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 1 November 2025.

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

6 months to
1 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 27 27 34
Rank change year-on-year 0 +7 +26
Contract jobs requiring a Consultant 1,046 1,045 1,124
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 6.27% 6.24% 5.38%
As % of the Job Titles category 6.99% 6.77% 5.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 661 607 702
10th Percentile £403 £425 £390
25th Percentile £475 £481 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year - +4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £629 £625
90th Percentile £716 £731 £688
UK median daily rate £550 £550 £550
% change year-on-year - - -2.22%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 15 23
10th Percentile £39.45 £55.00 £50.44
25th Percentile £65.00 £59.13 £60.52
Median hourly rate £77.50 £68.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +13.97% +4.62% -10.34%
75th Percentile £81.25 £74.81 £78.00
90th Percentile £87.00 £85.50 £85.60
UK median hourly rate £74.75 £64.00 £67.75
% change year-on-year +16.80% -5.54% -6.55%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 14,970 15,427 19,609
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 89.67% 92.11% 93.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,269 8,847 13,033
10th Percentile £208 £220 £213
25th Percentile £363 £375 £381
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £490 £500
Median % change year-on-year -3.06% -2.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £588 £600
90th Percentile £671 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,438 1,078 1,268
10th Percentile £13.75 £14.73 £14.25
25th Percentile £16.95 £19.41 £18.25
Median hourly rate £25.13 £37.50 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -32.99% -15.73% +89.36%
75th Percentile £50.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £69.75 £73.75 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £38.00 £45.00
% change year-on-year -33.82% -15.56% +62.28%

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 1 November 2025.

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 1 November 2025.

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 1 November 2025. 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 -4 294 £575 +1.81% 233
South East -1 257 £540 -1.82% 658
North West -4 202 £620 +12.73% 139
Midlands -22 157 £575 +4.55% 115
East of England +18 114 £550 +4.76% 70
West Midlands -28 108 £575 +10.58% 78
South West -1 106 £551 -8.13% 239
Yorkshire +3 88 £475 -20.83% 74
Scotland -6 72 £500 -9.09% 49
East Midlands -14 48 £600 +4.35% 36
Wales +8 34 £405 -32.50% 32
Northern Ireland -11 15 £405 -32.50% 13
North East -19 4 £550 -8.33% 20
South Coast -1 2 £525 -
Channel Islands - 2 £600 -
Consultant
UK

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

For the 6 months to 1 November 2025, 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.

1 346 (33.08%) Security Cleared
2 281 (26.86%) SC Cleared
3 271 (25.91%) SAP
4 159 (15.20%) SAP S/4HANA
5 125 (11.95%) Microsoft
5 125 (11.95%) Migration
6 112 (10.71%) Problem-Solving
7 103 (9.85%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 103 (9.85%) Stakeholder Management
8 100 (9.56%) Oracle
9 74 (7.07%) Roadmaps
10 72 (6.88%) ERP
11 68 (6.50%) Agile
11 68 (6.50%) Workshop Facilitation
12 59 (5.64%) Azure
12 59 (5.64%) Cybersecurity
12 59 (5.64%) DevOps
13 58 (5.54%) Analytics
13 58 (5.54%) Knowledge Transfer
14 56 (5.35%) Validation
15 54 (5.16%) CyberArk
15 54 (5.16%) DV Cleared
16 52 (4.97%) BPSS Clearance
17 51 (4.88%) Risk Management
18 50 (4.78%) Cisco
18 50 (4.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
19 49 (4.68%) Requirements Gathering
20 48 (4.59%) Data Migration
21 47 (4.49%) Business Intelligence
22 46 (4.40%) SAP Fiori

