Local Government Contract Job Trends

Local Government (Local Authority, Local Council)
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Local Government in contract job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Local Government over the 6 months leading up to 6 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 252 254 214
Rank change year-on-year +2 -40 +118
Contract jobs citing Local Government 551 349 449
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.02% 1.07% 1.17%
As % of the General category 1.85% 1.68% 2.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 392 231 255
10th Percentile £325 £250 £300
25th Percentile £413 £380 £376
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £475 £450
Median % change year-on-year +10.53% +5.56% -
75th Percentile £603 £556 £538
90th Percentile £738 £650 £627
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £450 £450
% change year-on-year +16.67% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 73 61 33
10th Percentile £15.06 £23.50 £21.05
25th Percentile £16.70 £29.00 £23.66
Median hourly rate £20.62 £32.77 £27.84
Median % change year-on-year -37.09% +17.71% +23.79%
75th Percentile £27.74 £57.50 £33.75
90th Percentile £31.98 £58.75 £52.02
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.51 £29.00 £25.93
% change year-on-year -29.28% +11.84% +17.33%

All General Skills
UK

Local Government falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring general skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 29,857 20,810 22,078
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 55.24% 63.63% 57.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,625 12,894 13,513
10th Percentile £313 £275 £288
25th Percentile £419 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,332 1,174 1,166
10th Percentile £13.69 £13.50 £14.50
25th Percentile £16.74 £16.03 £17.25
Median hourly rate £30.58 £25.15 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +21.59% -32.93% +36.36%
75th Percentile £55.00 £50.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £68.75 £70.39
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.31 £21.40 £38.12
% change year-on-year +46.33% -43.87% +46.90%

Local Government
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Local Government relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Local Government job vacancy trend in the UK

Local Government
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Local Government.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Local Government

Local Government
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Local Government over the 6 months to 6 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Local Government in the UK

Local Government
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Local Government.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Local Government

Local Government
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Local Government over the 6 months to 6 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Local Government in the UK

Local Government
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 Local Government within the UK over the 6 months to 6 September 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 +13 507 £525 +16.67% 413
UK excluding London +16 285 £525 +16.67% 308
London -29 217 £525 +10.53% 177
Work from Home -13 181 £517 +11.68% 204
Midlands +24 93 £525 +31.25% 64
West Midlands +18 68 £525 +31.25% 42
South East -43 60 £637 +59.25% 68
North of England -51 56 £433 -3.89% 76
South West -40 36 £625 +56.25% 43
East of England +1 31 £370 +23.33% 26
Yorkshire -23 28 £494 +9.72% 28
North West -49 27 £390 -15.68% 39
East Midlands +1 23 £500 +73.91% 24
Scotland -27 9 £650 +30.00% 25
Wales -16 3 £425 - 13
North East -39 1 - - 11

