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 5 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 87 161 251
Rank change year-on-year +74 +90 -15
Contract jobs citing BPSS Clearance 1,637 604 345
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.01% 1.83% 0.91%
As % of the Qualifications category 9.50% 5.77% 3.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,194 424 197
10th Percentile £365 £313 £213
25th Percentile £433 £405 £368
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year - - -8.68%
75th Percentile £600 £607 £588
90th Percentile £671 £713 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £500 £447
% change year-on-year -2.50% +11.86% -18.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 232 54 21
10th Percentile £19.50 £19.30 £18.50
25th Percentile £40.75 £22.63 £20.12
Median hourly rate £43.96 £29.27 £21.59
Median % change year-on-year +50.19% +35.57% -62.34%
75th Percentile £45.19 £47.09 £57.50
90th Percentile £66.49 £70.92 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £33.50 £21.59
% change year-on-year +31.22% +55.16% -61.56%

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 17,233 10,477 11,146
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 31.68% 31.74% 29.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,440 6,541 6,755
10th Percentile £350 £283 £310
25th Percentile £447 £413 £423
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £530 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year +0.95% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £634 £625 £634
90th Percentile £713 £703 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £500 £523
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.31% -2.79%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,425 888 612
10th Percentile £16.63 £17.82 £18.00
25th Percentile £25.50 £18.87 £25.36
Median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +78.93% -47.05% -11.35%
75th Percentile £71.43 £42.00 £68.00
90th Percentile £88.75 £69.99 £75.38
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £50.00
% change year-on-year +74.79% -49.70% -3.66%

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 5 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 5 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 5 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 +81 1,243 £500 -2.44% 1,054
UK excluding London +57 941 £488 -2.50% 841
Work from Home +57 573 £503 +5.39% 708
London +101 368 £525 +5.00% 257
North of England +18 331 £490 - 140
Midlands +66 309 £488 -6.79% 134
West Midlands +65 298 £488 -7.14% 90
North West -1 174 £510 +8.77% 75
North East +18 96 £463 -5.13% 38
South East -16 91 £480 -6.80% 174
Yorkshire +8 78 £475 -5.00% 27
South West +2 76 £525 +2.44% 121
Scotland +28 68 £450 +2.86% 108
East of England +13 54 £578 -4.30% 138
Northern Ireland +17 20 - - 18
Wales -3 13 £419 - 14
East Midlands -21 11 £600 +21.95% 44

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 68 (4.15%) Confluence
2 39 (2.38%) SharePoint
3 14 (0.86%) SharePoint Server
4 11 (0.67%) Apache Spark
4 11 (0.67%) CMS
5 9 (0.55%) Microsoft Exchange
6 8 (0.49%) SAS
7 7 (0.43%) Apache Airflow
