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 22 April 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Apr 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 280 239 254
Rank change year-on-year -41 +15 +146
Contract jobs citing Local Government 395 334 409
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.85% 1.13% 0.94%
As % of the General category 1.55% 1.79% 1.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 274 210 299
10th Percentile £341 £300 £350
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 £550 £575
90th Percentile £663 £609 £645
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £450 £494
% change year-on-year +11.11% -8.86% +19.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 47 51 66
10th Percentile £17.03 £17.00 £15.39
25th Percentile £20.51 £20.36 £17.51
Median hourly rate £25.38 £26.12 £25.09
Median % change year-on-year -2.83% +4.11% +16.00%
75th Percentile £26.91 £30.20 £34.54
90th Percentile £37.18 £33.75 £40.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.99 £24.24 £22.28
% change year-on-year -1.05% +8.82% -0.27%

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 25,517 18,626 25,290
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 55.04% 63.21% 58.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,795 11,902 15,982
10th Percentile £305 £300 £270
25th Percentile £406 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £751
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £500
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,615 782 1,919
10th Percentile £13.70 £14.20 £12.75
25th Percentile £17.42 £18.13 £15.41
Median hourly rate £28.25 £28.30 £28.44
Median % change year-on-year -0.16% -0.51% -18.74%
75th Percentile £60.00 £56.00 £51.25
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.38 £26.28 £27.00
% change year-on-year -3.42% -2.67% -14.65%

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 22 April 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 22 April 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 22 April 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 -67 377 £500 +5.26% 211
UK excluding London -52 200 £500 +11.11% 166
London -32 178 £510 +2.00% 67
Work from Home +1 138 £525 +10.53% 96
Midlands +5 97 £525 +0.96% 29
West Midlands -8 59 £525 +13.51% 22
East Midlands -9 35 £500 -3.85% 7
North of England -72 35 £488 +2.63% 31
North West -29 28 £350 -20.00% 19
South West -57 27 £469 +14.61% 25
East of England -25 21 £425 -17.03% 16
South East -64 14 £500 +11.11% 60
Yorkshire -69 6 £650 +33.33% 7
Scotland -3 4 £500 +25.00% 9
Wales -6 2 - - 3
North East -22 1 £500 +5.26% 7

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 20 (5.06%) SharePoint
2 4 (1.01%) CMS
3 3 (0.76%) Confluence
3 3 (0.76%) Drupal
4 2 (0.51%) Apache Airflow
4 2 (0.51%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.51%) ArcGIS
4 2 (0.51%) govService
4 2 (0.51%) OpenEdge
5 1 (0.25%) IBM HTTP Server
5 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 19 (4.81%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (2.03%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (1.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (1.01%) Spreadsheet
5 3 (0.76%) Trello
6 2 (0.51%) Microsoft Project
6 2 (0.51%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 26 (6.58%) SAP S/4HANA
2 20 (5.06%) NEC Housing
3 7 (1.77%) ContrOCC
3 7 (1.77%) Oracle Payables
4 6 (1.52%) Oracle General Ledger
