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 31 October 2026.
The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.
| 6 months to 31 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 31 | 23 | 27 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -8 | +4 | +2 |
| Contract Consultant jobs | 3,253 | 2,512 | 2,531 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 5.97% | 7.32% | 6.92% |
| As % of the Job Titles category | 6.51% | 8.05% | 7.45% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 1,812 | 1,478 | 1,332 |
| 10th Percentile | £413 | £403 | £408 |
| 25th Percentile | £469 | £470 | £475 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £550 | £550 | £550 |
| 75th Percentile | £663 | £650 | £638 |
| 90th Percentile | £750 | £725 | £750 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £550 | £550 | £550 |
| % change year-on-year | - | - | +4.76% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 95 | 32 | 21 |
| 10th Percentile | £36.25 | £36.05 | £41.25 |
| 25th Percentile | £56.13 | £55.94 | £56.65 |
| Median hourly rate | £74.00 | £74.75 | £64.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -1.00% | +16.80% | -5.54% |
| 75th Percentile | £85.40 | £81.25 | £74.75 |
| 90th Percentile | £88.25 | £85.73 | £87.50 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £75.00 | £77.50 | £68.00 |
| % change year-on-year | -3.23% | +13.97% | +4.62% |
All Contract IT Job Roles
UK
For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job adverts matching a recognised job title. The table also shows what proportion of all contract IT job adverts they make up.
| 6 months to 31 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract job adverts in the UK matching a recognised job title | 49,938 | 31,221 | 33,983 |
| % of contract job adverts matching a recognised job title | 91.64% | 90.95% | 92.91% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 29,355 | 19,779 | 20,508 |
| 10th Percentile | £328 | £279 | £300 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £401 | £412 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £638 | £619 | £638 |
| 90th Percentile | £738 | £725 | £738 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £475 | £490 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.26% | -3.06% | -2.00% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 4,233 | 1,754 | 1,296 |
| 10th Percentile | £14.22 | £14.00 | £15.08 |
| 25th Percentile | £18.50 | £17.50 | £20.28 |
| Median hourly rate | £40.00 | £25.15 | £38.14 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +59.05% | -34.05% | -15.26% |
| 75th Percentile | £68.00 | £51.02 | £65.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £81.25 | £69.65 | £73.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £40.00 | £25.13 | £37.50 |
| % change year-on-year | +59.19% | -32.99% | -15.73% |
Consultant Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract Consultant job postings relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.
Consultant Daily Rate Trend
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Consultant job vacancies in the UK.
Consultant Daily Rate Histogram
Daily rate distribution for Consultant jobs over the 6 months to 31 October 2026.
Consultant Hourly Rate Trend
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Consultant job vacancies in the UK.
Consultant Hourly Rate Histogram
Hourly rate distribution for Consultant jobs over the 6 months to 31 October 2026.
Consultant Top 18 Contract Job Locations
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in Consultant jobs within the UK over the 6 months to 31 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 |
Job Ads Past 6 Months |
Median Daily Rate Past 6 Months |
Median Daily Rate % Change on Same Period Last Year |
Live Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | -5 | 2,616 | £550 | -0.90% | 501 |
| UK excluding London | -15 | 1,307 | £550 | - | 375 |
| London | -5 | 1,303 | £550 | -4.35% | 182 |
| Work from Home | -8 | 1,025 | £550 | - | 253 |
| South East | -6 | 379 | £550 | +1.85% | 128 |
| North of England | -19 | 342 | £576 | +0.22% | 98 |
| North West | -14 | 225 | £585 | -5.65% | 45 |
| Midlands | -8 | 211 | £501 | -12.96% | 41 |
| South West | +1 | 177 | £600 | +8.84% | 67 |
| West Midlands | -1 | 158 | £500 | -13.04% | 25 |
| Scotland | +4 | 105 | £525 | +5.00% | 11 |
| East of England | -18 | 103 | £559 | +1.55% | 20 |
| Yorkshire | -39 | 87 | £575 | +21.05% | 16 |
| East Midlands | -6 | 45 | £550 | -8.33% | 16 |
| North East | -7 | 29 | £750 | +36.36% | 37 |
| Wales | -19 | 20 | £575 | +41.98% | 12 |
| Channel Islands | -4 | 2 | £600 | - | |
| Northern Ireland | -11 | 1 | £638 | +57.41% | 2 |
Consultant Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities
For the 6 months to 31 October 2026, Consultant contract job ads cited 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 Consultant job ads.
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Security Cleared | 22.7% | 737 |
| 2 | Stakeholder Management | 20.8% | 675 |
| 3 | SAP | 20.2% | 657 |
| 4 | Microsoft | 15.8% | 514 |
| 5 | SC Cleared | 15.5% | 503 |
| 6 | Migration | 14.5% | 471 |
| 7 | Oracle | 11.4% | 372 |
| 8 | Azure | 10.5% | 343 |
| 9 | Stakeholder Engagement | 9.5% | 310 |
| 10 | Problem-Solving | 9.4% | 305 |
| 11 | User Acceptance Testing | 9.3% | 301 |
| 12 | SAP S/4HANA | 9.1% | 296 |
| 13 | Validation | 8.7% | 282 |
| 14 | Workshop Facilitation | 8.5% | 275 |
| 15 | Cybersecurity | 7.9% | 256 |
| 16 | ERP | 7.7% | 249 |
| 17 | Analytics | 7.3% | 237 |
| 18 | Requirements Gathering | 6.6% | 215 |
| 19 | Data Migration | 6.5% | 213 |
| 20 | Roadmaps | 6.4% | 207 |
| 20 | SQL | 6.4% | 207 |
| 22 | Continuous Improvement | 6.1% | 200 |
| 23 | AI | 5.8% | 189 |
| 24 | Knowledge Transfer | 5.7% | 184 |
| 25 | Agile | 5.2% | 169 |
| 26 | Business Intelligence | 5.0% | 162 |
| 27 | AWS | 4.8% | 156 |
| 28 | ServiceNow | 4.7% | 153 |
| 28 | Translating Business Requirements | 4.7% | 153 |
| 30 | DV Cleared | 4.7% | 152 |
Consultant Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Job Titles
| Rank | Job Title | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SAP Consultant | 16.4% | 535 |
| 2 | Security Consultant | 10.1% | 329 |
| 3 | Oracle Consultant | 9.7% | 315 |
| 4 | Functional Consultant | 9.1% | 295 |
| 5 | Senior Consultant | 8.2% | 266 |
| 6 | Technical Consultant | 6.8% | 220 |
| 7 | Data Consultant | 5.9% | 193 |
| 8 | Dynamics 365 Consultant | 3.6% | 118 |
| 9 | Oracle Functional Consultant | 3.4% | 111 |
| 9 | Payroll Consultant | 3.4% | 111 |
| 11 | Cybersecurity Consultant | 3.4% | 109 |
| 12 | Artificial Intelligence Consultant | 3.3% | 106 |
| 13 | Management Consultant | 3.0% | 99 |
| 13 | Microsoft Consultant | 3.0% | 99 |
| 15 | Cloud Consultant | 3.0% | 96 |
| 16 | Lead Consultant | 2.6% | 86 |
| 17 | Business Consultant | 2.5% | 82 |
| 18 | Migration Consultant | 2.3% | 76 |
| 19 | ServiceNow Consultant | 2.2% | 73 |
| 20 | Integration Consultant | 2.2% | 72 |