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

6 months to
22 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 258 220 185
Rank change year-on-year -38 -35 -68
Contract jobs citing LAN 542 398 508
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.99% 1.23% 1.34%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 10.63% 10.59% 11.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 324 246 275
10th Percentile £213 £190 £221
25th Percentile £322 £313 £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 £638 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £399 £425
% change year-on-year +12.78% -6.12% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 25 24
10th Percentile £12.71 £13.98 £18.95
25th Percentile £16.25 £27.00 £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 £38.75 £52.31
90th Percentile £78.75 £61.15 £75.17
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.00 £30.00 £26.50
% change year-on-year -33.33% +13.21% -33.75%

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 5,099 3,757 4,513
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.34% 11.57% 11.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,952 2,332 2,627
10th Percentile £235 £225 £227
25th Percentile £395 £363 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £480 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.17% -4.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £608
90th Percentile £675 £680 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £453 £500
% change year-on-year +4.86% -9.40% +8.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 418 199 235
10th Percentile £14.19 £15.50 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.50 £25.08 £22.93
Median hourly rate £33.64 £42.50 £51.50
Median % change year-on-year -20.85% -17.48% -8.83%
75th Percentile £68.75 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £88.74 £73.40 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £42.50 £57.35
% change year-on-year -23.53% -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 22 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 22 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 22 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 -67 437 £500 +11.11% 475
UK excluding London -12 386 £450 +12.78% 306
London -100 114 £500 +8.11% 175
South East -31 105 £525 +5.00% 105
Work from Home -52 95 £500 +9.59% 252
North of England -32 81 £500 +203.03% 59
Scotland +20 72 £270 -32.33% 9
Midlands -42 47 £335 -21.18% 63
East of England -5 45 £420 +52.73% 39
North West -43 44 £519 +291.77% 38
Yorkshire -13 37 £450 +123.60% 14
West Midlands -46 36 £413 -13.16% 38
South West -28 29 £400 +23.08% 32
East Midlands -8 11 £255 +27.50% 25
Wales -14 5 £425 +83.78% 2
Channel Islands - 3 £600 -
Northern Ireland +3 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 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 5 (0.92%) 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
1 108 (19.93%) Azure
2 77 (14.21%) Microsoft 365
3 53 (9.78%) AWS
4 31 (5.72%) 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 7 (1.29%) AWS Direct Connect
10 5 (0.92%) Azure DevOps
10 5 (0.92%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 4 (0.74%) Microsoft Copilot
11 4 (0.74%) OpenShift
12 3 (0.55%) Azure Sentinel
12 3 (0.55%) Smartsheet
13 2 (0.37%) Google Ads
13 2 (0.37%) IaaS
13 2 (0.37%) Power Platform
14 1 (0.18%) AWS CloudFormation
14 1 (0.18%) Route 53
Communications & Networking
1 460 (84.87%) WAN
2 252 (46.49%) Firewall
3 148 (27.31%) VPN
4 129 (23.80%) Network Security
5 119 (21.96%) Wi-Fi
5 119 (21.96%) Wireless
6 113 (20.85%) SD-WAN
7 111 (20.48%) BGP
8 98 (18.08%) MPLS
9 89 (16.42%) DNS
10 81 (14.94%) OSPF
10 81 (14.94%) TCP/IP
11 73 (13.47%) WLAN
12 72 (13.28%) DHCP
13 66 (12.18%) VLAN
14 51 (9.41%) Cisco Nexus
14 51 (9.41%) IPsec
15 36 (6.64%) Cisco ISE
16 35 (6.46%) Cisco ASA
17 24 (4.43%) Cisco Firepower
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.11%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.18%) DTS
2 1 (0.18%) Metadata
2 1 (0.18%) Oracle Reports
2 1 (0.18%) Power BI
2 1 (0.18%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 14 (2.58%) 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
1 179 (33.03%) Social Skills
2 92 (16.97%) Telecoms
3 54 (9.96%) Analytical Skills
4 50 (9.23%) Public Sector
5 30 (5.54%) Finance
6 25 (4.61%) Documentation Skills
6 25 (4.61%) Organisational Skills
