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

6 months to
21 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 296 261 247
Rank change year-on-year -35 -14 +136
Contract jobs citing Local Government 392 293 403
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.81% 1.01% 0.95%
As % of the General category 1.52% 1.59% 1.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 279 195 306
10th Percentile £325 £300 £328
25th Percentile £411 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% - +5.56%
75th Percentile £600 £550 £575
90th Percentile £678 £635 £641
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +11.11% -5.26% +16.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 42 44 56
10th Percentile £16.70 £18.38 £15.39
25th Percentile £20.51 £20.40 £16.00
Median hourly rate £25.38 £26.29 £25.62
Median % change year-on-year -3.44% +2.60% +14.71%
75th Percentile £27.73 £29.42 £36.06
90th Percentile £30.90 £34.63 £48.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.38 £23.00 £24.26
% change year-on-year +10.35% -5.17% +8.96%

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 25,839 18,404 24,681
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 53.55% 63.23% 58.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,748 11,685 15,587
10th Percentile £311 £285 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £517 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.35% -1.52% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £475 £495
% change year-on-year +3.16% -4.04% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,662 799 1,924
10th Percentile £13.95 £13.89 £12.75
25th Percentile £17.50 £16.95 £15.50
Median hourly rate £30.00 £27.40 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +9.49% -8.67% -7.69%
75th Percentile £60.00 £55.25 £52.78
90th Percentile £79.90 £75.00 £66.59
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.00 £24.50 £28.25
% change year-on-year +18.37% -13.27% -2.59%

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 21 May 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 21 May 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 21 May 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 -31 378 £500 +5.26% 226
UK excluding London -41 200 £500 +11.11% 183
London -28 179 £525 +10.53% 68
Work from Home -12 133 £513 +7.89% 102
Midlands +9 88 £525 +0.96% 42
West Midlands -5 60 £525 - 23
East of England -7 30 £425 -14.91% 18
North of England -77 26 £506 +6.58% 38
East Midlands -11 25 £500 -3.85% 19
South West -47 25 £488 +19.19% 31
South East -49 24 £550 +22.22% 47
North West -31 17 £325 -25.71% 21
Yorkshire -64 8 £550 +12.82% 14
Wales -6 4 £425 - 4
Scotland -5 3 - - 11
North East -26 1 £500 +5.26% 5

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 17 (4.34%) SharePoint
2 5 (1.28%) CMS
3 4 (1.02%) OpenEdge
4 3 (0.77%) Confluence
4 3 (0.77%) Drupal
5 2 (0.51%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.51%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.51%) govService
5 2 (0.51%) Oracle Workflow
6 1 (0.26%) ArcGIS
6 1 (0.26%) IBM HTTP Server
6 1 (0.26%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 23 (5.87%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (2.30%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (1.53%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (1.02%) Spreadsheet
5 3 (0.77%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.51%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.51%) Trello
Business Applications
1 23 (5.87%) SAP S/4HANA
2 18 (4.59%) NEC Housing
3 10 (2.55%) Oracle Payables
