DV Cleared Contract Job Trends

Developed Vetting (DV) Clearance
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for DV Cleared qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 1 April 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 55 73 31
Rank change year-on-year +18 -42 +48
Contract jobs citing DV Cleared 1,817 936 2,376
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 4.07% 3.22% 5.37%
As % of the Qualifications category 12.15% 10.51% 17.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,272 645 1,724
10th Percentile £425 £413 £413
25th Percentile £512 £513 £513
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £588 £595 £600
Median % change year-on-year -1.26% -0.83% -
75th Percentile £688 £669 £688
90th Percentile £738 £713 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £600 £590 £600
% change year-on-year +1.69% -1.67% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 52 24 104
10th Percentile £16.42 £32.75 £49.26
25th Percentile £24.07 £54.40 £57.16
Median hourly rate £54.75 £63.75 £63.15
Median % change year-on-year -14.11% +0.95% -9.79%
75th Percentile £76.94 £81.10 £80.00
90th Percentile £91.03 £83.51 £87.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.50 £73.75 £63.29
% change year-on-year -24.75% +16.53% -15.61%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

DV Cleared falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 14,955 8,908 13,554
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.47% 30.67% 30.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,887 5,668 8,418
10th Percentile £340 £299 £300
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -1.90% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £617 £625 £650
90th Percentile £725 £713 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -2.44% -2.38% -0.94%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,087 487 1,012
10th Percentile £16.35 £18.51 £13.85
25th Percentile £20.50 £24.18 £17.72
Median hourly rate £36.70 £42.50 £37.83
Median % change year-on-year -13.65% +12.35% -27.95%
75th Percentile £68.75 £67.50 £61.60
90th Percentile £84.40 £80.76 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.91 £48.31 £38.23
% change year-on-year -25.67% +26.38% -21.99%

DV Cleared
Job Vacancy Trend

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

DV Cleared job vacancy trend in the UK

DV Cleared
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing DV Cleared.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing DV Cleared

DV Cleared
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing DV Cleared over the 6 months to 1 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for DV Cleared in the UK

DV Cleared
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing DV Cleared.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing DV Cleared

DV Cleared
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing DV Cleared over the 6 months to 1 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for DV Cleared in the UK

DV Cleared
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 DV Cleared within the UK over the 6 months to 1 April 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 +15 1,659 £575 -4.17% 411
UK excluding London +8 1,294 £600 +1.69% 355
South East +10 702 £600 +2.13% 151
London +8 362 £575 -4.17% 80
South West -2 330 £560 -6.67% 104
Work from Home +19 233 £560 -2.61% 131
North of England -4 88 £685 +234.15% 40
North West +13 71 £700 +241.46% 35
East of England +6 68 £575 +4.55% 34
Midlands -33 67 £575 -17.86% 17
West Midlands -33 50 £575 -17.86% 15
Scotland -5 42 £653 +26.80% 6
East Midlands -19 17 £638 +15.91% 1
Yorkshire -40 15 £550 -12.00% 4
Northern Ireland - 7 £600 -
Wales -9 3 - - 8
North East -15 2 - - 1

