Actionable Recommendations Contract Job Trends

Actionable Recommendations
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Actionable Recommendations skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 13 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 483 482 490
Rank change year-on-year -1 +8 +100
Contract jobs citing Actionable Recommendations 195 78 60
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.36% 0.24% 0.16%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 1.99% 1.35% 1.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 112 49 37
10th Percentile £375 £337 £444
25th Percentile £424 £413 £510
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £600
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -25.00% +14.29%
75th Percentile £586 £538 £725
90th Percentile £725 £588 £850
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £470 £575
% change year-on-year +1.06% -18.26% +16.46%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 1 1
10th Percentile £36.86 - -
25th Percentile £41.19 - £41.25
Median hourly rate £49.69 £25.00 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +98.76% -41.18% -
75th Percentile £59.48 - £43.75
90th Percentile £64.58 - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.98 £25.00 -
% change year-on-year +35.92% - -

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK

Actionable Recommendations 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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 9,779 5,771 5,022
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.81% 17.53% 13.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,117 3,691 2,916
10th Percentile £325 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £400 £398
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £501 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +0.10% - -4.76%
75th Percentile £610 £608 £625
90th Percentile £719 £706 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £475 £475
% change year-on-year +1.05% - -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 701 282 239
10th Percentile £13.69 £13.60 £13.26
25th Percentile £16.60 £16.61 £17.56
Median hourly rate £30.27 £30.00 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +0.90% +9.09% -23.22%
75th Percentile £65.00 £60.00 £62.63
90th Percentile £74.25 £80.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.00 £25.08 £27.50
% change year-on-year +27.62% -8.82% -29.03%

Actionable Recommendations
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Actionable Recommendations relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Actionable Recommendations job vacancy trend in the UK

Actionable Recommendations
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Actionable Recommendations.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Actionable Recommendations

Actionable Recommendations
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Actionable Recommendations over the 6 months to 13 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Actionable Recommendations in the UK

Actionable Recommendations
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Actionable Recommendations.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Actionable Recommendations

Actionable Recommendations
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Actionable Recommendations over the 6 months to 13 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Actionable Recommendations in the UK

Actionable Recommendations
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Actionable Recommendations within the UK over the 6 months to 13 October 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
England -25 167 £500 +6.38% 215
London -20 91 £525 +13.51% 137
Work from Home 0 81 £500 +17.65% 99
UK excluding London -50 75 £475 +1.06% 96
North of England -49 23 £500 +5.26% 25
South East -56 22 £525 +15.13% 33
Midlands -35 15 £475 -7.32% 10
Yorkshire -31 12 £500 -4.76% 8
West Midlands -41 12 £475 -17.39% 9
North West -44 9 £538 +19.44% 13
East of England -19 8 £500 -2.44% 9
South West -28 5 £750 +66.67% 7
North East -38 4 £725 +61.11% 4
Wales - 4 £406 - 2
East Midlands -11 3 £400 -15.79% 1
Scotland -26 3 £350 -17.65% 3
Northern Ireland - 1 - - 9

