LAN Contract Job Trends

Local Area Network (LAN)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring LAN skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 27 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
27 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 213 201 127
Rank change year-on-year -12 -74 +40
Contract jobs citing LAN 549 375 814
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.24% 1.29% 1.84%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 12.38% 9.91% 13.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 351 236 484
10th Percentile £206 £224 £205
25th Percentile £313 £325 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £443 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year -1.67% -5.26% +5.56%
75th Percentile £538 £569 £650
90th Percentile £625 £641 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £438 £428 £475
% change year-on-year +2.34% -10.00% +11.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 6 47
10th Percentile £12.43 £13.62 £12.86
25th Percentile £15.50 £16.12 £15.76
Median hourly rate £22.50 £25.75 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year -12.62% +14.44% -55.00%
75th Percentile £52.94 £41.25 £40.00
90th Percentile £74.71 £46.88 £50.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £15.33 £22.50
% change year-on-year +46.77% -31.87% -32.84%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

LAN falls under the Communications and Computer Networking category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring communications or computer networking skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 4,434 3,785 5,909
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.05% 13.04% 13.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,843 2,355 3,560
10th Percentile £220 £213 £205
25th Percentile £375 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £490 £475
Median % change year-on-year +0.41% +3.16% -9.52%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £473 £475
% change year-on-year +0.53% -0.53% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 193 146 399
10th Percentile £15.51 £14.99 £13.78
25th Percentile £19.00 £21.46 £17.72
Median hourly rate £39.50 £35.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +12.86% +7.69% +68.39%
75th Percentile £67.50 £63.63 £63.75
90th Percentile £77.30 £75.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.25 £32.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year +30.00% -27.78% +136.84%

LAN
Job Vacancy Trend

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

LAN job vacancy trend in the UK

LAN
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

LAN
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing LAN over the 6 months to 27 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for LAN in the UK

LAN
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

LAN
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing LAN over the 6 months to 27 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for LAN in the UK

LAN
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing LAN within the UK over the 6 months to 27 March 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 -33 456 £445 -3.68% 197
UK excluding London -10 370 £438 +2.34% 181
South East +12 140 £450 -10.00% 65
Work from Home -1 135 £447 -10.55% 52
London -41 134 £475 -0.52% 40
North of England -68 64 £430 +4.18% 43
Midlands -40 52 £321 -26.57% 30
Scotland +33 45 £275 -31.25% 9
West Midlands -34 43 £376 -19.73% 24
East of England -16 39 £350 -18.60% 17
North West -43 35 £500 +12.36% 20
Yorkshire -41 29 £313 +27.76% 20
South West -45 16 £513 +22.39% 16
Wales -1 12 £425 +6.25% 6
East Midlands -32 6 £200 -37.50% 6
Northern Ireland - 3 £385 -

