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

6 months to
13 Aug 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 256 240 232
Rank change year-on-year -16 -8 +111
Contract jobs citing Local Government 530 361 421
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.99% 1.10% 1.08%
As % of the General category 1.80% 1.73% 1.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 383 226 278
10th Percentile £332 £259 £312
25th Percentile £413 £393 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year +10.53% - +5.56%
75th Percentile £638 £550 £550
90th Percentile £738 £650 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £450 £450
% change year-on-year +16.67% - +5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 71 65 38
10th Percentile £16.62 £13.26 £18.73
25th Percentile £16.97 £23.50 £22.71
Median hourly rate £20.76 £30.00 £26.71
Median % change year-on-year -30.82% +12.34% +18.74%
75th Percentile £26.54 £41.45 £33.07
90th Percentile £32.00 £58.25 £42.85
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.62 £20.83 £25.18
% change year-on-year -1.03% -17.28% +13.94%

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 29,373 20,896 22,365
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 55.05% 63.45% 57.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,418 13,029 14,038
10th Percentile £313 £278 £290
25th Percentile £415 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £630 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £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 2,225 1,136 1,378
10th Percentile £13.92 £13.25 £14.06
25th Percentile £17.25 £16.30 £17.08
Median hourly rate £32.00 £25.15 £38.12
Median % change year-on-year +27.24% -34.02% +31.45%
75th Percentile £57.50 £50.00 £58.37
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.08 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £22.14 £38.12
% change year-on-year +46.79% -41.92% +51.72%

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 13 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 13 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 13 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 -2 501 £525 +12.86% 493
UK excluding London -12 273 £525 +16.67% 350
London -36 223 £525 +10.53% 209
Work from Home -18 174 £525 +13.51% 258
Midlands +27 94 £525 +31.25% 57
West Midlands +21 71 £525 +31.25% 34
North of England -54 56 £488 +2.63% 97
South East -37 54 £662 +51.31% 82
South West -42 35 £625 +56.25% 44
North West -33 29 £390 -22.00% 59
Yorkshire -40 27 £513 +13.89% 23
East of England +1 26 £370 -7.50% 34
East Midlands -3 20 £500 +73.91% 25
Scotland -9 8 £650 +30.00% 22
Wales -11 3 £425 - 21

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 (4.15%) SharePoint
2 8 (1.51%) Oracle Workflow
3 6 (1.13%) CMS
4 4 (0.75%) Confluence
4 4 (0.75%) OpenEdge
5 3 (0.57%) Drupal
5 3 (0.57%) WordPress
6 2 (0.38%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.38%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.38%) govService
6 2 (0.38%) Microsoft Exchange
7 1 (0.19%) IBM HTTP Server
7 1 (0.19%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 20 (3.77%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (1.89%) Spreadsheet
3 8 (1.51%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (0.94%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.38%) Trello
6 1 (0.19%) Gliffy
6 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 20 (3.77%) Oracle Receivables
2 17 (3.21%) ContrOCC
2 17 (3.21%) Oracle Payables
2 17 (3.21%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 17 (3.21%) SAP S/4HANA
3 16 (3.02%) Oracle General Ledger
4 15 (2.83%) NEC Housing
5 7 (1.32%) Dynamics CRM
6 6 (1.13%) iTrent
7 4 (0.75%) Oracle Financials
7 4 (0.75%) SAP ERP
