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 10 January 2026.

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

6 months to
10 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 30 33 33
Rank change year-on-year +3 0 +31
Contract jobs requiring a Consultant 1,026 771 1,026
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 5.66% 5.53% 5.28%
As % of the Job Titles category 6.26% 5.99% 5.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 637 473 684
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 £714 £725 £700
UK median daily rate £550 £550 £550
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 10 23
10th Percentile £63.65 £55.00 £44.44
25th Percentile £68.50 £68.80 £59.38
Median hourly rate £77.50 £74.00 £63.29
Median % change year-on-year +4.73% +16.92% +0.46%
75th Percentile £81.25 £85.13 £78.00
90th Percentile £89.90 £86.38 £85.60
UK median hourly rate £72.63 £74.00 £65.13
% change year-on-year -1.85% +13.62% -6.96%

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 16,402 12,873 18,172
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.51% 92.28% 93.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,071 7,628 11,706
10th Percentile £213 £213 £213
25th Percentile £375 £363 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £479 £500
Median % change year-on-year -0.89% -4.15% -
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 1,652 697 1,360
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.22 £14.03
25th Percentile £17.69 £20.30 £18.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £31.76 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -20.81% -29.42% +66.64%
75th Percentile £60.00 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £72.14 £76.53
UK median hourly rate £26.50 £32.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -18.46% -26.97% +35.79%

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 10 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 10 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 10 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 +4 277 £597 +9.45% 173
South East 0 277 £550 - 327
North West -1 169 £621 +15.47% 90
Midlands -17 166 £550 +4.76% 109
West Midlands -9 132 £550 +4.76% 58
South West +8 112 £588 +9.30% 172
Yorkshire +10 99 £550 -12.00% 67
East of England -3 90 £550 -2.22% 87
Scotland +12 67 £500 -9.09% 22
East Midlands -23 33 £510 -2.86% 51
Wales +13 30 £405 -31.06% 27
Northern Ireland 0 12 £405 -22.86% 20
North East -9 9 £620 +3.33% 17
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 10 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.

1 334 (32.55%) Security Cleared
2 269 (26.22%) SC Cleared
3 260 (25.34%) SAP
4 151 (14.72%) Migration
5 144 (14.04%) SAP S/4HANA
6 133 (12.96%) Oracle
7 125 (12.18%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 116 (11.31%) Problem-Solving
9 105 (10.23%) Stakeholder Management
10 102 (9.94%) Microsoft
11 91 (8.87%) Workshop Facilitation
12 83 (8.09%) ERP
13 75 (7.31%) Roadmaps
14 66 (6.43%) Azure
15 64 (6.24%) User Acceptance Testing
16 61 (5.95%) Knowledge Transfer
17 56 (5.46%) Agile
17 56 (5.46%) Cybersecurity
18 55 (5.36%) Analytics
18 55 (5.36%) Validation
19 54 (5.26%) Data Migration
20 53 (5.17%) CyberArk
21 51 (4.97%) Business Intelligence
22 49 (4.78%) Change Management
22 49 (4.78%) Cisco
23 48 (4.68%) DevOps
24 47 (4.58%) Logistics
25 45 (4.39%) BPSS Clearance
25 45 (4.39%) Collaborative Working
25 45 (4.39%) DV Cleared

