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

6 months to
30 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 234 171 134
Rank change year-on-year -63 -37 +41
Contract jobs citing LAN 450 469 824
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.16% 1.49% 1.86%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 11.09% 11.48% 13.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 290 283 505
10th Percentile £206 £223 £201
25th Percentile £309 £350 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £439 £450 £450
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% - -
75th Percentile £538 £569 £595
90th Percentile £604 £668 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £430 £450
% change year-on-year -1.16% -4.44% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 12 40
10th Percentile £13.22 £18.65 £14.24
25th Percentile £15.50 £20.00 £19.46
Median hourly rate £22.50 £20.19 £36.02
Median % change year-on-year +11.46% -43.95% +8.33%
75th Percentile £35.00 £34.06 £48.13
90th Percentile £69.72 £42.88 £63.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.75 £20.00 £22.50
% change year-on-year +3.75% -11.11% -18.92%

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 4,059 4,085 6,075
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.50% 12.99% 13.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,674 2,378 3,682
10th Percentile £204 £213 £208
25th Percentile £356 £363 £356
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £493
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +1.42% -4.83%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £685 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £468 £475
% change year-on-year -3.74% -1.58% +2.43%
Number of hourly rates quoted 163 137 395
10th Percentile £15.50 £17.38 £15.65
25th Percentile £18.94 £21.46 £21.25
Median hourly rate £30.00 £35.00 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% -30.00% +141.49%
75th Percentile £65.00 £57.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £69.25 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.54 £31.79 £56.40
% change year-on-year +27.52% -43.63% +196.84%

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 30 January 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 30 January 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 30 January 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 -82 376 £450 -1.80% 218
UK excluding London -48 290 £425 -1.16% 205
London -29 124 £483 -3.50% 55
Work from Home 0 115 £445 -11.00% 94
South East -13 90 £448 +11.88% 55
North of England -82 60 £420 -6.67% 50
Scotland +30 42 £275 -31.25% 16
Midlands -66 42 £340 -28.42% 32
West Midlands -33 36 £450 -10.00% 24
North West -40 36 £423 -8.80% 23
East of England -24 33 £350 -31.71% 20
Yorkshire -59 23 £275 +22.33% 21
South West -41 12 £513 +24.24% 25
East Midlands -47 6 £200 -42.86% 8
Wales +2 5 £293 +46.25% 8
Northern Ireland +1 5 £475 - 1
North East -13 1 £550 - 6

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 31 (6.89%) SharePoint
2 24 (5.33%) Microsoft Exchange
3 14 (3.11%) OpenStack
4 12 (2.67%) Confluence
5 10 (2.22%) Skype for Business
6 1 (0.22%) Apache
6 1 (0.22%) CICS
6 1 (0.22%) IIS
6 1 (0.22%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.22%) WebSphere
6 1 (0.22%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 41 (9.11%) Microsoft Office
2 25 (5.56%) MS Visio
3 17 (3.78%) Microsoft Excel
4 16 (3.56%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (1.11%) Acrobat
6 4 (0.89%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.22%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.44%) DELMIA
2 1 (0.22%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 97 (21.56%) Azure
2 59 (13.11%) Microsoft 365
3 57 (12.67%) AWS
4 29 (6.44%) Entra ID
5 18 (4.00%) GCP
6 13 (2.89%) SaaS
7 9 (2.00%) OneDrive