Actionable Recommendations
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 6 (3.08%) CMS
2 4 (2.05%) Adobe Experience Manager
2 4 (2.05%) Confluence
2 4 (2.05%) SharePoint
2 4 (2.05%) Sitecore CMS
3 2 (1.03%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 12 (6.15%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (2.05%) CPLEX
2 4 (2.05%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 4 (2.05%) MS Visio
3 2 (1.03%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (1.03%) UserZoom
4 1 (0.51%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.51%) Trello
Business Applications
1 4 (2.05%) Salesforce CRM
1 4 (2.05%) Shopify
2 2 (1.03%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.51%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 26 (13.33%) Power Platform
2 22 (11.28%) Azure
3 17 (8.72%) AWS
4 10 (5.13%) SaaS
5 9 (4.62%) Microsoft Copilot
6 8 (4.10%) GitHub
7 7 (3.59%) GitHub Actions
7 7 (3.59%) Microsoft 365
8 6 (3.08%) GCP
9 5 (2.56%) Adobe Analytics
9 5 (2.56%) Azure DevOps
9 5 (2.56%) Dynamics 365
9 5 (2.56%) Google Analytics
10 4 (2.05%) ChatGPT
10 4 (2.05%) Entra ID
10 4 (2.05%) Miro
10 4 (2.05%) Siteimprove
11 3 (1.54%) Google Gemini
11 3 (1.54%) Microsoft Purview
11 3 (1.54%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 13 (6.67%) Broadband
2 2 (1.03%) Multicast
2 2 (1.03%) VLAN
3 1 (0.51%) Firewall
3 1 (0.51%) LAN
3 1 (0.51%) MQTT
3 1 (0.51%) Network Security
3 1 (0.51%) WAN
3 1 (0.51%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (10.77%) Power BI
2 13 (6.67%) Tableau
3 5 (2.56%) Metadata
4 3 (1.54%) Big Data
4 3 (1.54%) Data Warehouse
4 3 (1.54%) SQL Server
5 1 (0.51%) BigQuery
5 1 (0.51%) Data Lake
5 1 (0.51%) Delta Lake
5 1 (0.51%) Looker
5 1 (0.51%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.51%) PostgreSQL
5 1 (0.51%) Qlik Sense
5 1 (0.51%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 9 (4.62%) Git
2 6 (3.08%) JIRA
2 6 (3.08%) JMeter
2 6 (3.08%) LoadRunner
3 5 (2.56%) Jenkins
4 4 (2.05%) Gatling
4 4 (2.05%) Visual Website Optimizer
5 3 (1.54%) eggPlant
6 2 (1.03%) PowerBuilder
General
1 77 (39.49%) Social Skills
2 60 (30.77%) Analytical Skills
3 41 (21.03%) Public Sector
4 29 (14.87%) Finance
5 23 (11.79%) Influencing Skills
6 17 (8.72%) Marketing
7 14 (7.18%) Legal
8 8 (4.10%) Presentation Skills
9 6 (3.08%) Banking
9 6 (3.08%) Documentation Skills
9 6 (3.08%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 6 (3.08%) Manufacturing
9 6 (3.08%) Retail
9 6 (3.08%) Telecoms
10 5 (2.56%) Police
11 4 (2.05%) Aviation
11 4 (2.05%) Organisational Skills
11 4 (2.05%) Publishing
12 3 (1.54%) Law
13 2 (1.03%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 37 (18.97%) Analyst
2 34 (17.44%) User Researcher
3 28 (14.36%) Lead
4 25 (12.82%) Senior
5 21 (10.77%) Consultant
6 13 (6.67%) Business Analyst
6 13 (6.67%) Data Analyst
7 9 (4.62%) Architect
8 7 (3.59%) Data Scientist
8 7 (3.59%) Senior Consultant
9 6 (3.08%) Coordinator
9 6 (3.08%) Senior User Researcher
10 5 (2.56%) Senior Analyst
11 4 (2.05%) Configuration Analyst
11 4 (2.05%) Data Business Analyst
11 4 (2.05%) Dynamics 365 Consultant
11 4 (2.05%) Insight Manager
11 4 (2.05%) Senior Data Scientist
11 4 (2.05%) Technical Architect
12 3 (1.54%) Service Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (5.64%) ATL
2 6 (3.08%) CSS
2 6 (3.08%) HTML
2 6 (3.08%) Kafka
3 5 (2.56%) Elastic Stack
3 5 (2.56%) Middleware
3 5 (2.56%) Terraform