LAN
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 33 (6.01%) SharePoint
2 28 (5.10%) Microsoft Exchange
3 15 (2.73%) Confluence
4 10 (1.82%) Skype for Business
5 2 (0.36%) IIS
5 2 (0.36%) OpenStack
6 1 (0.18%) Apache
6 1 (0.18%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 33 (6.01%) Microsoft Office
2 21 (3.83%) MS Visio
3 11 (2.00%) Microsoft Excel
4 10 (1.82%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.91%) Acrobat
5 5 (0.91%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.18%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.36%) DELMIA
Cloud Services
1 130 (23.68%) Azure
2 84 (15.30%) Microsoft 365
3 61 (11.11%) AWS
4 41 (7.47%) Entra ID
5 20 (3.64%) GCP
6 17 (3.10%) SaaS
7 14 (2.55%) OneDrive
8 12 (2.19%) PaaS
9 9 (1.64%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 7 (1.28%) Azure DevOps
10 7 (1.28%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 7 (1.28%) Power Platform
11 6 (1.09%) IaaS
11 6 (1.09%) Nutanix
11 6 (1.09%) PowerApps
12 4 (0.73%) AWS Direct Connect
12 4 (0.73%) Microsoft Purview
13 3 (0.55%) Azure Monitor
13 3 (0.55%) Serverless
13 3 (0.55%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 452 (82.33%) WAN
2 250 (45.54%) Firewall
3 151 (27.50%) VPN
4 139 (25.32%) BGP
5 130 (23.68%) OSPF
6 125 (22.77%) Wi-Fi
7 111 (20.22%) SD-WAN
8 107 (19.49%) DNS
9 101 (18.40%) Network Security
10 88 (16.03%) DHCP
11 81 (14.75%) TCP/IP
12 80 (14.57%) VLAN
12 80 (14.57%) Wireless
13 73 (13.30%) MPLS
14 55 (10.02%) WLAN
15 43 (7.83%) IPsec
16 41 (7.47%) Cisco ISE
17 38 (6.92%) BIG-IP
17 38 (6.92%) Cisco ASA
18 37 (6.74%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (1.46%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.36%) MariaDB
2 2 (0.36%) MS Access
2 2 (0.36%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.18%) Amazon RDS
3 1 (0.18%) Data Warehouse
3 1 (0.18%) DynamoDB
3 1 (0.18%) MongoDB
3 1 (0.18%) MySQL
3 1 (0.18%) NoSQL
3 1 (0.18%) Oracle Reports
3 1 (0.18%) Power BI
3 1 (0.18%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 32 (5.83%) JIRA
2 2 (0.36%) Browser DevTools
2 2 (0.36%) GitLab
2 2 (0.36%) Jenkins
2 2 (0.36%) Sonatype Nexus
3 1 (0.18%) Bitbucket
3 1 (0.18%) Git
3 1 (0.18%) Tricentis qTest
General
1 158 (28.78%) Social Skills
2 54 (9.84%) Analytical Skills
2 54 (9.84%) Public Sector
3 51 (9.29%) Finance
4 38 (6.92%) Telecoms
5 32 (5.83%) Documentation Skills
6 29 (5.28%) Manufacturing
7 21 (3.83%) Legal
8 20 (3.64%) Financial Institution
9 18 (3.28%) Military
10 14 (2.55%) Organisational Skills
11 12 (2.19%) Banking
12 9 (1.64%) Law
13 7 (1.28%) Retail
14 6 (1.09%) Local Government
14 6 (1.09%) Presentation Skills
15 5 (0.91%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 5 (0.91%) Influencing Skills
15 5 (0.91%) Marketing
16 4 (0.73%) Police
Job Titles
1 193 (35.15%) Network Engineer
2 87 (15.85%) Architect
3 64 (11.66%) Senior
4 60 (10.93%) Network Architect
5 44 (8.01%) IT Support
6 38 (6.92%) Analyst
7 37 (6.74%) Support Engineer
8 34 (6.19%) IT Engineer
9 29 (5.28%) IT Support Engineer
9 29 (5.28%) Senior Network Engineer
10 28 (5.10%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 25 (4.55%) Cisco Engineer
11 25 (4.55%) Lead
11 25 (4.55%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 24 (4.37%) Cisco Network Engineer
13 23 (4.19%) Technical Architect
14 20 (3.64%) Project Manager
15 17 (3.10%) Network Manager
16 16 (2.91%) 2nd Line Support
16 16 (2.91%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (6.56%) 802.1X
2 12 (2.19%) LDAP
3 9 (1.64%) Microsoft Graph
4 8 (1.46%) Middleware
4 8 (1.46%) SAML
5 3 (0.55%) ARM Templates
6 2 (0.36%) .NET
6 2 (0.36%) CSS
6 2 (0.36%) Django
6 2 (0.36%) HTML
6 2 (0.36%) NETCONF
6 2 (0.36%) REST
6 2 (0.36%) RFC 2544
6 2 (0.36%) XMPP
6 2 (0.36%) YAML
6 2 (0.36%) YANG
7 1 (0.18%) libvirt
7 1 (0.18%) Node.js
7 1 (0.18%) React
7 1 (0.18%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 105 (19.13%) Data Centre
2 26 (4.74%) PKI
3 24 (4.37%) Onboarding
4 23 (4.19%) Clustering
5 16 (2.91%) Driving Licence
5 16 (2.91%) Hybrid Cloud
6 13 (2.37%) Data Protection Act
6 13 (2.37%) NHS
7 12 (2.19%) CMDB
8 11 (2.00%) Public Cloud
8 11 (2.00%) Security Posture
9 10 (1.82%) Operational Technology
10 9 (1.64%) IoT
