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 3 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 249 177 124
Rank change year-on-year -72 -53 +61
Contract jobs citing LAN 412 477 851
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.11% 1.46% 1.97%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 10.44% 11.48% 14.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 266 288 547
10th Percentile £210 £223 £205
25th Percentile £313 £345 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £444 £450 £450
Median % change year-on-year -1.39% - -
75th Percentile £538 £575 £600
90th Percentile £638 £650 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £430 £445
% change year-on-year -1.16% -3.37% +1.14%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 13 28
10th Percentile £12.97 £18.80 £17.59
25th Percentile £15.50 £20.00 £21.25
Median hourly rate £16.00 £20.38 £36.02
Median % change year-on-year -21.47% -43.43% +60.09%
75th Percentile £52.58 £35.00 £52.50
90th Percentile £76.00 £65.75 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.00 £20.00 £33.22
% change year-on-year -20.00% -39.80% +47.64%

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 3,946 4,155 5,881
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.66% 12.74% 13.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,580 2,435 3,634
10th Percentile £206 £220 £209
25th Percentile £356 £369 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £473 £471
% change year-on-year -4.76% +0.32% +4.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 178 138 331
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.86 £17.72
25th Percentile £20.00 £20.88 £23.00
Median hourly rate £36.75 £35.00 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -38.04% +88.30%
75th Percentile £65.75 £57.81 £65.98
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.38 £75.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £32.50 £59.00
% change year-on-year +30.77% -44.92% +78.79%

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 3 January 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 3 January 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 3 January 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 -83 339 £450 - 186
UK excluding London -73 252 £425 -1.16% 149
London -20 125 £475 -5.00% 71
Work from Home -15 110 £445 -11.00% 71
South East -16 77 £456 +10.55% 59
North of England -89 54 £330 -26.67% 27
Scotland +26 39 £265 -33.75% 6
North West -44 38 £303 -35.29% 14
Midlands -71 31 £463 +5.71% 24
East of England -25 28 £350 -36.36% 11
West Midlands -40 28 £475 -5.00% 18
Yorkshire -69 15 £445 +85.42% 12
South West -30 12 £506 +22.73% 17
Wales +4 6 £335 +67.50% 5
Northern Ireland -8 4 £475 - 3
East Midlands -49 3 £258 -19.53% 5
North East -7 1 £550 - 1

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 25 (6.07%) SharePoint
2 14 (3.40%) Microsoft Exchange
3 12 (2.91%) OpenStack
4 6 (1.46%) Skype for Business
5 5 (1.21%) Confluence
6 1 (0.24%) Apache
6 1 (0.24%) CICS
6 1 (0.24%) IIS
6 1 (0.24%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.24%) WebSphere
6 1 (0.24%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 34 (8.25%) Microsoft Office
2 18 (4.37%) MS Visio
3 16 (3.88%) Microsoft Excel
4 15 (3.64%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (1.21%) Acrobat
6 4 (0.97%) Microsoft Project
7 2 (0.49%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.49%) DELMIA
2 1 (0.24%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 89 (21.60%) Azure
2 56 (13.59%) AWS
3 46 (11.17%) Microsoft 365
4 20 (4.85%) Entra ID
5 17 (4.13%) GCP
6 9 (2.18%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 7 (1.70%) SaaS
8 6 (1.46%) OpenShift
9 4 (0.97%) Azure DevOps
9 4 (0.97%) Azure ExpressRoute