8 6 (0.37%) Headless CMS
8 6 (0.37%) WebLogic
9 5 (0.31%) WordPress
10 4 (0.24%) IIS
10 4 (0.24%) Oracle Workflow
11 2 (0.12%) Cloud Foundry
11 2 (0.12%) Ethereum
11 2 (0.12%) Hyperledger
11 2 (0.12%) LiveCycle
11 2 (0.12%) OpenROAD
11 2 (0.12%) SAP Portal
12 1 (0.061%) Appian
Applications
1 42 (2.57%) Microsoft Excel
2 31 (1.89%) Microsoft Office
3 15 (0.92%) Microsoft Project
4 8 (0.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (0.49%) Windchill
5 4 (0.24%) AutoCAD
6 3 (0.18%) Chatbot
6 3 (0.18%) Navisworks
7 2 (0.12%) MS Visio
7 2 (0.12%) Revit
7 2 (0.12%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.061%) Civil 3D
8 1 (0.061%) InVision
8 1 (0.061%) ProjectWise
8 1 (0.061%) Siemens NX
8 1 (0.061%) Sketch
8 1 (0.061%) Trello
Business Applications
1 62 (3.79%) SAP S/4HANA
2 23 (1.41%) SAP HR
3 22 (1.34%) SAP Payroll
4 16 (0.98%) SAP PSCD
5 15 (0.92%) SAP BRIM
6 13 (0.79%) SAP HCM
7 10 (0.61%) SAP FI
8 8 (0.49%) SAP PP
9 7 (0.43%) SAP MDG
10 6 (0.37%) SAP FI-CA
10 6 (0.37%) SAP GRC
10 6 (0.37%) Teamcenter
11 5 (0.31%) Exchequer
11 5 (0.31%) SAP ERP
11 5 (0.31%) SAP Hybris
11 5 (0.31%) SAP IBP
12 4 (0.24%) SAP Convergent Charging
12 4 (0.24%) SAP EHS
12 4 (0.24%) Shopify
13 3 (0.18%) SAP FI/CO
Cloud Services
1 297 (18.14%) AWS
2 270 (16.49%) Azure
3 86 (5.25%) GitHub
4 85 (5.19%) Power Platform
5 63 (3.85%) Azure DevOps
6 59 (3.60%) GCP
7 57 (3.48%) Serverless
8 54 (3.30%) GitHub Actions
9 49 (2.99%) Microsoft 365
10 47 (2.87%) Amazon S3
10 47 (2.87%) AWS Lambda
11 45 (2.75%) Entra ID
12 28 (1.71%) SuccessFactors
13 26 (1.59%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 26 (1.59%) AWS CloudFormation
14 25 (1.53%) Power Automate
14 25 (1.53%) PowerApps
15 24 (1.47%) Azure Monitor
16 22 (1.34%) Amazon ECS
17 19 (1.16%) GitHub Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 17 (1.04%) DNS
2 13 (0.79%) SSL
2 13 (0.79%) WAN
3 11 (0.67%) Network Security
4 10 (0.61%) Firewall
4 10 (0.61%) WebEx
5 9 (0.55%) Cisco IPT
6 8 (0.49%) Intranet
7 7 (0.43%) 5G
7 7 (0.43%) Radio Access Network
7 7 (0.43%) VPN
7 7 (0.43%) Wireshark
8 6 (0.37%) Ethernet
8 6 (0.37%) LAN
8 6 (0.37%) MPLS
9 5 (0.31%) 3GPP
9 5 (0.31%) HTTP
9 5 (0.31%) NGN
9 5 (0.31%) TCP/IP
9 5 (0.31%) tcpdump
Database & Business Intelligence
1 57 (3.48%) Power BI
2 55 (3.36%) MongoDB
3 51 (3.12%) PostgreSQL
4 44 (2.69%) Metadata
5 38 (2.32%) Data Warehouse
6 33 (2.02%) SQL Server
7 25 (1.53%) Amazon RDS
7 25 (1.53%) MySQL
8 24 (1.47%) NoSQL
9 22 (1.34%) Data Lake
10 20 (1.22%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 19 (1.16%) Oracle Database
11 19 (1.16%) Relational Database
12 16 (0.98%) DynamoDB
13 14 (0.86%) Amazon Aurora
13 14 (0.86%) Amazon Redshift
14 11 (0.67%) Amazon Athena
14 11 (0.67%) Redis
15 10 (0.61%) Big Data
16 8 (0.49%) SAP BW
Development Applications
1 120 (7.33%) Git
2 116 (7.09%) JIRA
3 107 (6.54%) GitLab
4 62 (3.79%) Jenkins
5 44 (2.69%) JUnit
6 36 (2.20%) Selenium
7 34 (2.08%) Cucumber
8 30 (1.83%) Maven
9 23 (1.41%) SonarQube
10 21 (1.28%) Gatling
11 20 (1.22%) Mockito
12 19 (1.16%) Postman
13 14 (0.86%) Team Foundation Server
13 14 (0.86%) Visual Studio
14 13 (0.79%) Cypress.io
15 11 (0.67%) Atlassian Bamboo