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 (2.73%) SharePoint
2 14 (1.36%) Confluence
2 14 (1.36%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (0.58%) WebLogic
4 5 (0.49%) Oracle Service Bus
4 5 (0.49%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 4 (0.39%) Jupyter
6 3 (0.29%) CMS
6 3 (0.29%) MTS
7 2 (0.19%) NetWeaver
7 2 (0.19%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.097%) Camunda
8 1 (0.097%) Oracle Workflow
8 1 (0.097%) SAS
8 1 (0.097%) SharePoint Server
8 1 (0.097%) Skype for Business
8 1 (0.097%) WebSphere
Applications
1 17 (1.66%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (0.78%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (0.78%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 5 (0.49%) 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
7 1 (0.097%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.097%) InVision
7 1 (0.097%) Sketch
7 1 (0.097%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 144 (14.04%) SAP S/4HANA
2 37 (3.61%) Oracle EBS
3 29 (2.83%) Oracle Payables
4 28 (2.73%) Oracle Receivables
5 26 (2.53%) SAP FI
6 25 (2.44%) Oracle EBS R12
7 24 (2.34%) SAP HCM
7 24 (2.34%) SAP MM
8 23 (2.24%) Oracle Cash Management
9 22 (2.14%) SAP EWM
9 22 (2.14%) SAP Payroll
10 21 (2.05%) Oracle General Ledger
11 18 (1.75%) Oracle Assets
11 18 (1.75%) SAP PSCD
11 18 (1.75%) SAP WM
12 17 (1.66%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
13 15 (1.46%) SAP Hybris
14 14 (1.36%) SAP BRIM
14 14 (1.36%) SAP FI/CO
14 14 (1.36%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 66 (6.43%) Azure
2 41 (4.00%) OCI
3 38 (3.70%) Dynamics 365
4 37 (3.61%) AWS
5 31 (3.02%) GCP
6 28 (2.73%) Microsoft 365
6 28 (2.73%) Power Platform
7 16 (1.56%) SuccessFactors
8 15 (1.46%) SAP Commerce Cloud
9 14 (1.36%) Entra ID
10 11 (1.07%) SaaS
11 9 (0.88%) PowerApps
12 8 (0.78%) Azure DevOps
12 8 (0.78%) OneDrive
13 7 (0.68%) Microsoft Copilot
13 7 (0.68%) Power Automate
14 6 (0.58%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 4 (0.39%) Cloud Computing
15 4 (0.39%) PaaS
15 4 (0.39%) ShareGate
Communications & Networking
1 19 (1.85%) Firewall
2 7 (0.68%) Network Security
2 7 (0.68%) SSH
3 6 (0.58%) Kerberos
3 6 (0.58%) SD-WAN
3 6 (0.58%) WAN
4 5 (0.49%) VoIP
5 4 (0.39%) Cisco ISE
5 4 (0.39%) VSAN
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%) WebEx
7 2 (0.19%) VLAN
7 2 (0.19%) Wi-Fi
7 2 (0.19%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (2.24%) Oracle Reports
2 21 (2.05%) Power BI
3 20 (1.95%) SAP HANA
4 14 (1.36%) SQL Server
5 13 (1.27%) Oracle BI Publisher
6 11 (1.07%) Data Warehouse
7 9 (0.88%) Metadata
8 8 (0.78%) SAP BW
9 7 (0.68%) Oracle Database
10 4 (0.39%) GIS
10 4 (0.39%) SAP Data Services
10 4 (0.39%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 3 (0.29%) PostgreSQL
12 2 (0.19%) EDMS
12 2 (0.19%) MongoDB
12 2 (0.19%) MS Access
12 2 (0.19%) NoSQL
12 2 (0.19%) Oracle BI EE
12 2 (0.19%) Snowflake Schema
12 2 (0.19%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 26 (2.53%) JIRA
2 9 (0.88%) GitLab
3 8 (0.78%) 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
1 261 (25.44%) Social Skills
2 208 (20.27%) Finance
3 131 (12.77%) Public Sector
4 97 (9.45%) Analytical Skills
5 54 (5.26%) Manufacturing
6 34 (3.31%) Presentation Skills
7 30 (2.92%) Telecoms
8 24 (2.34%) Documentation Skills
9 22 (2.14%) Billing
10 20 (1.95%) General Ledger
11 19 (1.85%) Marketing
12 16 (1.56%) Local Government
13 12 (1.17%) Banking
13 12 (1.17%) Pharmaceutical
14 10 (0.97%) Legal
15 9 (0.88%) Electronics
15 9 (0.88%) Retail
16 7 (0.68%) Influencing Skills
17 6 (0.58%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 6 (0.58%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (3.80%) Oracle Fusion
2 37 (3.61%) SAP Fiori
3 36 (3.51%) REST
4 26 (2.53%) Web Services
5 24 (2.34%) SOAP
6 21 (2.05%) XML
7 13 (1.27%) LDAP
7 13 (1.27%) OAuth
8 12 (1.17%) BAPI
8 12 (1.17%) SAP Basis
9 11 (1.07%) JSON
10 10 (0.97%) Middleware
10 10 (0.97%) SAML
11 7 (0.68%) OAuth2
11 7 (0.68%) SAP TM
12 6 (0.58%) SAP Business Workflow
13 5 (0.49%) .NET
13 5 (0.49%) OpenID
13 5 (0.49%) Swagger
13 5 (0.49%) XSD
Miscellaneous
1 36 (3.51%) Onboarding
