SLA Contract Job Trends

Service Level Agreement (SLA)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring SLA skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 18 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 246 194 158
Rank change year-on-year -52 -36 +36
Contract jobs citing SLA 558 464 658
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.05% 1.43% 1.56%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 6.21% 8.57% 11.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 314 268 308
10th Percentile £200 £199 £156
25th Percentile £282 £219 £200
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £350 £340
Median % change year-on-year +28.57% +2.94% +7.94%
75th Percentile £520 £544 £500
90th Percentile £600 £616 £586
UK excluding London median daily rate £440 £291 £275
% change year-on-year +51.46% +5.64% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 83 60 84
10th Percentile £13.50 £15.95 £11.07
25th Percentile £17.22 £17.53 £12.75
Median hourly rate £18.67 £22.14 £16.22
Median % change year-on-year -15.70% +36.50% -11.67%
75th Percentile £20.92 £25.15 £23.80
90th Percentile £27.44 £34.65 £26.15
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.50 £22.14 £14.46
% change year-on-year -16.44% +53.16% -20.69%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK

SLA falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 8,982 5,413 5,816
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 16.98% 16.63% 13.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,740 3,484 3,594
10th Percentile £338 £280 £280
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year - - -4.76%
75th Percentile £600 £606 £615
90th Percentile £700 £714 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £469 £475
% change year-on-year +6.61% -1.26% -4.81%
Number of hourly rates quoted 543 239 395
10th Percentile £14.00 £13.58 £11.22
25th Percentile £19.27 £17.67 £13.69
Median hourly rate £36.07 £30.00 £24.18
Median % change year-on-year +20.23% +24.07% -38.94%
75th Percentile £68.88 £62.25 £51.75
90th Percentile £82.25 £85.35 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £38.72 £26.93 £24.59
% change year-on-year +43.81% +9.50% -30.73%

SLA
Job Vacancy Trend

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

SLA job vacancy trend in the UK

SLA
Daily Rate Trend

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing SLA

SLA
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SLA over the 6 months to 18 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for SLA in the UK

SLA
Hourly Rate Trend

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing SLA

SLA
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing SLA over the 6 months to 18 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for SLA in the UK

SLA
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 SLA within the UK over the 6 months to 18 July 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 -60 468 £450 +20.00% 180
UK excluding London -74 343 £440 +51.46% 158
London -19 188 £475 +17.28% 45
Work from Home -15 133 £475 +18.75% 45
South East -72 83 £474 +89.50% 71
North of England -64 72 £436 +51.61% 23
Scotland +30 56 £358 +43.20% 9
Midlands -65 55 £288 -23.33% 16
West Midlands -71 46 £288 -23.33% 12
East of England +6 44 £510 +126.67% 27
North West -36 40 £435 +33.85% 14
Yorkshire -43 30 £444 +77.15% 8
South West -51 25 £400 +35.59% 17
Wales -9 12 £525 +100.00% 4
East Midlands -11 8 £363 - 4
Northern Ireland +2 2 £175 -
North East -32 2 £280 - 1

