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 13 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
13 Nov 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 442 461 482
Rank change year-on-year +19 +21 +190
Contract jobs citing Cyber Essentials 132 91 142
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.37% 0.25% 0.31%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.10% 1.88% 2.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 99 47 103
10th Percentile £346 £325 £413
25th Percentile £459 £469 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £553 £525 £542
Median % change year-on-year +5.33% -3.05% +8.30%
75th Percentile £650 £600 £650
90th Percentile £688 £654 £795
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £505 £510
% change year-on-year -0.99% -0.98% +13.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 2 11
10th Percentile £28.32 £70.24 -
25th Percentile £29.51 £72.40 £42.25
Median hourly rate £32.74 £78.40 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -58.25% +76.18% +81.63%
75th Percentile £93.75 £82.00 £46.75
90th Percentile £94.50 £82.72 £49.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.49 - £44.50
% change year-on-year - - +81.63%

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 6,273 4,833 6,617
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.67% 13.25% 14.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,024 2,821 4,429
10th Percentile £304 £275 £310
25th Percentile £402 £389 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £608 £625 £645
90th Percentile £700 £730 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £476 £471 £500
% change year-on-year +1.22% -5.90% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 314 217 253
10th Percentile £13.53 £13.26 £14.63
25th Percentile £16.77 £15.50 £20.50
Median hourly rate £25.83 £27.35 £36.00
Median % change year-on-year -5.58% -24.03% +46.31%
75th Percentile £60.00 £53.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £79.96 £70.00 £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.14 £26.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year -16.45% -33.75% +89.71%

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 13 November 2025.

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 13 November 2025.

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 13 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 -1 116 £553 +9.50% 238
UK excluding London -31 68 £500 -0.99% 193
London +18 50 £625 +8.70% 68
Work from Home +14 39 £513 -6.82% 121
Midlands -26 14 £463 +42.31% 42
North of England -30 14 £500 - 39
East of England -11 12 £553 +79.11% 10
South East -8 10 £530 -1.04% 64
South West +11 9 £475 - 25
East Midlands -5 8 £463 +50.41% 22
North West -18 7 £325 -36.59% 22
West Midlands -24 6 £465 +43.08% 20
Yorkshire -32 6 £502 +0.37% 15
Scotland -9 5 £475 -13.64% 6
Wales - 2 £575 - 8
Channel Islands - 2 £725 -
North East - 1 £650 - 2

