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

6 months to
3 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 73 47 51
Rank change year-on-year -26 +4 +78
Contract jobs citing DV Cleared 1,226 1,508 1,831
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.38% 4.21% 4.06%
As % of the Qualifications category 10.16% 14.31% 13.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 869 956 1,237
10th Percentile £463 £412 £375
25th Percentile £513 £500 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £588 £600
Median % change year-on-year +2.13% -2.08% -
75th Percentile £688 £676 £688
90th Percentile £750 £750 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £588 £588 £577
% change year-on-year - +1.82% -1.54%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 51 101
10th Percentile £18.42 £46.25 £52.19
25th Percentile - £53.13 £58.75
Median hourly rate £25.15 £61.71 £66.50
Median % change year-on-year -59.24% -7.21% -5.00%
75th Percentile £70.75 £73.50 £77.50
90th Percentile £85.38 £75.00 £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £62.25 £61.50 £67.00
% change year-on-year +1.23% -8.22% -4.83%

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 12,069 10,536 13,281
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.32% 29.42% 29.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,818 6,382 8,362
10th Percentile £305 £307 £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 £517 £538
% change year-on-year -3.33% -3.77% +2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,022 506 751
10th Percentile £17.30 £19.00 £17.72
25th Percentile £19.26 £24.18 £27.63
Median hourly rate £25.15 £41.38 £53.50
Median % change year-on-year -39.23% -22.65% +18.89%
75th Percentile £46.71 £66.00 £67.75
90th Percentile £74.21 £75.00 £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £45.00 £52.21
% change year-on-year -44.11% -13.80% +16.01%

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 3 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 3 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 3 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 -26 1,126 £600 +0.84% 522
UK excluding London -22 823 £588 - 477
South East -4 427 £600 +2.56% 237
London -32 300 £625 +6.61% 103
South West -8 257 £625 +4.17% 125
Work from Home -7 163 £600 - 178
Midlands -6 85 £581 -7.00% 28
West Midlands -7 80 £575 -14.02% 22
East of England -15 30 £550 - 36
North of England -67 22 £513 -6.82% 50
Scotland -45 18 £628 +21.26% 7
North West -25 16 £513 +28.13% 39
Northern Ireland -2 7 £594 -
East Midlands -16 5 £725 +55.91% 6
Yorkshire -42 5 £521 -5.23% 11
Wales -16 4 £600 -14.29% 9
North East -16 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 (3.92%) SharePoint
2 44 (3.59%) Microsoft Exchange
3 38 (3.10%) Apache
4 32 (2.61%) Skype for Business
5 25 (2.04%) Confluence
6 11 (0.90%) SharePoint Server
7 10 (0.82%) Exchange Server 2003
7 10 (0.82%) Exchange Server 2007
7 10 (0.82%) Exchange Server 2010
7 10 (0.82%) Exchange Server 2013
7 10 (0.82%) Office Communications Server
8 5 (0.41%) IIS
