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

6 months to
18 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 266 225 187
Rank change year-on-year -41 -38 -70
Contract jobs citing LAN 540 400 506
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.99% 1.21% 1.31%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 10.63% 10.51% 11.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 325 248 269
10th Percentile £213 £190 £222
25th Percentile £325 £312 £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 £623 £638 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £388 £450
% change year-on-year +16.13% -13.89% +5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 22 26
10th Percentile £12.71 £21.05 £17.83
25th Percentile £16.25 £27.50 £20.00
Median hourly rate £26.72 £30.00 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year -10.93% +26.05% -40.50%
75th Percentile £73.00 £39.69 £44.56
90th Percentile £78.75 £65.73 £75.12
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.00 £30.00 £22.50
% change year-on-year -33.33% +33.33% -43.75%

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 5,079 3,805 4,583
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.34% 11.55% 11.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,940 2,363 2,666
10th Percentile £231 £225 £225
25th Percentile £392 £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 £500
% change year-on-year +5.56% -10.00% +10.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 411 199 252
10th Percentile £14.30 £15.50 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.50 £25.15 £21.37
Median hourly rate £32.50 £42.50 £51.00
Median % change year-on-year -23.53% -16.67% -9.72%
75th Percentile £68.75 £64.38 £65.00
90th Percentile £88.75 £75.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.50 £42.50 £57.35
% change year-on-year -30.59% -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 18 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 18 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 18 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 -43 437 £500 +11.11% 422
UK excluding London -11 383 £450 +16.13% 279
London -94 116 £510 +5.97% 152
South East -31 108 £523 +4.50% 95
Work from Home -55 96 £500 +8.11% 163
North of England -27 82 £500 +203.03% 53
Scotland +23 71 £270 -32.33% 11
Midlands -39 47 £335 -16.25% 58
North West -42 44 £520 +292.11% 36
East of England -6 40 £350 +47.37% 40
Yorkshire -5 38 £450 +123.60% 11
West Midlands -43 36 £413 -10.81% 34
South West -27 28 £463 +42.31% 25
East Midlands -9 11 £255 +27.50% 24
Wales -18 5 £425 +83.78% 1
Channel Islands - 3 £600 -
Northern Ireland +1 1 £550 +15.79% 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 21 (3.89%) SharePoint
2 20 (3.70%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (1.67%) OpenStack
4 7 (1.30%) Skype for Business
5 6 (1.11%) Confluence
6 2 (0.37%) CMS
6 2 (0.37%) IIS
Applications
1 29 (5.37%) Microsoft Office
2 26 (4.81%) MS Visio
3 25 (4.63%) Microsoft Excel
4 10 (1.85%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.93%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.19%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 109 (20.19%) Azure
2 76 (14.07%) Microsoft 365
3 53 (9.81%) AWS
4 30 (5.56%) Entra ID
5 12 (2.22%) SaaS
6 11 (2.04%) GCP
7 10 (1.85%) OneDrive
7 10 (1.85%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 7 (1.30%) AWS Direct Connect
9 5 (0.93%) Azure DevOps
9 5 (0.93%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 4 (0.74%) Microsoft Copilot
10 4 (0.74%) OpenShift
11 3 (0.56%) Azure Sentinel