4 6 (1.52%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 6 (1.52%) Oracle Receivables
5 4 (1.01%) iTrent
5 4 (1.01%) Oracle Financials
6 3 (0.76%) Dynamics CRM
6 3 (0.76%) Oracle Applications
6 3 (0.76%) SAP ERP
7 2 (0.51%) Oracle EBS
7 2 (0.51%) Unit4 Business World
8 1 (0.25%) MIS ActiveH
8 1 (0.25%) Oracle ERP
8 1 (0.25%) SAP CO
8 1 (0.25%) SAP FI
8 1 (0.25%) SAP FI/CO
8 1 (0.25%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 44 (11.14%) Azure
2 28 (7.09%) Microsoft 365
3 24 (6.08%) Power Platform
4 16 (4.05%) SaaS
5 14 (3.54%) AWS
6 13 (3.29%) Dynamics 365
7 10 (2.53%) Microsoft Copilot
8 8 (2.03%) Azure DevOps
9 7 (1.77%) Entra ID
10 6 (1.52%) OCI
10 6 (1.52%) SuccessFactors
11 5 (1.27%) PowerApps
12 4 (1.01%) OneDrive
12 4 (1.01%) Power Automate
13 3 (0.76%) Amazon EKS
13 3 (0.76%) Azure Sentinel
13 3 (0.76%) IaaS
13 3 (0.76%) Microsoft Purview
13 3 (0.76%) Miro
14 2 (0.51%) Amazon EMR
Communications & Networking
1 11 (2.78%) Firewall
2 6 (1.52%) LAN
2 6 (1.52%) WAN
3 5 (1.27%) Broadband
3 5 (1.27%) DNS
3 5 (1.27%) Network Security
3 5 (1.27%) Wi-Fi
3 5 (1.27%) Wireless
4 4 (1.01%) DHCP
4 4 (1.01%) VPN
5 3 (0.76%) SD-WAN
6 2 (0.51%) Internet
6 2 (0.51%) Intranet
6 2 (0.51%) WLAN
7 1 (0.25%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (5.57%) Oracle Reports
2 20 (5.06%) Power BI
3 9 (2.28%) GIS
4 8 (2.03%) SQL Server
5 3 (0.76%) Geospatial Data
5 3 (0.76%) 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%) Data Lake
6 2 (0.51%) MongoDB
6 2 (0.51%) MS Access
6 2 (0.51%) NoSQL
6 2 (0.51%) Oracle Database
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%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 7 (1.77%) JIRA
2 3 (0.76%) GitLab
3 2 (0.51%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.25%) JUnit
General
1 177 (44.81%) Public Sector
2 128 (32.41%) Finance
3 104 (26.33%) Social Skills
4 37 (9.37%) Analytical Skills
5 19 (4.81%) Influencing Skills
6 16 (4.05%) Fire and Rescue
7 14 (3.54%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 14 (3.54%) Legal
8 11 (2.78%) Organisational Skills
9 10 (2.53%) Social Housing
10 8 (2.03%) Back Office
11 6 (1.52%) Police
12 3 (0.76%) Marketing
13 2 (0.51%) Documentation Skills
13 2 (0.51%) General Ledger
13 2 (0.51%) Retail
13 2 (0.51%) Welsh Language
14 1 (0.25%) Manufacturing
14 1 (0.25%) Presentation Skills
14 1 (0.25%) Social Science
Job Titles
1 54 (13.67%) Senior
2 49 (12.41%) Analyst
3 42 (10.63%) Lead
4 30 (7.59%) Accountant
4 30 (7.59%) Systems Accountant
5 27 (6.84%) Project Manager
6 25 (6.33%) Developer
7 24 (6.08%) Architect
8 21 (5.32%) Business Analyst
9 17 (4.30%) Support Officer
10 15 (3.80%) Consultant
11 14 (3.54%) Applications Support
12 11 (2.78%) Senior Accountant
12 11 (2.78%) Senior Systems Accountant
12 11 (2.78%) Solutions Architect
12 11 (2.78%) Tester
13 10 (2.53%) Administrator
13 10 (2.53%) Oracle Developer
13 10 (2.53%) Senior Analyst
13 10 (2.53%) Service Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (6.58%) Oracle Fusion
2 10 (2.53%) EDI
3 5 (1.27%) Middleware
4 4 (1.01%) CSS
4 4 (1.01%) HTML
5 3 (0.76%) REST
5 3 (0.76%) RESTful
6 2 (0.51%) Play Framework
7 1 (0.25%) FHIR
7 1 (0.25%) Node.js
7 1 (0.25%) OAuth
7 1 (0.25%) SAP Fiori
7 1 (0.25%) SPFx
7 1 (0.25%) Spring
7 1 (0.25%) Spring Boot
7 1 (0.25%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 44 (11.14%) Management Information System
2 21 (5.32%) Public Cloud
3 18 (4.56%) Legacy Systems
4 14 (3.54%) Data Structures
5 11 (2.78%) NHS
6 9 (2.28%) Product Ownership
