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 26 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 130 264 222
Rank change year-on-year +134 -42 -33
Contract jobs citing BPSS Clearance 856 294 466
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.07% 0.96% 1.06%
As % of the Qualifications category 6.06% 3.22% 3.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 644 177 343
10th Percentile £325 £210 £308
25th Percentile £400 £328 £423
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £475 £508
Median % change year-on-year -1.05% -6.40% -7.73%
75th Percentile £569 £575 £631
90th Percentile £673 £677 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £466 £529
% change year-on-year -3.38% -11.87% -3.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 13 50
10th Percentile £14.96 £19.70 £15.70
25th Percentile £23.00 £27.11 £16.06
Median hourly rate £36.00 £38.85 £19.57
Median % change year-on-year -7.34% +98.52% -59.05%
75th Percentile £56.69 £63.75 £51.63
90th Percentile £74.26 £67.50 £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.50 £38.85 £18.00
% change year-on-year -13.77% +115.83% -62.56%

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 14,122 9,141 13,295
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 34.08% 29.79% 30.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,321 5,618 8,200
10th Percentile £331 £290 £288
25th Percentile £419 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £517 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -1.58% -2.42% -2.18%
75th Percentile £613 £630 £650
90th Percentile £720 £716 £730
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £505 £530
% change year-on-year -0.99% -4.72% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,031 444 961
10th Percentile £16.09 £20.00 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.34 £24.18 £20.50
Median hourly rate £25.15 £40.00 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -37.13% -5.88% -10.90%
75th Percentile £65.00 £67.25 £64.50
90th Percentile £81.00 £81.77 £77.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £46.71 £44.50
% change year-on-year -46.16% +4.97% -1.11%

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 26 February 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 26 February 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 26 February 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 +107 604 £475 +0.53% 243
UK excluding London +70 430 £450 -3.38% 241
Work from Home +109 343 £438 -12.50% 124
London +93 203 £512 +10.06% 57
North of England +15 182 £450 -10.00% 53
North West +42 139 £424 -21.24% 41
Midlands +8 94 £445 +1.95% 12
West Midlands -13 66 £460 +5.38% 9
South East -5 54 £514 -0.19% 70
South West +10 45 £508 +6.84% 48
Scotland +37 35 £350 -21.35% 21
East Midlands -1 28 £395 - 3
Yorkshire -61 25 £481 +118.75% 5
East of England -7 22 £450 +125.00% 43
North East -3 19 £475 +32.87% 7
Wales -2 8 £458 +108.00% 3
Northern Ireland - 3 £375 -

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 46 (5.37%) Confluence
2 17 (1.99%) SharePoint
3 11 (1.29%) nginx
4 8 (0.93%) Apache
4 8 (0.93%) Microsoft Exchange
