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 15 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 72 47 51
Rank change year-on-year -25 +4 +70
Contract jobs citing DV Cleared 1,258 1,429 1,825
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.45% 4.17% 4.11%
As % of the Qualifications category 10.26% 14.07% 13.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 894 917 1,239
10th Percentile £463 £400 £370
25th Percentile £513 £500 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £598 £600
Median % change year-on-year +0.33% -0.33% -
75th Percentile £688 £676 £688
90th Percentile £738 £738 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £580 £595 £577
% change year-on-year -2.52% +3.12% -1.54%
Number of hourly rates quoted 47 47 100
10th Percentile £18.12 £46.20 £49.60
25th Percentile £25.15 £55.44 £57.46
Median hourly rate £45.00 £63.00 £63.60
Median % change year-on-year -28.57% -0.94% -9.47%
75th Percentile £75.00 £71.88 £76.44
90th Percentile £85.50 £79.43 £79.80
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £61.71 £63.91
% change year-on-year +5.34% -3.44% -9.74%

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 12,259 10,158 13,150
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.64% 29.63% 29.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,992 6,234 8,284
10th Percentile £310 £305 £300
25th Percentile £415 £420 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £725 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £515 £538
% change year-on-year -2.91% -4.19% +2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,002 490 732
10th Percentile £16.76 £19.61 £17.72
25th Percentile £19.38 £24.18 £27.69
Median hourly rate £25.15 £41.25 £53.50
Median % change year-on-year -39.03% -22.90% +18.89%
75th Percentile £53.75 £66.00 £67.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £52.35
% change year-on-year -45.54% -11.79% +17.91%

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 15 December 2025.

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 15 December 2025.

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 15 December 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 -25 1,149 £600 - 474
UK excluding London -18 853 £580 -2.52% 453
South East -2 453 £588 - 161
London -46 295 £625 +6.61% 69
South West -8 253 £625 +4.17% 150
Work from Home -16 158 £590 -1.67% 240
Midlands -10 78 £575 -17.86% 30
West Midlands -6 71 £575 -17.86% 18
East of England -10 37 £550 - 46
North of England -54 27 £525 -4.55% 53
North West -17 20 £525 +156.10% 35
Scotland -45 18 £628 +21.55% 14
Northern Ireland -3 7 £594 - 3
East Midlands -14 7 £650 +27.45% 12
Yorkshire -49 6 £613 +11.36% 18
Wales -13 5 £600 -14.29% 12
North East -20 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 45 (3.58%) SharePoint
2 43 (3.42%) Microsoft Exchange
3 40 (3.18%) Apache
4 31 (2.46%) Skype for Business
5 25 (1.99%) Confluence
6 10 (0.79%) SharePoint Server
7 9 (0.72%) Exchange Server 2003
7 9 (0.72%) Exchange Server 2007
7 9 (0.72%) Exchange Server 2010
7 9 (0.72%) Exchange Server 2013
7 9 (0.72%) Office Communications Server
8 6 (0.48%) OpenStack
