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

6 months to
6 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 75 46 50
Rank change year-on-year -29 +4 +80
Contract jobs citing DV Cleared 1,239 1,514 1,845
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.40% 4.21% 4.08%
As % of the Qualifications category 10.18% 14.27% 13.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 880 956 1,250
10th Percentile £463 £412 £385
25th Percentile £513 £500 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £597 £600
Median % change year-on-year +0.59% -0.58% -
75th Percentile £688 £676 £688
90th Percentile £738 £746 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £580 £595 £588
% change year-on-year -2.52% +1.28% +0.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 52 100
10th Percentile £18.42 £46.25 £51.95
25th Percentile - £54.06 £58.56
Median hourly rate £25.15 £61.60 £65.81
Median % change year-on-year -59.17% -6.40% -5.98%
75th Percentile £70.75 £73.50 £77.50
90th Percentile £85.38 £74.99 £80.13
UK excluding London median hourly rate £62.25 £61.50 £66.75
% change year-on-year +1.23% -7.87% -4.64%

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 12,174 10,608 13,341
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.40% 29.48% 29.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,906 6,439 8,410
10th Percentile £306 £306 £300
25th Percentile £413 £420 £427
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 1,020 506 753
10th Percentile £17.04 £19.00 £17.72
25th Percentile £19.20 £24.18 £27.50
Median hourly rate £25.15 £41.71 £53.50
Median % change year-on-year -39.70% -22.05% +18.89%
75th Percentile £45.46 £66.00 £67.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £75.00 £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £45.00 £51.90
% change year-on-year -44.11% -13.29% +15.33%

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 6 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 6 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 6 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 -27 1,138 £600 - 509
UK excluding London -21 830 £580 -2.52% 463
South East -2 435 £584 -0.64% 205
London -37 304 £625 +6.38% 96
South West -7 256 £625 +4.17% 127
Work from Home -24 163 £580 -3.33% 192
Midlands -17 84 £575 -14.02% 32
West Midlands -11 77 £575 -16.36% 23
East of England -11 30 £550 - 42
North of England -65 22 £513 -6.82% 48
Scotland -45 18 £628 +21.55% 12
North West -22 16 £513 +28.13% 34
Northern Ireland -2 7 £594 - 1
East Midlands -13 7 £650 +39.78% 9
Yorkshire -46 5 £521 -5.23% 13
Wales -14 4 £600 -14.29% 10
North East -12 1 - - 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 48 (3.87%) SharePoint
2 45 (3.63%) Microsoft Exchange
3 41 (3.31%) Apache
4 32 (2.58%) Skype for Business
5 25 (2.02%) Confluence
6 11 (0.89%) SharePoint Server
7 10 (0.81%) Exchange Server 2003
7 10 (0.81%) Exchange Server 2007
7 10 (0.81%) Exchange Server 2010
7 10 (0.81%) Exchange Server 2013
7 10 (0.81%) Office Communications Server
8 5 (0.40%) IIS
8 5 (0.40%) OpenStack
9 4 (0.32%) Apache Spark
