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 15 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 282 197 303
Rank change year-on-year -85 +106 +103
Contract jobs citing Local Government 344 451 338
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.94% 1.32% 0.76%
As % of the General category 1.54% 2.16% 1.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 204 233 242
10th Percentile £343 £297 £266
25th Percentile £405 £385 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £453
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% +4.97% +0.56%
75th Percentile £600 £538 £555
90th Percentile £650 £604 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £462 £450
% change year-on-year +8.34% +2.56% +8.43%
Number of hourly rates quoted 73 41 43
10th Percentile £20.99 £20.00 £17.47
25th Percentile £25.00 £21.25 £18.95
Median hourly rate £30.00 £28.41 £22.10
Median % change year-on-year +5.60% +28.55% +1.82%
75th Percentile £52.50 £33.75 £26.51
90th Percentile £57.50 £38.07 £31.71
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.25 £27.21 £20.07
% change year-on-year -10.86% +35.55% -4.43%

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 common skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for common skills 22,394 20,846 26,494
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 61.45% 60.80% 59.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,014 12,434 17,495
10th Percentile £275 £290 £280
25th Percentile £400 £413 £423
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -2.56% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,453 739 1,086
10th Percentile £13.80 £15.32 £14.25
25th Percentile £16.50 £18.13 £16.85
Median hourly rate £23.58 £27.50 £32.75
Median % change year-on-year -14.27% -16.03% +31.00%
75th Percentile £45.46 £53.75 £59.03
90th Percentile £70.00 £70.45 £71.28
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.00 £26.06 £30.00
% change year-on-year -15.59% -13.13% +38.12%

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 15 December 2025.

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 15 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Local Government in the UK

Local Government
Top 17 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 15 December 2025. 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 -109 284 £500 +7.87% 369
UK excluding London -112 152 £500 +8.34% 361
London -62 141 £510 +7.37% 46
Work from Home -13 118 £500 +5.26% 163
North of England -55 42 £450 -10.00% 80
North West -34 31 £450 -10.00% 50
Midlands -44 27 £600 +20.00% 79
South West -54 26 £450 - 39
South East -21 22 £400 -5.88% 95
West Midlands -34 14 £600 +14.29% 50
Scotland +5 13 £500 -16.67% 16
East Midlands -12 13 £175 -65.00% 29
East of England -30 13 £425 - 48
Yorkshire -40 10 £563 +15.38% 28
Channel Islands - 5 £725 -
Wales 0 4 - - 9
North East -13 1 - - 6

