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 28 June 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 274 245 226
Rank change year-on-year -29 -19 +150
Contract jobs citing Local Government 461 323 451
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.90% 1.06% 1.04%
As % of the General category 1.66% 1.67% 1.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 331 219 311
10th Percentile £338 £290 £313
25th Percentile £411 £393 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £450
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% - -
75th Percentile £600 £550 £570
90th Percentile £700 £650 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £409 £475
% change year-on-year +22.25% -13.89% +9.83%
Number of hourly rates quoted 57 47 60
10th Percentile £16.62 £12.21 £15.39
25th Percentile £17.57 £20.23 £16.65
Median hourly rate £22.82 £29.00 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.31% +16.00% +12.31%
75th Percentile £27.25 £34.74 £33.65
90th Percentile £33.61 £57.50 £43.65
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.70 £18.74 £23.08
% change year-on-year +10.43% -18.80% +14.65%

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 27,783 19,344 24,812
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 54.48% 63.32% 57.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 16,717 12,162 15,507
10th Percentile £313 £281 £275
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £518 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.50% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £626 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £470 £490
% change year-on-year +6.38% -4.08% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,901 947 1,980
10th Percentile £13.99 £13.46 £12.79
25th Percentile £18.00 £16.39 £15.62
Median hourly rate £32.00 £27.50 £31.76
Median % change year-on-year +16.36% -13.40% +3.98%
75th Percentile £60.25 £53.63 £53.75
90th Percentile £80.00 £72.50 £68.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.50 £24.22 £31.00
% change year-on-year +30.06% -21.87% +19.46%

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 28 June 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 28 June 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Local Government in the UK

Local Government
Top 15 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 28 June 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 -23 446 £509 +13.11% 234
UK excluding London -20 247 £500 +22.25% 196
London -45 196 £525 +10.53% 58
Work from Home -20 155 £525 +17.54% 111
Midlands +30 113 £513 +11.41% 47
West Midlands +11 76 £525 +13.51% 22
South East -49 36 £637 +34.11% 61
North of England -69 35 £531 +21.43% 54
East Midlands +14 33 £500 +8.70% 25
East of England -6 29 £370 -7.44% 19
South West -53 27 £500 +25.00% 15
North West -43 18 £350 -17.65% 30
Yorkshire -51 17 £550 +41.94% 18
Scotland -6 4 £198 -50.63% 1
Wales -15 3 £425 - 4

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 23 (4.99%) SharePoint
2 8 (1.74%) Oracle Workflow
3 5 (1.08%) CMS
4 4 (0.87%) OpenEdge
5 3 (0.65%) Drupal
5 3 (0.65%) WordPress
6 2 (0.43%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.43%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.43%) Confluence
6 2 (0.43%) govService
6 2 (0.43%) Microsoft Exchange
7 1 (0.22%) IBM HTTP Server
Applications
1 21 (4.56%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (1.30%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.30%) Spreadsheet
3 5 (1.08%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.65%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.43%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.43%) Trello