5 6 (0.70%) Apache Spark
6 5 (0.58%) ArcGIS
6 5 (0.58%) CMS
7 4 (0.47%) SugarCRM
8 3 (0.35%) MTS
8 3 (0.35%) WebLogic
9 2 (0.23%) Apache Airflow
9 2 (0.23%) Oracle Workflow
9 2 (0.23%) SAS
10 1 (0.12%) Apache Pulsar
10 1 (0.12%) Camunda
10 1 (0.12%) Drupal
10 1 (0.12%) GeoServer
10 1 (0.12%) LiveCycle
10 1 (0.12%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 29 (3.39%) Microsoft Excel
2 15 (1.75%) Microsoft Office
3 13 (1.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 11 (1.29%) MS Visio
5 9 (1.05%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.35%) Chatbot
7 2 (0.23%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.23%) Trello
8 1 (0.12%) Adobe XD
8 1 (0.12%) PTC Creo
8 1 (0.12%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 53 (6.19%) SAP S/4HANA
2 13 (1.52%) SAP Travel Management
3 8 (0.93%) SAP EHS
4 6 (0.70%) SAP VC
5 5 (0.58%) SAP QM
6 4 (0.47%) Loan IQ
6 4 (0.47%) Payment Gateway
6 4 (0.47%) SAP BRIM
6 4 (0.47%) SAP EWM
6 4 (0.47%) SAP HCM
6 4 (0.47%) SAP Hybris
6 4 (0.47%) SAP MM
6 4 (0.47%) SAP PSCD
6 4 (0.47%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
7 3 (0.35%) Exchequer
7 3 (0.35%) ProductWriter
7 3 (0.35%) SAP IBP
7 3 (0.35%) SAP Payroll
7 3 (0.35%) SAP PM
8 2 (0.23%) SAP FI
Cloud Services
1 148 (17.29%) AWS
2 126 (14.72%) Azure
3 52 (6.07%) Power Platform
4 43 (5.02%) GitHub
5 40 (4.67%) Serverless
6 38 (4.44%) Azure DevOps
7 32 (3.74%) GCP
8 30 (3.50%) GitHub Actions
9 26 (3.04%) AWS CloudFormation
10 24 (2.80%) Microsoft 365
11 21 (2.45%) AWS Lambda
12 16 (1.87%) Amazon SQS
13 14 (1.64%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 14 (1.64%) Amazon EKS
13 14 (1.64%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 14 (1.64%) Power Automate
14 13 (1.52%) Azure Data Factory
15 12 (1.40%) Amazon EC2
15 12 (1.40%) PowerApps
15 12 (1.40%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 22 (2.57%) SSH
2 13 (1.52%) Firewall
3 11 (1.29%) Network Security
4 9 (1.05%) DNS
5 8 (0.93%) WAN
6 7 (0.82%) MPLS
6 7 (0.82%) Reverse Proxy
7 6 (0.70%) LAN
7 6 (0.70%) VPN
8 4 (0.47%) DHCP
8 4 (0.47%) Ethernet
8 4 (0.47%) SAN
8 4 (0.47%) SDH
8 4 (0.47%) VSAN
8 4 (0.47%) WebEx
8 4 (0.47%) Wireless
9 3 (0.35%) 5G
9 3 (0.35%) Radio Access Network
9 3 (0.35%) Unified Communications
9 3 (0.35%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (4.56%) Power BI
2 24 (2.80%) PostgreSQL
3 22 (2.57%) Metadata
4 18 (2.10%) SQL Server
5 16 (1.87%) NoSQL
6 15 (1.75%) Data Warehouse
6 15 (1.75%) MongoDB
7 14 (1.64%) Relational Database
8 13 (1.52%) MySQL
9 12 (1.40%) Geospatial Data
10 11 (1.29%) Data Lake
10 11 (1.29%) Redis
11 9 (1.05%) Delta Lake
11 9 (1.05%) DynamoDB
12 8 (0.93%) DocumentDB
12 8 (0.93%) Tableau
13 7 (0.82%) BigQuery
13 7 (0.82%) GIS
13 7 (0.82%) Spatial Data
14 6 (0.70%) Spark SQL
Development Applications
1 75 (8.76%) JIRA
2 68 (7.94%) Git
3 49 (5.72%) GitLab
4 30 (3.50%) Jenkins
5 9 (1.05%) Mockito
5 9 (1.05%) Selenium
6 8 (0.93%) JUnit
6 8 (0.93%) SonarQube
7 7 (0.82%) Cypress.io
8 6 (0.70%) Cucumber
9 4 (0.47%) JMeter
9 4 (0.47%) Maven
10 3 (0.35%) Bitbucket
10 3 (0.35%) Eclipse
10 3 (0.35%) Gatling
10 3 (0.35%) Postman