DV Cleared
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 38 (2.09%) Microsoft Exchange
2 33 (1.82%) SharePoint
3 27 (1.49%) Confluence
4 24 (1.32%) Apache
5 17 (0.94%) Skype for Business
6 13 (0.72%) Palantir Foundry
7 8 (0.44%) Apache Spark
8 5 (0.28%) Mattermost
9 4 (0.22%) Oracle Workflow
10 2 (0.11%) Apache Airflow
10 2 (0.11%) OpenStack
Applications
1 56 (3.08%) Microsoft Office
2 44 (2.42%) Microsoft Excel
3 23 (1.27%) Microsoft Project
4 13 (0.72%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.39%) Spreadsheet
6 5 (0.28%) MS Visio
7 2 (0.11%) Lectora
7 2 (0.11%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 25 (1.38%) Remedy ITSM
2 23 (1.27%) SAP S/4HANA
3 17 (0.94%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
4 7 (0.39%) Maximo
5 5 (0.28%) SAP EWM
6 4 (0.22%) Oracle Assets
6 4 (0.22%) Oracle ERP
6 4 (0.22%) Oracle Payables
6 4 (0.22%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 3 (0.17%) SAP GRC
8 2 (0.11%) Oracle Applications
8 2 (0.11%) Primavera
8 2 (0.11%) SAP FI
8 2 (0.11%) SAP WM
9 1 (0.055%) SAP CCM
9 1 (0.055%) SAP FI-GL
9 1 (0.055%) SAP HR
9 1 (0.055%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 178 (9.80%) AWS
2 143 (7.87%) Azure
3 54 (2.97%) GCP
4 46 (2.53%) IaaS
5 44 (2.42%) GitHub
6 43 (2.37%) PaaS
7 42 (2.31%) Microsoft 365
8 35 (1.93%) OpenShift
9 34 (1.87%) Serverless
10 33 (1.82%) Azure DevOps
11 27 (1.49%) GitHub Actions
12 21 (1.16%) Amazon S3
13 19 (1.05%) Amazon EC2
14 16 (0.88%) AWS Lambda
15 15 (0.83%) AWS CloudFormation
15 15 (0.83%) OCI
16 14 (0.77%) Azure Sentinel
17 13 (0.72%) Amazon ECS
17 13 (0.72%) Azure AKS
17 13 (0.72%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 131 (7.21%) Firewall
2 104 (5.72%) DNS
3 77 (4.24%) Network Security
4 64 (3.52%) LAN
5 61 (3.36%) WAN
6 58 (3.19%) VPN
7 42 (2.31%) BGP
8 40 (2.20%) DHCP
9 36 (1.98%) TCP/IP
10 32 (1.76%) OSPF
11 27 (1.49%) Junos
12 22 (1.21%) Cisco ISE
13 20 (1.10%) Cisco IOS
13 20 (1.10%) VLAN
14 19 (1.05%) Skype
15 18 (0.99%) Ethernet VPN
15 18 (0.99%) MPLS
16 17 (0.94%) SAN
16 17 (0.94%) VXLAN
17 16 (0.88%) BIG-IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (1.82%) PostgreSQL
2 26 (1.43%) Elasticsearch
3 20 (1.10%) SQL Server
4 16 (0.88%) Amazon RDS
5 15 (0.83%) Oracle Database
6 14 (0.77%) Big Data
6 14 (0.77%) MongoDB
7 13 (0.72%) Hadoop
8 11 (0.61%) Power BI
9 9 (0.50%) Relational Database
10 8 (0.44%) MySQL
10 8 (0.44%) Redis
10 8 (0.44%) SAP HANA
11 7 (0.39%) InfluxDB
11 7 (0.39%) Metadata
12 5 (0.28%) MariaDB
12 5 (0.28%) SAP Data Services
13 4 (0.22%) Amazon Aurora
13 4 (0.22%) DynamoDB
13 4 (0.22%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 63 (3.47%) JIRA
2 28 (1.54%) Git
2 28 (1.54%) GitLab
3 26 (1.43%) Jenkins
4 10 (0.55%) Artifactory
4 10 (0.55%) Maven
5 9 (0.50%) Sonatype Nexus
6 6 (0.33%) Cypress.io
6 6 (0.33%) Robot Framework
7 5 (0.28%) Bitbucket
7 5 (0.28%) SonarQube
8 4 (0.22%) Oracle APEX
9 3 (0.17%) MLflow
9 3 (0.17%) Postman
9 3 (0.17%) Selenium
9 3 (0.17%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
10 2 (0.11%) CircleCI
10 2 (0.11%) Gradle
10 2 (0.11%) Snyk
10 2 (0.11%) webpack
General
1 322 (17.72%) Social Skills
2 205 (11.28%) Public Sector
3 129 (7.10%) Analytical Skills
4 86 (4.73%) Finance
5 63 (3.47%) Military
