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

6 months to
28 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 259 252 203
Rank change year-on-year -7 -49 +141
Contract jobs citing Local Government 537 347 458
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.00% 1.06% 1.18%
As % of the General category 1.81% 1.67% 2.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 381 228 270
10th Percentile £325 £250 £312
25th Percentile £413 £378 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £475 £450
Median % change year-on-year +10.53% +5.56% -
75th Percentile £638 £556 £538
90th Percentile £738 £650 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £450 £450
% change year-on-year +16.67% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 74 60 38
10th Percentile £15.17 £19.89 £18.73
25th Percentile £16.70 £26.34 £22.71
Median hourly rate £20.73 £30.13 £26.71
Median % change year-on-year -31.20% +12.81% +19.78%
75th Percentile £27.62 £53.75 £33.58
90th Percentile £31.41 £58.75 £47.06
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.62 £27.64 £25.18
% change year-on-year -25.42% +9.77% +24.04%

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 29,589 20,788 22,240
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 55.04% 63.55% 57.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,455 12,930 13,776
10th Percentile £313 £275 £288
25th Percentile £416 £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 £741 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £494
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.85% -1.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,293 1,169 1,250
10th Percentile £13.81 £13.50 £14.06
25th Percentile £17.00 £16.25 £16.67
Median hourly rate £31.16 £25.15 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +23.88% -28.14% +27.27%
75th Percentile £55.00 £50.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.90 £69.65 £70.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.96 £22.14 £35.00
% change year-on-year +44.37% -36.74% +34.62%

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 August 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 August 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 August 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 +2 506 £525 +13.51% 500
UK excluding London +15 281 £525 +16.67% 348
London -41 220 £525 +10.53% 222
Work from Home -23 174 £525 +13.51% 245
Midlands +32 92 £525 +31.25% 60
West Midlands +11 69 £525 +31.25% 32
South East -33 56 £650 +62.50% 84
North of England -46 56 £488 +5.41% 90
South West -29 37 £625 +56.25% 52
East of England +5 31 £370 -7.50% 28
Yorkshire -32 28 £494 +9.72% 28
North West -37 28 £445 -6.32% 48
East Midlands -3 20 £500 +73.91% 30
Scotland -10 9 £650 +30.00% 23
Wales -17 3 £425 - 15

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 26 (4.84%) SharePoint
2 8 (1.49%) Oracle Workflow
3 6 (1.12%) CMS
4 4 (0.74%) Confluence
4 4 (0.74%) OpenEdge
5 3 (0.56%) Drupal
5 3 (0.56%) WordPress
6 2 (0.37%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.37%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.37%) govService
6 2 (0.37%) Microsoft Exchange
7 1 (0.19%) IBM HTTP Server
7 1 (0.19%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 26 (4.84%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (2.05%) Spreadsheet
3 8 (1.49%) Microsoft Office
4 6 (1.12%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.37%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.37%) Trello
6 1 (0.19%) Gliffy
6 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 20 (3.72%) Oracle Receivables
2 17 (3.17%) ContrOCC
2 17 (3.17%) Oracle Payables
2 17 (3.17%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 16 (2.98%) NEC Housing
3 16 (2.98%) Oracle General Ledger
4 11 (2.05%) SAP S/4HANA