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 22 (2.10%) SharePoint
1 22 (2.10%) WebLogic
2 21 (2.01%) WebSphere
3 15 (1.43%) Microsoft Exchange
4 12 (1.15%) Confluence
5 7 (0.67%) Apache
5 7 (0.67%) IIS
5 7 (0.67%) Oracle Service Bus
5 7 (0.67%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 4 (0.38%) CMS
7 3 (0.29%) MTS
8 2 (0.19%) NetWeaver
8 2 (0.19%) OpenStack
8 2 (0.19%) Oracle Workflow
9 1 (0.096%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 1 (0.096%) Camunda
9 1 (0.096%) Oracle Self-Service HR
9 1 (0.096%) SAS
9 1 (0.096%) SharePoint Server
9 1 (0.096%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 17 (1.63%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (0.86%) Microsoft Office
3 8 (0.76%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (0.67%) MS Visio
5 4 (0.38%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.29%) Navisworks
6 3 (0.29%) Revit
6 3 (0.29%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.19%) CPLEX
7 2 (0.19%) ProjectWise
8 1 (0.096%) Adobe Illustrator
8 1 (0.096%) InDesign
8 1 (0.096%) InVision
8 1 (0.096%) Photoshop
8 1 (0.096%) Siemens NX
8 1 (0.096%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 159 (15.20%) SAP S/4HANA
2 27 (2.58%) SAP MM
3 24 (2.29%) SAP FI
4 23 (2.20%) Oracle EBS
4 23 (2.20%) SAP EWM
5 21 (2.01%) Maximo
6 18 (1.72%) Oracle Payables
6 18 (1.72%) SAP Payroll
6 18 (1.72%) SAP WM
7 17 (1.63%) SAP CO
7 17 (1.63%) SAP FI/CO
8 15 (1.43%) Oracle Cash Management
8 15 (1.43%) Oracle EBS R12
8 15 (1.43%) SAP HR
9 14 (1.34%) SAP HCM
10 13 (1.24%) Oracle Receivables
11 10 (0.96%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
11 10 (0.96%) SAP EHS
12 9 (0.86%) Oracle General Ledger
12 9 (0.86%) SAP PSCD
Cloud Services
1 59 (5.64%) Azure
2 39 (3.73%) AWS
3 38 (3.63%) OCI
4 32 (3.06%) Microsoft 365
5 31 (2.96%) Dynamics 365
6 29 (2.77%) Power Platform
7 27 (2.58%) GCP
8 20 (1.91%) SuccessFactors
9 19 (1.82%) Entra ID
10 12 (1.15%) SaaS
11 9 (0.86%) Power Automate
11 9 (0.86%) Snowflake
12 8 (0.76%) OneDrive
12 8 (0.76%) PowerApps
12 8 (0.76%) SAP Commerce Cloud
13 6 (0.57%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 6 (0.57%) PaaS
14 5 (0.48%) Azure DevOps
14 5 (0.48%) Microsoft Copilot
15 4 (0.38%) WhatsApp
Communications & Networking
1 20 (1.91%) Firewall
2 12 (1.15%) Network Security
3 7 (0.67%) SD-WAN
3 7 (0.67%) SSH
3 7 (0.67%) WAN
4 5 (0.48%) Kerberos
4 5 (0.48%) VoIP
4 5 (0.48%) VSAN
5 4 (0.38%) Cisco Firepower
5 4 (0.38%) DMZ
5 4 (0.38%) DNS
5 4 (0.38%) SAN
6 3 (0.29%) BGP
6 3 (0.29%) DHCP
6 3 (0.29%) EIGRP
6 3 (0.29%) HTTP
6 3 (0.29%) Internet
6 3 (0.29%) OSPF
6 3 (0.29%) VPN
6 3 (0.29%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (2.20%) SAP HANA
2 22 (2.10%) SQL Server
3 21 (2.01%) Power BI
4 18 (1.72%) Oracle Reports
5 16 (1.53%) Data Warehouse
6 10 (0.96%) Metadata
7 9 (0.86%) Amazon RDS
7 9 (0.86%) SAP BW
8 8 (0.76%) DB2
8 8 (0.76%) Oracle Database
8 8 (0.76%) SAP Data Services
9 4 (0.38%) Oracle BI EE
9 4 (0.38%) Oracle BI Publisher
10 3 (0.29%) Data Lake
10 3 (0.29%) Tableau
11 2 (0.19%) MongoDB
11 2 (0.19%) MS Access
