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

6 months to
14 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 218 204 122
Rank change year-on-year -14 -82 +48
Contract jobs citing LAN 538 401 834
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.25% 1.36% 1.87%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 12.28% 10.17% 13.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 345 261 504
10th Percentile £206 £225 £203
25th Percentile £313 £350 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £443 £450 £479
Median % change year-on-year -1.67% -5.96% +6.33%
75th Percentile £538 £575 £641
90th Percentile £620 £673 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £434 £430 £475
% change year-on-year +0.87% -9.47% +11.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 9 46
10th Percentile £12.43 £14.65 £13.61
25th Percentile £15.50 £18.50 £16.23
Median hourly rate £22.50 £32.50 £24.87
Median % change year-on-year -30.77% +30.68% -50.26%
75th Percentile £44.06 £43.75 £45.63
90th Percentile £70.39 £54.75 £61.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.00 £19.00 £24.87
% change year-on-year +15.79% -23.60% -25.76%

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 4,382 3,944 5,988
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.15% 13.36% 13.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,833 2,414 3,595
10th Percentile £213 £210 £205
25th Percentile £367 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £487 £496 £475
Median % change year-on-year -1.86% +4.46% -8.65%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £470 £475
% change year-on-year +1.06% -1.05% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 181 140 393
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.22 £14.05
25th Percentile £20.18 £21.46 £18.93
Median hourly rate £39.50 £35.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +12.86% +7.69% +71.05%
75th Percentile £67.50 £63.38 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £70.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.25 £32.50 £45.88
% change year-on-year +30.00% -29.16% +145.87%

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 14 March 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 14 March 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 14 March 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 -33 446 £447 -5.09% 170
UK excluding London -13 357 £434 +0.87% 157
London -41 134 £475 -0.52% 37
Work from Home -2 133 £445 -11.00% 38
South East +10 131 £445 -1.11% 61
North of England -72 61 £450 +2.22% 38
Midlands -33 52 £303 -39.50% 22
Scotland +42 45 £288 -28.13% 4
West Midlands -36 45 £413 -21.43% 15
East of England -17 39 £350 -33.33% 21
North West -45 34 £500 +11.11% 17
Yorkshire -47 27 £313 +27.76% 18
South West -49 16 £513 +24.24% 10
Wales -4 10 £425 +41.67% 7
East Midlands -35 6 £200 -40.30% 7
Northern Ireland - 4 £430 -

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 (5.58%) SharePoint
2 26 (4.83%) Microsoft Exchange
3 13 (2.42%) Confluence
4 10 (1.86%) Skype for Business
5 2 (0.37%) IIS
5 2 (0.37%) OpenStack
6 1 (0.19%) Apache
Applications
1 36 (6.69%) Microsoft Office
2 24 (4.46%) MS Visio
3 14 (2.60%) Microsoft Excel
4 13 (2.42%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.93%) Acrobat
5 5 (0.93%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.19%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.37%) DELMIA
Cloud Services
1 122 (22.68%) Azure
2 80 (14.87%) Microsoft 365
3 57 (10.59%) AWS
4 39 (7.25%) Entra ID
5 21 (3.90%) GCP
6 16 (2.97%) SaaS
7 13 (2.42%) OneDrive
8 11 (2.04%) PaaS
9 9 (1.67%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 7 (1.30%) Azure DevOps