11 3 (0.56%) Power Platform
11 3 (0.56%) Smartsheet
12 2 (0.37%) Google Ads
12 2 (0.37%) IaaS
12 2 (0.37%) PaaS
12 2 (0.37%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 459 (85.00%) WAN
2 254 (47.04%) Firewall
3 143 (26.48%) VPN
4 128 (23.70%) Network Security
5 123 (22.78%) Wi-Fi
6 119 (22.04%) Wireless
7 114 (21.11%) BGP
8 112 (20.74%) SD-WAN
9 98 (18.15%) MPLS
10 89 (16.48%) DNS
11 84 (15.56%) OSPF
12 77 (14.26%) TCP/IP
13 73 (13.52%) WLAN
14 72 (13.33%) DHCP
15 67 (12.41%) VLAN
16 51 (9.44%) Cisco Nexus
16 51 (9.44%) IPsec
17 36 (6.67%) Cisco ISE
18 35 (6.48%) Cisco ASA
19 24 (4.44%) Cisco Firepower
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.11%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.19%) DTS
2 1 (0.19%) Metadata
2 1 (0.19%) Oracle Reports
2 1 (0.19%) Power BI
2 1 (0.19%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 15 (2.78%) JIRA
2 4 (0.74%) Git
2 4 (0.74%) Sonatype Nexus
3 3 (0.56%) Browser DevTools
4 2 (0.37%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
5 1 (0.19%) Fiddler
5 1 (0.19%) MSI
5 1 (0.19%) Visual Studio
General
1 179 (33.15%) Social Skills
2 92 (17.04%) Telecoms
3 56 (10.37%) Analytical Skills
4 50 (9.26%) Public Sector
5 32 (5.93%) Finance
6 25 (4.63%) Documentation Skills
7 24 (4.44%) Organisational Skills
8 16 (2.96%) Banking
9 13 (2.41%) Retail
10 12 (2.22%) Legal
11 9 (1.67%) Police
12 8 (1.48%) Manufacturing
13 7 (1.30%) Influencing Skills
14 6 (1.11%) Financial Institution
15 5 (0.93%) Local Government
16 2 (0.37%) Billing
16 2 (0.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 2 (0.37%) Law
16 2 (0.37%) Military
17 1 (0.19%) German Language
Job Titles
1 239 (44.26%) Network Engineer
2 71 (13.15%) Senior
3 68 (12.59%) Architect
4 52 (9.63%) Network Architect
5 44 (8.15%) Senior Network Engineer
6 36 (6.67%) IT Support
6 36 (6.67%) Support Engineer
7 27 (5.00%) IT Engineer
8 26 (4.81%) Cisco Engineer
8 26 (4.81%) Field Engineer
9 25 (4.63%) Telecoms Engineer
10 24 (4.44%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 22 (4.07%) Cisco Network Engineer
11 22 (4.07%) IT Support Engineer
12 21 (3.89%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 17 (3.15%) Developer
13 17 (3.15%) Network Field Engineer
13 17 (3.15%) Project Engineer
14 15 (2.78%) Consultant
14 15 (2.78%) Lead
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (4.26%) 802.1X
2 15 (2.78%) Terraform
3 13 (2.41%) NETCONF
4 9 (1.67%) REST
4 9 (1.67%) YANG
5 6 (1.11%) SAML
6 4 (0.74%) OpenConfig
6 4 (0.74%) RESTCONF
7 3 (0.56%) Java RMI
7 3 (0.56%) LDAP
7 3 (0.56%) Middleware
7 3 (0.56%) RFC 2544
8 2 (0.37%) Microsoft Graph
8 2 (0.37%) ODBC
8 2 (0.37%) Software Packaging
8 2 (0.37%) YAML
9 1 (0.19%) .NET
9 1 (0.19%) ModSecurity
9 1 (0.19%) SailPoint
9 1 (0.19%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 106 (19.63%) Data Centre
2 39 (7.22%) Driving Licence
3 30 (5.56%) Hybrid Cloud
4 24 (4.44%) Onboarding
5 21 (3.89%) Self-Motivation
6 18 (3.33%) PKI
7 17 (3.15%) Operational Technology
7 17 (3.15%) Video Conferencing
8 14 (2.59%) Private Cloud
9 12 (2.22%) Cloud Native
9 12 (2.22%) Data Protection Act
9 12 (2.22%) Security Posture
10 10 (1.85%) IoT
11 9 (1.67%) Analytical Mindset
11 9 (1.67%) NHS
11 9 (1.67%) Public Cloud
12 8 (1.48%) Virtual Team
13 7 (1.30%) SCADA
13 7 (1.30%) Smartphone
14 6 (1.11%) EPoS
Operating Systems
1 139 (25.74%) Windows
2 44 (8.15%) Windows Server
3 36 (6.67%) Linux
4 32 (5.93%) Windows 10
5 15 (2.78%) Mac OS
6 12 (2.22%) Windows 7
7 8 (1.48%) Unix
8 5 (0.93%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (0.56%) Android
