Unit Testing Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Unit Testing
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring Unit Testing skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 3 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 277 219 163
Rank change year-on-year -58 -56 +4
Contract jobs citing Unit Testing 204 160 247
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.75% 1.05% 1.34%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.92% 1.18% 1.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 104 94 164
10th Percentile £313 £284 £403
25th Percentile £397 £360 £439
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £463 £525
Median % change year-on-year +8.11% -11.90% -4.11%
75th Percentile £600 £549 £600
90th Percentile £688 £638 £657
UK median daily rate £500 £463 £525
% change year-on-year +8.11% -11.90% -8.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 63 20 46
10th Percentile £56.00 £60.38 -
25th Percentile £62.50 £64.06 £61.25
Median hourly rate £67.50 £65.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +3.85% - -
75th Percentile £70.00 - -
90th Percentile - £67.00 -
UK median hourly rate £66.25 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +1.92% - -

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK excluding London

Unit Testing falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 22,188 13,617 15,274
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 81.69% 89.29% 83.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,044 8,218 9,201
10th Percentile £300 £235 £250
25th Percentile £406 £365 £387
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £594 £575 £600
90th Percentile £680 £650 £688
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,366 1,313 1,592
10th Percentile £14.22 £13.86 £13.69
25th Percentile £19.33 £17.00 £16.50
Median hourly rate £43.96 £23.63 £40.94
Median % change year-on-year +86.03% -42.28% +2.35%
75th Percentile £68.50 £46.30 £65.00
90th Percentile £82.25 £70.13 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £40.33
% change year-on-year +74.79% -37.63% -5.12%

Unit Testing
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

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

Unit Testing job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Unit Testing
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

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

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

Unit Testing
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Unit Testing in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 3 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Unit Testing in the UK excluding London

Unit Testing
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

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

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

Unit Testing
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Unit Testing in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 3 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Unit Testing in the UK excluding London

Unit Testing
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 Unit Testing within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 3 August 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 -39 74 £463 +11.45% 30
South East -18 72 £513 +12.02% 21
North East -7 33 £510 -7.27% 6
North West -53 28 £463 +0.65% 21
East of England -16 18 £625 +33.33% 9
Midlands -54 18 £489 +6.37% 20
South West -33 15 £500 -9.09% 11
Scotland -27 14 £488 +8.44% 10
Yorkshire -44 13 £447 +13.16% 4
West Midlands -54 10 £489 +6.08% 13
East Midlands -28 8 £485 +15.48% 7
Wales -18 3 £700 +35.27%
Northern Ireland +4 2 £369 -32.95% 12
Unit Testing
UK

