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

6 months to
7 Mar 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 322 207 274
Rank change year-on-year -115 +67 +134
Contract jobs citing Local Government 341 382 395
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.80% 1.25% 0.88%
As % of the General category 1.38% 2.00% 1.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 229 226 280
10th Percentile £350 £300 £299
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% - +5.56%
75th Percentile £600 £538 £575
90th Percentile £678 £600 £644
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £451 £475
% change year-on-year +10.99% -5.16% +18.75%
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 54 72
10th Percentile £20.00 £17.37 £15.39
25th Percentile £22.85 £20.31 £16.65
Median hourly rate £26.00 £26.08 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year -0.31% +18.55% -4.66%
75th Percentile £31.86 £33.75 £30.22
90th Percentile £57.50 £40.36 £38.10
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.00 £25.00 £18.35
% change year-on-year - +36.24% -19.18%

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 24,676 19,133 26,334
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 57.78% 62.43% 58.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,436 11,870 16,871
10th Percentile £300 £292 £264
25th Percentile £405 £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 £493
% change year-on-year -0.52% -3.05% -1.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,499 657 1,794
10th Percentile £13.68 £15.61 £13.00
25th Percentile £16.90 £20.26 £15.30
Median hourly rate £24.00 £30.00 £25.50
Median % change year-on-year -20.00% +17.65% -19.28%
75th Percentile £55.00 £60.00 £50.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.68 £27.50 £24.76
% change year-on-year -17.53% +11.07% -7.16%

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 7 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 7 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 7 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 -113 312 £500 +6.38% 231
UK excluding London -88 168 £500 +10.99% 199
London -59 151 £550 +15.79% 55
Work from Home -45 103 £504 +6.11% 104
Midlands -23 72 £500 -3.85% 52
West Midlands -24 43 £413 -23.26% 33
North of England -83 30 £475 - 38
East Midlands -12 27 £500 -3.85% 17
South West -53 27 £500 +11.11% 30
North West -38 23 £413 -13.16% 27
East of England -28 15 £425 -8.06% 18
South East -53 11 £400 -11.11% 44
Scotland +16 10 £500 - 4
Yorkshire -73 5 £675 +35.00% 10
Wales - 3 - - 13
North East -13 2 £500 +66.67% 1

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 (4.99%) SharePoint
2 4 (1.17%) CMS
3 3 (0.88%) Confluence
3 3 (0.88%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (0.59%) ArcGIS
5 1 (0.29%) Drupal
5 1 (0.29%) govService
Applications
1 16 (4.69%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (2.05%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.17%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (1.17%) Microsoft Project
4 3 (0.88%) Spreadsheet
4 3 (0.88%) Trello
5 2 (0.59%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 29 (8.50%) SAP S/4HANA
2 14 (4.11%) NEC Housing
3 5 (1.47%) iTrent
3 5 (1.47%) SAP ERP
4 3 (0.88%) Oracle Applications
4 3 (0.88%) Oracle Financials
5 2 (0.59%) Oracle ERP
5 2 (0.59%) SAP HR
5 2 (0.59%) Unit4 Business World
