BPSS Clearance Contract Job Trends

Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) Clearance
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for BPSS Clearance qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 14 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 88 161 259
Rank change year-on-year +73 +98 -23
Contract jobs citing BPSS Clearance 1,702 602 335
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.08% 1.81% 0.89%
As % of the Qualifications category 9.65% 5.70% 3.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,242 426 188
10th Percentile £371 £313 £218
25th Percentile £434 £405 £358
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year - - -8.68%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £590
90th Percentile £671 £714 £653
UK excluding London median daily rate £484 £500 £447
% change year-on-year -3.20% +11.86% -18.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 241 52 19
10th Percentile £19.50 £20.00 £20.09
25th Percentile £37.25 £22.63 £20.12
Median hourly rate £43.96 £31.39 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +40.07% -10.33% -36.36%
75th Percentile £44.25 £48.13 £60.63
90th Percentile £65.00 £71.14 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £33.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year +31.22% -4.29% -36.36%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

BPSS Clearance 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.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 17,645 10,563 10,982
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 31.93% 31.84% 29.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,668 6,616 6,647
10th Percentile £355 £283 £310
25th Percentile £447 £413 £419
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £533 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.43% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £631 £625 £630
90th Percentile £713 £703 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £500 £520
% change year-on-year +5.00% -3.85% -3.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,491 890 568
10th Percentile £16.50 £17.54 £18.13
25th Percentile £25.00 £18.87 £25.47
Median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +74.79% -47.05% -11.52%
75th Percentile £72.25 £40.19 £68.00
90th Percentile £89.08 £70.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £50.00
% change year-on-year +74.79% -49.70% -3.65%

BPSS Clearance
Job Vacancy Trend

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

BPSS Clearance job vacancy trend in the UK

BPSS Clearance
Daily Rate Trend

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing BPSS Clearance

BPSS Clearance
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing BPSS Clearance over the 6 months to 14 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for BPSS Clearance in the UK

BPSS Clearance
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing BPSS Clearance.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing BPSS Clearance

BPSS Clearance
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing BPSS Clearance over the 6 months to 14 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for BPSS Clearance in the UK

BPSS Clearance
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 BPSS Clearance within the UK over the 6 months to 14 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 +87 1,292 £500 - 688
UK excluding London +62 965 £484 -3.20% 458
Work from Home +57 596 £519 +9.26% 382
London +91 392 £530 +6.00% 230
North of England +16 340 £490 -0.20% 100
Midlands +67 318 £481 -7.63% 79
West Midlands +74 307 £481 -8.36% 61
North West -4 187 £525 +11.12% 53
North East +17 92 £461 -8.89% 18
South East -12 91 £469 -8.67% 106
Yorkshire +7 78 £475 -5.00% 29
South West +5 77 £525 +16.67% 81
Scotland +18 67 £450 +7.14% 30
East of England +17 62 £566 -6.29% 54
Northern Ireland +20 20 - - 9
Wales -2 14 £413 - 5
East Midlands -28 11 £600 +29.03% 18