10 3 (0.35%) Toad
11 2 (0.23%) Grunt
11 2 (0.23%) gulp
11 2 (0.23%) PHPUnit
General
1 298 (34.81%) Social Skills
2 171 (19.98%) Public Sector
3 125 (14.60%) Finance
4 91 (10.63%) Analytical Skills
5 44 (5.14%) Banking
6 33 (3.86%) Aerospace
7 19 (2.22%) Telecoms
8 18 (2.10%) Influencing Skills
9 17 (1.99%) Organisational Skills
10 16 (1.87%) Manufacturing
11 15 (1.75%) Legal
12 14 (1.64%) Documentation Skills
12 14 (1.64%) Presentation Skills
13 12 (1.40%) Aviation
14 11 (1.29%) Local Government
15 9 (1.05%) Marketing
15 9 (1.05%) Publishing
15 9 (1.05%) Retail
16 7 (0.82%) Billing
17 6 (0.70%) Military
Job Titles
1 153 (17.87%) Developer
2 101 (11.80%) Analyst
2 101 (11.80%) Senior
3 78 (9.11%) Lead
4 74 (8.64%) Architect
5 64 (7.48%) Consultant
6 46 (5.37%) Business Analyst
7 45 (5.26%) Java Developer
8 42 (4.91%) SAP Consultant
9 27 (3.15%) Data Engineer
10 26 (3.04%) Administrator
10 26 (3.04%) Senior Developer
11 25 (2.92%) Designer
12 23 (2.69%) DevOps Engineer
13 21 (2.45%) Solutions Architect
14 17 (1.99%) Azure Engineer
14 17 (1.99%) Project Manager
14 17 (1.99%) Senior Analyst
14 17 (1.99%) Software Developer
15 16 (1.87%) User Researcher
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 65 (7.59%) Node.js
2 41 (4.79%) React
3 35 (4.09%) REST
4 34 (3.97%) Kafka
5 31 (3.62%) RESTful
6 28 (3.27%) HTML
7 26 (3.04%) Spring
8 23 (2.69%) CSS
9 22 (2.57%) Spring Boot
10 19 (2.22%) JSON
11 17 (1.99%) .NET
12 14 (1.64%) SAP TM
12 14 (1.64%) XML
13 13 (1.52%) LangChain
13 13 (1.52%) Middleware
14 12 (1.40%) Jest
14 12 (1.40%) OAuth
15 11 (1.29%) SOAP
16 10 (1.17%) AngularJS
16 10 (1.17%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 56 (6.54%) Product Ownership
2 44 (5.14%) Onboarding
3 42 (4.91%) Cloud Native
4 26 (3.04%) Management Information System
5 16 (1.87%) Distributed Systems
5 16 (1.87%) Legacy Systems
6 14 (1.64%) NHS
7 11 (1.29%) Security Posture
7 11 (1.29%) Self-Motivation
8 10 (1.17%) Public Cloud
9 8 (0.93%) Data Structures
9 8 (0.93%) Enterprise Software
10 7 (0.82%) Cyber Threat
10 7 (0.82%) Data Centre
10 7 (0.82%) Driving Licence
10 7 (0.82%) Linux Command Line
10 7 (0.82%) Low-Code
10 7 (0.82%) Tandem
11 6 (0.70%) AI Agents
12 5 (0.58%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 87 (10.16%) Linux
2 37 (4.32%) Windows
3 25 (2.92%) Unix
4 8 (0.93%) Android
4 8 (0.93%) Windows Server
5 6 (0.70%) Apple iOS
5 6 (0.70%) Mac OS X
6 5 (0.58%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (0.35%) Ubuntu
8 2 (0.23%) Debian
8 2 (0.23%) VMS
9 1 (0.12%) AIX
9 1 (0.12%) CentOS
9 1 (0.12%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.12%) Solaris
9 1 (0.12%) VME
9 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 274 (32.01%) Agile
2 168 (19.63%) CI/CD
3 160 (18.69%) Problem-Solving
4 137 (16.00%) Stakeholder Management
5 125 (14.60%) DevOps
6 88 (10.28%) Continuous Improvement
7 84 (9.81%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 73 (8.53%) Microservices
9 72 (8.41%) Test Automation
10 70 (8.18%) Roadmaps
10 70 (8.18%) Scrum
11 67 (7.83%) Data Modelling
12 66 (7.71%) AI
13 64 (7.48%) Infrastructure as Code
14 58 (6.78%) Analytics
