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 22 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
22 Feb 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 462 450 501
Rank change year-on-year -12 +51 +67
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 144 82 100
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.35% 0.27% 0.22%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.03% 1.81% 1.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 105 37 62
10th Percentile £363 £320 £330
25th Percentile £463 £425 £472
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £533
Median % change year-on-year - -1.55% +3.54%
75th Percentile £588 £628 £638
90th Percentile £665 £638 £661
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £583 £525
% change year-on-year -9.87% +10.95% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 5 9
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £36.00 £68.80 £42.25
Median hourly rate £58.00 £83.20 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -30.29% +86.97% -
75th Percentile £89.06 - £46.75
90th Percentile £94.13 - £47.20
UK excluding London median hourly rate £36.00 £83.20 £44.50
% change year-on-year -56.73% +86.97% -

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 7,098 4,539 6,431
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.41% 14.76% 14.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,570 2,733 4,215
10th Percentile £325 £258 £301
25th Percentile £413 £375 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £600 £625 £630
90th Percentile £700 £720 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £480
% change year-on-year +5.26% -1.04% +1.05%
Number of hourly rates quoted 378 166 350
10th Percentile £15.31 £15.50 £12.25
25th Percentile £18.25 £21.25 £14.50
Median hourly rate £26.28 £29.50 £25.25
Median % change year-on-year -10.93% +16.84% -22.32%
75th Percentile £63.75 £65.00 £50.00
90th Percentile £73.75 £78.38 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.44 £29.00 £25.00
% change year-on-year -8.83% +16.00% -19.70%

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 22 February 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 22 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Cyber Essentials in the UK

Cyber Essentials
Top 15 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 22 February 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 -9 133 £525 - 137
UK excluding London -49 86 £525 -9.87% 124
London -9 51 £535 +15.68% 31
Work from Home -2 43 £540 -1.82% 48
South East -17 28 £518 -17.20% 45
East of England -12 19 £553 +10.60% 10
North of England -51 14 £540 -10.00% 29
South West -17 10 £500 -16.67% 18
North West -21 7 £540 - 17
Yorkshire -55 7 £504 -16.05% 8
Midlands -56 7 £463 +42.31% 20
West Midlands -62 5 £540 +66.15% 13
Scotland -6 4 £500 -2.44% 5
Wales - 4 £575 - 2
East Midlands -31 2 £400 +23.08% 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 6 (4.17%) Microsoft Exchange
1 6 (4.17%) SharePoint
2 3 (2.08%) Confluence
Applications
1 5 (3.47%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.69%) AutoCAD
2 1 (0.69%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.69%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 60 (41.67%) Azure
2 35 (24.31%) Microsoft 365
3 33 (22.92%) AWS
4 27 (18.75%) Entra ID
5 22 (15.28%) Microsoft Purview
