Microsoft Office Contract Job Trends

Microsoft Office
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Microsoft Office skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 26 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 110 84 58
Rank change year-on-year -26 -26 +24
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Office 983 898 1,510
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.37% 2.93% 3.44%
As % of the Applications category 33.73% 37.67% 41.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 535 555 885
10th Percentile £163 £150 £148
25th Percentile £205 £200 £188
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £350 £300 £265
Median % change year-on-year +16.67% +13.21% -29.71%
75th Percentile £538 £505 £500
90th Percentile £689 £600 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £325 £250 £230
% change year-on-year +30.00% +8.77% -34.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 149 61 280
10th Percentile £12.50 £15.22 £11.77
25th Percentile £13.63 £18.00 £13.30
Median hourly rate £17.60 £24.00 £16.66
Median % change year-on-year -26.67% +44.06% -25.81%
75th Percentile £25.15 £30.78 £28.75
90th Percentile £48.91 £42.50 £48.72
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.36 £24.18 £16.06
% change year-on-year -32.36% +50.56% -26.16%

All Software Application Skills
UK

Microsoft Office falls under the Software Applications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring software application skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for software application skills 2,914 2,384 3,615
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 7.03% 7.77% 8.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,704 1,432 1,970
10th Percentile £203 £175 £160
25th Percentile £316 £250 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £400 £400
Median % change year-on-year +12.50% - -8.57%
75th Percentile £550 £538 £550
90th Percentile £650 £638 £665
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £356 £350
% change year-on-year +19.38% +1.71% -12.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 337 197 556
10th Percentile £12.94 £15.37 £12.13
25th Percentile £15.50 £17.00 £14.27
Median hourly rate £19.91 £27.35 £20.17
Median % change year-on-year -27.20% +35.63% -38.03%
75th Percentile £29.50 £44.50 £43.75
90th Percentile £62.44 £77.90 £57.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.00 £27.35 £19.50
% change year-on-year -30.53% +40.26% -40.91%

Microsoft Office
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Microsoft Office relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Microsoft Office job vacancy trend in the UK

Microsoft Office
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Microsoft Office.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft Office over the 6 months to 26 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft Office in the UK

Microsoft Office
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Microsoft Office.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft Office over the 6 months to 26 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft Office in the UK

Microsoft Office
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft Office within the UK over the 6 months to 26 February 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 -28 894 £375 +20.14% 503
UK excluding London -17 701 £325 +30.00% 461
London -43 246 £413 +3.13% 109
Work from Home -49 202 £400 - 196
South East -2 181 £425 +30.77% 146
North of England -38 169 £268 +15.75% 108
South West -5 122 £700 +211.11% 51
North West -13 104 £300 +20.00% 64
Midlands -35 91 £272 -28.17% 81
East of England +6 79 £200 -23.08% 58
West Midlands -45 59 £304 -28.53% 51
Yorkshire -57 55 £290 +27.47% 32
East Midlands -11 32 £185 -7.50% 29
Wales +10 28 £246 -52.76% 7
Scotland -34 21 £284 +43.07% 18
Northern Ireland +2 13 £315 +96.88% 5
North East -14 10 £175 -5.41% 13