9 4 (0.97%) Microsoft Purview
10 3 (0.73%) AWS Direct Connect
10 3 (0.73%) Nutanix
10 3 (0.73%) Power Platform
10 3 (0.73%) Serverless
11 2 (0.49%) Azure Functions
11 2 (0.49%) Google Ads
11 2 (0.49%) OneDrive
11 2 (0.49%) Slack
11 2 (0.49%) WhatsApp
Communications & Networking
1 337 (81.80%) WAN
2 169 (41.02%) Firewall
3 123 (29.85%) VPN
4 93 (22.57%) Wi-Fi
5 92 (22.33%) SD-WAN
6 78 (18.93%) BGP
7 68 (16.50%) TCP/IP
8 65 (15.78%) Wireless
9 64 (15.53%) Network Security
10 62 (15.05%) MPLS
11 61 (14.81%) OSPF
12 60 (14.56%) DNS
13 49 (11.89%) DHCP
14 47 (11.41%) VLAN
15 38 (9.22%) WLAN
16 37 (8.98%) Cisco Nexus
17 35 (8.50%) IPsec
18 24 (5.83%) Structured Cabling
19 22 (5.34%) Cisco ASA
20 17 (4.13%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (1.94%) SQL Server
2 5 (1.21%) Oracle Database
3 4 (0.97%) MS Access
4 3 (0.73%) Power BI
5 2 (0.49%) MariaDB
5 2 (0.49%) PostgreSQL
6 1 (0.24%) Amazon RDS
6 1 (0.24%) Apache Cassandra
6 1 (0.24%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.24%) DynamoDB
6 1 (0.24%) MongoDB
6 1 (0.24%) MySQL
6 1 (0.24%) NoSQL
6 1 (0.24%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 10 (2.43%) JIRA
2 1 (0.24%) Git
2 1 (0.24%) Jenkins
2 1 (0.24%) Sonatype Nexus
2 1 (0.24%) Tricentis qTest
General
1 128 (31.07%) Social Skills
2 48 (11.65%) Public Sector
3 47 (11.41%) Analytical Skills
4 41 (9.95%) Telecoms
5 33 (8.01%) Documentation Skills
5 33 (8.01%) Finance
6 21 (5.10%) Manufacturing
7 14 (3.40%) Military
8 10 (2.43%) Banking
9 9 (2.18%) Organisational Skills
10 8 (1.94%) Presentation Skills
11 6 (1.46%) Legal
11 6 (1.46%) Local Government
11 6 (1.46%) Marketing
12 5 (1.21%) Electronics
12 5 (1.21%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 4 (0.97%) Financial Institution
13 4 (0.97%) Law
14 3 (0.73%) Influencing Skills
14 3 (0.73%) Retail
Job Titles
1 130 (31.55%) Network Engineer
2 89 (21.60%) Architect
3 67 (16.26%) Network Architect
4 34 (8.25%) Analyst
5 32 (7.77%) Senior
6 23 (5.58%) Support Analyst
7 20 (4.85%) IT Support
8 19 (4.61%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 19 (4.61%) Support Engineer
9 18 (4.37%) Field Engineer
9 18 (4.37%) Lead
9 18 (4.37%) Project Manager
9 18 (4.37%) Senior Network Engineer
10 17 (4.13%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 17 (4.13%) Technical Support
11 16 (3.88%) 2nd Line Support
12 15 (3.64%) Cisco Engineer
13 14 (3.40%) Cisco Network Engineer
13 14 (3.40%) Technical Analyst
13 14 (3.40%) Technical Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (1.94%) Middleware
2 7 (1.70%) LDAP
3 6 (1.46%) NETCONF
3 6 (1.46%) REST
3 6 (1.46%) YANG
4 3 (0.73%) 802.1X
4 3 (0.73%) SAML
5 2 (0.49%) ARM Templates
5 2 (0.49%) Node.js
5 2 (0.49%) XMPP
5 2 (0.49%) YAML
6 1 (0.24%) .NET
6 1 (0.24%) CSS
6 1 (0.24%) EDI
6 1 (0.24%) HTML
6 1 (0.24%) Java RMI
6 1 (0.24%) LAMP
6 1 (0.24%) LAPP Stack
6 1 (0.24%) libvirt
6 1 (0.24%) React
Miscellaneous
1 74 (17.96%) Data Centre
2 21 (5.10%) Hybrid Cloud
3 20 (4.85%) Driving Licence
4 16 (3.88%) Onboarding
5 14 (3.40%) CMDB
6 12 (2.91%) NHS
7 11 (2.67%) Data Protection Act
8 10 (2.43%) Management Information System
9 8 (1.94%) Operational Technology
10 6 (1.46%) Cloud Native
10 6 (1.46%) SCADA
10 6 (1.46%) Video Conferencing
11 5 (1.21%) Analytical Mindset
11 5 (1.21%) Enterprise Software
11 5 (1.21%) PKI
11 5 (1.21%) Security Posture
11 5 (1.21%) Self-Motivation
12 4 (0.97%) iPhone
12 4 (0.97%) Public Cloud
12 4 (0.97%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 95 (23.06%) Windows
2 36 (8.74%) Windows Server
3 27 (6.55%) Windows 10
4 20 (4.85%) Linux
5 13 (3.16%) Windows Server 2016
6 9 (2.18%) Windows Server 2019
7 8 (1.94%) Android
8 6 (1.46%) Windows 7
9 5 (1.21%) Apple iOS
9 5 (1.21%) Mac OS
