SLA Contracts in the UK excluding London

Service Level Agreement (SLA)
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the UK excluding London requiring SLA skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited SLA over the 6 months leading up to 4 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 112 83 104
Rank change year-on-year -29 +21 -9
Contract jobs citing SLA 280 501 571
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 2.19% 2.42% 2.39%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 13.56% 16.17% 16.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 157 201 310
10th Percentile £151 £148 £132
25th Percentile £185 £190 £163
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £235 £285 £250
Median % change year-on-year -17.54% +14.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £475 £438 £450
90th Percentile £588 £582 £538
UK median daily rate £250 £330 £300
% change year-on-year -24.24% +10.00% -20.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 70 63
10th Percentile £14.70 £11.06 £12.50
25th Percentile £17.98 £12.47 £13.29
Median hourly rate £23.16 £13.93 £18.50
Median % change year-on-year +66.32% -24.73% +12.12%
75th Percentile £24.66 £17.72 £29.30
90th Percentile £29.48 £26.15 £46.50
UK median hourly rate £22.27 £14.75 £18.50
% change year-on-year +50.98% -20.27% +9.79%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK excluding London

SLA falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills in the UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 2,065 3,098 3,539
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 16.15% 14.99% 14.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,295 1,815 2,383
10th Percentile £211 £254 £213
25th Percentile £363 £363 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £488 £478
Median % change year-on-year -2.56% +2.09% +6.11%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £588
90th Percentile £666 £685 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £510 £525
% change year-on-year -1.96% -2.86% +1.94%
Number of hourly rates quoted 139 308 185
10th Percentile £17.31 £10.95 £12.67
25th Percentile £24.18 £12.58 £18.09
Median hourly rate £46.30 £18.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +157.22% -48.57% +66.27%
75th Percentile £66.56 £45.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £79.51 £67.65 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £34.50 £20.80 £35.00
% change year-on-year +65.85% -40.56% +26.13%

SLA
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

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

Job vacancy trend for SLA in the UK excluding London

SLA
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

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

Daily rate trend for SLA in the UK excluding London

SLA
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SLA in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 4 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for SLA in the UK excluding London

SLA
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

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

Hourly rate trend for SLA in the UK excluding London

SLA
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing SLA in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 4 May 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for SLA in the UK excluding London

SLA
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 SLA within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 4 May 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
South East -1 91 £250 -12.28% 132
North of England -49 57 £233 -52.84% 98
Midlands +8 54 £235 -4.08% 65
West Midlands +12 43 £235 -2.08% 33
South West +13 37 £550 +100.00% 39
North West -39 36 £215 -60.00% 61
Yorkshire -5 20 £425 - 27
Scotland -9 16 £192 -31.91% 15
East of England +29 15 £225 -15.09% 57
East Midlands +11 11 £300 +11.11% 30
Wales -15 5 £158 +16.67% 12
Northern Ireland - 3 £148 - 4
Channel Islands - 2 £298 -
North East -1 1 - - 11
SLA
UK