11 2 (0.19%) QGIS
11 2 (0.19%) Semantic Layer
11 2 (0.19%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 24 (2.29%) JIRA
2 10 (0.96%) GitLab
3 7 (0.67%) Git
4 6 (0.57%) Hudson
5 2 (0.19%) Oracle Forms
6 1 (0.096%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.096%) Dreamweaver
6 1 (0.096%) Jenkins
6 1 (0.096%) LSMW
6 1 (0.096%) NeoLoad
6 1 (0.096%) Robot Framework
6 1 (0.096%) SonarQube
6 1 (0.096%) Tricentis qTest
6 1 (0.096%) Visual Studio
General
1 274 (26.20%) Social Skills
2 193 (18.45%) Finance
3 124 (11.85%) Public Sector
4 99 (9.46%) Analytical Skills
5 56 (5.35%) Manufacturing
6 38 (3.63%) Documentation Skills
7 35 (3.35%) Telecoms
8 34 (3.25%) Presentation Skills
9 30 (2.87%) Marketing
10 21 (2.01%) Pharmaceutical
11 16 (1.53%) Electronics
12 15 (1.43%) Local Government
13 14 (1.34%) Banking
14 13 (1.24%) Retail
15 12 (1.15%) Billing
15 12 (1.15%) General Ledger
16 9 (0.86%) Influencing Skills
16 9 (0.86%) Legal
17 8 (0.76%) Aerospace
18 6 (0.57%) Financial Institution
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 46 (4.40%) SAP Fiori
2 26 (2.49%) Web Services
3 25 (2.39%) Oracle Fusion
3 25 (2.39%) REST
3 25 (2.39%) SOAP
4 23 (2.20%) Middleware
5 20 (1.91%) HTML
5 20 (1.91%) XML
6 16 (1.53%) OAuth
7 15 (1.43%) .NET
7 15 (1.43%) BAPI
7 15 (1.43%) Node.js
8 14 (1.34%) SAP Basis
9 13 (1.24%) LDAP
10 11 (1.05%) JSON
11 10 (0.96%) SAML
12 9 (0.86%) OAuth2
13 8 (0.76%) Swagger
14 7 (0.67%) SAP TM
14 7 (0.67%) XSD
Miscellaneous
1 39 (3.73%) Onboarding
2 28 (2.68%) Legacy Systems
3 16 (1.53%) Security Posture
4 13 (1.24%) Management Information System
5 12 (1.15%) Data Centre
5 12 (1.15%) Product Ownership
6 11 (1.05%) Data Protection Act
7 10 (0.96%) Hybrid Cloud
8 7 (0.67%) Cloud Native
8 7 (0.67%) FMCG
8 7 (0.67%) Virtual Team
9 6 (0.57%) Data Structures
9 6 (0.57%) IoT
9 6 (0.57%) Operational Technology
9 6 (0.57%) Private Cloud
10 5 (0.48%) Algorithms
10 5 (0.48%) Analytical Mindset
10 5 (0.48%) Enterprise Software
10 5 (0.48%) Greenfield Project
10 5 (0.48%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 42 (4.02%) Windows
2 25 (2.39%) Linux
3 12 (1.15%) Windows Server
4 7 (0.67%) AIX
4 7 (0.67%) Solaris
5 6 (0.57%) Unix
5 6 (0.57%) Windows 10
6 4 (0.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (0.29%) VMS
7 3 (0.29%) Windows Server 2008
8 2 (0.19%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2003
9 1 (0.096%) Android
9 1 (0.096%) Apple iOS
9 1 (0.096%) CentOS
9 1 (0.096%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.096%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.096%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 125 (11.95%) Migration
2 112 (10.71%) Problem-Solving
3 103 (9.85%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 103 (9.85%) Stakeholder Management
4 74 (7.07%) Roadmaps
5 72 (6.88%) ERP
6 68 (6.50%) Agile
6 68 (6.50%) Workshop Facilitation
7 59 (5.64%) Cybersecurity
7 59 (5.64%) DevOps
8 58 (5.54%) Analytics
8 58 (5.54%) Knowledge Transfer
9 56 (5.35%) Validation
10 51 (4.88%) Risk Management
11 49 (4.68%) Requirements Gathering
12 48 (4.59%) Data Migration