9 4 (0.32%) CMS
10 3 (0.24%) Documentum
11 1 (0.081%) Mattermost
11 1 (0.081%) nginx
Applications
1 63 (5.08%) Microsoft Office
2 21 (1.69%) Microsoft Excel
3 17 (1.37%) Microsoft Project
4 7 (0.56%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.40%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.081%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 17 (1.37%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (0.89%) Remedy ITSM
3 10 (0.81%) SAP EWM
3 10 (0.81%) SAP WM
4 8 (0.65%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
5 7 (0.56%) Primavera
6 3 (0.24%) Maximo
6 3 (0.24%) Oracle Applications
7 1 (0.081%) Oracle Assets
7 1 (0.081%) Oracle Cash Management
7 1 (0.081%) Oracle ERP
7 1 (0.081%) Oracle General Ledger
7 1 (0.081%) Oracle Payroll
7 1 (0.081%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 1 (0.081%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.081%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 129 (10.41%) Azure
2 126 (10.17%) AWS
3 63 (5.08%) Microsoft 365
4 43 (3.47%) Serverless
5 39 (3.15%) GitHub
6 32 (2.58%) GCP
7 30 (2.42%) OpenShift
8 28 (2.26%) Azure DevOps
9 22 (1.78%) Amazon S3
10 20 (1.61%) GitHub Actions
11 17 (1.37%) AWS CloudFormation
11 17 (1.37%) Entra ID
12 16 (1.29%) Amazon EC2
13 15 (1.21%) Amazon ECS
13 15 (1.21%) AWS Lambda
14 13 (1.05%) Azure Sentinel
14 13 (1.05%) Power Platform
15 12 (0.97%) IaaS
16 11 (0.89%) npm
17 10 (0.81%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 80 (6.46%) Firewall
2 75 (6.05%) DNS
3 46 (3.71%) Network Security
4 43 (3.47%) LAN
5 36 (2.91%) VPN
6 34 (2.74%) DHCP
7 30 (2.42%) TCP/IP
7 30 (2.42%) WAN
8 28 (2.26%) Cisco IOS
9 27 (2.18%) Junos
10 26 (2.10%) Skype
11 25 (2.02%) SAN
12 24 (1.94%) Cisco ISE
13 23 (1.86%) Cisco Firepower
14 21 (1.69%) Wireless
15 19 (1.53%) BGP
16 13 (1.05%) VLAN
17 12 (0.97%) OSPF
17 12 (0.97%) SSL
17 12 (0.97%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (2.18%) Big Data
2 22 (1.78%) PostgreSQL
3 18 (1.45%) Elasticsearch
3 18 (1.45%) Hadoop
4 14 (1.13%) SQL Server
5 13 (1.05%) Oracle Database
6 10 (0.81%) Amazon RDS
6 10 (0.81%) Redis
6 10 (0.81%) Relational Database
7 8 (0.65%) MongoDB
8 7 (0.56%) InfluxDB
8 7 (0.56%) Power BI
9 6 (0.48%) SAP HANA
10 5 (0.40%) RDBMS
11 4 (0.32%) Metadata
11 4 (0.32%) MySQL
11 4 (0.32%) NoSQL
12 3 (0.24%) Apache Hive
12 3 (0.24%) SAP Data Services
13 2 (0.16%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 42 (3.39%) Jenkins
2 40 (3.23%) GitLab
3 39 (3.15%) JIRA
4 33 (2.66%) Git
5 18 (1.45%) SonarQube
6 14 (1.13%) Maven
7 11 (0.89%) Artifactory
8 9 (0.73%) Sonatype Nexus
9 8 (0.65%) Bitbucket
10 7 (0.56%) Cypress.io
11 6 (0.48%) Selenium
12 5 (0.40%) JUnit
12 5 (0.40%) Postman
13 4 (0.32%) CircleCI
13 4 (0.32%) Gradle
13 4 (0.32%) Snyk
13 4 (0.32%) webpack
14 3 (0.24%) MSI
14 3 (0.24%) Robot Framework
14 3 (0.24%) SoapUI
General
1 259 (20.90%) Social Skills
2 191 (15.42%) Public Sector
3 91 (7.34%) Analytical Skills
4 72 (5.81%) Finance
5 46 (3.71%) Military
6 44 (3.55%) Telecoms
7 38 (3.07%) Manufacturing
8 28 (2.26%) Legal
9 27 (2.18%) Documentation Skills