9 3 (0.56%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (0.56%) Ubuntu
10 2 (0.37%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.37%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.19%) Apple iOS
11 1 (0.19%) CatOS
11 1 (0.19%) CentOS
11 1 (0.19%) Solaris
11 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 102 (18.89%) Problem-Solving
2 88 (16.30%) ITIL
3 72 (13.33%) Project Delivery
4 61 (11.30%) High Availability
5 58 (10.74%) Continuous Improvement
6 54 (10.00%) Stakeholder Management
7 51 (9.44%) Load Balancing
8 48 (8.89%) Network Architecture
8 48 (8.89%) Roadmaps
9 42 (7.78%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 41 (7.59%) Customer Service
11 38 (7.04%) Technical Leadership
12 36 (6.67%) Migration
13 35 (6.48%) Network Design
14 34 (6.30%) Mentoring
14 34 (6.30%) Network Monitoring
14 34 (6.30%) Zero Trust
15 33 (6.11%) Service Management
16 32 (5.93%) Change Management
16 32 (5.93%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 31 (5.74%) Python
2 22 (4.07%) PowerShell
3 6 (1.11%) VB
3 6 (1.11%) VBScript
4 3 (0.56%) SQL
5 2 (0.37%) Bicep
5 2 (0.37%) T-SQL
6 1 (0.19%) Bash
6 1 (0.19%) C
6 1 (0.19%) C++
Qualifications
1 167 (30.93%) Security Cleared
2 155 (28.70%) Cisco Certification
3 102 (18.89%) SC Cleared
4 99 (18.33%) CCNP
5 65 (12.04%) CCNA
6 48 (8.89%) DV Cleared
7 42 (7.78%) CCIE
8 34 (6.30%) Degree
9 14 (2.59%) Azure Certification
10 10 (1.85%) Microsoft Certification
11 9 (1.67%) AWS Certification
11 9 (1.67%) JNCIE
11 9 (1.67%) PMI Certification
11 9 (1.67%) PMP
12 8 (1.48%) A+ Certification
12 8 (1.48%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 7 (1.30%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 6 (1.11%) BPSS Clearance
14 6 (1.11%) JNCIP
14 6 (1.11%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (4.07%) SLA
2 12 (2.22%) QA
3 10 (1.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 8 (1.48%) NIST
5 7 (1.30%) NCSC
6 6 (1.11%) Disclosure Scotland
7 4 (0.74%) JSP 440
7 4 (0.74%) PMO
8 3 (0.56%) Cyber Essentials
8 3 (0.56%) GRC
9 2 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.37%) GDPR
9 2 (0.37%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.19%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.19%) Data Quality
10 1 (0.19%) ISO 9001
10 1 (0.19%) NEBOSH
System Software
1 79 (14.63%) Active Directory
2 43 (7.96%) VMware Infrastructure
3 22 (4.07%) VMware NSX
4 13 (2.41%) vSphere
5 12 (2.22%) Firmware
6 9 (1.67%) Virtual Desktop
6 9 (1.67%) Virtual Machines
7 7 (1.30%) BitLocker
7 7 (1.30%) Hyper-V
8 6 (1.11%) VMware ESXi
9 5 (0.93%) Virtual Servers
10 3 (0.56%) FreeRADIUS
11 2 (0.37%) Microsoft Virtual Server
12 1 (0.19%) NFS
12 1 (0.19%) ProxySG
Systems Management
1 31 (5.74%) FortiGate
2 30 (5.56%) Ansible
3 24 (4.44%) Microsoft Intune
4 14 (2.59%) SCCM
5 8 (1.48%) Single Sign-On
6 6 (1.11%) vCenter Server
7 5 (0.93%) Cisco Prime
8 4 (0.74%) Jamf Pro
8 4 (0.74%) Nagios
9 3 (0.56%) Cisco CUCM
9 3 (0.56%) Grafana
10 2 (0.37%) CASB
10 2 (0.37%) Prometheus
10 2 (0.37%) VxRail
10 2 (0.37%) WSUS
11 1 (0.19%) AirWatch
11 1 (0.19%) Endace
11 1 (0.19%) Iperf
11 1 (0.19%) TrustSec
11 1 (0.19%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 275 (50.93%) Cisco
2 143 (26.48%) Microsoft
3 87 (16.11%) Palo Alto
4 71 (13.15%) VMware
5 70 (12.96%) Fortinet
6 55 (10.19%) F5
7 53 (9.81%) Juniper
8 48 (8.89%) SolarWinds
9 41 (7.59%) Aruba
10 34 (6.30%) CheckPoint
11 31 (5.74%) Meraki
12 28 (5.19%) ServiceNow
13 21 (3.89%) Nokia
14 19 (3.52%) Zscaler
15 11 (2.04%) Splunk
16 10 (1.85%) Extreme Networks
17 9 (1.67%) Ekahau
17 9 (1.67%) Google
17 9 (1.67%) HP
18 8 (1.48%) Arista