16 10 (0.61%) Rational DOORS
16 10 (0.61%) REST Assured
17 9 (0.55%) Bitbucket
18 7 (0.43%) Gradle
General
1 566 (34.58%) Social Skills
2 428 (26.15%) Public Sector
3 253 (15.46%) Finance
4 159 (9.71%) Analytical Skills
5 141 (8.61%) Legal
6 139 (8.49%) Organisational Skills
7 51 (3.12%) Aerospace
8 41 (2.50%) Documentation Skills
9 37 (2.26%) Influencing Skills
10 36 (2.20%) Manufacturing
11 31 (1.89%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 27 (1.65%) Presentation Skills
12 27 (1.65%) Telecoms
13 23 (1.41%) Billing
14 22 (1.34%) Banking
15 18 (1.10%) Aviation
16 15 (0.92%) Military
17 13 (0.79%) Local Government
18 12 (0.73%) Avionics
18 12 (0.73%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 224 (13.68%) Developer
2 189 (11.55%) Architect
3 184 (11.24%) Senior
4 167 (10.20%) Lead
5 111 (6.78%) Analyst
6 106 (6.48%) Consultant
7 76 (4.64%) Java Developer
8 62 (3.79%) SAP Consultant
9 59 (3.60%) Data Engineer
9 59 (3.60%) Designer
10 54 (3.30%) Solutions Architect
10 54 (3.30%) Technical Architect
11 51 (3.12%) DevOps Engineer
12 50 (3.05%) Business Analyst
13 42 (2.57%) Delivery Manager
14 38 (2.32%) Product Manager
15 36 (2.20%) Data Architect
16 33 (2.02%) Lead Developer
17 31 (1.89%) Administrator
18 29 (1.77%) User Researcher
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 118 (7.21%) Terraform
2 97 (5.93%) Spring
3 96 (5.86%) REST
4 78 (4.76%) Spring Boot
5 58 (3.54%) RESTful
6 55 (3.36%) Node.js
6 55 (3.36%) React
7 51 (3.12%) HTML
8 46 (2.81%) Playwright
9 42 (2.57%) Kafka
10 39 (2.38%) CSS
11 37 (2.26%) OpenAPI
12 27 (1.65%) JSON
13 26 (1.59%) OAuth
13 26 (1.59%) Swagger
14 25 (1.53%) XML
15 24 (1.47%) .NET
16 23 (1.41%) OAuth2
17 21 (1.28%) Web Services
18 19 (1.16%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 119 (7.27%) Virtual Team
1 119 (7.27%) Web Conferencing
2 115 (7.03%) Onboarding
3 109 (6.66%) Podcast
4 86 (5.25%) Product Ownership
5 80 (4.89%) Cloud Native
6 36 (2.20%) Enterprise Software
7 26 (1.59%) Replication
8 23 (1.41%) Management Information System
8 23 (1.41%) Mobile App
8 23 (1.41%) Self-Motivation
9 22 (1.34%) Legacy Systems
10 19 (1.16%) NHS
11 18 (1.10%) Distributed Systems
12 17 (1.04%) Driving Licence
13 15 (0.92%) BYOD
14 13 (0.79%) Low-Code
15 12 (0.73%) AI Agents
15 12 (0.73%) Taxonomies
16 11 (0.67%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 73 (4.46%) Windows
2 53 (3.24%) Linux
3 30 (1.83%) Unix
4 21 (1.28%) Android
5 20 (1.22%) Windows Server
6 13 (0.79%) Apple iOS
7 10 (0.61%) VMS
7 10 (0.61%) Windows 10
8 8 (0.49%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.12%) AIX
10 1 (0.061%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.061%) Robot Operating System
10 1 (0.061%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
10 1 (0.061%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.061%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 521 (31.83%) Agile
2 339 (20.71%) Stakeholder Management
3 289 (17.65%) CI/CD
4 246 (15.03%) DevOps
5 213 (13.01%) Continuous Improvement
6 195 (11.91%) Problem-Solving
7 179 (10.93%) Scrum
8 178 (10.87%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 149 (9.10%) Test Automation