7 17 (3.14%) Banking
8 13 (2.40%) Retail
9 12 (2.21%) Legal
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 2 (0.37%) Billing
14 2 (0.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 2 (0.37%) Law
14 2 (0.37%) Military
15 1 (0.18%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 236 (43.54%) Network Engineer
2 68 (12.55%) Senior
3 66 (12.18%) Architect
4 51 (9.41%) 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%) Telecoms Engineer
11 24 (4.43%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 22 (4.06%) IT Support Engineer
13 21 (3.87%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 20 (3.69%) Cisco Network Engineer
15 17 (3.14%) Developer
15 17 (3.14%) Network Field Engineer
15 17 (3.14%) Project Engineer
16 16 (2.95%) Consultant
17 15 (2.77%) LAN Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (4.24%) 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%) Microsoft Graph
10 1 (0.18%) ModSecurity
10 1 (0.18%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 108 (19.93%) Data Centre
2 41 (7.56%) Driving Licence
3 30 (5.54%) Hybrid Cloud
4 24 (4.43%) Onboarding
5 22 (4.06%) Self-Motivation
5 22 (4.06%) Video Conferencing
6 18 (3.32%) Operational Technology
6 18 (3.32%) PKI
7 14 (2.58%) Private Cloud
8 12 (2.21%) Cloud Native
8 12 (2.21%) Data Protection Act
8 12 (2.21%) Security Posture
9 9 (1.66%) Analytical Mindset
9 9 (1.66%) IoT
9 9 (1.66%) NHS
10 8 (1.48%) Public Cloud
10 8 (1.48%) Smartphone
10 8 (1.48%) Virtual Team
11 7 (1.29%) SCADA
12 6 (1.11%) CCTV
Operating Systems
1 138 (25.46%) Windows
2 45 (8.30%) Windows Server
3 35 (6.46%) Linux
4 32 (5.90%) Windows 10
5 16 (2.95%) Mac OS
6 12 (2.21%) Windows 7
7 9 (1.66%) Unix
8 5 (0.92%) Windows Server 2019
9 4 (0.74%) Android
10 3 (0.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
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%) Solaris
12 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 100 (18.45%) Problem-Solving
2 88 (16.24%) ITIL
3 74 (13.65%) Project Delivery
4 63 (11.62%) High Availability
5 58 (10.70%) Continuous Improvement
6 53 (9.78%) Stakeholder Management
7 52 (9.59%) Load Balancing
8 48 (8.86%) Roadmaps
9 47 (8.67%) Network Architecture
10 42 (7.75%) Customer Service
11 41 (7.56%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 38 (7.01%) Technical Leadership
13 37 (6.83%) Migration
14 35 (6.46%) Network Monitoring
15 34 (6.27%) Mentoring
15 34 (6.27%) Network Design
15 34 (6.27%) Service Management
15 34 (6.27%) Zero Trust
16 32 (5.90%) Change Management
16 32 (5.90%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 31 (5.72%) 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
1 169 (31.18%) Security Cleared
2 155 (28.60%) Cisco Certification
3 104 (19.19%) SC Cleared
4 99 (18.27%) CCNP
5 65 (11.99%) CCNA
6 49 (9.04%) 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 23 (4.24%) SLA
2 12 (2.21%) QA
3 10 (1.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 8 (1.48%) NIST
5 7 (1.29%) NCSC
6 6 (1.11%) Disclosure Scotland
7 4 (0.74%) JSP 440
7 4 (0.74%) PMO
8 3 (0.55%) Cyber Essentials
8 3 (0.55%) GRC
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 81 (14.94%) Active Directory
2 47 (8.67%) VMware Infrastructure
3 21 (3.87%) VMware NSX
4 13 (2.40%) vSphere
5 12 (2.21%) Firmware
6 9 (1.66%) Virtual Desktop
6 9 (1.66%) Virtual Machines
7 7 (1.29%) BitLocker
7 7 (1.29%) Hyper-V
8 6 (1.11%) VMware ESXi
9 5 (0.92%) Virtual Servers
10 3 (0.55%) FreeRADIUS
11 2 (0.37%) Microsoft Virtual Server
12 1 (0.18%) NFS
12 1 (0.18%) ProxySG
Systems Management
1 32 (5.90%) FortiGate
2 31 (5.72%) Ansible
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%) vCenter Server
7 5 (0.92%) Cisco Prime
8 4 (0.74%) Nagios
9 3 (0.55%) Grafana
9 3 (0.55%) Jamf Pro
10 2 (0.37%) CASB
10 2 (0.37%) Prometheus
10 2 (0.37%) VxRail
10 2 (0.37%) WSUS
11 1 (0.18%) AirWatch
11 1 (0.18%) Backup Exec
11 1 (0.18%) Iperf
11 1 (0.18%) Nessus
11 1 (0.18%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 278 (51.29%) Cisco
2 145 (26.75%) Microsoft
3 86 (15.87%) Palo Alto
4 76 (14.02%) VMware
5 70 (12.92%) Fortinet
6 54 (9.96%) F5
6 54 (9.96%) Juniper
7 48 (8.86%) SolarWinds
8 41 (7.56%) Aruba
9 33 (6.09%) CheckPoint
10 32 (5.90%) Meraki
11 28 (5.17%) ServiceNow
12 21 (3.87%) Nokia
13 20 (3.69%) Zscaler
14 12 (2.21%) Splunk
15 10 (1.85%) Extreme Networks
16 9 (1.66%) Google
16 9 (1.66%) HP
17 8 (1.48%) Arista
17 8 (1.48%) Ekahau