SLA
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 28 (5.02%) SharePoint
2 13 (2.33%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (1.25%) OpenStack
4 6 (1.08%) Confluence
5 5 (0.90%) IIS
5 5 (0.90%) SAS
6 4 (0.72%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 3 (0.54%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.36%) Anypoint
8 2 (0.36%) ArcGIS
8 2 (0.36%) Exchange Server 2010
8 2 (0.36%) Mule
9 1 (0.18%) Apache
9 1 (0.18%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.18%) LiveCycle
9 1 (0.18%) Oracle Workflow
9 1 (0.18%) Smallworld
Applications
1 48 (8.60%) Microsoft Office
2 39 (6.99%) Microsoft Excel
3 11 (1.97%) Spreadsheet
4 6 (1.08%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 2 (0.36%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.18%) Autodesk Inventor
7 1 (0.18%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.18%) MicroStation
7 1 (0.18%) Oracle Smart View
Business Applications
1 20 (3.58%) Remedy ITSM
2 8 (1.43%) ContrOCC
3 5 (0.90%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.90%) Oracle Applications
3 5 (0.90%) Oracle Assets
3 5 (0.90%) Oracle Payables
3 5 (0.90%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 4 (0.72%) Oracle General Ledger
4 4 (0.72%) Oracle Receivables
4 4 (0.72%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 3 (0.54%) Oracle Cash Management
6 2 (0.36%) Dynamics GP
6 2 (0.36%) IntelliMatch
6 2 (0.36%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.36%) Oracle ERP
6 2 (0.36%) Payment Gateway
7 1 (0.18%) Actimize
7 1 (0.18%) OpenText VIM for SAP
7 1 (0.18%) Oracle Financials
7 1 (0.18%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 100 (17.92%) Azure
2 84 (15.05%) Microsoft 365
3 52 (9.32%) AWS
4 40 (7.17%) Entra ID
5 27 (4.84%) Power Platform
6 18 (3.23%) OneDrive
7 17 (3.05%) Azure DevOps
7 17 (3.05%) SaaS
8 16 (2.87%) Datadog
9 14 (2.51%) Amazon S3
9 14 (2.51%) IaaS
10 13 (2.33%) PaaS
11 12 (2.15%) OCI
11 12 (2.15%) Snowflake
12 11 (1.97%) Amazon EC2
12 11 (1.97%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 9 (1.61%) Azure Sentinel
13 9 (1.61%) GCP
14 8 (1.43%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 8 (1.43%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 32 (5.73%) DNS
2 29 (5.20%) VPN
3 27 (4.84%) DHCP
4 20 (3.58%) WAN
5 19 (3.41%) Firewall
5 19 (3.41%) LAN
5 19 (3.41%) Wi-Fi
6 15 (2.69%) Network Security
6 15 (2.69%) SAN
7 13 (2.33%) TCP/IP
8 10 (1.79%) Cisco IOS
9 9 (1.61%) MPLS
9 9 (1.61%) SDH
10 8 (1.43%) Cisco ASA
10 8 (1.43%) Radio Access Network
10 8 (1.43%) VLAN
11 7 (1.25%) 5G
11 7 (1.25%) LTE
12 6 (1.08%) VoWiFi
12 6 (1.08%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (4.12%) Power BI
2 22 (3.94%) SQL Server
3 9 (1.61%) Tableau
4 8 (1.43%) Oracle Reports
5 6 (1.08%) Oracle Database
6 5 (0.90%) Pentaho
6 5 (0.90%) Relational Database
7 4 (0.72%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (0.72%) MySQL
7 4 (0.72%) PostgreSQL
8 3 (0.54%) Amazon Athena
8 3 (0.54%) Big Data
8 3 (0.54%) Data Lake
8 3 (0.54%) Db2
8 3 (0.54%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 2 (0.36%) GIS
9 2 (0.36%) Oracle Database 10g
9 2 (0.36%) Oracle Database 11g
9 2 (0.36%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 1 (0.18%) Data Warehouse
Development Applications
1 46 (8.24%) JIRA
2 10 (1.79%) GitLab
3 8 (1.43%) Chocolatey
3 8 (1.43%) Git