11 6 (1.12%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 6 (1.12%) IaaS
11 6 (1.12%) Nutanix
11 6 (1.12%) Power Platform
12 5 (0.93%) PowerApps
13 4 (0.74%) AWS Direct Connect
13 4 (0.74%) Microsoft Purview
14 3 (0.56%) Azure Monitor
14 3 (0.56%) Google Workspace
14 3 (0.56%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 442 (82.16%) WAN
2 238 (44.24%) Firewall
3 154 (28.62%) VPN
4 131 (24.35%) BGP
5 125 (23.23%) Wi-Fi
6 122 (22.68%) OSPF
7 112 (20.82%) SD-WAN
8 102 (18.96%) DNS
9 100 (18.59%) Network Security
10 85 (15.80%) DHCP
11 81 (15.06%) Wireless
12 78 (14.50%) TCP/IP
13 75 (13.94%) VLAN
14 72 (13.38%) MPLS
15 52 (9.67%) WLAN
16 45 (8.36%) IPsec
17 38 (7.06%) Cisco ISE
18 37 (6.88%) BIG-IP
18 37 (6.88%) Cisco ASA
19 36 (6.69%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (1.49%) SQL Server
2 4 (0.74%) MS Access
3 2 (0.37%) MariaDB
3 2 (0.37%) PostgreSQL
4 1 (0.19%) Amazon RDS
4 1 (0.19%) Data Warehouse
4 1 (0.19%) DynamoDB
4 1 (0.19%) MongoDB
4 1 (0.19%) MySQL
4 1 (0.19%) NoSQL
4 1 (0.19%) Oracle Database
4 1 (0.19%) Power BI
4 1 (0.19%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 29 (5.39%) JIRA
2 2 (0.37%) Browser DevTools
2 2 (0.37%) GitLab
2 2 (0.37%) Jenkins
2 2 (0.37%) Sonatype Nexus
3 1 (0.19%) Bitbucket
3 1 (0.19%) Git
3 1 (0.19%) Tricentis qTest
General
1 152 (28.25%) Social Skills
2 54 (10.04%) Analytical Skills
3 53 (9.85%) Finance
4 52 (9.67%) Public Sector
5 37 (6.88%) Telecoms
6 33 (6.13%) Documentation Skills
7 29 (5.39%) Manufacturing
8 20 (3.72%) Legal
9 19 (3.53%) Financial Institution
10 18 (3.35%) Military
11 14 (2.60%) Banking
12 12 (2.23%) Organisational Skills
13 9 (1.67%) Presentation Skills
14 8 (1.49%) Law
15 7 (1.30%) Retail
16 6 (1.12%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 6 (1.12%) Local Government
17 5 (0.93%) Influencing Skills
17 5 (0.93%) Marketing
18 4 (0.74%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 187 (34.76%) Network Engineer
2 81 (15.06%) Architect
3 61 (11.34%) Senior
4 55 (10.22%) Network Architect
5 43 (7.99%) Analyst
5 43 (7.99%) IT Support
6 37 (6.88%) Support Engineer
7 33 (6.13%) IT Engineer
8 28 (5.20%) IT Support Engineer
8 28 (5.20%) Senior Network Engineer
9 27 (5.02%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 24 (4.46%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 23 (4.28%) Lead
12 22 (4.09%) Cisco Engineer
12 22 (4.09%) Project Manager
12 22 (4.09%) Technical Architect
13 21 (3.90%) Cisco Network Engineer
14 19 (3.53%) Network Manager
14 19 (3.53%) Support Analyst
15 18 (3.35%) Field Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (6.32%) 802.1X
2 11 (2.04%) LDAP
3 8 (1.49%) Microsoft Graph
3 8 (1.49%) Middleware
3 8 (1.49%) SAML
4 3 (0.56%) ARM Templates
5 2 (0.37%) CSS
5 2 (0.37%) Django
5 2 (0.37%) HTML
5 2 (0.37%) NETCONF
5 2 (0.37%) REST
5 2 (0.37%) RFC 2544
5 2 (0.37%) XMPP
5 2 (0.37%) YAML
5 2 (0.37%) YANG
6 1 (0.19%) .NET
6 1 (0.19%) EDI
6 1 (0.19%) LAMP
6 1 (0.19%) Node.js
6 1 (0.19%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 106 (19.70%) Data Centre
2 25 (4.65%) PKI
3 22 (4.09%) Clustering
3 22 (4.09%) Onboarding
4 20 (3.72%) Driving Licence
5 16 (2.97%) Hybrid Cloud
6 15 (2.79%) CMDB
7 14 (2.60%) NHS
8 13 (2.42%) Data Protection Act
9 12 (2.23%) Security Posture
10 10 (1.86%) Operational Technology
11 9 (1.67%) Management Information System
11 9 (1.67%) Public Cloud
11 9 (1.67%) Self-Motivation
12 8 (1.49%) Enterprise Software
12 8 (1.49%) IoT
12 8 (1.49%) Virtual Team
13 7 (1.30%) Analytical Mindset
13 7 (1.30%) iPhone
14 5 (0.93%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 161 (29.93%) Windows
2 53 (9.85%) Windows Server
3 37 (6.88%) Windows 10
4 25 (4.65%) Linux
5 14 (2.60%) Windows Server 2019
6 11 (2.04%) Android