13 47 (4.49%) Business Intelligence
14 43 (4.11%) Collaborative Working
15 41 (3.92%) Change Management
15 41 (3.92%) Logistics
Programming Languages
1 46 (4.40%) SQL
2 33 (3.15%) ABAP
3 32 (3.06%) Python
4 22 (2.10%) PowerShell
5 20 (1.91%) Java
6 18 (1.72%) JavaScript
7 15 (1.43%) C
7 15 (1.43%) C++
8 14 (1.34%) PHP
9 10 (0.96%) PL/SQL
10 8 (0.76%) Bash
10 8 (0.76%) Groovy
11 3 (0.29%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 2 (0.19%) C#
12 2 (0.19%) VBA
12 2 (0.19%) X++
13 1 (0.096%) Apex Code
13 1 (0.096%) Korn
13 1 (0.096%) ProC
13 1 (0.096%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 346 (33.08%) Security Cleared
2 281 (26.86%) SC Cleared
3 54 (5.16%) DV Cleared
4 52 (4.97%) BPSS Clearance
5 33 (3.15%) CISSP
6 29 (2.77%) Degree
7 24 (2.29%) CISM
8 14 (1.34%) Cisco Certification
9 12 (1.15%) SAP Certification
10 11 (1.05%) Microsoft Certification
11 10 (0.96%) ACCA
11 10 (0.96%) CCNP
11 10 (0.96%) CIMA
12 9 (0.86%) CESG Certified Professional
13 7 (0.67%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
13 7 (0.67%) ITIL Certification
14 6 (0.57%) AWS Certification
14 6 (0.57%) CCIE
14 6 (0.57%) Computer Science Degree
15 4 (0.38%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 50 (4.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 41 (3.92%) QA
3 38 (3.63%) NIST
4 23 (2.20%) GDPR
5 21 (2.01%) Data Quality
6 16 (1.53%) RMADS
7 10 (0.96%) Actionable Recommendations
8 9 (0.86%) Cyber Essentials
8 9 (0.86%) NCSC
9 8 (0.76%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 8 (0.76%) GRC
9 8 (0.76%) NIST 800
10 7 (0.67%) PCI DSS
11 6 (0.57%) COBIT
11 6 (0.57%) SOC 2
12 5 (0.48%) JSP 440
12 5 (0.48%) PMO
13 3 (0.29%) Accessibility
13 3 (0.29%) HIPAA
13 3 (0.29%) SLA
System Software
1 31 (2.96%) Active Directory
2 16 (1.53%) VMware Infrastructure
3 9 (0.86%) VMware NSX
4 6 (0.57%) Docker
5 5 (0.48%) vSphere
6 4 (0.38%) UAG
7 2 (0.19%) Virtual Desktop
8 1 (0.096%) Ceph
8 1 (0.096%) Firmware
8 1 (0.096%) Hyper-V
8 1 (0.096%) IAG
8 1 (0.096%) KVM
8 1 (0.096%) NDS
8 1 (0.096%) NetIQ eDirectory
8 1 (0.096%) QEMU
8 1 (0.096%) Terminal Services
8 1 (0.096%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 20 (1.91%) Terraform
2 16 (1.53%) Kubernetes
3 13 (1.24%) Single Sign-On
4 8 (0.76%) Ansible
4 8 (0.76%) Grafana
5 7 (0.67%) PingFederate
5 7 (0.67%) Prometheus
5 7 (0.67%) SCCM
6 6 (0.57%) Microsoft Intune
7 5 (0.48%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 4 (0.38%) HP ALM
8 4 (0.38%) HP Quality Center
9 3 (0.29%) EMC NetWorker
9 3 (0.29%) EMC VPLEX
10 2 (0.19%) EnCase
10 2 (0.19%) FTK
10 2 (0.19%) NetBackup
10 2 (0.19%) OpenView
10 2 (0.19%) PowerCLI
10 2 (0.19%) vRealize
Vendors
1 271 (25.91%) SAP
2 125 (11.95%) Microsoft
3 100 (9.56%) Oracle
4 54 (5.16%) CyberArk
5 50 (4.78%) Cisco
6 39 (3.73%) ServiceNow
7 28 (2.68%) Aruba
8 24 (2.29%) VMware
9 22 (2.10%) IBM
10 21 (2.01%) Dynatrace
11 17 (1.63%) Workday
12 15 (1.43%) Google
13 14 (1.34%) Adobe
13 14 (1.34%) EMC
13 14 (1.34%) Salesforce
14 12 (1.15%) IFS
15 11 (1.05%) OpenText
16 10 (0.96%) Ariba
17 8 (0.76%) Remedy
18 7 (0.67%) BeyondTrust