Inclusion and Diversity Contract Job Trends

Inclusion and Diversity
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Inclusion and Diversity in contract job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Inclusion and Diversity over the 6 months leading up to 25 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 208 158 170
Rank change year-on-year -50 +12 0
Contract jobs citing Inclusion and Diversity 766 621 551
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.40% 1.88% 1.44%
As % of the General category 2.50% 2.97% 2.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 403 242 327
10th Percentile £306 £183 £425
25th Percentile £363 £353 £503
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £463 £600
Median % change year-on-year -2.70% -22.92% -
75th Percentile £572 £614 £675
90th Percentile £650 £650 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £410 £500
% change year-on-year +3.66% -18.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 13 4
10th Percentile £13.31 £17.48 £27.45
25th Percentile £14.05 - £37.13
Median hourly rate £19.29 £22.14 £46.25
Median % change year-on-year -12.87% -52.13% -27.17%
75th Percentile £30.28 £22.50 £50.94
90th Percentile £45.06 £72.50 £54.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.67 £22.14 -
% change year-on-year -24.71% - -

All General Skills
UK

Inclusion and Diversity falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring general skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 30,662 20,930 22,344
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 55.88% 63.43% 58.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,938 13,003 13,276
10th Percentile £313 £275 £281
25th Percentile £420 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,585 1,216 1,061
10th Percentile £13.50 £13.50 £14.73
25th Percentile £16.25 £16.17 £17.25
Median hourly rate £29.50 £25.15 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +17.30% -28.14% +27.27%
75th Percentile £54.50 £47.22 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £67.00 £71.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.96 £21.39 £35.00
% change year-on-year +40.07% -38.89% +29.63%

Inclusion and Diversity
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Inclusion and Diversity job vacancy trend in the UK

Inclusion and Diversity
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Inclusion and Diversity.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Inclusion and Diversity

Inclusion and Diversity
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Inclusion and Diversity over the 6 months to 25 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Inclusion and Diversity in the UK

Inclusion and Diversity
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Inclusion and Diversity.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Inclusion and Diversity

Inclusion and Diversity
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Inclusion and Diversity over the 6 months to 25 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Inclusion and Diversity in the UK

Inclusion and Diversity
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 Inclusion and Diversity within the UK over the 6 months to 25 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
England -62 648 £450 -5.26% 5,012
UK excluding London -22 354 £425 +3.66% 2,964
London -78 325 £510 -5.12% 2,806
Work from Home -22 273 £475 -2.56% 2,449
Midlands -13 111 £425 +2.41% 398
South East -19 86 £425 -5.56% 571
North of England -33 81 £425 +21.43% 679
West Midlands -8 78 £425 +2.41% 246
North East +6 53 £425 +6.25% 91
East Midlands -2 33 £163 -62.21% 152
South West -23 27 £475 -20.83% 400
Scotland -34 27 £210 -53.33% 471
North West -54 14 £518 +29.38% 417
Yorkshire -63 14 £425 +112.50% 172
East of England -39 12 £425 +9.68% 234
Wales -10 7 £394 +18.90% 76
Northern Ireland +2 3 - - 169

