HNC Contracts in the UK excluding London

Higher National Certificate (HNC)
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the UK excluding London with a requirement for HNC qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 2 August 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Aug 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 317 279 385
Rank change year-on-year -38 +106 +97
Contract jobs citing HNC 56 92 42
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 0.37% 0.50% 0.19%
As % of the Qualifications category 1.04% 1.38% 0.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 15 14 19
10th Percentile £148 £168 £170
25th Percentile £274 £181 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £325 £277 £390
Median % change year-on-year +17.33% -28.97% -6.02%
75th Percentile £394 £350 £519
90th Percentile £538 £385 £587
UK median daily rate £350 £253 £425
% change year-on-year +38.20% -40.41% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 42 13
10th Percentile £14.05 £34.29 £35.65
25th Percentile £31.38 - £40.00
Median hourly rate £43.00 £43.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year - -4.44% +106.90%
75th Percentile £70.00 - £55.00
90th Percentile £88.00 - £58.00
UK median hourly rate £41.50 £43.00 £53.75
% change year-on-year -3.49% -20.00% +119.39%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK excluding London

HNC 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 5,364 6,663 7,229
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 35.07% 36.00% 32.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,167 4,020 4,608
10th Percentile £213 £290 £308
25th Percentile £385 £420 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - +5.00%
75th Percentile £600 £635 £638
90th Percentile £675 £713 £706
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% +2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 632 767 535
10th Percentile £17.87 £14.16 £14.25
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.19 £20.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £45.00 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year -44.11% -14.29% +18.11%
75th Percentile £52.13 £67.50 £70.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £77.70 £80.00
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £43.00 £55.41
% change year-on-year -41.51% -22.40% +23.13%

HNC
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Job postings citing HNC as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Job vacancy trend for HNC in the UK excluding London

HNC
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing HNC in the UK excluding London.

Daily rate trend for HNC in the UK excluding London

HNC
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing HNC in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 2 August 2025.

Daily rate histogram for HNC in the UK excluding London

HNC
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing HNC in the UK excluding London.

Hourly rate trend for HNC in the UK excluding London

HNC
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing HNC in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 2 August 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for HNC in the UK excluding London

HNC
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 HNC within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 2 August 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
East of England -37 20 £60 - 48
Scotland -2 11 £325 +85.71% 45
West Midlands 0 8 £350 - 44
Midlands -3 8 £350 +37.80% 60
South East +24 7 £275 -21.43% 92
South West +26 4 £525 - 38
Northern Ireland - 3 - - 6
North West -4 2 - - 53
North of England -9 2 - - 81
Wales +6 1 £290 - 12
HNC
UK