9 4 (0.32%) Apache Spark
10 3 (0.24%) Documentum
10 3 (0.24%) IIS
11 1 (0.079%) CMS
11 1 (0.079%) Mattermost
11 1 (0.079%) nginx
Applications
1 63 (5.01%) Microsoft Office
2 23 (1.83%) Microsoft Excel
3 15 (1.19%) Microsoft Project
4 7 (0.56%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.40%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.079%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 17 (1.35%) SAP S/4HANA
2 12 (0.95%) Remedy ITSM
3 10 (0.79%) SAP EWM
3 10 (0.79%) SAP WM
4 9 (0.72%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
5 5 (0.40%) Primavera
6 3 (0.24%) Maximo
6 3 (0.24%) Oracle Applications
7 1 (0.079%) Oracle Assets
7 1 (0.079%) Oracle Cash Management
7 1 (0.079%) Oracle ERP
7 1 (0.079%) Oracle General Ledger
7 1 (0.079%) Oracle Payroll
7 1 (0.079%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 1 (0.079%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.079%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 127 (10.10%) Azure
2 123 (9.78%) AWS
3 61 (4.85%) Microsoft 365
4 42 (3.34%) GitHub
5 41 (3.26%) Serverless
6 33 (2.62%) OpenShift
7 32 (2.54%) GCP
8 28 (2.23%) Azure DevOps
9 22 (1.75%) GitHub Actions
10 21 (1.67%) Amazon S3
11 18 (1.43%) AWS CloudFormation
12 17 (1.35%) Entra ID
13 15 (1.19%) Amazon ECS
14 14 (1.11%) Amazon EC2
14 14 (1.11%) AWS Lambda
15 13 (1.03%) Azure Sentinel
15 13 (1.03%) IaaS
15 13 (1.03%) npm
15 13 (1.03%) Power Platform
16 10 (0.79%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 81 (6.44%) Firewall
2 79 (6.28%) DNS
3 52 (4.13%) Network Security
4 44 (3.50%) LAN
5 34 (2.70%) DHCP
5 34 (2.70%) VPN
6 29 (2.31%) WAN
7 28 (2.23%) Cisco IOS
7 28 (2.23%) TCP/IP
8 27 (2.15%) Junos
9 26 (2.07%) SAN
9 26 (2.07%) Skype
10 24 (1.91%) Cisco ISE
11 23 (1.83%) Cisco Firepower
12 21 (1.67%) Wireless
13 17 (1.35%) SSL
14 16 (1.27%) BGP
15 11 (0.87%) HTTP
15 11 (0.87%) SMTP
15 11 (0.87%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (2.07%) Big Data
2 22 (1.75%) PostgreSQL
3 20 (1.59%) Elasticsearch
4 18 (1.43%) Hadoop
5 14 (1.11%) SQL Server
6 12 (0.95%) Oracle Database
7 11 (0.87%) Relational Database
8 10 (0.79%) Redis
9 9 (0.72%) Amazon RDS
10 8 (0.64%) MongoDB
11 7 (0.56%) InfluxDB
11 7 (0.56%) Power BI
12 6 (0.48%) RDBMS
12 6 (0.48%) SAP HANA
13 4 (0.32%) Metadata
13 4 (0.32%) MySQL
13 4 (0.32%) NoSQL
14 3 (0.24%) Apache Hive
14 3 (0.24%) SAP Data Services
15 2 (0.16%) MariaDB
Development Applications
1 44 (3.50%) GitLab
2 41 (3.26%) JIRA
3 40 (3.18%) Jenkins
4 34 (2.70%) Git
5 18 (1.43%) SonarQube
6 15 (1.19%) Maven
7 14 (1.11%) Artifactory
8 10 (0.79%) Sonatype Nexus
9 8 (0.64%) Bitbucket
9 8 (0.64%) Cypress.io
10 7 (0.56%) Selenium
11 6 (0.48%) Postman
12 5 (0.40%) CircleCI
12 5 (0.40%) Gradle
12 5 (0.40%) JUnit
12 5 (0.40%) Snyk
12 5 (0.40%) webpack
13 3 (0.24%) Robot Framework
14 2 (0.16%) SoapUI
14 2 (0.16%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 262 (20.83%) Social Skills
2 184 (14.63%) Public Sector
3 99 (7.87%) Analytical Skills
4 67 (5.33%) Finance
5 44 (3.50%) Military
6 42 (3.34%) Telecoms
7 35 (2.78%) Manufacturing
8 30 (2.38%) Legal
9 27 (2.15%) Documentation Skills
10 24 (1.91%) Law
