Cyber Essentials PLUS Contract Job Trends

Cyber Essentials PLUS
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Cyber Essentials PLUS skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 7 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 578 495 573
Rank change year-on-year -83 +78 +52
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials PLUS 63 22 17
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.13% 0.075% 0.039%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 0.76% 0.47% 0.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 49 15 7
10th Percentile £463 £276 £408
25th Percentile £506 £413 £469
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £500
Median % change year-on-year - +10.00% -8.26%
75th Percentile £575 £638 £525
90th Percentile £675 £683 -
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £500 £488
% change year-on-year +10.00% +2.56% -11.28%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 2 0
Median hourly rate - £29.51 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate - £29.51 -

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK

Cyber Essentials PLUS falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 8,257 4,697 6,011
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 16.68% 16.07% 13.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,293 2,992 3,769
10th Percentile £342 £268 £280
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £510
Median % change year-on-year - -1.96% -2.86%
75th Percentile £600 £614 £625
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £475
% change year-on-year +5.26% - -2.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 490 189 419
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.13 £11.00
25th Percentile £18.50 £22.00 £13.22
Median hourly rate £36.00 £32.50 £23.50
Median % change year-on-year +10.77% +38.30% -37.75%
75th Percentile £67.50 £67.50 £48.75
90th Percentile £82.25 £82.79 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £32.81 £19.18
% change year-on-year +21.91% +71.06% -48.85%

Cyber Essentials PLUS
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Cyber Essentials PLUS relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Cyber Essentials PLUS job vacancy trend in the UK

Cyber Essentials PLUS
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Cyber Essentials PLUS.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Cyber Essentials PLUS

Cyber Essentials PLUS
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Cyber Essentials PLUS over the 6 months to 7 June 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Cyber Essentials PLUS in the UK

Cyber Essentials PLUS
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Cyber Essentials PLUS.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Cyber Essentials PLUS

Cyber Essentials PLUS
Top 11 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Cyber Essentials PLUS within the UK over the 6 months to 7 June 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 -67 62 £550 - 61
London -44 38 £550 -15.38% 14
UK excluding London -85 25 £550 +10.00% 57
Work from Home -53 11 £525 +5.00% 28
South East -49 9 £550 - 14
South West -21 6 £538 - 11
East of England -22 5 £650 +161.04% 8
North of England - 4 £653 - 9
Yorkshire - 2 £500 - 4
North West - 2 £702 - 4
Wales - 1 - - 1

