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

6 months to
13 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 222 216 167
Rank change year-on-year -6 -49 -32
Contract jobs citing LAN 580 375 619
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.16% 1.27% 1.42%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 12.15% 10.20% 11.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 364 222 348
10th Percentile £227 £209 £200
25th Percentile £356 £325 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £450
Median % change year-on-year - - -5.26%
75th Percentile £538 £563 £600
90th Percentile £617 £625 £716
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £425 £450
% change year-on-year +5.76% -5.56% +5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 15 41
10th Percentile £12.43 £18.70 £12.86
25th Percentile £18.36 £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 £46.19 £41.63 £40.00
90th Percentile £74.02 £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 4,772 3,676 5,422
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.54% 12.46% 12.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,925 2,260 3,210
10th Percentile £263 £220 £210
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £484 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.31% -3.20% -2.44%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £470 £488
% change year-on-year +2.20% -3.66% +2.63%
Number of hourly rates quoted 290 167 417
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.25 £18.13 £16.30
Median hourly rate £27.69 £44.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -37.07% +10.00% +110.53%
75th Percentile £65.00 £60.69 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £80.41 £70.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.25 £31.79 £47.50
% change year-on-year -4.84% -33.07% +150.00%

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 13 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 13 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 13 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 -16 498 £450 -5.26% 188
UK excluding London +2 402 £450 +5.76% 186
South East +14 169 £475 -5.00% 64
London -57 123 £500 +4.71% 43
Work from Home -40 120 £450 -5.26% 69
North of England -38 69 £450 +24.14% 37
Midlands -31 59 £285 -28.75% 27
West Midlands -34 45 £335 -16.25% 19
East of England -4 42 £350 -18.60% 15
Scotland +4 41 £450 +16.13% 15
Yorkshire -23 36 £425 +6.18% 14
North West -39 33 £499 +53.46% 20
South West -35 15 £500 +25.00% 19
East Midlands -15 11 £200 -52.66% 8
Wales -19 7 £475 +105.41% 7
Northern Ireland - 3 £468 - 10
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 (5.00%) 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 (3.45%) MS Visio
2 16 (2.76%) 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 (23.10%) Azure
2 86 (14.83%) Microsoft 365
3 58 (10.00%) AWS
4 37 (6.38%) Entra ID
5 21 (3.62%) SaaS
6 16 (2.76%) OneDrive
7 12 (2.07%) PaaS
8 11 (1.90%) GCP
9 8 (1.38%) Power Platform
10 7 (1.21%) 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
1 479 (82.59%) WAN
2 273 (47.07%) Firewall
3 151 (26.03%) VPN
4 146 (25.17%) Wi-Fi
5 145 (25.00%) BGP
6 138 (23.79%) SD-WAN
7 130 (22.41%) OSPF
8 118 (20.34%) Network Security
9 111 (19.14%) DNS
10 104 (17.93%) Wireless
11 88 (15.17%) DHCP
12 75 (12.93%) MPLS
13 74 (12.76%) VLAN
14 73 (12.59%) WLAN
15 64 (11.03%) TCP/IP
16 50 (8.62%) IPsec
17 47 (8.10%) Cisco ISE
18 42 (7.24%) BIG-IP
18 42 (7.24%) Cisco Nexus
19 41 (7.07%) 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
1 157 (27.07%) Social Skills
2 45 (7.76%) Public Sector
3 40 (6.90%) Analytical Skills
4 39 (6.72%) Telecoms
5 37 (6.38%) Finance
6 24 (4.14%) Documentation Skills
7 23 (3.97%) Legal
8 22 (3.79%) Manufacturing
9 17 (2.93%) Financial Institution
10 10 (1.72%) Military
10 10 (1.72%) Organisational Skills
11 9 (1.55%) Law
12 8 (1.38%) Banking
13 7 (1.21%) Retail
14 6 (1.03%) Police
15 4 (0.69%) Local Government
16 3 (0.52%) German Language
16 3 (0.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 3 (0.52%) Influencing Skills
17 2 (0.34%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 234 (40.34%) Network Engineer
