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

6 months to
26 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 258 223 183
Rank change year-on-year -35 -40 -69
Contract jobs citing LAN 542 401 517
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.99% 1.21% 1.35%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 10.62% 10.57% 11.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 324 250 283
10th Percentile £213 £190 £220
25th Percentile £325 £313 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £470
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -4.26% +4.44%
75th Percentile £538 £575 £575
90th Percentile £625 £626 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £455 £399 £425
% change year-on-year +14.04% -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% -39.01%
75th Percentile £73.00 £37.81 £48.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £59.63 £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 5,104 3,795 4,598
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.30% 11.47% 12.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,949 2,369 2,648
10th Percentile £231 £222 £225
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 £676 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £490
% change year-on-year +5.56% -8.16% +5.95%
Number of hourly rates quoted 425 202 227
10th Percentile £14.10 £15.50 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.50 £25.15 £23.45
Median hourly rate £33.00 £42.50 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -22.35% -15.00% -11.49%
75th Percentile £68.75 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £92.11 £72.72 £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 26 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 26 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 26 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 -52 440 £500 +11.11% 489
UK excluding London -9 382 £455 +14.04% 337
London -102 118 £500 +8.11% 158
South East -44 102 £523 +4.50% 117
Work from Home -42 98 £500 +9.59% 184
North of England -37 80 £500 +203.03% 69
Scotland +19 71 £270 -31.34% 11
Midlands -36 48 £375 -11.76% 62
East of England -7 46 £450 +63.64% 38
North West -39 43 £519 +291.77% 40
Yorkshire -9 37 £450 +123.60% 21
West Midlands -42 37 £450 -5.26% 38
South West -28 30 £463 +49.19% 36
East Midlands -9 11 £255 +27.50% 24
Wales -17 3 £200 -13.51% 1
Channel Islands - 3 £600 -
Northern Ireland -2 1 £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 (3.69%) Microsoft Exchange
1 20 (3.69%) SharePoint
2 9 (1.66%) OpenStack
3 7 (1.29%) CMS
3 7 (1.29%) Skype for Business
4 4 (0.74%) Confluence
5 2 (0.37%) IIS
Applications
1 30 (5.54%) Microsoft Office
2 26 (4.80%) MS Visio
3 25 (4.61%) Microsoft Excel
4 10 (1.85%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.92%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.18%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 109 (20.11%) Azure
2 76 (14.02%) Microsoft 365
3 54 (9.96%) AWS
4 32 (5.90%) Entra ID
5 12 (2.21%) GCP
6 11 (2.03%) SaaS
7 10 (1.85%) OneDrive
8 9 (1.66%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 8 (1.48%) AWS Direct Connect
10 6 (1.11%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 5 (0.92%) Azure DevOps
12 4 (0.74%) Microsoft Copilot
12 4 (0.74%) OpenShift
13 3 (0.55%) Azure Sentinel
13 3 (0.55%) Smartsheet
14 2 (0.37%) Google Ads
14 2 (0.37%) IaaS
14 2 (0.37%) Power Platform
15 1 (0.18%) GitHub
15 1 (0.18%) Route 53
Communications & Networking
1 461 (85.06%) WAN
