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 29 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 288 192 297
Rank change year-on-year -96 +105 +130
Contract jobs citing Local Government 341 445 336
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.92% 1.34% 0.78%
As % of the General category 1.52% 2.18% 1.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 205 229 245
10th Percentile £363 £293 £255
25th Percentile £413 £400 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £450
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% +5.56% -
75th Percentile £600 £538 £550
90th Percentile £650 £601 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £463 £450
% change year-on-year +8.11% +2.78% +8.43%
Number of hourly rates quoted 67 43 42
10th Percentile £21.65 £20.04 £17.46
25th Percentile £25.06 £22.27 £18.95
Median hourly rate £30.00 £28.41 £22.19
Median % change year-on-year +5.60% +28.05% -2.60%
75th Percentile £52.50 £33.75 £26.95
90th Percentile £57.50 £37.81 £35.87
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.25 £29.23 £20.07
% change year-on-year -17.04% +45.64% -4.43%

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 22,407 20,398 25,669
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 60.73% 61.23% 59.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,033 12,183 16,952
10th Percentile £280 £288 £275
25th Percentile £400 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £545
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -3.67% -0.91%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £756 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -2.56% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,416 697 1,107
10th Percentile £13.80 £15.48 £14.16
25th Percentile £16.50 £18.63 £16.50
Median hourly rate £23.50 £27.39 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -14.19% -15.74% +30.00%
75th Percentile £45.46 £55.00 £59.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £72.93 £70.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.00 £26.12 £30.00
% change year-on-year -15.77% -12.93% +35.38%

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 29 December 2025.

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 29 December 2025.

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 29 December 2025. 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 -106 288 £500 +5.26% 243
London -36 150 £525 +5.00% 67
UK excluding London -107 142 £500 +8.11% 192
Work from Home -26 110 £500 - 123
North of England -60 41 £500 - 51
Midlands -48 29 £506 +1.25% 51
North West -34 28 £500 - 35
South West -46 26 £475 +5.56% 15
South East -29 16 £400 -5.88% 53
West Midlands -31 16 £600 +9.09% 28
Scotland +8 13 £500 -16.67% 5
East Midlands -18 13 £175 -65.00% 22
East of England -30 13 £425 +9.68% 19
Yorkshire -42 11 £675 +38.46% 14
Wales +2 4 - - 6
North East -8 2 £500 +66.67% 6