BPSS Clearance
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 72 (4.23%) Confluence
2 40 (2.35%) SharePoint
3 13 (0.76%) CMS
4 12 (0.71%) SharePoint Server
5 10 (0.59%) Apache Spark
6 9 (0.53%) Microsoft Exchange
7 8 (0.47%) SAS
8 7 (0.41%) WebLogic
9 6 (0.35%) Apache Airflow
9 6 (0.35%) Headless CMS
10 5 (0.29%) WordPress
11 4 (0.24%) IIS
12 3 (0.18%) nginx
12 3 (0.18%) Oracle Workflow
12 3 (0.18%) SAP Portal
13 2 (0.12%) Cloud Foundry
13 2 (0.12%) Ethereum
13 2 (0.12%) Hyperledger
13 2 (0.12%) OpenEdge
13 2 (0.12%) OpenROAD
Applications
1 46 (2.70%) Microsoft Excel
2 31 (1.82%) Microsoft Office
3 16 (0.94%) Microsoft Project
4 9 (0.53%) Windchill
5 8 (0.47%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 4 (0.24%) AutoCAD
7 3 (0.18%) Chatbot
7 3 (0.18%) Navisworks
8 2 (0.12%) MS Visio
8 2 (0.12%) Revit
8 2 (0.12%) Spreadsheet
9 1 (0.059%) Civil 3D
9 1 (0.059%) ProjectWise
9 1 (0.059%) PTC Creo
9 1 (0.059%) Siemens NX
9 1 (0.059%) Trello
Business Applications
1 67 (3.94%) SAP S/4HANA
2 23 (1.35%) SAP HR
2 23 (1.35%) SAP Payroll
3 16 (0.94%) SAP BRIM
3 16 (0.94%) SAP HCM
4 15 (0.88%) SAP PSCD
5 11 (0.65%) SAP FI
6 9 (0.53%) SAP PP
7 7 (0.41%) SAP FI-CA
7 7 (0.41%) SAP MDG
7 7 (0.41%) Teamcenter
8 6 (0.35%) SAP GRC
9 5 (0.29%) Dynamics CRM
9 5 (0.29%) Exchequer
9 5 (0.29%) SAP ERP
9 5 (0.29%) SAP Hybris
10 4 (0.24%) SAP Convergent Charging
10 4 (0.24%) SAP EHS
10 4 (0.24%) SAP IBP
10 4 (0.24%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 305 (17.92%) AWS
2 281 (16.51%) Azure
3 96 (5.64%) GitHub
4 86 (5.05%) Power Platform
5 67 (3.94%) Azure DevOps
6 60 (3.53%) GCP
6 60 (3.53%) GitHub Actions
6 60 (3.53%) Serverless
7 51 (3.00%) Microsoft 365
8 46 (2.70%) AWS Lambda
8 46 (2.70%) Entra ID
9 45 (2.64%) Amazon S3
10 30 (1.76%) SuccessFactors
11 26 (1.53%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 26 (1.53%) AWS CloudFormation
12 25 (1.47%) Azure Monitor
13 24 (1.41%) Power Automate
13 24 (1.41%) PowerApps
14 20 (1.18%) Amazon ECS
15 19 (1.12%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 18 (1.06%) DNS
2 13 (0.76%) Network Security
2 13 (0.76%) SSL
2 13 (0.76%) WAN
3 10 (0.59%) WebEx
4 9 (0.53%) Cisco IPT
4 9 (0.53%) Firewall
4 9 (0.53%) Radio Access Network
4 9 (0.53%) Wireshark
5 8 (0.47%) 5G
5 8 (0.47%) Intranet
6 7 (0.41%) 3GPP
6 7 (0.41%) VPN
7 6 (0.35%) Ethernet
7 6 (0.35%) LAN
7 6 (0.35%) MPLS
8 5 (0.29%) HTTP
8 5 (0.29%) NGN
8 5 (0.29%) tcpdump
9 4 (0.24%) 4G
Database & Business Intelligence
1 55 (3.23%) MongoDB
1 55 (3.23%) Power BI
2 51 (3.00%) PostgreSQL
3 44 (2.59%) Metadata
4 39 (2.29%) Data Warehouse
5 33 (1.94%) SQL Server
6 25 (1.47%) Amazon RDS
6 25 (1.47%) MySQL
7 23 (1.35%) Data Lake
8 22 (1.29%) NoSQL
9 20 (1.18%) Relational Database
9 20 (1.18%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 18 (1.06%) Oracle Database
11 16 (0.94%) DynamoDB
12 14 (0.82%) Amazon Redshift
13 12 (0.71%) Amazon Aurora
14 11 (0.65%) Redis
15 10 (0.59%) Amazon Athena
16 8 (0.47%) Big Data
16 8 (0.47%) SAP BW
Development Applications
1 124 (7.29%) Git
2 118 (6.93%) JIRA
3 113 (6.64%) GitLab
4 64 (3.76%) Jenkins
5 46 (2.70%) JUnit
6 36 (2.12%) Selenium
7 34 (2.00%) Cucumber
8 30 (1.76%) Maven
9 23 (1.35%) SonarQube
10 22 (1.29%) Gatling
11 21 (1.23%) Mockito
12 19 (1.12%) Postman
