Higher National Certificate (HNC)
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for HNC qualifications. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months to 27 April 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
27 Apr 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 470 658 795
Rank change year-on-year +188 +137 -147
Contract jobs citing HNC 128 61 54
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.30% 0.10% 0.061%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.96% 0.37% 0.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 42 29 26
10th Percentile £200 £204 £191
25th Percentile £254 £330 £256
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £268 £425 £388
Median % change year-on-year -36.94% +9.68% +12.32%
75th Percentile £350 £538 £467
90th Percentile £450 £597 £538
UK excluding London median daily rate £269 £425 £319
% change year-on-year -36.71% +33.33% -7.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 55 23 12
10th Percentile £14.15 £36.00 -
25th Percentile £33.00 £46.16 £17.00
Median hourly rate £43.00 £60.00 £25.68
Median % change year-on-year -28.33% +133.69% -28.69%
75th Percentile - £68.13 £40.97
90th Percentile - £68.75 £49.16
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.00 £48.13 £24.50
% change year-on-year -10.66% +96.45% -27.95%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

HNC is in the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with a requirement for academic qualifications or professional certifications.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 13,270 16,337 19,076
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 30.65% 27.32% 21.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,165 10,899 12,575
10th Percentile £300 £325 £325
25th Percentile £425 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £535 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.73% +4.76% +8.25%
75th Percentile £650 £650 £625
90th Percentile £738 £743 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £530 £530 £500
% change year-on-year - +6.00% +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,067 858 776
10th Percentile £13.86 £15.25 £13.46
25th Percentile £17.80 £20.06 £19.33
Median hourly rate £40.00 £54.00 £41.50
Median % change year-on-year -25.93% +30.12% +5.06%
75th Percentile £61.60 £68.25 £56.31
90th Percentile £75.25 £80.00 £66.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.28 £50.00 £31.89
% change year-on-year -19.45% +56.79% -14.39%

HNC
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing HNC as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for HNC in the UK

HNC
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing HNC.

Daily rate trend for HNC in the UK

HNC
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing HNC over the 6 months to 27 April 2024.

Daily rate histogram for HNC in the UK

HNC
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing HNC.

Hourly rate trend for HNC in the UK

HNC
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing HNC over the 6 months to 27 April 2024.

Hourly rate histogram for HNC in the UK

HNC
Top 15 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing HNC within the UK over the 6 months to 27 April 2024. 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
UK excluding London +146 124 £269 -36.71% 709
England +205 113 £269 -36.71% 704
East of England +73 62 £400 - 74
Work from Home +144 44 £300 -20.63% 131
Midlands - 23 £266 - 129
East Midlands - 21 £266 - 43
South West +22 10 - - 91
Scotland +38 9 £188 -25.74% 68
South East +28 8 £400 +9.89% 193
North of England +29 6 - - 178
Northern Ireland - 6 - - 3
London +102 4 £253 -51.07% 74
North West +10 3 - - 92
North East - 3 - - 24
West Midlands - 2 - - 86