Microsoft Office
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
1 141 (14.34%) SharePoint
2 99 (10.07%) Confluence
3 84 (8.55%) Microsoft Exchange
4 23 (2.34%) Skype for Business
5 4 (0.41%) Apache Airflow
5 4 (0.41%) CMS
5 4 (0.41%) Exchange Server 2013
5 4 (0.41%) HCL Notes
5 4 (0.41%) Mattermost
6 1 (0.10%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.10%) SAS
Applications
1 316 (32.15%) Microsoft Excel
2 187 (19.02%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 91 (9.26%) Microsoft Project
4 81 (8.24%) MS Visio
5 12 (1.22%) Spreadsheet
6 8 (0.81%) Trello
7 5 (0.51%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 4 (0.41%) Adobe Captivate
9 3 (0.31%) Adobe Illustrator
10 2 (0.20%) Oracle Smart View
11 1 (0.10%) AutoCAD
11 1 (0.10%) Photoshop
11 1 (0.10%) ProjectWise
11 1 (0.10%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 25 (2.54%) Remedy ITSM
2 17 (1.73%) SAP S/4HANA
3 10 (1.02%) Primavera
4 6 (0.61%) Oracle Financials
4 6 (0.61%) Veritas eDiscovery
5 4 (0.41%) Oracle Payables
5 4 (0.41%) Shopify
6 3 (0.31%) Aladdin
6 3 (0.31%) Fidessa
6 3 (0.31%) Maximo
6 3 (0.31%) Oracle EBS R12
6 3 (0.31%) Salesforce CRM
6 3 (0.31%) SimCorp Dimension
7 2 (0.20%) Dynamics GP
7 2 (0.20%) IntelliMatch
7 2 (0.20%) Oracle EBS
7 2 (0.20%) Oracle ERP
7 2 (0.20%) Oracle Receivables
7 2 (0.20%) SAP MM
7 2 (0.20%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 216 (21.97%) Microsoft 365
2 98 (9.97%) Azure
3 48 (4.88%) Power Platform
4 36 (3.66%) Google Workspace
5 28 (2.85%) AWS
6 17 (1.73%) OneDrive
7 15 (1.53%) Entra ID
8 14 (1.42%) Lucidchart
9 13 (1.32%) OCI
10 11 (1.12%) Azure DevOps
10 11 (1.12%) GCP
11 10 (1.02%) SaaS
12 9 (0.92%) Google Tag Manager
13 8 (0.81%) Google Analytics
14 5 (0.51%) Dynamics 365
14 5 (0.51%) Figma
14 5 (0.51%) GitHub
14 5 (0.51%) OpenShift
15 4 (0.41%) Amazon SageMaker
15 4 (0.41%) WhatsApp
Communications & Networking
1 55 (5.60%) Wireless
2 47 (4.78%) VPN
3 46 (4.68%) TCP/IP
4 45 (4.58%) Skype
5 40 (4.07%) Wi-Fi
6 39 (3.97%) LAN
7 37 (3.76%) DNS
7 37 (3.76%) Firewall
8 33 (3.36%) WAN
9 32 (3.26%) DHCP
10 18 (1.83%) Network Security
11 15 (1.53%) Ethernet
12 10 (1.02%) Cisco IOS
12 10 (1.02%) MPLS
12 10 (1.02%) Structured Cabling
12 10 (1.02%) VLAN
13 9 (0.92%) Internet
14 5 (0.51%) BGP
14 5 (0.51%) NetScaler
14 5 (0.51%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 46 (4.68%) Power BI
2 16 (1.63%) SQL Server
3 8 (0.81%) Relational Database
4 7 (0.71%) BigQuery
4 7 (0.71%) Looker
4 7 (0.71%) Oracle Reports
5 6 (0.61%) Oracle Database
6 5 (0.51%) Power Query
6 5 (0.51%) Tableau
7 4 (0.41%) Azure SQL Database
7 4 (0.41%) EDMS
7 4 (0.41%) RDBMS
7 4 (0.41%) SQLPlus
8 3 (0.31%) Electronic Patient Records
8 3 (0.31%) Metadata
8 3 (0.31%) MySQL
9 2 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
9 2 (0.20%) DB2
9 2 (0.20%) GIS
9 2 (0.20%) Spotfire
Development Applications
1 107 (10.89%) JIRA
2 13 (1.32%) Burp Suite
2 13 (1.32%) Metasploit
3 8 (0.81%) Toad
4 5 (0.51%) Jenkins
4 5 (0.51%) MLflow
5 4 (0.41%) Git
6 3 (0.31%) Android Studio
6 3 (0.31%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.31%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 3 (0.31%) Subversion
7 2 (0.20%) Hudson
7 2 (0.20%) JMeter
7 2 (0.20%) PVCS
7 2 (0.20%) Sonatype Nexus
