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

6 months to
10 Mar 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 315 218 266
Rank change year-on-year -97 +48 +131
Contract jobs citing Local Government 337 363 401
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.79% 1.23% 0.90%
As % of the General category 1.39% 1.96% 1.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 228 219 283
10th Percentile £350 £300 £300
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 £540 £575
90th Percentile £663 £600 £644
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £455 £475
% change year-on-year +9.89% -4.21% +18.75%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 54 72
10th Percentile £18.50 £17.37 £15.39
25th Percentile £22.85 £20.31 £17.31
Median hourly rate £25.69 £26.08 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year -1.50% +18.55% -4.35%
75th Percentile £31.00 £33.75 £30.22
90th Percentile £48.71 £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 24,323 18,503 26,150
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 57.33% 62.59% 58.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,224 11,652 16,729
10th Percentile £300 £293 £263
25th Percentile £405 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
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 £475 £490
% change year-on-year - -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,477 647 1,816
10th Percentile £13.57 £15.26 £13.00
25th Percentile £17.00 £20.12 £15.37
Median hourly rate £24.03 £29.07 £25.75
Median % change year-on-year -17.34% +12.89% -20.77%
75th Percentile £55.00 £60.00 £50.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.81 £27.39 £25.00
% change year-on-year -16.71% +9.54% -7.41%

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 10 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 10 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 10 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 -100 309 £500 +5.26% 200
UK excluding London -91 168 £500 +9.89% 166
London -48 150 £550 +12.82% 52
Work from Home -43 102 £504 +6.11% 95
Midlands -22 73 £525 +0.96% 43
West Midlands -28 44 £413 -23.26% 28
North of England -77 30 £475 -2.56% 32
East Midlands -13 27 £500 -3.85% 14
South West -47 26 £500 +11.11% 22
North West -35 23 £413 -15.38% 22
East of England -37 15 £425 -8.06% 14
South East -60 11 £400 -11.11% 38
Scotland +11 10 £500 - 5
Yorkshire -70 5 £675 +35.00% 9
Wales - 3 - - 13
North East -14 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 16 (4.75%) SharePoint
2 4 (1.19%) CMS
3 3 (0.89%) Confluence
3 3 (0.89%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (0.59%) ArcGIS
5 1 (0.30%) Drupal
5 1 (0.30%) govService
Applications
1 16 (4.75%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (2.08%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.19%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (1.19%) Microsoft Project
4 3 (0.89%) Spreadsheet
4 3 (0.89%) Trello
5 2 (0.59%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 28 (8.31%) SAP S/4HANA
2 14 (4.15%) NEC Housing
3 5 (1.48%) iTrent
4 4 (1.19%) Oracle Financials
4 4 (1.19%) SAP ERP
5 3 (0.89%) Oracle Applications
