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

6 months to
22 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 212 216 165
Rank change year-on-year +4 -51 -15
Contract jobs citing LAN 574 362 639
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.19% 1.26% 1.50%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 12.38% 9.98% 11.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 360 215 376
10th Percentile £225 £243 £200
25th Percentile £347 £361 £311
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £463 £450
Median % change year-on-year -2.70% +2.78% -5.26%
75th Percentile £536 £569 £638
90th Percentile £604 £625 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £445 £438 £432
% change year-on-year +1.71% +1.39% +1.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 10 41
10th Percentile £12.43 £14.99 £12.86
25th Percentile £18.50 £19.81 £15.75
Median hourly rate £22.50 £27.00 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% +20.00% -65.38%
75th Percentile £52.58 £39.69 £40.00
90th Percentile £77.43 £50.20 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £15.33 £22.50
% change year-on-year +46.77% -31.87% -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 4,635 3,629 5,389
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.59% 12.60% 12.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,852 2,246 3,216
10th Percentile £263 £213 £205
25th Percentile £400 £358 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £481 £488
Median % change year-on-year +4.06% -1.44% -5.93%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £458 £475
% change year-on-year +3.83% -3.68% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 260 153 417
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.14 £17.30 £16.30
Median hourly rate £32.50 £37.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.33% -6.25% +116.22%
75th Percentile £65.88 £60.13 £63.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.54 £28.00 £45.88
% change year-on-year +44.79% -38.97% +154.89%

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 May 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 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for LAN in the UK

LAN
Top 16 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 May 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 -3 496 £450 -5.26% 188
UK excluding London +10 401 £445 +1.71% 177
South East +17 176 £455 -9.00% 74
Work from Home +3 123 £447 -10.55% 90
London -51 121 £500 - 51
North of England -52 65 £450 +12.50% 29
Midlands -35 58 £295 -41.00% 20
West Midlands -29 46 £318 -32.27% 17
East of England -4 42 £350 -18.13% 10
Scotland +9 34 £450 +12.78% 15
North West -44 34 £498 +17.06% 13
Yorkshire -29 31 £338 -15.50% 14
South West -41 15 £500 - 20
Wales -15 9 £475 +46.15% 12
East Midlands -21 9 £200 -61.90% 3
Northern Ireland - 3 £468 - 4

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 30 (5.23%) SharePoint
2 21 (3.66%) Microsoft Exchange
3 15 (2.61%) Confluence
4 5 (0.87%) Skype for Business
5 4 (0.70%) OpenStack
6 2 (0.35%) IIS
7 1 (0.17%) Apache
7 1 (0.17%) CMS
7 1 (0.17%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 21 (3.66%) MS Visio
2 15 (2.61%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (1.05%) Microsoft Excel
4 4 (0.70%) Acrobat
4 4 (0.70%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.35%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.35%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.35%) DELMIA
Cloud Services
1 133 (23.17%) Azure
2 80 (13.94%) Microsoft 365
3 60 (10.45%) AWS
4 35 (6.10%) Entra ID
5 19 (3.31%) SaaS
6 15 (2.61%) OneDrive
7 12 (2.09%) GCP
7 12 (2.09%) PaaS
8 8 (1.39%) Power Platform
9 7 (1.22%) PowerApps
