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

6 months to
26 Jul 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 263 251 236
Rank change year-on-year -12 -15 +116
Contract jobs citing Local Government 511 340 416
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.96% 1.03% 1.03%
As % of the General category 1.75% 1.64% 1.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 372 219 287
10th Percentile £350 £260 £317
25th Percentile £413 £393 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £455 £450
Median % change year-on-year +15.38% +1.11% -
75th Percentile £638 £550 £545
90th Percentile £713 £650 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £425 £475
% change year-on-year +23.53% -10.53% +11.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 63 54 41
10th Percentile £16.62 £12.21 £18.35
25th Percentile £17.57 £20.45 £21.25
Median hourly rate £21.49 £29.04 £26.68
Median % change year-on-year -25.99% +8.83% +17.30%
75th Percentile £26.54 £38.75 £33.07
90th Percentile £32.27 £57.50 £36.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.62 £20.83 £25.00
% change year-on-year -1.03% -16.68% +21.95%

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 29,185 20,730 23,182
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 54.99% 62.96% 57.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,402 12,974 14,631
10th Percentile £313 £280 £288
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £633 £630 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £470 £493
% change year-on-year +6.38% -4.67% -1.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,061 1,089 1,553
10th Percentile £14.10 £13.33 £13.69
25th Percentile £18.27 £16.13 £16.30
Median hourly rate £33.00 £25.15 £36.05
Median % change year-on-year +31.21% -30.23% +18.03%
75th Percentile £61.18 £51.25 £57.50
90th Percentile £81.05 £70.38 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.00 £22.14 £36.11
% change year-on-year +49.05% -38.68% +38.87%

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 26 July 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 26 July 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 26 July 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 +1 487 £525 +16.67% 202
UK excluding London -8 265 £525 +23.53% 174
London -30 219 £525 +10.53% 60
Work from Home -13 165 £525 +16.67% 100
Midlands +34 103 £525 +31.25% 28
West Midlands +17 76 £525 +31.25% 15
North of England -67 51 £531 +18.06% 49
South East -60 46 £637 +45.60% 53
South West -41 34 £525 +32.91% 13
North West -32 27 £390 -13.33% 27
East Midlands +5 24 £500 +25.00% 13
East of England -9 24 £370 -25.93% 13
Yorkshire -48 24 £550 +22.22% 17
Scotland -12 7 £650 +30.00% 8
Wales -14 3 £425 - 12

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 22 (4.31%) SharePoint
2 8 (1.57%) Oracle Workflow
3 7 (1.37%) CMS
4 4 (0.78%) Drupal
4 4 (0.78%) OpenEdge
5 3 (0.59%) WordPress
6 2 (0.39%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.39%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.39%) Confluence
6 2 (0.39%) govService
6 2 (0.39%) Microsoft Exchange
7 1 (0.20%) IBM HTTP Server
7 1 (0.20%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 19 (3.72%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (1.17%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.17%) Spreadsheet
3 3 (0.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (0.59%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.39%) Trello
5 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 20 (3.91%) Oracle Receivables
1 20 (3.91%) SAP S/4HANA
2 19 (3.72%) NEC Housing
3 17 (3.33%) ContrOCC
3 17 (3.33%) Oracle Payables
3 17 (3.33%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 16 (3.13%) Oracle General Ledger