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 15 (4.36%) SharePoint
2 7 (2.03%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (1.16%) ArcGIS
4 3 (0.87%) CMS
4 3 (0.87%) Confluence
Applications
1 24 (6.98%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (2.33%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.16%) Trello
4 3 (0.87%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.87%) Microsoft Project
4 3 (0.87%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.29%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 21 (6.10%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (2.33%) NEC Housing
3 7 (2.03%) iTrent
4 6 (1.74%) SAP ERP
4 6 (1.74%) SAP Payroll
5 4 (1.16%) Unit4 Business World
6 2 (0.58%) Oracle ERP
6 2 (0.58%) SAP HR
7 1 (0.29%) ContrOCC
7 1 (0.29%) IntelliMatch
7 1 (0.29%) Oracle Applications
7 1 (0.29%) Oracle EBS
7 1 (0.29%) Oracle EBS R12
7 1 (0.29%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.29%) Oracle Payroll
7 1 (0.29%) Primavera
7 1 (0.29%) Workfront
Cloud Services
1 38 (11.05%) Azure
2 29 (8.43%) Power Platform
3 20 (5.81%) Microsoft 365
4 10 (2.91%) AWS
4 10 (2.91%) SuccessFactors
5 9 (2.62%) Entra ID
5 9 (2.62%) SaaS
6 8 (2.33%) PowerApps
7 7 (2.03%) OCI
8 6 (1.74%) Azure Sentinel
9 5 (1.45%) Microsoft Copilot
10 4 (1.16%) Azure DevOps
10 4 (1.16%) IaaS
11 3 (0.87%) Miro
11 3 (0.87%) Power Automate
12 2 (0.58%) Azure Functions
12 2 (0.58%) Azure Monitor
12 2 (0.58%) Dynamics 365
12 2 (0.58%) Microsoft Purview
12 2 (0.58%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 16 (4.65%) Firewall
2 10 (2.91%) WAN
3 8 (2.33%) Wi-Fi
4 7 (2.03%) SAN
4 7 (2.03%) TCP/IP
5 6 (1.74%) VPN
5 6 (1.74%) Wireless
6 5 (1.45%) LAN
6 5 (1.45%) SD-WAN
7 4 (1.16%) Internet
8 3 (0.87%) DNS
8 3 (0.87%) Network Security
8 3 (0.87%) VLAN
9 2 (0.58%) BGP
9 2 (0.58%) Broadband
9 2 (0.58%) DHCP
9 2 (0.58%) EIGRP
9 2 (0.58%) OSPF
9 2 (0.58%) SNMP
9 2 (0.58%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (7.56%) Power BI
2 10 (2.91%) GIS
3 8 (2.33%) Oracle Reports
4 7 (2.03%) SQL Server
5 4 (1.16%) Data Vault
5 4 (1.16%) Geospatial Data
5 4 (1.16%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (1.16%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 3 (0.87%) Power Query
6 3 (0.87%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 3 (0.87%) Star Schema
6 3 (0.87%) Tableau
7 2 (0.58%) BusinessObjects
7 2 (0.58%) Metadata
7 2 (0.58%) OLTP
7 2 (0.58%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.58%) QGIS
8 1 (0.29%) Data Lake
8 1 (0.29%) SAP BW
8 1 (0.29%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 6 (1.74%) JIRA
2 3 (0.87%) Oracle APEX
3 1 (0.29%) Eclipse
3 1 (0.29%) GitLab
3 1 (0.29%) Selenium
3 1 (0.29%) SpecFlow
General
1 126 (36.63%) Public Sector
2 77 (22.38%) Social Skills
3 76 (22.09%) Finance
4 32 (9.30%) Analytical Skills
5 23 (6.69%) Law
6 17 (4.94%) Fire and Rescue
7 11 (3.20%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 11 (3.20%) Legal
8 9 (2.62%) Organisational Skills
9 7 (2.03%) Back Office
10 5 (1.45%) Influencing Skills
11 4 (1.16%) Police
12 3 (0.87%) Publishing
13 2 (0.58%) Documentation Skills
13 2 (0.58%) Retail
13 2 (0.58%) Telecoms
13 2 (0.58%) Welsh Language
14 1 (0.29%) Front Office
14 1 (0.29%) Social Housing
14 1 (0.29%) Social Science
Job Titles
1 55 (15.99%) Analyst
2 43 (12.50%) Senior
3 36 (10.47%) Lead
4 23 (6.69%) Business Analyst
5 20 (5.81%) Architect
5 20 (5.81%) Project Manager
6 19 (5.52%) Consultant
7 18 (5.23%) Support Officer
8 14 (4.07%) Project Officer
9 12 (3.49%) Applications Support
10 9 (2.62%) Migration Specialist
11 8 (2.33%) Data Architect
11 8 (2.33%) Data Manager
11 8 (2.33%) Developer
11 8 (2.33%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 8 (2.33%) Service Analyst