Business Applications
1 25 (5.42%) SAP S/4HANA
2 18 (3.90%) NEC Housing
3 17 (3.69%) Oracle Receivables
4 14 (3.04%) ContrOCC
4 14 (3.04%) Oracle General Ledger
4 14 (3.04%) Oracle Payables
4 14 (3.04%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 5 (1.08%) Dynamics CRM
5 5 (1.08%) iTrent
6 4 (0.87%) Oracle Financials
6 4 (0.87%) SAP ERP
7 1 (0.22%) MIS ActiveH
7 1 (0.22%) Oracle EBS
7 1 (0.22%) Payment Gateway
7 1 (0.22%) SAP CO
7 1 (0.22%) SAP FI
7 1 (0.22%) SAP FI/CO
7 1 (0.22%) SAP HR
7 1 (0.22%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 42 (9.11%) Azure
2 27 (5.86%) Microsoft 365
2 27 (5.86%) Power Platform
3 19 (4.12%) AWS
4 17 (3.69%) SaaS
5 14 (3.04%) Dynamics 365
6 11 (2.39%) Entra ID
7 8 (1.74%) Azure DevOps
8 7 (1.52%) GCP
9 6 (1.30%) Microsoft Copilot
10 5 (1.08%) Azure Logic Apps
10 5 (1.08%) Power Automate
11 4 (0.87%) Azure Sentinel
11 4 (0.87%) GitHub
11 4 (0.87%) OCI
11 4 (0.87%) PowerApps
11 4 (0.87%) SuccessFactors
12 3 (0.65%) Azure Key Vault
12 3 (0.65%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 3 (0.65%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 12 (2.60%) Firewall
2 9 (1.95%) DNS
3 8 (1.74%) DHCP
4 7 (1.52%) Network Security
5 5 (1.08%) Broadband
6 4 (0.87%) VPN
6 4 (0.87%) Wi-Fi
7 3 (0.65%) LAN
7 3 (0.65%) WAN
8 2 (0.43%) Intranet
8 2 (0.43%) PSTN
9 1 (0.22%) SD-WAN
9 1 (0.22%) Unified Communications
9 1 (0.22%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (5.21%) Power BI
2 23 (4.99%) Oracle Reports
3 8 (1.74%) SQL Server
4 6 (1.30%) GIS
5 4 (0.87%) BusinessObjects
5 4 (0.87%) NoSQL
6 3 (0.65%) Star Schema
7 2 (0.43%) Amazon Aurora
7 2 (0.43%) Amazon RDS
7 2 (0.43%) Apache Hudi
7 2 (0.43%) Azure SQL Database
7 2 (0.43%) Big Data
7 2 (0.43%) Crystal Reports
7 2 (0.43%) Data Lake
7 2 (0.43%) MongoDB
7 2 (0.43%) PostgreSQL
7 2 (0.43%) Power Query
7 2 (0.43%) Presto
7 2 (0.43%) Spatial Data
8 1 (0.22%) Oracle ODI
Development Applications
1 6 (1.30%) JIRA
2 2 (0.43%) Jenkins
3 1 (0.22%) JUnit
3 1 (0.22%) Oracle APEX
General
1 207 (44.90%) Public Sector
2 153 (33.19%) Finance
3 123 (26.68%) Social Skills
4 45 (9.76%) Analytical Skills
5 24 (5.21%) Legal
6 22 (4.77%) Organisational Skills
7 14 (3.04%) Social Housing
8 13 (2.82%) Influencing Skills
9 11 (2.39%) Police
10 9 (1.95%) Retail
11 8 (1.74%) Fire and Rescue
11 8 (1.74%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 5 (1.08%) Documentation Skills
12 5 (1.08%) Manufacturing
13 4 (0.87%) Banking
14 3 (0.65%) General Ledger
14 3 (0.65%) Publishing
15 2 (0.43%) Law
15 2 (0.43%) Marketing
15 2 (0.43%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 59 (12.80%) Lead
2 57 (12.36%) Analyst
3 54 (11.71%) Senior
4 32 (6.94%) Accountant
5 30 (6.51%) Systems Accountant
6 24 (5.21%) Business Analyst
6 24 (5.21%) Developer
7 22 (4.77%) Project Manager
8 21 (4.56%) Architect
8 21 (4.56%) Consultant
9 17 (3.69%) Finance Manager
10 16 (3.47%) Support Officer
11 13 (2.82%) Senior Analyst
12 12 (2.60%) Finance Systems Manager
12 12 (2.60%) Solutions Architect
13 11 (2.39%) Applications Support
13 11 (2.39%) Senior Accountant
13 11 (2.39%) Senior Systems Accountant
13 11 (2.39%) Systems Analyst
13 11 (2.39%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 46 (9.98%) Oracle Fusion
2 5 (1.08%) Middleware
2 5 (1.08%) SAP Fiori
3 4 (0.87%) CSS
3 4 (0.87%) HTML
4 3 (0.65%) REST
4 3 (0.65%) RESTful
5 2 (0.43%) JSON
5 2 (0.43%) Play Framework
5 2 (0.43%) SOAP
6 1 (0.22%) .NET
6 1 (0.22%) ARM Templates
6 1 (0.22%) FHIR
6 1 (0.22%) Node.js
6 1 (0.22%) PySpark
6 1 (0.22%) SAP MI
6 1 (0.22%) Spring
6 1 (0.22%) Spring Boot
6 1 (0.22%) Web Services
6 1 (0.22%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 32 (6.94%) Management Information System