SLA
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 14 (5.00%) SharePoint
2 10 (3.57%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (2.86%) Skype for Business
4 5 (1.79%) IIS
5 4 (1.43%) Exchange Server 2010
5 4 (1.43%) Oracle Self-Service HR
5 4 (1.43%) Oracle Workflow
6 3 (1.07%) Confluence
7 1 (0.36%) Apache
7 1 (0.36%) JBoss
7 1 (0.36%) nginx
7 1 (0.36%) Tomcat
7 1 (0.36%) WebLogic
7 1 (0.36%) WebLogic Portal
7 1 (0.36%) WebSphere
7 1 (0.36%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 32 (11.43%) Microsoft Excel
2 31 (11.07%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.36%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 1 (0.36%) AutoCAD
4 1 (0.36%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 4 (1.43%) Oracle HRMS
2 2 (0.71%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.36%) Oracle Payables
3 1 (0.36%) SAP Oil and Gas
3 1 (0.36%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 41 (14.64%) Microsoft 365
2 30 (10.71%) Azure
3 11 (3.93%) AWS
4 8 (2.86%) Entra ID
5 7 (2.50%) IaaS
6 6 (2.14%) Google Workspace
6 6 (2.14%) OneDrive
7 5 (1.79%) SaaS
8 4 (1.43%) PaaS
9 3 (1.07%) Power Platform
10 2 (0.71%) Amazon S3
10 2 (0.71%) Dynamics 365
10 2 (0.71%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 1 (0.36%) Amazon EC2
11 1 (0.36%) AWS CloudFormation
11 1 (0.36%) AWS Lambda
11 1 (0.36%) GitHub
11 1 (0.36%) OpenShift
11 1 (0.36%) Serverless
11 1 (0.36%) Yammer
Communications & Networking
1 23 (8.21%) DNS
2 20 (7.14%) VPN
3 17 (6.07%) LAN
4 16 (5.71%) Firewall
5 15 (5.36%) DHCP
6 12 (4.29%) Wireless
7 11 (3.93%) Skype
7 11 (3.93%) TCP/IP
8 10 (3.57%) SAN
9 8 (2.86%) WAN
10 7 (2.50%) Wi-Fi
11 6 (2.14%) Cisco Firepower
12 5 (1.79%) Cisco IOS
12 5 (1.79%) Cisco ISE
12 5 (1.79%) Junos
12 5 (1.79%) Remote Desktop
12 5 (1.79%) SMTP
13 4 (1.43%) PSTN
14 3 (1.07%) Internet
14 3 (1.07%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (2.14%) SQL Server
2 5 (1.79%) Oracle Database
3 1 (0.36%) MongoDB
3 1 (0.36%) NoSQL
3 1 (0.36%) Power BI
3 1 (0.36%) RDBMS
3 1 (0.36%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 8 (2.86%) JIRA
2 1 (0.36%) Mockito
2 1 (0.36%) Toad
General
1 133 (47.50%) Social Skills
2 52 (18.57%) Finance
3 48 (17.14%) Analytical Skills
4 26 (9.29%) Organisational Skills
5 24 (8.57%) Public Sector
6 22 (7.86%) Telecoms
7 15 (5.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 7 (2.50%) Banking
8 7 (2.50%) Police
8 7 (2.50%) Retail
9 6 (2.14%) Influencing Skills
10 5 (1.79%) Legal
10 5 (1.79%) Military
11 4 (1.43%) Electronics
12 3 (1.07%) Back Office
12 3 (1.07%) Manufacturing
12 3 (1.07%) Pharmaceutical
13 2 (0.71%) Aerospace
13 2 (0.71%) Automotive
13 2 (0.71%) Law
Job Titles
1 55 (19.64%) Analyst
2 46 (16.43%) Support Engineer
3 32 (11.43%) Desktop Engineer
4 28 (10.00%) Service Analyst
4 28 (10.00%) Service Desk Analyst
5 27 (9.64%) Desktop Support
6 24 (8.57%) Desktop Support Engineer
7 16 (5.71%) Administrator
7 16 (5.71%) Service Manager
7 16 (5.71%) Support Assistant
8 14 (5.00%) Network Engineer
9 12 (4.29%) Server Engineer
9 12 (4.29%) Support Analyst
10 10 (3.57%) Communications Engineer
10 10 (3.57%) Lead
11 9 (3.21%) Field Engineer
11 9 (3.21%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
11 9 (3.21%) Support Technician
12 8 (2.86%) 2nd Line Support
12 8 (2.86%) IT Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.71%) JWT
1 2 (0.71%) OAuth
2 1 (0.36%) Apache Camel
2 1 (0.36%) AWS CDK
2 1 (0.36%) EDI
2 1 (0.36%) Java RMI
2 1 (0.36%) JSON
2 1 (0.36%) Middleware
2 1 (0.36%) OpenID
2 1 (0.36%) REST
2 1 (0.36%) SAML
2 1 (0.36%) Spring
2 1 (0.36%) Spring Batch
2 1 (0.36%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 38 (13.57%) Driving Licence
2 16 (5.71%) Data Centre
3 13 (4.64%) Management Information System
4 9 (3.21%) Analytical Mindset
4 9 (3.21%) Smartphone