3 8 (1.43%) Jenkins
4 4 (0.72%) Maven
5 3 (0.54%) Visual Studio
6 2 (0.36%) Artifactory
6 2 (0.36%) JMeter
6 2 (0.36%) Toad
7 1 (0.18%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.18%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.18%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 1 (0.18%) WiX
General
1 245 (43.91%) Social Skills
2 106 (19.00%) Finance
3 95 (17.03%) Analytical Skills
4 41 (7.35%) Public Sector
5 31 (5.56%) Banking
6 27 (4.84%) Organisational Skills
6 27 (4.84%) Telecoms
7 23 (4.12%) Documentation Skills
8 20 (3.58%) Legal
9 14 (2.51%) Billing
9 14 (2.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 14 (2.51%) Local Government
9 14 (2.51%) Retail
10 9 (1.61%) Manufacturing
11 8 (1.43%) Financial Institution
11 8 (1.43%) Influencing Skills
12 6 (1.08%) Aerospace
12 6 (1.08%) Marketing
13 4 (0.72%) Aviation
14 3 (0.54%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 75 (13.44%) Analyst
2 46 (8.24%) IT Support
3 44 (7.89%) Support Engineer
4 36 (6.45%) Lead
4 36 (6.45%) Senior
5 33 (5.91%) Service Manager
6 27 (4.84%) IT Engineer
7 26 (4.66%) Service Analyst
8 22 (3.94%) Administrator
9 21 (3.76%) Consultant
9 21 (3.76%) Delivery Manager
10 18 (3.23%) Azure Engineer
10 18 (3.23%) Desktop Support
10 18 (3.23%) Service Delivery Manager
11 17 (3.05%) Applications Support
11 17 (3.05%) IT Support Engineer
12 16 (2.87%) Desktop Engineer
12 16 (2.87%) Network Engineer
12 16 (2.87%) Service Desk Analyst
12 16 (2.87%) Technical Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (2.15%) .NET
2 11 (1.97%) REST
3 9 (1.61%) Oracle Fusion
4 8 (1.43%) LDAP
5 7 (1.25%) Middleware
5 7 (1.25%) Web Services
5 7 (1.25%) XML
6 5 (0.90%) ARM Templates
6 5 (0.90%) AWS CDK
6 5 (0.90%) Software Packaging
6 5 (0.90%) Spring
7 4 (0.72%) .NET Framework
7 4 (0.72%) AngularJS
7 4 (0.72%) CSS
7 4 (0.72%) jQuery
7 4 (0.72%) JSON
7 4 (0.72%) RESTful
7 4 (0.72%) Sass
7 4 (0.72%) SOAP
7 4 (0.72%) Spring MVC
Miscellaneous
1 55 (9.86%) Onboarding
2 30 (5.38%) Data Centre
3 20 (3.58%) CMDB
4 14 (2.51%) Enterprise Software
5 11 (1.97%) PKI
5 11 (1.97%) Product Ownership
6 10 (1.79%) Cyber Threat
6 10 (1.79%) Smartphone
7 9 (1.61%) Cloud Native
7 9 (1.61%) Driving Licence
8 8 (1.43%) BYOD
8 8 (1.43%) Data Protection Act
8 8 (1.43%) Self-Motivation
8 8 (1.43%) Virtual Team
9 6 (1.08%) Fibre Optics
9 6 (1.08%) iPhone
9 6 (1.08%) Management Information System
10 5 (0.90%) Analytical Mindset
10 5 (0.90%) Enterprise Cloud
10 5 (0.90%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 132 (23.66%) Windows
2 48 (8.60%) Windows 10
3 34 (6.09%) Linux
4 24 (4.30%) Windows Server
5 21 (3.76%) Android
6 15 (2.69%) Unix
7 8 (1.43%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 7 (1.25%) Mac OS
9 4 (0.72%) Apple iOS
9 4 (0.72%) CentOS
9 4 (0.72%) Windows 7
9 4 (0.72%) Windows Server 2012
10 3 (0.54%) Windows XP
11 2 (0.36%) Windows Server 2019
12 1 (0.18%) Solaris
12 1 (0.18%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2003
12 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 198 (35.48%) ITIL
2 128 (22.94%) ITSM
3 117 (20.97%) Continuous Improvement
3 117 (20.97%) Problem-Solving
4 106 (19.00%) Customer Service
4 106 (19.00%) Stakeholder Management
5 97 (17.38%) Service Management
6 93 (16.67%) Service Delivery
7 92 (16.49%) Change Management
8 75 (13.44%) Agile
9 65 (11.65%) Root Cause Analysis