5 6 (1.17%) Dynamics CRM
5 6 (1.17%) iTrent
6 4 (0.78%) Oracle Financials
6 4 (0.78%) SAP ERP
7 2 (0.39%) MIS ActiveH
7 2 (0.39%) SAP CO
7 2 (0.39%) SAP FI
7 2 (0.39%) SAP FI/CO
8 1 (0.20%) Oracle EBS
8 1 (0.20%) Payment Gateway
8 1 (0.20%) SAP MM
8 1 (0.20%) SAP Payroll
8 1 (0.20%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 47 (9.20%) Azure
2 31 (6.07%) Microsoft 365
2 31 (6.07%) Power Platform
3 19 (3.72%) AWS
4 18 (3.52%) SaaS
5 16 (3.13%) Dynamics 365
6 13 (2.54%) Entra ID
7 11 (2.15%) Azure DevOps
8 9 (1.76%) GCP
9 7 (1.37%) Power Automate
9 7 (1.37%) PowerApps
10 5 (0.98%) Azure Logic Apps
10 5 (0.98%) Microsoft Copilot
10 5 (0.98%) OCI
11 4 (0.78%) GitHub
11 4 (0.78%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 4 (0.78%) SuccessFactors
12 3 (0.59%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 3 (0.59%) GitHub Actions
12 3 (0.59%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 19 (3.72%) Firewall
2 11 (2.15%) DNS
3 8 (1.57%) DHCP
3 8 (1.57%) LAN
3 8 (1.57%) WAN
4 6 (1.17%) Network Security
5 5 (0.98%) Broadband
5 5 (0.98%) Wi-Fi
6 4 (0.78%) VPN
7 2 (0.39%) Intranet
7 2 (0.39%) PSTN
8 1 (0.20%) SD-WAN
8 1 (0.20%) TCP/IP
8 1 (0.20%) Unified Communications
8 1 (0.20%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (5.28%) Power BI
2 24 (4.70%) Oracle Reports
3 8 (1.57%) SQL Server
4 7 (1.37%) GIS
5 4 (0.78%) BusinessObjects
5 4 (0.78%) NoSQL
6 3 (0.59%) Azure SQL Database
6 3 (0.59%) Data Warehouse
6 3 (0.59%) PostgreSQL
6 3 (0.59%) Star Schema
7 2 (0.39%) Amazon Aurora
7 2 (0.39%) Amazon RDS
7 2 (0.39%) Apache Hudi
7 2 (0.39%) Big Data
7 2 (0.39%) Crystal Reports
7 2 (0.39%) MongoDB
7 2 (0.39%) Power Query
7 2 (0.39%) Presto
7 2 (0.39%) Spatial Data
7 2 (0.39%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 8 (1.57%) JIRA
2 3 (0.59%) Jenkins
3 1 (0.20%) Capybara
3 1 (0.20%) Git
3 1 (0.20%) JUnit
3 1 (0.20%) Oracle APEX
3 1 (0.20%) RSpec
General
1 223 (43.64%) Public Sector
2 158 (30.92%) Finance
3 133 (26.03%) Social Skills
4 57 (11.15%) Analytical Skills
5 24 (4.70%) Organisational Skills
6 23 (4.50%) Legal
7 16 (3.13%) Social Housing
8 14 (2.74%) Influencing Skills
9 9 (1.76%) Retail
10 8 (1.57%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 8 (1.57%) Manufacturing
10 8 (1.57%) Police
11 5 (0.98%) Banking
11 5 (0.98%) Documentation Skills
12 4 (0.78%) Fire and Rescue
12 4 (0.78%) General Ledger
12 4 (0.78%) Publishing
13 2 (0.39%) Back Office
13 2 (0.39%) Law
13 2 (0.39%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 69 (13.50%) Analyst
2 66 (12.92%) Senior
3 60 (11.74%) Lead
4 35 (6.85%) Business Analyst
5 33 (6.46%) Developer
6 31 (6.07%) Architect
7 27 (5.28%) Accountant
8 25 (4.89%) Systems Accountant
9 24 (4.70%) Consultant
10 23 (4.50%) Project Manager
11 19 (3.72%) Finance Manager
11 19 (3.72%) Senior Analyst
12 17 (3.33%) Support Officer
13 14 (2.74%) Applications Support
13 14 (2.74%) Finance Systems Manager
13 14 (2.74%) Solutions Architect
14 12 (2.35%) Data Manager
14 12 (2.35%) Tester
14 12 (2.35%) Transformation Manager
15 11 (2.15%) Systems Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 49 (9.59%) Oracle Fusion
2 6 (1.17%) RESTful
3 5 (0.98%) CSS
3 5 (0.98%) HTML
3 5 (0.98%) REST
3 5 (0.98%) SAP Fiori
4 4 (0.78%) .NET
4 4 (0.78%) Middleware
5 2 (0.39%) ASP.NET
5 2 (0.39%) ASP.NET Core
5 2 (0.39%) FHIR
5 2 (0.39%) JSON
5 2 (0.39%) Play Framework
5 2 (0.39%) SOAP
5 2 (0.39%) Spring
5 2 (0.39%) Spring Boot
5 2 (0.39%) Web Services
6 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Graph
6 1 (0.20%) Next.js
6 1 (0.20%) PySpark
Miscellaneous
1 31 (6.07%) Management Information System
2 16 (3.13%) Legacy Systems
3 14 (2.74%) NHS
