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

6 months to
25 Mar 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 300 215 258
Rank change year-on-year -85 +43 +150
Contract jobs citing Local Government 365 357 413
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.83% 1.23% 0.93%
As % of the General category 1.47% 1.95% 1.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 249 220 294
10th Percentile £350 £310 £304
25th Percentile £413 £400 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% - +5.56%
75th Percentile £600 £539 £575
90th Percentile £665 £600 £642
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +11.11% -5.26% +18.75%
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 55 70
10th Percentile £19.46 £17.49 £15.39
25th Percentile £22.85 £20.36 £17.01
Median hourly rate £25.38 £26.12 £22.28
Median % change year-on-year -2.83% +17.22% -0.57%
75th Percentile £30.00 £33.75 £31.71
90th Percentile £44.94 £36.05 £38.28
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.12 £25.00 £18.35
% change year-on-year +0.48% +36.24% -18.12%

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 24,883 18,301 25,821
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.69% 62.93% 58.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,522 11,737 16,463
10th Percentile £300 £300 £265
25th Percentile £405 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £645 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £495
% change year-on-year - -4.04% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,539 684 1,820
10th Percentile £13.72 £15.00 £12.78
25th Percentile £17.00 £20.00 £15.28
Median hourly rate £25.00 £30.00 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% +15.38% -25.71%
75th Percentile £57.38 £58.75 £50.00
90th Percentile £77.00 £75.95 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.58 £28.00 £25.00
% change year-on-year -15.80% +12.00% -19.70%

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 25 March 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 25 March 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 25 March 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 -100 341 £500 +5.26% 184
UK excluding London -88 185 £500 +11.11% 149
London -62 162 £525 +5.00% 49
Work from Home -19 122 £525 +10.53% 66
Midlands -10 90 £513 -1.44% 35
West Midlands -10 55 £488 -9.30% 25
North of England -80 34 £500 +5.26% 42
East Midlands -11 32 £500 -3.85% 10
North West -31 27 £375 -23.08% 22
South West -39 25 £488 +13.50% 21
East of England -38 17 £425 - 15
South East -63 10 £400 -11.11% 34
Scotland +11 7 £500 +25.00% 3
Yorkshire -75 5 £675 +38.46% 17
Wales -8 2 - - 3
North East -12 2 £500 +66.67% 4

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 19 (5.21%) SharePoint
2 4 (1.10%) CMS
3 3 (0.82%) Confluence
3 3 (0.82%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (0.55%) ArcGIS
5 1 (0.27%) Drupal
5 1 (0.27%) govService
5 1 (0.27%) IBM HTTP Server
Applications
1 18 (4.93%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (2.47%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (1.37%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.82%) Microsoft Project
4 3 (0.82%) Spreadsheet
4 3 (0.82%) Trello
5 2 (0.55%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 28 (7.67%) SAP S/4HANA
2 16 (4.38%) NEC Housing
3 5 (1.37%) ContrOCC
3 5 (1.37%) iTrent
4 4 (1.10%) Oracle Financials
4 4 (1.10%) Oracle Payables
4 4 (1.10%) SAP ERP