13 14 (0.82%) Cypress.io
13 14 (0.82%) Team Foundation Server
13 14 (0.82%) Visual Studio
14 12 (0.71%) Atlassian Bamboo
15 11 (0.65%) Rational DOORS
16 10 (0.59%) Bitbucket
16 10 (0.59%) REST Assured
17 7 (0.41%) Gradle
General
1 586 (34.43%) Social Skills
2 460 (27.03%) Public Sector
3 264 (15.51%) Finance
4 166 (9.75%) Analytical Skills
5 142 (8.34%) Legal
5 142 (8.34%) Organisational Skills
6 59 (3.47%) Aerospace
7 41 (2.41%) Documentation Skills
8 40 (2.35%) Influencing Skills
8 40 (2.35%) Manufacturing
9 32 (1.88%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 32 (1.88%) Telecoms
10 30 (1.76%) Presentation Skills
11 23 (1.35%) Banking
12 22 (1.29%) Billing
13 21 (1.23%) Aviation
14 17 (1.00%) Local Government
15 16 (0.94%) Military
15 16 (0.94%) Publishing
16 14 (0.82%) Avionics
Job Titles
1 229 (13.45%) Developer
2 204 (11.99%) Architect
3 186 (10.93%) Senior
4 169 (9.93%) Lead
5 116 (6.82%) Analyst
6 110 (6.46%) Consultant
7 79 (4.64%) Java Developer
8 63 (3.70%) Technical Architect
9 62 (3.64%) SAP Consultant
10 59 (3.47%) Data Engineer
11 57 (3.35%) Solutions Architect
12 56 (3.29%) Designer
12 56 (3.29%) DevOps Engineer
13 48 (2.82%) Business Analyst
14 41 (2.41%) Delivery Manager
15 39 (2.29%) Product Manager
16 36 (2.12%) Data Architect
16 36 (2.12%) User Researcher
17 34 (2.00%) Administrator
18 33 (1.94%) Lead Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 125 (7.34%) Terraform
2 103 (6.05%) REST
3 99 (5.82%) Spring
4 80 (4.70%) Spring Boot
5 60 (3.53%) RESTful
6 58 (3.41%) React
7 57 (3.35%) Node.js
8 49 (2.88%) Playwright
9 46 (2.70%) HTML
10 44 (2.59%) Kafka
11 40 (2.35%) OpenAPI
12 35 (2.06%) CSS
13 30 (1.76%) OAuth
14 29 (1.70%) Swagger
15 28 (1.65%) JSON
16 27 (1.59%) XML
17 26 (1.53%) .NET
17 26 (1.53%) OAuth2
18 24 (1.41%) Web Services
19 22 (1.29%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 120 (7.05%) Virtual Team
2 119 (6.99%) Web Conferencing
3 117 (6.87%) Onboarding
4 109 (6.40%) Podcast
5 91 (5.35%) Product Ownership
6 89 (5.23%) Cloud Native
7 39 (2.29%) Enterprise Software
8 27 (1.59%) Management Information System
9 26 (1.53%) Replication
10 24 (1.41%) Legacy Systems
10 24 (1.41%) Self-Motivation
11 23 (1.35%) Mobile App
12 22 (1.29%) Distributed Systems
13 18 (1.06%) NHS
14 17 (1.00%) Driving Licence
15 14 (0.82%) BYOD
15 14 (0.82%) Low-Code
16 13 (0.76%) AI Agents
17 12 (0.71%) Taxonomies
18 11 (0.65%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 79 (4.64%) Windows
2 52 (3.06%) Linux
3 26 (1.53%) Unix
4 21 (1.23%) Android
5 19 (1.12%) Windows Server
6 14 (0.82%) Apple iOS
7 11 (0.65%) Windows 10
8 10 (0.59%) VMS
9 8 (0.47%) macOS
10 3 (0.18%) AIX
11 1 (0.059%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 1 (0.059%) Robot Operating System
11 1 (0.059%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
11 1 (0.059%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.059%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 529 (31.08%) Agile
2 365 (21.45%) Stakeholder Management
3 302 (17.74%) CI/CD
4 255 (14.98%) DevOps
5 223 (13.10%) Continuous Improvement
6 206 (12.10%) Problem-Solving
7 185 (10.87%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 180 (10.58%) Scrum
9 158 (9.28%) Test Automation
10 141 (8.28%) Microservices