3 14 (2.74%) Public Cloud
4 13 (2.54%) Freedom of Information
4 13 (2.54%) Product Ownership
5 11 (2.15%) Data Structures
5 11 (2.15%) Onboarding
6 10 (1.96%) Housing Association
7 9 (1.76%) Cloud Native
8 8 (1.57%) Enterprise Software
9 7 (1.37%) Analytical Mindset
10 5 (0.98%) Hybrid Cloud
11 4 (0.78%) Distributed Systems
11 4 (0.78%) Security Posture
12 3 (0.59%) Cyber Security Posture
12 3 (0.59%) Cyberattack
12 3 (0.59%) Driving Licence
12 3 (0.59%) Self-Motivation
13 2 (0.39%) Cyber Threat
Operating Systems
1 15 (2.94%) Windows
2 6 (1.17%) Windows 10
3 5 (0.98%) Windows Server
4 3 (0.59%) Linux
5 2 (0.39%) Unix
5 2 (0.39%) VMS
6 1 (0.20%) Android
6 1 (0.20%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 105 (20.55%) Stakeholder Management
2 85 (16.63%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 83 (16.24%) Continuous Improvement
4 67 (13.11%) Agile
5 65 (12.72%) Service Delivery
6 57 (11.15%) ERP
7 56 (10.96%) Decision-Making
8 53 (10.37%) Migration
9 49 (9.59%) Problem-Solving
10 40 (7.83%) Project Delivery
10 40 (7.83%) Roadmaps
11 37 (7.24%) Change Management
12 35 (6.85%) Data Protection
12 35 (6.85%) Digital Transformation Programme
13 33 (6.46%) Validation
14 32 (6.26%) Cybersecurity
15 31 (6.07%) Case Management
15 31 (6.07%) Collaborative Working
16 30 (5.87%) Data Migration
16 30 (5.87%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 33 (6.46%) SQL
2 8 (1.57%) Java
3 7 (1.37%) JavaScript
3 7 (1.37%) Python
4 5 (0.98%) PowerShell
5 4 (0.78%) C#
6 3 (0.59%) ABAP
6 3 (0.59%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 2 (0.39%) Go
7 2 (0.39%) Scala
7 2 (0.39%) T-SQL
7 2 (0.39%) TypeScript
8 1 (0.20%) Apex Code
8 1 (0.20%) Bicep
8 1 (0.20%) Groovy
8 1 (0.20%) PL/SQL
8 1 (0.20%) Ruby
8 1 (0.20%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 29 (5.68%) Security Cleared
2 23 (4.50%) SC Cleared
3 16 (3.13%) DBS Check
4 14 (2.74%) Degree
5 13 (2.54%) BPSS Clearance
6 8 (1.57%) DV Cleared
7 6 (1.17%) Cisco Certification
7 6 (1.17%) ITIL Certification
8 5 (0.98%) CCNP
8 5 (0.98%) CISSP
9 4 (0.78%) CCNA
9 4 (0.78%) CIPFA
10 3 (0.59%) Azure Certification
10 3 (0.59%) CISM
10 3 (0.59%) Microsoft Certification
11 2 (0.39%) AAT
11 2 (0.39%) CIPD
11 2 (0.39%) Computer Science Degree
11 2 (0.39%) Master's Degree
11 2 (0.39%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (6.07%) Data Quality
2 28 (5.48%) GDPR
3 20 (3.91%) PMO
4 18 (3.52%) Accessibility
5 14 (2.74%) SLA
6 9 (1.76%) QA
7 8 (1.57%) Cyber Essentials
7 8 (1.57%) WCAG
8 7 (1.37%) NCSC
9 6 (1.17%) PCI DSS
10 5 (0.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 4 (0.78%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 4 (0.78%) IFRS
12 3 (0.59%) NIST
12 3 (0.59%) PERC
13 2 (0.39%) Disclosure Scotland
13 2 (0.39%) GRC
14 1 (0.20%) BS7666
14 1 (0.20%) Government Security Classifications
14 1 (0.20%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 13 (2.54%) Active Directory
2 7 (1.37%) Docker
3 1 (0.20%) Firmware
3 1 (0.20%) Hyper-V
3 1 (0.20%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 10 (1.96%) Kubernetes
1 10 (1.96%) Terraform
2 2 (0.39%) Grafana
2 2 (0.39%) Kibana
2 2 (0.39%) Microsoft Intune
2 2 (0.39%) SCCM
3 1 (0.20%) FortiGate
3 1 (0.20%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 82 (16.05%) Microsoft
2 65 (12.72%) Oracle
3 40 (7.83%) SAP
4 20 (3.91%) NEC
5 15 (2.94%) Liquidlogic
6 13 (2.54%) ServiceNow
7 10 (1.96%) Civica
8 7 (1.37%) Google
9 5 (0.98%) Ariba
9 5 (0.98%) Cisco
9 5 (0.98%) Palo Alto
10 4 (0.78%) Databricks
10 4 (0.78%) Infoblox
10 4 (0.78%) Orchard
11 3 (0.59%) Juniper
11 3 (0.59%) Kronos
11 3 (0.59%) Salesforce
11 3 (0.59%) Sitecore
11 3 (0.59%) Splunk
12 2 (0.39%) Northgate
250 Local Government jobs Nationwide