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

6 months to
3 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 277 225 187
Rank change year-on-year -52 -38 -72
Contract jobs citing LAN 532 400 510
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.97% 1.21% 1.34%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 10.49% 10.54% 11.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 317 250 284
10th Percentile £213 £199 £220
25th Percentile £325 £305 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% +5.56%
75th Percentile £538 £575 £575
90th Percentile £625 £626 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £455 £388 £425
% change year-on-year +17.42% -8.82% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 27 22
10th Percentile £12.71 £14.49 £18.65
25th Percentile £16.25 £22.25 £20.00
Median hourly rate £26.72 £30.00 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year -10.93% +26.05% -37.43%
75th Percentile £73.00 £36.88 £38.94
90th Percentile £78.75 £58.10 £73.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.25 £30.00 £22.45
% change year-on-year -29.17% +33.63% -43.88%

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 5,073 3,796 4,532
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.25% 11.45% 11.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,929 2,382 2,616
10th Percentile £234 £220 £225
25th Percentile £390 £362 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £607
90th Percentile £675 £680 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £453 £485
% change year-on-year +4.86% -6.60% +6.49%
Number of hourly rates quoted 429 206 202
10th Percentile £14.10 £15.50 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.50 £20.94 £23.80
Median hourly rate £33.00 £41.72 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -20.90% -16.56% -11.49%
75th Percentile £68.75 £63.63 £65.00
90th Percentile £92.19 £74.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.36 £42.22 £57.35
% change year-on-year -35.20% -26.38% -0.26%

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 October 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 3 October 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 3 October 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 -64 431 £500 +11.11% 550
UK excluding London -13 378 £455 +17.42% 405
London -100 113 £500 +8.11% 175
South East -33 101 £500 - 118
Work from Home -65 94 £500 +8.11% 240
North of England -40 79 £500 +203.03% 80
Scotland +18 69 £265 -30.94% 23
Midlands -39 50 £388 -3.13% 74
East of England +1 45 £435 +117.50% 50
North West -45 43 £519 +291.77% 38
West Midlands -37 38 £450 -2.70% 42
Yorkshire -6 36 £450 +123.60% 33
South West -27 29 £400 +29.03% 39
East Midlands -10 12 £275 +37.50% 32
Wales -19 3 £200 -13.51% 14
Channel Islands - 3 £600 -
Northern Ireland +2 1 - - 12

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 20 (3.76%) Microsoft Exchange
2 19 (3.57%) SharePoint
3 9 (1.69%) OpenStack
4 8 (1.50%) CMS
5 7 (1.32%) Skype for Business
6 4 (0.75%) Confluence
7 2 (0.38%) IIS
Applications
1 32 (6.02%) Microsoft Office
2 26 (4.89%) MS Visio
3 25 (4.70%) Microsoft Excel
4 10 (1.88%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.94%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.19%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 107 (20.11%) Azure
2 76 (14.29%) Microsoft 365
3 54 (10.15%) AWS
4 32 (6.02%) Entra ID
5 13 (2.44%) GCP
6 11 (2.07%) OneDrive
6 11 (2.07%) SaaS
7 10 (1.88%) AWS Direct Connect
8 8 (1.50%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 6 (1.13%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 5 (0.94%) Azure DevOps
