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 26 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 242 221 181
Rank change year-on-year -21 -40 -59
Contract jobs citing LAN 576 412 537
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.07% 1.26% 1.38%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 11.37% 10.64% 11.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 345 255 308
10th Percentile £226 £190 £250
25th Percentile £350 £304 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% -
75th Percentile £538 £575 £588
90th Percentile £625 £625 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £400 £475
% change year-on-year +12.64% -15.89% +11.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 36 21 31
10th Percentile £12.71 £20.75 £15.75
25th Percentile £16.25 £27.00 £15.76
Median hourly rate £26.72 £30.00 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year -10.93% +26.05% -40.50%
75th Percentile £73.00 £43.25 £34.50
90th Percentile £78.75 £67.25 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.42 £30.00 £23.64
% change year-on-year -35.27% +26.93% -40.91%

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 5,068 3,874 4,665
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.45% 11.84% 12.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,992 2,362 2,803
10th Percentile £250 £241 £220
25th Percentile £400 £367 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £485 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.09% -3.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £608
90th Percentile £675 £677 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £472 £500
% change year-on-year +0.58% -5.55% +9.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 371 201 302
10th Percentile £15.18 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.33 £25.15 £20.50
Median hourly rate £26.00 £46.25 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -43.78% -7.50% -11.49%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £81.35 £74.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.77 £44.50 £54.94
% change year-on-year -42.09% -19.00% -4.46%

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 26 August 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 26 August 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 26 August 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 -36 469 £494 +9.72% 168
UK excluding London +2 410 £450 +12.64% 123
South East -19 131 £523 +2.20% 39
London -98 120 £510 +11.78% 59
Work from Home -47 100 £505 +9.19% 68
North of England -39 86 £500 +166.67% 31
Scotland +31 70 £288 -26.89% 12
Midlands -35 56 £355 -2.74% 25
North West -45 48 £519 +291.74% 17
West Midlands -49 42 £406 -4.41% 17
Yorkshire -5 38 £450 +28.57% 11
East of England -4 37 £350 +47.37% 10
South West -42 25 £525 +61.54% 11
East Midlands -10 11 £255 +27.50% 8
Wales -19 7 £425 +83.78%
Northern Ireland 0 1 £550 +15.79%
Channel Islands - 1 £575 -

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 22 (3.82%) SharePoint
2 18 (3.13%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (1.56%) OpenStack
4 7 (1.22%) Skype for Business
5 5 (0.87%) Confluence
6 3 (0.52%) IIS
7 2 (0.35%) CMS
8 1 (0.17%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 30 (5.21%) Microsoft Office
2 27 (4.69%) MS Visio
3 24 (4.17%) Microsoft Excel
4 10 (1.74%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 4 (0.69%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.35%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 118 (20.49%) Azure
2 80 (13.89%) Microsoft 365
3 55 (9.55%) AWS
4 32 (5.56%) Entra ID
5 13 (2.26%) SaaS
6 10 (1.74%) OneDrive
6 10 (1.74%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 8 (1.39%) GCP