7 8 (2.03%) Freedom of Information
8 7 (1.77%) Driving Licence
8 7 (1.77%) Housing Association
9 5 (1.27%) Onboarding
10 4 (1.01%) Enterprise Cloud
10 4 (1.01%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (1.01%) Security Posture
11 3 (0.76%) Cyber Security Posture
11 3 (0.76%) Legacy Code
11 3 (0.76%) Team-Oriented Environment
11 3 (0.76%) Virtual Team
12 2 (0.51%) PKI
12 2 (0.51%) Self-Motivation
12 2 (0.51%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 20 (5.06%) Windows
2 7 (1.77%) Linux
3 6 (1.52%) Windows Server
4 5 (1.27%) Windows 10
5 2 (0.51%) Unix
6 1 (0.25%) Android
6 1 (0.25%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 66 (16.71%) Stakeholder Management
2 64 (16.20%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 60 (15.19%) ERP
4 48 (12.15%) Continuous Improvement
4 48 (12.15%) Migration
5 45 (11.39%) Decision-Making
6 43 (10.89%) Service Delivery
7 40 (10.13%) Agile
8 39 (9.87%) Change Management
9 36 (9.11%) Roadmaps
10 35 (8.86%) Project Management
11 30 (7.59%) Problem-Solving
11 30 (7.59%) User Acceptance Testing
12 29 (7.34%) Data Protection
12 29 (7.34%) Digital Transformation Programme
13 26 (6.58%) Cybersecurity
13 26 (6.58%) Project Delivery
14 24 (6.08%) Business Intelligence
14 24 (6.08%) Validation
15 23 (5.82%) Data Migration
Programming Languages
1 32 (8.10%) SQL
2 6 (1.52%) PL/SQL
3 5 (1.27%) Python
4 4 (1.01%) PowerShell
5 3 (0.76%) Java
5 3 (0.76%) JavaScript
5 3 (0.76%) ProC
5 3 (0.76%) Shell Script
6 2 (0.51%) C#
6 2 (0.51%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 2 (0.51%) Scala
6 2 (0.51%) T-SQL
7 1 (0.25%) ABAP
7 1 (0.25%) Apex Code
7 1 (0.25%) Bash
7 1 (0.25%) Bicep
7 1 (0.25%) C
7 1 (0.25%) Korn
7 1 (0.25%) R
Qualifications
1 16 (4.05%) DBS Check
2 12 (3.04%) Degree
3 11 (2.78%) BPSS Clearance
4 8 (2.03%) Security Cleared
5 6 (1.52%) SC Cleared
6 5 (1.27%) NVQ Level 3
6 5 (1.27%) SAP Certification
7 4 (1.01%) CCNA
7 4 (1.01%) CCNP
7 4 (1.01%) CIPFA
7 4 (1.01%) Cisco Certification
7 4 (1.01%) ITIL Certification
8 3 (0.76%) JNCIA
8 3 (0.76%) JNCIP
8 3 (0.76%) JNCIS
9 2 (0.51%) CCAB
9 2 (0.51%) DV Cleared
9 2 (0.51%) IIBA
9 2 (0.51%) ISEB
9 2 (0.51%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (6.33%) Data Quality
2 18 (4.56%) GDPR
3 11 (2.78%) Accessibility
4 9 (2.28%) QA
5 7 (1.77%) PMO
6 6 (1.52%) SLA
7 5 (1.27%) NCSC
7 5 (1.27%) PCI DSS
7 5 (1.27%) WCAG
8 4 (1.01%) Actionable Recommendations
9 3 (0.76%) Cyber Essentials
9 3 (0.76%) PERC
10 2 (0.51%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.25%) BS7666
11 1 (0.25%) Disclosure Scotland
11 1 (0.25%) GRC
11 1 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 8 (2.03%) Active Directory
1 8 (2.03%) Hyper-V
2 5 (1.27%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (0.76%) Docker
Systems Management
1 4 (1.01%) Microsoft Intune
2 3 (0.76%) Prometheus
2 3 (0.76%) Terraform
3 2 (0.51%) Grafana
3 2 (0.51%) Kibana
3 2 (0.51%) SCCM
4 1 (0.25%) FortiGate
4 1 (0.25%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 64 (16.20%) Microsoft
2 48 (12.15%) Oracle
3 38 (9.62%) SAP
4 22 (5.57%) NEC
5 10 (2.53%) VMware
6 7 (1.77%) Liquidlogic
7 6 (1.52%) Civica
8 4 (1.01%) Ariba
8 4 (1.01%) Workday
9 3 (0.76%) Dynatrace
9 3 (0.76%) ESRI
9 3 (0.76%) Juniper
9 3 (0.76%) ServiceNow
10 2 (0.51%) Blue Prism
10 2 (0.51%) Citrix
10 2 (0.51%) OneLogin
10 2 (0.51%) Orchard
10 2 (0.51%) Palo Alto
10 2 (0.51%) Salesforce
10 2 (0.51%) Splunk
234 Local Government jobs Nationwide