11 4 (0.75%) Microsoft Copilot
11 4 (0.75%) OpenShift
12 3 (0.56%) Azure Sentinel
12 3 (0.56%) Smartsheet
13 2 (0.38%) IaaS
13 2 (0.38%) Power Platform
14 1 (0.19%) GitHub
14 1 (0.19%) Google Workspace
14 1 (0.19%) Route 53
Communications & Networking
1 447 (84.02%) WAN
2 247 (46.43%) Firewall
3 146 (27.44%) VPN
4 135 (25.38%) Network Security
5 125 (23.50%) Wireless
6 120 (22.56%) Wi-Fi
7 113 (21.24%) SD-WAN
8 110 (20.68%) BGP
9 100 (18.80%) MPLS
10 86 (16.17%) DNS
11 80 (15.04%) TCP/IP
12 79 (14.85%) OSPF
13 71 (13.35%) WLAN
14 70 (13.16%) DHCP
15 64 (12.03%) VLAN
16 51 (9.59%) Cisco Nexus
16 51 (9.59%) IPsec
17 35 (6.58%) Cisco ASA
17 35 (6.58%) Cisco ISE
18 24 (4.51%) Cisco Firepower
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.13%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.19%) DTS
2 1 (0.19%) Metadata
2 1 (0.19%) Power BI
2 1 (0.19%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 13 (2.44%) JIRA
2 5 (0.94%) Git
3 4 (0.75%) Sonatype Nexus
4 3 (0.56%) Browser DevTools
5 2 (0.38%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 1 (0.19%) Fiddler
6 1 (0.19%) MSI
6 1 (0.19%) Visual Studio
General
1 177 (33.27%) Social Skills
2 91 (17.11%) Telecoms
3 53 (9.96%) Analytical Skills
4 45 (8.46%) Public Sector
5 33 (6.20%) Finance
6 25 (4.70%) Documentation Skills
6 25 (4.70%) Organisational Skills
7 19 (3.57%) Banking
8 13 (2.44%) Legal
8 13 (2.44%) Retail
9 9 (1.69%) Manufacturing
10 7 (1.32%) Influencing Skills
10 7 (1.32%) Police
11 5 (0.94%) Financial Institution
11 5 (0.94%) Local Government
12 2 (0.38%) Billing
12 2 (0.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 2 (0.38%) Law
12 2 (0.38%) Military
13 1 (0.19%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 236 (44.36%) Network Engineer
2 65 (12.22%) Senior
3 62 (11.65%) Architect
4 47 (8.83%) Network Architect
5 42 (7.89%) Senior Network Engineer
6 40 (7.52%) Support Engineer
7 38 (7.14%) IT Support
8 29 (5.45%) Cisco Engineer
8 29 (5.45%) IT Engineer
9 25 (4.70%) Field Engineer
9 25 (4.70%) Telecoms Engineer
10 24 (4.51%) IT Support Engineer
10 24 (4.51%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 22 (4.14%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 20 (3.76%) Cisco Network Engineer
13 17 (3.20%) Developer
13 17 (3.20%) Project Engineer
14 16 (3.01%) Network Field Engineer
14 16 (3.01%) Project Manager
15 15 (2.82%) Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (4.32%) 802.1X
2 16 (3.01%) Terraform
3 13 (2.44%) NETCONF
4 10 (1.88%) REST
5 9 (1.69%) YANG
6 7 (1.32%) XMPP
7 6 (1.13%) SAML
8 4 (0.75%) OpenConfig
8 4 (0.75%) RESTCONF
9 3 (0.56%) Java RMI
9 3 (0.56%) LDAP
9 3 (0.56%) RFC 2544
9 3 (0.56%) YAML
10 2 (0.38%) JSON
10 2 (0.38%) Middleware
10 2 (0.38%) ODBC
10 2 (0.38%) Software Packaging
11 1 (0.19%) .NET
11 1 (0.19%) .NET Framework
11 1 (0.19%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 112 (21.05%) Data Centre
2 41 (7.71%) Driving Licence
3 28 (5.26%) Hybrid Cloud
4 25 (4.70%) Self-Motivation
5 24 (4.51%) Video Conferencing
6 23 (4.32%) Onboarding
7 17 (3.20%) Operational Technology
8 16 (3.01%) PKI
9 14 (2.63%) Private Cloud
10 12 (2.26%) Cloud Native
10 12 (2.26%) Data Protection Act
11 11 (2.07%) Security Posture
12 9 (1.69%) Analytical Mindset
12 9 (1.69%) IoT
13 8 (1.50%) Management Information System
13 8 (1.50%) NHS
13 8 (1.50%) Public Cloud
13 8 (1.50%) SCADA
13 8 (1.50%) Smartphone
14 7 (1.32%) Fibre Optics
Operating Systems
1 132 (24.81%) Windows
2 45 (8.46%) Windows Server
3 31 (5.83%) Linux
3 31 (5.83%) Windows 10
4 15 (2.82%) Mac OS
5 12 (2.26%) Windows 7
6 8 (1.50%) Unix