Inclusion and Diversity
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 39 (5.09%) SharePoint
2 17 (2.22%) Confluence
3 13 (1.70%) Apache Airflow
4 11 (1.44%) CMS
5 10 (1.31%) Microsoft Exchange
6 9 (1.17%) WordPress
7 8 (1.04%) Apache Spark
8 7 (0.91%) Apache
9 4 (0.52%) Jupyter
9 4 (0.52%) Kentico
10 2 (0.26%) Skype for Business
11 1 (0.13%) Drupal
11 1 (0.13%) JBoss
11 1 (0.13%) nginx
11 1 (0.13%) SAS
Applications
1 27 (3.52%) Microsoft Excel
2 15 (1.96%) Microsoft Office
3 8 (1.04%) Microsoft Project
4 5 (0.65%) Spreadsheet
5 3 (0.39%) AutoCAD
5 3 (0.39%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.39%) Trello
6 2 (0.26%) Acrobat
6 2 (0.26%) Sketch
7 1 (0.13%) Adobe XD
7 1 (0.13%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.13%) InVision
Business Applications
1 21 (2.74%) Dynamics CRM
2 17 (2.22%) NetSuite
3 8 (1.04%) SAP S/4HANA
4 5 (0.65%) Sage X3
4 5 (0.65%) Salesforce CRM
5 4 (0.52%) Dynamics NAV
5 4 (0.52%) Oracle ERP
5 4 (0.52%) Workday HCM
6 1 (0.13%) Dynamics AX
6 1 (0.13%) Hyperion Planning
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle EBS
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle Financials
6 1 (0.13%) SAP ERP
6 1 (0.13%) SAP FI
6 1 (0.13%) SAP FS
6 1 (0.13%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 227 (29.63%) Azure
2 139 (18.15%) AWS
3 89 (11.62%) Azure DevOps
4 84 (10.97%) Power Platform
5 71 (9.27%) Microsoft 365
6 56 (7.31%) GCP
7 49 (6.40%) GitHub
8 46 (6.01%) Serverless
9 45 (5.87%) Dynamics 365
10 38 (4.96%) Power Automate
11 37 (4.83%) GitHub Actions
12 31 (4.05%) Entra ID
13 30 (3.92%) Amazon EKS
14 26 (3.39%) AWS Lambda
14 26 (3.39%) Snowflake
15 21 (2.74%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 21 (2.74%) Azure Data Factory
16 19 (2.48%) Amazon S3
17 18 (2.35%) Azure Functions
17 18 (2.35%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 16 (2.09%) VPN
2 15 (1.96%) Firewall
2 15 (1.96%) Network Security
3 13 (1.70%) DNS
4 12 (1.57%) VLAN
5 9 (1.17%) DHCP
5 9 (1.17%) Wi-Fi
5 9 (1.17%) Wireless
6 8 (1.04%) TCP/IP
7 6 (0.78%) Structured Cabling
7 6 (0.78%) WAN
8 5 (0.65%) 3GPP
8 5 (0.65%) 5G
8 5 (0.65%) BGP
8 5 (0.65%) NGN
8 5 (0.65%) OSPF
8 5 (0.65%) Radio Access Network
8 5 (0.65%) SD-WAN
8 5 (0.65%) tcpdump
8 5 (0.65%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 54 (7.05%) Power BI
2 39 (5.09%) PostgreSQL
3 30 (3.92%) SQL Server
4 25 (3.26%) Data Warehouse
5 23 (3.00%) MongoDB
6 22 (2.87%) Metadata
7 15 (1.96%) Power Query
8 11 (1.44%) Amazon RDS
8 11 (1.44%) NoSQL
9 10 (1.31%) Data Lake
9 10 (1.31%) Looker
10 9 (1.17%) Redis
10 9 (1.17%) Relational Database
11 8 (1.04%) Azure SQL Database
11 8 (1.04%) Big Data
11 8 (1.04%) Tableau
12 7 (0.91%) DocumentDB
12 7 (0.91%) Snowflake Schema
13 6 (0.78%) Elasticsearch
14 5 (0.65%) Amazon Redshift
Development Applications
1 49 (6.40%) Git
2 47 (6.14%) JIRA
3 34 (4.44%) GitLab
4 30 (3.92%) Jenkins
5 13 (1.70%) Cucumber
6 12 (1.57%) Cypress.io
6 12 (1.57%) Postman
6 12 (1.57%) Selenium
7 11 (1.44%) WebDriver
8 8 (1.04%) fastlane
8 8 (1.04%) JUnit
8 8 (1.04%) Mockito
9 7 (0.91%) Gradle
10 6 (0.78%) Vite
