APQC Contract Job Trends

APQC (American Productivity & Quality Center)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring APQC skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 14 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 575 563 606
Rank change year-on-year -12 +43 -
Contract jobs citing APQC 6 1 6
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.016% 0.003% 0.013%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 0.095% 0.021% 0.092%
Number of daily rates quoted 6 0 1
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 - £260
UK excluding London median daily rate - - £260

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK

APQC 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 6,314 4,869 6,488
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.33% 14.08% 14.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,080 2,866 4,319
10th Percentile £313 £263 £313
25th Percentile £406 £380 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £600 £623 £643
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +2.63% -5.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 318 189 234
10th Percentile £13.98 £14.70 £14.21
25th Percentile £17.69 £20.00 £19.60
Median hourly rate £25.15 £27.50 £35.50
Median % change year-on-year -8.55% -22.54% +57.78%
75th Percentile £60.46 £62.24 £64.88
90th Percentile £75.00 £70.00 £82.18
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.72 £26.75 £35.95
% change year-on-year -22.54% -25.59% +71.19%

APQC
Job Vacancy Trend

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

APQC job vacancy trend in the UK

APQC
Daily Rate Trend

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing APQC

APQC
Top 3 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing APQC within the UK over the 6 months to 14 December 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
England -32 6 £500 - 2
London - 6 £500 - 1
Work from Home - 6 £500 -

APQC
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:

Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (100.00%) SAP HANA
General
1 6 (100.00%) Finance
1 6 (100.00%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 6 (100.00%) Accountant
1 6 (100.00%) Systems Accountant
Processes & Methodologies
1 6 (100.00%) ERP
1 6 (100.00%) Project Management
Vendors
1 6 (100.00%) SAP