HND Contract Job Trends

Higher National Diploma (HND)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for HND qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 9 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 654 479 462
Rank change year-on-year -175 -17 +150
Contract jobs citing HND 31 74 101
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.057% 0.23% 0.27%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.18% 0.72% 0.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 4 17 13
10th Percentile £384 £222 £192
25th Percentile £434 £313 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £375 £400
Median % change year-on-year +26.67% -6.25% +6.67%
75th Percentile £525 £525 £590
90th Percentile £593 £538 £733
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £350 £400
% change year-on-year +35.71% -12.50% +21.21%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 40 43
10th Percentile £13.00 £15.31 -
25th Percentile £18.24 £29.00 -
Median hourly rate £36.75 £42.75 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year -14.04% -0.58% -10.66%
75th Percentile £65.00 £69.65 -
90th Percentile £70.43 £70.00 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £36.75 £43.00 £43.00
% change year-on-year -14.53% - -7.66%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

HND 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 17,170 10,225 11,193
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 31.52% 31.23% 29.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,500 6,338 6,929
10th Percentile £350 £300 £313
25th Percentile £438 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year - - -4.55%
75th Percentile £627 £623 £638
90th Percentile £715 £700 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,295 820 672
10th Percentile £17.25 £17.98 £16.87
25th Percentile £25.77 £18.87 £24.18
Median hourly rate £47.54 £25.15 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +89.03% -49.70% -9.09%
75th Percentile £72.54 £48.13 £67.77
90th Percentile £87.96 £71.27 £75.24
UK excluding London median hourly rate £47.50 £25.15 £53.00
% change year-on-year +88.87% -52.55% +2.12%

HND
Job Vacancy Trend

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

HND job vacancy trend in the UK

HND
Daily Rate Trend

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing HND

HND
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing HND over the 6 months to 9 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for HND in the UK

HND
Hourly Rate Trend

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing HND

HND
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing HND over the 6 months to 9 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for HND in the UK

HND
Top 11 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing HND within the UK over the 6 months to 9 September 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
UK excluding London -142 30 £475 +35.71% 396
England -144 22 £550 +10.00% 391
East of England -35 13 - - 39
Scotland -27 8 £350 -6.67% 35
Work from Home -83 7 £475 -9.52% 101
South East -74 4 - - 90
North West -50 3 £625 - 49
North of England -67 3 £625 - 95
Wales -17 1 £475 +111.11% 19
South West -49 1 - - 47
London -89 1 £475 -5.00% 50

HND
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 1 (3.23%) Confluence
Applications
1 5 (16.13%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (12.90%) Windchill
3 3 (9.68%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (3.23%) CATIA
4 1 (3.23%) MS Visio
4 1 (3.23%) Simulink
Communications & Networking
1 1 (3.23%) Ethernet
1 1 (3.23%) Firewall
1 1 (3.23%) Intrusion Detection
1 1 (3.23%) Kerberos
1 1 (3.23%) Network Security
1 1 (3.23%) TCP/IP
1 1 (3.23%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (3.23%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 3 (9.68%) Rational DOORS
2 1 (3.23%) JIRA
2 1 (3.23%) LabVIEW
General
1 21 (67.74%) Social Skills
2 7 (22.58%) Manufacturing
3 6 (19.35%) Aerospace
3 6 (19.35%) Analytical Skills
3 6 (19.35%) Electronics
4 5 (16.13%) Military
5 3 (9.68%) Finance
6 2 (6.45%) Organisational Skills
7 1 (3.23%) Automotive
7 1 (3.23%) Documentation Skills
7 1 (3.23%) Games
7 1 (3.23%) Influencing Skills
7 1 (3.23%) Law
7 1 (3.23%) Pharmaceutical
7 1 (3.23%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 8 (25.81%) Administrator
1 8 (25.81%) Electronics Engineer
1 8 (25.81%) Electronics Test Engineer
1 8 (25.81%) Test Engineer
2 5 (16.13%) Lead
2 5 (16.13%) Systems Administrator
3 4 (12.90%) Senior
4 3 (9.68%) Electrical Engineer
5 2 (6.45%) Coordinator
5 2 (6.45%) Design Engineer
5 2 (6.45%) Project Leader
5 2 (6.45%) Systems Engineer
5 2 (6.45%) Trainee
6 1 (3.23%) Implementation Manager
6 1 (3.23%) Implementation Project Manager
6 1 (3.23%) Project Manager
6 1 (3.23%) QA Engineer
6 1 (3.23%) Quality Engineer
6 1 (3.23%) Senior Systems Engineer
6 1 (3.23%) Senior Test Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 4 (12.90%) Analogue Electronics
1 4 (12.90%) FPGA
2 3 (9.68%) Self-Motivation
3 2 (6.45%) Operational Technology
4 1 (3.23%) Acoustics
4 1 (3.23%) Algorithms
4 1 (3.23%) Data Centre
4 1 (3.23%) Driving Licence
4 1 (3.23%) Lidar
4 1 (3.23%) Onboarding
4 1 (3.23%) PCIe
4 1 (3.23%) SCADA
4 1 (3.23%) Security Posture
4 1 (3.23%) Verilog
Operating Systems
1 2 (6.45%) Windows
1 2 (6.45%) Windows Server
2 1 (3.23%) Linux
2 1 (3.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 19 (61.29%) Problem-Solving
2 6 (19.35%) Collaborative Working
2 6 (19.35%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 5 (16.13%) Data Analysis
3 5 (16.13%) Process Improvement
4 4 (12.90%) Collaborative Engineering
4 4 (12.90%) Programme Management
4 4 (12.90%) System Testing
5 3 (9.68%) Asset Management
5 3 (9.68%) Continuous Improvement
5 3 (9.68%) Cost Reduction
5 3 (9.68%) Customer Service
5 3 (9.68%) FMEA
5 3 (9.68%) ITIL
5 3 (9.68%) Order Management
5 3 (9.68%) PLM
5 3 (9.68%) Schematic Capture
5 3 (9.68%) Stakeholder Management
5 3 (9.68%) Time Management
6 2 (6.45%) Verification and Validation
Programming Languages
1 2 (6.45%) MATLAB
2 1 (3.23%) SQL
2 1 (3.23%) SystemVerilog
2 1 (3.23%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 21 (67.74%) HNC
2 16 (51.61%) Degree
3 8 (25.81%) Security Cleared
4 7 (22.58%) SC Cleared
5 6 (19.35%) BPSS Clearance
6 1 (3.23%) CCNA
6 1 (3.23%) CCNP
6 1 (3.23%) Chartered Engineer
6 1 (3.23%) Cisco Certification
6 1 (3.23%) CISSP
6 1 (3.23%) City & Guilds
6 1 (3.23%) CompTIA CySA+
6 1 (3.23%) NVQ Level 3
6 1 (3.23%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (12.90%) IEC 61508
2 1 (3.23%) DO-254
2 1 (3.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 1 (3.23%) QA
System Software
1 1 (3.23%) Active Directory
1 1 (3.23%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 4 (12.90%) Functional Safety
2 1 (3.23%) Network Intrusion Detection System
Vendors
1 7 (22.58%) Microsoft
2 4 (12.90%) EMC
3 2 (6.45%) Cisco
3 2 (6.45%) SAP
4 1 (3.23%) Actel
4 1 (3.23%) Altera
4 1 (3.23%) Intel
4 1 (3.23%) Juniper
4 1 (3.23%) Microsemi
4 1 (3.23%) Red Hat
4 1 (3.23%) Xilinx