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 1 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 264 230 186
Rank change year-on-year -34 -44 -69
Contract jobs citing LAN 536 402 514
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.98% 1.22% 1.36%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 10.49% 10.59% 11.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 319 253 282
10th Percentile £213 £200 £220
25th Percentile £325 £313 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% +5.56%
75th Percentile £538 £575 £575
90th Percentile £625 £625 £670
UK excluding London median daily rate £467 £388 £438
% change year-on-year +20.39% -11.43% +2.94%
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 27 24
10th Percentile £12.71 £14.49 £18.95
25th Percentile £16.25 £22.25 £20.00
Median hourly rate £26.72 £30.00 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year -10.93% +26.05% -33.93%
75th Percentile £73.00 £36.88 £48.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £58.10 £75.17
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.25 £30.00 £24.50
% change year-on-year -29.17% +22.45% -38.75%

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 5,111 3,796 4,510
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.31% 11.48% 11.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,952 2,381 2,593
10th Percentile £235 £219 £225
25th Percentile £390 £362 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £608
90th Percentile £675 £680 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £488
% change year-on-year +5.56% -7.69% +5.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 428 204 206
10th Percentile £14.10 £15.50 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.50 £23.94 £24.18
Median hourly rate £32.75 £42.50 £51.00
Median % change year-on-year -22.94% -16.67% -9.72%
75th Percentile £68.75 £63.38 £65.00
90th Percentile £92.11 £72.15 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.36 £42.50 £57.35
% change year-on-year -35.62% -25.89% -0.26%

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 1 October 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 1 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for LAN in the UK

LAN
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 LAN within the UK over the 6 months to 1 October 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 -52 434 £500 +11.11% 440
UK excluding London -11 381 £467 +20.39% 307
London -106 113 £500 +8.11% 137
South East -32 102 £500 - 92
Work from Home -61 96 £500 +9.59% 174
North of England -38 79 £500 +203.03% 66
Scotland +21 69 £265 -32.61% 9
Midlands -39 50 £388 -3.13% 56
East of England -1 45 £435 +58.18% 36
North West -42 43 £519 +291.77% 36
West Midlands -34 39 £450 -2.70% 30
Yorkshire -9 36 £450 +123.60% 22
South West -24 30 £463 +49.19% 35
East Midlands -9 11 £255 +27.50% 26
Wales -21 3 £200 -13.51% 11
Channel Islands - 3 £600 -
Northern Ireland +6 2 £550 +15.79% 7

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 20 (3.73%) Microsoft Exchange
2 19 (3.54%) SharePoint
3 9 (1.68%) OpenStack
4 8 (1.49%) CMS
5 7 (1.31%) Skype for Business
6 4 (0.75%) Confluence
7 2 (0.37%) IIS
Applications
1 32 (5.97%) Microsoft Office
2 26 (4.85%) MS Visio
3 25 (4.66%) Microsoft Excel
4 10 (1.87%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.93%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.19%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 107 (19.96%) Azure
2 76 (14.18%) Microsoft 365
3 53 (9.89%) AWS
4 32 (5.97%) Entra ID
5 13 (2.43%) GCP
6 11 (2.05%) OneDrive
6 11 (2.05%) SaaS
7 9 (1.68%) AWS Direct Connect