7 2 (0.20%) Tricentis qTest
8 1 (0.10%) Ant
8 1 (0.10%) ClearCase
8 1 (0.10%) JUnit
8 1 (0.10%) TestDirector
General
1 599 (60.94%) Social Skills
2 287 (29.20%) Finance
3 216 (21.97%) Analytical Skills
4 137 (13.94%) Organisational Skills
5 117 (11.90%) Public Sector
6 71 (7.22%) Banking
7 65 (6.61%) Manufacturing
8 54 (5.49%) Marketing
8 54 (5.49%) Telecoms
9 53 (5.39%) Legal
10 40 (4.07%) Military
11 39 (3.97%) Presentation Skills
12 37 (3.76%) Electronics
13 29 (2.95%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 28 (2.85%) Influencing Skills
15 26 (2.64%) Documentation Skills
16 23 (2.34%) Pharmaceutical
17 15 (1.53%) Investment Banking
18 11 (1.12%) Retail
19 10 (1.02%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 192 (19.53%) Analyst
2 97 (9.87%) IT Support
3 60 (6.10%) Business Analyst
4 59 (6.00%) 2nd Line Support
5 58 (5.90%) Support Engineer
6 54 (5.49%) Desktop Support
7 51 (5.19%) Architect
8 47 (4.78%) Support Analyst
9 46 (4.68%) Administrator
10 41 (4.17%) Support Officer
11 39 (3.97%) Senior
12 32 (3.26%) Project Manager
13 31 (3.15%) Lead
14 30 (3.05%) Service Architect
15 28 (2.85%) IT Engineer
16 27 (2.75%) Coordinator
17 25 (2.54%) Project Officer
17 25 (2.54%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
18 24 (2.44%) 2nd Line Desktop Support
19 23 (2.34%) Project Support Officer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (0.71%) Web Services
2 6 (0.61%) REST
2 6 (0.61%) SOAP
2 6 (0.61%) XML
3 5 (0.51%) .NET
4 4 (0.41%) NumPy
4 4 (0.41%) Oracle Fusion
4 4 (0.41%) Pandas
4 4 (0.41%) scikit-learn
4 4 (0.41%) Seaborn
5 3 (0.31%) NETCONF
5 3 (0.31%) OpenConfig
5 3 (0.31%) RESTCONF
5 3 (0.31%) YANG
6 2 (0.20%) ADO
6 2 (0.20%) FHIR
6 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Graph
7 1 (0.10%) CSS
7 1 (0.10%) HTML
7 1 (0.10%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 52 (5.29%) Management Information System
2 51 (5.19%) Data Centre
3 47 (4.78%) Onboarding
4 41 (4.17%) Self-Motivation
5 40 (4.07%) Product Ownership
6 30 (3.05%) Driving Licence
7 19 (1.93%) Data Protection Act
8 18 (1.83%) NHS
9 17 (1.73%) Enterprise Software
9 17 (1.73%) Mobile App
10 16 (1.63%) Industry 4.0
10 16 (1.63%) Robotics
11 14 (1.42%) PMI
11 14 (1.42%) Security Posture
12 12 (1.22%) Insider Threat
13 11 (1.12%) Analytical Mindset
13 11 (1.12%) PKI
13 11 (1.12%) Virtual Team
14 9 (0.92%) Video Conferencing
15 8 (0.81%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 257 (26.14%) Windows
2 109 (11.09%) Windows 10
3 80 (8.14%) Android
4 54 (5.49%) Mac OS
5 52 (5.29%) Linux
6 33 (3.36%) Apple iOS
7 27 (2.75%) Windows Server
8 15 (1.53%) Windows 7
9 14 (1.42%) Unix
10 12 (1.22%) Windows Server 2016
11 9 (0.92%) Windows Server 2019
12 8 (0.81%) Ubuntu
13 4 (0.41%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
13 4 (0.41%) Windows Server 2012
14 3 (0.31%) AIX
14 3 (0.31%) CentOS
15 2 (0.20%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 233 (23.70%) Problem-Solving
2 165 (16.79%) Agile
3 158 (16.07%) Customer Service
4 153 (15.56%) Project Management
5 135 (13.73%) ITIL
6 120 (12.21%) Stakeholder Management
7 110 (11.19%) Continuous Improvement
8 104 (10.58%) Project Delivery
9 97 (9.87%) Service Management
10 84 (8.55%) PRINCE2
11 80 (8.14%) Business Intelligence
