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 3 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 246 167 118
Rank change year-on-year -79 -49 +60
Contract jobs citing LAN 401 536 924
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.11% 1.50% 2.05%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 10.14% 12.20% 14.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 263 308 598
10th Percentile £200 £223 £205
25th Percentile £281 £350 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £471 £466
Median % change year-on-year -9.81% +1.07% +3.61%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £627
90th Percentile £635 £657 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £360 £425 £445
% change year-on-year -15.29% -4.49% +4.71%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 19 40
10th Percentile £13.73 £18.41 £17.72
25th Percentile £15.50 £20.00 £20.50
Median hourly rate £30.00 £22.50 £36.02
Median % change year-on-year +33.33% -37.53% +63.73%
75th Percentile £45.58 £40.25 £60.63
90th Percentile £70.11 £71.75 £70.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.00 £21.39 £33.22
% change year-on-year +40.27% -35.62% +51.00%

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 3,955 4,392 6,252
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.92% 12.26% 13.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,569 2,533 3,873
10th Percentile £205 £220 £212
25th Percentile £350 £368 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £584 £600 £613
90th Percentile £675 £685 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -5.26% - +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 190 167 346
10th Percentile £15.50 £16.06 £17.72
25th Percentile £20.26 £22.75 £22.56
Median hourly rate £34.00 £41.00 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -17.07% -25.45% +26.44%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.98
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £76.18
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £47.50 £56.49
% change year-on-year -10.53% -15.91% +25.53%

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 3 December 2025.

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 3 December 2025.

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 3 December 2025. 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 -85 332 £450 -5.26% 245
UK excluding London -69 241 £360 -15.29% 235
London -18 131 £450 -13.46% 66
Work from Home -37 92 £438 -12.50% 93
South East -29 61 £500 +21.21% 88
North of England -86 51 £225 -50.00% 52
Midlands -47 43 £450 +20.00% 30
West Midlands -22 39 £475 -5.00% 21
North West -46 38 £133 -72.68% 28
Scotland +23 37 £273 -31.88% 13
East of England -23 29 £280 -49.09% 22
Yorkshire -62 11 £231 -3.65% 23
South West -23 10 £481 +16.67% 23
Wales +2 7 £250 +25.00% 11
Northern Ireland -5 4 £475 - 2
East Midlands -45 4 £200 -46.67% 8
North East -6 2 £550 +29.41% 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 21 (5.24%) SharePoint
2 14 (3.49%) Microsoft Exchange
3 12 (2.99%) OpenStack
4 6 (1.50%) Skype for Business
5 5 (1.25%) Confluence
6 1 (0.25%) Apache
6 1 (0.25%) CICS
6 1 (0.25%) IIS
6 1 (0.25%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.25%) WebSphere
6 1 (0.25%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 37 (9.23%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (3.74%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 15 (3.74%) MS Visio
3 14 (3.49%) Microsoft Excel
4 4 (1.00%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.50%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.25%) Acrobat
Business Applications
1 1 (0.25%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 74 (18.45%) Azure
2 50 (12.47%) AWS
3 39 (9.73%) Microsoft 365