8 2 (0.38%) MIS ActiveH
8 2 (0.38%) SAP CO
8 2 (0.38%) SAP FI
8 2 (0.38%) SAP FI/CO
8 2 (0.38%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
9 1 (0.19%) Oracle EBS
9 1 (0.19%) Payment Gateway
9 1 (0.19%) SAP MM
9 1 (0.19%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 55 (10.38%) Azure
2 33 (6.23%) Power Platform
3 29 (5.47%) Microsoft 365
4 19 (3.58%) AWS
5 18 (3.40%) SaaS
6 17 (3.21%) Dynamics 365
7 16 (3.02%) Entra ID
8 13 (2.45%) Azure DevOps
9 10 (1.89%) GCP
10 8 (1.51%) Power Automate
10 8 (1.51%) PowerApps
11 7 (1.32%) GitHub
11 7 (1.32%) OCI
12 6 (1.13%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 6 (1.13%) Microsoft Purview
13 5 (0.94%) Azure Data Factory
13 5 (0.94%) Azure Key Vault
13 5 (0.94%) Azure Logic Apps
13 5 (0.94%) Azure Sentinel
13 5 (0.94%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 18 (3.40%) Firewall
2 11 (2.08%) DNS
3 7 (1.32%) DHCP
3 7 (1.32%) LAN
3 7 (1.32%) WAN
4 6 (1.13%) Network Security
5 5 (0.94%) VPN
6 4 (0.75%) Broadband
6 4 (0.75%) Wi-Fi
7 2 (0.38%) Intranet
7 2 (0.38%) PSTN
7 2 (0.38%) VSAN
8 1 (0.19%) TCP/IP
8 1 (0.19%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (5.47%) Power BI
2 21 (3.96%) Oracle Reports
3 8 (1.51%) SQL Server
4 7 (1.32%) GIS
5 5 (0.94%) Data Warehouse
5 5 (0.94%) Metadata
5 5 (0.94%) NoSQL
6 4 (0.75%) BusinessObjects
7 3 (0.57%) Azure SQL Database
7 3 (0.57%) PostgreSQL
7 3 (0.57%) Power Query
7 3 (0.57%) Spatial Data
7 3 (0.57%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 2 (0.38%) Amazon Aurora
8 2 (0.38%) Amazon RDS
8 2 (0.38%) Apache Hudi
8 2 (0.38%) Big Data
8 2 (0.38%) MongoDB
8 2 (0.38%) Presto
8 2 (0.38%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 10 (1.89%) JIRA
2 4 (0.75%) Jenkins
3 2 (0.38%) Git
4 1 (0.19%) Bitbucket
4 1 (0.19%) Capybara
4 1 (0.19%) Cypress.io
4 1 (0.19%) GitLab
4 1 (0.19%) JUnit
4 1 (0.19%) Mocha
4 1 (0.19%) Oracle APEX
4 1 (0.19%) RSpec
General
1 241 (45.47%) Public Sector
2 156 (29.43%) Finance
3 147 (27.74%) Social Skills
4 70 (13.21%) Analytical Skills
5 29 (5.47%) Organisational Skills
6 22 (4.15%) Legal
7 18 (3.40%) Influencing Skills
7 18 (3.40%) Social Housing
8 9 (1.70%) Manufacturing
8 9 (1.70%) Retail
9 8 (1.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 7 (1.32%) Police
11 5 (0.94%) Banking
11 5 (0.94%) Documentation Skills
12 4 (0.75%) General Ledger
12 4 (0.75%) Publishing
13 3 (0.57%) Fire and Rescue
13 3 (0.57%) Presentation Skills
14 2 (0.38%) Back Office
14 2 (0.38%) Law
Job Titles
1 73 (13.77%) Analyst
2 69 (13.02%) Lead
3 61 (11.51%) Senior
4 38 (7.17%) Developer
5 37 (6.98%) Business Analyst
6 34 (6.42%) Architect
7 28 (5.28%) Project Manager
8 24 (4.53%) Consultant
9 20 (3.77%) Support Officer
10 19 (3.58%) Finance Manager
10 19 (3.58%) Senior Analyst
11 16 (3.02%) Accountant
11 16 (3.02%) Transformation Manager
12 14 (2.64%) Finance Systems Manager
12 14 (2.64%) Systems Accountant
13 13 (2.45%) Applications Support
13 13 (2.45%) Data Analyst
14 12 (2.26%) Data Manager
14 12 (2.26%) Solutions Architect
14 12 (2.26%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 46 (8.68%) Oracle Fusion
2 8 (1.51%) RESTful
3 5 (0.94%) .NET
3 5 (0.94%) HTML
3 5 (0.94%) REST
3 5 (0.94%) SAP Fiori
4 4 (0.75%) CSS
5 3 (0.57%) ARM Templates
5 3 (0.57%) ASP.NET
5 3 (0.57%) ASP.NET Core
5 3 (0.57%) Middleware
6 2 (0.38%) FHIR
6 2 (0.38%) JSON
6 2 (0.38%) Play Framework
6 2 (0.38%) PySpark
6 2 (0.38%) SOAP
6 2 (0.38%) Spring
6 2 (0.38%) Spring Boot
6 2 (0.38%) Web Services
7 1 (0.19%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 33 (6.23%) Management Information System
2 19 (3.58%) NHS
3 17 (3.21%) Freedom of Information
4 15 (2.83%) Analytical Mindset
4 15 (2.83%) Legacy Systems
5 14 (2.64%) Product Ownership
6 13 (2.45%) Public Cloud