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 (4.40%) SharePoint
2 7 (2.05%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (1.17%) ArcGIS
3 4 (1.17%) Confluence
4 2 (0.59%) CMS
Applications
1 23 (6.74%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (2.35%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.17%) Trello
4 3 (0.88%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.88%) Microsoft Project
4 3 (0.88%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.29%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 19 (5.57%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (2.35%) NEC Housing
3 7 (2.05%) iTrent
4 6 (1.76%) SAP ERP
4 6 (1.76%) SAP Payroll
5 4 (1.17%) Unit4 Business World
6 3 (0.88%) Oracle Applications
7 2 (0.59%) Oracle ERP
7 2 (0.59%) SAP HR
8 1 (0.29%) ContrOCC
8 1 (0.29%) IntelliMatch
8 1 (0.29%) Oracle EBS
8 1 (0.29%) Oracle EBS R12
8 1 (0.29%) Oracle Payables
8 1 (0.29%) Oracle Payroll
8 1 (0.29%) Primavera
8 1 (0.29%) Workfront
Cloud Services
1 38 (11.14%) Azure
2 28 (8.21%) Power Platform
3 19 (5.57%) Microsoft 365
4 12 (3.52%) AWS
5 10 (2.93%) SaaS
6 8 (2.35%) SuccessFactors
7 7 (2.05%) Entra ID
7 7 (2.05%) OCI
7 7 (2.05%) PowerApps
8 6 (1.76%) Azure Sentinel
8 6 (1.76%) Microsoft Copilot
9 4 (1.17%) Azure DevOps
9 4 (1.17%) IaaS
9 4 (1.17%) Miro
10 3 (0.88%) Amazon EKS
10 3 (0.88%) PaaS
10 3 (0.88%) Power Automate
11 2 (0.59%) Azure Functions
11 2 (0.59%) Dynamics 365
11 2 (0.59%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 14 (4.11%) Firewall
2 9 (2.64%) Wi-Fi
3 8 (2.35%) WAN
4 6 (1.76%) LAN
4 6 (1.76%) SAN
4 6 (1.76%) TCP/IP
4 6 (1.76%) Wireless
5 4 (1.17%) Broadband
5 4 (1.17%) Internet
6 3 (0.88%) DNS
6 3 (0.88%) VLAN
6 3 (0.88%) VPN
7 2 (0.59%) DHCP
7 2 (0.59%) Network Security
7 2 (0.59%) SD-WAN
7 2 (0.59%) WLAN
8 1 (0.29%) Cisco ASA
8 1 (0.29%) Ethernet
8 1 (0.29%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (7.33%) Power BI
2 9 (2.64%) GIS
3 8 (2.35%) Oracle Reports
4 7 (2.05%) SQL Server
5 4 (1.17%) Data Vault
5 4 (1.17%) Geospatial Data
5 4 (1.17%) OLTP
5 4 (1.17%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (1.17%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 3 (0.88%) Power Query
6 3 (0.88%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 3 (0.88%) Star Schema
7 2 (0.59%) BusinessObjects
7 2 (0.59%) Metadata
7 2 (0.59%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.59%) QGIS
7 2 (0.59%) Tableau
8 1 (0.29%) Data Lake
8 1 (0.29%) QlikView
8 1 (0.29%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 7 (2.05%) JIRA
2 3 (0.88%) GitLab
2 3 (0.88%) Oracle APEX
3 1 (0.29%) Eclipse
3 1 (0.29%) Selenium
3 1 (0.29%) SpecFlow
General
1 128 (37.54%) Public Sector
2 76 (22.29%) Finance
3 71 (20.82%) Social Skills
4 28 (8.21%) Analytical Skills
5 19 (5.57%) Law
6 17 (4.99%) Fire and Rescue
7 11 (3.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 11 (3.23%) Legal
8 10 (2.93%) Organisational Skills
9 9 (2.64%) Influencing Skills
10 7 (2.05%) Back Office
11 3 (0.88%) Social Housing
12 2 (0.59%) Documentation Skills
12 2 (0.59%) Marketing
12 2 (0.59%) Police
12 2 (0.59%) Retail
12 2 (0.59%) Telecoms
12 2 (0.59%) Welsh Language
13 1 (0.29%) General Ledger
13 1 (0.29%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 58 (17.01%) Analyst
2 47 (13.78%) Senior
3 35 (10.26%) Lead
4 25 (7.33%) Business Analyst
5 21 (6.16%) Project Manager
6 18 (5.28%) Architect
6 18 (5.28%) Consultant
7 13 (3.81%) Applications Support
8 12 (3.52%) Project Officer
9 11 (3.23%) Developer
9 11 (3.23%) Support Officer
10 9 (2.64%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 9 (2.64%) Migration Specialist
10 9 (2.64%) Service Analyst
10 9 (2.64%) Support Analyst
11 8 (2.35%) Data Manager
