0.49%) Unix
5 4 (0.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 4 (0.39%) Windows 10
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 (15.26%) Migration
2 123 (11.95%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 111 (10.79%) Problem-Solving
4 102 (9.91%) Stakeholder Management
5 101 (9.82%) Workshop Facilitation
6 94 (9.14%) ERP
7 68 (6.61%) User Acceptance Testing
8 66 (6.41%) Roadmaps
9 64 (6.22%) Knowledge Transfer
10 60 (5.83%) Analytics
10 60 (5.83%) Data Migration
11 55 (5.34%) Validation
12 54 (5.25%) Cybersecurity
13 52 (5.05%) Business Intelligence
14 49 (4.76%) Change Management
15 47 (4.57%) Logistics
16 44 (4.28%) Agile
16 44 (4.28%) DevOps
17 43 (4.18%) Collaborative Working
18 42 (4.08%) Process Improvement
Programming Languages
1 40 (3.89%) SQL
2 33 (3.21%) ABAP
3 24 (2.33%) Python
4 21 (2.04%) PowerShell
5 7 (0.68%) Bash
5 7 (0.68%) JavaScript
6 5 (0.49%) Java
6 5 (0.49%) PL/SQL
7 4 (0.39%) C#
7 4 (0.39%) Groovy
8 3 (0.29%) TypeScript
8 3 (0.29%) VBA
9 2 (0.19%) Apex Code
9 2 (0.19%) C++
9 2 (0.19%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 2 (0.19%) Shell Script
9 2 (0.19%) X++
10 1 (0.097%) C
10 1 (0.097%) R
10 1 (0.097%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 327 (31.78%) Security Cleared
2 266 (25.85%) SC Cleared
3 43 (4.18%) DV Cleared
4 42 (4.08%) BPSS Clearance
5 28 (2.72%) Degree
6 18 (1.75%) CISSP
7 13 (1.26%) CISM
8 11 (1.07%) Cisco Certification
8 11 (1.07%) SAP Certification
9 8 (0.78%) Microsoft Certification
10 7 (0.68%) CCNP
11 6 (0.58%) Computer Science Degree
12 4 (0.39%) ACCA
12 4 (0.39%) CIMA
12 4 (0.39%) ITIL Certification
12 4 (0.39%) Master's Degree
13 3 (0.29%) CCA
13 3 (0.29%) CCIE
13 3 (0.29%) Oracle Certification
13 3 (0.29%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 41 (3.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 32 (3.11%) NIST
3 24 (2.33%) GDPR
3 24 (2.33%) QA
4 18 (1.75%) Data Quality
5 16 (1.55%) GRC
6 13 (1.26%) Actionable Recommendations
7 8 (0.78%) PMO
8 7 (0.68%) JSP 440
8 7 (0.68%) NCSC
9 5 (0.49%) COBIT
9 5 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials
9 5 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 5 (0.49%) SOC 2
10 4 (0.39%) PCI DSS
11 3 (0.29%) ISO 19650
11 3 (0.29%) NIST 800
11 3 (0.29%) RMADS
12 2 (0.19%) HIPAA
12 2 (0.19%) SLA
System Software
1 30 (2.92%) Active Directory
2 13 (1.26%) Docker
3 11 (1.07%) VMware NSX
4 10 (0.97%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (0.58%) 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 (2.04%) Kubernetes
2 14 (1.36%) Terraform
3 10 (0.97%) PingFederate
3 10 (0.97%) Single Sign-On
4 7 (0.68%) Grafana
5 6 (0.58%) Ansible
5 6 (0.58%) Podman
5 6 (0.58%) Prometheus
5 6 (0.58%) SCCM
6 4 (0.39%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 3 (0.29%) Microsoft Intune
8 2 (0.19%) EMC NetWorker
8 2 (0.19%) EMC VPLEX
8 2 (0.19%) EnCase
8 2 (0.19%) FTK
8 2 (0.19%) NetBackup
8 2 (0.19%) vRealize
9 1 (0.097%) Cisco UCCE
9 1 (0.097%) Control-M
9 1 (0.097%) WhatsUp Gold
Vendors
1 260 (25.27%) SAP
2 128 (12.44%) Oracle
3 100 (9.72%) Microsoft
4 52 (5.05%) CyberArk
5 48 (4.66%) Cisco
6 35 (3.40%) Aruba
7 32 (3.11%) ServiceNow
8 27 (2.62%) Workday
9 19 (1.85%) Google
10 18 (1.75%) VMware
11 13 (1.26%) Ariba
11 13 (1.26%) Siemens
12 12 (1.17%) Adobe
12 12 (1.17%) OpenText
12 12 (1.17%) Salesforce
13 9 (0.87%) BMC
14 8 (0.78%) Atlassian
14 8 (0.78%) Databricks
14 8 (0.78%) IFS
14 8 (0.78%) Remedy