GSEC Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

GIAC Security Essentials Certification (GSEC)
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the UK excluding London with a requirement for GSEC qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 4 November 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 370 - -
Rank change year-on-year - - -
Contract jobs citing GSEC 13 0 0
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.077% - -
As % of the Qualifications category 0.21% - -
Number of daily rates quoted 3 0 0
10th Percentile £424 - -
25th Percentile £435 - -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £458 - -
75th Percentile £461 - -
90th Percentile - - -
UK median daily rate £458 £725 £425
% change year-on-year -36.90% +70.59% -15.00%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK excluding London

GSEC falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in the UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 6,134 5,619 7,312
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 36.43% 33.78% 35.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,739 3,301 4,509
10th Percentile £213 £247 £253
25th Percentile £400 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £518 £534
Median % change year-on-year -3.38% -3.09% +1.71%
75th Percentile £594 £624 £638
90th Percentile £688 £700 £700
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 830 403 619
10th Percentile £16.83 £18.75 £16.25
25th Percentile £18.87 £24.18 £26.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £48.18 £51.89
Median % change year-on-year -47.80% -7.15% +15.31%
75th Percentile £41.41 £67.50 £68.75
90th Percentile £70.24 £75.00 £78.36
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £52.50
% change year-on-year -45.54% -12.04% +16.67%

GSEC
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

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

GSEC job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

GSEC
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

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

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

GSEC
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

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

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

GSEC
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 GSEC within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 4 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 - 9 £458 -
Yorkshire - 6 - -
South East - 6 - - 2
North West - 3 £458 -
Wales - 2 - - 1
GSEC
UK

GSEC
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:

Cloud Services
1 6 (46.15%) Azure
1 6 (46.15%) Azure Sentinel
1 6 (46.15%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 10 (76.92%) Firewall
2 3 (23.08%) Network Security
General
1 11 (84.62%) Social Skills
2 7 (53.85%) Finance
3 3 (23.08%) Analytical Skills
Job Titles
1 10 (76.92%) Analyst
1 10 (76.92%) SOC Analyst
2 4 (30.77%) Infrastructure Analyst
3 3 (23.08%) Cybersecurity Engineer
3 3 (23.08%) Cybersecurity Specialist
4 2 (15.38%) Junior
4 2 (15.38%) Junior Analyst
4 2 (15.38%) Junior Infrastructure Analyst
Miscellaneous
1 6 (46.15%) Cyber Defence
1 6 (46.15%) Operational Technology
Processes & Methodologies
1 10 (76.92%) ISMS
1 10 (76.92%) ITIL
2 9 (69.23%) Cybersecurity
3 6 (46.15%) Security Operations
4 5 (38.46%) Information Security
5 4 (30.77%) Cloud Security
5 4 (30.77%) Logistics
6 3 (23.08%) Incident Response
6 3 (23.08%) SIEM
7 2 (15.38%) Forensic Analysis
8 1 (7.69%) Cost Reduction
8 1 (7.69%) Decision-Making
8 1 (7.69%) Problem-Solving
8 1 (7.69%) Stakeholder Management
Qualifications
1 10 (76.92%) CISMP
2 3 (23.08%) CISA
2 3 (23.08%) CISM
2 3 (23.08%) CISSP
2 3 (23.08%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (100.00%) GDPR
2 3 (23.08%) HIPAA
2 3 (23.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 3 (23.08%) NIST
2 3 (23.08%) PCI DSS
Systems Management
1 3 (23.08%) QRadar
Vendors
1 9 (69.23%) Microsoft
2 3 (23.08%) ArcSight
2 3 (23.08%) Splunk