7 9 (2.00%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 6 (1.33%) OpenShift
8 6 (1.33%) Power Platform
9 5 (1.11%) PaaS
10 4 (0.89%) Azure DevOps
10 4 (0.89%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 4 (0.89%) Microsoft Purview
10 4 (0.89%) PowerApps
11 3 (0.67%) AWS Direct Connect
11 3 (0.67%) Nutanix
11 3 (0.67%) Serverless
12 2 (0.44%) Azure Sentinel
12 2 (0.44%) Azure Service Bus
Communications & Networking
1 375 (83.33%) WAN
2 169 (37.56%) Firewall
3 140 (31.11%) VPN
4 94 (20.89%) Wi-Fi
5 93 (20.67%) BGP
6 87 (19.33%) SD-WAN
7 75 (16.67%) OSPF
8 74 (16.44%) TCP/IP
9 73 (16.22%) DNS
9 73 (16.22%) Wireless
10 70 (15.56%) MPLS
10 70 (15.56%) Network Security
11 56 (12.44%) DHCP
11 56 (12.44%) VLAN
12 48 (10.67%) WLAN
13 41 (9.11%) IPsec
14 30 (6.67%) Cisco Nexus
15 28 (6.22%) Structured Cabling
16 27 (6.00%) Cisco ASA
17 21 (4.67%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (1.56%) SQL Server
2 4 (0.89%) MS Access
3 2 (0.44%) MariaDB
3 2 (0.44%) NoSQL
3 2 (0.44%) Oracle Database
3 2 (0.44%) PostgreSQL
3 2 (0.44%) Power BI
4 1 (0.22%) Amazon RDS
4 1 (0.22%) Apache Cassandra
4 1 (0.22%) Data Warehouse
4 1 (0.22%) DynamoDB
4 1 (0.22%) MongoDB
4 1 (0.22%) MySQL
4 1 (0.22%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 21 (4.67%) JIRA
2 3 (0.67%) Sonatype Nexus
3 2 (0.44%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.22%) Bitbucket
4 1 (0.22%) Git
4 1 (0.22%) GitLab
4 1 (0.22%) Tricentis qTest
General
1 144 (32.00%) Social Skills
2 52 (11.56%) Public Sector
3 50 (11.11%) Analytical Skills
4 38 (8.44%) Finance
5 37 (8.22%) Documentation Skills
6 35 (7.78%) Telecoms
7 25 (5.56%) Manufacturing
8 16 (3.56%) Military
9 13 (2.89%) Legal
10 10 (2.22%) Banking
11 9 (2.00%) Organisational Skills
11 9 (2.00%) Presentation Skills
12 6 (1.33%) Financial Institution
12 6 (1.33%) Law
12 6 (1.33%) Local Government
12 6 (1.33%) Marketing
13 5 (1.11%) Electronics
13 5 (1.11%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 4 (0.89%) Influencing Skills
15 3 (0.67%) Police
Job Titles
1 148 (32.89%) Network Engineer
2 81 (18.00%) Architect
3 56 (12.44%) Network Architect
4 37 (8.22%) Senior
5 36 (8.00%) Analyst
6 29 (6.44%) IT Support
6 29 (6.44%) Support Engineer
7 23 (5.11%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 22 (4.89%) Lead
9 21 (4.67%) IT Engineer
9 21 (4.67%) Support Analyst
10 20 (4.44%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 19 (4.22%) Project Manager
12 18 (4.00%) 2nd Line Support
12 18 (4.00%) Cisco Engineer
12 18 (4.00%) Senior Network Engineer
13 17 (3.78%) Cisco Network Engineer
13 17 (3.78%) Field Engineer
13 17 (3.78%) Technical Architect
13 17 (3.78%) Technical Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (2.44%) LDAP
2 8 (1.78%) Middleware
2 8 (1.78%) NETCONF
2 8 (1.78%) REST
2 8 (1.78%) YANG
3 6 (1.33%) Microsoft Graph
3 6 (1.33%) SAML
4 3 (0.67%) 802.1X
5 2 (0.44%) ARM Templates
5 2 (0.44%) CSS
5 2 (0.44%) Django
5 2 (0.44%) HTML
5 2 (0.44%) XMPP
5 2 (0.44%) YAML
6 1 (0.22%) .NET
6 1 (0.22%) EDI
6 1 (0.22%) Java RMI
6 1 (0.22%) LAMP
6 1 (0.22%) Node.js
6 1 (0.22%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 85 (18.89%) Data Centre
2 24 (5.33%) Hybrid Cloud
3 20 (4.44%) Driving Licence
3 20 (4.44%) Onboarding
4 16 (3.56%) CMDB
5 14 (3.11%) Data Protection Act
6 13 (2.89%) NHS
7 9 (2.00%) Cloud Native
7 9 (2.00%) Management Information System
8 8 (1.78%) Operational Technology
8 8 (1.78%) Virtual Team
9 7 (1.56%) IoT
9 7 (1.56%) PKI
9 7 (1.56%) Security Posture
10 6 (1.33%) SCADA
10 6 (1.33%) Self-Motivation
11 5 (1.11%) Enterprise Software
11 5 (1.11%) iPhone
11 5 (1.11%) Public Cloud
11 5 (1.11%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 115 (25.56%) Windows
2 43 (9.56%) Windows Server
3 38 (8.44%) Windows 10
4 20 (4.44%) Linux
5 15 (3.33%) Windows Server 2019