11 5 (0.65%) JMeter
11 5 (0.65%) Visual Studio
12 4 (0.52%) CircleCI
12 4 (0.52%) Gatling
12 4 (0.52%) LoadRunner
12 4 (0.52%) Xcode
General
1 321 (41.91%) Social Skills
2 237 (30.94%) Public Sector
3 194 (25.33%) Finance
4 121 (15.80%) Analytical Skills
5 35 (4.57%) Organisational Skills
6 27 (3.52%) Local Government
7 26 (3.39%) Manufacturing
8 25 (3.26%) Banking
9 22 (2.87%) Influencing Skills
10 21 (2.74%) Documentation Skills
11 17 (2.22%) Law
11 17 (2.22%) Retail
12 15 (1.96%) Marketing
13 14 (1.83%) Legal
13 14 (1.83%) Telecoms
14 9 (1.17%) Back Office
15 7 (0.91%) Pharmaceutical
15 7 (0.91%) Presentation Skills
15 7 (0.91%) Publishing
16 6 (0.78%) Military
Job Titles
1 125 (16.32%) Developer
2 111 (14.49%) Analyst
3 99 (12.92%) Senior
4 79 (10.31%) Lead
5 62 (8.09%) Architect
6 39 (5.09%) Consultant
7 31 (4.05%) Senior Developer
8 29 (3.79%) Data Engineer
8 29 (3.79%) DevOps Engineer
9 27 (3.52%) Business Analyst
9 27 (3.52%) Data Analyst
10 24 (3.13%) Software Developer
11 23 (3.00%) Support Engineer
12 22 (2.87%) Dynamics 365 Developer
13 21 (2.74%) Administrator
14 19 (2.48%) Coordinator
14 19 (2.48%) IT Engineer
14 19 (2.48%) Project Manager
15 17 (2.22%) Senior Analyst
16 16 (2.09%) IT Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 88 (11.49%) Terraform
2 50 (6.53%) RESTful
3 30 (3.92%) .NET
3 30 (3.92%) Node.js
3 30 (3.92%) React
4 28 (3.66%) HTML
5 27 (3.52%) CSS
5 27 (3.52%) JSON
5 27 (3.52%) Kafka
6 26 (3.39%) GraphQL
7 25 (3.26%) REST
8 18 (2.35%) Spring
8 18 (2.35%) Spring Boot
9 17 (2.22%) Django
10 15 (1.96%) PySpark
10 15 (1.96%) XML
11 14 (1.83%) XSLT
12 13 (1.70%) Gherkin
12 13 (1.70%) OAuth
13 12 (1.57%) OpenID
Miscellaneous
1 74 (9.66%) Onboarding
2 48 (6.27%) Product Ownership
3 42 (5.48%) Cloud Native
4 27 (3.52%) Management Information System
5 21 (2.74%) Distributed Systems
5 21 (2.74%) Legacy Systems
6 19 (2.48%) Data Structures
7 13 (1.70%) Data Centre
8 11 (1.44%) AI Agents
8 11 (1.44%) Enterprise Software
8 11 (1.44%) Taxonomies
8 11 (1.44%) Virtual Team
9 9 (1.17%) Driving Licence
9 9 (1.17%) Mobile App
10 8 (1.04%) Blog
10 8 (1.04%) Replication
10 8 (1.04%) Self-Motivation
11 7 (0.91%) Security Posture
12 6 (0.78%) EPoS
12 6 (0.78%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 80 (10.44%) Windows
2 22 (2.87%) Linux
3 18 (2.35%) Windows 10
3 18 (2.35%) Windows Server
4 13 (1.70%) Apple iOS
5 12 (1.57%) Android
6 8 (1.04%) Mac OS
7 5 (0.65%) Unix
8 4 (0.52%) Windows 7
9 3 (0.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (0.26%) VMS
10 2 (0.26%) Windows Server 2008
11 1 (0.13%) AIX
11 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 274 (35.77%) Agile
2 182 (23.76%) Problem-Solving
3 173 (22.58%) DevOps
4 168 (21.93%) CI/CD
5 159 (20.76%) Stakeholder Management
6 138 (18.02%) Continuous Improvement
7 135 (17.62%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
8 123 (16.06%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 121 (15.80%) AI
10 106 (13.84%) Decision-Making
11 101 (13.19%) Analytics
12 82 (10.70%) Mentoring
13 79 (10.31%) Test Automation
14 77 (10.05%) Migration