6 2 (0.59%) Oracle ERP
6 2 (0.59%) SAP HR
6 2 (0.59%) Unit4 Business World
7 1 (0.30%) ContrOCC
7 1 (0.30%) Dynamics CRM
7 1 (0.30%) IntelliMatch
7 1 (0.30%) Oracle EBS
7 1 (0.30%) Oracle EBS R12
7 1 (0.30%) Oracle Payables
7 1 (0.30%) Primavera
7 1 (0.30%) SAP CO
7 1 (0.30%) SAP FI
7 1 (0.30%) SAP FI/CO
7 1 (0.30%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 38 (11.28%) Azure
2 20 (5.93%) Power Platform
3 19 (5.64%) Microsoft 365
4 13 (3.86%) AWS
4 13 (3.86%) SaaS
5 9 (2.67%) SuccessFactors
6 8 (2.37%) Microsoft Copilot
7 6 (1.78%) Dynamics 365
8 5 (1.48%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (1.48%) Entra ID
8 5 (1.48%) OCI
9 4 (1.19%) IaaS
9 4 (1.19%) PowerApps
10 3 (0.89%) Amazon EKS
10 3 (0.89%) Microsoft Purview
10 3 (0.89%) Miro
10 3 (0.89%) PaaS
10 3 (0.89%) Power Automate
11 2 (0.59%) Azure Monitor
11 2 (0.59%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 12 (3.56%) Firewall
2 6 (1.78%) LAN
2 6 (1.78%) WAN
2 6 (1.78%) Wi-Fi
2 6 (1.78%) Wireless
3 5 (1.48%) Broadband
3 5 (1.48%) Network Security
4 3 (0.89%) DNS
4 3 (0.89%) SD-WAN
5 2 (0.59%) DHCP
5 2 (0.59%) Internet
5 2 (0.59%) VLAN
5 2 (0.59%) VPN
5 2 (0.59%) WLAN
6 1 (0.30%) Cisco ASA
6 1 (0.30%) Ethernet
6 1 (0.30%) SAN
6 1 (0.30%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (5.34%) Power BI
2 14 (4.15%) Oracle Reports
3 9 (2.67%) GIS
4 7 (2.08%) SQL Server
5 4 (1.19%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 3 (0.89%) Geospatial Data
6 3 (0.89%) OLTP
6 3 (0.89%) 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 (0.30%) Crystal Reports
8 1 (0.30%) Data Mining
8 1 (0.30%) Metadata
8 1 (0.30%) QGIS
8 1 (0.30%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.30%) Semantic Layer
8 1 (0.30%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 7 (2.08%) JIRA
2 3 (0.89%) GitLab
3 1 (0.30%) JUnit
3 1 (0.30%) Selenium
3 1 (0.30%) SpecFlow
General
1 151 (44.81%) Public Sector
2 114 (33.83%) Finance
3 91 (27.00%) Social Skills
4 21 (6.23%) Analytical Skills
5 17 (5.04%) Fire and Rescue
6 14 (4.15%) Influencing Skills
7 13 (3.86%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 12 (3.56%) Legal
9 7 (2.08%) Back Office
10 5 (1.48%) Organisational Skills
10 5 (1.48%) Police
10 5 (1.48%) Social Housing
11 3 (0.89%) Marketing
12 2 (0.59%) General Ledger
12 2 (0.59%) Law
12 2 (0.59%) Welsh Language
13 1 (0.30%) Documentation Skills
13 1 (0.30%) Front Office
13 1 (0.30%) Social Science
Job Titles
1 50 (14.84%) Senior
2 45 (13.35%) Analyst
3 41 (12.17%) Lead
4 27 (8.01%) Business Analyst
5 26 (7.72%) Accountant
5 26 (7.72%) Project Manager
5 26 (7.72%) Systems Accountant
6 21 (6.23%) Architect
7 17 (5.04%) Developer
8 14 (4.15%) Applications Support
8 14 (4.15%) Support Officer
9 13 (3.86%) Consultant
10 11 (3.26%) Project Officer
11 9 (2.67%) Administrator
11 9 (2.67%) Financial Analyst
11 9 (2.67%) Oracle Developer
11 9 (2.67%) Senior Accountant
11 9 (2.67%) Senior Analyst
11 9 (2.67%) Senior Systems Accountant
11 9 (2.67%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (5.04%) Oracle Fusion
2 10 (2.97%) EDI
3 4 (1.19%) Middleware
4 2 (0.59%) CSS
4 2 (0.59%) HTML
4 2 (0.59%) 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 36 (10.68%) Management Information System