6 1 (0.29%) ContrOCC
6 1 (0.29%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.29%) IntelliMatch
6 1 (0.29%) Oracle EBS
6 1 (0.29%) Oracle EBS R12
6 1 (0.29%) Oracle Payables
6 1 (0.29%) Primavera
6 1 (0.29%) SAP CO
6 1 (0.29%) SAP FI
6 1 (0.29%) SAP FI/CO
6 1 (0.29%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 38 (11.14%) Azure
2 20 (5.87%) Power Platform
3 19 (5.57%) Microsoft 365
4 13 (3.81%) AWS
4 13 (3.81%) SaaS
5 8 (2.35%) Microsoft Copilot
5 8 (2.35%) SuccessFactors
6 6 (1.76%) Dynamics 365
7 5 (1.47%) Azure DevOps
7 5 (1.47%) Entra ID
7 5 (1.47%) OCI
8 4 (1.17%) IaaS
8 4 (1.17%) PowerApps
9 3 (0.88%) Amazon EKS
9 3 (0.88%) Microsoft Purview
9 3 (0.88%) Miro
9 3 (0.88%) PaaS
9 3 (0.88%) Power Automate
10 2 (0.59%) Azure Monitor
10 2 (0.59%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 13 (3.81%) Firewall
2 7 (2.05%) LAN
2 7 (2.05%) WAN
2 7 (2.05%) Wi-Fi
3 6 (1.76%) Wireless
4 5 (1.47%) Broadband
4 5 (1.47%) Network Security
5 3 (0.88%) DNS
5 3 (0.88%) SD-WAN
5 3 (0.88%) VLAN
6 2 (0.59%) DHCP
6 2 (0.59%) Internet
6 2 (0.59%) SAN
6 2 (0.59%) TCP/IP
6 2 (0.59%) VPN
6 2 (0.59%) WLAN
7 1 (0.29%) Cisco ASA
7 1 (0.29%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (5.28%) Power BI
2 13 (3.81%) Oracle Reports
3 9 (2.64%) GIS
4 7 (2.05%) SQL Server
5 4 (1.17%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 3 (0.88%) Geospatial Data
6 3 (0.88%) OLTP
6 3 (0.88%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 2 (0.59%) BusinessObjects
7 2 (0.59%) Data Lake
7 2 (0.59%) MS Access
7 2 (0.59%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.59%) Spatial Data
8 1 (0.29%) Crystal Reports
8 1 (0.29%) Data Mining
8 1 (0.29%) Metadata
8 1 (0.29%) QGIS
8 1 (0.29%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.29%) Semantic Layer
8 1 (0.29%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 7 (2.05%) JIRA
2 3 (0.88%) GitLab
3 1 (0.29%) JUnit
3 1 (0.29%) Selenium
3 1 (0.29%) SpecFlow
General
1 151 (44.28%) Public Sector
2 113 (33.14%) Finance
3 91 (26.69%) Social Skills
4 21 (6.16%) Analytical Skills
5 17 (4.99%) Fire and Rescue
6 14 (4.11%) Influencing Skills
7 13 (3.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 11 (3.23%) Legal
9 7 (2.05%) Back Office
10 5 (1.47%) Organisational Skills
10 5 (1.47%) Police
10 5 (1.47%) Social Housing
11 3 (0.88%) Law
11 3 (0.88%) Marketing
12 2 (0.59%) General Ledger
12 2 (0.59%) Welsh Language
13 1 (0.29%) Documentation Skills
13 1 (0.29%) Front Office
13 1 (0.29%) Social Science
Job Titles
1 50 (14.66%) Senior
2 45 (13.20%) Analyst
3 41 (12.02%) Lead
4 27 (7.92%) Business Analyst
4 27 (7.92%) Project Manager
5 24 (7.04%) Accountant
5 24 (7.04%) Systems Accountant
6 21 (6.16%) Architect
7 16 (4.69%) Developer
8 14 (4.11%) Applications Support
8 14 (4.11%) Support Officer
9 13 (3.81%) Consultant
10 11 (3.23%) Project Officer
11 9 (2.64%) Administrator
11 9 (2.64%) Financial Analyst
11 9 (2.64%) Senior Analyst
11 9 (2.64%) Solutions Architect
12 8 (2.35%) Oracle Developer
12 8 (2.35%) Programme Manager
12 8 (2.35%) Senior Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (4.69%) Oracle Fusion
2 10 (2.93%) EDI
3 5 (1.47%) Middleware
4 2 (0.59%) CSS
4 2 (0.59%) HTML
4 2 (0.59%) REST
5 1 (0.29%) FHIR
5 1 (0.29%) Node.js
5 1 (0.29%) OAuth
5 1 (0.29%) RESTful
5 1 (0.29%) SPFx
5 1 (0.29%) Spring
5 1 (0.29%) Spring Boot