6 55 (3.03%) Documentation Skills
7 52 (2.86%) Legal
8 31 (1.71%) Presentation Skills
9 27 (1.49%) Telecoms
10 24 (1.32%) Organisational Skills
11 23 (1.27%) Aerospace
12 22 (1.21%) Law
13 20 (1.10%) Police
14 16 (0.88%) Manufacturing
15 14 (0.77%) Marketing
16 13 (0.72%) Electronics
17 9 (0.50%) Banking
18 6 (0.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 6 (0.33%) Influencing Skills
19 2 (0.11%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 334 (18.38%) Architect
2 123 (6.77%) Senior
3 113 (6.22%) Lead
4 108 (5.94%) Analyst
5 93 (5.12%) Network Engineer
6 92 (5.06%) Consultant
7 81 (4.46%) Technical Architect
8 73 (4.02%) Developer
9 68 (3.74%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 60 (3.30%) Tester
11 55 (3.03%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
12 54 (2.97%) DevOps Engineer
12 54 (2.97%) SOC Analyst
13 49 (2.70%) Security Architect
14 46 (2.53%) Project Manager
15 38 (2.09%) Software Engineer
15 38 (2.09%) Solutions Architect
16 36 (1.98%) Infrastructure Architect
17 35 (1.93%) 3rd Line Engineer
17 35 (1.93%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (2.20%) REST
2 26 (1.43%) Apache NiFi
2 26 (1.43%) OAuth
3 23 (1.27%) React
4 20 (1.10%) OpenID
5 19 (1.05%) OAuth2
5 19 (1.05%) SAML
6 18 (0.99%) Kafka
7 16 (0.88%) Node.js
7 16 (0.88%) Web Services
8 15 (0.83%) 802.1X
9 14 (0.77%) Elastic Stack
10 13 (0.72%) Flask
10 13 (0.72%) LDAP
11 12 (0.66%) .NET
11 12 (0.66%) FastAPI
11 12 (0.66%) ModSecurity
12 11 (0.61%) SailPoint
12 11 (0.61%) SOAP
12 11 (0.61%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 105 (5.78%) PKI
2 64 (3.52%) Data Centre
3 46 (2.53%) Security Operations Centre
4 36 (1.98%) Management Information System
5 29 (1.60%) Cloud Native
6 28 (1.54%) Clustering
7 24 (1.32%) Onboarding
7 24 (1.32%) Product Ownership
8 23 (1.27%) Hybrid Cloud
9 21 (1.16%) Cyber Threat
10 20 (1.10%) Analytical Mindset
10 20 (1.10%) Cyberattack
10 20 (1.10%) Replication
11 15 (0.83%) Legacy Systems
11 15 (0.83%) Public Cloud
12 14 (0.77%) Driving Licence
12 14 (0.77%) Enterprise Storage
12 14 (0.77%) Private Cloud
12 14 (0.77%) Security Posture
13 12 (0.66%) Insider Threat
Operating Systems
1 259 (14.25%) Windows
2 190 (10.46%) Linux
3 83 (4.57%) Windows Server
4 30 (1.65%) Windows 10
5 28 (1.54%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 15 (0.83%) Windows 7
7 13 (0.72%) Ubuntu
8 10 (0.55%) Mac OS
9 9 (0.50%) Android
10 7 (0.39%) Unix
10 7 (0.39%) VMS
10 7 (0.39%) Windows Server 2003
11 6 (0.33%) CentOS
12 4 (0.22%) Data ONTAP
12 4 (0.22%) Debian
12 4 (0.22%) Windows Server 2019
13 3 (0.17%) Embedded Linux
13 3 (0.17%) Windows Server 2016
14 2 (0.11%) Rocky
15 1 (0.055%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 304 (16.73%) Agile
2 213 (11.72%) Problem-Solving
3 167 (9.19%) Cybersecurity
4 158 (8.70%) DevOps
5 154 (8.48%) ITIL
6 138 (7.59%) CI/CD
7 133 (7.32%) Service Management
8 118 (6.49%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 113 (6.22%) Continuous Improvement
10 111 (6.11%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 106 (5.83%) Stakeholder Management
12 99 (5.45%) ITSM
13 84 (4.62%) Infrastructure as Code
14 83 (4.57%) Risk Management
15 81 (4.46%) Project Delivery
16 75 (4.13%) Incident Response