4 19 (4.74%) Entra ID
5 15 (3.74%) GCP
6 7 (1.75%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 6 (1.50%) OpenShift
8 5 (1.25%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (1.25%) Microsoft Purview
9 4 (1.00%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 3 (0.75%) AWS Direct Connect
10 3 (0.75%) Cloud Computing
10 3 (0.75%) Power Platform
10 3 (0.75%) SaaS
10 3 (0.75%) Serverless
11 2 (0.50%) Akamai
11 2 (0.50%) GitHub
11 2 (0.50%) Google Ads
11 2 (0.50%) Google Workspace
11 2 (0.50%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 309 (77.06%) WAN
2 167 (41.65%) Firewall
3 99 (24.69%) SD-WAN
4 96 (23.94%) VPN
5 91 (22.69%) Wi-Fi
6 71 (17.71%) Wireless
7 68 (16.96%) DNS
8 63 (15.71%) BGP
8 63 (15.71%) TCP/IP
9 59 (14.71%) DHCP
9 59 (14.71%) MPLS
10 56 (13.97%) Network Security
11 48 (11.97%) VLAN
12 46 (11.47%) OSPF
13 45 (11.22%) Cisco Nexus
14 42 (10.47%) WLAN
15 24 (5.99%) Cisco IOS
16 22 (5.49%) Cisco ASA
17 20 (4.99%) IPsec
17 20 (4.99%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (2.49%) SQL Server
2 6 (1.50%) Oracle Database
3 4 (1.00%) MS Access
4 3 (0.75%) Apache Cassandra
4 3 (0.75%) Power BI
5 2 (0.50%) PostgreSQL
6 1 (0.25%) Amazon RDS
6 1 (0.25%) MariaDB
6 1 (0.25%) MySQL
6 1 (0.25%) NoSQL
6 1 (0.25%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 9 (2.24%) JIRA
2 2 (0.50%) Sonatype Nexus
3 1 (0.25%) Git
3 1 (0.25%) Jenkins
General
1 118 (29.43%) Social Skills
2 50 (12.47%) Analytical Skills
2 50 (12.47%) Telecoms
3 47 (11.72%) Public Sector
4 33 (8.23%) Finance
5 21 (5.24%) Documentation Skills
6 17 (4.24%) Manufacturing
7 9 (2.24%) Military
7 9 (2.24%) Organisational Skills
8 8 (2.00%) Banking
8 8 (2.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 7 (1.75%) Presentation Skills
10 6 (1.50%) Marketing
11 5 (1.25%) Electronics
11 5 (1.25%) Legal
11 5 (1.25%) Local Government
11 5 (1.25%) Retail
12 4 (1.00%) Financial Institution
12 4 (1.00%) Influencing Skills
13 3 (0.75%) Law
Job Titles
1 110 (27.43%) Network Engineer
2 89 (22.19%) Architect
3 64 (15.96%) Network Architect
4 34 (8.48%) Analyst
5 28 (6.98%) Support Engineer
6 26 (6.48%) Senior
7 24 (5.99%) Support Analyst
8 22 (5.49%) Technical Support
9 21 (5.24%) Project Manager
10 20 (4.99%) IT Support
11 19 (4.74%) Field Engineer
12 18 (4.49%) 2nd Line Support
13 16 (3.99%) IT Engineer
13 16 (3.99%) Senior Network Engineer
13 16 (3.99%) Technical Analyst
13 16 (3.99%) Technical Support Analyst
14 14 (3.49%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 14 (3.49%) IT Technician
14 14 (3.49%) Technical Architect
15 13 (3.24%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (2.00%) Middleware
2 6 (1.50%) NETCONF
2 6 (1.50%) REST
2 6 (1.50%) YANG
3 3 (0.75%) 802.1X
3 3 (0.75%) EDI
3 3 (0.75%) LDAP
4 2 (0.50%) ARM Templates
5 1 (0.25%) Java RMI
5 1 (0.25%) LAMP
5 1 (0.25%) LAPP Stack
5 1 (0.25%) libvirt
5 1 (0.25%) Node.js
5 1 (0.25%) RFC 2544
5 1 (0.25%) SOAP
5 1 (0.25%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 58 (14.46%) Data Centre
2 22 (5.49%) Driving Licence
3 16 (3.99%) Hybrid Cloud
4 15 (3.74%) NHS
5 13 (3.24%) Virtual Team
6 12 (2.99%) CMDB
7 11 (2.74%) Onboarding
8 10 (2.49%) Management Information System
9 8 (2.00%) Cloud Native
10 7 (1.75%) Data Protection Act
11 6 (1.50%) Analytical Mindset
11 6 (1.50%) Replication
11 6 (1.50%) SCADA
11 6 (1.50%) Video Conferencing
12 5 (1.25%) Operational Technology
12 5 (1.25%) Self-Motivation
13 4 (1.00%) CCTV
13 4 (1.00%) Fibre Optics
13 4 (1.00%) iPhone
13 4 (1.00%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 92 (22.94%) Windows
2 31 (7.73%) Windows Server
3 24 (5.99%) Windows 10
4 20 (4.99%) Linux
5 11 (2.74%) Windows Server 2016
6 9 (2.24%) Windows Server 2019
7 7 (1.75%) Android
7 7 (1.75%) Mac OS