Unit Testing
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 5 (2.45%) SharePoint
2 2 (0.98%) Mule
2 2 (0.98%) Mule ESB
3 1 (0.49%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.49%) Camunda
3 1 (0.49%) IIS
3 1 (0.49%) JBoss
3 1 (0.49%) SAS
3 1 (0.49%) WebLogic
Applications
1 4 (1.96%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.47%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.47%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.98%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.49%) Oracle Smart View
Business Applications
1 9 (4.41%) SAP S/4HANA
2 7 (3.43%) SAP Payroll
3 6 (2.94%) SAP HCM
4 3 (1.47%) Oracle ERP
5 2 (0.98%) Oracle 11i
5 2 (0.98%) Oracle EBS
6 1 (0.49%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.49%) Oracle EBS R12
6 1 (0.49%) ProductWriter
6 1 (0.49%) SAP CRM
6 1 (0.49%) SAP HR
6 1 (0.49%) SAP SD
6 1 (0.49%) SAP Travel Management
6 1 (0.49%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 43 (21.08%) OpenShift
2 41 (20.10%) Azure
3 25 (12.25%) AWS
3 25 (12.25%) Azure DevOps
4 18 (8.82%) GitHub
5 17 (8.33%) Serverless
6 11 (5.39%) Power Platform
7 9 (4.41%) Azure Functions
8 8 (3.92%) AWS Lambda
8 8 (3.92%) PowerApps
9 7 (3.43%) Azure Logic Apps
9 7 (3.43%) Dynamics 365
9 7 (3.43%) GCP
9 7 (3.43%) Power Automate
10 5 (2.45%) Amazon S3
10 5 (2.45%) Amazon SQS
11 4 (1.96%) Amazon ECS
11 4 (1.96%) Amazon EKS
11 4 (1.96%) AWS CloudFormation
11 4 (1.96%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 16 (7.84%) Ethernet
2 13 (6.37%) TCP/IP
3 3 (1.47%) Modbus
3 3 (1.47%) RS-232
3 3 (1.47%) RS-422
3 3 (1.47%) RS-485
4 1 (0.49%) HTTPS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (6.37%) PostgreSQL
2 11 (5.39%) SQL Server
3 9 (4.41%) DynamoDB
4 8 (3.92%) NoSQL
5 7 (3.43%) Power BI
6 6 (2.94%) SAP HANA
7 5 (2.45%) MongoDB
8 4 (1.96%) Data Warehouse
8 4 (1.96%) MySQL
8 4 (1.96%) Oracle Database
8 4 (1.96%) Relational Database
9 3 (1.47%) Azure SQL Database
9 3 (1.47%) Data Lake
9 3 (1.47%) DocumentDB
9 3 (1.47%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 2 (0.98%) Aerospike
10 2 (0.98%) Amazon Redshift
10 2 (0.98%) Big Data
10 2 (0.98%) BigQuery
10 2 (0.98%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 48 (23.53%) Git
2 42 (20.59%) SonarQube
3 25 (12.25%) Visual Studio
4 18 (8.82%) GitLab
5 16 (7.84%) Eclipse
6 15 (7.35%) JUnit
7 13 (6.37%) Jenkins
8 12 (5.88%) Selenium
9 10 (4.90%) JIRA
10 8 (3.92%) NUnit
11 7 (3.43%) Maven
12 6 (2.94%) Cucumber
12 6 (2.94%) Gradle
13 5 (2.45%) MSTest
14 4 (1.96%) Bitbucket
14 4 (1.96%) Cypress.io
14 4 (1.96%) JMeter
14 4 (1.96%) REST Assured
15 3 (1.47%) SpecFlow
15 3 (1.47%) TeamCity
General
1 43 (21.08%) Social Skills
2 21 (10.29%) Finance
3 18 (8.82%) Public Sector
4 15 (7.35%) Analytical Skills
5 14 (6.86%) Military
6 11 (5.39%) Banking
7 9 (4.41%) Aerospace
7 9 (4.41%) Presentation Skills
8 4 (1.96%) Retail
9 3 (1.47%) Billing
9 3 (1.47%) Electronics
10 2 (0.98%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (0.98%) Manufacturing
11 1 (0.49%) Advertising
11 1 (0.49%) Aviation
11 1 (0.49%) General Ledger
11 1 (0.49%) Law
Job Titles
1 89 (43.63%) Developer
2 41 (20.10%) Software Engineer
3 27 (13.24%) Java Developer
4 24 (11.76%) Java Engineer
5 17 (8.33%) Consultant
6 15 (7.35%) Senior
7 13 (6.37%) Lead
8 12 (5.88%) .NET Developer
8 12 (5.88%) Java Software Engineer
8 12 (5.88%) SC Cleared Java Developer
9 11 (5.39%) C# Software Engineer
10 10 (4.90%) SAP Consultant
11 9 (4.41%) C++ Software Engineer
12 8 (3.92%) Senior Developer
12 8 (3.92%) Software Developer
13 7 (3.43%) C# Developer
13 7 (3.43%) Full-Stack Developer
14 6 (2.94%) Analyst
14 6 (2.94%) AWS Engineer