Cyber Essentials PLUS
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 2 (3.17%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (1.59%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 2 (3.17%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 26 (41.27%) Azure
2 24 (38.10%) Microsoft 365
3 16 (25.40%) Microsoft Purview
3 16 (25.40%) Mimecast
4 7 (11.11%) SaaS
5 5 (7.94%) Entra ID
6 4 (6.35%) Azure Sentinel
6 4 (6.35%) OCI
7 2 (3.17%) Amazon EKS
7 2 (3.17%) Amazon GuardDuty
7 2 (3.17%) AWS
7 2 (3.17%) AWS Control Tower
7 2 (3.17%) Azure AKS
7 2 (3.17%) IaaS
7 2 (3.17%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 5 (7.94%) Network Security
2 4 (6.35%) BGP
2 4 (6.35%) Cisco ASA
2 4 (6.35%) Cisco IOS
2 4 (6.35%) MPLS
2 4 (6.35%) TACACS
2 4 (6.35%) VPN
3 3 (4.76%) Firewall
4 1 (1.59%) Intrusion Detection
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.59%) Oracle Reports
General
1 29 (46.03%) Social Skills
2 24 (38.10%) Finance
3 13 (20.63%) Public Sector
4 5 (7.94%) Aerospace
4 5 (7.94%) Analytical Skills
5 4 (6.35%) Local Government
6 3 (4.76%) Legal
7 2 (3.17%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 1 (1.59%) Financial Institution
8 1 (1.59%) Influencing Skills
8 1 (1.59%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 17 (26.98%) Security Engineer
2 13 (20.63%) Cybersecurity Engineer
3 7 (11.11%) Analyst
3 7 (11.11%) Architect
4 6 (9.52%) Security Analyst
5 5 (7.94%) Consultant
5 5 (7.94%) Cybersecurity Manager
5 5 (7.94%) Security Manager
5 5 (7.94%) Senior
6 4 (6.35%) Lead
6 4 (6.35%) Project Manager
6 4 (6.35%) Technical Architect
7 3 (4.76%) Compliance Officer
7 3 (4.76%) Cybersecurity Specialist
7 3 (4.76%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 3 (4.76%) Infrastructure Security Engineer
7 3 (4.76%) IT Manager
7 3 (4.76%) IT Project Manager
7 3 (4.76%) Risk Officer
7 3 (4.76%) Security Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (6.35%) LDAP
2 3 (4.76%) OAuth
2 3 (4.76%) Oracle Fusion
3 1 (1.59%) OpenID
3 1 (1.59%) SAML
3 1 (1.59%) STL
Miscellaneous
1 6 (9.52%) Onboarding
1 6 (9.52%) Operational Technology
2 5 (7.94%) SCADA
3 4 (6.35%) Cloud Native
3 4 (6.35%) Management Information System
3 4 (6.35%) PKI
4 3 (4.76%) Security Posture
5 2 (3.17%) Cyber Threat
5 2 (3.17%) Mobile App
5 2 (3.17%) NHS
6 1 (1.59%) Analytical Mindset
6 1 (1.59%) CESG
6 1 (1.59%) Greenfield Project
6 1 (1.59%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 4 (6.35%) Linux
1 4 (6.35%) Ubuntu
2 1 (1.59%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 54 (85.71%) Cybersecurity
2 20 (31.75%) Data Loss Prevention
3 15 (23.81%) Incident Response
4 11 (17.46%) Security Monitoring
4 11 (17.46%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 10 (15.87%) Information Security
6 8 (12.70%) Enterprise Architecture
6 8 (12.70%) ITIL
6 8 (12.70%) Vulnerability Management
7 7 (11.11%) Business Continuity
7 7 (11.11%) Disaster Recovery
7 7 (11.11%) Migration
7 7 (11.11%) Risk Management
7 7 (11.11%) Supplier Management
7 7 (11.11%) TOGAF
8 6 (9.52%) Agile
8 6 (9.52%) Penetration Testing
8 6 (9.52%) Risk Register
8 6 (9.52%) Roadmaps
8 6 (9.52%) SIEM
Programming Languages
1 4 (6.35%) PHP
1 4 (6.35%) Python
2 2 (3.17%) Kusto Query Language
2 2 (3.17%) PowerShell
2 2 (3.17%) SQL
Qualifications
1 19 (30.16%) SC Cleared
1 19 (30.16%) Security Cleared
2 11 (17.46%) CISSP
3 6 (9.52%) CISM
4 5 (7.94%) CompTIA Security+
4 5 (7.94%) DV Cleared
5 4 (6.35%) APMG
5 4 (6.35%) GIAC
5 4 (6.35%) SSCP
6 3 (4.76%) Degree
6 3 (4.76%) GSEC
7 2 (3.17%) Computer Science Degree
7 2 (3.17%) IISP
7 2 (3.17%) OSCP
8 1 (1.59%) CEH
8 1 (1.59%) CESG Certified Professional
8 1 (1.59%) CISA
8 1 (1.59%) CISMP
8 1 (1.59%) CRISC
8 1 (1.59%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 63 (100.00%) Cyber Essentials
2 27 (42.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 22 (34.92%) NIST
4 17 (26.98%) NCSC
5 12 (19.05%) GDPR
5 12 (19.05%) PCI DSS
6 8 (12.70%) NIST 800
7 7 (11.11%) GRC
7 7 (11.11%) IASME
8 6 (9.52%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 5 (7.94%) Def Stans
10 3 (4.76%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 3 (4.76%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 2 (3.17%) COBIT
12 1 (1.59%) Actionable Recommendations
12 1 (1.59%) JSP 440
12 1 (1.59%) PMO
System Software
1 4 (6.35%) VMware ESXi
1 4 (6.35%) VMware Infrastructure
2 2 (3.17%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 9 (14.29%) Microsoft Intune
2 7 (11.11%) AirWatch
2 7 (11.11%) Kubernetes
3 4 (6.35%) vCenter Server
4 3 (4.76%) SCOM
4 3 (4.76%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (1.59%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 28 (44.44%) Microsoft
2 16 (25.40%) CrowdStrike
2 16 (25.40%) Netskope
3 15 (23.81%) CyberArk
4 9 (14.29%) VMware
5 5 (7.94%) Cisco
6 4 (6.35%) Oracle
7 1 (1.59%) OneTrust
7 1 (1.59%) ServiceNow