10 25 (2.02%) Electronics
10 25 (2.02%) Marketing
11 24 (1.94%) Law
12 21 (1.69%) Banking
13 17 (1.37%) Presentation Skills
14 12 (0.97%) Aerospace
14 12 (0.97%) Organisational Skills
14 12 (0.97%) Police
15 7 (0.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 7 (0.56%) Influencing Skills
16 2 (0.16%) Multimedia
Job Titles
1 227 (18.32%) Architect
2 85 (6.86%) Consultant
3 73 (5.89%) Analyst
4 66 (5.33%) Network Engineer
5 61 (4.92%) Support Engineer
6 55 (4.44%) Developer
7 54 (4.36%) Senior
8 53 (4.28%) Solutions Architect
9 50 (4.04%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
10 49 (3.95%) Lead
11 48 (3.87%) DevOps Engineer
12 39 (3.15%) Technical Architect
13 38 (3.07%) 3rd Line Engineer
14 36 (2.91%) Project Manager
15 35 (2.82%) Cloud Engineer
16 34 (2.74%) Infrastructure Architect
17 28 (2.26%) Infrastructure Engineer
18 26 (2.10%) Administrator
19 25 (2.02%) Security Architect
19 25 (2.02%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (2.99%) Apache NiFi
2 29 (2.34%) REST
3 26 (2.10%) Kafka
4 21 (1.69%) React
5 20 (1.61%) OAuth
6 18 (1.45%) OpenID
7 17 (1.37%) Elastic Stack
7 17 (1.37%) SAML
8 16 (1.29%) OAuth2
8 16 (1.29%) YAML
9 15 (1.21%) .NET
9 15 (1.21%) Node.js
10 14 (1.13%) RabbitMQ
11 13 (1.05%) RESTful
12 10 (0.81%) Web Services
13 9 (0.73%) JSON
13 9 (0.73%) Spring
14 8 (0.65%) Flask
14 8 (0.65%) SOAP
14 8 (0.65%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 77 (6.21%) PKI
2 44 (3.55%) Data Centre
3 34 (2.74%) Management Information System
4 26 (2.10%) Onboarding
5 25 (2.02%) Cyber Threat
6 22 (1.78%) Security Operations Centre
7 20 (1.61%) Cloud Native
7 20 (1.61%) Replication
8 18 (1.45%) Private Cloud
9 16 (1.29%) Driving Licence
10 13 (1.05%) Analytical Mindset
10 13 (1.05%) Greenfield Project
11 12 (0.97%) Cyber Defence
11 12 (0.97%) Enterprise Software
12 10 (0.81%) CSOC
12 10 (0.81%) Fat Client
12 10 (0.81%) Legacy Systems
12 10 (0.81%) Thin Client
13 9 (0.73%) Product Ownership
14 8 (0.65%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 211 (17.03%) Windows
2 125 (10.09%) Linux
3 75 (6.05%) Windows Server
4 32 (2.58%) Windows 10
5 27 (2.18%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 19 (1.53%) Android
6 19 (1.53%) Mac OS
7 16 (1.29%) Windows Server 2019
8 15 (1.21%) Windows 7
9 14 (1.13%) Unix
10 12 (0.97%) Ubuntu
11 11 (0.89%) Windows Server 2003
12 9 (0.73%) CentOS
13 5 (0.40%) Debian
14 3 (0.24%) Windows Server 2016
15 2 (0.16%) VMS
16 1 (0.081%) Data ONTAP
16 1 (0.081%) Mac OS X
16 1 (0.081%) Rocky
16 1 (0.081%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 228 (18.40%) Agile
2 133 (10.73%) Cybersecurity
3 132 (10.65%) Problem-Solving
4 131 (10.57%) DevOps
5 122 (9.85%) CI/CD
6 87 (7.02%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 86 (6.94%) ITIL
8 78 (6.30%) Stakeholder Management
9 76 (6.13%) Infrastructure as Code
10 69 (5.57%) Risk Management
11 67 (5.41%) Containerisation
12 65 (5.25%) Continuous Improvement
12 65 (5.25%) Service Management
13 62 (5.00%) ITSM
14 60 (4.84%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 58 (4.68%) Mentoring
