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

6 months to
4 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 239 180 134
Rank change year-on-year -59 -46 +37
Contract jobs citing LAN 451 457 838
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.15% 1.48% 1.87%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 11.00% 11.34% 13.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 294 277 509
10th Percentile £209 £223 £200
25th Percentile £313 £350 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £440 £450 £460
Median % change year-on-year -2.22% -2.17% +2.22%
75th Percentile £525 £573 £595
90th Percentile £600 £674 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £430 £450
% change year-on-year -1.16% -4.44% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 12 43
10th Percentile £12.97 £18.65 £14.69
25th Percentile £15.50 £20.00 £18.98
Median hourly rate £22.50 £20.19 £34.00
Median % change year-on-year +11.46% -40.63% -8.65%
75th Percentile £35.00 £34.06 £47.50
90th Percentile £69.44 £42.88 £62.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.38 £20.00 £22.50
% change year-on-year -8.13% -11.11% -31.30%

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 4,099 4,031 6,123
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.50% 13.03% 13.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,707 2,356 3,691
10th Percentile £204 £213 £206
25th Percentile £356 £360 £356
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £493
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +1.52% -4.83%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £685 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £470 £475
% change year-on-year -4.26% -1.05% +2.15%
Number of hourly rates quoted 166 137 408
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.93 £15.45
25th Percentile £18.90 £21.46 £21.25
Median hourly rate £32.00 £35.00 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -8.57% -30.00% +143.90%
75th Percentile £65.00 £53.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £69.25 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.94 £31.79 £55.00
% change year-on-year +31.93% -42.20% +179.54%

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 4 February 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 4 February 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 4 February 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 -70 376 £450 -2.70% 203
UK excluding London -43 291 £425 -1.16% 183
London -36 124 £463 -7.50% 64
Work from Home -6 115 £445 -11.00% 70
South East -8 89 £445 +11.25% 48
North of England -77 60 £423 -6.11% 47
Midlands -65 42 £340 -28.42% 31
Scotland +37 41 £275 -31.25% 14
West Midlands -37 36 £450 -10.00% 25
North West -45 34 £450 -1.96% 22
East of England -30 33 £350 -33.33% 15
Yorkshire -52 25 £313 +39.11% 21
South West -37 13 £513 +24.24% 23
Wales +8 7 £468 +133.75% 6
East Midlands -45 6 £200 -40.30% 6
Northern Ireland +2 5 £475 -
North East -14 1 £550 - 4

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 34 (7.54%) SharePoint
2 26 (5.76%) Microsoft Exchange
3 13 (2.88%) Confluence
4 12 (2.66%) OpenStack
5 10 (2.22%) Skype for Business
6 1 (0.22%) Apache
6 1 (0.22%) IIS
Applications
1 41 (9.09%) Microsoft Office
2 25 (5.54%) MS Visio
3 17 (3.77%) Microsoft Excel
4 16 (3.55%) 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 99 (21.95%) Azure
