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

6 months to
12 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 225 213 169
Rank change year-on-year -12 -44 -31
Contract jobs citing LAN 581 374 615
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.16% 1.27% 1.41%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 12.16% 10.16% 11.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 366 221 347
10th Percentile £228 £208 £200
25th Percentile £358 £325 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £450
Median % change year-on-year - - -5.26%
75th Percentile £538 £563 £600
90th Percentile £616 £625 £718
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £425 £450
% change year-on-year +5.76% -5.56% +5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 15 41
10th Percentile £12.43 £18.70 £12.86
25th Percentile £18.21 £27.00 £15.75
Median hourly rate £22.50 £30.00 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year -25.00% +33.33% -65.91%
75th Percentile £48.32 £41.63 £40.00
90th Percentile £74.70 £51.20 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £30.00 £22.50
% change year-on-year -25.00% +33.33% -65.91%

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 4,779 3,681 5,433
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.56% 12.51% 12.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,930 2,266 3,221
10th Percentile £263 £220 £208
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £482 £495
Median % change year-on-year +3.73% -2.63% -3.41%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £469 £481
% change year-on-year +2.27% -2.47% +1.32%
Number of hourly rates quoted 287 165 420
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.25 £18.13 £16.30
Median hourly rate £27.50 £44.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -37.50% +10.00% +113.73%
75th Percentile £65.00 £60.13 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £80.61 £71.31
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £31.79 £47.50
% change year-on-year +2.23% -33.07% +156.76%

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 12 June 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 12 June 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 12 June 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 -8 499 £450 -5.26% 178
UK excluding London +16 403 £450 +5.76% 184
South East +6 170 £475 -5.00% 58
London -62 123 £500 +4.71% 38
Work from Home -26 121 £450 -5.26% 67
North of England -49 69 £450 +28.57% 43
Midlands -36 59 £285 -28.75% 23
West Midlands -38 45 £335 -16.25% 16
East of England +1 42 £350 -18.60% 15
Scotland +9 41 £450 +14.43% 19
Yorkshire -23 35 £425 +6.18% 17
North West -34 34 £500 +53.85% 23
South West -38 15 £500 +25.00% 16
East Midlands -18 11 £200 -52.66% 7
Wales -21 7 £475 +105.41% 8
Northern Ireland - 3 £468 - 9
Channel Islands - 1 £575 -

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 29 (4.99%) SharePoint
2 22 (3.79%) Microsoft Exchange
3 14 (2.41%) Confluence
4 6 (1.03%) OpenStack
5 5 (0.86%) Skype for Business
6 2 (0.34%) CMS
6 2 (0.34%) IIS
7 1 (0.17%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 20 (3.44%) MS Visio
2 16 (2.75%) Microsoft Office
3 9 (1.55%) Microsoft Excel
4 4 (0.69%) Acrobat
4 4 (0.69%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.34%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.34%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.34%) DELMIA
Cloud Services
1 134 (23.06%) Azure
2 86 (14.80%) Microsoft 365
3 58 (9.98%) AWS
4 37 (6.37%) Entra ID
5 21 (3.61%) SaaS
6 16 (2.75%) OneDrive
7 12 (2.07%) PaaS
8 11 (1.89%) GCP
9 8 (1.38%) Power Platform
10 7 (1.20%) PowerApps