9 7 (1.22%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 6 (1.05%) Azure DevOps
11 5 (0.87%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 5 (0.87%) Google Ads
11 5 (0.87%) IaaS
11 5 (0.87%) Nutanix
12 2 (0.35%) AWS Direct Connect
12 2 (0.35%) IBM Watson
13 1 (0.17%) Azure Monitor
13 1 (0.17%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 473 (82.40%) WAN
2 281 (48.95%) Firewall
3 160 (27.87%) VPN
4 152 (26.48%) BGP
5 140 (24.39%) OSPF
6 132 (23.00%) Wi-Fi
7 128 (22.30%) SD-WAN
8 117 (20.38%) Network Security
9 110 (19.16%) DNS
10 95 (16.55%) Wireless
11 86 (14.98%) DHCP
12 73 (12.72%) VLAN
13 71 (12.37%) WLAN
14 66 (11.50%) TCP/IP
15 63 (10.98%) MPLS
16 56 (9.76%) IPsec
17 46 (8.01%) BIG-IP
17 46 (8.01%) Cisco ISE
18 44 (7.67%) Cisco Nexus
19 41 (7.14%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (1.22%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.35%) MariaDB
2 2 (0.35%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.17%) Amazon RDS
3 1 (0.17%) Data Warehouse
3 1 (0.17%) DynamoDB
3 1 (0.17%) MongoDB
3 1 (0.17%) MySQL
3 1 (0.17%) NoSQL
3 1 (0.17%) Oracle Reports
3 1 (0.17%) Power BI
3 1 (0.17%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 33 (5.75%) JIRA
2 4 (0.70%) Browser DevTools
3 3 (0.52%) Sonatype Nexus
4 2 (0.35%) GitLab
4 2 (0.35%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.17%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.17%) Git
5 1 (0.17%) Tricentis qTest
General
1 144 (25.09%) Social Skills
2 46 (8.01%) Public Sector
3 41 (7.14%) Analytical Skills
4 39 (6.79%) Finance
5 34 (5.92%) Documentation Skills
6 29 (5.05%) Telecoms
7 28 (4.88%) Manufacturing
8 21 (3.66%) Legal
9 17 (2.96%) Financial Institution
10 13 (2.26%) Military
11 11 (1.92%) Organisational Skills
12 9 (1.57%) Banking
12 9 (1.57%) Law
13 7 (1.22%) Retail
14 6 (1.05%) Police
15 4 (0.70%) Local Government
16 2 (0.35%) Billing
16 2 (0.35%) German Language
16 2 (0.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 2 (0.35%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 232 (40.42%) Network Engineer
2 83 (14.46%) Architect
3 62 (10.80%) Senior
4 58 (10.10%) Network Architect
5 42 (7.32%) IT Support
6 37 (6.45%) Support Engineer
7 34 (5.92%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
8 31 (5.40%) IT Engineer
9 30 (5.23%) Lead
10 29 (5.05%) Analyst
10 29 (5.05%) Cisco Engineer
10 29 (5.05%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 28 (4.88%) Cisco Network Engineer
12 27 (4.70%) IT Support Engineer
12 27 (4.70%) Senior Network Engineer
13 20 (3.48%) Technical Architect
14 15 (2.61%) Project Manager
15 14 (2.44%) Firewall Specialist
15 14 (2.44%) Network Specialist
15 14 (2.44%) Test Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 45 (7.84%) 802.1X
2 15 (2.61%) LDAP
3 13 (2.26%) SAML
4 10 (1.74%) Microsoft Graph
5 7 (1.22%) Middleware
6 4 (0.70%) NETCONF
6 4 (0.70%) REST
6 4 (0.70%) YANG
7 3 (0.52%) XMPP
8 2 (0.35%) .NET
8 2 (0.35%) CSS
8 2 (0.35%) Django
8 2 (0.35%) HTML
8 2 (0.35%) RFC 2544
8 2 (0.35%) Software Packaging
9 1 (0.17%) LAPP Stack
9 1 (0.17%) libvirt
9 1 (0.17%) Node.js
9 1 (0.17%) React
9 1 (0.17%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 123 (21.43%) Data Centre
2 29 (5.05%) PKI
3 26 (4.53%) Clustering
4 23 (4.01%) Onboarding
5 21 (3.66%) Hybrid Cloud
6 16 (2.79%) Security Posture
7 14 (2.44%) Data Protection Act
8 12 (2.09%) Public Cloud
8 12 (2.09%) Self-Motivation
9 11 (1.92%) Operational Technology
10 9 (1.57%) Enterprise Software
10 9 (1.57%) Virtual Team
11 8 (1.39%) Driving Licence
11 8 (1.39%) NHS
12 7 (1.22%) CMDB
12 7 (1.22%) IoT
13 6 (1.05%) Cloud Native
13 6 (1.05%) Smartphone
13 6 (1.05%) Video Conferencing
14 4 (0.70%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 172 (29.97%) Windows
2 48 (8.36%) Windows Server