5 3 (0.82%) Oracle Applications
5 3 (0.82%) Oracle General Ledger
5 3 (0.82%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 3 (0.82%) Oracle Receivables
5 3 (0.82%) SAP HR
6 2 (0.55%) Dynamics CRM
6 2 (0.55%) Oracle ERP
6 2 (0.55%) Unit4 Business World
7 1 (0.27%) Oracle EBS
7 1 (0.27%) Primavera
7 1 (0.27%) SAP FI
7 1 (0.27%) SAP FI/CO
7 1 (0.27%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 47 (12.88%) Azure
2 26 (7.12%) Microsoft 365
3 18 (4.93%) Power Platform
4 14 (3.84%) SaaS
5 13 (3.56%) AWS
6 11 (3.01%) Dynamics 365
7 10 (2.74%) Microsoft Copilot
8 9 (2.47%) SuccessFactors
9 8 (2.19%) Azure DevOps
9 8 (2.19%) Entra ID
10 6 (1.64%) OCI
11 4 (1.10%) IaaS
11 4 (1.10%) OneDrive
11 4 (1.10%) Power Automate
11 4 (1.10%) PowerApps
12 3 (0.82%) Amazon EKS
12 3 (0.82%) Azure Sentinel
12 3 (0.82%) Microsoft Purview
12 3 (0.82%) Miro
12 3 (0.82%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 12 (3.29%) Firewall
2 6 (1.64%) LAN
2 6 (1.64%) WAN
3 5 (1.37%) Broadband
3 5 (1.37%) DNS
3 5 (1.37%) Network Security
3 5 (1.37%) Wi-Fi
3 5 (1.37%) Wireless
4 4 (1.10%) DHCP
5 3 (0.82%) SD-WAN
5 3 (0.82%) VPN
6 2 (0.55%) Internet
6 2 (0.55%) WLAN
7 1 (0.27%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (4.93%) Oracle Reports
2 15 (4.11%) Power BI
3 9 (2.47%) GIS
4 7 (1.92%) SQL Server
5 4 (1.10%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 3 (0.82%) Geospatial Data
6 3 (0.82%) OLTP
7 2 (0.55%) Data Lake
7 2 (0.55%) MS Access
7 2 (0.55%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.55%) Spatial Data
8 1 (0.27%) Data Mining
8 1 (0.27%) Metadata
8 1 (0.27%) PostgreSQL
8 1 (0.27%) Power Query
8 1 (0.27%) SAP BW
8 1 (0.27%) Semantic Layer
8 1 (0.27%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 1 (0.27%) Star Schema
8 1 (0.27%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 8 (2.19%) JIRA
2 3 (0.82%) GitLab
3 1 (0.27%) JUnit
General
1 171 (46.85%) Public Sector
2 124 (33.97%) Finance
3 97 (26.58%) Social Skills
4 30 (8.22%) Analytical Skills
5 17 (4.66%) Fire and Rescue
6 16 (4.38%) Influencing Skills
7 13 (3.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 13 (3.56%) Legal
8 8 (2.19%) Organisational Skills
9 7 (1.92%) Back Office
10 6 (1.64%) Social Housing
11 5 (1.37%) Police
12 3 (0.82%) Marketing
13 2 (0.55%) General Ledger
13 2 (0.55%) Law
13 2 (0.55%) Welsh Language
14 1 (0.27%) Front Office
14 1 (0.27%) Presentation Skills
14 1 (0.27%) Retail
14 1 (0.27%) Social Science
Job Titles
1 53 (14.52%) Senior
2 46 (12.60%) Analyst
3 43 (11.78%) Lead
4 28 (7.67%) Accountant
4 28 (7.67%) Systems Accountant
5 27 (7.40%) Business Analyst
6 25 (6.85%) Architect
6 25 (6.85%) Project Manager
7 21 (5.75%) Developer
8 16 (4.38%) Consultant
9 14 (3.84%) Applications Support
9 14 (3.84%) Support Officer
10 11 (3.01%) Project Officer
10 11 (3.01%) Solutions Architect
11 10 (2.74%) Administrator
11 10 (2.74%) Financial Analyst
11 10 (2.74%) Oracle Developer
11 10 (2.74%) Senior Accountant
11 10 (2.74%) Senior Systems Accountant
12 9 (2.47%) Senior Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (6.03%) Oracle Fusion
2 10 (2.74%) EDI
3 3 (0.82%) Middleware
4 2 (0.55%) CSS
4 2 (0.55%) HTML
4 2 (0.55%) REST
5 1 (0.27%) FHIR
5 1 (0.27%) Node.js
5 1 (0.27%) OAuth
5 1 (0.27%) RESTful
5 1 (0.27%) SPFx
5 1 (0.27%) Spring
5 1 (0.27%) Spring Boot
5 1 (0.27%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 39 (10.68%) Management Information System
2 23 (6.30%) Public Cloud