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 2 (1.52%) Confluence
2 1 (0.76%) CMS
2 1 (0.76%) Headless CMS
2 1 (0.76%) Microsoft Exchange
2 1 (0.76%) SharePoint
Applications
1 3 (2.27%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.76%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 52 (39.39%) Azure
2 38 (28.79%) AWS
3 20 (15.15%) Microsoft 365
4 17 (12.88%) Azure Sentinel
5 14 (10.61%) Entra ID
6 10 (7.58%) GCP
6 10 (7.58%) SaaS
7 8 (6.06%) GitHub
8 7 (5.30%) Amazon GuardDuty
8 7 (5.30%) IaaS
8 7 (5.30%) PaaS
9 6 (4.55%) Microsoft Purview
10 4 (3.03%) Power Platform
11 3 (2.27%) Amazon EKS
11 3 (2.27%) AWS CloudFormation
11 3 (2.27%) AWS Control Tower
11 3 (2.27%) Azure AKS
12 2 (1.52%) Azure API Management
12 2 (1.52%) Azure DevOps
12 2 (1.52%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 12 (9.09%) Firewall
2 11 (8.33%) Network Security
3 7 (5.30%) DNS
3 7 (5.30%) VLAN
4 6 (4.55%) DHCP
4 6 (4.55%) TCP/IP
5 5 (3.79%) IP Telephony
5 5 (3.79%) VPN
6 2 (1.52%) Wireless
7 1 (0.76%) Cisco IPT
7 1 (0.76%) Intrusion Detection
7 1 (0.76%) LAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (2.27%) Power BI
2 1 (0.76%) DynamoDB
2 1 (0.76%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 9 (6.82%) SonarQube
2 8 (6.06%) Burp Suite
2 8 (6.06%) Metasploit
3 3 (2.27%) Jenkins
4 2 (1.52%) JIRA
5 1 (0.76%) GitLab
General
1 44 (33.33%) Social Skills
2 28 (21.21%) Public Sector
3 11 (8.33%) Legal
4 9 (6.82%) Local Government
5 8 (6.06%) Analytical Skills
5 8 (6.06%) Finance
5 8 (6.06%) Presentation Skills
6 6 (4.55%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (3.03%) Aviation
8 3 (2.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 2 (1.52%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (1.52%) Manufacturing
9 2 (1.52%) Military
9 2 (1.52%) Retail
10 1 (0.76%) Banking
10 1 (0.76%) Digital Health
10 1 (0.76%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.76%) Law
10 1 (0.76%) Marketing
10 1 (0.76%) Police
Job Titles
1 19 (14.39%) Analyst
2 17 (12.88%) Architect
2 17 (12.88%) Security Engineer
3 15 (11.36%) Security Manager
4 11 (8.33%) Cybersecurity Engineer
4 11 (8.33%) Lead
5 10 (7.58%) Consultant
6 9 (6.82%) Security Architect
6 9 (6.82%) Senior
7 7 (5.30%) Cybersecurity Manager
7 7 (5.30%) Solutions Architect
8 6 (4.55%) Project Manager
8 6 (4.55%) Security Analyst
9 5 (3.79%) Cybersecurity Architect
9 5 (3.79%) DevSecOps Engineer
9 5 (3.79%) IAM Specialist
9 5 (3.79%) Security Consultant
9 5 (3.79%) Support Analyst
10 4 (3.03%) Security Project Manager
10 4 (3.03%) Security Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (5.30%) OpenID
1 7 (5.30%) SAML
2 6 (4.55%) OAuth
3 4 (3.03%) LDAP
4 3 (2.27%) AWS CDK
5 2 (1.52%) ARM Templates
5 2 (1.52%) Middleware
5 2 (1.52%) Node.js
5 2 (1.52%) RESTful
6 1 (0.76%) ADO
6 1 (0.76%) Next.js
6 1 (0.76%) React
Miscellaneous
1 22 (16.67%) Security Posture
2 12 (9.09%) Cyber Threat
3 9 (6.82%) Onboarding
4 8 (6.06%) Security Operations Centre
5 7 (5.30%) Cyber Kill Chain
6 5 (3.79%) Cloud Native
6 5 (3.79%) iPad
6 5 (3.79%) iPhone
6 5 (3.79%) Video Conferencing
7 4 (3.03%) Cloud Security Posture
7 4 (3.03%) NHS
8 2 (1.52%) Data Centre
8 2 (1.52%) Low-Code
8 2 (1.52%) Management Information System
8 2 (1.52%) Operational Technology
8 2 (1.52%) Product Ownership
9 1 (0.76%) Data Protection Act
9 1 (0.76%) PKI
9 1 (0.76%) SCADA
9 1 (0.76%) Tandem
Operating Systems