15 73 (9.53%) Infrastructure as Code
16 72 (9.40%) Data Modelling
16 72 (9.40%) Technical Leadership
17 70 (9.14%) Validation
18 67 (8.75%) Digital Transformation Programme
19 63 (8.22%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 113 (14.75%) Python
2 107 (13.97%) SQL
3 80 (10.44%) JavaScript
4 53 (6.92%) C#
5 42 (5.48%) Java
6 33 (4.31%) TypeScript
7 15 (1.96%) Kotlin
7 15 (1.96%) Scala
8 14 (1.83%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 13 (1.70%) PowerShell
10 12 (1.57%) Bash
11 10 (1.31%) Go
12 9 (1.17%) Swift
13 8 (1.04%) Bicep
13 8 (1.04%) Ruby
14 6 (0.78%) Groovy
14 6 (0.78%) PL/SQL
15 5 (0.65%) PHP
16 4 (0.52%) Shell Script
16 4 (0.52%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 174 (22.72%) Security Cleared
2 164 (21.41%) SC Cleared
3 66 (8.62%) Degree
4 37 (4.83%) Microsoft Certification
5 31 (4.05%) BPSS Clearance
6 30 (3.92%) DBS Check
7 28 (3.66%) Azure Certification
8 26 (3.39%) Computer Science Degree
9 15 (1.96%) Master's Degree
10 13 (1.70%) ISTQB
11 7 (0.91%) CISSP
12 6 (0.78%) ACCA
12 6 (0.78%) AWS Certification
12 6 (0.78%) CIMA
12 6 (0.78%) ITIL Certification
13 5 (0.65%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 5 (0.65%) CISM
13 5 (0.65%) PhD
13 5 (0.65%) PMP
14 4 (0.52%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 107 (13.97%) Accessibility
2 56 (7.31%) QA
3 51 (6.66%) WCAG
4 48 (6.27%) GDPR
5 46 (6.01%) Data Quality
6 22 (2.87%) SLA
7 18 (2.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 18 (2.35%) NCSC
8 9 (1.17%) NIST
8 9 (1.17%) PMO
9 6 (0.78%) Actionable Recommendations
9 6 (0.78%) GRC
10 5 (0.65%) COBIT
10 5 (0.65%) Cyber Essentials
11 3 (0.39%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 3 (0.39%) Disclosure Scotland
12 2 (0.26%) Def Stans
12 2 (0.26%) DICOM
12 2 (0.26%) HL7
13 1 (0.13%) JSP 440
System Software
1 66 (8.62%) Docker
2 46 (6.01%) Active Directory
3 11 (1.44%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (1.17%) Hyper-V
5 6 (0.78%) VMware ESXi
6 4 (0.52%) Virtual Machines
7 3 (0.39%) Firmware
8 2 (0.26%) Apache ZooKeeper
8 2 (0.26%) BitLocker
8 2 (0.26%) Virtual Servers
8 2 (0.26%) vSphere
9 1 (0.13%) KVM
9 1 (0.13%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 72 (9.40%) Kubernetes
2 37 (4.83%) Grafana
3 28 (3.66%) Prometheus
4 22 (2.87%) Microsoft Intune
5 17 (2.22%) Ansible
6 14 (1.83%) SCCM
7 7 (0.91%) Single Sign-On
8 6 (0.78%) Kibana
9 5 (0.65%) Consul
10 4 (0.52%) Jamf Pro
10 4 (0.52%) Rancher
11 3 (0.39%) Packer
12 2 (0.26%) HP ALM
12 2 (0.26%) HP Quality Center
12 2 (0.26%) ITRS Geneos
12 2 (0.26%) ZABBIX
12 2 (0.26%) Zipkin
13 1 (0.13%) McAfee ePO
13 1 (0.13%) Nessus
13 1 (0.13%) SCOM
Vendors
1 187 (24.41%) Microsoft
2 32 (4.18%) Google
3 27 (3.52%) Dynatrace
4 25 (3.26%) ServiceNow
5 24 (3.13%) Databricks
6 21 (2.74%) Salesforce
7 19 (2.48%) Oracle
8 17 (2.22%) SAP
9 14 (1.83%) Splunk
10 13 (1.70%) VMware
11 11 (1.44%) Apple
11 11 (1.44%) Cisco
11 11 (1.44%) CyberArk
11 11 (1.44%) OpenAI
11 11 (1.44%) Sage
12 9 (1.17%) PagerDuty
13 8 (1.04%) Qualys
13 8 (1.04%) UiPath
14 7 (0.91%) CA Agile Central
14 7 (0.91%) Confluent