14 6 (2.94%) SAP Functional Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 46 (22.55%) AngularJS
2 41 (20.10%) Quarkus
3 33 (16.18%) .NET
4 26 (12.75%) Web Services
5 24 (11.76%) REST
6 21 (10.29%) Node.js
6 21 (10.29%) React
6 21 (10.29%) RESTful
7 18 (8.82%) Spring
8 14 (6.86%) Spring Boot
9 13 (6.37%) .NET Framework
10 12 (5.88%) HTML
10 12 (5.88%) Kafka
10 12 (5.88%) WinForms
11 11 (5.39%) Entity Framework
11 11 (5.39%) Jest
11 11 (5.39%) WPF
12 10 (4.90%) CSS
12 10 (4.90%) Playwright
13 9 (4.41%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 13 (6.37%) Distributed Systems
2 12 (5.88%) Product Ownership
3 11 (5.39%) Cloud Native
4 7 (3.43%) Data Structures
5 4 (1.96%) Enterprise Software
6 3 (1.47%) CMDB
6 3 (1.47%) Management Information System
6 3 (1.47%) Self-Motivation
7 2 (0.98%) Distributed Architecture
7 2 (0.98%) NHS
7 2 (0.98%) Onboarding
7 2 (0.98%) Public Cloud
8 1 (0.49%) Algorithms
8 1 (0.49%) Analytical Mindset
8 1 (0.49%) Embedded Systems
8 1 (0.49%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
8 1 (0.49%) IoT
8 1 (0.49%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 24 (11.76%) Windows
2 16 (7.84%) Linux
3 1 (0.49%) Apple iOS
3 1 (0.49%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 120 (58.82%) Agile
2 82 (40.20%) Test Automation
3 77 (37.75%) CI/CD
4 76 (37.25%) Software Engineering
5 72 (35.29%) Scrum
6 58 (28.43%) DevOps
7 56 (27.45%) SDLC
8 46 (22.55%) Front End Development
9 44 (21.57%) Sprint Planning
10 42 (20.59%) DevSecOps
11 41 (20.10%) Sprint Review
12 39 (19.12%) TDD
13 37 (18.14%) Problem-Solving
14 36 (17.65%) User Acceptance Testing
15 29 (14.22%) Continuous Improvement
16 28 (13.73%) Integration Testing
17 27 (13.24%) Continuous Integration
17 27 (13.24%) Microservices
18 25 (12.25%) Validation
19 24 (11.76%) Code Quality
Programming Languages
1 72 (35.29%) Java
2 60 (29.41%) C#
3 55 (26.96%) SQL
4 43 (21.08%) JavaScript
5 25 (12.25%) C++
6 21 (10.29%) Python
7 18 (8.82%) TypeScript
8 9 (4.41%) ABAP
8 9 (4.41%) C
9 7 (3.43%) PL/SQL
10 5 (2.45%) Scala
11 4 (1.96%) PowerShell
11 4 (1.96%) X++
12 3 (1.47%) Go
13 2 (0.98%) Apex Code
13 2 (0.98%) Bash
13 2 (0.98%) SOQL
13 2 (0.98%) SOSL
13 2 (0.98%) T-SQL
13 2 (0.98%) VBA
Qualifications
1 73 (35.78%) Security Cleared
2 62 (30.39%) SC Cleared
3 12 (5.88%) Degree
4 7 (3.43%) BPSS Clearance
5 5 (2.45%) ISTQB
5 5 (2.45%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
5 5 (2.45%) Microsoft Certification
6 3 (1.47%) DV Cleared
7 2 (0.98%) Master's Degree
7 2 (0.98%) PhD
8 1 (0.49%) ACCA
8 1 (0.49%) Azure Certification
8 1 (0.49%) CIMA
8 1 (0.49%) Computer Science Degree
8 1 (0.49%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 49 (24.02%) QA
2 8 (3.92%) Accessibility
3 6 (2.94%) Data Quality
4 3 (1.47%) HMG Security Policy Framework
4 3 (1.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 3 (1.47%) WCAG
5 1 (0.49%) GDPR
5 1 (0.49%) GRC
5 1 (0.49%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 22 (10.78%) Docker
2 2 (0.98%) Virtual Machines
2 2 (0.98%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 56 (27.45%) Kubernetes
2 41 (20.10%) Argo
3 12 (5.88%) Terraform
4 2 (0.98%) Ansible
5 1 (0.49%) Grafana
5 1 (0.49%) Istio
5 1 (0.49%) Kubeflow
5 1 (0.49%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 39 (19.12%) Red Hat
2 29 (14.22%) Microsoft
3 18 (8.82%) Oracle
4 17 (8.33%) SAP
5 6 (2.94%) Avaloq
6 4 (1.96%) Databricks
6 4 (1.96%) ServiceNow
6 4 (1.96%) Splunk
7 3 (1.47%) Google
8 2 (0.98%) Adobe
8 2 (0.98%) Dynatrace
8 2 (0.98%) IFS
8 2 (0.98%) MuleSoft
8 2 (0.98%) Salesforce
8 2 (0.98%) UiPath
8 2 (0.98%) VMware
9 1 (0.49%) JDA
9 1 (0.49%) Sitecore
9 1 (0.49%) Sybase
9 1 (0.49%) Workday