1 14 (10.61%) Windows
2 6 (4.55%) Android
2 6 (4.55%) Linux
2 6 (4.55%) Windows Server
3 5 (3.79%) Mac OS
3 5 (3.79%) Windows 10
3 5 (3.79%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 71 (53.79%) Cybersecurity
2 34 (25.76%) Information Security
3 33 (25.00%) Cloud Security
4 31 (23.48%) Incident Response
5 29 (21.97%) Data Protection
6 28 (21.21%) Security Operations
7 21 (15.91%) SIEM
7 21 (15.91%) Threat Modelling
8 20 (15.15%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 17 (12.88%) Infrastructure as Code
9 17 (12.88%) Vulnerability Management
10 16 (12.12%) Risk Management
10 16 (12.12%) Stakeholder Management
10 16 (12.12%) Vulnerability Remediation
11 15 (11.36%) CI/CD
12 14 (10.61%) Continuous Improvement
12 14 (10.61%) DevSecOps
13 13 (9.85%) DevOps
13 13 (9.85%) OWASP
13 13 (9.85%) Penetration Testing
Programming Languages
1 13 (9.85%) Python
2 10 (7.58%) Bash
3 8 (6.06%) PowerShell
4 4 (3.03%) Kusto Query Language
5 3 (2.27%) TypeScript
6 2 (1.52%) Bicep
7 1 (0.76%) Go
7 1 (0.76%) SQL
Qualifications
1 33 (25.00%) CISSP
2 29 (21.97%) Security Cleared
3 26 (19.70%) SC Cleared
4 23 (17.42%) CISM
5 12 (9.09%) Degree
6 11 (8.33%) OSCP
7 8 (6.06%) CHECK Team Member
7 8 (6.06%) CREST Certified
7 8 (6.06%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
7 8 (6.06%) Tigerscheme
8 7 (5.30%) Azure Certification
8 7 (5.30%) CompTIA Security+
8 7 (5.30%) Microsoft Certification
9 6 (4.55%) CISA
10 4 (3.03%) Cisco Certification
10 4 (3.03%) CRISC
10 4 (3.03%) DV Cleared
10 4 (3.03%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
10 4 (3.03%) PMI Certification
10 4 (3.03%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 83 (62.88%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 63 (47.73%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 54 (40.91%) NIST
4 47 (35.61%) GDPR
5 29 (21.97%) NCSC
6 10 (7.58%) PCI DSS
7 8 (6.06%) GRC
8 4 (3.03%) NIST 800
8 4 (3.03%) PMO
8 4 (3.03%) SOC 2
9 3 (2.27%) COBIT
9 3 (2.27%) IASME
9 3 (2.27%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 3 (2.27%) QA
9 3 (2.27%) SLA
10 2 (1.52%) Accessibility
10 2 (1.52%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 2 (1.52%) ISO/IEC 27005
11 1 (0.76%) HIPAA
11 1 (0.76%) PERC
System Software
1 15 (11.36%) Active Directory
2 2 (1.52%) VMware ESXi
3 1 (0.76%) Docker
3 1 (0.76%) Firmware
3 1 (0.76%) Hyper-V
3 1 (0.76%) Virtual Machines
3 1 (0.76%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (0.76%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 10 (7.58%) Single Sign-On
2 9 (6.82%) Microsoft Intune
3 8 (6.06%) Kubernetes
3 8 (6.06%) Nmap
4 7 (5.30%) Terraform
5 5 (3.79%) SCCM
6 4 (3.03%) CSIRT
6 4 (3.03%) PingFederate
6 4 (3.03%) QRadar
7 3 (2.27%) Ansible
7 3 (2.27%) FortiGate
8 1 (0.76%) Argo
8 1 (0.76%) Grafana
8 1 (0.76%) Kustomize
8 1 (0.76%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.76%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.76%) WSUS
Vendors
1 51 (38.64%) Microsoft
2 13 (9.85%) Cisco
3 8 (6.06%) Fortinet
3 8 (6.06%) Veracode
4 7 (5.30%) Ping Identity
4 7 (5.30%) Splunk
5 5 (3.79%) CheckPoint
5 5 (3.79%) VMware
6 4 (3.03%) Tenable
7 3 (2.27%) Computacenter
7 3 (2.27%) CyberArk
7 3 (2.27%) Google
7 3 (2.27%) Zscaler
8 2 (1.52%) LogRhythm
8 2 (1.52%) Palo Alto
8 2 (1.52%) Proofpoint
8 2 (1.52%) Sophos
9 1 (0.76%) Datto
9 1 (0.76%) OneTrust
9 1 (0.76%) Samsung
262 Cyber Essentials jobs Nationwide