4 2 (1.03%) ARM Templates
4 2 (1.03%) OLE
4 2 (1.03%) Pandas
4 2 (1.03%) REST
4 2 (1.03%) Semantic HTML
5 1 (0.51%) FastAPI
5 1 (0.51%) PySpark
5 1 (0.51%) PyTorch
5 1 (0.51%) RabbitMQ
5 1 (0.51%) React
5 1 (0.51%) SailPoint
5 1 (0.51%) Streamlit
5 1 (0.51%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 15 (7.69%) Social Media
2 14 (7.18%) Management Information System
3 6 (3.08%) Enterprise Software
4 5 (2.56%) Data Structures
4 5 (2.56%) Legacy Systems
5 4 (2.05%) AI Agents
5 4 (2.05%) Data Protection Act
5 4 (2.05%) NHS
6 3 (1.54%) Onboarding
6 3 (1.54%) Product Ownership
6 3 (1.54%) Security Posture
7 2 (1.03%) Client/Server
7 2 (1.03%) Distributed Systems
7 2 (1.03%) Life Science
7 2 (1.03%) Marketing Technology
7 2 (1.03%) Mobile App
7 2 (1.03%) Self-Motivation
8 1 (0.51%) Analytical Mindset
8 1 (0.51%) Cloud Native
8 1 (0.51%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 1 (0.51%) Android
1 1 (0.51%) Linux
1 1 (0.51%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 195 (100.00%) Actionable Insight
2 63 (32.31%) Decision-Making
3 59 (30.26%) Stakeholder Management
4 56 (28.72%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 50 (25.64%) Agile
6 42 (21.54%) Roadmaps
7 41 (21.03%) Analytics
8 40 (20.51%) User Research
9 37 (18.97%) Service Design
10 34 (17.44%) Qualitative Research
10 34 (17.44%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
11 32 (16.41%) Continuous Improvement
12 30 (15.38%) AI
13 29 (14.87%) Workshop Facilitation
14 28 (14.36%) Business Intelligence
15 27 (13.85%) Usability Testing
16 25 (12.82%) Problem-Solving
17 23 (11.79%) Quantitative Research
18 22 (11.28%) Business Analysis
19 21 (10.77%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 37 (18.97%) Python
2 31 (15.90%) SQL
3 14 (7.18%) JavaScript
4 5 (2.56%) R
5 3 (1.54%) Java
6 2 (1.03%) Bicep
6 2 (1.03%) C#
6 2 (1.03%) PowerShell
6 2 (1.03%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 44 (22.56%) Security Cleared
2 37 (18.97%) SC Cleared
3 11 (5.64%) Degree
4 8 (4.10%) BPSS Clearance
5 2 (1.03%) APMG
5 2 (1.03%) CCA
5 2 (1.03%) CISM
5 2 (1.03%) CISSP
5 2 (1.03%) IIBA
6 1 (0.51%) ACCA
6 1 (0.51%) CCSP
6 1 (0.51%) CIMA
6 1 (0.51%) CISA
6 1 (0.51%) Cisco Certification
6 1 (0.51%) CTC Cleared
6 1 (0.51%) DV Cleared
6 1 (0.51%) PhD
6 1 (0.51%) PMI Certification
6 1 (0.51%) PMP
6 1 (0.51%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (13.85%) Accessibility
2 17 (8.72%) Data Quality
3 9 (4.62%) PMO
3 9 (4.62%) QA
3 9 (4.62%) WCAG
4 8 (4.10%) GDPR
5 7 (3.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 4 (2.05%) NCSC
7 3 (1.54%) ISO 22301
7 3 (1.54%) NIST
8 2 (1.03%) Cyber Essentials
8 2 (1.03%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 2 (1.03%) GRC
8 2 (1.03%) GxP
8 2 (1.03%) JSP 440
8 2 (1.03%) NIST 800
8 2 (1.03%) SOC 2
9 1 (0.51%) ITGC
9 1 (0.51%) PCI DSS
9 1 (0.51%) PERC
System Software
1 7 (3.59%) Docker
2 2 (1.03%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 6 (3.08%) Grafana
1 6 (3.08%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 23 (11.79%) Microsoft
2 10 (5.13%) Oracle
3 9 (4.62%) Google
4 6 (3.08%) Databricks
4 6 (3.08%) Dynatrace
4 6 (3.08%) Splunk
5 5 (2.56%) Adobe
5 5 (2.56%) Amplitude
5 5 (2.56%) IBM
5 5 (2.56%) New Relic
6 4 (2.05%) Optimizely
6 4 (2.05%) Salesforce
6 4 (2.05%) Sitecore
6 4 (2.05%) Tealium
7 3 (1.54%) Informatica
7 3 (1.54%) YouTube
8 2 (1.03%) Intel
8 2 (1.03%) Planon
8 2 (1.03%) SAP
9 1 (0.51%) Apple