8 6 (1.50%) Windows 7
9 4 (1.00%) Apple iOS
9 4 (1.00%) Windows Server 2012
10 3 (0.75%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 3 (0.75%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.25%) MVS
11 1 (0.25%) Solaris
11 1 (0.25%) SUSE
11 1 (0.25%) VMS
11 1 (0.25%) Windows 8
11 1 (0.25%) Windows Server 2003
11 1 (0.25%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 69 (17.21%) Problem-Solving
2 67 (16.71%) Network Design
3 45 (11.22%) Migration
4 42 (10.47%) Network Architecture
5 39 (9.73%) ITIL
6 34 (8.48%) Customer Service
6 34 (8.48%) Stakeholder Management
7 33 (8.23%) Cybersecurity
8 30 (7.48%) Service Management
9 28 (6.98%) Project Delivery
10 26 (6.48%) Network Monitoring
11 24 (5.99%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 23 (5.74%) Change Management
12 23 (5.74%) Continuous Improvement
12 23 (5.74%) Load Balancing
12 23 (5.74%) Roadmaps
12 23 (5.74%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 21 (5.24%) Agile
14 20 (4.99%) Project Management
15 19 (4.74%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 37 (9.23%) Python
2 19 (4.74%) PowerShell
3 9 (2.24%) SQL
4 7 (1.75%) VB
5 6 (1.50%) Perl
5 6 (1.50%) VBScript
6 2 (0.50%) Bicep
7 1 (0.25%) Bash
7 1 (0.25%) Java
7 1 (0.25%) Ruby
7 1 (0.25%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 105 (26.18%) Cisco Certification
2 101 (25.19%) Security Cleared
3 77 (19.20%) CCNP
4 62 (15.46%) SC Cleared
5 43 (10.72%) DV Cleared
6 41 (10.22%) CCNA
7 37 (9.23%) CCIE
8 36 (8.98%) Degree
9 19 (4.74%) JNCIE
10 12 (2.99%) AWS Certification
11 9 (2.24%) BPSS Clearance
11 9 (2.24%) JNCIP
11 9 (2.24%) Microsoft Certification
12 8 (2.00%) Network+ Certification
13 7 (1.75%) CCSA
13 7 (1.75%) CISSP
13 7 (1.75%) HNC
13 7 (1.75%) JNCIS
13 7 (1.75%) MCP
13 7 (1.75%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (4.74%) SLA
2 12 (2.99%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 9 (2.24%) GDPR
4 8 (2.00%) NIST
5 7 (1.75%) PCI DSS
6 5 (1.25%) PMO
7 2 (0.50%) Accessibility
7 2 (0.50%) Cyber Essentials
8 1 (0.25%) California Consumer Privacy Act
8 1 (0.25%) COBIT
8 1 (0.25%) Disclosure Scotland
8 1 (0.25%) GRC
8 1 (0.25%) JSP 440
8 1 (0.25%) MiFID
8 1 (0.25%) NCSC
8 1 (0.25%) QA
System Software
1 59 (14.71%) Active Directory
2 23 (5.74%) VMware Infrastructure
3 13 (3.24%) VMware NSX
4 10 (2.49%) Hyper-V
5 6 (1.50%) Firmware
6 5 (1.25%) BitLocker
6 5 (1.25%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (0.50%) Docker
7 2 (0.50%) KVM
7 2 (0.50%) NFS
7 2 (0.50%) ProxySG
7 2 (0.50%) VMware Workstation
8 1 (0.25%) Ceph
8 1 (0.25%) iptables
8 1 (0.25%) Samba
8 1 (0.25%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.25%) SRDF
8 1 (0.25%) Veritas Cluster Server
8 1 (0.25%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.25%) Xen
Systems Management
1 36 (8.98%) Ansible
2 27 (6.73%) Terraform
3 19 (4.74%) FortiGate
4 15 (3.74%) Microsoft Intune
5 14 (3.49%) SCCM
6 4 (1.00%) Cisco CUCM
6 4 (1.00%) SCOM
6 4 (1.00%) Single Sign-On
7 3 (0.75%) CA Spectrum
7 3 (0.75%) Cisco Prime
7 3 (0.75%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.50%) HP ALM
8 2 (0.50%) OpenView
8 2 (0.50%) vCenter Server
8 2 (0.50%) WSUS
9 1 (0.25%) CASB
9 1 (0.25%) Grafana
9 1 (0.25%) Kubernetes
9 1 (0.25%) PowerCLI
9 1 (0.25%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 194 (48.38%) Cisco
2 77 (19.20%) Microsoft
3 61 (15.21%) Fortinet
4 51 (12.72%) Juniper
5 48 (11.97%) Palo Alto
6 37 (9.23%) F5
6 37 (9.23%) VMware
7 31 (7.73%) Meraki
8 24 (5.99%) CheckPoint
9 21 (5.24%) ServiceNow
10 19 (4.74%) Citrix
10 19 (4.74%) SolarWinds
11 16 (3.99%) Aruba
12 15 (3.74%) Zscaler
13 11 (2.74%) Oracle
14 9 (2.24%) Remedy
15 8 (2.00%) SAP
16 7 (1.75%) HP
17 6 (1.50%) Nokia
18 5 (1.25%) Extreme Networks