8 8 (1.49%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 6 (1.12%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 5 (0.93%) Azure DevOps
11 4 (0.75%) Microsoft Copilot
11 4 (0.75%) OpenShift
12 3 (0.56%) Azure Sentinel
12 3 (0.56%) Smartsheet
13 2 (0.37%) IaaS
13 2 (0.37%) Power Platform
14 1 (0.19%) AWS CloudFormation
14 1 (0.19%) GitHub
14 1 (0.19%) Route 53
Communications & Networking
1 451 (84.14%) WAN
2 250 (46.64%) Firewall
3 146 (27.24%) VPN
4 136 (25.37%) Network Security
5 124 (23.13%) Wireless
6 120 (22.39%) Wi-Fi
7 113 (21.08%) SD-WAN
8 111 (20.71%) BGP
9 99 (18.47%) MPLS
10 87 (16.23%) DNS
11 80 (14.93%) OSPF
11 80 (14.93%) TCP/IP
12 73 (13.62%) WLAN
13 71 (13.25%) DHCP
14 64 (11.94%) VLAN
15 52 (9.70%) Cisco Nexus
16 51 (9.51%) IPsec
17 37 (6.90%) Cisco ISE
18 35 (6.53%) Cisco ASA
19 24 (4.48%) Cisco Firepower
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.12%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.19%) DTS
2 1 (0.19%) Metadata
2 1 (0.19%) Power BI
2 1 (0.19%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 13 (2.43%) JIRA
2 5 (0.93%) Git
3 4 (0.75%) Sonatype Nexus
4 3 (0.56%) Browser DevTools
5 2 (0.37%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 1 (0.19%) Fiddler
6 1 (0.19%) MSI
6 1 (0.19%) Visual Studio
General
1 178 (33.21%) Social Skills
2 92 (17.16%) Telecoms
3 53 (9.89%) Analytical Skills
4 47 (8.77%) Public Sector
5 32 (5.97%) Finance
6 26 (4.85%) Documentation Skills
7 25 (4.66%) Organisational Skills
8 18 (3.36%) Banking
9 13 (2.43%) Legal
9 13 (2.43%) Retail
10 9 (1.68%) Manufacturing
11 8 (1.49%) Police
12 7 (1.31%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (0.93%) Financial Institution
13 5 (0.93%) Local Government
14 3 (0.56%) Law
15 2 (0.37%) Billing
15 2 (0.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 2 (0.37%) Military
16 1 (0.19%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 238 (44.40%) Network Engineer
2 65 (12.13%) Senior
3 62 (11.57%) Architect
4 47 (8.77%) Network Architect
5 42 (7.84%) Senior Network Engineer
6 39 (7.28%) Support Engineer
7 37 (6.90%) IT Support
8 29 (5.41%) Cisco Engineer
9 28 (5.22%) IT Engineer
10 25 (4.66%) Field Engineer
10 25 (4.66%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 25 (4.66%) Telecoms Engineer
11 23 (4.29%) IT Support Engineer
12 22 (4.10%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 20 (3.73%) Cisco Network Engineer
14 17 (3.17%) Developer
14 17 (3.17%) Project Engineer
15 16 (2.99%) Network Field Engineer
16 15 (2.80%) Consultant
16 15 (2.80%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (4.48%) 802.1X
2 16 (2.99%) Terraform
3 13 (2.43%) NETCONF
4 10 (1.87%) REST
5 9 (1.68%) YANG
6 7 (1.31%) XMPP
7 6 (1.12%) SAML
8 4 (0.75%) OpenConfig
8 4 (0.75%) RESTCONF
9 3 (0.56%) Java RMI
9 3 (0.56%) LDAP
9 3 (0.56%) RFC 2544
9 3 (0.56%) YAML
10 2 (0.37%) JSON
10 2 (0.37%) Middleware
10 2 (0.37%) ODBC
10 2 (0.37%) Software Packaging
11 1 (0.19%) .NET
11 1 (0.19%) .NET Framework
11 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Graph
Miscellaneous
1 112 (20.90%) Data Centre
2 41 (7.65%) Driving Licence
3 29 (5.41%) Hybrid Cloud
4 25 (4.66%) Self-Motivation
5 24 (4.48%) Onboarding
5 24 (4.48%) Video Conferencing
6 17 (3.17%) Operational Technology
6 17 (3.17%) PKI
7 14 (2.61%) Private Cloud
8 12 (2.24%) Cloud Native
8 12 (2.24%) Data Protection Act
8 12 (2.24%) Security Posture
9 9 (1.68%) Analytical Mindset
9 9 (1.68%) IoT
10 8 (1.49%) Management Information System
10 8 (1.49%) NHS
10 8 (1.49%) Public Cloud
10 8 (1.49%) SCADA
10 8 (1.49%) Smartphone
11 7 (1.31%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 133 (24.81%) Windows
2 45 (8.40%) Windows Server
3 31 (5.78%) Linux
3 31 (5.78%) Windows 10