15 56 (6.54%) Validation
16 54 (6.31%) Decision-Making
17 53 (6.19%) Migration
18 50 (5.84%) Containerisation
19 49 (5.72%) User Research
Programming Languages
1 114 (13.32%) Python
2 95 (11.10%) Java
3 93 (10.86%) SQL
4 52 (6.07%) JavaScript
5 34 (3.97%) TypeScript
6 23 (2.69%) Shell Script
7 17 (1.99%) C#
7 17 (1.99%) PowerShell
8 15 (1.75%) Bash
9 13 (1.52%) Ruby
9 13 (1.52%) Scala
10 10 (1.17%) ABAP
10 10 (1.17%) Bicep
11 9 (1.05%) PL/SQL
12 7 (0.82%) PHP
13 6 (0.70%) COBOL
13 6 (0.70%) R
14 5 (0.58%) C++
15 3 (0.35%) C
15 3 (0.35%) VB
Qualifications
1 318 (37.15%) Security Cleared
2 232 (27.10%) SC Cleared
3 75 (8.76%) Degree
4 29 (3.39%) Computer Science Degree
5 22 (2.57%) Master's Degree
6 15 (1.75%) DV Cleared
7 10 (1.17%) AWS Certification
7 10 (1.17%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
8 8 (0.93%) PMI Certification
9 7 (0.82%) Azure Certification
9 7 (0.82%) DBS Check
10 6 (0.70%) ISTQB
10 6 (0.70%) PMP
11 5 (0.58%) CompTIA Security+
12 4 (0.47%) CompTIA CySA+
12 4 (0.47%) GIAC
12 4 (0.47%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 4 (0.47%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 4 (0.47%) PhD
13 3 (0.35%) ISEB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 62 (7.24%) Accessibility
2 50 (5.84%) Data Quality
3 45 (5.26%) QA
4 25 (2.92%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 18 (2.10%) NIST
6 17 (1.99%) WCAG
7 15 (1.75%) GRC
7 15 (1.75%) SLA
8 10 (1.17%) Def Stans
8 10 (1.17%) NCSC
9 9 (1.05%) GDPR
10 8 (0.93%) PMO
11 7 (0.82%) ISO 20022
11 7 (0.82%) PCI DSS
12 5 (0.58%) IFRS
12 5 (0.58%) IFRS 17
12 5 (0.58%) PSD2
13 4 (0.47%) Actionable Recommendations
13 4 (0.47%) SEPA
14 3 (0.35%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 62 (7.24%) Docker
2 17 (1.99%) Active Directory
3 13 (1.52%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (0.82%) vSphere
5 4 (0.47%) GPFS
5 4 (0.47%) Hyper-V
5 4 (0.47%) NFS
5 4 (0.47%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.23%) ACF2
6 2 (0.23%) QEMU
6 2 (0.23%) RACF
6 2 (0.23%) Time Sharing Option
6 2 (0.23%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.23%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.12%) Postfix
7 1 (0.12%) Varnish
Systems Management
1 71 (8.29%) Terraform
2 59 (6.89%) Kubernetes
3 17 (1.99%) Prometheus
4 16 (1.87%) Grafana
5 13 (1.52%) Ansible
6 7 (0.82%) vRealize
7 5 (0.58%) Single Sign-On
7 5 (0.58%) VxRail
8 4 (0.47%) Istio
8 4 (0.47%) Kibana
8 4 (0.47%) Podman
9 3 (0.35%) Argo
9 3 (0.35%) EMC NetWorker
9 3 (0.35%) EMC VPLEX
9 3 (0.35%) Microsoft Intune
9 3 (0.35%) Packer
10 2 (0.23%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 2 (0.23%) Consul
10 2 (0.23%) Kubeflow
10 2 (0.23%) PingFederate
Vendors
1 104 (12.15%) SAP
2 93 (10.86%) Microsoft
3 40 (4.67%) Oracle
4 22 (2.57%) Cisco
5 18 (2.10%) VMware
6 17 (1.99%) Databricks
6 17 (1.99%) Google
7 16 (1.87%) IBM
8 13 (1.52%) Pega
8 13 (1.52%) ServiceNow
9 10 (1.17%) Adobe
9 10 (1.17%) Twitter
10 8 (0.93%) Atlassian
10 8 (0.93%) Splunk
11 7 (0.82%) CyberArk
11 7 (0.82%) Dell
11 7 (0.82%) Salesforce
12 6 (0.70%) Foundry
12 6 (0.70%) webMethods
12 6 (0.70%) Workday