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

6 months to
26 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 309 207 275
Rank change year-on-year -102 +68 +133
Contract jobs citing Local Government 329 392 372
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.79% 1.28% 0.85%
As % of the General category 1.36% 2.06% 1.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 219 228 267
10th Percentile £350 £299 £275
25th Percentile £411 £400 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £467 £475
Median % change year-on-year +7.12% -1.73% +5.56%
75th Percentile £600 £538 £575
90th Percentile £678 £600 £640
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £475
% change year-on-year - -5.26% +15.15%
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 46 69
10th Percentile £20.00 £19.61 £15.05
25th Percentile £22.85 £21.13 £16.00
Median hourly rate £27.71 £28.80 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year -3.78% +30.91% -4.66%
75th Percentile £44.81 £33.75 £29.72
90th Percentile £57.50 £42.21 £38.28
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.85 £29.23 £17.82
% change year-on-year -21.83% +64.03% -21.52%

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 24,221 19,066 25,802
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 58.44% 62.13% 58.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,157 11,654 16,607
10th Percentile £300 £290 £265
25th Percentile £404 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £623 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £478 £495
% change year-on-year -0.52% -3.54% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,475 619 1,703
10th Percentile £13.59 £15.62 £13.00
25th Percentile £16.49 £20.63 £15.27
Median hourly rate £23.58 £30.00 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.42% +15.38% -7.52%
75th Percentile £53.75 £57.94 £51.25
90th Percentile £73.75 £75.00 £65.84
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.27 £27.50 £25.00
% change year-on-year -19.04% +10.00% -

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 February 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 February 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 26 February 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 -123 298 £500 +8.34% 187
UK excluding London -98 166 £450 - 151
London -58 139 £538 +13.16% 55
Work from Home -51 94 £500 +5.26% 98
Midlands -13 67 £425 -18.27% 38
West Midlands -23 39 £413 -23.26% 24
North of England -80 29 £450 -5.26% 25
East Midlands -9 27 £500 -3.85% 14
South West -60 27 £488 +13.37% 21
North West -36 22 £413 -13.16% 18
East of England -23 17 £425 -8.06% 15
South East -52 12 £400 -11.11% 35
Scotland +16 11 £500 - 5
Yorkshire -72 5 £675 +38.46% 4
Wales - 3 - - 12
North East -15 2 £500 +66.67% 3

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 16 (4.86%) SharePoint
2 4 (1.22%) CMS
2 4 (1.22%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.61%) ArcGIS
3 2 (0.61%) Confluence
4 1 (0.30%) Drupal
Applications
1 16 (4.86%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (2.43%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.22%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (1.22%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.61%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.61%) Spreadsheet
4 2 (0.61%) Trello
Business Applications
1 29 (8.81%) SAP S/4HANA