16 57 (4.60%) Scrum
17 56 (4.52%) SIEM
18 51 (4.12%) Migration
18 51 (4.12%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 145 (11.70%) Python
2 107 (8.64%) PowerShell
3 68 (5.49%) SQL
4 64 (5.17%) Java
5 38 (3.07%) JavaScript
6 36 (2.91%) Bash
7 19 (1.53%) C#
7 19 (1.53%) Go
8 17 (1.37%) C++
9 16 (1.29%) TypeScript
10 14 (1.13%) Shell Script
11 11 (0.89%) C
12 8 (0.65%) 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%) PHP
17 2 (0.16%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 1,239 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 385 (31.07%) SC Cleared
3 47 (3.79%) CISSP
4 44 (3.55%) Degree
5 35 (2.82%) Microsoft Certification
6 30 (2.42%) Cisco Certification
6 30 (2.42%) CISM
7 20 (1.61%) CCNP
8 16 (1.29%) CEH
9 14 (1.13%) CESG Certified Professional
9 14 (1.13%) GIAC
10 13 (1.05%) BPSS Clearance
10 13 (1.05%) CCNA
11 11 (0.89%) MCSE
11 11 (0.89%) PMI Certification
12 10 (0.81%) Azure Certification
12 10 (0.81%) CompTIA Security+
13 9 (0.73%) AWS Certification
13 9 (0.73%) CTC Cleared
13 9 (0.73%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 67 (5.41%) NIST
2 51 (4.12%) NCSC
3 45 (3.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 27 (2.18%) SLA
5 20 (1.61%) JSP 440
5 20 (1.61%) NIST 800
6 18 (1.45%) PMO
7 17 (1.37%) GDPR
8 16 (1.29%) QA
9 14 (1.13%) RMADS
10 12 (0.97%) Data Quality
11 6 (0.48%) GRC
12 5 (0.40%) P3O
13 4 (0.32%) Cyber Essentials
13 4 (0.32%) Def Stans
13 4 (0.32%) ISO/IEC 20000
14 3 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 3 (0.24%) EU AI Act
14 3 (0.24%) HMG Security Policy Framework
14 3 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 105 (8.47%) Active Directory
2 76 (6.13%) Docker
3 66 (5.33%) VMware Infrastructure
4 38 (3.07%) VMware ESXi
4 38 (3.07%) VMware NSX
5 28 (2.26%) vSphere
6 12 (0.97%) NFS
6 12 (0.97%) Virtual Machines
7 10 (0.81%) Brightmail
7 10 (0.81%) ISA Server
8 7 (0.56%) Virtual Desktop
9 5 (0.40%) BitLocker
10 4 (0.32%) Firmware
11 2 (0.16%) GPFS
11 2 (0.16%) Hyper-V
11 2 (0.16%) Lustre
11 2 (0.16%) Oracle RAC
11 2 (0.16%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 2 (0.16%) Virtual Servers
12 1 (0.081%) UAG
Systems Management
1 119 (9.60%) Kubernetes
2 103 (8.31%) Terraform
3 81 (6.54%) Ansible
4 40 (3.23%) vCenter Server
5 38 (3.07%) Grafana
6 32 (2.58%) Prometheus
7 24 (1.94%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 23 (1.86%) SCCM
8 23 (1.86%) Single Sign-On
9 14 (1.13%) Progress Chef
10 13 (1.05%) WMI
11 12 (0.97%) Microsoft Clustering
12 11 (0.89%) Puppet
13 10 (0.81%) Podman
14 9 (0.73%) Microsoft Intune
15 8 (0.65%) Argo
15 8 (0.65%) SCOM
16 6 (0.48%) Nessus
16 6 (0.48%) Proxmox
16 6 (0.48%) vRealize
Vendors
1 193 (15.58%) Microsoft
2 139 (11.22%) VMware
3 113 (9.12%) Cisco
4 63 (5.08%) Juniper
5 54 (4.36%) SAP
6 48 (3.87%) Splunk
7 33 (2.66%) Palantir
8 32 (2.58%) SolarWinds
9 30 (2.42%) Oracle
9 30 (2.42%) Red Hat
10 26 (2.10%) Dell
11 25 (2.02%) Foundry
12 20 (1.61%) HP
12 20 (1.61%) Veeam
13 19 (1.53%) Apple
14 17 (1.37%) NetApp
15 16 (1.29%) ServiceNow
16 14 (1.13%) Atlassian
17 13 (1.05%) Google
17 13 (1.05%) Remedy