4 15 (2.80%) Mac OS
5 12 (2.24%) Windows 7
6 8 (1.49%) Unix
7 5 (0.93%) Windows Server 2019
8 4 (0.75%) Android
8 4 (0.75%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (0.56%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.37%) Ubuntu
10 2 (0.37%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.37%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.19%) CatOS
11 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 104 (19.40%) Problem-Solving
2 86 (16.04%) ITIL
3 79 (14.74%) Project Delivery
4 60 (11.19%) Continuous Improvement
5 58 (10.82%) High Availability
6 57 (10.63%) Stakeholder Management
7 46 (8.58%) Load Balancing
7 46 (8.58%) Roadmaps
8 44 (8.21%) Network Architecture
9 43 (8.02%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 42 (7.84%) Customer Service
11 40 (7.46%) Network Design
12 37 (6.90%) Technical Leadership
13 36 (6.72%) Migration
13 36 (6.72%) Zero Trust
14 35 (6.53%) Mentoring
15 34 (6.34%) Network Monitoring
15 34 (6.34%) Service Management
16 32 (5.97%) Cybersecurity
16 32 (5.97%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 32 (5.97%) Python
2 22 (4.10%) PowerShell
3 6 (1.12%) VB
3 6 (1.12%) VBScript
4 3 (0.56%) SQL
5 2 (0.37%) Bash
5 2 (0.37%) Bicep
5 2 (0.37%) T-SQL
6 1 (0.19%) C
6 1 (0.19%) C++
Qualifications
1 163 (30.41%) Security Cleared
2 151 (28.17%) Cisco Certification
3 99 (18.47%) SC Cleared
4 96 (17.91%) CCNP
5 67 (12.50%) CCNA
6 50 (9.33%) DV Cleared
7 38 (7.09%) CCIE
8 33 (6.16%) Degree
9 14 (2.61%) Azure Certification
10 12 (2.24%) Microsoft Certification
11 10 (1.87%) A+ Certification
12 9 (1.68%) AWS Certification
12 9 (1.68%) JNCIE
12 9 (1.68%) PMI Certification
12 9 (1.68%) PMP
13 8 (1.49%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 7 (1.31%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 6 (1.12%) BPSS Clearance
15 6 (1.12%) JNCIP
15 6 (1.12%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (4.66%) SLA
2 11 (2.05%) QA
3 10 (1.87%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 8 (1.49%) NIST
5 7 (1.31%) NCSC
6 4 (0.75%) Disclosure Scotland
6 4 (0.75%) PMO
7 3 (0.56%) Cyber Essentials
7 3 (0.56%) GRC
7 3 (0.56%) JSP 440
8 2 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 2 (0.37%) GDPR
8 2 (0.37%) PCI DSS
9 1 (0.19%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.19%) Data Quality
9 1 (0.19%) ISO 9001
9 1 (0.19%) NEBOSH
System Software
1 82 (15.30%) Active Directory
2 50 (9.33%) VMware Infrastructure
3 20 (3.73%) VMware NSX
4 16 (2.99%) vSphere
5 12 (2.24%) Firmware
6 10 (1.87%) Virtual Machines
7 9 (1.68%) Virtual Desktop
8 7 (1.31%) BitLocker
9 6 (1.12%) Hyper-V
9 6 (1.12%) VMware ESXi
10 5 (0.93%) Virtual Servers
11 4 (0.75%) FreeRADIUS
12 2 (0.37%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 1 (0.19%) NFS
13 1 (0.19%) ProxySG
Systems Management
1 33 (6.16%) Ansible
2 31 (5.78%) FortiGate
3 23 (4.29%) Microsoft Intune
4 15 (2.80%) SCCM
5 9 (1.68%) Cisco CUCM
6 8 (1.49%) Single Sign-On
7 6 (1.12%) Nagios
7 6 (1.12%) vCenter Server
8 5 (0.93%) Cisco Prime
9 4 (0.75%) Grafana
10 3 (0.56%) Prometheus
11 2 (0.37%) CASB
11 2 (0.37%) Jamf Pro
11 2 (0.37%) VxRail
12 1 (0.19%) AirWatch
12 1 (0.19%) Backup Exec
12 1 (0.19%) Nessus
12 1 (0.19%) TrustSec
12 1 (0.19%) WSUS
Vendors
1 278 (51.87%) Cisco
2 146 (27.24%) Microsoft
3 89 (16.60%) Palo Alto
4 78 (14.55%) VMware
5 74 (13.81%) Fortinet
6 51 (9.51%) Juniper
7 49 (9.14%) F5
7 49 (9.14%) SolarWinds
8 44 (8.21%) Aruba
9 36 (6.72%) Meraki
10 33 (6.16%) CheckPoint
11 28 (5.22%) ServiceNow
12 21 (3.92%) Nokia
13 20 (3.73%) Zscaler
14 10 (1.87%) Arista
14 10 (1.87%) Splunk
15 9 (1.68%) Ekahau
15 9 (1.68%) Extreme Networks
15 9 (1.68%) Google
15 9 (1.68%) HP