6 15 (10.42%) Amazon GuardDuty
7 13 (9.03%) Azure Sentinel
8 11 (7.64%) AWS Control Tower
9 10 (6.94%) Mimecast
9 10 (6.94%) SaaS
10 9 (6.25%) IaaS
10 9 (6.25%) PaaS
11 8 (5.56%) AWS CloudFormation
12 7 (4.86%) AWS CloudTrail
13 6 (4.17%) AWS KMS
13 6 (4.17%) Virtual Private Cloud
14 5 (3.47%) Amazon EKS
14 5 (3.47%) Azure AKS
15 3 (2.08%) OCI
16 2 (1.39%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 28 (19.44%) Firewall
2 22 (15.28%) Network Security
3 20 (13.89%) VPN
4 8 (5.56%) DNS
5 7 (4.86%) DHCP
6 4 (2.78%) BGP
6 4 (2.78%) Cisco ASA
6 4 (2.78%) Cisco IOS
6 4 (2.78%) LAN
6 4 (2.78%) MPLS
6 4 (2.78%) TACACS
6 4 (2.78%) VSAN
6 4 (2.78%) Wireless
7 3 (2.08%) VLAN
7 3 (2.08%) WAN
8 2 (1.39%) Wi-Fi
9 1 (0.69%) Cisco IPT
9 1 (0.69%) HTTP
9 1 (0.69%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (1.39%) DynamoDB
1 2 (1.39%) MariaDB
2 1 (0.69%) Amazon RDS
2 1 (0.69%) Metadata
2 1 (0.69%) MongoDB
2 1 (0.69%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 4 (2.78%) JIRA
2 2 (1.39%) Jenkins
General
1 50 (34.72%) Social Skills
2 21 (14.58%) Public Sector
3 20 (13.89%) Finance
4 8 (5.56%) Organisational Skills
4 8 (5.56%) Presentation Skills
5 6 (4.17%) Aerospace
5 6 (4.17%) Analytical Skills
6 5 (3.47%) Influencing Skills
6 5 (3.47%) Legal
7 4 (2.78%) Aviation
7 4 (2.78%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 1 (0.69%) Digital Health
8 1 (0.69%) Documentation Skills
8 1 (0.69%) Electronics
8 1 (0.69%) Manufacturing
8 1 (0.69%) Marketing
8 1 (0.69%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 26 (18.06%) Architect
2 23 (15.97%) Security Engineer
3 21 (14.58%) Senior
4 15 (10.42%) Analyst
5 10 (6.94%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 9 (6.25%) Cybersecurity Engineer
6 9 (6.25%) Security Analyst
7 8 (5.56%) Lead
7 8 (5.56%) Security Architect
8 7 (4.86%) Consultant
8 7 (4.86%) Project Manager
8 7 (4.86%) Security Manager
8 7 (4.86%) Solutions Architect
8 7 (4.86%) Technical Architect
9 6 (4.17%) Cloud Architect
9 6 (4.17%) Cybersecurity Architect
9 6 (4.17%) DevSecOps Engineer
10 5 (3.47%) Infrastructure Security Engineer
10 5 (3.47%) Lead Architect
10 5 (3.47%) Security Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (6.94%) LDAP
2 5 (3.47%) OAuth
3 4 (2.78%) OpenID
3 4 (2.78%) SAML
4 3 (2.08%) AWS CDK
4 3 (2.08%) Oracle Fusion
5 2 (1.39%) ARM Templates
5 2 (1.39%) Node.js
6 1 (0.69%) .NET
6 1 (0.69%) React
6 1 (0.69%) Software Packaging
6 1 (0.69%) STL
6 1 (0.69%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 15 (10.42%) Onboarding
1 15 (10.42%) Security Posture
2 13 (9.03%) Cyber Threat
3 10 (6.94%) Operational Technology
4 8 (5.56%) NHS
5 7 (4.86%) Cloud Native
5 7 (4.86%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 7 (4.86%) PKI
5 7 (4.86%) Security Operations Centre
6 6 (4.17%) SCADA
7 5 (3.47%) Hybrid Cloud
8 4 (2.78%) Cloud Security Posture
8 4 (2.78%) Cyber Defence
8 4 (2.78%) Data Centre
8 4 (2.78%) Driving Licence
9 3 (2.08%) Public Cloud
10 2 (1.39%) BYOD
10 2 (1.39%) Cybercrime
10 2 (1.39%) Mobile App
11 1 (0.69%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 23 (15.97%) Linux
2 19 (13.19%) Windows
3 12 (8.33%) Windows Server
4 6 (4.17%) Ubuntu
5 4 (2.78%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (1.39%) Windows 10
6 2 (1.39%) Windows Server 2012
7 1 (0.69%) Android
7 1 (0.69%) VMS
7 1 (0.69%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 71 (49.31%) Cybersecurity
