MCP Contracts

Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for MCP qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 1 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 494 506 563
Rank change year-on-year +12 +57 +92
Contract jobs citing MCP 26 76 155
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.089% 0.17% 0.26%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.29% 0.57% 0.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 14 31 81
10th Percentile £141 £139 £123
25th Percentile £170 £175 £163
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £210 £225 £250
Median % change year-on-year -6.67% -10.00% +2.04%
75th Percentile £250 £345 £479
90th Percentile £338 £500 £508
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £248 £238
% change year-on-year -19.19% +4.21% +58.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 37 59
10th Percentile - - £13.29
25th Percentile - £14.00 £13.41
Median hourly rate £17.44 £14.16 £13.66
Median % change year-on-year +23.16% +3.66% -
75th Percentile - £15.17 £19.38
90th Percentile - £21.46 £20.56
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.44 £14.16 £13.66
% change year-on-year +23.16% +3.66% -

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

MCP falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 8,993 13,316 16,299
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 30.72% 30.57% 27.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,686 8,190 10,861
10th Percentile £288 £300 £325
25th Percentile £413 £425 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £535 £550
Median % change year-on-year -1.87% -2.73% +4.76%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £707 £743 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £501 £533 £530
% change year-on-year -6.10% +0.57% +6.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 509 1,076 849
10th Percentile £18.13 £13.87 £15.25
25th Percentile £22.00 £17.88 £20.00
Median hourly rate £40.00 £40.00 £54.00
Median % change year-on-year - -25.93% +29.16%
75th Percentile £66.00 £61.60 £68.25
90th Percentile £80.20 £75.24 £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £40.94 £49.57
% change year-on-year +3.81% -17.41% +53.14%

MCP
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing MCP as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for MCP in the UK

MCP
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing MCP.

Daily rate trend for MCP in the UK

MCP
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing MCP over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for MCP in the UK

MCP
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing MCP.

Hourly rate trend for MCP in the UK

MCP
Top 12 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing MCP within the UK over the 6 months to 1 May 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 +15 24 £223 -20.54% 44
UK excluding London +20 21 £200 -19.19% 35
North of England +21 7 £363 -22.25% 5
North West +19 6 £400 -14.21% 1
South West +43 5 £200 -33.33% 5
Work from Home +43 4 £325 - 10
South East - 4 £250 - 11
London +29 3 £223 +11.25% 16
Midlands +22 3 £160 -9.86% 7
West Midlands +15 3 £160 -28.89% 1
Scotland +5 2 £158 +5.35% 2
North East - 1 £325 - 2

