Consultant Contract Job Trends

Consultant
UK

The median Consultant daily rate in the UK is £550, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 28 November 2025.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 24 27 28
Rank change year-on-year +3 +1 +21
Contract jobs requiring a Consultant 2,584 2,533 2,859
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 7.16% 6.92% 6.27%
As % of the Job Titles category 7.87% 7.45% 6.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,500 1,335 1,602
10th Percentile £403 £413 £406
25th Percentile £470 £480 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year - - -0.90%
75th Percentile £649 £638 £643
90th Percentile £725 £750 £721
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £575 £525
% change year-on-year -4.35% +9.52% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 18 38
10th Percentile £41.92 £50.73 £51.53
25th Percentile £62.75 £57.86 £61.04
Median hourly rate £77.50 £68.69 £72.88
Median % change year-on-year +12.83% -5.75% +4.11%
75th Percentile £81.25 £74.84 £86.81
90th Percentile £86.25 £87.50 £90.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £77.50 £69.38 £63.29
% change year-on-year +11.71% +9.61% -11.17%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 32,848 33,983 42,699
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.99% 92.83% 93.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,819 20,547 28,844
10th Percentile £281 £300 £290
25th Percentile £401 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £648
90th Percentile £725 £738 £740
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £493 £500
% change year-on-year -3.65% -1.40% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,914 1,249 1,524
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.22 £15.16
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.75 £19.11
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +48.33%
75th Percentile £56.49 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.00 £74.00 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.75
% change year-on-year -28.14% -21.79% +79.00%

Consultant
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Consultant' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Consultant job vacancy trend in the UK

Consultant
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Consultant job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Consultant job vacancies in the UK

Consultant
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Consultant over the 6 months to 28 November 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Consultant in the UK

Consultant
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Consultant job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Consultant job vacancies in the UK

Consultant
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Consultant over the 6 months to 28 November 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Consultant in the UK

Consultant
Top 18 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Consultant within the UK over the 6 months to 28 November 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 0 2,016 £550 - 1,037
UK excluding London -1 1,075 £550 -4.35% 829
Work from Home 0 947 £550 - 467
London -2 920 £575 +4.55% 476
North of England -7 293 £583 +2.82% 128
South East 0 282 £540 -6.09% 359
North West +4 205 £620 +12.73% 75
Midlands -23 159 £575 +4.55% 92
East of England +11 119 £550 +10.00% 46
West Midlands -15 119 £550 +4.76% 63
South West -1 105 £550 -5.17% 160
Yorkshire -18 81 £480 -20.00% 43
Scotland -6 72 £500 -13.04% 25
East Midlands -17 39 £590 +2.61% 28
Wales +6 34 £405 -32.50% 19
Northern Ireland -8 14 £405 -32.50% 9
North East -9 7 £550 -8.33% 10
Channel Islands - 2 £600 - 1

Consultant Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 28 November 2025, Consultant contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Consultant in the job title.

1 695 (26.90%) SAP
2 664 (25.70%) Security Cleared
3 561 (21.71%) SC Cleared
4 368 (14.24%) SAP S/4HANA
5 340 (13.16%) Migration
6 328 (12.69%) Problem-Solving
7 295 (11.42%) Stakeholder Management
8 293 (11.34%) Oracle
8 293 (11.34%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 288 (11.15%) Microsoft
10 228 (8.82%) Azure
11 221 (8.55%) Agile
12 177 (6.85%) Workshop Facilitation
13 172 (6.66%) ERP
14 171 (6.62%) SQL
15 160 (6.19%) Data Migration
16 158 (6.11%) Analytics
16 158 (6.11%) User Acceptance Testing
17 152 (5.88%) Knowledge Transfer
18 150 (5.80%) Roadmaps
19 140 (5.42%) Validation
20 134 (5.19%) Cybersecurity
21 129 (4.99%) Python
22 124 (4.80%) AWS
22 124 (4.80%) DevOps
23 123 (4.76%) Business Intelligence
24 118 (4.57%) Requirements Gathering
25 115 (4.45%) Risk Management
26 114 (4.41%) Data Modelling
27 110 (4.26%) Degree