8 5 (0.41%) OpenStack
9 4 (0.33%) CMS
10 3 (0.24%) Apache Spark
10 3 (0.24%) Documentum
11 1 (0.082%) Mattermost
11 1 (0.082%) nginx
Applications
1 61 (4.98%) Microsoft Office
2 21 (1.71%) Microsoft Excel
3 17 (1.39%) Microsoft Project
4 7 (0.57%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.41%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.082%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 17 (1.39%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (0.90%) Remedy ITSM
3 10 (0.82%) SAP EWM
3 10 (0.82%) SAP WM
4 7 (0.57%) Primavera
4 7 (0.57%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
5 3 (0.24%) Maximo
5 3 (0.24%) Oracle Applications
6 1 (0.082%) Oracle Assets
6 1 (0.082%) Oracle Cash Management
6 1 (0.082%) Oracle ERP
6 1 (0.082%) Oracle General Ledger
6 1 (0.082%) Oracle Payroll
6 1 (0.082%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.082%) Oracle Receivables
6 1 (0.082%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 131 (10.69%) Azure
2 124 (10.11%) AWS
3 61 (4.98%) Microsoft 365
4 43 (3.51%) Serverless
5 39 (3.18%) GitHub
6 33 (2.69%) GCP
7 29 (2.37%) OpenShift
8 28 (2.28%) Azure DevOps
9 22 (1.79%) Amazon S3
10 20 (1.63%) GitHub Actions
11 17 (1.39%) AWS CloudFormation
11 17 (1.39%) Entra ID
12 16 (1.31%) Amazon EC2
13 15 (1.22%) Amazon ECS
13 15 (1.22%) AWS Lambda
14 13 (1.06%) Azure Sentinel
14 13 (1.06%) IaaS
14 13 (1.06%) Power Platform
15 11 (0.90%) npm
16 10 (0.82%) Amazon EKS
Communications & Networking
1 80 (6.53%) Firewall
2 73 (5.95%) DNS
3 48 (3.92%) Network Security
4 43 (3.51%) LAN
5 36 (2.94%) VPN
6 33 (2.69%) DHCP
7 30 (2.45%) WAN
8 28 (2.28%) Cisco IOS
9 27 (2.20%) Junos
10 26 (2.12%) Skype
10 26 (2.12%) TCP/IP
11 24 (1.96%) Cisco ISE
12 23 (1.88%) Cisco Firepower
13 21 (1.71%) BGP
13 21 (1.71%) SAN
13 21 (1.71%) Wireless
14 13 (1.06%) VLAN
15 12 (0.98%) OSPF
15 12 (0.98%) SSL
15 12 (0.98%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (2.12%) Big Data
2 23 (1.88%) PostgreSQL
3 18 (1.47%) Elasticsearch
4 17 (1.39%) Hadoop
5 13 (1.06%) Oracle Database
5 13 (1.06%) SQL Server
6 11 (0.90%) Redis
7 10 (0.82%) Amazon RDS
7 10 (0.82%) Relational Database
8 9 (0.73%) MongoDB
9 7 (0.57%) InfluxDB
9 7 (0.57%) Power BI
10 6 (0.49%) SAP HANA
11 5 (0.41%) RDBMS
12 4 (0.33%) Metadata
13 3 (0.24%) Apache Hive
13 3 (0.24%) MySQL
13 3 (0.24%) NoSQL
13 3 (0.24%) SAP Data Services
14 2 (0.16%) Data Mining
Development Applications
1 43 (3.51%) Jenkins
2 40 (3.26%) GitLab
3 39 (3.18%) JIRA
4 33 (2.69%) Git
5 18 (1.47%) SonarQube
6 14 (1.14%) Maven
7 11 (0.90%) Artifactory
8 9 (0.73%) Sonatype Nexus
9 8 (0.65%) Bitbucket
10 7 (0.57%) Cypress.io
11 6 (0.49%) Selenium
12 5 (0.41%) JUnit
12 5 (0.41%) Postman
13 4 (0.33%) CircleCI
13 4 (0.33%) Gradle
13 4 (0.33%) Snyk
13 4 (0.33%) webpack
14 3 (0.24%) MSI
14 3 (0.24%) Robot Framework
14 3 (0.24%) SoapUI
General
1 257 (20.96%) Social Skills
2 193 (15.74%) Public Sector
3 91 (7.42%) Analytical Skills
4 71 (5.79%) Finance
5 45 (3.67%) Military
6 44 (3.59%) Telecoms
7 38 (3.10%) Manufacturing
8 28 (2.28%) Legal