Local Government
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 27 (4.90%) SharePoint
2 8 (1.45%) Oracle Workflow
3 6 (1.09%) CMS
4 4 (0.73%) Confluence
4 4 (0.73%) OpenEdge
5 3 (0.54%) Apache Airflow
5 3 (0.54%) Drupal
5 3 (0.54%) WordPress
6 2 (0.36%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.36%) Microsoft Exchange
7 1 (0.18%) Apache
7 1 (0.18%) govService
7 1 (0.18%) IBM HTTP Server
7 1 (0.18%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 28 (5.08%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (1.81%) Spreadsheet
3 9 (1.63%) Microsoft Office
3 9 (1.63%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.36%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.36%) Trello
6 1 (0.18%) Gliffy
Business Applications
1 20 (3.63%) Oracle Receivables
2 19 (3.45%) ContrOCC
3 17 (3.09%) Oracle Payables
3 17 (3.09%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 16 (2.90%) NEC Housing
4 16 (2.90%) Oracle General Ledger
5 10 (1.81%) SAP S/4HANA
6 8 (1.45%) Dynamics CRM
7 5 (0.91%) iTrent
8 4 (0.73%) SAP ERP
9 2 (0.36%) MIS ActiveH
9 2 (0.36%) SAP CO
9 2 (0.36%) SAP FI
9 2 (0.36%) SAP FI/CO
9 2 (0.36%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
10 1 (0.18%) OPENHousing
10 1 (0.18%) Oracle EBS
10 1 (0.18%) Orchard Housing
10 1 (0.18%) Payment Gateway
10 1 (0.18%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 58 (10.53%) Azure
2 47 (8.53%) Power Platform
3 26 (4.72%) Microsoft 365
4 22 (3.99%) AWS
5 18 (3.27%) SaaS
6 16 (2.90%) Entra ID
7 15 (2.72%) Dynamics 365
8 14 (2.54%) Azure DevOps
9 12 (2.18%) GCP
10 10 (1.81%) GitHub
11 9 (1.63%) Power Automate
11 9 (1.63%) PowerApps
12 8 (1.45%) Miro
13 7 (1.27%) OCI
14 6 (1.09%) GitHub Actions
15 5 (0.91%) Azure Key Vault
15 5 (0.91%) Azure Logic Apps
15 5 (0.91%) Azure Sentinel
15 5 (0.91%) Azure Synapse Analytics
15 5 (0.91%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 17 (3.09%) Firewall
2 11 (2.00%) DNS
3 7 (1.27%) DHCP
4 6 (1.09%) LAN
4 6 (1.09%) Network Security
4 6 (1.09%) WAN
5 5 (0.91%) VPN
6 4 (0.73%) Wi-Fi
7 3 (0.54%) Broadband
8 2 (0.36%) Intranet
8 2 (0.36%) PSTN
8 2 (0.36%) VSAN
9 1 (0.18%) SSL
9 1 (0.18%) TCP/IP
9 1 (0.18%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 43 (7.80%) Power BI
2 16 (2.90%) Oracle Reports
3 8 (1.45%) SQL Server
4 7 (1.27%) Power Query
5 6 (1.09%) Data Warehouse
5 6 (1.09%) Metadata
5 6 (1.09%) NoSQL
6 5 (0.91%) GIS
6 5 (0.91%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 4 (0.73%) BusinessObjects
8 3 (0.54%) Azure SQL Database
8 3 (0.54%) PostgreSQL
9 2 (0.36%) Amazon Aurora
9 2 (0.36%) Amazon RDS
9 2 (0.36%) Big Data
9 2 (0.36%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.36%) Presto
9 2 (0.36%) Redis
9 2 (0.36%) Relational Database
9 2 (0.36%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 9 (1.63%) JIRA
2 6 (1.09%) Jenkins
3 3 (0.54%) Git
3 3 (0.54%) GitLab
4 2 (0.36%) Bitbucket
4 2 (0.36%) Cypress.io
4 2 (0.36%) Mocha
5 1 (0.18%) Capybara
5 1 (0.18%) Oracle APEX
5 1 (0.18%) RSpec
General
1 246 (44.65%) Public Sector
2 161 (29.22%) Social Skills
3 150 (27.22%) Finance
4 88 (15.97%) Analytical Skills
5 44 (7.99%) Organisational Skills
6 21 (3.81%) Influencing Skills
6 21 (3.81%) Legal
7 20 (3.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 20 (3.63%) Social Housing
8 9 (1.63%) Manufacturing
8 9 (1.63%) Retail
9 8 (1.45%) Documentation Skills
9 8 (1.45%) Police
10 5 (0.91%) Banking
11 4 (0.73%) Back Office
11 4 (0.73%) Fire and Rescue
11 4 (0.73%) General Ledger
11 4 (0.73%) Presentation Skills
11 4 (0.73%) Publishing
12 3 (0.54%) Law
Job Titles
1 78 (14.16%) Analyst
2 71 (12.89%) Lead
3 67 (12.16%) Senior
4 40 (7.26%) Business Analyst
5 34 (6.17%) Architect
6 33 (5.99%) Developer
7 26 (4.72%) Consultant
7 26 (4.72%) Project Manager
8 23 (4.17%) Support Officer
9 22 (3.99%) Senior Analyst
10 19 (3.45%) Finance Manager
11 16 (2.90%) Data Analyst
11 16 (2.90%) Transformation Manager
12 14 (2.54%) Finance Systems Manager
13 13 (2.36%) Team Leader
14 12 (2.18%) Applications Support
15 11 (2.00%) Designer
15 11 (2.00%) Systems Analyst
16 10 (1.81%) Information Officer
16 10 (1.81%) Programme Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (7.08%) Oracle Fusion
2 15 (2.72%) Terraform
3 10 (1.81%) RESTful
4 6 (1.09%) HTML
5 5 (0.91%) .NET
5 5 (0.91%) REST
5 5 (0.91%) SAP Fiori
6 4 (0.73%) CSS
7 3 (0.54%) ARM Templates