Consultant Skill Set
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 59 (2.28%) SharePoint
2 33 (1.28%) Microsoft Exchange
3 27 (1.04%) Confluence
4 23 (0.89%) WebLogic
5 19 (0.74%) WebSphere
6 10 (0.39%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 9 (0.35%) Oracle Service Bus
7 9 (0.35%) Oracle Workflow
8 6 (0.23%) Apache
8 6 (0.23%) CMS
8 6 (0.23%) NetWeaver
9 5 (0.19%) IIS
9 5 (0.19%) MTS
10 4 (0.15%) Apache Spark
11 3 (0.12%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 3 (0.12%) OpenStack
11 3 (0.12%) Oracle Self-Service HR
11 3 (0.12%) SharePoint Server
12 2 (0.077%) Anypoint
12 2 (0.077%) Camunda
Applications
1 39 (1.51%) Microsoft Excel
2 17 (0.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 14 (0.54%) Microsoft Office
4 11 (0.43%) MS Visio
5 8 (0.31%) Microsoft Project
6 6 (0.23%) Oracle Smart View
7 4 (0.15%) Navisworks
7 4 (0.15%) Revit
7 4 (0.15%) Spreadsheet
8 3 (0.12%) ProjectWise
9 2 (0.077%) CPLEX
10 1 (0.039%) Adobe Captivate
10 1 (0.039%) Adobe Creative Suite
10 1 (0.039%) Adobe Illustrator
10 1 (0.039%) Adobe XD
10 1 (0.039%) InDesign
10 1 (0.039%) InfoPath
10 1 (0.039%) InVision
10 1 (0.039%) Photoshop
10 1 (0.039%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 368 (14.24%) SAP S/4HANA
2 90 (3.48%) Oracle EBS
3 61 (2.36%) Oracle Payables
4 60 (2.32%) SAP FI
5 55 (2.13%) Oracle EBS R12
6 51 (1.97%) SAP HCM
6 51 (1.97%) SAP MM
7 48 (1.86%) Oracle General Ledger
7 48 (1.86%) SAP EWM
8 43 (1.66%) SAP CO
9 41 (1.59%) Oracle Cash Management
9 41 (1.59%) Oracle Receivables
10 40 (1.55%) Dynamics CRM
10 40 (1.55%) SAP FI/CO
11 38 (1.47%) Oracle Assets
12 36 (1.39%) SAP Payroll
13 34 (1.32%) SAP WM
14 33 (1.28%) SAP PP
15 29 (1.12%) Oracle Financials
16 27 (1.04%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 228 (8.82%) Azure
2 124 (4.80%) AWS
3 107 (4.14%) Power Platform
4 104 (4.02%) Dynamics 365
5 89 (3.44%) OCI
6 88 (3.41%) Microsoft 365
7 70 (2.71%) GCP
8 60 (2.32%) SaaS
8 60 (2.32%) SuccessFactors
9 58 (2.24%) Entra ID
10 41 (1.59%) Power Automate
11 31 (1.20%) PowerApps
12 29 (1.12%) Azure DevOps
13 23 (0.89%) GitHub
13 23 (0.89%) OneDrive
14 20 (0.77%) Microsoft Copilot
15 19 (0.74%) Microsoft Purview
16 15 (0.58%) GitHub Actions
17 14 (0.54%) SAP Commerce Cloud
18 13 (0.50%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 68 (2.63%) Firewall
2 31 (1.20%) Network Security
3 29 (1.12%) VPN
4 27 (1.04%) DNS
5 21 (0.81%) WAN
6 19 (0.74%) SD-WAN
7 17 (0.66%) DHCP
8 15 (0.58%) HTTP
8 15 (0.58%) SSL
8 15 (0.58%) TCP/IP
9 13 (0.50%) BGP
10 12 (0.46%) OSPF
11 10 (0.39%) SSH
12 9 (0.35%) Kerberos
12 9 (0.35%) LAN
12 9 (0.35%) SAN
13 8 (0.31%) VLAN
13 8 (0.31%) VSAN
14 7 (0.27%) Cisco IPT
14 7 (0.27%) Intrusion Detection
Database & Business Intelligence
1 73 (2.83%) Power BI
2 46 (1.78%) SAP HANA
3 41 (1.59%) Oracle Reports
3 41 (1.59%) SQL Server
4 23 (0.89%) Metadata
5 22 (0.85%) SAP BW
6 19 (0.74%) Data Warehouse
7 16 (0.62%) Oracle Database
8 15 (0.58%) Oracle BI Publisher
8 15 (0.58%) SAP Data Services
9 14 (0.54%) PostgreSQL
10 13 (0.50%) DB2
11 11 (0.43%) Tableau
12 9 (0.35%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 8 (0.31%) NoSQL
14 6 (0.23%) Amazon RDS
14 6 (0.23%) Data Mart
14 6 (0.23%) Elasticsearch