9 25 (2.04%) Documentation Skills
9 25 (2.04%) Electronics
9 25 (2.04%) Marketing
10 24 (1.96%) Law
11 21 (1.71%) Banking
12 17 (1.39%) Presentation Skills
13 12 (0.98%) Aerospace
13 12 (0.98%) Organisational Skills
13 12 (0.98%) Police
14 7 (0.57%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 7 (0.57%) Influencing Skills
15 2 (0.16%) Multimedia
Job Titles
1 227 (18.52%) Architect
2 83 (6.77%) Consultant
3 72 (5.87%) Analyst
4 66 (5.38%) Network Engineer
5 61 (4.98%) Support Engineer
6 55 (4.49%) Senior
7 54 (4.40%) Developer
8 53 (4.32%) Solutions Architect
9 51 (4.16%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
10 49 (4.00%) DevOps Engineer
11 48 (3.92%) Lead
12 39 (3.18%) Technical Architect
13 38 (3.10%) 3rd Line Engineer
14 35 (2.85%) Cloud Engineer
15 34 (2.77%) Infrastructure Architect
15 34 (2.77%) Project Manager
16 28 (2.28%) Network Architect
17 27 (2.20%) Administrator
17 27 (2.20%) Infrastructure Engineer
18 25 (2.04%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (3.02%) Apache NiFi
2 29 (2.37%) REST
3 26 (2.12%) Kafka
4 21 (1.71%) React
5 18 (1.47%) OAuth
6 17 (1.39%) Elastic Stack
7 16 (1.31%) Node.js
7 16 (1.31%) OpenID
7 16 (1.31%) YAML
8 15 (1.22%) .NET
8 15 (1.22%) OAuth2
8 15 (1.22%) SAML
9 14 (1.14%) RabbitMQ
10 13 (1.06%) RESTful
11 10 (0.82%) Web Services
12 9 (0.73%) Spring
13 8 (0.65%) Flask
13 8 (0.65%) JSON
13 8 (0.65%) SOAP
13 8 (0.65%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 76 (6.20%) PKI
2 44 (3.59%) Data Centre
3 34 (2.77%) Management Information System
4 29 (2.37%) Onboarding
5 25 (2.04%) Cyber Threat
6 21 (1.71%) Security Operations Centre
7 20 (1.63%) Cloud Native
7 20 (1.63%) Replication
8 19 (1.55%) Private Cloud
9 16 (1.31%) Driving Licence
10 13 (1.06%) Analytical Mindset
10 13 (1.06%) Greenfield Project
11 12 (0.98%) Cyber Defence
11 12 (0.98%) Enterprise Software
12 10 (0.82%) CSOC
12 10 (0.82%) Fat Client
12 10 (0.82%) Legacy Systems
12 10 (0.82%) Thin Client
13 9 (0.73%) Hybrid Cloud
13 9 (0.73%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 206 (16.80%) Windows
2 120 (9.79%) Linux
3 73 (5.95%) Windows Server
4 31 (2.53%) Windows 10
5 26 (2.12%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 19 (1.55%) Android
6 19 (1.55%) Mac OS
7 16 (1.31%) Windows Server 2019
8 15 (1.22%) Windows 7
9 14 (1.14%) Unix
10 11 (0.90%) Windows Server 2003
11 9 (0.73%) CentOS
11 9 (0.73%) Ubuntu
12 3 (0.24%) Windows Server 2016
13 2 (0.16%) Debian
13 2 (0.16%) VMS
14 1 (0.082%) Data ONTAP
14 1 (0.082%) Mac OS X
14 1 (0.082%) Rocky
14 1 (0.082%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 225 (18.35%) Agile
2 132 (10.77%) Cybersecurity
3 131 (10.69%) DevOps
4 129 (10.52%) Problem-Solving
5 122 (9.95%) CI/CD
6 88 (7.18%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 81 (6.61%) ITIL
8 77 (6.28%) Infrastructure as Code
9 76 (6.20%) Stakeholder Management
10 67 (5.46%) Containerisation
10 67 (5.46%) Risk Management
11 65 (5.30%) Continuous Improvement
12 64 (5.22%) Service Management
13 62 (5.06%) ITSM