3 10 (2.55%) Oracle Receivables
4 9 (2.30%) Oracle General Ledger
4 9 (2.30%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 7 (1.79%) ContrOCC
6 4 (1.02%) Dynamics CRM
6 4 (1.02%) Oracle Financials
6 4 (1.02%) SAP ERP
7 3 (0.77%) iTrent
7 3 (0.77%) Oracle Applications
8 2 (0.51%) Oracle EBS
8 2 (0.51%) Unit4 Business World
9 1 (0.26%) Oracle ERP
9 1 (0.26%) SAP CO
9 1 (0.26%) SAP FI
9 1 (0.26%) SAP FI/CO
9 1 (0.26%) SAP HR
9 1 (0.26%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 36 (9.18%) Azure
2 27 (6.89%) Power Platform
3 25 (6.38%) Microsoft 365
4 19 (4.85%) SaaS
5 13 (3.32%) AWS
5 13 (3.32%) Dynamics 365
6 7 (1.79%) Entra ID
6 7 (1.79%) Microsoft Copilot
7 6 (1.53%) OCI
7 6 (1.53%) PowerApps
8 5 (1.28%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (1.28%) Power Automate
9 4 (1.02%) SuccessFactors
10 3 (0.77%) Amazon EKS
10 3 (0.77%) Azure Sentinel
10 3 (0.77%) Miro
10 3 (0.77%) OneDrive
11 2 (0.51%) Amazon ECS
11 2 (0.51%) AWS Lambda
11 2 (0.51%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 8 (2.04%) Firewall
2 5 (1.28%) Network Security
3 4 (1.02%) Broadband
3 4 (1.02%) DHCP
3 4 (1.02%) DNS
3 4 (1.02%) LAN
3 4 (1.02%) WAN
4 3 (0.77%) VPN
5 2 (0.51%) Intranet
5 2 (0.51%) PSTN
5 2 (0.51%) Wi-Fi
6 1 (0.26%) SD-WAN
6 1 (0.26%) Unified Communications
6 1 (0.26%) VLAN
6 1 (0.26%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (5.61%) Power BI
2 20 (5.10%) Oracle Reports
3 9 (2.30%) SQL Server
4 7 (1.79%) GIS
5 3 (0.77%) OLTP
6 2 (0.51%) Amazon Aurora
6 2 (0.51%) Amazon RDS
6 2 (0.51%) Apache Hudi
6 2 (0.51%) Big Data
6 2 (0.51%) BusinessObjects
6 2 (0.51%) Crystal Reports
6 2 (0.51%) MongoDB
6 2 (0.51%) MS Access
6 2 (0.51%) NoSQL
6 2 (0.51%) PostgreSQL
6 2 (0.51%) Presto
6 2 (0.51%) Spatial Data
6 2 (0.51%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 2 (0.51%) Star Schema
7 1 (0.26%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 7 (1.79%) JIRA
2 3 (0.77%) GitLab
3 2 (0.51%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.26%) JUnit
General
1 165 (42.09%) Public Sector
2 127 (32.40%) Finance
3 97 (24.74%) Social Skills
4 34 (8.67%) Analytical Skills
5 19 (4.85%) Legal
6 16 (4.08%) Influencing Skills
7 15 (3.83%) Organisational Skills
8 11 (2.81%) Social Housing
9 8 (2.04%) Fire and Rescue
9 8 (2.04%) Police
10 7 (1.79%) Retail
11 5 (1.28%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 4 (1.02%) Back Office
12 4 (1.02%) Documentation Skills
12 4 (1.02%) Marketing
13 2 (0.51%) Banking
13 2 (0.51%) General Ledger
13 2 (0.51%) Manufacturing
13 2 (0.51%) Presentation Skills
14 1 (0.26%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 53 (13.52%) Senior
2 52 (13.27%) Analyst
3 45 (11.48%) Lead
4 31 (7.91%) Accountant
5 30 (7.65%) Systems Accountant
6 27 (6.89%) Developer
7 24 (6.12%) Business Analyst
8 23 (5.87%) Project Manager
9 21 (5.36%) Architect
10 15 (3.83%) Support Officer
11 14 (3.57%) Consultant
12 11 (2.81%) Finance Manager
12 11 (2.81%) Oracle Developer
12 11 (2.81%) Senior Accountant
12 11 (2.81%) Senior Analyst
12 11 (2.81%) Senior Systems Accountant
12 11 (2.81%) Tester
13 10 (2.55%) Designer
13 10 (2.55%) ERP Manager
14 9 (2.30%) Service Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (7.65%) Oracle Fusion
2 5 (1.28%) Middleware
3 4 (1.02%) CSS
3 4 (1.02%) HTML
4 3 (0.77%) RESTful
4 3 (0.77%) SAP Fiori
5 2 (0.51%) Play Framework
6 1 (0.26%) .NET
6 1 (0.26%) FHIR
6 1 (0.26%) Node.js
6 1 (0.26%) REST
6 1 (0.26%) Spring
6 1 (0.26%) Spring Boot
6 1 (0.26%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 32 (8.16%) Management Information System
