NVQ Level 3 Contract Job Trends

National Vocational Qualification Level 3 (NVQ Level 3)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for NVQ Level 3 qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 6 November 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 567 544 633
Rank change year-on-year -23 +89 +183
Contract jobs citing NVQ Level 3 7 7 1
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.020% 0.019% 0.002%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.062% 0.065% 0.008%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 1 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £209 £313 -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £215 £325 -
Median % change year-on-year -33.93% - -
75th Percentile £220 £338 -
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median daily rate - - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 1 1
10th Percentile £15.77 - -
25th Percentile £16.80 £47.50 £12.25
Median hourly rate £19.00 £50.00 £12.50
Median % change year-on-year -62.00% +300.00% -33.23%
75th Percentile £21.21 £52.50 £12.75
90th Percentile £22.24 - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.00 £50.00 -
% change year-on-year -62.00% - -

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

NVQ Level 3 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 11,360 10,694 13,322
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.81% 29.28% 28.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,236 6,499 8,519
10th Percentile £300 £310 £302
25th Percentile £413 £420 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £635 £650
90th Percentile £714 £725 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £516 £534
% change year-on-year -3.10% -3.37% +1.71%
Number of hourly rates quoted 982 485 749
10th Percentile £17.32 £18.66 £17.72
25th Percentile £19.06 £24.18 £26.75
Median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year -45.54% -12.04% +16.67%
75th Percentile £43.63 £67.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £70.14 £75.00 £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £47.84 £51.89
% change year-on-year -47.43% -7.80% +15.31%

NVQ Level 3
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing NVQ Level 3 relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

NVQ Level 3 job vacancy trend in the UK

NVQ Level 3
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing NVQ Level 3.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing NVQ Level 3

NVQ Level 3
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing NVQ Level 3.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing NVQ Level 3

NVQ Level 3
Top 10 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing NVQ Level 3 within the UK over the 6 months to 6 November 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 -1 6 £215 -33.93% 62
UK excluding London -37 6 - - 59
Work from Home +14 3 - - 6
Midlands -30 2 - - 13
South West - 2 - - 5
London -8 1 £215 -33.93% 15
West Midlands -24 1 - - 5
Scotland - 1 - - 4
South East - 1 - - 26
East Midlands - 1 - - 8

NVQ Level 3
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:

Business Applications
1 1 (14.29%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 2 (28.57%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 2 (28.57%) VPN
2 1 (14.29%) DNS
2 1 (14.29%) Firewall
2 1 (14.29%) Remote Desktop
Development Applications
1 1 (14.29%) JIRA
General
1 6 (85.71%) Social Skills
2 2 (28.57%) Public Sector
3 1 (14.29%) Police
Job Titles
1 2 (28.57%) Analyst
1 2 (28.57%) ICT Trainer
1 2 (28.57%) Trainer
2 1 (14.29%) Data Centre Engineer
2 1 (14.29%) Data Centre Operations Engineer
2 1 (14.29%) Help Desk Analyst
2 1 (14.29%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 1 (14.29%) IT Engineer
2 1 (14.29%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
2 1 (14.29%) Operations Engineer
2 1 (14.29%) Project Engineer
2 1 (14.29%) Project Manager
2 1 (14.29%) Service Analyst
2 1 (14.29%) Service Desk Analyst
2 1 (14.29%) Technical Engineer
2 1 (14.29%) Technical Operations Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 2 (28.57%) Digital Media
1 2 (28.57%) e-Learning
2 1 (14.29%) Data Centre
2 1 (14.29%) Fibre Optics
2 1 (14.29%) NHS
2 1 (14.29%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 1 (14.29%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 3 (42.86%) Problem-Solving
2 2 (28.57%) Continuous Improvement
2 2 (28.57%) Customer Service
2 2 (28.57%) ITIL
2 2 (28.57%) Project Management
3 1 (14.29%) Agile
3 1 (14.29%) Coaching
3 1 (14.29%) Continuous Improvement Process
3 1 (14.29%) Cybersecurity
3 1 (14.29%) Data Centre Operations
3 1 (14.29%) Data Privacy
3 1 (14.29%) Decision-Making
3 1 (14.29%) ITSM
3 1 (14.29%) Mathematics
3 1 (14.29%) Mentoring
3 1 (14.29%) Process Improvement
3 1 (14.29%) Risk Management
3 1 (14.29%) Root Cause Analysis
3 1 (14.29%) SDLC
3 1 (14.29%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 1 (14.29%) SQL
Qualifications
1 3 (42.86%) City & Guilds
1 3 (42.86%) Degree
2 1 (14.29%) CCNA
2 1 (14.29%) Cisco Certification
2 1 (14.29%) HNC
2 1 (14.29%) HND
2 1 (14.29%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
2 1 (14.29%) NVQ Level 4
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (14.29%) GDPR
1 1 (14.29%) PMO
System Software
1 1 (14.29%) Active Directory
Vendors
1 2 (28.57%) Microsoft
2 1 (14.29%) Cisco