3 16 (4.38%) Legacy Systems
4 13 (3.56%) Data Structures
5 10 (2.74%) NHS
6 7 (1.92%) Product Ownership
7 6 (1.64%) Driving Licence
8 5 (1.37%) Housing Association
9 4 (1.10%) Enterprise Cloud
9 4 (1.10%) Enterprise Software
9 4 (1.10%) Onboarding
10 3 (0.82%) Freedom of Information
10 3 (0.82%) Legacy Code
10 3 (0.82%) Team-Oriented Environment
10 3 (0.82%) Virtual Team
11 2 (0.55%) Data Protection Act
11 2 (0.55%) PKI
11 2 (0.55%) Security Posture
11 2 (0.55%) Self-Motivation
11 2 (0.55%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 20 (5.48%) Windows
2 6 (1.64%) Windows Server
3 5 (1.37%) Linux
3 5 (1.37%) Windows 10
4 1 (0.27%) Android
4 1 (0.27%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 67 (18.36%) Stakeholder Management
2 63 (17.26%) ERP
3 61 (16.71%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 42 (11.51%) Migration
5 40 (10.96%) Decision-Making
6 39 (10.68%) Change Management
6 39 (10.68%) Continuous Improvement
7 34 (9.32%) Agile
8 33 (9.04%) Roadmaps
9 32 (8.77%) Service Delivery
10 31 (8.49%) Project Management
10 31 (8.49%) User Acceptance Testing
11 29 (7.95%) Problem-Solving
12 27 (7.40%) Digital Transformation Programme
13 23 (6.30%) Project Delivery
14 22 (6.03%) Data Protection
15 21 (5.75%) Cybersecurity
16 19 (5.21%) Analytics
16 19 (5.21%) Business Analysis
16 19 (5.21%) Business Case
Programming Languages
1 27 (7.40%) SQL
2 5 (1.37%) PL/SQL
3 3 (0.82%) PowerShell
3 3 (0.82%) ProC
3 3 (0.82%) Python
3 3 (0.82%) Shell Script
4 2 (0.55%) Data Analysis Expressions
5 1 (0.27%) Apex Code
5 1 (0.27%) Bash
5 1 (0.27%) Bicep
5 1 (0.27%) C
5 1 (0.27%) C#
5 1 (0.27%) Java
5 1 (0.27%) JavaScript
5 1 (0.27%) Korn
5 1 (0.27%) R
5 1 (0.27%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 14 (3.84%) DBS Check
1 14 (3.84%) Degree
2 11 (3.01%) BPSS Clearance
3 9 (2.47%) Security Cleared
4 7 (1.92%) SC Cleared
5 5 (1.37%) CCNA
5 5 (1.37%) Cisco Certification
5 5 (1.37%) NVQ Level 3
5 5 (1.37%) SAP Certification
6 4 (1.10%) CCNP
6 4 (1.10%) CIPFA
6 4 (1.10%) ITIL Certification
7 3 (0.82%) ISTQB
7 3 (0.82%) JNCIA
7 3 (0.82%) JNCIP
7 3 (0.82%) JNCIS
8 2 (0.55%) CCAB
8 2 (0.55%) Computer Science Degree
8 2 (0.55%) DV Cleared
8 2 (0.55%) IIBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (4.38%) Data Quality
2 14 (3.84%) GDPR
3 7 (1.92%) Accessibility
4 6 (1.64%) PMO
4 6 (1.64%) QA
4 6 (1.64%) SLA
5 5 (1.37%) Actionable Recommendations
5 5 (1.37%) PCI DSS
6 3 (0.82%) Cyber Essentials
6 3 (0.82%) NCSC
6 3 (0.82%) PERC
6 3 (0.82%) WCAG
7 2 (0.55%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 1 (0.27%) Disclosure Scotland
8 1 (0.27%) GRC
8 1 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 9 (2.47%) Active Directory
2 8 (2.19%) Hyper-V
3 5 (1.37%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.27%) Docker
4 1 (0.27%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 6 (1.64%) Microsoft Intune
2 3 (0.82%) Prometheus
2 3 (0.82%) SCCM
3 1 (0.27%) FortiGate
3 1 (0.27%) Kubernetes
3 1 (0.27%) Terraform
Vendors
1 57 (15.62%) Microsoft
2 46 (12.60%) Oracle
3 41 (11.23%) SAP
4 18 (4.93%) NEC
5 11 (3.01%) VMware
6 8 (2.19%) Liquidlogic
7 4 (1.10%) Ariba
7 4 (1.10%) Workday
8 3 (0.82%) Cisco
8 3 (0.82%) Civica
8 3 (0.82%) Dynatrace
8 3 (0.82%) ESRI
8 3 (0.82%) Juniper
8 3 (0.82%) Palo Alto
9 2 (0.55%) Blue Prism
9 2 (0.55%) Meraki
9 2 (0.55%) OneLogin
9 2 (0.55%) Salesforce
9 2 (0.55%) ServiceNow
9 2 (0.55%) UiPath
203 Local Government jobs Nationwide