2 17 (4.34%) Public Cloud
3 15 (3.83%) Legacy Systems
4 14 (3.57%) Data Structures
5 11 (2.81%) NHS
6 10 (2.55%) Freedom of Information
7 8 (2.04%) Housing Association
7 8 (2.04%) Product Ownership
8 7 (1.79%) Driving Licence
9 5 (1.28%) Onboarding
10 4 (1.02%) Enterprise Cloud
10 4 (1.02%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (1.02%) Security Posture
11 3 (0.77%) Cyber Security Posture
11 3 (0.77%) Legacy Code
11 3 (0.77%) Virtual Team
12 2 (0.51%) Data Protection Act
12 2 (0.51%) PKI
12 2 (0.51%) Self-Motivation
12 2 (0.51%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 20 (5.10%) Windows
2 7 (1.79%) Linux
3 6 (1.53%) Windows Server
4 5 (1.28%) Windows 10
5 2 (0.51%) Unix
6 1 (0.26%) Android
6 1 (0.26%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 73 (18.62%) Stakeholder Management
2 56 (14.29%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 54 (13.78%) Continuous Improvement
4 51 (13.01%) ERP
5 48 (12.24%) Migration
6 47 (11.99%) Decision-Making
7 46 (11.73%) Service Delivery
8 35 (8.93%) Agile
9 33 (8.42%) Roadmaps
10 30 (7.65%) Change Management
11 29 (7.40%) Data Protection
11 29 (7.40%) Digital Transformation Programme
11 29 (7.40%) Problem-Solving
12 28 (7.14%) Project Delivery
12 28 (7.14%) Validation
13 27 (6.89%) Data Migration
13 27 (6.89%) User Acceptance Testing
14 26 (6.63%) Business Intelligence
14 26 (6.63%) Cybersecurity
15 25 (6.38%) Analytics
Programming Languages
1 27 (6.89%) SQL
2 4 (1.02%) JavaScript
2 4 (1.02%) PL/SQL
2 4 (1.02%) Python
3 3 (0.77%) Data Analysis Expressions
3 3 (0.77%) Java
3 3 (0.77%) PowerShell
3 3 (0.77%) ProC
3 3 (0.77%) Shell Script
4 2 (0.51%) ABAP
4 2 (0.51%) C#
4 2 (0.51%) Scala
4 2 (0.51%) T-SQL
5 1 (0.26%) Apex Code
5 1 (0.26%) Bash
5 1 (0.26%) C
5 1 (0.26%) Korn
5 1 (0.26%) R
5 1 (0.26%) Search Processing Language
Qualifications
1 15 (3.83%) DBS Check
2 14 (3.57%) Degree
3 9 (2.30%) Security Cleared
4 6 (1.53%) BPSS Clearance
4 6 (1.53%) NVQ Level 3
4 6 (1.53%) SC Cleared
5 4 (1.02%) CIPFA
6 3 (0.77%) Cisco Certification
6 3 (0.77%) SAP Certification
7 2 (0.51%) CCAB
7 2 (0.51%) CCNA
7 2 (0.51%) CCNP
7 2 (0.51%) CISSP
7 2 (0.51%) IIBA
7 2 (0.51%) ISEB
7 2 (0.51%) ISTQB
7 2 (0.51%) ITIL Certification
7 2 (0.51%) PMI Certification
7 2 (0.51%) PMP
7 2 (0.51%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (6.89%) Data Quality
2 20 (5.10%) GDPR
3 12 (3.06%) Accessibility
4 10 (2.55%) QA
5 6 (1.53%) PMO
5 6 (1.53%) SLA
5 6 (1.53%) WCAG
6 5 (1.28%) NCSC
7 4 (1.02%) Actionable Recommendations
7 4 (1.02%) PCI DSS
8 3 (0.77%) Cyber Essentials
8 3 (0.77%) PERC
9 2 (0.51%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 1 (0.26%) BS7666
10 1 (0.26%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.26%) GRC
10 1 (0.26%) IFRS
10 1 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 7 (1.79%) Active Directory
2 5 (1.28%) Hyper-V
2 5 (1.28%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (0.77%) Docker
Systems Management
1 3 (0.77%) Microsoft Intune
1 3 (0.77%) Prometheus
2 2 (0.51%) Grafana
2 2 (0.51%) Kibana
2 2 (0.51%) SCCM
2 2 (0.51%) Terraform
3 1 (0.26%) FortiGate
3 1 (0.26%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 67 (17.09%) Microsoft
2 46 (11.73%) Oracle
3 37 (9.44%) SAP
4 19 (4.85%) NEC
5 8 (2.04%) Civica
6 7 (1.79%) Liquidlogic
6 7 (1.79%) VMware
7 4 (1.02%) Ariba
7 4 (1.02%) Orchard
8 3 (0.77%) Dynatrace
8 3 (0.77%) ServiceNow
8 3 (0.77%) Splunk
9 2 (0.51%) Blue Prism
9 2 (0.51%) Granicus
9 2 (0.51%) OneLogin
9 2 (0.51%) Palo Alto
9 2 (0.51%) Ribbon
9 2 (0.51%) Salesforce
9 2 (0.51%) UiPath
10 1 (0.26%) CrowdStrike