14 6 (0.23%) Power Query
15 5 (0.19%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 60 (2.32%) JIRA
2 23 (0.89%) Jenkins
3 21 (0.81%) Git
3 21 (0.81%) GitLab
4 9 (0.35%) Oracle Forms
5 8 (0.31%) Hudson
6 7 (0.27%) LSMW
7 4 (0.15%) Eclipse
7 4 (0.15%) Oracle APEX
7 4 (0.15%) Postman
8 3 (0.12%) Cypress.io
8 3 (0.12%) Selenium
8 3 (0.12%) Snyk
9 2 (0.077%) Bitbucket
9 2 (0.077%) JUnit
9 2 (0.077%) Mockito
9 2 (0.077%) Rational DOORS
9 2 (0.077%) SonarQube
9 2 (0.077%) Tricentis qTest
9 2 (0.077%) Visual Studio
General
1 752 (29.10%) Social Skills
2 588 (22.76%) Finance
3 245 (9.48%) Analytical Skills
4 243 (9.40%) Public Sector
5 174 (6.73%) Manufacturing
6 78 (3.02%) Documentation Skills
7 77 (2.98%) Banking
8 66 (2.55%) Presentation Skills
9 58 (2.24%) Marketing
10 57 (2.21%) Billing
11 56 (2.17%) Legal
12 54 (2.09%) Telecoms
13 45 (1.74%) Pharmaceutical
14 43 (1.66%) General Ledger
15 33 (1.28%) Retail
16 27 (1.04%) Law
17 26 (1.01%) Electronics
18 24 (0.93%) Local Government
19 21 (0.81%) Financial Institution
20 20 (0.77%) Inclusion and Diversity
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 84 (3.25%) SAP Fiori
2 69 (2.67%) REST
3 64 (2.48%) Oracle Fusion
4 53 (2.05%) SOAP
5 48 (1.86%) XML
6 45 (1.74%) Web Services
7 37 (1.43%) HTML
8 36 (1.39%) Node.js
9 33 (1.28%) Middleware
10 31 (1.20%) JSON
11 26 (1.01%) .NET
11 26 (1.01%) OAuth
12 25 (0.97%) BAPI
12 25 (0.97%) LDAP
13 20 (0.77%) EDI
13 20 (0.77%) SAP Basis
13 20 (0.77%) SAP TM
14 19 (0.74%) CSS
15 17 (0.66%) SAP PI
16 15 (0.58%) IDoc
Miscellaneous
1 83 (3.21%) Onboarding
2 57 (2.21%) Legacy Systems
3 38 (1.47%) Product Ownership
3 38 (1.47%) Security Posture
4 35 (1.35%) Data Centre
4 35 (1.35%) Management Information System
5 32 (1.24%) Cloud Native
6 24 (0.93%) Data Structures
7 23 (0.89%) Data Protection Act
7 23 (0.89%) Hybrid Cloud
7 23 (0.89%) Replication
8 22 (0.85%) Greenfield Project
9 19 (0.74%) Analytical Mindset
9 19 (0.74%) Operational Technology
10 18 (0.70%) Virtual Team
11 17 (0.66%) Life Science
12 15 (0.58%) Private Cloud
13 13 (0.50%) CMDB
13 13 (0.50%) IoT
14 12 (0.46%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 81 (3.13%) Windows
2 58 (2.24%) Linux
3 18 (0.70%) Unix
4 17 (0.66%) Windows Server
5 13 (0.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 9 (0.35%) Mac OS
6 9 (0.35%) Windows 10
7 7 (0.27%) AIX
7 7 (0.27%) Solaris
8 4 (0.15%) VMS
9 3 (0.12%) Apple iOS
9 3 (0.12%) CentOS
9 3 (0.12%) Windows Server 2008
10 2 (0.077%) OpenVMS
10 2 (0.077%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
10 2 (0.077%) Windows Server 2003
10 2 (0.077%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.039%) Android
11 1 (0.039%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.039%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 340 (13.16%) Migration
2 328 (12.69%) Problem-Solving
3 295 (11.42%) Stakeholder Management
4 293 (11.34%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 221 (8.55%) Agile
6 177 (6.85%) Workshop Facilitation
7 172 (6.66%) ERP
8 160 (6.19%) Data Migration
9 158 (6.11%) Analytics
9 158 (6.11%) User Acceptance Testing
10 152 (5.88%) Knowledge Transfer
11 150 (5.80%) Roadmaps
12 140 (5.42%) Validation
13 134 (5.19%) Cybersecurity