2 81 (13.97%) Architect
3 64 (11.03%) Senior
4 57 (9.83%) Network Architect
5 41 (7.07%) IT Support
5 41 (7.07%) Support Engineer
6 34 (5.86%) IT Engineer
7 31 (5.34%) Cisco Engineer
8 29 (5.00%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 29 (5.00%) IT Support Engineer
8 29 (5.00%) Senior Network Engineer
9 28 (4.83%) Cisco Network Engineer
9 28 (4.83%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 26 (4.48%) Analyst
10 26 (4.48%) Lead
11 18 (3.10%) Technical Architect
12 15 (2.59%) Network Specialist
12 15 (2.59%) Test Engineer
13 14 (2.41%) Firewall Specialist
13 14 (2.41%) Network Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 49 (8.45%) 802.1X
2 10 (1.72%) Microsoft Graph
2 10 (1.72%) SAML
3 9 (1.55%) LDAP
4 7 (1.21%) 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
1 117 (20.17%) Data Centre
2 33 (5.69%) PKI
3 26 (4.48%) Clustering
3 26 (4.48%) Onboarding
4 23 (3.97%) Hybrid Cloud
5 16 (2.76%) Security Posture
6 14 (2.41%) Self-Motivation
7 12 (2.07%) Driving Licence
8 11 (1.90%) Operational Technology
9 10 (1.72%) Data Protection Act
9 10 (1.72%) Public Cloud
9 10 (1.72%) Virtual Team
10 9 (1.55%) Enterprise Software
10 9 (1.55%) NHS
11 8 (1.38%) Cloud Native
12 7 (1.21%) CMDB
12 7 (1.21%) IoT
13 6 (1.03%) Smartphone
14 5 (0.86%) Analytical Mindset
14 5 (0.86%) CCTV
Operating Systems
1 175 (30.17%) Windows
2 47 (8.10%) Windows Server
3 40 (6.90%) Linux
4 29 (5.00%) Windows 10
5 17 (2.93%) Windows Server 2019
6 15 (2.59%) Mac OS
7 10 (1.72%) Android
8 8 (1.38%) Windows 7
9 7 (1.21%) 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 95 (16.38%) ITIL
2 85 (14.66%) High Availability
3 81 (13.97%) Problem-Solving
4 64 (11.03%) Load Balancing
5 57 (9.83%) Migration
6 50 (8.62%) Continuous Improvement
6 50 (8.62%) Stakeholder Management
7 48 (8.28%) Change Management
8 46 (7.93%) ITSM
8 46 (7.93%) Project Delivery
9 42 (7.24%) Network Architecture
10 40 (6.90%) Roadmaps
11 39 (6.72%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 39 (6.72%) Network Monitoring
11 39 (6.72%) Technical Leadership
12 36 (6.21%) Agile
12 36 (6.21%) Network Design
13 33 (5.69%) Service Management
14 32 (5.52%) Disaster Recovery
15 29 (5.00%) Observability
Programming Languages
1 38 (6.55%) PowerShell
2 37 (6.38%) 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
1 198 (34.14%) Security Cleared
2 171 (29.48%) Cisco Certification
3 133 (22.93%) SC Cleared
4 114 (19.66%) CCNP
5 63 (10.86%) DV Cleared
6 54 (9.31%) CCNA
7 48 (8.28%) Degree
8 46 (7.93%) 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 (1.90%) JNCIA
13 10 (1.72%) JNCIE
14 8 (1.38%) AWS Certification
14 8 (1.38%) CCSE
14 8 (1.38%) Computer Science Degree
15 4 (0.69%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (3.28%) QA
2 12 (2.07%) NIST
2 12 (2.07%) SLA
3 7 (1.21%) Disclosure Scotland
3 7 (1.21%) 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 (17.41%) Active Directory
2 51 (8.79%) VMware Infrastructure
3 20 (3.45%) VMware NSX
4 19 (3.28%) vSphere
5 9 (1.55%) Hyper-V
6 8 (1.38%) Firmware
7 7 (1.21%) Virtual Machines
8 4 (0.69%) BitLocker
9 3 (0.52%) Virtual Desktop
9 3 (0.52%) Virtual Servers
10 2 (0.34%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.17%) Citrix Presentation Server
11 1 (0.17%) Docker
11 1 (0.17%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.17%) ProxySG
Systems Management
1 50 (8.62%) FortiGate
2 32 (5.52%) Ansible
2 32 (5.52%) Microsoft Intune
3 16 (2.76%) Terraform
4 15 (2.59%) SCCM
5 12 (2.07%) Single Sign-On
6 11 (1.90%) 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%) EMC VPLEX
11 1 (0.17%) Grafana
11 1 (0.17%) Iperf
11 1 (0.17%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 285 (49.14%) Cisco
2 125 (21.55%) Microsoft
3 104 (17.93%) Palo Alto
4 89 (15.34%) F5
5 78 (13.45%) Juniper
6 67 (11.55%) Aruba
7 65 (11.21%) VMware
8 64 (11.03%) Fortinet
9 62 (10.69%) SolarWinds
10 61 (10.52%) CheckPoint
11 33 (5.69%) ServiceNow
12 31 (5.34%) Extreme Networks
13 29 (5.00%) Meraki
14 27 (4.66%) Splunk
15 22 (3.79%) Zscaler
16 16 (2.76%) Dell
16 16 (2.76%) Ekahau
17 14 (2.41%) Veeam
18 10 (1.72%) Arista
18 10 (1.72%) Citrix