2 14 (4.26%) NEC Housing
3 5 (1.52%) iTrent
3 5 (1.52%) SAP ERP
4 3 (0.91%) Oracle Applications
5 2 (0.61%) Oracle ERP
5 2 (0.61%) Oracle Financials
5 2 (0.61%) SAP HR
5 2 (0.61%) Unit4 Business World
6 1 (0.30%) ContrOCC
6 1 (0.30%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.30%) IntelliMatch
6 1 (0.30%) Oracle EBS
6 1 (0.30%) Oracle EBS R12
6 1 (0.30%) Oracle Payables
6 1 (0.30%) Primavera
6 1 (0.30%) SAP CO
6 1 (0.30%) SAP FI
6 1 (0.30%) SAP FI/CO
6 1 (0.30%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 36 (10.94%) Azure
2 21 (6.38%) Power Platform
3 17 (5.17%) Microsoft 365
4 14 (4.26%) SaaS
5 13 (3.95%) AWS
6 8 (2.43%) SuccessFactors
7 7 (2.13%) Microsoft Copilot
8 6 (1.82%) Entra ID
9 5 (1.52%) OCI
10 4 (1.22%) Azure DevOps
10 4 (1.22%) IaaS
10 4 (1.22%) PowerApps
11 3 (0.91%) Amazon EKS
11 3 (0.91%) Dynamics 365
11 3 (0.91%) PaaS
11 3 (0.91%) Power Automate
12 2 (0.61%) Azure Monitor
12 2 (0.61%) Microsoft Purview
12 2 (0.61%) Miro
13 1 (0.30%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 13 (3.95%) Firewall
2 8 (2.43%) Wi-Fi
3 7 (2.13%) LAN
3 7 (2.13%) WAN
4 6 (1.82%) Wireless
5 4 (1.22%) Broadband
5 4 (1.22%) DNS
5 4 (1.22%) Network Security
5 4 (1.22%) SAN
5 4 (1.22%) TCP/IP
5 4 (1.22%) VLAN
6 3 (0.91%) DHCP
6 3 (0.91%) SD-WAN
7 2 (0.61%) Internet
7 2 (0.61%) VPN
7 2 (0.61%) WLAN
8 1 (0.30%) Cisco ASA
8 1 (0.30%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (5.78%) Power BI
2 11 (3.34%) Oracle Reports
3 7 (2.13%) GIS
3 7 (2.13%) SQL Server
4 4 (1.22%) SQL Server Integration Services
4 4 (1.22%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 3 (0.91%) Geospatial Data
5 3 (0.91%) OLTP
6 2 (0.61%) BusinessObjects
6 2 (0.61%) Data Lake
6 2 (0.61%) MS Access
6 2 (0.61%) Oracle Database
7 1 (0.30%) Crystal Reports
7 1 (0.30%) Data Mining
7 1 (0.30%) Metadata
7 1 (0.30%) SAP BW
7 1 (0.30%) SAP HANA
7 1 (0.30%) Semantic Layer
7 1 (0.30%) Star Schema
7 1 (0.30%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 5 (1.52%) JIRA
2 3 (0.91%) GitLab
3 1 (0.30%) JUnit
3 1 (0.30%) Selenium
3 1 (0.30%) SpecFlow
General
1 143 (43.47%) Public Sector
2 107 (32.52%) Finance
3 89 (27.05%) Social Skills
4 20 (6.08%) Analytical Skills
5 17 (5.17%) Fire and Rescue
6 13 (3.95%) Influencing Skills
7 12 (3.65%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 12 (3.65%) Legal
8 7 (2.13%) Back Office
9 5 (1.52%) Organisational Skills
9 5 (1.52%) Police
9 5 (1.52%) Social Housing
10 4 (1.22%) Law
11 3 (0.91%) Marketing
12 2 (0.61%) General Ledger
12 2 (0.61%) Welsh Language
13 1 (0.30%) Documentation Skills
13 1 (0.30%) Front Office
13 1 (0.30%) Social Science
Job Titles
1 49 (14.89%) Senior
2 46 (13.98%) Analyst
3 35 (10.64%) Lead
4 28 (8.51%) Business Analyst
5 25 (7.60%) Project Manager
6 22 (6.69%) Accountant
6 22 (6.69%) Systems Accountant
7 18 (5.47%) Architect
8 14 (4.26%) Applications Support
9 13 (3.95%) Consultant
9 13 (3.95%) Developer
9 13 (3.95%) Support Officer
10 11 (3.34%) Project Officer
11 9 (2.74%) Financial Analyst
11 9 (2.74%) Programme Manager
12 8 (2.43%) Administrator
12 8 (2.43%) Network Engineer
12 8 (2.43%) Project Accountant
12 8 (2.43%) Senior Manager
12 8 (2.43%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (3.95%) Oracle Fusion
2 10 (3.04%) EDI
3 5 (1.52%) Middleware
4 2 (0.61%) CSS
4 2 (0.61%) HTML
4 2 (0.61%) REST
5 1 (0.30%) FHIR
5 1 (0.30%) Node.js
5 1 (0.30%) OAuth