16 75 (4.13%) SIEM
17 74 (4.07%) Containerisation
18 72 (3.96%) Identity Access Management
19 71 (3.91%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 149 (8.20%) Python
2 121 (6.66%) PowerShell
3 57 (3.14%) SQL
4 49 (2.70%) Java
5 32 (1.76%) JavaScript
6 27 (1.49%) Bash
7 19 (1.05%) TypeScript
8 18 (0.99%) C#
9 16 (0.88%) Shell Script
10 15 (0.83%) Go
11 11 (0.61%) Bicep
12 10 (0.55%) C++
13 8 (0.44%) C
13 8 (0.44%) VB
14 7 (0.39%) PL/SQL
14 7 (0.39%) VBScript
15 6 (0.33%) ABAP
15 6 (0.33%) Embedded C
15 6 (0.33%) Rust
16 4 (0.22%) PHP
Qualifications
1 1,817 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 578 (31.81%) SC Cleared
3 65 (3.58%) CISSP
4 61 (3.36%) Degree
5 50 (2.75%) Cisco Certification
6 43 (2.37%) CISM
7 35 (1.93%) Microsoft Certification
8 28 (1.54%) CompTIA Security+
9 24 (1.32%) CCNP
10 23 (1.27%) CESG Certified Professional
11 21 (1.16%) CCNA
12 20 (1.10%) Computer Science Degree
13 19 (1.05%) AWS Certification
13 19 (1.05%) BPSS Clearance
13 19 (1.05%) GIAC
14 16 (0.88%) CompTIA CySA+
15 15 (0.83%) CTC Cleared
16 14 (0.77%) Azure Certification
16 14 (0.77%) CEH
16 14 (0.77%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 88 (4.84%) NIST
2 71 (3.91%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 56 (3.08%) NCSC
4 43 (2.37%) QA
5 42 (2.31%) PMO
6 40 (2.20%) JSP 440
7 22 (1.21%) GRC
8 19 (1.05%) RMADS
9 17 (0.94%) GDPR
10 14 (0.77%) NIST 800
10 14 (0.77%) SLA
11 13 (0.72%) Data Quality
12 12 (0.66%) ISO/IEC 20000
13 11 (0.61%) Cyber Essentials
14 6 (0.33%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 6 (0.33%) HMG Security Policy Framework
14 6 (0.33%) P3O
15 5 (0.28%) Government Security Classifications
16 4 (0.22%) Accessibility
17 3 (0.17%) Actionable Recommendations
System Software
1 121 (6.66%) Active Directory
2 94 (5.17%) Docker
3 92 (5.06%) VMware Infrastructure
4 51 (2.81%) VMware NSX
5 40 (2.20%) VMware ESXi
6 26 (1.43%) Hyper-V
7 21 (1.16%) vSphere
8 15 (0.83%) BitLocker
9 12 (0.66%) vCloud
10 10 (0.55%) Firmware
11 8 (0.44%) Microsoft App-V
12 6 (0.33%) Virtual Machines
13 5 (0.28%) Oracle RAC
14 4 (0.22%) Virtual Desktop
15 3 (0.17%) Ceph
15 3 (0.17%) GPFS
15 3 (0.17%) Lustre
15 3 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
16 2 (0.11%) Squid
16 2 (0.11%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 142 (7.82%) Kubernetes
2 119 (6.55%) Terraform
3 82 (4.51%) Ansible
4 55 (3.03%) vCenter Server
5 35 (1.93%) Single Sign-On
6 34 (1.87%) SCCM
7 32 (1.76%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 30 (1.65%) Grafana
9 25 (1.38%) Prometheus
10 15 (0.83%) FortiGate
10 15 (0.83%) Puppet
11 13 (0.72%) Progress Chef
11 13 (0.72%) WMI
12 10 (0.55%) Forefront Identity Manager
12 10 (0.55%) NetIQ Identity Manager
12 10 (0.55%) SCOM
13 9 (0.50%) Nessus
13 9 (0.50%) Podman
14 8 (0.44%) Argo
14 8 (0.44%) vMotion
Vendors
1 216 (11.89%) Microsoft
2 185 (10.18%) VMware
3 111 (6.11%) Cisco
4 58 (3.19%) Juniper
4 58 (3.19%) Splunk
5 56 (3.08%) ServiceNow
6 54 (2.97%) SAP
7 47 (2.59%) Oracle
8 45 (2.48%) NetApp
9 44 (2.42%) Red Hat
10 27 (1.49%) F5
10 27 (1.49%) Remedy
10 27 (1.49%) SolarWinds
11 23 (1.27%) Fortinet
12 22 (1.21%) Dell
13 21 (1.16%) Palo Alto
14 18 (0.99%) Sparx
15 17 (0.94%) Citrix
16 16 (0.88%) Google
16 16 (0.88%) Palantir