Cyber Essentials Contract Job Trends

Cyber Essentials
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Cyber Essentials skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 3 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
3 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 530 444 481
Rank change year-on-year -86 +37 +9
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 174 110 88
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.32% 0.33% 0.23%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 1.80% 1.92% 1.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 119 82 47
10th Percentile £375 £326 £266
25th Percentile £419 £445 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £575 £511
Median % change year-on-year -13.04% +12.48% -2.63%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £594
90th Percentile £715 £688 £613
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £528 £500
% change year-on-year -6.16% +5.50% -1.96%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 4 0
10th Percentile £56.28 £28.12 -
25th Percentile £58.43 £29.02 -
Median hourly rate £67.07 £32.11 -
Median % change year-on-year +108.85% - -
75th Percentile £71.00 £49.89 -
90th Percentile £75.20 £76.96 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.07 £31.49 -
% change year-on-year +112.98% - -

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK

Cyber Essentials 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 9,690 5,732 5,108
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.66% 17.30% 13.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,089 3,672 2,975
10th Percentile £325 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £509 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +1.80% - -4.76%
75th Percentile £605 £606 £625
90th Percentile £710 £700 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £483 £475 £475
% change year-on-year +1.68% - -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 669 272 247
10th Percentile £13.99 £13.60 £12.90
25th Percentile £16.60 £16.82 £15.50
Median hourly rate £32.40 £31.49 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +2.87% +14.51% -22.68%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.31 £62.37
90th Percentile £74.25 £80.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.40 £27.54 £27.50
% change year-on-year +17.63% +0.15% -28.66%

Cyber Essentials
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Cyber Essentials job vacancy trend in the UK

Cyber Essentials
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

Cyber Essentials
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Cyber Essentials over the 6 months to 3 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Cyber Essentials in the UK

Cyber Essentials
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

Cyber Essentials
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Cyber Essentials over the 6 months to 3 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Cyber Essentials in the UK

Cyber Essentials
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 Cyber Essentials within the UK over the 6 months to 3 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 -67 153 £500 -13.04% 404
UK excluding London -94 81 £495 -6.16% 317
London -43 75 £550 -11.58% 135
Work from Home -47 58 £500 -9.09% 274
South East -33 39 £440 -16.98% 81
North of England -59 22 £450 +28.57% 67
North West -42 13 £450 +50.00% 37
Midlands -52 8 £525 +13.51% 45
Yorkshire - 8 £540 - 21
West Midlands -37 6 £550 - 30
Scotland -28 3 £544 +14.47% 33
East of England -31 3 £510 +104.82% 26
South West -40 3 £615 +75.71% 39
Channel Islands -4 2 £600 -17.24% 1
East Midlands -23 2 £500 +8.11% 15
North East -46 1 £500 -29.82% 10
Northern Ireland - 1 £550 - 7