8 7 (1.22%) Azure DevOps
9 5 (0.87%) AWS Direct Connect
9 5 (0.87%) Azure ExpressRoute
9 5 (0.87%) PaaS
10 4 (0.69%) IaaS
10 4 (0.69%) Microsoft Copilot
10 4 (0.69%) OpenShift
11 3 (0.52%) Azure Sentinel
11 3 (0.52%) Power Platform
12 2 (0.35%) Google Ads
12 2 (0.35%) PowerApps
12 2 (0.35%) Smartsheet
Communications & Networking
1 487 (84.55%) WAN
2 275 (47.74%) Firewall
3 146 (25.35%) VPN
4 137 (23.78%) Wi-Fi
5 134 (23.26%) Network Security
6 130 (22.57%) BGP
7 125 (21.70%) SD-WAN
8 122 (21.18%) Wireless
9 104 (18.06%) MPLS
10 103 (17.88%) DNS
11 101 (17.53%) OSPF
12 82 (14.24%) DHCP
13 80 (13.89%) TCP/IP
14 72 (12.50%) VLAN
15 71 (12.33%) WLAN
16 55 (9.55%) IPsec
17 52 (9.03%) Cisco Nexus
18 45 (7.81%) Cisco ISE
19 42 (7.29%) Cisco ASA
20 30 (5.21%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (1.22%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.17%) DTS
2 1 (0.17%) Oracle Reports
2 1 (0.17%) Power BI
2 1 (0.17%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 18 (3.13%) JIRA
2 5 (0.87%) Browser DevTools
3 4 (0.69%) Sonatype Nexus
4 2 (0.35%) Git
4 2 (0.35%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
5 1 (0.17%) Fiddler
5 1 (0.17%) GitLab
5 1 (0.17%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.17%) MSI
5 1 (0.17%) Visual Studio
General
1 186 (32.29%) Social Skills
2 90 (15.63%) Telecoms
3 62 (10.76%) Analytical Skills
4 56 (9.72%) Public Sector
5 40 (6.94%) Finance
6 24 (4.17%) Documentation Skills
7 23 (3.99%) Organisational Skills
8 15 (2.60%) Banking
9 14 (2.43%) Retail
10 13 (2.26%) Financial Institution
11 12 (2.08%) Legal
12 10 (1.74%) Manufacturing
12 10 (1.74%) Police
13 8 (1.39%) Influencing Skills
14 7 (1.22%) Local Government
15 3 (0.52%) Billing
15 3 (0.52%) German Language
15 3 (0.52%) Law
16 2 (0.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 1 (0.17%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 243 (42.19%) Network Engineer
2 76 (13.19%) Senior
3 74 (12.85%) Architect
4 52 (9.03%) Network Architect
5 45 (7.81%) Senior Network Engineer
6 36 (6.25%) IT Support
7 35 (6.08%) Support Engineer
8 27 (4.69%) IT Engineer
9 26 (4.51%) Cisco Engineer
10 25 (4.34%) Field Engineer
11 24 (4.17%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 24 (4.17%) Telecoms Engineer
12 22 (3.82%) Cisco Network Engineer
13 21 (3.65%) IT Support Engineer
13 21 (3.65%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
14 18 (3.13%) Consultant
14 18 (3.13%) Lead
15 17 (2.95%) Developer
15 17 (2.95%) Network Field Engineer
16 16 (2.78%) Project Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (5.90%) 802.1X
2 15 (2.60%) Terraform
3 13 (2.26%) NETCONF
4 9 (1.56%) YANG
5 8 (1.39%) SAML
6 7 (1.22%) REST
7 6 (1.04%) Middleware
8 5 (0.87%) LDAP
9 4 (0.69%) OpenConfig
9 4 (0.69%) RESTCONF
10 3 (0.52%) Java RMI
10 3 (0.52%) RFC 2544
10 3 (0.52%) Software Packaging
11 2 (0.35%) .NET
11 2 (0.35%) Microsoft Graph
11 2 (0.35%) ODBC
12 1 (0.17%) ARM Templates
12 1 (0.17%) ModSecurity
12 1 (0.17%) SailPoint
12 1 (0.17%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 109 (18.92%) Data Centre
2 36 (6.25%) Driving Licence
3 29 (5.03%) Hybrid Cloud
4 25 (4.34%) Onboarding
5 24 (4.17%) PKI
6 17 (2.95%) Self-Motivation
7 14 (2.43%) Private Cloud
7 14 (2.43%) Video Conferencing
8 13 (2.26%) Cloud Native
8 13 (2.26%) Public Cloud
9 12 (2.08%) Operational Technology
9 12 (2.08%) Security Posture
10 11 (1.91%) Analytical Mindset
10 11 (1.91%) Data Protection Act
11 10 (1.74%) Clustering
11 10 (1.74%) IoT
12 9 (1.56%) NHS
13 8 (1.39%) Smartphone
14 7 (1.22%) Virtual Team
15 6 (1.04%) Fibre Optics
Operating Systems
1 156 (27.08%) Windows
2 44 (7.64%) Windows Server
3 40 (6.94%) Linux
4 31 (5.38%) Windows 10
5 15 (2.60%) Mac OS
6 12 (2.08%) Windows 7