5 8 (1.49%) Dynamics CRM
6 5 (0.93%) iTrent
7 4 (0.74%) SAP ERP
8 2 (0.37%) MIS ActiveH
8 2 (0.37%) Oracle Financials
8 2 (0.37%) SAP CO
8 2 (0.37%) SAP FI
8 2 (0.37%) SAP FI/CO
8 2 (0.37%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
9 1 (0.19%) Orchard Housing
9 1 (0.19%) Payment Gateway
9 1 (0.19%) SAP HR
9 1 (0.19%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 58 (10.80%) Azure
2 42 (7.82%) Power Platform
3 29 (5.40%) Microsoft 365
4 18 (3.35%) AWS
4 18 (3.35%) Dynamics 365
4 18 (3.35%) SaaS
5 16 (2.98%) Entra ID
6 15 (2.79%) Azure DevOps
7 9 (1.68%) GCP
7 9 (1.68%) GitHub
7 9 (1.68%) Power Automate
7 9 (1.68%) PowerApps
8 7 (1.30%) OCI
9 6 (1.12%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 6 (1.12%) Microsoft Purview
10 5 (0.93%) Azure Key Vault
10 5 (0.93%) Azure Logic Apps
10 5 (0.93%) Azure Sentinel
10 5 (0.93%) GitHub Actions
10 5 (0.93%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 18 (3.35%) Firewall
2 11 (2.05%) DNS
3 7 (1.30%) DHCP
3 7 (1.30%) LAN
3 7 (1.30%) WAN
4 6 (1.12%) Network Security
5 5 (0.93%) VPN
6 4 (0.74%) Broadband
6 4 (0.74%) Wi-Fi
7 2 (0.37%) Intranet
7 2 (0.37%) PSTN
7 2 (0.37%) VSAN
8 1 (0.19%) TCP/IP
8 1 (0.19%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 38 (7.08%) Power BI
2 17 (3.17%) Oracle Reports
3 8 (1.49%) SQL Server
4 7 (1.30%) GIS
5 6 (1.12%) Metadata
5 6 (1.12%) NoSQL
6 5 (0.93%) Data Warehouse
6 5 (0.93%) Power Query
6 5 (0.93%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 4 (0.74%) BusinessObjects
8 3 (0.56%) Azure SQL Database
8 3 (0.56%) PostgreSQL
8 3 (0.56%) Spatial Data
9 2 (0.37%) Amazon Aurora
9 2 (0.37%) Big Data
9 2 (0.37%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.37%) Presto
9 2 (0.37%) Redis
9 2 (0.37%) Relational Database
9 2 (0.37%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 9 (1.68%) JIRA
2 6 (1.12%) Jenkins
3 3 (0.56%) Git
3 3 (0.56%) GitLab
4 2 (0.37%) Bitbucket
4 2 (0.37%) Cypress.io
4 2 (0.37%) Mocha
5 1 (0.19%) Capybara
5 1 (0.19%) Oracle APEX
5 1 (0.19%) RSpec
General
1 238 (44.32%) Public Sector
2 152 (28.31%) Social Skills
3 146 (27.19%) Finance
4 80 (14.90%) Analytical Skills
5 39 (7.26%) Organisational Skills
6 20 (3.72%) Influencing Skills
6 20 (3.72%) Legal
6 20 (3.72%) Social Housing
7 10 (1.86%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 9 (1.68%) Manufacturing
8 9 (1.68%) Retail
9 7 (1.30%) Documentation Skills
9 7 (1.30%) Police
10 5 (0.93%) Banking
11 4 (0.74%) General Ledger
11 4 (0.74%) Presentation Skills
11 4 (0.74%) Publishing
12 3 (0.56%) Fire and Rescue
12 3 (0.56%) Law
13 2 (0.37%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 75 (13.97%) Analyst
2 69 (12.85%) Lead
3 60 (11.17%) Senior
4 36 (6.70%) Architect
4 36 (6.70%) Business Analyst
4 36 (6.70%) Developer
5 26 (4.84%) Project Manager
6 24 (4.47%) Consultant
7 22 (4.10%) Support Officer
8 20 (3.72%) Senior Analyst
9 19 (3.54%) Finance Manager
10 16 (2.98%) Data Analyst
10 16 (2.98%) Transformation Manager
11 14 (2.61%) Finance Systems Manager
12 12 (2.23%) Applications Support
12 12 (2.23%) Solutions Architect
12 12 (2.23%) Team Leader
13 11 (2.05%) Data Manager
13 11 (2.05%) Systems Analyst
14 10 (1.86%) Enterprise Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 41 (7.64%) Oracle Fusion
2 14 (2.61%) Terraform
3 8 (1.49%) RESTful
4 6 (1.12%) HTML
5 5 (0.93%) .NET
5 5 (0.93%) REST
5 5 (0.93%) SAP Fiori
6 4 (0.74%) CSS
7 3 (0.56%) ARM Templates
7 3 (0.56%) ASP.NET
7 3 (0.56%) ASP.NET Core
7 3 (0.56%) Middleware
8 2 (0.37%) Chai
8 2 (0.37%) Express.js
8 2 (0.37%) FHIR
8 2 (0.37%) Jest
8 2 (0.37%) JWT
8 2 (0.37%) Nunjucks
8 2 (0.37%) Play Framework
8 2 (0.37%) PySpark
Miscellaneous
1 34 (6.33%) Management Information System
2 20 (3.72%) Freedom of Information
3 18 (3.35%) NHS
4 16 (2.98%) Analytical Mindset
5 14 (2.61%) Legacy Systems