5 1 (0.29%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 35 (10.26%) Management Information System
2 22 (6.45%) Public Cloud
3 16 (4.69%) Legacy Systems
4 11 (3.23%) Data Structures
5 9 (2.64%) NHS
6 7 (2.05%) Product Ownership
7 6 (1.76%) Driving Licence
8 5 (1.47%) Onboarding
9 4 (1.17%) Data Centre
9 4 (1.17%) Enterprise Cloud
9 4 (1.17%) Enterprise Software
10 3 (0.88%) Data Protection Act
10 3 (0.88%) Legacy Code
10 3 (0.88%) Team-Oriented Environment
10 3 (0.88%) Virtual Team
11 2 (0.59%) Housing Association
11 2 (0.59%) PKI
11 2 (0.59%) Security Posture
11 2 (0.59%) Self-Motivation
11 2 (0.59%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 19 (5.57%) Windows
2 5 (1.47%) Linux
2 5 (1.47%) Windows Server
3 3 (0.88%) Windows 10
4 1 (0.29%) Android
4 1 (0.29%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 63 (18.48%) Stakeholder Management
2 61 (17.89%) ERP
3 59 (17.30%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 39 (11.44%) Migration
5 38 (11.14%) Agile
5 38 (11.14%) Change Management
5 38 (11.14%) Decision-Making
6 37 (10.85%) Continuous Improvement
7 34 (9.97%) Roadmaps
8 32 (9.38%) Project Management
9 29 (8.50%) Problem-Solving
9 29 (8.50%) User Acceptance Testing
10 28 (8.21%) Service Delivery
11 21 (6.16%) Analytics
11 21 (6.16%) Business Intelligence
11 21 (6.16%) Project Delivery
12 20 (5.87%) Business Case
13 19 (5.57%) Business Analysis
13 19 (5.57%) Data Protection
13 19 (5.57%) Digital Transformation Programme
Programming Languages
1 29 (8.50%) SQL
2 5 (1.47%) PL/SQL
3 3 (0.88%) ProC
3 3 (0.88%) Python
3 3 (0.88%) Shell Script
4 2 (0.59%) C#
4 2 (0.59%) Data Analysis Expressions
4 2 (0.59%) PowerShell
5 1 (0.29%) Apex Code
5 1 (0.29%) Bash
5 1 (0.29%) Bicep
5 1 (0.29%) C
5 1 (0.29%) Java
5 1 (0.29%) Korn
5 1 (0.29%) R
5 1 (0.29%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 13 (3.81%) Degree
2 11 (3.23%) BPSS Clearance
3 10 (2.93%) DBS Check
4 9 (2.64%) Security Cleared
5 7 (2.05%) SC Cleared
6 5 (1.47%) CCNA
6 5 (1.47%) Cisco Certification
6 5 (1.47%) NVQ Level 3
6 5 (1.47%) SAP Certification
7 4 (1.17%) CCNP
7 4 (1.17%) CIPFA
7 4 (1.17%) ISTQB
7 4 (1.17%) ITIL Certification
8 3 (0.88%) JNCIA
8 3 (0.88%) JNCIP
8 3 (0.88%) JNCIS
9 2 (0.59%) CCAB
9 2 (0.59%) Computer Science Degree
9 2 (0.59%) DV Cleared
9 2 (0.59%) IIBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (4.69%) Data Quality
2 9 (2.64%) Accessibility
3 8 (2.35%) GDPR
3 8 (2.35%) PMO
4 5 (1.47%) Actionable Recommendations
4 5 (1.47%) QA
4 5 (1.47%) SLA
5 3 (0.88%) WCAG
6 2 (0.59%) Disclosure Scotland
7 1 (0.29%) PCI DSS
7 1 (0.29%) PERC
System Software
1 10 (2.93%) Hyper-V
2 7 (2.05%) Active Directory
3 5 (1.47%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.29%) Docker
4 1 (0.29%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 6 (1.76%) Microsoft Intune
2 4 (1.17%) FortiGate
3 3 (0.88%) Prometheus
3 3 (0.88%) SCCM
4 1 (0.29%) Kubernetes
4 1 (0.29%) Terraform
Vendors
1 44 (12.90%) Microsoft
2 41 (12.02%) SAP
3 37 (10.85%) Oracle
4 16 (4.69%) NEC
5 13 (3.81%) VMware
6 6 (1.76%) Liquidlogic
7 5 (1.47%) Palo Alto
8 4 (1.17%) Cisco
8 4 (1.17%) Workday
9 3 (0.88%) Ariba
9 3 (0.88%) Dynatrace
9 3 (0.88%) ESRI
9 3 (0.88%) Juniper
10 2 (0.59%) Citrix
10 2 (0.59%) Civica
10 2 (0.59%) HP
10 2 (0.59%) Meraki
10 2 (0.59%) OneLogin
10 2 (0.59%) Salesforce
10 2 (0.59%) ServiceNow
263 Local Government jobs Nationwide