2 254 (46.86%) Firewall
3 150 (27.68%) VPN
4 135 (24.91%) Network Security
5 121 (22.32%) Wi-Fi
6 120 (22.14%) Wireless
7 116 (21.40%) SD-WAN
8 112 (20.66%) BGP
9 100 (18.45%) MPLS
10 87 (16.05%) DNS
11 82 (15.13%) OSPF
11 82 (15.13%) TCP/IP
12 75 (13.84%) WLAN
13 71 (13.10%) DHCP
14 66 (12.18%) VLAN
15 53 (9.78%) Cisco Nexus
16 52 (9.59%) IPsec
17 36 (6.64%) Cisco ISE
18 35 (6.46%) Cisco ASA
19 24 (4.43%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.11%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.18%) DTS
2 1 (0.18%) Metadata
2 1 (0.18%) Power BI
2 1 (0.18%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 13 (2.40%) JIRA
2 5 (0.92%) Git
3 4 (0.74%) Sonatype Nexus
4 3 (0.55%) Browser DevTools
5 2 (0.37%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 1 (0.18%) Fiddler
6 1 (0.18%) MSI
6 1 (0.18%) Visual Studio
General
1 177 (32.66%) Social Skills
2 92 (16.97%) Telecoms
3 53 (9.78%) Analytical Skills
4 50 (9.23%) Public Sector
5 32 (5.90%) Finance
6 26 (4.80%) Documentation Skills
7 24 (4.43%) Organisational Skills
8 18 (3.32%) Banking
9 13 (2.40%) Legal
9 13 (2.40%) Retail
10 9 (1.66%) Police
11 8 (1.48%) Manufacturing
12 7 (1.29%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (0.92%) Financial Institution
13 5 (0.92%) Local Government
14 3 (0.55%) Law
15 2 (0.37%) Billing
15 2 (0.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 2 (0.37%) Military
16 1 (0.18%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 240 (44.28%) Network Engineer
2 67 (12.36%) Senior
3 63 (11.62%) Architect
4 48 (8.86%) Network Architect
5 42 (7.75%) Senior Network Engineer
6 37 (6.83%) IT Support
6 37 (6.83%) Support Engineer
7 28 (5.17%) Cisco Engineer
8 27 (4.98%) IT Engineer
9 26 (4.80%) Field Engineer
10 25 (4.61%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 25 (4.61%) Telecoms Engineer
11 23 (4.24%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 22 (4.06%) IT Support Engineer
13 20 (3.69%) Cisco Network Engineer
14 17 (3.14%) Developer
14 17 (3.14%) Network Field Engineer
14 17 (3.14%) Project Engineer
15 15 (2.77%) Consultant
15 15 (2.77%) Lead
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (4.06%) 802.1X
2 15 (2.77%) Terraform
3 13 (2.40%) NETCONF
4 10 (1.85%) REST
5 9 (1.66%) YANG
6 6 (1.11%) SAML
6 6 (1.11%) XMPP
7 4 (0.74%) OpenConfig
7 4 (0.74%) RESTCONF
8 3 (0.55%) Java RMI
8 3 (0.55%) LDAP
8 3 (0.55%) RFC 2544
8 3 (0.55%) YAML
9 2 (0.37%) JSON
9 2 (0.37%) Middleware
9 2 (0.37%) ODBC
9 2 (0.37%) Software Packaging
10 1 (0.18%) .NET Framework
10 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Graph
10 1 (0.18%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 112 (20.66%) Data Centre
2 41 (7.56%) Driving Licence
3 30 (5.54%) Hybrid Cloud
4 25 (4.61%) Onboarding
5 24 (4.43%) Self-Motivation
5 24 (4.43%) Video Conferencing
6 18 (3.32%) Operational Technology
7 17 (3.14%) PKI
8 14 (2.58%) Private Cloud
9 12 (2.21%) Cloud Native
9 12 (2.21%) Data Protection Act
9 12 (2.21%) Security Posture
10 9 (1.66%) Analytical Mindset
10 9 (1.66%) IoT
11 8 (1.48%) NHS
11 8 (1.48%) Public Cloud
11 8 (1.48%) Virtual Team
12 7 (1.29%) Management Information System
12 7 (1.29%) SCADA
12 7 (1.29%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 137 (25.28%) Windows
2 46 (8.49%) Windows Server
3 35 (6.46%) Linux
4 31 (5.72%) Windows 10
5 16 (2.95%) Mac OS
6 12 (2.21%) Windows 7
7 8 (1.48%) Unix
8 5 (0.92%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 5 (0.92%) Windows Server 2019
9 4 (0.74%) Android
10 3 (0.55%) Ubuntu
11 2 (0.37%) Apple iOS