10 137 (8.37%) Customer Service
11 136 (8.31%) Decision-Making
12 131 (8.00%) Microservices
13 130 (7.94%) Roadmaps
14 122 (7.45%) Migration
15 121 (7.39%) Analytics
16 118 (7.21%) Infrastructure as Code
17 112 (6.84%) AI
17 112 (6.84%) Digital Transformation Programme
18 106 (6.48%) Mentoring
19 88 (5.38%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 202 (12.34%) Java
2 176 (10.75%) SQL
3 131 (8.00%) Python
4 85 (5.19%) JavaScript
5 41 (2.50%) TypeScript
6 40 (2.44%) PowerShell
7 36 (2.20%) Scala
8 26 (1.59%) Bash
8 26 (1.59%) Shell Script
9 22 (1.34%) C#
10 21 (1.28%) PL/SQL
11 16 (0.98%) ABAP
12 14 (0.86%) T-SQL
13 11 (0.67%) VB
13 11 (0.67%) VB6
13 11 (0.67%) VBA
14 9 (0.55%) VBScript
15 8 (0.49%) C++
15 8 (0.49%) Kotlin
15 8 (0.49%) R
Qualifications
1 557 (34.03%) Security Cleared
2 434 (26.51%) SC Cleared
3 81 (4.95%) Degree
4 25 (1.53%) AWS Certification
5 20 (1.22%) Azure Certification
6 19 (1.16%) Microsoft Certification
7 14 (0.86%) DBS Check
8 13 (0.79%) DV Cleared
9 12 (0.73%) A+ Certification
10 10 (0.61%) PMI Certification
11 9 (0.55%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 9 (0.55%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 8 (0.49%) HNC
12 8 (0.49%) HND
12 8 (0.49%) ISTQB
13 7 (0.43%) Master's Degree
14 6 (0.37%) CCNA
14 6 (0.37%) Cisco Certification
14 6 (0.37%) CTC Cleared
14 6 (0.37%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 114 (6.96%) Accessibility
2 113 (6.90%) QA
3 71 (4.34%) Data Quality
4 45 (2.75%) WCAG
5 29 (1.77%) GDPR
6 22 (1.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 20 (1.22%) PMO
8 16 (0.98%) SLA
9 14 (0.86%) NIST
10 11 (0.67%) NCSC
11 10 (0.61%) GRC
12 8 (0.49%) IEC 61508
13 6 (0.37%) Actionable Recommendations
14 5 (0.31%) 21 CFR Part 11
14 5 (0.31%) GMP
14 5 (0.31%) GxP
14 5 (0.31%) ISO/IEC 17025
14 5 (0.31%) PERC
15 3 (0.18%) Cyber Essentials
15 3 (0.18%) Disclosure Scotland
System Software
1 111 (6.78%) Docker
2 37 (2.26%) Active Directory
3 13 (0.79%) Virtual Machines
4 9 (0.55%) Virtual Desktop
5 6 (0.37%) VMware Infrastructure
6 5 (0.31%) Hyper-V
7 3 (0.18%) Firmware
8 1 (0.061%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.061%) IAG
8 1 (0.061%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 124 (7.57%) Kubernetes
2 40 (2.44%) Grafana
3 25 (1.53%) Kibana
4 24 (1.47%) Prometheus
5 20 (1.22%) Single Sign-On
6 12 (0.73%) Ansible
6 12 (0.73%) SCCM
7 10 (0.61%) Argo
8 9 (0.55%) Microsoft Intune
8 9 (0.55%) SCOM
9 8 (0.49%) Functional Safety
10 4 (0.24%) Packer
10 4 (0.24%) Podman
10 4 (0.24%) Puppet
11 3 (0.18%) HAProxy
11 3 (0.18%) Istio
11 3 (0.18%) Karpenter
12 2 (0.12%) Cilium
12 2 (0.12%) Data Guard
12 2 (0.12%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 193 (11.79%) Microsoft
2 155 (9.47%) SAP
3 102 (6.23%) Oracle
4 64 (3.91%) ServiceNow
5 44 (2.69%) Google
6 27 (1.65%) BeyondTrust
7 19 (1.16%) Databricks
7 19 (1.16%) Splunk
8 16 (0.98%) Atlassian
8 16 (0.98%) Talend
9 13 (0.79%) CyberArk
10 12 (0.73%) Cisco
10 12 (0.73%) Dell
11 11 (0.67%) IBM
11 11 (0.67%) Informatica
11 11 (0.67%) Salesforce
12 10 (0.61%) Okta
12 10 (0.61%) Workday
13 9 (0.55%) MuleSoft
14 8 (0.49%) Blue Prism