11 23 (1.83%) Marketing
12 22 (1.75%) Electronics
13 21 (1.67%) Banking
14 18 (1.43%) Presentation Skills
15 14 (1.11%) Organisational Skills
16 11 (0.87%) Aerospace
16 11 (0.87%) Police
17 7 (0.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 5 (0.40%) Influencing Skills
19 2 (0.16%) Multimedia
Job Titles
1 232 (18.44%) Architect
2 89 (7.07%) Consultant
3 79 (6.28%) Analyst
4 66 (5.25%) Network Engineer
5 61 (4.85%) Support Engineer
6 58 (4.61%) DevOps Engineer
7 52 (4.13%) Senior
8 51 (4.05%) Solutions Architect
9 50 (3.97%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
10 48 (3.82%) Developer
11 46 (3.66%) Lead
12 40 (3.18%) 3rd Line Engineer
12 40 (3.18%) Technical Architect
13 36 (2.86%) Cloud Engineer
14 35 (2.78%) Project Manager
15 34 (2.70%) Infrastructure Architect
16 29 (2.31%) Infrastructure Engineer
17 25 (1.99%) 3rd Line Network Engineer
17 25 (1.99%) Administrator
17 25 (1.99%) SOC Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (3.10%) Apache NiFi
2 31 (2.46%) REST
3 25 (1.99%) Kafka
4 20 (1.59%) OAuth
4 20 (1.59%) React
5 18 (1.43%) OpenID
6 17 (1.35%) SAML
7 16 (1.27%) Node.js
7 16 (1.27%) OAuth2
8 15 (1.19%) Elastic Stack
8 15 (1.19%) YAML
9 14 (1.11%) .NET
9 14 (1.11%) RabbitMQ
10 12 (0.95%) LDAP
11 10 (0.79%) JSON
12 9 (0.72%) RESTful
12 9 (0.72%) Web Services
13 8 (0.64%) Flask
13 8 (0.64%) gRPC
13 8 (0.64%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 80 (6.36%) PKI
2 45 (3.58%) Data Centre
3 30 (2.38%) Cyber Threat
3 30 (2.38%) Management Information System
3 30 (2.38%) Security Operations Centre
4 21 (1.67%) Onboarding
5 20 (1.59%) Replication
6 19 (1.51%) Analytical Mindset
6 19 (1.51%) Cloud Native
7 17 (1.35%) CSOC
7 17 (1.35%) Private Cloud
8 16 (1.27%) Driving Licence
9 13 (1.03%) Cyber Defence
9 13 (1.03%) Greenfield Project
10 11 (0.87%) Enterprise Software
10 11 (0.87%) Fat Client
10 11 (0.87%) Thin Client
11 10 (0.79%) Cyberattack
11 10 (0.79%) Legacy Systems
12 8 (0.64%) Insider Threat
Operating Systems
1 222 (17.65%) Windows
2 128 (10.17%) Linux
3 74 (5.88%) Windows Server
4 35 (2.78%) Windows 10
5 29 (2.31%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 19 (1.51%) Android
6 19 (1.51%) Mac OS
7 15 (1.19%) Windows 7
8 13 (1.03%) Windows Server 2019
9 11 (0.87%) Unix
9 11 (0.87%) Windows Server 2003
10 10 (0.79%) Ubuntu
11 9 (0.72%) CentOS
12 3 (0.24%) Debian
13 2 (0.16%) VMS
14 1 (0.079%) Data ONTAP
14 1 (0.079%) Mac OS X
14 1 (0.079%) Rocky
14 1 (0.079%) Windows Server 2008
14 1 (0.079%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 230 (18.28%) Agile
2 138 (10.97%) Cybersecurity
2 138 (10.97%) DevOps
3 133 (10.57%) Problem-Solving
4 124 (9.86%) CI/CD
5 87 (6.92%) ITIL
6 85 (6.76%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 77 (6.12%) Infrastructure as Code
8 73 (5.80%) Continuous Improvement
8 73 (5.80%) Stakeholder Management
9 67 (5.33%) ITSM
9 67 (5.33%) Service Management
10 66 (5.25%) Containerisation
11 62 (4.93%) Risk Management
12 61 (4.85%) SIEM
13 57 (4.53%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 57 (4.53%) Scrum
14 55 (4.37%) Project Management
15 54 (4.29%) Incident Response