7 7 (1.22%) Unix
8 6 (1.04%) Windows Server 2019
9 4 (0.69%) Android
10 3 (0.52%) Ubuntu
10 3 (0.52%) Windows Server 2012
11 2 (0.35%) Apple iOS
11 2 (0.35%) VMS
11 2 (0.35%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.17%) CatOS
12 1 (0.17%) CentOS
12 1 (0.17%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 1 (0.17%) Solaris
12 1 (0.17%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 105 (18.23%) Problem-Solving
2 98 (17.01%) ITIL
3 79 (13.72%) High Availability
4 75 (13.02%) Project Delivery
5 59 (10.24%) Load Balancing
6 58 (10.07%) Continuous Improvement
7 55 (9.55%) Stakeholder Management
8 53 (9.20%) Roadmaps
9 46 (7.99%) Migration
9 46 (7.99%) Network Architecture
10 43 (7.47%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 43 (7.47%) Technical Leadership
11 39 (6.77%) Change Management
12 38 (6.60%) Customer Service
13 36 (6.25%) Network Monitoring
14 35 (6.08%) Service Management
15 34 (5.90%) Incident Management
15 34 (5.90%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 33 (5.73%) Mentoring
16 33 (5.73%) Network Design
Programming Languages
1 31 (5.38%) Python
2 20 (3.47%) PowerShell
3 7 (1.22%) SQL
4 6 (1.04%) VB
4 6 (1.04%) VBScript
5 2 (0.35%) Bicep
5 2 (0.35%) C++
5 2 (0.35%) T-SQL
6 1 (0.17%) C
6 1 (0.17%) Java
6 1 (0.17%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 185 (32.12%) Security Cleared
2 162 (28.13%) Cisco Certification
3 111 (19.27%) SC Cleared
4 101 (17.53%) CCNP
5 70 (12.15%) CCNA
6 57 (9.90%) DV Cleared
7 41 (7.12%) CCIE
8 35 (6.08%) Degree
9 15 (2.60%) Azure Certification
10 11 (1.91%) PMP
11 10 (1.74%) Microsoft Certification
12 9 (1.56%) AWS Certification
12 9 (1.56%) JNCIE
13 8 (1.39%) JNCIS
13 8 (1.39%) PMI Certification
14 7 (1.22%) Computer Science Degree
14 7 (1.22%) JNCIP
15 6 (1.04%) A+ Certification
15 6 (1.04%) BPSS Clearance
15 6 (1.04%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (4.51%) SLA
2 14 (2.43%) QA
3 13 (2.26%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 10 (1.74%) NIST
5 7 (1.22%) Disclosure Scotland
5 7 (1.22%) NCSC
6 4 (0.69%) GDPR
6 4 (0.69%) JSP 440
6 4 (0.69%) PMO
7 3 (0.52%) Cyber Essentials
7 3 (0.52%) GRC
8 2 (0.35%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 1 (0.17%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.17%) DICOM
9 1 (0.17%) ISO 9001
9 1 (0.17%) NEBOSH
9 1 (0.17%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 79 (13.72%) Active Directory
2 48 (8.33%) VMware Infrastructure
3 23 (3.99%) VMware NSX
4 13 (2.26%) Firmware
5 9 (1.56%) Hyper-V
5 9 (1.56%) Virtual Desktop
6 8 (1.39%) vSphere
7 7 (1.22%) BitLocker
7 7 (1.22%) Virtual Machines
8 4 (0.69%) Virtual Servers
9 3 (0.52%) VMware ESXi
10 2 (0.35%) FreeRADIUS
10 2 (0.35%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.17%) NFS
11 1 (0.17%) ProxySG
Systems Management
1 39 (6.77%) FortiGate
2 28 (4.86%) Ansible
3 25 (4.34%) Microsoft Intune
4 13 (2.26%) SCCM
5 11 (1.91%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (0.87%) Cisco Prime
7 4 (0.69%) Jamf Pro
7 4 (0.69%) Progress Chef
7 4 (0.69%) vCenter Server
7 4 (0.69%) vRealize Orchestrator
8 3 (0.52%) Cisco CUCM
9 2 (0.35%) AirWatch
9 2 (0.35%) CASB
9 2 (0.35%) Endace
9 2 (0.35%) Nagios
9 2 (0.35%) VxRail
9 2 (0.35%) WSUS
10 1 (0.17%) Backup Exec
10 1 (0.17%) Grafana
10 1 (0.17%) Nessus
Vendors
1 282 (48.96%) Cisco
2 153 (26.56%) Microsoft
3 93 (16.15%) Palo Alto
4 75 (13.02%) VMware
5 70 (12.15%) F5
6 65 (11.28%) Fortinet
7 60 (10.42%) Juniper
8 52 (9.03%) SolarWinds
9 47 (8.16%) Aruba
10 40 (6.94%) CheckPoint
11 30 (5.21%) ServiceNow
12 27 (4.69%) Meraki
13 21 (3.65%) Zscaler
14 20 (3.47%) Nokia
15 16 (2.78%) Extreme Networks
15 16 (2.78%) Splunk
16 14 (2.43%) Ekahau
17 10 (1.74%) Google
17 10 (1.74%) HP
18 8 (1.39%) Citrix