11 2 (0.37%) Windows Server 2012
11 2 (0.37%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.18%) CatOS
12 1 (0.18%) CentOS
12 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 101 (18.63%) Problem-Solving
2 86 (15.87%) ITIL
3 76 (14.02%) Project Delivery
4 60 (11.07%) Continuous Improvement
4 60 (11.07%) High Availability
5 56 (10.33%) Stakeholder Management
6 52 (9.59%) Load Balancing
7 48 (8.86%) Roadmaps
8 47 (8.67%) Network Architecture
9 43 (7.93%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 42 (7.75%) Customer Service
11 38 (7.01%) Network Design
12 37 (6.83%) Migration
12 37 (6.83%) Technical Leadership
13 36 (6.64%) Zero Trust
14 35 (6.46%) Mentoring
14 35 (6.46%) Network Monitoring
15 33 (6.09%) Service Management
16 32 (5.90%) Change Management
16 32 (5.90%) Cybersecurity
Programming Languages
1 32 (5.90%) Python
2 22 (4.06%) PowerShell
3 6 (1.11%) VB
3 6 (1.11%) VBScript
4 3 (0.55%) SQL
5 2 (0.37%) Bash
5 2 (0.37%) Bicep
5 2 (0.37%) T-SQL
6 1 (0.18%) C
6 1 (0.18%) C++
Qualifications
1 168 (31.00%) Security Cleared
2 155 (28.60%) Cisco Certification
3 103 (19.00%) SC Cleared
4 100 (18.45%) CCNP
5 67 (12.36%) CCNA
6 50 (9.23%) DV Cleared
7 41 (7.56%) CCIE
8 34 (6.27%) Degree
9 14 (2.58%) Azure Certification
10 11 (2.03%) Microsoft Certification
11 9 (1.66%) A+ Certification
11 9 (1.66%) AWS Certification
11 9 (1.66%) JNCIE
11 9 (1.66%) PMI Certification
11 9 (1.66%) PMP
12 8 (1.48%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 7 (1.29%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 6 (1.11%) BPSS Clearance
14 6 (1.11%) JNCIP
14 6 (1.11%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (4.43%) SLA
2 12 (2.21%) QA
3 10 (1.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 8 (1.48%) NIST
5 7 (1.29%) NCSC
6 5 (0.92%) Disclosure Scotland
7 4 (0.74%) PMO
8 3 (0.55%) Cyber Essentials
8 3 (0.55%) GRC
8 3 (0.55%) JSP 440
9 2 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.37%) GDPR
9 2 (0.37%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.18%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.18%) Data Quality
10 1 (0.18%) ISO 9001
10 1 (0.18%) NEBOSH
System Software
1 82 (15.13%) Active Directory
2 51 (9.41%) VMware Infrastructure
3 21 (3.87%) VMware NSX
4 16 (2.95%) vSphere
5 12 (2.21%) Firmware
6 10 (1.85%) Virtual Machines
7 9 (1.66%) Virtual Desktop
8 7 (1.29%) BitLocker
8 7 (1.29%) Hyper-V
9 6 (1.11%) VMware ESXi
10 5 (0.92%) Virtual Servers
11 4 (0.74%) FreeRADIUS
12 2 (0.37%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 1 (0.18%) NFS
13 1 (0.18%) ProxySG
Systems Management
1 32 (5.90%) Ansible
2 31 (5.72%) FortiGate
3 23 (4.24%) Microsoft Intune
4 14 (2.58%) SCCM
5 8 (1.48%) Cisco CUCM
5 8 (1.48%) Single Sign-On
6 6 (1.11%) Nagios
6 6 (1.11%) vCenter Server
7 5 (0.92%) Cisco Prime
8 3 (0.55%) Grafana
8 3 (0.55%) Jamf Pro
9 2 (0.37%) CASB
9 2 (0.37%) Prometheus
9 2 (0.37%) VxRail
10 1 (0.18%) AirWatch
10 1 (0.18%) Backup Exec
10 1 (0.18%) Iperf
10 1 (0.18%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.18%) TrustSec
10 1 (0.18%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 280 (51.66%) Cisco
2 147 (27.12%) Microsoft
3 90 (16.61%) Palo Alto
4 80 (14.76%) VMware
5 73 (13.47%) Fortinet
6 52 (9.59%) F5
7 50 (9.23%) Juniper
8 49 (9.04%) SolarWinds
9 43 (7.93%) Aruba
10 35 (6.46%) Meraki
11 34 (6.27%) CheckPoint
12 28 (5.17%) ServiceNow
13 21 (3.87%) Nokia
14 20 (3.69%) Zscaler
15 10 (1.85%) HP
15 10 (1.85%) Splunk
16 9 (1.66%) Arista
16 9 (1.66%) Google
17 8 (1.48%) Ekahau
17 8 (1.48%) Extreme Networks