MCP
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 6 (23.08%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (11.54%) SharePoint
3 2 (7.69%) IBM Notes
3 2 (7.69%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 7 (26.92%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (7.69%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (3.85%) Acrobat
3 1 (3.85%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (3.85%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (3.85%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 1 (3.85%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 11 (42.31%) Azure
1 11 (42.31%) Microsoft 365
2 5 (19.23%) AWS
3 3 (11.54%) Entra ID
4 1 (3.85%) Cloud Computing
4 1 (3.85%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 4 (15.38%) TCP/IP
2 3 (11.54%) DNS
2 3 (11.54%) Internet
2 3 (11.54%) VPN
2 3 (11.54%) WebEx
3 2 (7.69%) Firewall
3 2 (7.69%) Remote Desktop
3 2 (7.69%) Unified Communications
4 1 (3.85%) H.323
4 1 (3.85%) Intrusion Detection
4 1 (3.85%) IP Telephony
4 1 (3.85%) LAN
4 1 (3.85%) MPLS
4 1 (3.85%) NAS
4 1 (3.85%) NetScaler
4 1 (3.85%) Network Security
4 1 (3.85%) SAN
4 1 (3.85%) Skype
4 1 (3.85%) WAN
4 1 (3.85%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (3.85%) InterSystems Cache
Development Applications
1 2 (7.69%) JIRA
General
1 18 (69.23%) Social Skills
2 6 (23.08%) Analytical Skills
3 2 (7.69%) Back Office
3 2 (7.69%) Legal
3 2 (7.69%) Publishing
4 1 (3.85%) Documentation Skills
4 1 (3.85%) Finance
4 1 (3.85%) Front Office
4 1 (3.85%) Organisational Skills
4 1 (3.85%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 6 (23.08%) Analyst
1 6 (23.08%) Support Analyst
2 5 (19.23%) Desktop Support
2 5 (19.23%) IT Analyst
2 5 (19.23%) IT Support
2 5 (19.23%) IT Support Analyst
2 5 (19.23%) Support Engineer
3 3 (11.54%) 2nd Line Support
4 2 (7.69%) 2nd Line Engineer
4 2 (7.69%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
4 2 (7.69%) Architect
4 2 (7.69%) Azure Architect
4 2 (7.69%) Deskside Engineer
4 2 (7.69%) Deskside Support
4 2 (7.69%) Deskside Support Engineer
4 2 (7.69%) Microsoft 365 Architect
4 2 (7.69%) Support Specialist
4 2 (7.69%) Systems Engineer
4 2 (7.69%) Technical Architect
4 2 (7.69%) Wintel Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (3.85%) CSS
1 1 (3.85%) ODBC
Miscellaneous
1 4 (15.38%) Management Information System
2 3 (11.54%) Blackberry
2 3 (11.54%) Onboarding
3 2 (7.69%) Hybrid Cloud
3 2 (7.69%) Operational Technology
3 2 (7.69%) Renewable Energy
3 2 (7.69%) Video Conferencing
4 1 (3.85%) BYOD
4 1 (3.85%) Driving Licence
4 1 (3.85%) iPhone
4 1 (3.85%) PACS
4 1 (3.85%) PDA
Operating Systems
1 20 (76.92%) Windows
2 7 (26.92%) Windows 10
3 4 (15.38%) Android
3 4 (15.38%) Mac OS
4 3 (11.54%) Windows Server
4 3 (11.54%) Windows Server 2016
5 2 (7.69%) Apple iOS
5 2 (7.69%) Mac OS X
5 2 (7.69%) Windows Server 2019
6 1 (3.85%) Windows Server 2008
6 1 (3.85%) Windows Server 2012
6 1 (3.85%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 15 (57.69%) Problem-Solving
2 14 (53.85%) ITIL
3 7 (26.92%) Customer Service
4 6 (23.08%) Collaborative Working
5 5 (19.23%) Analytics
5 5 (19.23%) Computer Science
5 5 (19.23%) ITSM
6 3 (11.54%) Cybersecurity
6 3 (11.54%) Incident Management
6 3 (11.54%) Knowledge Management
6 3 (11.54%) Migration
7 2 (7.69%) Identity Access Management
7 2 (7.69%) Mentoring
7 2 (7.69%) Mobile Device Management
7 2 (7.69%) People Management
7 2 (7.69%) Process Improvement
7 2 (7.69%) Project Delivery
7 2 (7.69%) Root Cause Analysis
7 2 (7.69%) Scaled Agile Framework
7 2 (7.69%) Task Automation
Programming Languages
1 4 (15.38%) PowerShell
2 3 (11.54%) VB
3 2 (7.69%) SQL
3 2 (7.69%) VBScript
4 1 (3.85%) VB6
Qualifications
1 19 (73.08%) Microsoft Certification
2 17 (65.38%) A+ Certification
3 15 (57.69%) Degree
4 5 (19.23%) MCSE
5 4 (15.38%) Computer Science Degree
5 4 (15.38%) MCSA
6 3 (11.54%) Cisco Certification
7 2 (7.69%) CCNA
7 2 (7.69%) Dell Certification
7 2 (7.69%) ITIL Certification
7 2 (7.69%) SC Cleared
7 2 (7.69%) Security Cleared
8 1 (3.85%) CISSP
8 1 (3.85%) PMI Certification
8 1 (3.85%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (7.69%) NCSC
2 1 (3.85%) GDPR
2 1 (3.85%) HL7
2 1 (3.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 1 (3.85%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 11 (42.31%) Active Directory
2 6 (23.08%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (7.69%) BitLocker
3 2 (7.69%) Hyper-V
3 2 (7.69%) Microsoft App-V
3 2 (7.69%) Virtual Desktop
4 1 (3.85%) vSphere
4 1 (3.85%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 8 (30.77%) Microsoft Intune
2 7 (26.92%) SCCM
3 2 (7.69%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 1 (3.85%) ServiceCenter
4 1 (3.85%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 24 (92.31%) Microsoft
2 7 (26.92%) VMware
3 6 (23.08%) Cisco
4 5 (19.23%) ServiceNow
5 2 (7.69%) Apple
5 2 (7.69%) Dell
5 2 (7.69%) Google
5 2 (7.69%) Lotus
5 2 (7.69%) McAfee
5 2 (7.69%) Symantec
6 1 (3.85%) Adobe
6 1 (3.85%) Bloomberg
6 1 (3.85%) Bomgar
6 1 (3.85%) Citrix
6 1 (3.85%) F5
6 1 (3.85%) HP
6 1 (3.85%) InterSystems
6 1 (3.85%) Okta
6 1 (3.85%) Peregrine
6 1 (3.85%) Remedy