5 8 (2.86%) Enterprise Software
6 5 (1.79%) Onboarding
7 4 (1.43%) Blackberry
7 4 (1.43%) Data Protection Act
7 4 (1.43%) Handset
8 3 (1.07%) BYOD
8 3 (1.07%) CMDB
8 3 (1.07%) IVR
9 2 (0.71%) Anti-Spyware
9 2 (0.71%) CSOC
9 2 (0.71%) Cyber Threat
9 2 (0.71%) Fat Client
9 2 (0.71%) Security Operations Centre
9 2 (0.71%) Self-Motivation
9 2 (0.71%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 74 (26.43%) Windows
2 39 (13.93%) Windows 10
3 18 (6.43%) Linux
4 14 (5.00%) Windows Server
5 9 (3.21%) Windows Server 2016
5 9 (3.21%) Windows Server 2019
6 7 (2.50%) Android
7 5 (1.79%) Unix
7 5 (1.79%) Windows 7
7 5 (1.79%) Windows Server 2012
8 4 (1.43%) AIX
9 3 (1.07%) Mac OS
10 2 (0.71%) CentOS
11 1 (0.36%) Rocky
11 1 (0.36%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 96 (34.29%) ITIL
2 74 (26.43%) Customer Service
3 63 (22.50%) Problem-Solving
4 36 (12.86%) Service Delivery
5 34 (12.14%) Customer Experience
6 29 (10.36%) Service Management
7 26 (9.29%) ITSM
8 23 (8.21%) Mathematics
9 22 (7.86%) Continuous Improvement
10 20 (7.14%) Incident Management
11 17 (6.07%) Agile
11 17 (6.07%) Problem Management
11 17 (6.07%) Process Improvement
11 17 (6.07%) Test Scripting
12 16 (5.71%) Customer Requirements
13 14 (5.00%) Root Cause Analysis
14 13 (4.64%) Time Management
15 12 (4.29%) Break/Fix
15 12 (4.29%) Change Management
15 12 (4.29%) Information Security
Programming Languages
1 28 (10.00%) SQL
2 5 (1.79%) Python
2 5 (1.79%) VB
3 4 (1.43%) PowerShell
4 2 (0.71%) Java
5 1 (0.36%) Bicep
5 1 (0.36%) JavaScript
5 1 (0.36%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 110 (39.29%) Security Cleared
2 94 (33.57%) SC Cleared
3 24 (8.57%) Dell Certification
4 19 (6.79%) ITIL Certification
5 15 (5.36%) Degree
6 11 (3.93%) DV Cleared
7 7 (2.50%) DBS Check
8 6 (2.14%) Microsoft Certification
9 4 (1.43%) A+ Certification
10 3 (1.07%) BPSS Clearance
11 2 (0.71%) CISSP
11 2 (0.71%) GCIH
11 2 (0.71%) MCSE
12 1 (0.36%) CCIE
12 1 (0.36%) CEH
12 1 (0.36%) Cisco Certification
12 1 (0.36%) GIAC
12 1 (0.36%) GREM
12 1 (0.36%) HNC
12 1 (0.36%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (3.57%) QA
2 8 (2.86%) GDPR
3 3 (1.07%) PCI DSS
4 2 (0.71%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (0.71%) Disclosure Scotland
4 2 (0.71%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 2 (0.71%) NEBOSH
4 2 (0.71%) PMO
5 1 (0.36%) Accessibility
5 1 (0.36%) Data Quality
System Software
1 42 (15.00%) Active Directory
2 15 (5.36%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (2.14%) DFS Replication
3 6 (2.14%) vSphere
4 5 (1.79%) Virtual Machines
4 5 (1.79%) VMware ESXi
5 4 (1.43%) Hyper-V
5 4 (1.43%) Microsoft Virtual Server
5 4 (1.43%) Virtual Servers
6 2 (0.71%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.36%) Docker
7 1 (0.36%) Firmware
7 1 (0.36%) LXC
7 1 (0.36%) Oracle RAC
7 1 (0.36%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 16 (5.71%) SCCM
2 8 (2.86%) Ansible
3 7 (2.50%) FortiGate
3 7 (2.50%) Microsoft Intune
4 6 (2.14%) SmoothWall
4 6 (2.14%) Terraform
5 4 (1.43%) Microsoft Clustering
5 4 (1.43%) NetApp OnCommand
5 4 (1.43%) Tivoli
5 4 (1.43%) Tivoli Storage Manager
5 4 (1.43%) vCenter Server
5 4 (1.43%) vMotion
5 4 (1.43%) WSUS
6 3 (1.07%) TeamSite
7 2 (0.71%) AirWatch
7 2 (0.71%) SCOM
7 2 (0.71%) XenMobile
8 1 (0.36%) Data Guard
8 1 (0.36%) Oracle Identity Management
8 1 (0.36%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 103 (36.79%) Microsoft
2 43 (15.36%) ServiceNow
3 41 (14.64%) Dell
3 41 (14.64%) HP
4 21 (7.50%) IBM
5 20 (7.14%) Google
6 18 (6.43%) VMware
7 16 (5.71%) Oracle
8 15 (5.36%) Cisco
9 7 (2.50%) Apple
9 7 (2.50%) Remedy
10 5 (1.79%) Citrix
10 5 (1.79%) F5
10 5 (1.79%) Juniper
11 4 (1.43%) Clearswift
11 4 (1.43%) Ribbon
11 4 (1.43%) SAP
12 3 (1.07%) Adobe
12 3 (1.07%) SolarWinds
13 2 (0.71%) Qualys