11 8 (2.35%) Implementation Manager
11 8 (2.35%) Programme Manager
11 8 (2.35%) Senior Analyst
11 8 (2.35%) Systems Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (2.93%) EDI
2 7 (2.05%) Oracle Fusion
3 5 (1.47%) Middleware
4 2 (0.59%) HTML
4 2 (0.59%) REST
5 1 (0.29%) .NET
5 1 (0.29%) .NET Core
5 1 (0.29%) CSS
5 1 (0.29%) FHIR
5 1 (0.29%) HTML5 Canvas
5 1 (0.29%) JSON
5 1 (0.29%) OAuth
5 1 (0.29%) SPFx
Miscellaneous
1 24 (7.04%) Management Information System
2 14 (4.11%) Legacy Systems
3 11 (3.23%) Public Cloud
4 9 (2.64%) NHS
5 7 (2.05%) Data Centre
5 7 (2.05%) Housing Association
6 4 (1.17%) Data Structures
6 4 (1.17%) Onboarding
7 3 (0.88%) Analytical Mindset
7 3 (0.88%) Clustering
7 3 (0.88%) Data Protection Act
7 3 (0.88%) Enterprise Cloud
7 3 (0.88%) Legacy Code
7 3 (0.88%) Product Ownership
7 3 (0.88%) Team-Oriented Environment
8 2 (0.59%) CCTV
8 2 (0.59%) Driving Licence
8 2 (0.59%) Hybrid Cloud
8 2 (0.59%) IVR
8 2 (0.59%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 9 (2.64%) Windows
2 7 (2.05%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 53 (15.54%) Stakeholder Engagement
2 49 (14.37%) ERP
3 46 (13.49%) Project Management
4 40 (11.73%) Migration
5 37 (10.85%) Stakeholder Management
6 36 (10.56%) Decision-Making
7 31 (9.09%) Problem-Solving
8 29 (8.50%) Change Management
8 29 (8.50%) Data Migration
8 29 (8.50%) Roadmaps
9 28 (8.21%) Agile
9 28 (8.21%) Business Intelligence
10 26 (7.62%) User Acceptance Testing
11 23 (6.74%) Cybersecurity
12 21 (6.16%) Service Delivery
13 20 (5.87%) Business Analysis
13 20 (5.87%) Continuous Improvement
13 20 (5.87%) Data Management
13 20 (5.87%) PRINCE2
13 20 (5.87%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 34 (9.97%) SQL
2 5 (1.47%) PL/SQL
2 5 (1.47%) Python
3 4 (1.17%) Data Analysis Expressions
3 4 (1.17%) PowerShell
4 3 (0.88%) C#
4 3 (0.88%) ProC
4 3 (0.88%) R
4 3 (0.88%) Shell Script
5 2 (0.59%) Bicep
6 1 (0.29%) Bash
6 1 (0.29%) C
6 1 (0.29%) JavaScript
6 1 (0.29%) Korn
Qualifications
1 19 (5.57%) Degree
2 16 (4.69%) DBS Check
3 11 (3.23%) Security Cleared
4 8 (2.35%) BPSS Clearance
4 8 (2.35%) SC Cleared
5 7 (2.05%) CISSP
5 7 (2.05%) HND
6 6 (1.76%) CCAB
7 5 (1.47%) CISM
8 4 (1.17%) CCNA
8 4 (1.17%) CISA
8 4 (1.17%) Cisco Certification
8 4 (1.17%) Computer Science Degree
8 4 (1.17%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
9 3 (0.88%) CCNP
9 3 (0.88%) ISTQB
9 3 (0.88%) JNCIA
9 3 (0.88%) JNCIP
9 3 (0.88%) JNCIS
10 2 (0.59%) SAP Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (5.57%) Data Quality
2 11 (3.23%) PMO
3 10 (2.93%) GDPR
4 9 (2.64%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 9 (2.64%) QA
5 8 (2.35%) SLA
6 6 (1.76%) Cyber Essentials
7 5 (1.47%) Actionable Recommendations
7 5 (1.47%) NIST
8 4 (1.17%) Accessibility
9 2 (0.59%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.29%) HL7
10 1 (0.29%) NCSC
10 1 (0.29%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 8 (2.35%) Active Directory
1 8 (2.35%) Hyper-V
2 1 (0.29%) Docker
2 1 (0.29%) VMware Infrastructure
2 1 (0.29%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 9 (2.64%) Microsoft Intune
2 6 (1.76%) FortiGate
3 4 (1.17%) CSIRT
3 4 (1.17%) QRadar
4 3 (0.88%) Prometheus
4 3 (0.88%) SCCM
5 2 (0.59%) Single Sign-On
5 2 (0.59%) Terraform
6 1 (0.29%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 56 (16.42%) Microsoft
2 36 (10.56%) Oracle
3 32 (9.38%) SAP
4 12 (3.52%) VMware
5 9 (2.64%) NEC
6 7 (2.05%) Palo Alto
7 6 (1.76%) Liquidlogic
8 5 (1.47%) Fortinet
8 5 (1.47%) HP
8 5 (1.47%) Splunk
9 4 (1.17%) Capita
9 4 (1.17%) ESRI
10 3 (0.88%) Cisco
10 3 (0.88%) Citrix
10 3 (0.88%) Dynatrace
10 3 (0.88%) Juniper
10 3 (0.88%) OneLogin
10 3 (0.88%) ServiceNow
10 3 (0.88%) Workday
11 2 (0.59%) Proofpoint