11 8 (1.46%) Enterprise Software
11 8 (1.46%) Management Information System
11 8 (1.46%) Self-Motivation
12 7 (1.28%) Analytical Mindset
12 7 (1.28%) iPhone
12 7 (1.28%) Virtual Team
13 6 (1.09%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 168 (30.60%) Windows
2 53 (9.65%) Windows Server
3 39 (7.10%) Windows 10
4 30 (5.46%) Linux
5 15 (2.73%) Windows Server 2019
6 12 (2.19%) Android
7 11 (2.00%) Mac OS
7 11 (2.00%) Windows 7
8 8 (1.46%) Apple iOS
9 7 (1.28%) Windows Server 2016
10 6 (1.09%) VMS
11 5 (0.91%) Windows Server 2012
12 4 (0.73%) CatOS
12 4 (0.73%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 4 (0.73%) Ubuntu
13 3 (0.55%) Windows Server 2003
14 2 (0.36%) AIX
14 2 (0.36%) Unix
15 1 (0.18%) CentOS
15 1 (0.18%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 89 (16.21%) Problem-Solving
2 86 (15.66%) ITIL
3 66 (12.02%) High Availability
4 64 (11.66%) Migration
5 53 (9.65%) Change Management
6 52 (9.47%) Stakeholder Management
7 50 (9.11%) ITSM
8 45 (8.20%) Load Balancing
8 45 (8.20%) Network Design
9 42 (7.65%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 41 (7.47%) Network Architecture
11 38 (6.92%) Project Delivery
12 37 (6.74%) Cybersecurity
13 36 (6.56%) Service Management
14 31 (5.65%) Network Monitoring
14 31 (5.65%) Technical Leadership
15 30 (5.46%) Customer Service
16 29 (5.28%) Disaster Recovery
16 29 (5.28%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 28 (5.10%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 51 (9.29%) PowerShell
2 34 (6.19%) Python
3 14 (2.55%) SQL
4 11 (2.00%) VBScript
5 9 (1.64%) VB
6 3 (0.55%) JavaScript
6 3 (0.55%) Perl
7 2 (0.36%) Bash
7 2 (0.36%) Bicep
8 1 (0.18%) C#
8 1 (0.18%) C++
8 1 (0.18%) Java
8 1 (0.18%) Ruby
8 1 (0.18%) Shell Script
8 1 (0.18%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 193 (35.15%) Security Cleared
2 151 (27.50%) Cisco Certification
3 140 (25.50%) SC Cleared
4 118 (21.49%) CCNP
5 63 (11.48%) DV Cleared
6 59 (10.75%) Degree
7 48 (8.74%) CCNA
8 39 (7.10%) CCIE
9 20 (3.64%) JNCIS
10 19 (3.46%) JNCIP
11 15 (2.73%) PMP
12 12 (2.19%) JNCIA
12 12 (2.19%) Microsoft Certification
12 12 (2.19%) Network+ Certification
13 11 (2.00%) Azure Certification
13 11 (2.00%) PMI Certification
14 10 (1.82%) CCSE
15 9 (1.64%) AWS Certification
15 9 (1.64%) Computer Science Degree
15 9 (1.64%) JNCIE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (3.10%) SLA
2 16 (2.91%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 13 (2.37%) NIST
4 11 (2.00%) GDPR
5 10 (1.82%) QA
6 6 (1.09%) NCSC
7 5 (0.91%) PCI DSS
7 5 (0.91%) PMO
8 4 (0.73%) JSP 440
9 3 (0.55%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.36%) Disclosure Scotland
10 2 (0.36%) RMADS
11 1 (0.18%) DICOM
11 1 (0.18%) GRC
11 1 (0.18%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 104 (18.94%) Active Directory
2 48 (8.74%) VMware Infrastructure
3 20 (3.64%) VMware NSX
4 13 (2.37%) vSphere
5 9 (1.64%) BitLocker
6 7 (1.28%) Hyper-V
7 5 (0.91%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (0.73%) Docker
8 4 (0.73%) VMware ESXi
9 3 (0.55%) Firmware
10 2 (0.36%) KVM
10 2 (0.36%) ProxySG
11 1 (0.18%) Ceph
11 1 (0.18%) Citrix Presentation Server
11 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.18%) NFS
11 1 (0.18%) RHEV
11 1 (0.18%) Samba
11 1 (0.18%) VMware Workstation
11 1 (0.18%) Xen
Systems Management
1 43 (7.83%) FortiGate
2 39 (7.10%) Microsoft Intune
3 32 (5.83%) Ansible
4 27 (4.92%) Terraform
5 23 (4.19%) SCCM
6 13 (2.37%) Jamf Pro
7 10 (1.82%) Single Sign-On
8 6 (1.09%) Cisco Prime
8 6 (1.09%) Nagios
9 5 (0.91%) Endace
9 5 (0.91%) WSUS
10 4 (0.73%) Progress Chef
10 4 (0.73%) vRealize Orchestrator
11 3 (0.55%) Cisco CUCM
11 3 (0.55%) Grafana
11 3 (0.55%) vCenter Server
12 2 (0.36%) Check_MK
12 2 (0.36%) Nessus
12 2 (0.36%) SCOM
13 1 (0.18%) WhatsUp Gold
Vendors
1 255 (46.45%) Cisco
2 123 (22.40%) Microsoft
3 105 (19.13%) Palo Alto
4 80 (14.57%) Juniper
5 73 (13.30%) F5
6 66 (12.02%) CheckPoint
7 65 (11.84%) Aruba
8 61 (11.11%) VMware
9 54 (9.84%) Fortinet
10 51 (9.29%) SolarWinds
11 36 (6.56%) ServiceNow
12 28 (5.10%) Extreme Networks
12 28 (5.10%) Meraki
13 26 (4.74%) Splunk
14 21 (3.83%) Zscaler
15 15 (2.73%) Dell
16 14 (2.55%) Veeam
17 12 (2.19%) Ekahau
18 11 (2.00%) Arista
19 9 (1.64%) Citrix