14 124 (4.80%) DevOps
15 123 (4.76%) Business Intelligence
16 118 (4.57%) Requirements Gathering
17 115 (4.45%) Risk Management
18 114 (4.41%) Data Modelling
19 105 (4.06%) Logistics
Programming Languages
1 171 (6.62%) SQL
2 129 (4.99%) Python
3 89 (3.44%) PowerShell
4 75 (2.90%) JavaScript
5 72 (2.79%) ABAP
6 60 (2.32%) Java
7 32 (1.24%) PL/SQL
8 27 (1.04%) Groovy
9 22 (0.85%) TypeScript
10 20 (0.77%) C++
11 19 (0.74%) Bash
12 15 (0.58%) C
13 14 (0.54%) PHP
14 10 (0.39%) C#
14 10 (0.39%) Kusto Query Language
15 8 (0.31%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 7 (0.27%) VBA
17 6 (0.23%) Apex Code
17 6 (0.23%) COBOL
18 5 (0.19%) Go
Qualifications
1 664 (25.70%) Security Cleared
2 561 (21.71%) SC Cleared
3 110 (4.26%) Degree
4 92 (3.56%) DV Cleared
5 88 (3.41%) BPSS Clearance
6 67 (2.59%) CISSP
7 45 (1.74%) CISM
8 28 (1.08%) Microsoft Certification
8 28 (1.08%) SAP Certification
9 23 (0.89%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 20 (0.77%) ACCA
10 20 (0.77%) CIMA
11 19 (0.74%) Computer Science Degree
12 18 (0.70%) Cisco Certification
13 14 (0.54%) CCNP
13 14 (0.54%) CESG Certified Professional
13 14 (0.54%) Master's Degree
14 10 (0.39%) AWS Certification
14 10 (0.39%) CISA
14 10 (0.39%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 85 (3.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 77 (2.98%) NIST
3 64 (2.48%) GDPR
4 60 (2.32%) QA
5 44 (1.70%) Data Quality
6 31 (1.20%) GRC
7 18 (0.70%) NCSC
7 18 (0.70%) SLA
8 17 (0.66%) Actionable Recommendations
9 15 (0.58%) RMADS
9 15 (0.58%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 14 (0.54%) COBIT
10 14 (0.54%) PCI DSS
10 14 (0.54%) PMO
11 10 (0.39%) Accessibility
11 10 (0.39%) IFRS
12 9 (0.35%) NIST 800
12 9 (0.35%) PERC
13 8 (0.31%) Cyber Essentials
13 8 (0.31%) HIPAA
System Software
1 78 (3.02%) Active Directory
2 44 (1.70%) VMware Infrastructure
3 38 (1.47%) Docker
4 27 (1.04%) VMware NSX
5 21 (0.81%) vSphere
6 6 (0.23%) Virtual Desktop
7 5 (0.19%) NDS
7 5 (0.19%) NetIQ eDirectory
7 5 (0.19%) Virtual Machines
8 4 (0.15%) Hyper-V
8 4 (0.15%) UAG
9 3 (0.12%) Firmware
10 1 (0.039%) Ceph
10 1 (0.039%) IAG
10 1 (0.039%) KVM
10 1 (0.039%) Microsoft App-V
10 1 (0.039%) QEMU
10 1 (0.039%) Terminal Services
10 1 (0.039%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 53 (2.05%) Kubernetes
2 50 (1.93%) Terraform
3 24 (0.93%) Ansible
3 24 (0.93%) Microsoft Intune
3 24 (0.93%) Single Sign-On
4 22 (0.85%) vRealize
5 16 (0.62%) SCCM
6 13 (0.50%) Grafana
7 11 (0.43%) PingFederate
7 11 (0.43%) Prometheus
8 7 (0.27%) CASB
9 6 (0.23%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 5 (0.19%) FortiGate
10 5 (0.19%) PowerCLI
10 5 (0.19%) QRadar
10 5 (0.19%) vRealize Orchestrator
11 4 (0.15%) Failover Clustering
12 3 (0.12%) EMC NetWorker
12 3 (0.12%) EMC VPLEX
12 3 (0.12%) Nessus
Vendors
1 695 (26.90%) SAP
2 293 (11.34%) Oracle
3 288 (11.15%) Microsoft
4 97 (3.75%) VMware
5 87 (3.37%) ServiceNow
6 67 (2.59%) Cisco
7 62 (2.40%) CyberArk
8 61 (2.36%) Salesforce
8 61 (2.36%) Workday
9 47 (1.82%) Ariba
10 37 (1.43%) Google
11 35 (1.35%) Aruba
12 31 (1.20%) Adobe
12 31 (1.20%) Dynatrace
12 31 (1.20%) IBM
13 25 (0.97%) OpenText
14 20 (0.77%) Splunk
15 18 (0.70%) Remedy
16 17 (0.66%) EMC
16 17 (0.66%) Palo Alto