7 3 (0.54%) ASP.NET
7 3 (0.54%) ASP.NET Core
8 2 (0.36%) Chai
8 2 (0.36%) Express.js
8 2 (0.36%) FHIR
8 2 (0.36%) Jest
8 2 (0.36%) JWT
8 2 (0.36%) Nunjucks
8 2 (0.36%) Play Framework
8 2 (0.36%) PySpark
8 2 (0.36%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 35 (6.35%) Management Information System
2 20 (3.63%) Freedom of Information
2 20 (3.63%) NHS
3 19 (3.45%) Analytical Mindset
4 14 (2.54%) Onboarding
5 13 (2.36%) Product Ownership
6 12 (2.18%) Legacy Systems
7 10 (1.81%) Cloud Native
7 10 (1.81%) Housing Association
8 9 (1.63%) Enterprise Software
9 8 (1.45%) Public Cloud
10 5 (0.91%) Hybrid Cloud
10 5 (0.91%) Security Posture
11 4 (0.73%) Data Structures
11 4 (0.73%) Distributed Systems
12 3 (0.54%) Cyber Security Posture
12 3 (0.54%) Cyber Threat
12 3 (0.54%) Cyberattack
12 3 (0.54%) Manufacturing Execution System
12 3 (0.54%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 14 (2.54%) Windows
2 7 (1.27%) Windows Server
3 6 (1.09%) Windows 10
4 3 (0.54%) Linux
5 2 (0.36%) Unix
6 1 (0.18%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.18%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.18%) VMS
6 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 114 (20.69%) Stakeholder Management
2 107 (19.42%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 96 (17.42%) Agile
4 86 (15.61%) Continuous Improvement
5 78 (14.16%) Decision-Making
6 68 (12.34%) Service Delivery
7 53 (9.62%) Migration
8 51 (9.26%) Problem-Solving
9 47 (8.53%) Business Intelligence
10 44 (7.99%) Roadmaps
11 43 (7.80%) Project Delivery
12 41 (7.44%) Business Analysis
12 41 (7.44%) Collaborative Working
12 41 (7.44%) Digital Transformation Programme
12 41 (7.44%) Validation
13 39 (7.08%) ERP
14 38 (6.90%) Case Management
14 38 (6.90%) Data Protection
15 37 (6.72%) DevOps
16 35 (6.35%) AI
Programming Languages
1 42 (7.62%) SQL
2 12 (2.18%) JavaScript
3 11 (2.00%) Python
4 8 (1.45%) PowerShell
5 7 (1.27%) Java
6 6 (1.09%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 4 (0.73%) C#
7 4 (0.73%) TypeScript
8 3 (0.54%) ABAP
8 3 (0.54%) Bicep
9 2 (0.36%) Go
9 2 (0.36%) Scala
10 1 (0.18%) Bash
10 1 (0.18%) Groovy
10 1 (0.18%) Kusto Query Language
10 1 (0.18%) PL/SQL
10 1 (0.18%) Ruby
10 1 (0.18%) Search Processing Language
10 1 (0.18%) Swift
10 1 (0.18%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 47 (8.53%) Security Cleared
2 40 (7.26%) SC Cleared
3 22 (3.99%) Degree
4 13 (2.36%) DBS Check
5 11 (2.00%) BPSS Clearance
6 9 (1.63%) DV Cleared
7 6 (1.09%) Cisco Certification
7 6 (1.09%) CISSP
8 5 (0.91%) Azure Certification
8 5 (0.91%) ITIL Certification
8 5 (0.91%) Microsoft Certification
9 4 (0.73%) CCNP
9 4 (0.73%) CISM
10 3 (0.54%) AWS Certification
10 3 (0.54%) CCNA
10 3 (0.54%) CIPFA
10 3 (0.54%) PMI Certification
10 3 (0.54%) PMP
11 2 (0.36%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 2 (0.36%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 47 (8.53%) Data Quality
2 42 (7.62%) GDPR
3 25 (4.54%) Accessibility
3 25 (4.54%) PMO
4 19 (3.45%) QA
5 13 (2.36%) SLA
6 12 (2.18%) NCSC
7 9 (1.63%) WCAG
8 8 (1.45%) Cyber Essentials
8 8 (1.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 6 (1.09%) PCI DSS
10 4 (0.73%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 4 (0.73%) Disclosure Scotland
10 4 (0.73%) IFRS
10 4 (0.73%) NIST
11 2 (0.36%) GRC
11 2 (0.36%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 2 (0.36%) PERC
12 1 (0.18%) Government Security Classifications
12 1 (0.18%) P3O
System Software
1 12 (2.18%) Active Directory
2 10 (1.81%) Docker
3 2 (0.36%) Hyper-V
3 2 (0.36%) Virtual Machines
3 2 (0.36%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.18%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 12 (2.18%) Kubernetes
2 3 (0.54%) Grafana
2 3 (0.54%) Microsoft Intune
3 2 (0.36%) Failover Clustering
3 2 (0.36%) Kibana
3 2 (0.36%) Single Sign-On
3 2 (0.36%) VxRail
4 1 (0.18%) Ansible
4 1 (0.18%) Argo
4 1 (0.18%) Prometheus
4 1 (0.18%) SCCM
Vendors
1 91 (16.52%) Microsoft
2 54 (9.80%) Oracle
3 27 (4.90%) SAP
4 18 (3.27%) Liquidlogic
5 16 (2.90%) NEC
6 14 (2.54%) Civica
6 14 (2.54%) ServiceNow
7 10 (1.81%) Google
8 7 (1.27%) Orchard
9 6 (1.09%) Databricks
10 4 (0.73%) Cisco
10 4 (0.73%) Palo Alto
10 4 (0.73%) Splunk
11 3 (0.54%) Infoblox
11 3 (0.54%) Juniper
11 3 (0.54%) Kronos
11 3 (0.54%) Northgate
11 3 (0.54%) Sitecore
11 3 (0.54%) VMware
12 2 (0.36%) Ribbon