Cyber Essentials
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 16 (9.20%) SharePoint
2 7 (4.02%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.57%) Confluence
Applications
1 4 (2.30%) Microsoft Excel
1 4 (2.30%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.72%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.57%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.57%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 4 (2.30%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 79 (45.40%) Azure
2 72 (41.38%) Microsoft 365
3 53 (30.46%) Entra ID
4 14 (8.05%) AWS
5 13 (7.47%) Azure Sentinel
5 13 (7.47%) Microsoft Purview
5 13 (7.47%) SaaS
6 11 (6.32%) GitHub
7 8 (4.60%) Mimecast
7 8 (4.60%) Power Platform
8 7 (4.02%) Azure DevOps
8 7 (4.02%) GitHub Actions
8 7 (4.02%) IaaS
9 6 (3.45%) PaaS
10 5 (2.87%) Microsoft Copilot
11 4 (2.30%) Azure Logic Apps
11 4 (2.30%) Azure Monitor
11 4 (2.30%) OCI
12 3 (1.72%) Azure Event Grid
12 3 (1.72%) Azure Service Bus
Communications & Networking
1 21 (12.07%) Firewall
2 15 (8.62%) Network Security
3 13 (7.47%) VPN
4 7 (4.02%) DNS
5 5 (2.87%) DHCP
5 5 (2.87%) Intranet
5 5 (2.87%) VLAN
5 5 (2.87%) WAN
6 4 (2.30%) Wi-Fi
7 3 (1.72%) DMZ
7 3 (1.72%) LAN
7 3 (1.72%) Wireless
8 2 (1.15%) NAS
8 2 (1.15%) Remote Desktop
8 2 (1.15%) SAN
8 2 (1.15%) SSL
8 2 (1.15%) TCP/IP
9 1 (0.57%) Cisco ISE
9 1 (0.57%) Intrusion Detection
9 1 (0.57%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.72%) Azure SQL Database
2 2 (1.15%) Amazon RDS
3 1 (0.57%) Data Lake
3 1 (0.57%) Data Warehouse
3 1 (0.57%) Metadata
3 1 (0.57%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 3 (1.72%) GitLab
1 3 (1.72%) Jenkins
1 3 (1.72%) JIRA
2 1 (0.57%) Git
2 1 (0.57%) MSI
2 1 (0.57%) Visual Studio
General
1 80 (45.98%) Social Skills
2 34 (19.54%) Public Sector
3 29 (16.67%) Analytical Skills
4 14 (8.05%) Finance
5 8 (4.60%) Documentation Skills
5 8 (4.60%) Legal
5 8 (4.60%) Organisational Skills
6 7 (4.02%) Local Government
7 6 (3.45%) Manufacturing
8 5 (2.87%) Aerospace
8 5 (2.87%) Automotive
9 4 (2.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 3 (1.72%) Telecoms
11 2 (1.15%) Influencing Skills
11 2 (1.15%) Military
12 1 (0.57%) Advertising
12 1 (0.57%) Banking
12 1 (0.57%) Financial Institution
12 1 (0.57%) Law
12 1 (0.57%) Retail
Job Titles
1 23 (13.22%) Senior
2 20 (11.49%) Architect
3 18 (10.34%) Analyst
3 18 (10.34%) Consultant
4 15 (8.62%) Lead
4 15 (8.62%) Security Specialist
5 14 (8.05%) Security Analyst
6 13 (7.47%) Security Engineer
7 12 (6.90%) Cybersecurity Engineer
7 12 (6.90%) Cybersecurity Specialist
8 11 (6.32%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 10 (5.75%) IT Manager
9 10 (5.75%) Security Architect
10 8 (4.60%) Security Manager
10 8 (4.60%) Senior Architect
10 8 (4.60%) Solutions Architect
11 7 (4.02%) IT Engineer
12 6 (3.45%) Cloud Engineer
12 6 (3.45%) Cybersecurity Analyst
12 6 (3.45%) IT Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (4.02%) Terraform
2 3 (1.72%) 802.1X
2 3 (1.72%) ARM Templates
3 2 (1.15%) EDI
3 2 (1.15%) Microsoft Graph
3 2 (1.15%) Oracle Fusion
3 2 (1.15%) SAML
3 2 (1.15%) Software Packaging
4 1 (0.57%) LDAP
4 1 (0.57%) Model Context Protocol
4 1 (0.57%) OAuth
4 1 (0.57%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 22 (12.64%) Operational Technology
2 19 (10.92%) Security Posture
3 15 (8.62%) Management Information System
4 13 (7.47%) Onboarding
5 11 (6.32%) Cyber Threat
5 11 (6.32%) Security Operations Centre
6 9 (5.17%) Cyber Defence
7 8 (4.60%) Hybrid Cloud
8 6 (3.45%) Cloud Native
8 6 (3.45%) SCADA
9 5 (2.87%) IoT
10 3 (1.72%) Analytical Mindset
10 3 (1.72%) BYOD
