HND Contracts

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 14 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 493 456 621
Rank change year-on-year -37 +165 +169
Contract jobs citing HND 25 128 75
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.086% 0.30% 0.13%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.28% 0.99% 0.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 7 39 29
10th Percentile £80 £255 £115
25th Percentile £203 £259 £135
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £275 £425
Median % change year-on-year +90.91% -35.29% +14.86%
75th Percentile £589 £450 £488
90th Percentile £714 £704 £527
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £275 £425
% change year-on-year +90.91% -35.29% +41.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 47 38
10th Percentile £53.45 £35.45 £37.76
25th Percentile £60.75 - £42.50
Median hourly rate £70.00 £43.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year +62.79% -4.44% +13.60%
75th Percentile - - £59.44
90th Percentile £88.00 £48.80 £67.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £43.00 £45.00
% change year-on-year +62.79% -4.44% +13.60%

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 9,022 12,971 15,831
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 31.07% 30.34% 27.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,661 7,995 10,559
10th Percentile £285 £307 £330
25th Percentile £413 £425 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £534 £550
Median % change year-on-year -1.59% -3.00% +4.76%
75th Percentile £623 £650 £650
90th Percentile £700 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £533 £525
% change year-on-year -6.19% +1.52% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 507 1,064 805
10th Percentile £18.13 £13.74 £15.25
25th Percentile £21.27 £17.80 £20.25
Median hourly rate £37.50 £40.00 £54.00
Median % change year-on-year -6.25% -25.93% +24.14%
75th Percentile £65.00 £61.60 £67.50
90th Percentile £79.22 £75.95 £79.19
UK excluding London median hourly rate £37.50 £40.94 £50.00
% change year-on-year -8.40% -18.12% +42.86%

HND
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Job vacancy trend for HND in the UK

HND
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

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

Daily rate trend for HND in the UK

HND
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing HND over the 6 months to 14 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for HND in the UK

HND
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

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

Hourly rate trend for HND in the UK

HND
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing HND over the 6 months to 14 May 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for HND in the UK

HND
Top 12 Contract 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 14 May 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
UK excluding London -49 24 £525 +90.91% 373
England -40 20 £525 +90.91% 393
Midlands -1 8 £80 -69.92% 57
South East +46 6 £700 +55.56% 88
West Midlands +16 5 £80 - 28
Northern Ireland -7 4 - - 3
Work from Home -3 3 £525 -22.22% 81
East Midlands -13 3 - - 29
East of England -36 3 - - 48
South West +23 2 £525 -26.96% 51
London +52 1 £325 -36.89% 46
Scotland +5 1 - - 22

HND
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:

Applications
1 3 (12.00%) Simulink
2 2 (8.00%) Microsoft Project
2 2 (8.00%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 2 (8.00%) Teamcenter
Communications & Networking
1 4 (16.00%) Firewall
2 3 (12.00%) Ethernet
3 1 (4.00%) MPLS
3 1 (4.00%) SDH
3 1 (4.00%) Software-Defined Radio
Development Applications
1 3 (12.00%) Rational DOORS
2 1 (4.00%) LabVIEW
General
1 10 (40.00%) Social Skills
2 6 (24.00%) Electronics
3 4 (16.00%) Aerospace
3 4 (16.00%) Analytical Skills
4 3 (12.00%) Games
5 2 (8.00%) Finance
6 1 (4.00%) Manufacturing
6 1 (4.00%) Marketing
6 1 (4.00%) Social Housing
6 1 (4.00%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 4 (16.00%) IT Support
1 4 (16.00%) Lead
1 4 (16.00%) Project Manager
1 4 (16.00%) Support Officer
2 3 (12.00%) Design Engineer
2 3 (12.00%) Systems Engineer
3 2 (8.00%) Author
3 2 (8.00%) FPGA Engineer
3 2 (8.00%) Technical Author
4 1 (4.00%) Firmware Engineer
4 1 (4.00%) Migration Engineer
4 1 (4.00%) Network Engineer
4 1 (4.00%) Network Migration Engineer
4 1 (4.00%) Network Systems Engineer
4 1 (4.00%) Principal Engineer
4 1 (4.00%) RF Engineer
4 1 (4.00%) Software Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 3 (12.00%) Algorithms
1 3 (12.00%) FPGA
1 3 (12.00%) Management Information System
1 3 (12.00%) PCIe
1 3 (12.00%) Verilog
2 1 (4.00%) Legacy Systems
2 1 (4.00%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 4 (16.00%) Windows
1 4 (16.00%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 7 (28.00%) Project Management
2 5 (20.00%) Customer Requirements
3 4 (16.00%) Patch Management
4 3 (12.00%) Artificial Intelligence
4 3 (12.00%) Computer Science
4 3 (12.00%) Configuration Management
4 3 (12.00%) Cryptography
4 3 (12.00%) Machine Learning
4 3 (12.00%) Physics
4 3 (12.00%) Requirements Management
4 3 (12.00%) Supply Chain Management
4 3 (12.00%) UVM
5 2 (8.00%) Agile
5 2 (8.00%) Business Case
5 2 (8.00%) Logistics
5 2 (8.00%) Software Testing
5 2 (8.00%) SysML
5 2 (8.00%) Systems Engineering
5 2 (8.00%) UML
5 2 (8.00%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 3 (12.00%) MATLAB
1 3 (12.00%) SystemVerilog
1 3 (12.00%) Tcl
2 1 (4.00%) C++
2 1 (4.00%) Java
2 1 (4.00%) Python
2 1 (4.00%) SQL
Qualifications
1 17 (68.00%) HNC
2 10 (40.00%) Degree
3 6 (24.00%) Security Cleared
4 5 (20.00%) SC Cleared
5 1 (4.00%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (12.00%) DO-254
2 1 (4.00%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 4 (16.00%) Active Directory
1 4 (16.00%) Firmware
Vendors
1 4 (16.00%) Microsoft
2 3 (12.00%) Actel
2 3 (12.00%) Altera
2 3 (12.00%) Intel
2 3 (12.00%) Microsemi
2 3 (12.00%) Xilinx
3 1 (4.00%) Ericsson
3 1 (4.00%) Hitachi
3 1 (4.00%) Nokia