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

6 months to
22 Jan 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 292 194 283
Rank change year-on-year -98 +89 +121
Contract jobs citing Local Government 338 434 340
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.89% 1.37% 0.79%
As % of the General category 1.49% 2.22% 1.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 205 225 247
10th Percentile £363 £287 £263
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £453
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% +4.97% +0.56%
75th Percentile £600 £549 £550
90th Percentile £700 £603 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £462 £450
% change year-on-year +8.34% +2.56% +5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 60 42 55
10th Percentile £20.63 £20.20 £13.43
25th Percentile £25.94 £22.27 £17.48
Median hourly rate £30.00 £28.80 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.17% +30.91% -4.97%
75th Percentile £52.50 £33.75 £26.51
90th Percentile £57.63 £37.94 £37.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.85 £30.00 £18.50
% change year-on-year -23.83% +62.16% -17.17%

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 22,609 19,593 25,374
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 59.81% 61.80% 58.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,246 11,682 16,524
10th Percentile £285 £285 £270
25th Percentile £401 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £730 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -2.56% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,393 656 1,370
10th Percentile £13.80 £15.62 £13.31
25th Percentile £16.45 £20.00 £15.41
Median hourly rate £22.99 £27.84 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year -17.41% +1.22% +10.00%
75th Percentile £46.00 £53.75 £56.37
90th Percentile £70.00 £73.66 £68.84
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.30 £26.50 £26.00
% change year-on-year -19.62% +1.92% +15.56%

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 January 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 January 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 January 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 -101 288 £500 +5.82% 219
UK excluding London -121 153 £500 +8.34% 203
London -67 140 £538 +7.50% 37
Work from Home -26 106 £500 +2.56% 49
Midlands -41 44 £413 -20.67% 47
North of England -77 38 £500 +5.26% 47
North West -43 27 £500 +2.56% 24
South West -50 25 £463 +2.78% 35
East Midlands -9 22 £395 -21.00% 21
West Midlands -41 22 £413 -23.26% 25
East of England -22 17 £425 +9.68% 20
Scotland +9 14 £500 -2.44% 8
South East -55 12 £400 -11.11% 41
Yorkshire -51 9 £663 +35.90% 17
Wales -3 3 - - 9
North East -14 2 £500 +66.67% 8

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 15 (4.44%) SharePoint
2 5 (1.48%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (1.18%) ArcGIS
4 2 (0.59%) CMS
4 2 (0.59%) Confluence
Applications
1 21 (6.21%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (2.37%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (1.48%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 5 (1.48%) Microsoft Project
4 3 (0.89%) Spreadsheet
5 2 (0.59%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.59%) Trello
Business Applications
1 26 (7.69%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (2.37%) NEC Housing
3 6 (1.78%) SAP ERP
4 5 (1.48%) iTrent