5 1 (0.30%) RESTful
5 1 (0.30%) SPFx
5 1 (0.30%) Spring
5 1 (0.30%) Spring Boot
5 1 (0.30%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 33 (10.03%) Management Information System
2 21 (6.38%) Public Cloud
3 13 (3.95%) Legacy Systems
4 10 (3.04%) Data Structures
5 8 (2.43%) NHS
6 7 (2.13%) Product Ownership
7 6 (1.82%) Driving Licence
8 5 (1.52%) Data Centre
8 5 (1.52%) Onboarding
9 4 (1.22%) Data Protection Act
9 4 (1.22%) Enterprise Cloud
9 4 (1.22%) Enterprise Software
10 3 (0.91%) Legacy Code
10 3 (0.91%) Team-Oriented Environment
10 3 (0.91%) Virtual Team
11 2 (0.61%) PKI
11 2 (0.61%) Security Posture
11 2 (0.61%) Self-Motivation
11 2 (0.61%) Taxonomies
12 1 (0.30%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 17 (5.17%) Windows
2 5 (1.52%) Linux
2 5 (1.52%) Windows Server
3 1 (0.30%) Android
3 1 (0.30%) VMS
3 1 (0.30%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 59 (17.93%) ERP
1 59 (17.93%) Stakeholder Management
2 56 (17.02%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 39 (11.85%) Agile
4 38 (11.55%) Change Management
4 38 (11.55%) Decision-Making
4 38 (11.55%) Migration
5 36 (10.94%) Continuous Improvement
6 32 (9.73%) Project Management
7 31 (9.42%) Roadmaps
8 28 (8.51%) User Acceptance Testing
9 27 (8.21%) Problem-Solving
9 27 (8.21%) Service Delivery
10 22 (6.69%) Business Intelligence
11 21 (6.38%) Project Delivery
12 20 (6.08%) Data Protection
13 19 (5.78%) Analytics
13 19 (5.78%) Business Analysis
13 19 (5.78%) Business Case
14 18 (5.47%) AI
Programming Languages
1 29 (8.81%) SQL
2 5 (1.52%) PL/SQL
3 3 (0.91%) ProC
3 3 (0.91%) Python
3 3 (0.91%) Shell Script
4 2 (0.61%) C#
4 2 (0.61%) Data Analysis Expressions
4 2 (0.61%) PowerShell
5 1 (0.30%) Bash
5 1 (0.30%) Bicep
5 1 (0.30%) C
5 1 (0.30%) Java
5 1 (0.30%) Korn
5 1 (0.30%) R
5 1 (0.30%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 13 (3.95%) Degree
2 11 (3.34%) BPSS Clearance
3 9 (2.74%) Security Cleared
4 8 (2.43%) DBS Check
5 7 (2.13%) SC Cleared
6 5 (1.52%) CCNA
6 5 (1.52%) Cisco Certification
6 5 (1.52%) NVQ Level 3
7 4 (1.22%) CCNP
7 4 (1.22%) CIPFA
7 4 (1.22%) ISTQB
7 4 (1.22%) ITIL Certification
7 4 (1.22%) SAP Certification
8 3 (0.91%) JNCIA
8 3 (0.91%) JNCIP
8 3 (0.91%) JNCIS
9 2 (0.61%) CCAB
9 2 (0.61%) Computer Science Degree
9 2 (0.61%) DV Cleared
9 2 (0.61%) IIBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (4.56%) Data Quality
2 10 (3.04%) Accessibility
3 8 (2.43%) GDPR
4 7 (2.13%) PMO
5 5 (1.52%) Actionable Recommendations
5 5 (1.52%) QA
6 3 (0.91%) SLA
6 3 (0.91%) WCAG
7 2 (0.61%) Disclosure Scotland
8 1 (0.30%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 11 (3.34%) Hyper-V
2 8 (2.43%) Active Directory
3 5 (1.52%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.30%) Docker
4 1 (0.30%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 6 (1.82%) Microsoft Intune
2 5 (1.52%) FortiGate
3 3 (0.91%) Prometheus
3 3 (0.91%) SCCM
4 1 (0.30%) Kubernetes
4 1 (0.30%) Single Sign-On
4 1 (0.30%) Terraform
Vendors
1 41 (12.46%) SAP
2 38 (11.55%) Microsoft
3 33 (10.03%) Oracle
4 15 (4.56%) NEC
5 14 (4.26%) VMware
6 6 (1.82%) Liquidlogic
6 6 (1.82%) Palo Alto
7 4 (1.22%) Cisco
7 4 (1.22%) Workday
8 3 (0.91%) Ariba
8 3 (0.91%) Dynatrace
8 3 (0.91%) ESRI
8 3 (0.91%) HP
8 3 (0.91%) Juniper
9 2 (0.61%) Citrix
9 2 (0.61%) Civica
9 2 (0.61%) Meraki
9 2 (0.61%) ServiceNow
10 1 (0.30%) Barracuda Networks
10 1 (0.30%) Fortinet