6 12 (2.23%) Onboarding
6 12 (2.23%) Product Ownership
7 11 (2.05%) Housing Association
8 10 (1.86%) Cloud Native
9 9 (1.68%) Enterprise Software
9 9 (1.68%) Public Cloud
10 5 (0.93%) Hybrid Cloud
10 5 (0.93%) Security Posture
11 4 (0.74%) Data Structures
11 4 (0.74%) Distributed Systems
12 3 (0.56%) Cyber Security Posture
12 3 (0.56%) Cyberattack
12 3 (0.56%) Manufacturing Execution System
12 3 (0.56%) Mobile App
13 2 (0.37%) Enterprise Cloud
Operating Systems
1 14 (2.61%) Windows
2 7 (1.30%) Windows 10
3 6 (1.12%) Windows Server
4 3 (0.56%) Linux
5 2 (0.37%) Unix
6 1 (0.19%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.19%) VMS
6 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 109 (20.30%) Stakeholder Management
2 107 (19.93%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 87 (16.20%) Continuous Improvement
4 84 (15.64%) Agile
5 68 (12.66%) Decision-Making
6 67 (12.48%) Service Delivery
7 52 (9.68%) Problem-Solving
8 51 (9.50%) Migration
9 43 (8.01%) Project Delivery
9 43 (8.01%) Roadmaps
10 42 (7.82%) Business Intelligence
11 40 (7.45%) ERP
11 40 (7.45%) Validation
12 39 (7.26%) Collaborative Working
12 39 (7.26%) Digital Transformation Programme
13 38 (7.08%) Data Protection
14 35 (6.52%) Case Management
14 35 (6.52%) DevOps
15 34 (6.33%) Cybersecurity
16 33 (6.15%) Data Migration
Programming Languages
1 39 (7.26%) SQL
2 11 (2.05%) JavaScript
3 10 (1.86%) Python
4 7 (1.30%) Java
4 7 (1.30%) PowerShell
5 5 (0.93%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 4 (0.74%) C#
6 4 (0.74%) TypeScript
7 3 (0.56%) ABAP
7 3 (0.56%) Bicep
8 2 (0.37%) Go
8 2 (0.37%) Scala
9 1 (0.19%) Apex Code
9 1 (0.19%) Bash
9 1 (0.19%) Groovy
9 1 (0.19%) Kusto Query Language
9 1 (0.19%) Ruby
9 1 (0.19%) Search Processing Language
9 1 (0.19%) Swift
9 1 (0.19%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 39 (7.26%) Security Cleared
2 32 (5.96%) SC Cleared
3 19 (3.54%) Degree
4 15 (2.79%) DBS Check
5 11 (2.05%) BPSS Clearance
6 9 (1.68%) DV Cleared
7 6 (1.12%) Cisco Certification
7 6 (1.12%) CISSP
8 5 (0.93%) Azure Certification
8 5 (0.93%) ITIL Certification
8 5 (0.93%) Microsoft Certification
9 4 (0.74%) CCNP
9 4 (0.74%) CISM
10 3 (0.56%) CCNA
10 3 (0.56%) CIPFA
10 3 (0.56%) PMI Certification
10 3 (0.56%) PMP
11 2 (0.37%) ACCA
11 2 (0.37%) CCSP
11 2 (0.37%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (8.01%) Data Quality
2 37 (6.89%) GDPR
3 24 (4.47%) PMO
4 21 (3.91%) Accessibility
5 19 (3.54%) QA
6 15 (2.79%) SLA
7 10 (1.86%) NCSC
8 8 (1.49%) Cyber Essentials
9 7 (1.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 6 (1.12%) PCI DSS
10 6 (1.12%) WCAG
11 4 (0.74%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 4 (0.74%) Disclosure Scotland
11 4 (0.74%) IFRS
11 4 (0.74%) NIST
12 3 (0.56%) PERC
13 2 (0.37%) GRC
13 2 (0.37%) HMG Security Policy Framework
14 1 (0.19%) Government Security Classifications
14 1 (0.19%) P3O
System Software
1 12 (2.23%) Active Directory
2 9 (1.68%) Docker
3 2 (0.37%) Hyper-V
3 2 (0.37%) Virtual Machines
3 2 (0.37%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.19%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 11 (2.05%) Kubernetes
2 3 (0.56%) Grafana
2 3 (0.56%) Microsoft Intune
3 2 (0.37%) Failover Clustering
3 2 (0.37%) Kibana
3 2 (0.37%) Single Sign-On
3 2 (0.37%) VxRail
4 1 (0.19%) Ansible
4 1 (0.19%) Argo
4 1 (0.19%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 94 (17.50%) Microsoft
2 57 (10.61%) Oracle
3 28 (5.21%) SAP
4 17 (3.17%) NEC
5 15 (2.79%) Liquidlogic
6 14 (2.61%) Civica
7 13 (2.42%) ServiceNow
8 8 (1.49%) Google
9 7 (1.30%) Databricks
9 7 (1.30%) Orchard
10 4 (0.74%) Cisco
10 4 (0.74%) Palo Alto
10 4 (0.74%) Splunk
11 3 (0.56%) Infoblox
11 3 (0.56%) Juniper
11 3 (0.56%) Kronos
11 3 (0.56%) Sitecore
11 3 (0.56%) VMware
12 2 (0.37%) Ribbon
12 2 (0.37%) Salesforce