11 6 (1.03%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 5 (0.86%) Azure DevOps
12 5 (0.86%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 5 (0.86%) IaaS
13 4 (0.69%) Nutanix
14 3 (0.52%) Google Ads
15 2 (0.34%) AWS Direct Connect
15 2 (0.34%) IBM Watson
15 2 (0.34%) Microsoft Copilot
16 1 (0.17%) Copilot Studio
Communications & Networking
1 480 (82.62%) WAN
2 274 (47.16%) Firewall
3 150 (25.82%) VPN
4 147 (25.30%) BGP
5 145 (24.96%) Wi-Fi
6 137 (23.58%) SD-WAN
7 132 (22.72%) OSPF
8 118 (20.31%) Network Security
9 111 (19.10%) DNS
10 103 (17.73%) Wireless
11 88 (15.15%) DHCP
12 75 (12.91%) MPLS
13 74 (12.74%) VLAN
14 73 (12.56%) WLAN
15 64 (11.02%) TCP/IP
16 51 (8.78%) IPsec
17 47 (8.09%) Cisco ISE
18 42 (7.23%) BIG-IP
18 42 (7.23%) Cisco Nexus
19 41 (7.06%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (0.86%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.17%) DTS
2 1 (0.17%) NoSQL
2 1 (0.17%) Oracle Reports
2 1 (0.17%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.17%) Power BI
2 1 (0.17%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 31 (5.34%) JIRA
2 4 (0.69%) Browser DevTools
3 3 (0.52%) Sonatype Nexus
4 2 (0.34%) GitLab
4 2 (0.34%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.17%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.17%) Git
General
1 156 (26.85%) Social Skills
2 45 (7.75%) Public Sector
3 41 (7.06%) Analytical Skills
4 39 (6.71%) Telecoms
5 37 (6.37%) Finance
6 25 (4.30%) Documentation Skills
7 23 (3.96%) Legal
7 23 (3.96%) Manufacturing
8 17 (2.93%) Financial Institution
9 10 (1.72%) Military
9 10 (1.72%) Organisational Skills
10 9 (1.55%) Law
11 8 (1.38%) Banking
12 7 (1.20%) Retail
13 6 (1.03%) Police
14 4 (0.69%) Local Government
15 3 (0.52%) German Language
15 3 (0.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 3 (0.52%) Influencing Skills
16 2 (0.34%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 235 (40.45%) Network Engineer
2 81 (13.94%) Architect
3 65 (11.19%) Senior
4 57 (9.81%) Network Architect
5 41 (7.06%) IT Support
5 41 (7.06%) Support Engineer
6 34 (5.85%) IT Engineer
7 31 (5.34%) Cisco Engineer
8 30 (5.16%) Senior Network Engineer
9 29 (4.99%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 29 (4.99%) IT Support Engineer
9 29 (4.99%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 28 (4.82%) Cisco Network Engineer
11 26 (4.48%) Lead
12 25 (4.30%) Analyst
13 18 (3.10%) Technical Architect
14 15 (2.58%) Network Specialist
14 15 (2.58%) Test Engineer
15 14 (2.41%) Firewall Specialist
15 14 (2.41%) Network Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 49 (8.43%) 802.1X
2 10 (1.72%) Microsoft Graph
2 10 (1.72%) SAML
3 9 (1.55%) LDAP
4 7 (1.20%) REST
5 6 (1.03%) NETCONF
5 6 (1.03%) YANG
6 5 (0.86%) Middleware
7 3 (0.52%) Software Packaging
7 3 (0.52%) XMPP
8 2 (0.34%) CSS
8 2 (0.34%) Django
8 2 (0.34%) HTML
8 2 (0.34%) RFC 2544
9 1 (0.17%) .NET
9 1 (0.17%) Apache NiFi
9 1 (0.17%) ARM Templates
9 1 (0.17%) Java RMI
9 1 (0.17%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 118 (20.31%) Data Centre
2 34 (5.85%) PKI
3 26 (4.48%) Clustering
3 26 (4.48%) Onboarding
4 23 (3.96%) Hybrid Cloud
5 16 (2.75%) Security Posture
6 14 (2.41%) Self-Motivation
7 11 (1.89%) Driving Licence
7 11 (1.89%) Operational Technology
8 10 (1.72%) Data Protection Act
8 10 (1.72%) Public Cloud
8 10 (1.72%) Virtual Team
9 9 (1.55%) Enterprise Software
9 9 (1.55%) NHS
10 8 (1.38%) Cloud Native
11 7 (1.20%) CMDB
11 7 (1.20%) IoT
12 6 (1.03%) Smartphone
13 5 (0.86%) CCTV
13 5 (0.86%) Fibre Optics
Operating Systems
1 175 (30.12%) Windows
2 47 (8.09%) Windows Server
3 40 (6.88%) Linux
4 29 (4.99%) Windows 10
5 17 (2.93%) Windows Server 2019
6 15 (2.58%) Mac OS
7 10 (1.72%) Android