2 62 (13.75%) Microsoft 365
3 54 (11.97%) AWS
4 32 (7.10%) Entra ID
5 17 (3.77%) GCP
6 15 (3.33%) SaaS
7 11 (2.44%) OneDrive
8 9 (2.00%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 7 (1.55%) Power Platform
10 6 (1.33%) PaaS
11 5 (1.11%) OpenShift
11 5 (1.11%) PowerApps
12 4 (0.89%) Azure DevOps
12 4 (0.89%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 4 (0.89%) Microsoft Purview
13 3 (0.67%) AWS Direct Connect
13 3 (0.67%) Nutanix
13 3 (0.67%) Serverless
14 2 (0.44%) AWS IoT
14 2 (0.44%) WhatsApp
Communications & Networking
1 373 (82.71%) WAN
2 174 (38.58%) Firewall
3 143 (31.71%) VPN
4 98 (21.73%) Wi-Fi
5 92 (20.40%) BGP
6 88 (19.51%) SD-WAN
7 76 (16.85%) DNS
8 75 (16.63%) OSPF
9 74 (16.41%) Wireless
10 73 (16.19%) Network Security
10 73 (16.19%) TCP/IP
11 69 (15.30%) MPLS
12 59 (13.08%) DHCP
13 58 (12.86%) VLAN
14 50 (11.09%) WLAN
15 41 (9.09%) IPsec
16 30 (6.65%) Cisco Nexus
17 28 (6.21%) Cisco ASA
17 28 (6.21%) Structured Cabling
18 21 (4.66%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.11%) SQL Server
2 4 (0.89%) MS Access
3 2 (0.44%) MariaDB
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%) NoSQL
4 1 (0.22%) Oracle Database
4 1 (0.22%) PostgreSQL
4 1 (0.22%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 22 (4.88%) JIRA
2 2 (0.44%) Sonatype Nexus
3 1 (0.22%) Bitbucket
3 1 (0.22%) Git
3 1 (0.22%) GitLab
3 1 (0.22%) Jenkins
3 1 (0.22%) Tricentis qTest
General
1 142 (31.49%) Social Skills
2 53 (11.75%) Public Sector
3 50 (11.09%) Analytical Skills
4 39 (8.65%) Finance
5 36 (7.98%) Documentation Skills
5 36 (7.98%) Telecoms
6 25 (5.54%) Manufacturing
7 16 (3.55%) Military
8 14 (3.10%) Legal
9 10 (2.22%) Banking
9 10 (2.22%) Organisational Skills
10 9 (2.00%) Presentation Skills
11 7 (1.55%) Financial Institution
11 7 (1.55%) Local Government
12 6 (1.33%) Law
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
1 152 (33.70%) Network Engineer
2 77 (17.07%) Architect
3 54 (11.97%) Network Architect
4 40 (8.87%) Senior
5 35 (7.76%) Analyst
6 29 (6.43%) IT Support
7 28 (6.21%) Support Engineer
8 25 (5.54%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 22 (4.88%) Lead
10 21 (4.66%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 20 (4.43%) IT Engineer
11 20 (4.43%) Support Analyst
12 19 (4.21%) Cisco Engineer
12 19 (4.21%) Project Manager
13 18 (3.99%) 2nd Line Support
13 18 (3.99%) Cisco Network Engineer
13 18 (3.99%) Senior Network Engineer
14 17 (3.77%) Field Engineer
14 17 (3.77%) Technical Architect
15 16 (3.55%) Technical Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (2.22%) LDAP
2 8 (1.77%) Microsoft Graph
3 7 (1.55%) Middleware
3 7 (1.55%) NETCONF
3 7 (1.55%) REST
3 7 (1.55%) YANG
4 6 (1.33%) SAML
5 3 (0.67%) 802.1X
6 2 (0.44%) ARM Templates
6 2 (0.44%) CSS
6 2 (0.44%) Django
6 2 (0.44%) HTML
6 2 (0.44%) XMPP
6 2 (0.44%) YAML
7 1 (0.22%) .NET
7 1 (0.22%) EDI
7 1 (0.22%) Java RMI
7 1 (0.22%) LAPP Stack
7 1 (0.22%) Node.js
7 1 (0.22%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 84 (18.63%) Data Centre
2 22 (4.88%) Hybrid Cloud
3 20 (4.43%) Driving Licence
3 20 (4.43%) Onboarding
4 16 (3.55%) CMDB
5 14 (3.10%) Data Protection Act
6 12 (2.66%) NHS
7 9 (2.00%) Management Information System
8 8 (1.77%) Cloud Native
8 8 (1.77%) IoT
8 8 (1.77%) Operational Technology
8 8 (1.77%) Virtual Team
9 7 (1.55%) PKI
9 7 (1.55%) Security Posture
9 7 (1.55%) Self-Motivation
10 6 (1.33%) SCADA