3 41 (7.14%) Linux
4 31 (5.40%) Windows 10
5 16 (2.79%) Windows Server 2019
6 12 (2.09%) Mac OS
7 9 (1.57%) Android
8 8 (1.39%) Apple iOS
8 8 (1.39%) Windows 7
9 5 (0.87%) CatOS
9 5 (0.87%) VMS
9 5 (0.87%) Windows Server 2012
10 4 (0.70%) Ubuntu
10 4 (0.70%) Unix
10 4 (0.70%) Windows Server 2016
11 3 (0.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 3 (0.52%) Windows Server 2003
12 2 (0.35%) AIX
13 1 (0.17%) CentOS
13 1 (0.17%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 90 (15.68%) ITIL
2 82 (14.29%) High Availability
3 78 (13.59%) Problem-Solving
4 63 (10.98%) Load Balancing
5 56 (9.76%) Migration
6 48 (8.36%) ITSM
7 46 (8.01%) Stakeholder Management
8 45 (7.84%) Change Management
9 40 (6.97%) Network Architecture
9 40 (6.97%) Project Delivery
10 39 (6.79%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 39 (6.79%) Technical Leadership
11 38 (6.62%) Continuous Improvement
12 36 (6.27%) Network Design
12 36 (6.27%) Network Monitoring
13 34 (5.92%) Roadmaps
14 33 (5.75%) Disaster Recovery
14 33 (5.75%) Service Management
15 31 (5.40%) Agile
15 31 (5.40%) Cybersecurity
Programming Languages
1 37 (6.45%) PowerShell
2 36 (6.27%) Python
3 14 (2.44%) SQL
4 5 (0.87%) VBScript
5 4 (0.70%) VB
6 3 (0.52%) JavaScript
7 2 (0.35%) Bash
8 1 (0.17%) C
8 1 (0.17%) C#
8 1 (0.17%) C++
8 1 (0.17%) Java
8 1 (0.17%) Perl
8 1 (0.17%) Shell Script
8 1 (0.17%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 211 (36.76%) Security Cleared
2 177 (30.84%) Cisco Certification
3 146 (25.44%) SC Cleared
4 126 (21.95%) CCNP
5 61 (10.63%) DV Cleared
6 55 (9.58%) CCNA
7 53 (9.23%) Degree
8 46 (8.01%) CCIE
9 15 (2.61%) JNCIS
9 15 (2.61%) PMP
10 14 (2.44%) JNCIP
11 12 (2.09%) JNCIA
11 12 (2.09%) Microsoft Certification
12 11 (1.92%) Azure Certification
12 11 (1.92%) PMI Certification
13 10 (1.74%) CCSE
13 10 (1.74%) Computer Science Degree
14 9 (1.57%) JNCIE
15 6 (1.05%) AWS Certification
15 6 (1.05%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (3.31%) QA
2 11 (1.92%) SLA
3 9 (1.57%) NIST
4 8 (1.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 7 (1.22%) Disclosure Scotland
6 6 (1.05%) NCSC
7 5 (0.87%) GDPR
8 4 (0.70%) JSP 440
9 3 (0.52%) Cyber Essentials
9 3 (0.52%) PMO
10 2 (0.35%) RMADS
11 1 (0.17%) DICOM
11 1 (0.17%) GRC
11 1 (0.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 102 (17.77%) Active Directory
2 53 (9.23%) VMware Infrastructure
3 22 (3.83%) VMware NSX
4 18 (3.14%) vSphere
5 8 (1.39%) Hyper-V
6 7 (1.22%) Virtual Machines
7 5 (0.87%) Firmware
8 4 (0.70%) BitLocker
8 4 (0.70%) VMware ESXi
9 3 (0.52%) Virtual Servers
10 2 (0.35%) Docker
10 2 (0.35%) KVM
10 2 (0.35%) Virtual Desktop
11 1 (0.17%) Ceph
11 1 (0.17%) iptables
11 1 (0.17%) Lustre
11 1 (0.17%) ProxySG
11 1 (0.17%) RHEV
11 1 (0.17%) Samba
11 1 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 47 (8.19%) FortiGate
2 33 (5.75%) Ansible
3 31 (5.40%) Microsoft Intune
4 21 (3.66%) Terraform
5 14 (2.44%) SCCM
5 14 (2.44%) Single Sign-On
6 12 (2.09%) Jamf Pro
7 7 (1.22%) Nagios
8 6 (1.05%) Cisco Prime
9 5 (0.87%) Endace
9 5 (0.87%) WSUS
10 4 (0.70%) Progress Chef
10 4 (0.70%) vCenter Server
10 4 (0.70%) vRealize Orchestrator
11 3 (0.52%) Cisco CUCM
12 2 (0.35%) AirWatch
12 2 (0.35%) Backup Exec
12 2 (0.35%) Check_MK
12 2 (0.35%) Grafana
12 2 (0.35%) Nessus
Vendors
1 286 (49.83%) Cisco
2 117 (20.38%) Palo Alto
3 115 (20.03%) Microsoft
4 91 (15.85%) F5
5 85 (14.81%) Juniper
6 74 (12.89%) CheckPoint
7 72 (12.54%) Aruba
8 69 (12.02%) VMware
9 61 (10.63%) SolarWinds
10 59 (10.28%) Fortinet
11 31 (5.40%) ServiceNow
12 30 (5.23%) Extreme Networks
13 29 (5.05%) Splunk
14 25 (4.36%) Meraki
15 22 (3.83%) Zscaler
16 16 (2.79%) Dell
17 15 (2.61%) Ekahau
17 15 (2.61%) Veeam
18 9 (1.57%) Arista
18 9 (1.57%) Citrix