10 3 (1.72%) Data Protection Act
10 3 (1.72%) Driving Licence
10 3 (1.72%) NHS
11 2 (1.15%) CESG
11 2 (1.15%) Data Centre
11 2 (1.15%) Legacy Systems
11 2 (1.15%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 39 (22.41%) Windows
2 17 (9.77%) Linux
3 15 (8.62%) Windows Server
4 7 (4.02%) Unix
4 7 (4.02%) Windows 10
5 2 (1.15%) Windows Server 2019
6 1 (0.57%) Android
6 1 (0.57%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.57%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 118 (67.82%) Cybersecurity
2 53 (30.46%) Vulnerability Management
3 42 (24.14%) Risk Management
3 42 (24.14%) Stakeholder Management
4 40 (22.99%) Information Security
5 39 (22.41%) SIEM
6 38 (21.84%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 36 (20.69%) Incident Response
8 34 (19.54%) Security Operations
9 33 (18.97%) Security Architecture
10 30 (17.24%) RBAC
11 28 (16.09%) Continuous Improvement
12 26 (14.94%) Cloud Security
13 25 (14.37%) Problem-Solving
14 24 (13.79%) Remediation Plan
15 23 (13.22%) Technical Leadership
16 22 (12.64%) Cyber Threat Intelligence
16 22 (12.64%) Risk Assessment
16 22 (12.64%) Threat Intelligence
17 21 (12.07%) Data Protection
Programming Languages
1 22 (12.64%) PowerShell
2 8 (4.60%) Python
3 7 (4.02%) Bash
4 3 (1.72%) Bicep
4 3 (1.72%) SQL
5 1 (0.57%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 50 (28.74%) Security Cleared
2 47 (27.01%) SC Cleared
3 38 (21.84%) CISSP
4 29 (16.67%) CISM
5 18 (10.34%) Degree
6 17 (9.77%) Cisco Certification
7 11 (6.32%) (ISC)2 CCSP
7 11 (6.32%) CRISC
8 10 (5.75%) Azure Certification
8 10 (5.75%) CESG Certified Professional
8 10 (5.75%) GIAC
9 8 (4.60%) CompTIA Security+
9 8 (4.60%) DV Cleared
9 8 (4.60%) Microsoft Certification
10 5 (2.87%) CCNA
10 5 (2.87%) CISA
10 5 (2.87%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
10 5 (2.87%) OSCP
10 5 (2.87%) SANS
10 5 (2.87%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 115 (66.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 88 (50.57%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 69 (39.66%) NIST
4 31 (17.82%) NCSC
5 28 (16.09%) GRC
6 23 (13.22%) GDPR
7 15 (8.62%) PCI DSS
8 9 (5.17%) ISO 31000
9 6 (3.45%) NIST 800
9 6 (3.45%) PMO
10 5 (2.87%) SLA
11 4 (2.30%) Def Stans
11 4 (2.30%) Government Security Classifications
11 4 (2.30%) ISO/IEC 27005
12 3 (1.72%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 2 (1.15%) Actionable Recommendations
13 2 (1.15%) COBIT
13 2 (1.15%) IASME
14 1 (0.57%) JSP 440
14 1 (0.57%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 42 (24.14%) Active Directory
2 11 (6.32%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (2.30%) Docker
3 4 (2.30%) Hyper-V
4 3 (1.72%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (1.15%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (1.15%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (1.15%) vSphere
6 1 (0.57%) Firmware
6 1 (0.57%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 22 (12.64%) Microsoft Intune
2 12 (6.90%) Kubernetes
3 6 (3.45%) Ansible
3 6 (3.45%) SCCM
4 4 (2.30%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (1.72%) FortiGate
5 3 (1.72%) Nessus
5 3 (1.72%) Podman
5 3 (1.72%) vCenter Server
6 2 (1.15%) QRadar
Vendors
1 89 (51.15%) Microsoft
2 17 (9.77%) ServiceNow
3 15 (8.62%) VMware
4 13 (7.47%) Cisco
5 7 (4.02%) CrowdStrike
5 7 (4.02%) Tenable
6 5 (2.87%) CyberArk
6 5 (2.87%) Fortinet
6 5 (2.87%) Netskope
6 5 (2.87%) Splunk
6 5 (2.87%) Zscaler
7 4 (2.30%) Oracle
7 4 (2.30%) Palo Alto
8 3 (1.72%) Atlassian
8 3 (1.72%) Citrix
8 3 (1.72%) Qualys
8 3 (1.72%) Rapid7
9 2 (1.15%) F5
9 2 (1.15%) Google
9 2 (1.15%) Sophos
500 Cyber Essentials jobs Nationwide