5 4 (1.18%) Unit4 Business World
6 3 (0.89%) Oracle Applications
6 3 (0.89%) SAP Payroll
7 2 (0.59%) Oracle ERP
7 2 (0.59%) SAP HR
8 1 (0.30%) ContrOCC
8 1 (0.30%) Dynamics CRM
8 1 (0.30%) IntelliMatch
8 1 (0.30%) Oracle EBS
8 1 (0.30%) Oracle EBS R12
8 1 (0.30%) Oracle Payables
8 1 (0.30%) Primavera
8 1 (0.30%) SAP CO
8 1 (0.30%) SAP FI
8 1 (0.30%) SAP FI/CO
8 1 (0.30%) Workfront
Cloud Services
1 40 (11.83%) Azure
2 24 (7.10%) Power Platform
3 16 (4.73%) Microsoft 365
4 15 (4.44%) AWS
5 12 (3.55%) SaaS
6 8 (2.37%) SuccessFactors
7 7 (2.07%) Microsoft Copilot
8 6 (1.78%) Entra ID
8 6 (1.78%) OCI
9 5 (1.48%) Azure Sentinel
10 4 (1.18%) Azure DevOps
10 4 (1.18%) IaaS
10 4 (1.18%) PowerApps
11 3 (0.89%) Amazon EKS
11 3 (0.89%) Dynamics 365
11 3 (0.89%) PaaS
11 3 (0.89%) Power Automate
12 2 (0.59%) Azure Functions
12 2 (0.59%) Miro
12 2 (0.59%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 13 (3.85%) Firewall
2 9 (2.66%) Wi-Fi
3 8 (2.37%) WAN
4 6 (1.78%) LAN
4 6 (1.78%) SAN
4 6 (1.78%) TCP/IP
4 6 (1.78%) Wireless
5 4 (1.18%) Network Security
6 3 (0.89%) Broadband
6 3 (0.89%) DNS
6 3 (0.89%) VLAN
7 2 (0.59%) DHCP
7 2 (0.59%) Internet
7 2 (0.59%) SD-WAN
7 2 (0.59%) VPN
7 2 (0.59%) WLAN
8 1 (0.30%) Cisco ASA
8 1 (0.30%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (6.51%) Power BI
2 9 (2.66%) GIS
2 9 (2.66%) SQL Server
3 8 (2.37%) Oracle Reports
4 4 (1.18%) Geospatial Data
4 4 (1.18%) OLTP
4 4 (1.18%) PostgreSQL
4 4 (1.18%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 3 (0.89%) Power Query
5 3 (0.89%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 3 (0.89%) Star Schema
6 2 (0.59%) BusinessObjects
6 2 (0.59%) Data Lake
6 2 (0.59%) Data Vault
6 2 (0.59%) Metadata
6 2 (0.59%) Oracle Database
6 2 (0.59%) QGIS
6 2 (0.59%) Tableau
7 1 (0.30%) SAP HANA
7 1 (0.30%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 5 (1.48%) JIRA
2 3 (0.89%) GitLab
2 3 (0.89%) Oracle APEX
3 1 (0.30%) Selenium
3 1 (0.30%) SpecFlow
General
1 135 (39.94%) Public Sector
2 82 (24.26%) Finance
3 73 (21.60%) Social Skills
4 23 (6.80%) Analytical Skills
5 17 (5.03%) Fire and Rescue
6 15 (4.44%) Law
7 12 (3.55%) Influencing Skills
8 11 (3.25%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 11 (3.25%) Organisational Skills
9 9 (2.66%) Legal
10 7 (2.07%) Back Office
11 4 (1.18%) Social Housing
12 3 (0.89%) Marketing
12 3 (0.89%) Police
13 2 (0.59%) Documentation Skills
13 2 (0.59%) General Ledger
13 2 (0.59%) Retail
13 2 (0.59%) Telecoms
13 2 (0.59%) Welsh Language
14 1 (0.30%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 54 (15.98%) Analyst
2 42 (12.43%) Senior
3 39 (11.54%) Lead
4 25 (7.40%) Business Analyst
4 25 (7.40%) Project Manager
5 21 (6.21%) Architect
6 17 (5.03%) Consultant
7 15 (4.44%) Applications Support
8 12 (3.55%) Support Officer
9 11 (3.25%) Developer
9 11 (3.25%) Project Officer
10 10 (2.96%) Programme Manager
11 9 (2.66%) Service Analyst
11 9 (2.66%) Support Analyst
12 8 (2.37%) Data Manager
12 8 (2.37%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 8 (2.37%) Migration Specialist
12 8 (2.37%) Senior Manager
12 8 (2.37%) Solutions Architect
12 8 (2.37%) Systems Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (2.96%) EDI
2 7 (2.07%) Oracle Fusion
3 6 (1.78%) Middleware
4 2 (0.59%) FHIR
4 2 (0.59%) REST
5 1 (0.30%) .NET
5 1 (0.30%) .NET Core
5 1 (0.30%) CSS
5 1 (0.30%) HTML
5 1 (0.30%) Node.js
5 1 (0.30%) OAuth
5 1 (0.30%) SPFx