2 21 (4.56%) Public Cloud
3 16 (3.47%) Legacy Systems
4 13 (2.82%) NHS
5 12 (2.60%) Data Structures
6 11 (2.39%) Onboarding
7 10 (2.17%) Freedom of Information
8 9 (1.95%) Product Ownership
9 8 (1.74%) Housing Association
10 7 (1.52%) Driving Licence
10 7 (1.52%) Enterprise Software
11 5 (1.08%) Cloud Native
11 5 (1.08%) Security Posture
12 4 (0.87%) Hybrid Cloud
13 3 (0.65%) Cyber Security Posture
13 3 (0.65%) Distributed Systems
13 3 (0.65%) Enterprise Cloud
14 2 (0.43%) Analytical Mindset
14 2 (0.43%) Self-Motivation
14 2 (0.43%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 18 (3.90%) Windows
2 7 (1.52%) Linux
3 5 (1.08%) Windows 10
3 5 (1.08%) Windows Server
4 2 (0.43%) Unix
5 1 (0.22%) Android
5 1 (0.22%) VMS
5 1 (0.22%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 96 (20.82%) Stakeholder Management
2 79 (17.14%) Continuous Improvement
3 74 (16.05%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 60 (13.02%) Service Delivery
5 57 (12.36%) Agile
6 55 (11.93%) Migration
7 53 (11.50%) ERP
8 49 (10.63%) Decision-Making
9 47 (10.20%) Problem-Solving
10 38 (8.24%) Change Management
10 38 (8.24%) Project Delivery
11 35 (7.59%) Data Protection
12 34 (7.38%) Roadmaps
13 33 (7.16%) User Acceptance Testing
14 32 (6.94%) Digital Transformation Programme
15 30 (6.51%) Data Migration
16 29 (6.29%) Analytics
16 29 (6.29%) Collaborative Working
16 29 (6.29%) Validation
17 27 (5.86%) Cybersecurity
Programming Languages
1 28 (6.07%) SQL
2 6 (1.30%) Java
2 6 (1.30%) JavaScript
2 6 (1.30%) Python
3 4 (0.87%) C#
3 4 (0.87%) PowerShell
4 3 (0.65%) ABAP
4 3 (0.65%) Data Analysis Expressions
5 2 (0.43%) Go
5 2 (0.43%) Scala
5 2 (0.43%) T-SQL
5 2 (0.43%) TypeScript
6 1 (0.22%) Apex Code
6 1 (0.22%) Bicep
6 1 (0.22%) Groovy
6 1 (0.22%) PL/SQL
6 1 (0.22%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 21 (4.56%) Security Cleared
2 16 (3.47%) SC Cleared
3 15 (3.25%) Degree
4 14 (3.04%) DBS Check
5 13 (2.82%) BPSS Clearance
6 7 (1.52%) DV Cleared
7 6 (1.30%) NVQ Level 3
8 5 (1.08%) Cisco Certification
9 4 (0.87%) CCNA
9 4 (0.87%) CCNP
9 4 (0.87%) CIPFA
9 4 (0.87%) CISSP
9 4 (0.87%) ITIL Certification
10 3 (0.65%) Azure Certification
10 3 (0.65%) CISM
10 3 (0.65%) SAP Certification
11 2 (0.43%) CIPD
11 2 (0.43%) Computer Science Degree
11 2 (0.43%) ISTQB
11 2 (0.43%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (6.07%) Data Quality
2 26 (5.64%) GDPR
3 17 (3.69%) PMO
4 13 (2.82%) Accessibility
5 11 (2.39%) SLA
6 8 (1.74%) QA
7 7 (1.52%) Cyber Essentials
7 7 (1.52%) NCSC
8 6 (1.30%) PCI DSS
8 6 (1.30%) WCAG
9 4 (0.87%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 4 (0.87%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 3 (0.65%) IFRS
10 3 (0.65%) PERC
11 2 (0.43%) GRC
11 2 (0.43%) NIST
12 1 (0.22%) BS7666
12 1 (0.22%) Disclosure Scotland
12 1 (0.22%) Government Security Classifications
12 1 (0.22%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 11 (2.39%) Active Directory
2 5 (1.08%) Docker
2 5 (1.08%) Hyper-V
2 5 (1.08%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (0.22%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 9 (1.95%) Terraform
2 8 (1.74%) Kubernetes
3 2 (0.43%) Grafana
3 2 (0.43%) Kibana
3 2 (0.43%) Microsoft Intune
3 2 (0.43%) SCCM
4 1 (0.22%) FortiGate
Vendors
1 70 (15.18%) Microsoft
2 60 (13.02%) Oracle
3 45 (9.76%) SAP
4 19 (4.12%) NEC
5 13 (2.82%) Liquidlogic
6 10 (2.17%) Civica
7 7 (1.52%) ServiceNow
8 6 (1.30%) VMware
9 5 (1.08%) Ariba
9 5 (1.08%) Google
10 4 (0.87%) Cisco
10 4 (0.87%) Infoblox
10 4 (0.87%) Orchard
10 4 (0.87%) Palo Alto
11 3 (0.65%) Juniper
11 3 (0.65%) Kronos
11 3 (0.65%) Salesforce
11 3 (0.65%) Sitecore
11 3 (0.65%) Splunk
12 2 (0.43%) Blue Prism