HNC
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 2 (1.56%) Confluence
Applications
1 9 (7.03%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (3.13%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.78%) AutoCAD
3 1 (0.78%) MicroStation
3 1 (0.78%) Revit
Business Applications
1 3 (2.34%) Infor M3
2 2 (1.56%) iTrent
Cloud Services
1 3 (2.34%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 2 (1.56%) RTP
1 2 (1.56%) TCP/IP
2 1 (0.78%) 4G
2 1 (0.78%) 5G
2 1 (0.78%) Broadband
2 1 (0.78%) Ethernet
2 1 (0.78%) LAN
2 1 (0.78%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (2.34%) Power BI
2 2 (1.56%) BusinessObjects
Development Applications
1 2 (1.56%) JIRA
1 2 (1.56%) TestRail
2 1 (0.78%) GitLab
2 1 (0.78%) MSI
General
1 56 (43.75%) Publishing
2 41 (32.03%) Social Skills
3 18 (14.06%) Public Sector
4 7 (5.47%) Finance
4 7 (5.47%) Organisational Skills
5 6 (4.69%) Legal
6 4 (3.13%) Advertising
6 4 (3.13%) Manufacturing
7 3 (2.34%) Aeronautics
7 3 (2.34%) Automotive
7 3 (2.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 3 (2.34%) Police
7 3 (2.34%) Presentation Skills
7 3 (2.34%) Telecoms
8 2 (1.56%) Aerospace
8 2 (1.56%) Electronics
8 2 (1.56%) Local Government
9 1 (0.78%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 60 (46.88%) Author
1 60 (46.88%) Technical Author
2 14 (10.94%) Project Manager
3 7 (5.47%) Analyst
3 7 (5.47%) Test Manager
4 6 (4.69%) Information Governance Officer
4 6 (4.69%) Information Officer
5 5 (3.91%) Lead
5 5 (3.91%) Production Manager
6 4 (3.13%) 1st Line Support
6 4 (3.13%) 1st Line Support Analyst
6 4 (3.13%) Coordinator
6 4 (3.13%) Support Analyst
6 4 (3.13%) Technical Coordinator
7 3 (2.34%) Administrator
7 3 (2.34%) Business Analyst
7 3 (2.34%) Systems Administrator
7 3 (2.34%) Systems Engineer
7 3 (2.34%) Technical Project Manager
7 3 (2.34%) Trainer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 56 (43.75%) SGML
1 56 (43.75%) XML
2 3 (2.34%) .NET
3 1 (0.78%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 6 (4.69%) Freedom of Information
1 6 (4.69%) NHS
2 4 (3.13%) Driving Licence
2 4 (3.13%) Self-Motivation
3 2 (1.56%) Management Information System
4 1 (0.78%) Life Science
4 1 (0.78%) SCADA
4 1 (0.78%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 3 (2.34%) Linux
2 2 (1.56%) Unix
2 2 (1.56%) Windows
3 1 (0.78%) Mac OS
3 1 (0.78%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 1 (0.78%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 56 (43.75%) Desktop Publishing
2 25 (19.53%) Problem-Solving
3 19 (14.84%) Conflict Management
3 19 (14.84%) Time Management
4 17 (13.28%) Continuous Improvement
5 15 (11.72%) Critical Thinking
5 15 (11.72%) Decision-Making
5 15 (11.72%) People Management
6 14 (10.94%) Asset Management
7 10 (7.81%) Project Management
8 6 (4.69%) Email Management
8 6 (4.69%) Impact Assessments
8 6 (4.69%) Information Governance
8 6 (4.69%) Risk Management
9 5 (3.91%) Line Management
10 4 (3.13%) Coaching
10 4 (3.13%) Data Analysis
10 4 (3.13%) ITIL
10 4 (3.13%) Mentoring
10 4 (3.13%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 3 (2.34%) C#
1 3 (2.34%) Python
2 2 (1.56%) Shell Script
2 2 (1.56%) SQL
Qualifications
1 90 (70.31%) HND
2 24 (18.75%) Degree
3 12 (9.38%) Security Cleared
4 8 (6.25%) SC Cleared
5 6 (4.69%) NVQ Level 3
6 3 (2.34%) DV Cleared
6 3 (2.34%) NVQ Level 4
7 2 (1.56%) ISTQB
7 2 (1.56%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
7 2 (1.56%) Master's Degree
8 1 (0.78%) RIBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (10.94%) QA
2 6 (4.69%) Data Quality
3 3 (2.34%) GDPR
System Software
1 1 (0.78%) Active Directory
1 1 (0.78%) NFS
Systems Management
1 1 (0.78%) SCCM
Vendors
1 12 (9.38%) Microsoft
2 1 (0.78%) Cisco
2 1 (0.78%) Rockwell
2 1 (0.78%) SAP
2 1 (0.78%) Siemens