6 11 (2.04%) Windows 7
7 10 (1.86%) Mac OS
8 7 (1.30%) Apple iOS
8 7 (1.30%) Windows Server 2016
9 6 (1.12%) VMS
10 5 (0.93%) Windows Server 2012
11 4 (0.74%) CatOS
12 3 (0.56%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 3 (0.56%) Ubuntu
12 3 (0.56%) Windows Server 2003
13 2 (0.37%) AIX
14 1 (0.19%) Data ONTAP
14 1 (0.19%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 91 (16.91%) Problem-Solving
2 82 (15.24%) ITIL
3 65 (12.08%) High Availability
4 63 (11.71%) Migration
5 52 (9.67%) Stakeholder Management
6 49 (9.11%) Change Management
6 49 (9.11%) ITSM
7 46 (8.55%) Network Design
8 42 (7.81%) Load Balancing
8 42 (7.81%) Network Architecture
9 40 (7.43%) Cybersecurity
9 40 (7.43%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 39 (7.25%) Project Delivery
11 37 (6.88%) Service Management
12 35 (6.51%) Network Monitoring
13 30 (5.58%) Customer Service
13 30 (5.58%) Disaster Recovery
14 29 (5.39%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 29 (5.39%) Technical Leadership
15 28 (5.20%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 50 (9.29%) PowerShell
2 33 (6.13%) Python
3 14 (2.60%) SQL
4 11 (2.04%) VBScript
5 9 (1.67%) VB
6 3 (0.56%) JavaScript
6 3 (0.56%) Perl
7 2 (0.37%) Bash
7 2 (0.37%) Bicep
8 1 (0.19%) C#
8 1 (0.19%) Ruby
8 1 (0.19%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 181 (33.64%) Security Cleared
2 151 (28.07%) Cisco Certification
3 131 (24.35%) SC Cleared
4 117 (21.75%) CCNP
5 61 (11.34%) DV Cleared
6 60 (11.15%) Degree
7 50 (9.29%) CCNA
8 38 (7.06%) CCIE
9 19 (3.53%) JNCIP
9 19 (3.53%) JNCIS
10 14 (2.60%) PMP
11 13 (2.42%) Network+ Certification
12 12 (2.23%) Microsoft Certification
12 12 (2.23%) PMI Certification
13 11 (2.04%) Azure Certification
13 11 (2.04%) JNCIA
14 10 (1.86%) CCSE
15 9 (1.67%) Computer Science Degree
15 9 (1.67%) JNCIE
16 8 (1.49%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (3.16%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 17 (3.16%) SLA
2 13 (2.42%) NIST
3 11 (2.04%) GDPR
4 10 (1.86%) QA
5 7 (1.30%) NCSC
6 5 (0.93%) PCI DSS
6 5 (0.93%) PMO
7 4 (0.74%) Cyber Essentials
8 3 (0.56%) JSP 440
9 2 (0.37%) Disclosure Scotland
9 2 (0.37%) RMADS
10 1 (0.19%) GRC
10 1 (0.19%) MiFID
10 1 (0.19%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 100 (18.59%) Active Directory
2 44 (8.18%) VMware Infrastructure
3 19 (3.53%) VMware NSX
4 12 (2.23%) vSphere
5 9 (1.67%) BitLocker
6 7 (1.30%) Hyper-V
7 5 (0.93%) Virtual Desktop
8 4 (0.74%) Docker
8 4 (0.74%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.37%) KVM
9 2 (0.37%) ProxySG
10 1 (0.19%) Ceph
10 1 (0.19%) Citrix Presentation Server
10 1 (0.19%) Firmware
10 1 (0.19%) iptables
10 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 1 (0.19%) RHEV
10 1 (0.19%) Samba
10 1 (0.19%) VMware Workstation
10 1 (0.19%) Xen
Systems Management
1 42 (7.81%) FortiGate
2 38 (7.06%) Microsoft Intune
3 32 (5.95%) Ansible
4 27 (5.02%) Terraform
5 22 (4.09%) SCCM
6 12 (2.23%) Single Sign-On
7 11 (2.04%) Jamf Pro
8 6 (1.12%) Cisco Prime
8 6 (1.12%) Nagios
9 4 (0.74%) Endace
9 4 (0.74%) WSUS
10 3 (0.56%) Cisco CUCM
10 3 (0.56%) Grafana
10 3 (0.56%) vCenter Server
11 2 (0.37%) Check_MK
11 2 (0.37%) Nessus
11 2 (0.37%) Progress Chef
11 2 (0.37%) SCOM
11 2 (0.37%) vRealize Orchestrator
12 1 (0.19%) WhatsUp Gold
Vendors
1 248 (46.10%) Cisco
2 121 (22.49%) Microsoft
3 106 (19.70%) Palo Alto
4 73 (13.57%) F5
4 73 (13.57%) Juniper
5 65 (12.08%) Aruba
5 65 (12.08%) CheckPoint
6 58 (10.78%) VMware
7 51 (9.48%) Fortinet
8 49 (9.11%) SolarWinds
9 37 (6.88%) ServiceNow
10 29 (5.39%) Meraki
11 26 (4.83%) Extreme Networks
12 25 (4.65%) Zscaler
13 24 (4.46%) Splunk
14 14 (2.60%) Dell
14 14 (2.60%) Veeam
15 13 (2.42%) Citrix
16 11 (2.04%) Arista
16 11 (2.04%) Ekahau