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 29 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 267 230 186
Rank change year-on-year -37 -44 -71
Contract jobs citing LAN 535 395 510
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.98% 1.21% 1.35%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 10.52% 10.58% 11.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 320 248 279
10th Percentile £213 £197 £220
25th Percentile £325 £314 £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 £629 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £467 £399 £425
% change year-on-year +16.92% -6.12% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 26 24
10th Percentile £12.71 £14.24 £18.95
25th Percentile £16.25 £24.56 £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 £37.81 £48.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £59.63 £75.17
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.00 £30.00 £24.50
% change year-on-year -33.33% +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 5,084 3,735 4,513
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.31% 11.46% 11.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,934 2,338 2,593
10th Percentile £231 £219 £228
25th Percentile £390 £363 £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 427 200 213
10th Percentile £14.10 £15.50 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.50 £25.11 £23.80
Median hourly rate £34.28 £42.50 £50.50
Median % change year-on-year -19.34% -15.84% -10.53%
75th Percentile £68.75 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £92.11 £73.20 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.50 £42.50 £57.35
% change year-on-year -32.94% -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 29 September 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 29 September 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 29 September 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 -60 434 £500 +11.11% 414
UK excluding London -8 379 £467 +16.92% 290
London -109 113 £500 +8.11% 124
South East -39 101 £510 +2.00% 94
Work from Home -53 97 £500 +9.59% 160
North of England -40 79 £500 +203.03% 64
Scotland +17 69 £265 -33.58% 10
Midlands -32 49 £388 -8.82% 52
East of England 0 46 £450 +63.64% 31
North West -44 43 £519 +291.77% 34
West Midlands -40 38 £450 -5.26% 30
Yorkshire -9 36 £450 +123.60% 23
South West -28 30 £463 +49.19% 33
East Midlands -11 11 £255 +27.50% 22
Wales -20 3 £200 -13.51% 4
Channel Islands - 3 £600 -
Northern Ireland +1 1 £550 +15.79% 6

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 19 (3.55%) Microsoft Exchange
1 19 (3.55%) SharePoint
2 9 (1.68%) OpenStack
3 8 (1.50%) CMS
4 7 (1.31%) Skype for Business
5 4 (0.75%) Confluence
6 2 (0.37%) IIS
Applications
1 30 (5.61%) Microsoft Office
2 26 (4.86%) MS Visio
3 25 (4.67%) Microsoft Excel
4 10 (1.87%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.93%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.19%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 106 (19.81%) Azure
2 74 (13.83%) Microsoft 365
3 54 (10.09%) AWS
4 32 (5.98%) Entra ID
5 13 (2.43%) GCP
6 11 (2.06%) SaaS
7 10 (1.87%) OneDrive
8 9 (1.68%) AWS Direct Connect
8 9 (1.68%) 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
1 453 (84.67%) WAN
2 252 (47.10%) Firewall
3 147 (27.48%) VPN
4 136 (25.42%) Network Security
5 121 (22.62%) Wireless
6 119 (22.24%) Wi-Fi
7 113 (21.12%) BGP
7 113 (21.12%) SD-WAN
8 99 (18.50%) MPLS
9 87 (16.26%) DNS
10 82 (15.33%) OSPF
11 80 (14.95%) TCP/IP
12 72 (13.46%) WLAN
13 71 (13.27%) DHCP
14 66 (12.34%) VLAN
15 52 (9.72%) Cisco Nexus
16 51 (9.53%) IPsec
17 36 (6.73%) Cisco ISE
18 35 (6.54%) Cisco ASA
19 24 (4.49%) SSL
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
1 175 (32.71%) Social Skills
2 92 (17.20%) Telecoms
3 53 (9.91%) Analytical Skills
4 45 (8.41%) Public Sector
5 32 (5.98%) Finance
6 26 (4.86%) Documentation Skills
7 24 (4.49%) Organisational Skills
8 18 (3.36%) Banking
9 13 (2.43%) Legal
9 13 (2.43%) Retail
10 8 (1.50%) Manufacturing
10 8 (1.50%) Police
11 7 (1.31%) Influencing Skills
12 5 (0.93%) Financial Institution