7 5 (0.94%) Windows Server 2019
8 4 (0.75%) Android
8 4 (0.75%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (0.56%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.38%) Ubuntu
10 2 (0.38%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.38%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.19%) CatOS
11 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 103 (19.36%) Problem-Solving
2 86 (16.17%) ITIL
3 80 (15.04%) Project Delivery
4 60 (11.28%) Continuous Improvement
5 58 (10.90%) Stakeholder Management
6 56 (10.53%) High Availability
7 46 (8.65%) Roadmaps
8 44 (8.27%) Load Balancing
9 43 (8.08%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 42 (7.89%) Customer Service
11 41 (7.71%) Network Architecture
12 39 (7.33%) Network Design
13 36 (6.77%) Migration
13 36 (6.77%) Zero Trust
14 35 (6.58%) Mentoring
14 35 (6.58%) Technical Leadership
15 34 (6.39%) Network Monitoring
15 34 (6.39%) Service Management
16 33 (6.20%) Cybersecurity
17 32 (6.02%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 33 (6.20%) Python
2 22 (4.14%) PowerShell
3 6 (1.13%) VB
3 6 (1.13%) VBScript
4 3 (0.56%) SQL
5 2 (0.38%) Bash
5 2 (0.38%) Bicep
5 2 (0.38%) T-SQL
6 1 (0.19%) C
6 1 (0.19%) C++
Qualifications
1 159 (29.89%) Security Cleared
2 148 (27.82%) Cisco Certification
3 96 (18.05%) SC Cleared
4 94 (17.67%) CCNP
5 67 (12.59%) CCNA
6 49 (9.21%) DV Cleared
7 36 (6.77%) CCIE
8 33 (6.20%) Degree
9 14 (2.63%) Azure Certification
10 12 (2.26%) Microsoft Certification
11 10 (1.88%) A+ Certification
12 9 (1.69%) AWS Certification
12 9 (1.69%) JNCIE
12 9 (1.69%) PMI Certification
12 9 (1.69%) PMP
13 8 (1.50%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 7 (1.32%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 6 (1.13%) BPSS Clearance
15 6 (1.13%) JNCIP
15 6 (1.13%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (4.89%) SLA
2 11 (2.07%) QA
3 10 (1.88%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 8 (1.50%) NIST
5 7 (1.32%) NCSC
6 4 (0.75%) Disclosure Scotland
6 4 (0.75%) PMO
7 3 (0.56%) Cyber Essentials
7 3 (0.56%) GRC
7 3 (0.56%) JSP 440
8 2 (0.38%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 2 (0.38%) GDPR
8 2 (0.38%) PCI DSS
9 1 (0.19%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.19%) Data Quality
9 1 (0.19%) ISO 9001
9 1 (0.19%) NEBOSH
System Software
1 82 (15.41%) Active Directory
2 50 (9.40%) VMware Infrastructure
3 20 (3.76%) VMware NSX
4 16 (3.01%) vSphere
5 12 (2.26%) Firmware
6 10 (1.88%) Virtual Machines
7 9 (1.69%) Virtual Desktop
8 7 (1.32%) BitLocker
9 6 (1.13%) Hyper-V
9 6 (1.13%) VMware ESXi
10 5 (0.94%) Virtual Servers
11 4 (0.75%) FreeRADIUS
12 2 (0.38%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 1 (0.19%) NFS
13 1 (0.19%) ProxySG
Systems Management
1 34 (6.39%) Ansible
2 31 (5.83%) FortiGate
3 23 (4.32%) Microsoft Intune
4 15 (2.82%) SCCM
5 9 (1.69%) Cisco CUCM
6 8 (1.50%) Single Sign-On
7 6 (1.13%) Nagios
7 6 (1.13%) vCenter Server
8 5 (0.94%) Cisco Prime
9 4 (0.75%) Grafana
10 3 (0.56%) Prometheus
11 2 (0.38%) CASB
11 2 (0.38%) Jamf Pro
11 2 (0.38%) VxRail
12 1 (0.19%) AirWatch
12 1 (0.19%) Backup Exec
12 1 (0.19%) Nessus
12 1 (0.19%) TrustSec
12 1 (0.19%) WSUS
Vendors
1 276 (51.88%) Cisco
2 146 (27.44%) Microsoft
3 90 (16.92%) Palo Alto
4 78 (14.66%) VMware
5 75 (14.10%) Fortinet
6 49 (9.21%) Juniper
7 48 (9.02%) F5
7 48 (9.02%) SolarWinds
8 43 (8.08%) Aruba
9 36 (6.77%) Meraki
10 33 (6.20%) CheckPoint
11 28 (5.26%) ServiceNow
12 21 (3.95%) Nokia
13 19 (3.57%) Zscaler
14 10 (1.88%) Arista
15 9 (1.69%) Ekahau
15 9 (1.69%) Google
15 9 (1.69%) HP
15 9 (1.69%) Splunk
16 8 (1.50%) Extreme Networks