2 31 (21.53%) Data Loss Prevention
3 25 (17.36%) Cloud Security
4 24 (16.67%) Migration
5 23 (15.97%) Information Security
6 22 (15.28%) Incident Response
7 20 (13.89%) Security Operations
8 19 (13.19%) ITIL
8 19 (13.19%) Threat Detection
9 18 (12.50%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 18 (12.50%) Zero Trust
10 17 (11.81%) Roadmaps
10 17 (11.81%) SIEM
11 16 (11.11%) Risk Management
11 16 (11.11%) TOGAF
12 15 (10.42%) ITSM
13 14 (9.72%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 13 (9.03%) Continuous Improvement
14 13 (9.03%) Threat Modelling
15 12 (8.33%) Security Architecture
Programming Languages
1 17 (11.81%) PowerShell
2 11 (7.64%) Python
3 9 (6.25%) Kusto Query Language
4 5 (3.47%) SQL
5 4 (2.78%) Bash
5 4 (2.78%) PHP
6 2 (1.39%) Bicep
6 2 (1.39%) TypeScript
7 1 (0.69%) C#
7 1 (0.69%) Go
7 1 (0.69%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 43 (29.86%) Security Cleared
2 37 (25.69%) SC Cleared
3 21 (14.58%) CISSP
4 16 (11.11%) Degree
5 14 (9.72%) CISM
6 9 (6.25%) DV Cleared
7 8 (5.56%) CompTIA Security+
8 7 (4.86%) AWS Certification
8 7 (4.86%) Microsoft Certification
9 6 (4.17%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 5 (3.47%) Azure Certification
11 4 (2.78%) APMG
11 4 (2.78%) Cisco Certification
11 4 (2.78%) GIAC
11 4 (2.78%) SSCP
11 4 (2.78%) TOGAF Certification
12 3 (2.08%) Computer Science Degree
12 3 (2.08%) GSEC
13 2 (1.39%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
13 2 (1.39%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 84 (58.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 62 (43.06%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 51 (35.42%) NIST
4 36 (25.00%) GDPR
5 28 (19.44%) NCSC
6 9 (6.25%) GRC
7 8 (5.56%) PCI DSS
8 5 (3.47%) Def Stans
9 4 (2.78%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 3 (2.08%) IASME
10 3 (2.08%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 3 (2.08%) SLA
10 3 (2.08%) SOC 2
11 2 (1.39%) ISO 22301
11 2 (1.39%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 2 (1.39%) NIST 800
12 1 (0.69%) ISO 31000
12 1 (0.69%) JSP 440
12 1 (0.69%) PERC
System Software
1 16 (11.11%) Active Directory
2 10 (6.94%) VMware Infrastructure
3 7 (4.86%) VMware ESXi
4 6 (4.17%) Virtual Desktop
5 4 (2.78%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (2.08%) Hyper-V
7 2 (1.39%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.69%) Firmware
8 1 (0.69%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 21 (14.58%) Microsoft Intune
2 11 (7.64%) Terraform
3 9 (6.25%) Single Sign-On
4 7 (4.86%) AirWatch
4 7 (4.86%) Kubernetes
5 6 (4.17%) vCenter Server
6 4 (2.78%) Nessus
6 4 (2.78%) PingFederate
6 4 (2.78%) SCCM
7 3 (2.08%) SCOM
7 3 (2.08%) WSUS
8 2 (1.39%) Ansible
8 2 (1.39%) Check_MK
9 1 (0.69%) Argo
9 1 (0.69%) CASB
9 1 (0.69%) Grafana
9 1 (0.69%) Kustomize
Vendors
1 57 (39.58%) Microsoft
2 23 (15.97%) Cisco
3 21 (14.58%) VMware
4 11 (7.64%) CrowdStrike
4 11 (7.64%) Palo Alto
5 10 (6.94%) CyberArk
6 8 (5.56%) Netskope
6 8 (5.56%) ServiceNow
6 8 (5.56%) Tenable
7 6 (4.17%) Citrix
7 6 (4.17%) CloudEndure
8 5 (3.47%) Barracuda Networks
8 5 (3.47%) Fortinet
9 4 (2.78%) CheckPoint
9 4 (2.78%) Ping Identity
9 4 (2.78%) Splunk
10 3 (2.08%) Computacenter
10 3 (2.08%) Oracle
11 2 (1.39%) Google
11 2 (1.39%) Red Hat
150 Cyber Essentials jobs Nationwide