8 8 (1.38%) Windows 7
9 7 (1.20%) Apple iOS
10 5 (0.86%) VMS
10 5 (0.86%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.52%) CatOS
11 3 (0.52%) Ubuntu
11 3 (0.52%) Unix
11 3 (0.52%) Windows Server 2003
12 2 (0.34%) AIX
12 2 (0.34%) Windows Server 2016
13 1 (0.17%) CentOS
13 1 (0.17%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
13 1 (0.17%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 94 (16.18%) ITIL
2 85 (14.63%) High Availability
3 81 (13.94%) Problem-Solving
4 64 (11.02%) Load Balancing
5 57 (9.81%) Migration
6 50 (8.61%) Continuous Improvement
6 50 (8.61%) Stakeholder Management
7 48 (8.26%) Change Management
8 47 (8.09%) Project Delivery
9 46 (7.92%) ITSM
10 42 (7.23%) Network Architecture
11 40 (6.88%) Roadmaps
12 39 (6.71%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 39 (6.71%) Network Monitoring
12 39 (6.71%) Technical Leadership
13 36 (6.20%) Agile
13 36 (6.20%) Network Design
14 33 (5.68%) Service Management
15 32 (5.51%) Disaster Recovery
16 29 (4.99%) Observability
Programming Languages
1 37 (6.37%) PowerShell
2 36 (6.20%) Python
3 10 (1.72%) SQL
4 5 (0.86%) VBScript
5 4 (0.69%) VB
6 3 (0.52%) JavaScript
7 1 (0.17%) C
7 1 (0.17%) C++
7 1 (0.17%) Java
7 1 (0.17%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 200 (34.42%) Security Cleared
2 173 (29.78%) Cisco Certification
3 135 (23.24%) SC Cleared
4 116 (19.97%) CCNP
5 63 (10.84%) DV Cleared
6 55 (9.47%) CCNA
7 49 (8.43%) Degree
8 46 (7.92%) CCIE
9 17 (2.93%) PMP
10 14 (2.41%) Azure Certification
10 14 (2.41%) JNCIP
10 14 (2.41%) Microsoft Certification
10 14 (2.41%) PMI Certification
11 12 (2.07%) JNCIS
12 11 (1.89%) JNCIA
13 10 (1.72%) JNCIE
14 9 (1.55%) Computer Science Degree
15 8 (1.38%) AWS Certification
15 8 (1.38%) CCSE
16 4 (0.69%) CWNA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (3.27%) QA
2 12 (2.07%) NIST
2 12 (2.07%) SLA
3 7 (1.20%) Disclosure Scotland
3 7 (1.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 6 (1.03%) NCSC
5 5 (0.86%) GDPR
6 3 (0.52%) JSP 440
7 2 (0.34%) PMO
7 2 (0.34%) RMADS
8 1 (0.17%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.17%) Cyber Essentials
8 1 (0.17%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 1 (0.17%) DICOM
8 1 (0.17%) ISO 9001
8 1 (0.17%) NEBOSH
8 1 (0.17%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 101 (17.38%) Active Directory
2 51 (8.78%) VMware Infrastructure
3 20 (3.44%) VMware NSX
4 19 (3.27%) vSphere
5 9 (1.55%) Hyper-V
6 7 (1.20%) Firmware
6 7 (1.20%) Virtual Machines
7 4 (0.69%) BitLocker
8 3 (0.52%) Virtual Desktop
8 3 (0.52%) Virtual Servers
9 2 (0.34%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.17%) Citrix Presentation Server
10 1 (0.17%) Docker
10 1 (0.17%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 1 (0.17%) ProxySG
Systems Management
1 50 (8.61%) FortiGate
2 32 (5.51%) Ansible
2 32 (5.51%) Microsoft Intune
3 16 (2.75%) Terraform
4 15 (2.58%) SCCM
5 12 (2.07%) Single Sign-On
6 11 (1.89%) Jamf Pro
7 6 (1.03%) Cisco Prime
8 4 (0.69%) Cisco CUCM
8 4 (0.69%) Endace
8 4 (0.69%) Progress Chef
8 4 (0.69%) vRealize Orchestrator
9 3 (0.52%) Nagios
10 2 (0.34%) AirWatch
10 2 (0.34%) vCenter Server
10 2 (0.34%) WSUS
11 1 (0.17%) CASB
11 1 (0.17%) EMC VPLEX
11 1 (0.17%) Grafana
11 1 (0.17%) Iperf
Vendors
1 286 (49.23%) Cisco
2 125 (21.51%) Microsoft
3 105 (18.07%) Palo Alto
4 89 (15.32%) F5
5 78 (13.43%) Juniper
6 69 (11.88%) Aruba
7 65 (11.19%) VMware
8 64 (11.02%) Fortinet
9 63 (10.84%) CheckPoint
10 62 (10.67%) SolarWinds
11 33 (5.68%) ServiceNow
12 30 (5.16%) Extreme Networks
13 29 (4.99%) Meraki
14 27 (4.65%) Splunk
15 22 (3.79%) Zscaler
16 16 (2.75%) Dell
16 16 (2.75%) Ekahau
17 14 (2.41%) Veeam
18 10 (1.72%) Arista
18 10 (1.72%) Citrix