11 80 (8.14%) Change Management
12 69 (7.02%) Decision-Making
13 63 (6.41%) Time Management
14 62 (6.31%) Analytical Thinking
14 62 (6.31%) ITSM
14 62 (6.31%) Service Delivery
15 59 (6.00%) Critical Thinking
15 59 (6.00%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 58 (5.90%) Acceptance Criteria
Programming Languages
1 80 (8.14%) SQL
2 47 (4.78%) PowerShell
3 29 (2.95%) Python
4 18 (1.83%) VB
5 10 (1.02%) PL/SQL
6 9 (0.92%) PHP
6 9 (0.92%) VBScript
7 8 (0.81%) JavaScript
8 7 (0.71%) Java
9 5 (0.51%) Perl
9 5 (0.51%) R
10 4 (0.41%) VBA
11 3 (0.31%) C
11 3 (0.31%) C#
11 3 (0.31%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 3 (0.31%) Kusto Query Language
11 3 (0.31%) Shell Script
11 3 (0.31%) T-SQL
12 2 (0.20%) C++
12 2 (0.20%) Korn
Qualifications
1 319 (32.45%) Degree
2 255 (25.94%) Security Cleared
3 206 (20.96%) SC Cleared
4 57 (5.80%) DV Cleared
5 30 (3.05%) TOGAF Certification
6 29 (2.95%) PMI Certification
7 27 (2.75%) ITIL Certification
7 27 (2.75%) PMP
8 23 (2.34%) Microsoft Certification
9 17 (1.73%) APMP
9 17 (1.73%) Computer Science Degree
10 16 (1.63%) MCSE
11 15 (1.53%) BPSS Clearance
11 15 (1.53%) CTC Cleared
12 14 (1.42%) Cisco Certification
12 14 (1.42%) Master's Degree
13 13 (1.32%) CHECK Team Member
14 12 (1.22%) Postgraduate
15 11 (1.12%) CREST Certified
15 11 (1.12%) IIBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 97 (9.87%) PMO
2 43 (4.37%) QA
3 32 (3.26%) SLA
4 26 (2.64%) GDPR
5 24 (2.44%) Data Quality
6 20 (2.03%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 15 (1.53%) Accessibility
7 15 (1.53%) PCI DSS
8 12 (1.22%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 7 (0.71%) P3O
10 6 (0.61%) ISO 9001
11 5 (0.51%) Cyber Essentials
12 4 (0.41%) MiFID
12 4 (0.41%) NIST
13 3 (0.31%) Disclosure Scotland
13 3 (0.31%) ECSS
13 3 (0.31%) ISO 20022
14 2 (0.20%) COBIT
14 2 (0.20%) SOC 2
15 1 (0.10%) HL7
System Software
1 134 (13.63%) Active Directory
2 14 (1.42%) VMware Infrastructure
3 10 (1.02%) BitLocker
4 8 (0.81%) Docker
5 7 (0.71%) Virtual Desktop
6 6 (0.61%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 6 (0.61%) Virtual Servers
7 5 (0.51%) Hyper-V
7 5 (0.51%) VMware ESXi
7 5 (0.51%) XenApp
7 5 (0.51%) XenDesktop
8 1 (0.10%) Citrix Presentation Server
8 1 (0.10%) Firmware
8 1 (0.10%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 52 (5.29%) SCCM
2 31 (3.15%) Microsoft Intune
3 30 (3.05%) OPNET
4 13 (1.32%) Nmap
5 12 (1.22%) SCOM
6 9 (0.92%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 9 (0.92%) WSUS
7 8 (0.81%) HP Quality Center
7 8 (0.81%) HP SiteScope
8 7 (0.71%) Ansible
9 5 (0.51%) HP ALM
9 5 (0.51%) Kubernetes
9 5 (0.51%) SCVMM
9 5 (0.51%) TeamSite
10 4 (0.41%) Terraform
10 4 (0.41%) vCenter Server
11 3 (0.31%) Jamf Pro
11 3 (0.31%) PaperCut
11 3 (0.31%) Single Sign-On
11 3 (0.31%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 632 (64.29%) Microsoft
2 84 (8.55%) SAP
3 79 (8.04%) ServiceNow
4 74 (7.53%) Cisco
5 69 (7.02%) Remedy
6 57 (5.80%) Apple
6 57 (5.80%) HP
7 42 (4.27%) Atlassian
8 39 (3.97%) Google
8 39 (3.97%) Oracle
9 38 (3.87%) Dell
10 23 (2.34%) Citrix
11 18 (1.83%) VMware
12 16 (1.63%) Siemens
13 15 (1.53%) MobileIron
13 15 (1.53%) Splunk
14 10 (1.02%) Adobe
14 10 (1.02%) Planview
15 9 (0.92%) Veeam
16 8 (0.81%) Salesforce