2 25 (2.44%) Legacy Systems
3 14 (1.36%) Product Ownership
4 12 (1.17%) Security Posture
5 11 (1.07%) Data Centre
5 11 (1.07%) Data Protection Act
5 11 (1.07%) Replication
6 8 (0.78%) Data Structures
6 8 (0.78%) Management Information System
7 7 (0.68%) Cloud Native
8 6 (0.58%) Analytical Mindset
8 6 (0.58%) SCADA
9 5 (0.49%) Hybrid Cloud
9 5 (0.49%) Operational Technology
9 5 (0.49%) SCORM
9 5 (0.49%) Virtual Team
10 4 (0.39%) Educational Technology
10 4 (0.39%) NHS
10 4 (0.39%) Private Cloud
10 4 (0.39%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 30 (2.92%) Windows
2 22 (2.14%) Linux
3 7 (0.68%) AIX
3 7 (0.68%) Solaris
4 6 (0.58%) Unix
5 5 (0.49%) Windows 10
5 5 (0.49%) Windows Server
6 4 (0.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (0.39%) 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
1 151 (14.72%) Migration
2 125 (12.18%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 116 (11.31%) Problem-Solving
4 105 (10.23%) Stakeholder Management
5 91 (8.87%) Workshop Facilitation
6 83 (8.09%) ERP
7 75 (7.31%) Roadmaps
8 64 (6.24%) User Acceptance Testing
9 61 (5.95%) Knowledge Transfer
10 56 (5.46%) Agile
10 56 (5.46%) Cybersecurity
11 55 (5.36%) Analytics
11 55 (5.36%) Validation
12 54 (5.26%) Data Migration
13 51 (4.97%) Business Intelligence
14 49 (4.78%) Change Management
15 48 (4.68%) DevOps
16 47 (4.58%) Logistics
17 45 (4.39%) Collaborative Working
18 40 (3.90%) Process Improvement
Programming Languages
1 42 (4.09%) SQL
2 38 (3.70%) ABAP
3 24 (2.34%) Python
4 23 (2.24%) PowerShell
5 9 (0.88%) JavaScript
5 9 (0.88%) PL/SQL
6 8 (0.78%) Bash
7 7 (0.68%) Groovy
8 5 (0.49%) 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
1 334 (32.55%) Security Cleared
2 269 (26.22%) SC Cleared
3 45 (4.39%) BPSS Clearance
3 45 (4.39%) DV Cleared
4 26 (2.53%) Degree
5 22 (2.14%) CISSP
6 18 (1.75%) CISM
7 12 (1.17%) Cisco Certification
7 12 (1.17%) Microsoft Certification
7 12 (1.17%) SAP Certification
8 8 (0.78%) CCNP
9 4 (0.39%) ACCA
9 4 (0.39%) CCIE
9 4 (0.39%) CEH
9 4 (0.39%) CESG Certified Professional
9 4 (0.39%) CIMA
9 4 (0.39%) Computer Science Degree
10 3 (0.29%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
10 3 (0.29%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
10 3 (0.29%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 40 (3.90%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 30 (2.92%) NIST
3 26 (2.53%) QA
4 24 (2.34%) GDPR
5 17 (1.66%) Data Quality
5 17 (1.66%) GRC
6 12 (1.17%) Actionable Recommendations
7 9 (0.88%) NCSC
8 8 (0.78%) PMO
9 6 (0.58%) SOC 2
10 5 (0.49%) COBIT
10 5 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials
10 5 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 5 (0.49%) JSP 440
10 5 (0.49%) PCI DSS
10 5 (0.49%) RMADS
11 3 (0.29%) ISO 19650
11 3 (0.29%) NIST 800
11 3 (0.29%) SLA
12 2 (0.19%) Accessibility
System Software
1 31 (3.02%) Active Directory
2 12 (1.17%) VMware NSX
3 11 (1.07%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (0.97%) Docker
5 4 (0.39%) Slurm Workload Manager
5 4 (0.39%) vSphere
6 3 (0.29%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.097%) Ceph
7 1 (0.097%) Firmware
7 1 (0.097%) IAG
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 Machines
Systems Management
1 19 (1.85%) Kubernetes
2 16 (1.56%) Terraform
3 11 (1.07%) Single Sign-On
4 10 (0.97%) PingFederate
5 8 (0.78%) Grafana
5 8 (0.78%) SCCM
6 7 (0.68%) Ansible
6 7 (0.68%) Prometheus
7 5 (0.49%) Microsoft Intune
8 4 (0.39%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 4 (0.39%) Podman
9 2 (0.19%) EMC NetWorker
9 2 (0.19%) EMC VPLEX
9 2 (0.19%) EnCase
9 2 (0.19%) FTK
9 2 (0.19%) NetBackup
9 2 (0.19%) vRealize
10 1 (0.097%) Cisco UCCE
10 1 (0.097%) Control-M
10 1 (0.097%) WhatsUp Gold
Vendors
1 260 (25.34%) SAP
2 133 (12.96%) Oracle
3 102 (9.94%) Microsoft
4 53 (5.17%) CyberArk
5 49 (4.78%) Cisco
6 34 (3.31%) Aruba
7 31 (3.02%) ServiceNow
8 25 (2.44%) Workday
9 20 (1.95%) Google
10 18 (1.75%) VMware
11 14 (1.36%) Adobe
12 12 (1.17%) Ariba
12 12 (1.17%) OpenText
12 12 (1.17%) Salesforce
13 10 (0.97%) BMC
14 9 (0.88%) EMC
14 9 (0.88%) Remedy
15 8 (0.78%) Atlassian
15 8 (0.78%) Dynatrace
15 8 (0.78%) IFS