11 140 (8.23%) Decision-Making
12 139 (8.17%) Customer Service
13 134 (7.87%) Roadmaps
14 132 (7.76%) Infrastructure as Code
15 130 (7.64%) Migration
16 125 (7.34%) Analytics
16 125 (7.34%) Digital Transformation Programme
17 124 (7.29%) AI
18 109 (6.40%) Mentoring
19 93 (5.46%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 206 (12.10%) Java
2 179 (10.52%) SQL
3 130 (7.64%) Python
4 81 (4.76%) JavaScript
5 44 (2.59%) TypeScript
6 40 (2.35%) PowerShell
7 32 (1.88%) Scala
8 27 (1.59%) Bash
9 26 (1.53%) Shell Script
10 22 (1.29%) C#
11 20 (1.18%) PL/SQL
12 18 (1.06%) ABAP
13 14 (0.82%) T-SQL
14 11 (0.65%) VB
14 11 (0.65%) VB6
14 11 (0.65%) VBA
15 9 (0.53%) VBScript
16 8 (0.47%) C++
16 8 (0.47%) Kotlin
16 8 (0.47%) R
Qualifications
1 594 (34.90%) Security Cleared
2 466 (27.38%) SC Cleared
3 85 (4.99%) Degree
4 28 (1.65%) AWS Certification
5 21 (1.23%) Azure Certification
6 19 (1.12%) Microsoft Certification
7 15 (0.88%) DBS Check
8 13 (0.76%) DV Cleared
9 12 (0.71%) A+ Certification
9 12 (0.71%) PMI Certification
10 9 (0.53%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 9 (0.53%) HNC
10 9 (0.53%) HND
10 9 (0.53%) ISTQB
10 9 (0.53%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 7 (0.41%) Master's Degree
12 6 (0.35%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
12 6 (0.35%) CCNA
12 6 (0.35%) CTC Cleared
12 6 (0.35%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 124 (7.29%) Accessibility
2 112 (6.58%) QA
3 71 (4.17%) Data Quality
4 48 (2.82%) WCAG
5 31 (1.82%) GDPR
6 23 (1.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 21 (1.23%) PMO
8 17 (1.00%) SLA
9 14 (0.82%) NCSC
10 12 (0.71%) NIST
11 11 (0.65%) GRC
12 9 (0.53%) IEC 61508
13 8 (0.47%) Actionable Recommendations
14 5 (0.29%) 21 CFR Part 11
14 5 (0.29%) GMP
14 5 (0.29%) GxP
14 5 (0.29%) ISO/IEC 17025
14 5 (0.29%) PERC
15 4 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials
15 4 (0.24%) Disclosure Scotland
System Software
1 112 (6.58%) Docker
2 36 (2.12%) Active Directory
3 13 (0.76%) Virtual Machines
4 10 (0.59%) Virtual Desktop
5 6 (0.35%) VMware Infrastructure
6 5 (0.29%) Firmware
6 5 (0.29%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.059%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.059%) IAG
7 1 (0.059%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 128 (7.52%) Kubernetes
2 39 (2.29%) Grafana
3 26 (1.53%) Kibana
4 24 (1.41%) Prometheus
5 21 (1.23%) Single Sign-On
6 14 (0.82%) Ansible
7 12 (0.71%) SCCM
8 10 (0.59%) Argo
8 10 (0.59%) Microsoft Intune
9 9 (0.53%) Functional Safety
9 9 (0.53%) SCOM
10 4 (0.24%) Istio
10 4 (0.24%) Packer
10 4 (0.24%) Podman
10 4 (0.24%) Puppet
11 3 (0.18%) HAProxy
11 3 (0.18%) Karpenter
12 2 (0.12%) Data Guard
12 2 (0.12%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
12 2 (0.12%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 209 (12.28%) Microsoft
2 165 (9.69%) SAP
3 103 (6.05%) Oracle
4 64 (3.76%) ServiceNow
5 49 (2.88%) Google
6 25 (1.47%) BeyondTrust
7 20 (1.18%) Databricks
8 18 (1.06%) Splunk
9 17 (1.00%) Atlassian
9 17 (1.00%) Talend
10 13 (0.76%) IBM
11 12 (0.71%) Cisco
11 12 (0.71%) Dell
11 12 (0.71%) Informatica
12 11 (0.65%) CyberArk
12 11 (0.65%) Salesforce
13 10 (0.59%) Okta
14 9 (0.53%) MuleSoft
14 9 (0.53%) Siemens
15 8 (0.47%) EMC