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
1 116 (25.72%) Windows
2 44 (9.76%) Windows Server
3 38 (8.43%) Windows 10
4 19 (4.21%) Linux
5 16 (3.55%) Windows Server 2019
6 13 (2.88%) Windows Server 2016
7 10 (2.22%) Android
7 10 (2.22%) Windows 7
8 6 (1.33%) Apple iOS
8 6 (1.33%) Mac OS
9 5 (1.11%) Windows Server 2012
10 4 (0.89%) CatOS
11 3 (0.67%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 3 (0.67%) Ubuntu
12 2 (0.44%) VMS
12 2 (0.44%) Windows Server 2003
13 1 (0.22%) AIX
13 1 (0.22%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 69 (15.30%) Problem-Solving
2 61 (13.53%) ITIL
3 57 (12.64%) Migration
4 55 (12.20%) Network Design
5 49 (10.86%) Stakeholder Management
6 45 (9.98%) Network Architecture
7 43 (9.53%) Cybersecurity
8 39 (8.65%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 38 (8.43%) ITSM
10 36 (7.98%) Project Delivery
11 32 (7.10%) Change Management
12 30 (6.65%) High Availability
12 30 (6.65%) Network Monitoring
13 29 (6.43%) Customer Service
14 26 (5.76%) Zero Trust
15 24 (5.32%) Continuous Improvement
16 23 (5.10%) Roadmaps
16 23 (5.10%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 22 (4.88%) Agile
17 22 (4.88%) Network Management
Programming Languages
1 43 (9.53%) Python
2 42 (9.31%) PowerShell
3 11 (2.44%) 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%) Ruby
9 1 (0.22%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.22%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 130 (28.82%) Security Cleared
2 127 (28.16%) Cisco Certification
3 105 (23.28%) SC Cleared
4 101 (22.39%) CCNP
5 55 (12.20%) Degree
6 43 (9.53%) CCIE
7 41 (9.09%) CCNA
8 34 (7.54%) DV Cleared
9 19 (4.21%) JNCIE
10 13 (2.88%) 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 (1.77%) PMI Certification
14 8 (1.77%) PMP
15 7 (1.55%) BPSS Clearance
15 7 (1.55%) CISSP
15 7 (1.55%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (3.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 10 (2.22%) NIST
2 10 (2.22%) SLA
3 9 (2.00%) GDPR
4 7 (1.55%) PCI DSS
4 7 (1.55%) 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 81 (17.96%) Active Directory
2 34 (7.54%) VMware Infrastructure
3 21 (4.66%) VMware NSX
4 9 (2.00%) BitLocker
5 8 (1.77%) vSphere
6 6 (1.33%) Hyper-V
6 6 (1.33%) Virtual Desktop
7 4 (0.89%) Docker
8 3 (0.67%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.44%) Firmware
9 2 (0.44%) KVM
9 2 (0.44%) ProxySG
10 1 (0.22%) Ceph
10 1 (0.22%) iptables
10 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 1 (0.22%) NFS
10 1 (0.22%) RHEV
10 1 (0.22%) Samba
10 1 (0.22%) VMware Workstation
10 1 (0.22%) Xen
Systems Management
1 38 (8.43%) Ansible
2 34 (7.54%) Microsoft Intune
3 29 (6.43%) Terraform
4 21 (4.66%) SCCM
5 20 (4.43%) FortiGate
6 10 (2.22%) Jamf Pro
6 10 (2.22%) Single Sign-On
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%) Nessus
10 2 (0.44%) vCenter Server
11 1 (0.22%) Backup Exec
11 1 (0.22%) Norton AntiVirus
11 1 (0.22%) WhatsUp Gold
Vendors
1 204 (45.23%) Cisco
2 100 (22.17%) Microsoft
3 89 (19.73%) Palo Alto
4 56 (12.42%) Fortinet
5 54 (11.97%) CheckPoint
6 49 (10.86%) VMware
7 47 (10.42%) Aruba
7 47 (10.42%) Juniper
8 43 (9.53%) F5
9 34 (7.54%) Meraki
10 30 (6.65%) ServiceNow
10 30 (6.65%) SolarWinds
11 20 (4.43%) Zscaler
12 14 (3.10%) Veeam
13 11 (2.44%) Arista
14 10 (2.22%) Citrix
15 9 (2.00%) Dell
16 8 (1.77%) SAP
17 6 (1.33%) Nokia
17 6 (1.33%) Remedy