ISEB Contract Job Trends

Information Systems Examinations Board (ISEB)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for ISEB qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 7 November 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 536 495 544
Rank change year-on-year -41 +49 -51
Contract jobs citing ISEB 51 60 90
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.15% 0.16% 0.19%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.44% 0.56% 0.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 36 36 80
10th Percentile £338 £158 £360
25th Percentile £372 £194 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £344 £500
Median % change year-on-year +56.36% -31.25% +11.11%
75th Percentile £688 £455 £600
90th Percentile £856 £550 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £319 £450
% change year-on-year +49.02% -29.17% -

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

ISEB 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 11,464 10,743 13,431
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.79% 29.25% 28.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,305 6,534 8,588
10th Percentile £300 £310 £302
25th Percentile £413 £420 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £635 £650
90th Percentile £715 £725 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £517 £534
% change year-on-year -3.33% -3.14% +1.71%
Number of hourly rates quoted 996 491 753
10th Percentile £17.24 £18.63 £17.72
25th Percentile £19.08 £24.18 £26.75
Median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £53.50
Median % change year-on-year -45.54% -13.68% +18.89%
75th Percentile £43.75 £67.50 £70.00
90th Percentile £70.08 £75.00 £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £48.18 £51.89
% change year-on-year -47.80% -7.15% +15.31%

ISEB
Job Vacancy Trend

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

ISEB job vacancy trend in the UK

ISEB
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

ISEB
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing ISEB over the 6 months to 7 November 2025.

Daily rate histogram for ISEB in the UK

ISEB
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

ISEB
Top 15 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing ISEB within the UK over the 6 months to 7 November 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 -34 38 £500 +25.00% 45
UK excluding London -46 29 £475 +49.02% 38
Work from Home +13 18 £463 +10.12% 27
London -3 17 £550 +37.50% 21
South East -9 11 £475 +7.04% 19
Wales +4 5 £413 +176.43% 1
South West - 4 £838 - 12
Scotland +11 3 £525 +7.69% 3
Midlands -20 2 £359 +30.64% 1
West Midlands -29 2 £359 +30.64% 1
North of England - 2 £394 - 2
Northern Ireland - 2 £588 -
East of England -16 1 £313 -
North West - 1 £325 -
Yorkshire - 1 £463 - 2