14 59 (4.81%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 57 (4.65%) Mentoring
15 57 (4.65%) Scrum
16 56 (4.57%) SIEM
17 52 (4.24%) Migration
18 51 (4.16%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 142 (11.58%) Python
2 106 (8.65%) PowerShell
3 67 (5.46%) SQL
4 63 (5.14%) Java
5 38 (3.10%) JavaScript
6 34 (2.77%) Bash
7 19 (1.55%) C#
7 19 (1.55%) Go
8 17 (1.39%) C++
9 16 (1.31%) TypeScript
10 12 (0.98%) Shell Script
11 10 (0.82%) C
12 8 (0.65%) VBScript
13 7 (0.57%) VB
14 5 (0.41%) ABAP
15 4 (0.33%) 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 1,226 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 379 (30.91%) SC Cleared
3 45 (3.67%) CISSP
3 45 (3.67%) Degree
4 34 (2.77%) Microsoft Certification
5 29 (2.37%) Cisco Certification
6 28 (2.28%) CISM
7 20 (1.63%) CCNP
8 15 (1.22%) CEH
9 14 (1.14%) BPSS Clearance
9 14 (1.14%) CESG Certified Professional
9 14 (1.14%) GIAC
10 12 (0.98%) CCNA
11 11 (0.90%) MCSE
11 11 (0.90%) PMI Certification
12 10 (0.82%) Azure Certification
12 10 (0.82%) 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 65 (5.30%) NIST
2 52 (4.24%) NCSC
3 43 (3.51%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 27 (2.20%) SLA
5 20 (1.63%) NIST 800
6 19 (1.55%) JSP 440
7 18 (1.47%) PMO
8 17 (1.39%) GDPR
8 17 (1.39%) QA
9 14 (1.14%) RMADS
10 12 (0.98%) Data Quality
11 5 (0.41%) GRC
11 5 (0.41%) P3O
12 4 (0.33%) Cyber Essentials
12 4 (0.33%) Def Stans
12 4 (0.33%) ISO/IEC 20000
13 3 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 3 (0.24%) EU AI Act
13 3 (0.24%) HMG Security Policy Framework
13 3 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 101 (8.24%) Active Directory
2 76 (6.20%) Docker
3 68 (5.55%) VMware Infrastructure
4 40 (3.26%) VMware ESXi
5 37 (3.02%) VMware NSX
6 27 (2.20%) vSphere
7 12 (0.98%) NFS
7 12 (0.98%) Virtual Machines
8 10 (0.82%) Brightmail
8 10 (0.82%) ISA Server
9 7 (0.57%) Virtual Desktop
10 5 (0.41%) BitLocker
11 4 (0.33%) Firmware
11 4 (0.33%) Hyper-V
12 2 (0.16%) GPFS
12 2 (0.16%) Lustre
12 2 (0.16%) Oracle RAC
12 2 (0.16%) Slurm Workload Manager
12 2 (0.16%) Virtual Servers
13 1 (0.082%) vCloud
Systems Management
1 118 (9.62%) Kubernetes
2 103 (8.40%) Terraform
3 79 (6.44%) Ansible
4 40 (3.26%) vCenter Server
5 37 (3.02%) Grafana
6 31 (2.53%) Prometheus
7 23 (1.88%) SCCM
8 21 (1.71%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 21 (1.71%) Single Sign-On
9 13 (1.06%) Progress Chef
9 13 (1.06%) WMI
10 12 (0.98%) Microsoft Clustering
11 10 (0.82%) Podman
11 10 (0.82%) Puppet
12 9 (0.73%) Microsoft Intune
13 8 (0.65%) Argo
13 8 (0.65%) SCOM
14 6 (0.49%) Nessus
14 6 (0.49%) Proxmox
14 6 (0.49%) vRealize
Vendors
1 189 (15.42%) Microsoft
2 140 (11.42%) VMware
3 112 (9.14%) Cisco
4 63 (5.14%) Juniper
5 54 (4.40%) SAP
6 49 (4.00%) Splunk
7 33 (2.69%) Palantir
8 32 (2.61%) SolarWinds
9 30 (2.45%) Oracle
10 26 (2.12%) Dell
11 25 (2.04%) Foundry
11 25 (2.04%) Red Hat
12 20 (1.63%) HP
12 20 (1.63%) Veeam
13 19 (1.55%) Apple
14 17 (1.39%) NetApp
15 16 (1.31%) ServiceNow
16 14 (1.14%) Atlassian
17 13 (1.06%) Cloudera
17 13 (1.06%) Google