12 5 (0.93%) Local Government
13 3 (0.56%) Law
14 2 (0.37%) Billing
14 2 (0.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 2 (0.37%) Military
15 1 (0.19%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 239 (44.67%) Network Engineer
2 65 (12.15%) Senior
3 62 (11.59%) Architect
4 47 (8.79%) Network Architect
5 42 (7.85%) Senior Network Engineer
6 37 (6.92%) Support Engineer
7 36 (6.73%) IT Support
8 29 (5.42%) Cisco Engineer
9 27 (5.05%) IT Engineer
10 25 (4.67%) Field Engineer
10 25 (4.67%) Telecoms Engineer
11 24 (4.49%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 22 (4.11%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 22 (4.11%) IT Support Engineer
13 20 (3.74%) Cisco Network Engineer
14 17 (3.18%) Developer
14 17 (3.18%) 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 23 (4.30%) 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 Framework
11 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Graph
11 1 (0.19%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 112 (20.93%) Data Centre
2 40 (7.48%) Driving Licence
3 30 (5.61%) Hybrid Cloud
4 24 (4.49%) Onboarding
4 24 (4.49%) Self-Motivation
4 24 (4.49%) Video Conferencing
5 18 (3.36%) Operational Technology
6 17 (3.18%) PKI
7 14 (2.62%) 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 (1.50%) NHS
10 8 (1.50%) Public Cloud
10 8 (1.50%) SCADA
10 8 (1.50%) Virtual Team
11 7 (1.31%) Management Information System
11 7 (1.31%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 132 (24.67%) Windows
2 45 (8.41%) Windows Server
3 31 (5.79%) Linux
3 31 (5.79%) Windows 10
4 15 (2.80%) Mac OS
5 12 (2.24%) Windows 7
6 8 (1.50%) Unix
7 5 (0.93%) Windows Server 2019
8 4 (0.75%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (0.56%) Android
10 2 (0.37%) 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
1 102 (19.07%) Problem-Solving
2 85 (15.89%) ITIL
3 77 (14.39%) Project Delivery
4 60 (11.21%) Continuous Improvement
5 58 (10.84%) High Availability
6 56 (10.47%) Stakeholder Management
7 47 (8.79%) Load Balancing
8 46 (8.60%) Roadmaps
9 45 (8.41%) Network Architecture
10 43 (8.04%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 41 (7.66%) Customer Service
12 40 (7.48%) Network Design
13 37 (6.92%) Zero Trust
14 36 (6.73%) Migration
14 36 (6.73%) Technical Leadership
15 35 (6.54%) Mentoring
16 34 (6.36%) Network Monitoring
17 33 (6.17%) Service Management
18 32 (5.98%) Change Management
18 32 (5.98%) Cybersecurity
Programming Languages
1 32 (5.98%) Python
2 22 (4.11%) 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 (30.47%) Security Cleared
2 150 (28.04%) Cisco Certification
3 99 (18.50%) SC Cleared
4 95 (17.76%) CCNP
5 67 (12.52%) CCNA
6 50 (9.35%) DV Cleared
7 37 (6.92%) CCIE
8 33 (6.17%) Degree
9 14 (2.62%) Azure Certification
10 11 (2.06%) Microsoft Certification
11 9 (1.68%) A+ Certification
11 9 (1.68%) AWS Certification
11 9 (1.68%) JNCIE
11 9 (1.68%) PMI Certification
11 9 (1.68%) PMP
12 8 (1.50%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 7 (1.31%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 6 (1.12%) BPSS Clearance
14 6 (1.12%) JNCIP
14 6 (1.12%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (4.49%) SLA
2 11 (2.06%) QA
3 10 (1.87%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 8 (1.50%) 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 80 (14.95%) Active Directory
2 51 (9.53%) VMware Infrastructure
3 21 (3.93%) 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 (6.17%) Ansible
2 31 (5.79%) FortiGate
3 23 (4.30%) Microsoft Intune
4 14 (2.62%) SCCM
5 9 (1.68%) Cisco CUCM
6 8 (1.50%) 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%) Iperf
12 1 (0.19%) Nessus
12 1 (0.19%) TrustSec
12 1 (0.19%) WSUS
Vendors
1 278 (51.96%) Cisco
2 144 (26.92%) Microsoft
3 90 (16.82%) Palo Alto
4 79 (14.77%) VMware
5 72 (13.46%) Fortinet
6 50 (9.35%) F5
6 50 (9.35%) Juniper
7 49 (9.16%) SolarWinds
8 43 (8.04%) Aruba
9 36 (6.73%) Meraki
10 34 (6.36%) CheckPoint
11 28 (5.23%) ServiceNow
12 21 (3.93%) Nokia
13 20 (3.74%) Zscaler
14 10 (1.87%) Arista
14 10 (1.87%) HP
14 10 (1.87%) Splunk
15 9 (1.68%) Google
16 8 (1.50%) Ekahau
16 8 (1.50%) Extreme Networks