ISEB
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 3 (5.88%) Confluence
1 3 (5.88%) WebLogic
2 1 (1.96%) IIS
2 1 (1.96%) SharePoint
Applications
1 6 (11.76%) Microsoft Project
2 3 (5.88%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (3.92%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 1 (1.96%) Oracle ERP
1 1 (1.96%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 7 (13.73%) Azure
2 6 (11.76%) Azure DevOps
3 5 (9.80%) Tricentis Tosca
4 2 (3.92%) PaaS
5 1 (1.96%) Figma
5 1 (1.96%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 1 (1.96%) FTP
1 1 (1.96%) RTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (3.92%) SQL Server
1 2 (3.92%) Tableau
2 1 (1.96%) BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
2 1 (1.96%) MySQL
2 1 (1.96%) SAP BW
Development Applications
1 16 (31.37%) JIRA
2 7 (13.73%) Postman
3 4 (7.84%) Toad
4 3 (5.88%) Team Foundation Server
5 1 (1.96%) Cucumber
5 1 (1.96%) Cypress.io
5 1 (1.96%) Selenium
5 1 (1.96%) SoapUI
5 1 (1.96%) WebDriver
5 1 (1.96%) Zephyr
General
1 15 (29.41%) Finance
1 15 (29.41%) Public Sector
2 14 (27.45%) Social Skills
3 9 (17.65%) Analytical Skills
4 4 (7.84%) Banking
4 4 (7.84%) Influencing Skills
5 3 (5.88%) Presentation Skills
6 1 (1.96%) Documentation Skills
6 1 (1.96%) Games
6 1 (1.96%) Legal
6 1 (1.96%) Military
6 1 (1.96%) Organisational Skills
6 1 (1.96%) Social Housing
Job Titles
1 28 (54.90%) Analyst
2 14 (27.45%) Lead
3 13 (25.49%) Architect
4 12 (23.53%) Enterprise Architect
4 12 (23.53%) Lead Architect
5 11 (21.57%) Business Analyst
5 11 (21.57%) Lead Enterprise Architect
5 11 (21.57%) Test Analyst
6 8 (15.69%) Senior
7 5 (9.80%) Business Test Analyst
7 5 (9.80%) Senior Analyst
8 4 (7.84%) Technical Analyst
9 3 (5.88%) Data Analyst
9 3 (5.88%) Digital Architect
9 3 (5.88%) Payments Analyst
9 3 (5.88%) SAP Analyst
9 3 (5.88%) SAP Test Analyst
9 3 (5.88%) Senior Data Analyst
9 3 (5.88%) Systems Analyst
10 2 (3.92%) Information Officer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (21.57%) XML
2 6 (11.76%) REST
2 6 (11.76%) SOAP
3 5 (9.80%) JSON
4 3 (5.88%) .NET
5 2 (3.92%) Oracle Fusion
5 2 (3.92%) XML Messaging
6 1 (1.96%) Playwright
6 1 (1.96%) RESTful
6 1 (1.96%) SAP Fiori
6 1 (1.96%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 7 (13.73%) Data Protection Act
2 5 (9.80%) Product Ownership
2 5 (9.80%) SWIFT Messaging Network
3 4 (7.84%) Management Information System
4 3 (5.88%) Freedom of Information
4 3 (5.88%) Market Risk
4 3 (5.88%) Onboarding
5 2 (3.92%) Mobile App
5 2 (3.92%) NHS
5 2 (3.92%) Operational Technology
6 1 (1.96%) Analytical Mindset
6 1 (1.96%) Data Structures
6 1 (1.96%) Equities
6 1 (1.96%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
6 1 (1.96%) Hybrid Cloud
6 1 (1.96%) PMI
6 1 (1.96%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 4 (7.84%) Windows
2 1 (1.96%) Linux
2 1 (1.96%) Mac OS X
2 1 (1.96%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 16 (31.37%) Agile
1 16 (31.37%) Business Analysis
1 16 (31.37%) ITIL
2 14 (27.45%) Customer Requirements
2 14 (27.45%) Test Automation
3 13 (25.49%) IT4IT
4 12 (23.53%) Digital Strategy
4 12 (23.53%) User Acceptance Testing
5 10 (19.61%) Project Management
6 9 (17.65%) Computer Science
6 9 (17.65%) Data Protection
6 9 (17.65%) Problem-Solving
6 9 (17.65%) Test Strategy
7 8 (15.69%) Defect Management
7 8 (15.69%) Software Testing
7 8 (15.69%) Test Scripting
8 7 (13.73%) Scenario Testing
8 7 (13.73%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 7 (13.73%) Stakeholder Management
9 6 (11.76%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 9 (17.65%) SQL
2 7 (13.73%) Java
3 5 (9.80%) Python
Qualifications
1 20 (39.22%) Degree
2 17 (33.33%) Security Cleared
3 13 (25.49%) ISTQB
4 10 (19.61%) ITIL Certification
4 10 (19.61%) SC Cleared
5 9 (17.65%) Computer Science Degree
6 7 (13.73%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
7 4 (7.84%) BPSS Clearance
7 4 (7.84%) CBAP
7 4 (7.84%) Master's Degree
7 4 (7.84%) PMI Certification
8 3 (5.88%) ISEB Practitioner
8 3 (5.88%) PMP
9 2 (3.92%) IIBA
10 1 (1.96%) APMP
10 1 (1.96%) CITP
10 1 (1.96%) DV Cleared
10 1 (1.96%) Numerate Degree
10 1 (1.96%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
10 1 (1.96%) SAFe Agilist
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (25.49%) COBIT
2 9 (17.65%) HMG Security Policy Framework
2 9 (17.65%) JSP 440
3 5 (9.80%) GDPR
3 5 (9.80%) SEPA
4 3 (5.88%) Data Quality
5 2 (3.92%) QA
6 1 (1.96%) PSD2
Systems Management
1 1 (1.96%) HP ALM
1 1 (1.96%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 5 (9.80%) Oracle
1 5 (9.80%) SAP
1 5 (9.80%) webMethods
2 4 (7.84%) Microsoft
3 2 (3.92%) HP
4 1 (1.96%) CheckPoint
4 1 (1.96%) Compaq
4 1 (1.96%) Salesforce
4 1 (1.96%) Terracotta