7 11 (2.08%) Onboarding
8 10 (1.89%) Cloud Native
8 10 (1.89%) Housing Association
9 9 (1.70%) Enterprise Software
10 7 (1.32%) Data Structures
11 5 (0.94%) Hybrid Cloud
11 5 (0.94%) Security Posture
12 4 (0.75%) Distributed Systems
13 3 (0.57%) Cyber Security Posture
13 3 (0.57%) Cyberattack
13 3 (0.57%) Manufacturing Execution System
13 3 (0.57%) Mobile App
14 2 (0.38%) Enterprise Cloud
Operating Systems
1 14 (2.64%) Windows
2 7 (1.32%) Windows 10
3 6 (1.13%) Windows Server
4 2 (0.38%) Linux
4 2 (0.38%) Unix
5 1 (0.19%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.19%) VMS
5 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 109 (20.57%) Stakeholder Management
2 101 (19.06%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 87 (16.42%) Continuous Improvement
4 80 (15.09%) Agile
5 71 (13.40%) Service Delivery
6 60 (11.32%) Decision-Making
7 52 (9.81%) Migration
8 47 (8.87%) ERP
8 47 (8.87%) Problem-Solving
9 42 (7.92%) Roadmaps
10 41 (7.74%) Project Delivery
11 40 (7.55%) Validation
12 37 (6.98%) Change Management
12 37 (6.98%) Data Protection
12 37 (6.98%) Digital Transformation Programme
13 35 (6.60%) Collaborative Working
14 34 (6.42%) Case Management
14 34 (6.42%) Cybersecurity
14 34 (6.42%) DevOps
15 33 (6.23%) Analytics
Programming Languages
1 33 (6.23%) SQL
2 9 (1.70%) JavaScript
2 9 (1.70%) Python
3 8 (1.51%) Java
4 6 (1.13%) PowerShell
5 4 (0.75%) C#
5 4 (0.75%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 3 (0.57%) ABAP
6 3 (0.57%) Bicep
6 3 (0.57%) TypeScript
7 2 (0.38%) Go
7 2 (0.38%) Scala
8 1 (0.19%) Apex Code
8 1 (0.19%) Groovy
8 1 (0.19%) Kusto Query Language
8 1 (0.19%) PL/SQL
8 1 (0.19%) Ruby
8 1 (0.19%) Search Processing Language
8 1 (0.19%) Swift
8 1 (0.19%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 34 (6.42%) Security Cleared
2 28 (5.28%) SC Cleared
3 18 (3.40%) Degree
4 15 (2.83%) DBS Check
5 10 (1.89%) BPSS Clearance
6 8 (1.51%) DV Cleared
7 6 (1.13%) Cisco Certification
7 6 (1.13%) CISSP
7 6 (1.13%) ITIL Certification
8 5 (0.94%) Azure Certification
8 5 (0.94%) Microsoft Certification
9 4 (0.75%) CCNP
9 4 (0.75%) CISM
10 3 (0.57%) CCNA
10 3 (0.57%) CIPFA
11 2 (0.38%) CCSP
11 2 (0.38%) CIMA
11 2 (0.38%) PMI Certification
11 2 (0.38%) PMP
11 2 (0.38%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (7.17%) Data Quality
2 31 (5.85%) GDPR
3 23 (4.34%) PMO
4 21 (3.96%) Accessibility
5 16 (3.02%) QA
6 15 (2.83%) SLA
7 9 (1.70%) NCSC
8 8 (1.51%) Cyber Essentials
9 7 (1.32%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 6 (1.13%) PCI DSS
10 6 (1.13%) WCAG
11 4 (0.75%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 4 (0.75%) IFRS
12 3 (0.57%) Disclosure Scotland
12 3 (0.57%) NIST
12 3 (0.57%) PERC
13 2 (0.38%) GRC
13 2 (0.38%) HMG Security Policy Framework
14 1 (0.19%) Government Security Classifications
14 1 (0.19%) P3O
System Software
1 12 (2.26%) Active Directory
2 9 (1.70%) Docker
3 2 (0.38%) Hyper-V
3 2 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
3 2 (0.38%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.19%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 13 (2.45%) Terraform
2 11 (2.08%) Kubernetes
3 3 (0.57%) Microsoft Intune
4 2 (0.38%) Failover Clustering
4 2 (0.38%) Grafana
4 2 (0.38%) Kibana
4 2 (0.38%) Single Sign-On
4 2 (0.38%) VxRail
Vendors
1 92 (17.36%) Microsoft
2 64 (12.08%) Oracle
3 35 (6.60%) SAP
4 17 (3.21%) NEC
5 15 (2.83%) Liquidlogic
6 13 (2.45%) ServiceNow
7 11 (2.08%) Civica
8 8 (1.51%) Google
9 6 (1.13%) Databricks
10 4 (0.75%) Ariba
10 4 (0.75%) Cisco
10 4 (0.75%) Orchard
10 4 (0.75%) Palo Alto
11 3 (0.57%) Infoblox
11 3 (0.57%) Juniper
11 3 (0.57%) Kronos
11 3 (0.57%) Sitecore
11 3 (0.57%) Splunk
11 3 (0.57%) VMware
12 2 (0.38%) Ribbon
605 Local Government jobs Nationwide