2 22 (6.53%) Public Cloud
3 16 (4.75%) Legacy Systems
4 12 (3.56%) Data Structures
5 9 (2.67%) NHS
6 7 (2.08%) Product Ownership
7 6 (1.78%) Driving Licence
8 4 (1.19%) Enterprise Cloud
8 4 (1.19%) Enterprise Software
8 4 (1.19%) Onboarding
9 3 (0.89%) Data Centre
9 3 (0.89%) Data Protection Act
9 3 (0.89%) Legacy Code
9 3 (0.89%) Team-Oriented Environment
9 3 (0.89%) Virtual Team
10 2 (0.59%) Housing Association
10 2 (0.59%) PKI
10 2 (0.59%) Security Posture
10 2 (0.59%) Self-Motivation
10 2 (0.59%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 19 (5.64%) Windows
2 5 (1.48%) Linux
2 5 (1.48%) Windows Server
3 3 (0.89%) Windows 10
4 1 (0.30%) Android
4 1 (0.30%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 64 (18.99%) Stakeholder Management
2 61 (18.10%) ERP
3 58 (17.21%) Stakeholder Engagement
4 39 (11.57%) Change Management
5 38 (11.28%) Migration
6 37 (10.98%) Agile
7 36 (10.68%) Continuous Improvement
7 36 (10.68%) Decision-Making
8 33 (9.79%) Roadmaps
9 30 (8.90%) Project Management
10 29 (8.61%) Problem-Solving
10 29 (8.61%) User Acceptance Testing
11 28 (8.31%) Service Delivery
12 22 (6.53%) Project Delivery
13 21 (6.23%) Analytics
13 21 (6.23%) Business Intelligence
14 20 (5.93%) Business Case
15 19 (5.64%) Business Analysis
15 19 (5.64%) Data Protection
15 19 (5.64%) Digital Transformation Programme
Programming Languages
1 29 (8.61%) SQL
2 5 (1.48%) PL/SQL
3 3 (0.89%) ProC
3 3 (0.89%) Python
3 3 (0.89%) Shell Script
4 2 (0.59%) C#
4 2 (0.59%) Data Analysis Expressions
4 2 (0.59%) PowerShell
5 1 (0.30%) Apex Code
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 (3.86%) Degree
2 11 (3.26%) BPSS Clearance
3 10 (2.97%) DBS Check
4 9 (2.67%) Security Cleared
5 7 (2.08%) SC Cleared
6 5 (1.48%) CCNA
6 5 (1.48%) Cisco Certification
6 5 (1.48%) NVQ Level 3
6 5 (1.48%) SAP Certification
7 4 (1.19%) CCNP
7 4 (1.19%) CIPFA
7 4 (1.19%) ISTQB
7 4 (1.19%) ITIL Certification
8 3 (0.89%) JNCIA
8 3 (0.89%) JNCIP
8 3 (0.89%) JNCIS
9 2 (0.59%) CCAB
9 2 (0.59%) Computer Science Degree
9 2 (0.59%) IIBA
9 2 (0.59%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (4.75%) Data Quality
2 8 (2.37%) Accessibility
2 8 (2.37%) GDPR
3 7 (2.08%) PMO
4 5 (1.48%) Actionable Recommendations
4 5 (1.48%) QA
4 5 (1.48%) SLA
5 3 (0.89%) WCAG
6 2 (0.59%) Disclosure Scotland
7 1 (0.30%) PCI DSS
7 1 (0.30%) PERC
System Software
1 9 (2.67%) Hyper-V
2 7 (2.08%) Active Directory
3 5 (1.48%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.30%) Docker
4 1 (0.30%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 6 (1.78%) Microsoft Intune
2 3 (0.89%) FortiGate
2 3 (0.89%) Prometheus
2 3 (0.89%) SCCM
3 1 (0.30%) Kubernetes
3 1 (0.30%) Terraform
Vendors
1 44 (13.06%) Microsoft
2 40 (11.87%) SAP
3 39 (11.57%) Oracle
4 16 (4.75%) NEC
5 12 (3.56%) VMware
6 6 (1.78%) Liquidlogic
7 4 (1.19%) Cisco
7 4 (1.19%) Palo Alto
7 4 (1.19%) Workday
8 3 (0.89%) Ariba
8 3 (0.89%) Dynatrace
8 3 (0.89%) ESRI
8 3 (0.89%) Juniper
9 2 (0.59%) Citrix
9 2 (0.59%) Civica
9 2 (0.59%) Meraki
9 2 (0.59%) OneLogin
9 2 (0.59%) Salesforce
9 2 (0.59%) ServiceNow
10 1 (0.30%) Blue Prism
233 Local Government jobs Nationwide