6 13 (2.89%) Windows Server 2016
7 10 (2.22%) Windows 7
8 9 (2.00%) Android
9 6 (1.33%) Apple iOS
9 6 (1.33%) Mac OS
10 5 (1.11%) Windows Server 2012
11 4 (0.89%) CatOS
12 3 (0.67%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 3 (0.67%) Ubuntu
13 2 (0.44%) Windows Server 2003
14 1 (0.22%) AIX
14 1 (0.22%) MVS
14 1 (0.22%) Solaris
14 1 (0.22%) VMS
14 1 (0.22%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 69 (15.33%) Problem-Solving
2 60 (13.33%) ITIL
3 58 (12.89%) Network Design
4 56 (12.44%) Migration
5 49 (10.89%) Network Architecture
6 47 (10.44%) Stakeholder Management
7 43 (9.56%) Cybersecurity
8 38 (8.44%) ITSM
9 37 (8.22%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 36 (8.00%) Project Delivery
11 31 (6.89%) Change Management
11 31 (6.89%) Customer Service
11 31 (6.89%) High Availability
12 30 (6.67%) Network Monitoring
13 26 (5.78%) Zero Trust
14 24 (5.33%) Roadmaps
15 23 (5.11%) Continuous Improvement
15 23 (5.11%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 22 (4.89%) Network Segmentation
16 22 (4.89%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 43 (9.56%) Python
2 39 (8.67%) PowerShell
3 12 (2.67%) SQL
4 10 (2.22%) VBScript
5 9 (2.00%) VB
6 5 (1.11%) Perl
7 3 (0.67%) JavaScript
8 2 (0.44%) Bash
8 2 (0.44%) Bicep
9 1 (0.22%) C#
9 1 (0.22%) Java
9 1 (0.22%) Ruby
9 1 (0.22%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.22%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 131 (29.11%) Security Cleared
2 127 (28.22%) Cisco Certification
3 104 (23.11%) SC Cleared
4 99 (22.00%) CCNP
5 56 (12.44%) Degree
6 45 (10.00%) CCIE
7 40 (8.89%) CCNA
8 37 (8.22%) DV Cleared
9 21 (4.67%) JNCIE
10 14 (3.11%) AWS Certification
11 11 (2.44%) JNCIS
11 11 (2.44%) Network+ Certification
12 10 (2.22%) Azure Certification
12 10 (2.22%) JNCIP
13 9 (2.00%) CCSE
14 8 (1.78%) Microsoft Certification
14 8 (1.78%) PMI Certification
14 8 (1.78%) PMP
15 7 (1.56%) BPSS Clearance
15 7 (1.56%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (3.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 10 (2.22%) NIST
2 10 (2.22%) SLA
3 9 (2.00%) GDPR
4 7 (1.56%) PCI DSS
4 7 (1.56%) QA
5 5 (1.11%) PMO
6 4 (0.89%) Cyber Essentials
7 3 (0.67%) JSP 440
7 3 (0.67%) NCSC
8 2 (0.44%) RMADS
9 1 (0.22%) Accessibility
9 1 (0.22%) Disclosure Scotland
9 1 (0.22%) GRC
9 1 (0.22%) MiFID
9 1 (0.22%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 79 (17.56%) Active Directory
2 35 (7.78%) VMware Infrastructure
3 22 (4.89%) VMware NSX
4 9 (2.00%) BitLocker
5 7 (1.56%) Hyper-V
5 7 (1.56%) vSphere
6 6 (1.33%) Virtual Desktop
7 4 (0.89%) Docker
8 3 (0.67%) KVM
8 3 (0.67%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.44%) Firmware
9 2 (0.44%) NFS
9 2 (0.44%) ProxySG
9 2 (0.44%) Xen
10 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 1 (0.22%) Samba
10 1 (0.22%) SRDF
10 1 (0.22%) Veritas Cluster Server
10 1 (0.22%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.22%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 41 (9.11%) Ansible
2 31 (6.89%) Microsoft Intune
2 31 (6.89%) Terraform
3 20 (4.44%) SCCM
4 19 (4.22%) FortiGate
5 10 (2.22%) Single Sign-On
6 9 (2.00%) Jamf Pro
7 5 (1.11%) Cisco Prime
8 4 (0.89%) Nagios
8 4 (0.89%) SCOM
9 3 (0.67%) Cisco CUCM
9 3 (0.67%) Endace
9 3 (0.67%) Grafana
9 3 (0.67%) WSUS
10 2 (0.44%) Check_MK
10 2 (0.44%) Kubernetes
10 2 (0.44%) Nessus
10 2 (0.44%) vCenter Server
11 1 (0.22%) HAProxy
11 1 (0.22%) SELinux
Vendors
1 201 (44.67%) Cisco
2 100 (22.22%) Microsoft
3 86 (19.11%) Palo Alto
4 55 (12.22%) Fortinet
5 52 (11.56%) CheckPoint
6 50 (11.11%) VMware
7 48 (10.67%) Juniper
8 47 (10.44%) Aruba
9 44 (9.78%) F5
10 34 (7.56%) Meraki
11 30 (6.67%) SolarWinds
12 29 (6.44%) ServiceNow
13 20 (4.44%) Zscaler
14 14 (3.11%) Veeam
15 12 (2.67%) Citrix
16 11 (2.44%) Arista
17 8 (1.78%) Dell
17 8 (1.78%) SAP
18 6 (1.33%) Nokia
18 6 (1.33%) Remedy