5 1 (0.30%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 21 (6.21%) Management Information System
2 18 (5.33%) Public Cloud
3 13 (3.85%) Legacy Systems
4 8 (2.37%) NHS
5 7 (2.07%) Data Centre
6 5 (1.48%) Data Structures
6 5 (1.48%) Driving Licence
6 5 (1.48%) Product Ownership
7 4 (1.18%) Enterprise Cloud
7 4 (1.18%) Onboarding
8 3 (0.89%) Analytical Mindset
8 3 (0.89%) Clustering
8 3 (0.89%) Data Protection Act
8 3 (0.89%) Enterprise Software
8 3 (0.89%) Legacy Code
8 3 (0.89%) Team-Oriented Environment
8 3 (0.89%) Virtual Team
9 2 (0.59%) Housing Association
9 2 (0.59%) IVR
9 2 (0.59%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 11 (3.25%) Windows
2 4 (1.18%) Windows Server
3 3 (0.89%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 58 (17.16%) Stakeholder Engagement
2 51 (15.09%) ERP
3 46 (13.61%) Stakeholder Management
4 39 (11.54%) Project Management
5 36 (10.65%) Migration
6 35 (10.36%) Agile
6 35 (10.36%) Decision-Making
7 34 (10.06%) Change Management
8 28 (8.28%) Problem-Solving
9 27 (7.99%) Roadmaps
10 26 (7.69%) User Acceptance Testing
11 25 (7.40%) Business Intelligence
12 22 (6.51%) Continuous Improvement
12 22 (6.51%) Data Migration
13 20 (5.92%) Business Analysis
13 20 (5.92%) Cybersecurity
13 20 (5.92%) Service Delivery
14 19 (5.62%) PRINCE2
14 19 (5.62%) Project Governance
15 18 (5.33%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 31 (9.17%) SQL
2 5 (1.48%) PL/SQL
3 4 (1.18%) Python
4 3 (0.89%) C#
4 3 (0.89%) Data Analysis Expressions
4 3 (0.89%) ProC
4 3 (0.89%) Shell Script
5 2 (0.59%) Bicep
5 2 (0.59%) PowerShell
5 2 (0.59%) R
6 1 (0.30%) Bash
6 1 (0.30%) C
6 1 (0.30%) Korn
Qualifications
1 22 (6.51%) Degree
2 11 (3.25%) DBS Check
3 10 (2.96%) Security Cleared
4 8 (2.37%) BPSS Clearance
5 7 (2.07%) HND
6 6 (1.78%) SC Cleared
7 5 (1.48%) CISM
7 5 (1.48%) CISSP
8 4 (1.18%) CCNA
8 4 (1.18%) CISA
8 4 (1.18%) Cisco Certification
8 4 (1.18%) Computer Science Degree
8 4 (1.18%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
9 3 (0.89%) CCAB
9 3 (0.89%) CCNP
9 3 (0.89%) CIPFA
9 3 (0.89%) JNCIA
9 3 (0.89%) JNCIS
9 3 (0.89%) NVQ Level 3
9 3 (0.89%) SAP Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (3.85%) Data Quality
2 10 (2.96%) PMO
3 8 (2.37%) GDPR
4 5 (1.48%) Actionable Recommendations
4 5 (1.48%) SLA
5 4 (1.18%) Accessibility
5 4 (1.18%) Cyber Essentials
5 4 (1.18%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 4 (1.18%) NIST
5 4 (1.18%) QA
6 3 (0.89%) Disclosure Scotland
7 1 (0.30%) HL7
7 1 (0.30%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 11 (3.25%) Hyper-V
2 6 (1.78%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.89%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.30%) Docker
4 1 (0.30%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 6 (1.78%) FortiGate
1 6 (1.78%) Microsoft Intune
2 4 (1.18%) CSIRT
2 4 (1.18%) QRadar
3 3 (0.89%) Prometheus
4 2 (0.59%) Single Sign-On
4 2 (0.59%) Terraform
5 1 (0.30%) Kubernetes
5 1 (0.30%) SCCM
Vendors
1 44 (13.02%) Microsoft
2 38 (11.24%) SAP
3 32 (9.47%) Oracle
4 14 (4.14%) VMware
5 9 (2.66%) NEC
6 7 (2.07%) Palo Alto
7 5 (1.48%) Fortinet
7 5 (1.48%) HP
7 5 (1.48%) Liquidlogic
7 5 (1.48%) Splunk
8 4 (1.18%) ESRI
9 3 (0.89%) Capita
9 3 (0.89%) Cisco
9 3 (0.89%) Dynatrace
9 3 (0.89%) Juniper
9 3 (0.89%) ServiceNow
9 3 (0.89%) Workday
10 2 (0.59%) Citrix
10 2 (0.59%) Meraki
10 2 (0.59%) Proofpoint
243 Local Government jobs Nationwide