10 57 (10.22%) Incident Management
11 52 (9.32%) Problem Management
12 47 (8.42%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 45 (8.06%) Migration
14 39 (6.99%) Asset Management
14 39 (6.99%) Roadmaps
14 39 (6.99%) Validation
15 38 (6.81%) Time Management
16 37 (6.63%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 47 (8.42%) SQL
2 36 (6.45%) PowerShell
3 34 (6.09%) Python
4 17 (3.05%) Bash
5 9 (1.61%) Java
6 8 (1.43%) PL/SQL
7 7 (1.25%) JavaScript
8 5 (0.90%) C#
9 4 (0.72%) Bicep
9 4 (0.72%) MATLAB
9 4 (0.72%) Shell Script
10 2 (0.36%) DataWeave
10 2 (0.36%) Korn
10 2 (0.36%) Scala
10 2 (0.36%) VB
10 2 (0.36%) X++
11 1 (0.18%) Apex Code
11 1 (0.18%) COBOL
11 1 (0.18%) RPG
11 1 (0.18%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 124 (22.22%) Security Cleared
2 97 (17.38%) SC Cleared
3 49 (8.78%) Degree
4 21 (3.76%) DV Cleared
5 18 (3.23%) BPSS Clearance
5 18 (3.23%) ITIL Certification
5 18 (3.23%) Microsoft Certification
6 16 (2.87%) Cisco Certification
7 12 (2.15%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 10 (1.79%) CCNP
9 9 (1.61%) PMI Certification
10 8 (1.43%) MCSE
11 7 (1.25%) Azure Certification
11 7 (1.25%) CCNA
12 6 (1.08%) CCSE
13 5 (0.90%) A+ Certification
13 5 (0.90%) CCSM
13 5 (0.90%) CISSP
13 5 (0.90%) Master's Degree
13 5 (0.90%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (3.05%) Data Quality
2 14 (2.51%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 14 (2.51%) QA
3 12 (2.15%) PMO
4 11 (1.97%) NIST
5 9 (1.61%) GRC
6 7 (1.25%) COBIT
6 7 (1.25%) GDPR
7 6 (1.08%) Cyber Essentials
8 5 (0.90%) ISO 9001
8 5 (0.90%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 5 (0.90%) PCI DSS
9 3 (0.54%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 3 (0.54%) ISO 20022
9 3 (0.54%) JSP 440
10 2 (0.36%) ISO 31000
10 2 (0.36%) ISO 8583
10 2 (0.36%) SOC 2
11 1 (0.18%) Disclosure Scotland
11 1 (0.18%) NCSC
System Software
1 87 (15.59%) Active Directory
2 23 (4.12%) VMware Infrastructure
3 15 (2.69%) VMware ESXi
4 11 (1.97%) Virtual Desktop
5 7 (1.25%) Hyper-V
6 6 (1.08%) Docker
6 6 (1.08%) vSphere
7 4 (0.72%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.36%) ACF2
8 2 (0.36%) Oracle RAC
8 2 (0.36%) RACF
9 1 (0.18%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.18%) Ceph
9 1 (0.18%) Firmware
9 1 (0.18%) Virtual Servers
9 1 (0.18%) VMware Workstation
9 1 (0.18%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 41 (7.35%) Microsoft Intune
2 32 (5.73%) SCCM
3 19 (3.41%) Terraform
4 15 (2.69%) Kubernetes
5 14 (2.51%) Single Sign-On
6 13 (2.33%) Ansible
7 10 (1.79%) vCenter Server
8 9 (1.61%) Grafana
9 7 (1.25%) ServiceCenter
10 5 (0.90%) Jamf Pro
10 5 (0.90%) Prometheus
11 4 (0.72%) Check_MK
11 4 (0.72%) Podman
11 4 (0.72%) Red Hat Satellite
12 3 (0.54%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 3 (0.54%) FortiGate
12 3 (0.54%) Oracle Identity Management
12 3 (0.54%) Oracle Identity Manager
12 3 (0.54%) vMotion
13 2 (0.36%) AirWatch
Vendors
1 177 (31.72%) Microsoft
2 101 (18.10%) ServiceNow
3 45 (8.06%) Oracle
4 40 (7.17%) Cisco
5 39 (6.99%) VMware
6 25 (4.48%) Remedy
7 24 (4.30%) Apple
8 23 (4.12%) HP
9 14 (2.51%) Dell
10 13 (2.33%) SAP
11 12 (2.15%) Tenable
12 10 (1.79%) Nokia
13 9 (1.61%) Databricks
13 9 (1.61%) Fortinet
13 9 (1.61%) IBM
13 9 (1.61%) Salesforce
13 9 (1.61%) Splunk
13 9 (1.61%) Zscaler
14 8 (1.43%) Liquidlogic
14 8 (1.43%) Okta