11 8 (2.33%) Support Analyst
12 7 (2.03%) Change Manager
12 7 (2.03%) Data Analyst
12 7 (2.03%) Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (2.91%) EDI
2 7 (2.03%) Oracle Fusion
3 5 (1.45%) Middleware
4 2 (0.58%) HTML
4 2 (0.58%) REST
5 1 (0.29%) .NET
5 1 (0.29%) .NET Core
5 1 (0.29%) CSS
5 1 (0.29%) FHIR
5 1 (0.29%) HTML5 Canvas
5 1 (0.29%) JSON
5 1 (0.29%) OAuth
5 1 (0.29%) SPFx
Miscellaneous
1 22 (6.40%) Management Information System
2 14 (4.07%) Legacy Systems
3 13 (3.78%) Public Cloud
4 9 (2.62%) NHS
5 8 (2.33%) Housing Association
6 7 (2.03%) Data Centre
6 7 (2.03%) Data Structures
7 3 (0.87%) Analytical Mindset
7 3 (0.87%) Clustering
7 3 (0.87%) Data Protection Act
7 3 (0.87%) Onboarding
7 3 (0.87%) Product Ownership
7 3 (0.87%) Team-Oriented Environment
8 2 (0.58%) CCTV
8 2 (0.58%) Cyber Defence
8 2 (0.58%) Cyber Security Posture
8 2 (0.58%) Hybrid Cloud
8 2 (0.58%) IVR
8 2 (0.58%) Security Posture
8 2 (0.58%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 7 (2.03%) Windows
1 7 (2.03%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 51 (14.83%) Stakeholder Engagement
2 48 (13.95%) ERP
3 47 (13.66%) Migration
4 44 (12.79%) Project Management
5 34 (9.88%) Decision-Making
6 33 (9.59%) Problem-Solving
6 33 (9.59%) Stakeholder Management
7 31 (9.01%) Data Migration
8 29 (8.43%) Business Intelligence
9 28 (8.14%) Agile
9 28 (8.14%) User Acceptance Testing
10 27 (7.85%) Change Management
11 25 (7.27%) Roadmaps
12 22 (6.40%) Data Management
13 21 (6.10%) Digital Transformation Programme
13 21 (6.10%) PRINCE2
14 20 (5.81%) Continuous Improvement
15 19 (5.52%) Business Analysis
15 19 (5.52%) Risk Management
15 19 (5.52%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 35 (10.17%) SQL
2 6 (1.74%) Python
3 4 (1.16%) PowerShell
4 3 (0.87%) C#
4 3 (0.87%) Data Analysis Expressions
4 3 (0.87%) PL/SQL
4 3 (0.87%) R
5 2 (0.58%) Bicep
6 1 (0.29%) Bash
6 1 (0.29%) C
6 1 (0.29%) JavaScript
6 1 (0.29%) Korn
6 1 (0.29%) ProC
6 1 (0.29%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 20 (5.81%) Degree
2 18 (5.23%) DBS Check
3 10 (2.91%) Security Cleared
4 8 (2.33%) BPSS Clearance
4 8 (2.33%) SC Cleared
5 7 (2.03%) CISSP
5 7 (2.03%) HND
6 6 (1.74%) CCAB
6 6 (1.74%) Cisco Certification
7 5 (1.45%) CCNP
7 5 (1.45%) CISM
7 5 (1.45%) ISTQB
8 4 (1.16%) Azure Certification
8 4 (1.16%) CCNA
8 4 (1.16%) CISA
8 4 (1.16%) Computer Science Degree
8 4 (1.16%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
9 3 (0.87%) JNCIA
9 3 (0.87%) JNCIP
9 3 (0.87%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (6.10%) Data Quality
2 11 (3.20%) GDPR
2 11 (3.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 11 (3.20%) PMO
3 9 (2.62%) QA
4 8 (2.33%) Cyber Essentials
5 6 (1.74%) SLA
6 5 (1.45%) Accessibility
6 5 (1.45%) Actionable Recommendations
6 5 (1.45%) NCSC
6 5 (1.45%) NIST
7 2 (0.58%) Disclosure Scotland
8 1 (0.29%) HL7
8 1 (0.29%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 9 (2.62%) Active Directory
2 8 (2.33%) Hyper-V
3 1 (0.29%) Docker
3 1 (0.29%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (0.29%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 10 (2.91%) Microsoft Intune
2 6 (1.74%) FortiGate
3 4 (1.16%) CSIRT
3 4 (1.16%) QRadar
4 3 (0.87%) SCCM
5 2 (0.58%) Single Sign-On
5 2 (0.58%) Terraform
6 1 (0.29%) Kubernetes
6 1 (0.29%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 61 (17.73%) Microsoft
2 35 (10.17%) Oracle
3 34 (9.88%) SAP
4 15 (4.36%) VMware
5 9 (2.62%) NEC
6 7 (2.03%) Liquidlogic
7 6 (1.74%) Palo Alto
8 5 (1.45%) Cisco
8 5 (1.45%) Fortinet
8 5 (1.45%) HP
8 5 (1.45%) Splunk
9 4 (1.16%) Capita
9 4 (1.16%) Citrix
9 4 (1.16%) ESRI
10 3 (0.87%) Juniper
10 3 (0.87%) OneLogin
10 3 (0.87%) ServiceNow
10 3 (0.87%) SolarWinds
10 3 (0.87%) Workday
11 2 (0.58%) Proofpoint