10 4 (0.97%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.73%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 3 (0.73%) Ubuntu
12 2 (0.49%) CatOS
13 1 (0.24%) MVS
13 1 (0.24%) Solaris
13 1 (0.24%) VMS
13 1 (0.24%) Windows 8
13 1 (0.24%) Windows Server 2003
13 1 (0.24%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 69 (16.75%) Problem-Solving
2 65 (15.78%) Network Design
3 53 (12.86%) ITIL
4 50 (12.14%) Migration
5 45 (10.92%) Network Architecture
6 40 (9.71%) Cybersecurity
6 40 (9.71%) Stakeholder Management
7 33 (8.01%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 33 (8.01%) Project Delivery
8 30 (7.28%) Customer Service
9 28 (6.80%) High Availability
10 27 (6.55%) Network Monitoring
11 26 (6.31%) ITSM
12 25 (6.07%) Change Management
13 24 (5.83%) Zero Trust
14 23 (5.58%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 22 (5.34%) Roadmaps
16 21 (5.10%) Continuous Improvement
17 20 (4.85%) Network Management
17 20 (4.85%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 33 (8.01%) Python
2 20 (4.85%) PowerShell
3 11 (2.67%) SQL
4 6 (1.46%) Perl
4 6 (1.46%) VBScript
5 5 (1.21%) VB
6 2 (0.49%) Bash
6 2 (0.49%) Bicep
7 1 (0.24%) C#
7 1 (0.24%) Java
7 1 (0.24%) JavaScript
7 1 (0.24%) Ruby
7 1 (0.24%) Shell Script
7 1 (0.24%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 121 (29.37%) Security Cleared
2 118 (28.64%) Cisco Certification
3 93 (22.57%) CCNP
4 87 (21.12%) SC Cleared
5 44 (10.68%) Degree
6 41 (9.95%) DV Cleared
7 38 (9.22%) CCIE
7 38 (9.22%) CCNA
8 20 (4.85%) JNCIE
9 14 (3.40%) AWS Certification
10 11 (2.67%) Network+ Certification
11 10 (2.43%) Azure Certification
11 10 (2.43%) BPSS Clearance
11 10 (2.43%) JNCIP
12 9 (2.18%) Microsoft Certification
13 8 (1.94%) CCSE
13 8 (1.94%) JNCIS
14 7 (1.70%) CISSP
14 7 (1.70%) PMI Certification
15 6 (1.46%) CCDP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (3.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 14 (3.40%) SLA
2 10 (2.43%) NIST
3 9 (2.18%) GDPR
4 7 (1.70%) PCI DSS
5 5 (1.21%) PMO
5 5 (1.21%) QA
6 4 (0.97%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.49%) Accessibility
7 2 (0.49%) JSP 440
7 2 (0.49%) NCSC
8 1 (0.24%) COBIT
8 1 (0.24%) Disclosure Scotland
8 1 (0.24%) GRC
8 1 (0.24%) MiFID
8 1 (0.24%) RMADS
8 1 (0.24%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 59 (14.32%) Active Directory
2 24 (5.83%) VMware Infrastructure
3 17 (4.13%) VMware NSX
4 8 (1.94%) Hyper-V
5 5 (1.21%) BitLocker
5 5 (1.21%) Virtual Desktop
6 3 (0.73%) Docker
6 3 (0.73%) KVM
7 2 (0.49%) Firmware
7 2 (0.49%) NFS
7 2 (0.49%) ProxySG
7 2 (0.49%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.49%) Xen
8 1 (0.24%) Ceph
8 1 (0.24%) iptables
8 1 (0.24%) RHEV
8 1 (0.24%) Samba
8 1 (0.24%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.24%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.24%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 35 (8.50%) Ansible
2 29 (7.04%) Terraform
3 22 (5.34%) Microsoft Intune
4 19 (4.61%) FortiGate
5 13 (3.16%) SCCM
6 7 (1.70%) Single Sign-On
7 4 (0.97%) Nagios
7 4 (0.97%) SCOM
8 3 (0.73%) Cisco CUCM
8 3 (0.73%) Cisco Prime
8 3 (0.73%) Jamf Pro
8 3 (0.73%) WSUS
9 2 (0.49%) Check_MK
9 2 (0.49%) Endace
9 2 (0.49%) Grafana
9 2 (0.49%) Nessus
9 2 (0.49%) vCenter Server
10 1 (0.24%) HAProxy
10 1 (0.24%) Prometheus
10 1 (0.24%) SELinux
Vendors
1 196 (47.57%) Cisco
2 83 (20.15%) Microsoft
3 76 (18.45%) Palo Alto
4 63 (15.29%) Fortinet
5 51 (12.38%) Juniper
6 40 (9.71%) CheckPoint
7 39 (9.47%) VMware
8 37 (8.98%) Aruba
9 36 (8.74%) F5
10 35 (8.50%) Meraki
11 25 (6.07%) SolarWinds
12 21 (5.10%) ServiceNow
13 19 (4.61%) Zscaler
14 16 (3.88%) Citrix
15 13 (3.16%) Veeam
16 10 (2.43%) SAP
17 8 (1.94%) Oracle
18 7 (1.70%) Arista
18 7 (1.70%) LogicMonitor
19 6 (1.46%) CrowdStrike