16 52 (4.13%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 149 (11.84%) Python
2 117 (9.30%) PowerShell
3 65 (5.17%) SQL
4 60 (4.77%) Java
5 37 (2.94%) Bash
6 36 (2.86%) JavaScript
7 19 (1.51%) Go
8 17 (1.35%) C#
9 16 (1.27%) C++
9 16 (1.27%) TypeScript
10 14 (1.11%) Shell Script
11 11 (0.87%) C
12 8 (0.64%) VBScript
13 7 (0.56%) VB
14 5 (0.40%) ABAP
15 4 (0.32%) Bicep
16 3 (0.24%) Kusto Query Language
16 3 (0.24%) T-SQL
17 2 (0.16%) Ruby
18 1 (0.079%) PHP
Qualifications
1 1,258 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 382 (30.37%) SC Cleared
3 48 (3.82%) Degree
4 46 (3.66%) CISSP
5 33 (2.62%) Microsoft Certification
6 31 (2.46%) CISM
7 28 (2.23%) Cisco Certification
8 18 (1.43%) CCNP
9 16 (1.27%) CEH
10 15 (1.19%) GIAC
11 13 (1.03%) CCNA
11 13 (1.03%) CESG Certified Professional
12 12 (0.95%) BPSS Clearance
13 11 (0.87%) CompTIA Security+
13 11 (0.87%) CTC Cleared
13 11 (0.87%) PMI Certification
14 9 (0.72%) Azure Certification
14 9 (0.72%) Computer Science Degree
14 9 (0.72%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 9 (0.72%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 69 (5.48%) NIST
2 50 (3.97%) NCSC
3 46 (3.66%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 23 (1.83%) SLA
5 20 (1.59%) NIST 800
6 19 (1.51%) JSP 440
7 17 (1.35%) PMO
8 16 (1.27%) GDPR
8 16 (1.27%) QA
9 13 (1.03%) Data Quality
9 13 (1.03%) RMADS
10 8 (0.64%) GRC
11 5 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials
12 4 (0.32%) ISO/IEC 20000
12 4 (0.32%) P3O
13 3 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 3 (0.24%) Def Stans
13 3 (0.24%) EU AI Act
13 3 (0.24%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 3 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 108 (8.59%) Active Directory
2 76 (6.04%) Docker
3 63 (5.01%) VMware Infrastructure
4 38 (3.02%) VMware NSX
5 34 (2.70%) VMware ESXi
6 25 (1.99%) vSphere
7 12 (0.95%) Virtual Machines
8 10 (0.79%) NFS
9 9 (0.72%) Brightmail
9 9 (0.72%) ISA Server
10 8 (0.64%) Firmware
11 6 (0.48%) BitLocker
11 6 (0.48%) Virtual Desktop
12 2 (0.16%) GPFS
12 2 (0.16%) Hyper-V
12 2 (0.16%) Lustre
12 2 (0.16%) Slurm Workload Manager
12 2 (0.16%) vCloud
12 2 (0.16%) Virtual Servers
13 1 (0.079%) UAG
Systems Management
1 121 (9.62%) Kubernetes
2 105 (8.35%) Terraform
3 83 (6.60%) Ansible
4 45 (3.58%) vCenter Server
5 40 (3.18%) Grafana
6 33 (2.62%) Prometheus
7 25 (1.99%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 24 (1.91%) Single Sign-On
9 23 (1.83%) SCCM
10 15 (1.19%) Progress Chef
11 13 (1.03%) Puppet
11 13 (1.03%) WMI
12 11 (0.87%) Microsoft Clustering
12 11 (0.87%) Podman
13 9 (0.72%) Microsoft Intune
14 8 (0.64%) Argo
14 8 (0.64%) SCOM
15 7 (0.56%) Kibana
15 7 (0.56%) Nessus
16 6 (0.48%) logstash
Vendors
1 196 (15.58%) Microsoft
2 133 (10.57%) VMware
3 109 (8.66%) Cisco
4 57 (4.53%) Juniper
5 51 (4.05%) SAP
6 47 (3.74%) Splunk
7 33 (2.62%) Palantir
7 33 (2.62%) Red Hat
8 29 (2.31%) Oracle
8 29 (2.31%) SolarWinds
9 27 (2.15%) Dell
10 25 (1.99%) Foundry
11 21 (1.67%) NetApp
12 20 (1.59%) HP
13 19 (1.51%) Apple
13 19 (1.51%) Veeam
14 17 (1.35%) ServiceNow
15 14 (1.11%) Atlassian
15 14 (1.11%) Remedy
16 13 (1.03%) Cloudera