HNC
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the UK excluding London by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 4 (7.14%) SharePoint
2 1 (1.79%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 9 (16.07%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (14.29%) Simulink
3 5 (8.93%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (7.14%) FrameMaker
4 4 (7.14%) Microsoft Excel
5 3 (5.36%) Windchill
6 2 (3.57%) AutoCAD
6 2 (3.57%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 2 (3.57%) MicroStation
6 2 (3.57%) Revit
7 1 (1.79%) CATIA
7 1 (1.79%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 3 (5.36%) Teamcenter
2 1 (1.79%) iTrent
Cloud Services
1 3 (5.36%) Microsoft 365
2 2 (3.57%) Azure
3 1 (1.79%) Entra ID
3 1 (1.79%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 8 (14.29%) Ethernet
1 8 (14.29%) LAN
2 5 (8.93%) TCP/IP
3 3 (5.36%) SDH
3 3 (5.36%) WAN
4 1 (1.79%) ADSL
4 1 (1.79%) Broadband
4 1 (1.79%) FTP
4 1 (1.79%) MPLS
4 1 (1.79%) PSTN
4 1 (1.79%) TETRA
4 1 (1.79%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (8.93%) Oracle Database
1 5 (8.93%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 2 (3.57%) Rational DOORS
2 1 (1.79%) JIRA
General
1 30 (53.57%) Social Skills
2 16 (28.57%) Analytical Skills
3 15 (26.79%) Electronics
4 9 (16.07%) Public Sector
5 8 (14.29%) Publishing
6 7 (12.50%) Aerospace
6 7 (12.50%) Games
7 5 (8.93%) Telecoms
8 4 (7.14%) Manufacturing
9 3 (5.36%) Organisational Skills
10 2 (3.57%) Automotive
10 2 (3.57%) Aviation
10 2 (3.57%) Finance
10 2 (3.57%) Law
11 1 (1.79%) Documentation Skills
11 1 (1.79%) Military
Job Titles
1 8 (14.29%) Analyst
1 8 (14.29%) Author
1 8 (14.29%) Technical Author
2 6 (10.71%) Support Analyst
3 5 (8.93%) Technical Analyst
3 5 (8.93%) Technical Support
3 5 (8.93%) Technical Support Analyst
4 4 (7.14%) Administrator
4 4 (7.14%) FPGA Engineer
5 3 (5.36%) Design Engineer
5 3 (5.36%) Firmware Engineer
5 3 (5.36%) Information Governance Officer
5 3 (5.36%) Information Officer
5 3 (5.36%) Junior
5 3 (5.36%) Lead
5 3 (5.36%) Principal Engineer
5 3 (5.36%) Technical Engineer
6 2 (3.57%) IT Engineer
6 2 (3.57%) Service Desk Technician
6 2 (3.57%) Test Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (10.71%) SGML
1 6 (10.71%) XML
2 1 (1.79%) Java RMI
Miscellaneous
1 9 (16.07%) FPGA
2 8 (14.29%) PCIe
3 7 (12.50%) Algorithms
3 7 (12.50%) Verilog
4 5 (8.93%) NHS
5 4 (7.14%) Driving Licence
5 4 (7.14%) SCADA
6 3 (5.36%) Analytical Mindset
6 3 (5.36%) Data Centre
6 3 (5.36%) Management Information System
6 3 (5.36%) Renewable Energy
7 2 (3.57%) Analogue Electronics
7 2 (3.57%) Fibre Optics
8 1 (1.79%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 6 (10.71%) Windows
1 6 (10.71%) Windows Server
2 1 (1.79%) Windows 10
2 1 (1.79%) Windows Server 2012
2 1 (1.79%) Windows Server 2016
2 1 (1.79%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 14 (25.00%) Problem-Solving
2 8 (14.29%) Customer Requirements
2 8 (14.29%) Physics
3 7 (12.50%) Artificial Intelligence
3 7 (12.50%) Computer Science
3 7 (12.50%) Cryptography
3 7 (12.50%) Machine Learning
3 7 (12.50%) Project Management
3 7 (12.50%) UVM
4 6 (10.71%) Desktop Publishing
5 5 (8.93%) Capacity Planning
5 5 (8.93%) Security Patching
6 4 (7.14%) Mathematics
6 4 (7.14%) Process Improvement
7 3 (5.36%) Business Continuity
7 3 (5.36%) Configuration Management
7 3 (5.36%) Data Security
7 3 (5.36%) Disaster Recovery
7 3 (5.36%) Informatics
7 3 (5.36%) Logistics
Programming Languages
1 8 (14.29%) MATLAB
2 7 (12.50%) SystemVerilog
2 7 (12.50%) Tcl
3 1 (1.79%) PowerShell
3 1 (1.79%) SQL
Qualifications
1 42 (75.00%) HND
2 26 (46.43%) Degree
3 18 (32.14%) Security Cleared
4 15 (26.79%) SC Cleared
5 6 (10.71%) Microsoft Certification
6 5 (8.93%) MCP
6 5 (8.93%) MCSE
7 2 (3.57%) BPSS Clearance
8 1 (1.79%) BC Cleared
8 1 (1.79%) ECDL
8 1 (1.79%) Master's Degree
8 1 (1.79%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (12.50%) DO-254
2 5 (8.93%) QA
3 4 (7.14%) GDPR
4 2 (3.57%) Accessibility
4 2 (3.57%) SLA
5 1 (1.79%) GLP
5 1 (1.79%) ISO 9001
5 1 (1.79%) ISO/IEC 20000
5 1 (1.79%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 7 (12.50%) Firmware
2 2 (3.57%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 1 (1.79%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 16 (28.57%) Microsoft
2 7 (12.50%) Actel
2 7 (12.50%) Altera
2 7 (12.50%) Intel
2 7 (12.50%) Microsemi
2 7 (12.50%) Xilinx
3 5 (8.93%) Citrix
3 5 (8.93%) Oracle
4 3 (5.36%) Cisco
4 3 (5.36%) Nokia
5 2 (3.57%) Autodesk
6 1 (1.79%) Siemens
6 1 (1.79%) Twitter