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 14 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
14 Mar 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 217 195 133
Rank change year-on-year -22 -62 +44
Contract jobs citing SLA 545 421 771
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.26% 1.43% 1.73%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 7.28% 9.41% 11.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 276 242 369
10th Percentile £200 £148 £150
25th Percentile £269 £186 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £441 £250 £350
Median % change year-on-year +76.50% -28.57% +20.83%
75th Percentile £531 £488 £525
90th Percentile £600 £588 £600
UK excluding London median daily rate £375 £235 £290
% change year-on-year +59.57% -18.97% +28.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 130 45 85
10th Percentile £16.24 £14.70 £11.07
25th Percentile £17.69 £17.80 £13.00
Median hourly rate £18.50 £22.14 £14.80
Median % change year-on-year -16.44% +49.59% -20.00%
75th Percentile £20.34 £24.66 £26.15
90th Percentile £26.11 £29.00 £33.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.50 £22.14 £14.08
% change year-on-year -16.44% +57.24% -23.32%

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 7,483 4,475 6,452
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.34% 15.16% 14.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,822 2,841 4,129
10th Percentile £331 £261 £300
25th Percentile £413 £375 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £515
Median % change year-on-year - -2.91% -1.90%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £625
90th Percentile £700 £725 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £480
% change year-on-year +5.26% -1.04% +1.05%
Number of hourly rates quoted 398 170 384
10th Percentile £15.31 £16.25 £11.00
25th Percentile £18.45 £22.04 £14.00
Median hourly rate £27.94 £31.88 £24.50
Median % change year-on-year -12.36% +30.12% -34.67%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £45.44
90th Percentile £80.30 £79.13 £67.85
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.58 £32.00 £21.73
% change year-on-year -4.44% +47.26% -33.14%

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 14 March 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 14 March 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 14 March 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 -25 488 £443 +77.00% 263
UK excluding London -39 357 £375 +59.57% 217
London -5 157 £500 +56.25% 65
East of England +39 108 £475 +111.11% 31
Work from Home -31 106 £500 +100.00% 82
South East -67 76 £431 +72.50% 85
North of England -67 62 £355 +42.00% 53
Midlands -72 44 £296 +25.96% 31
South West -22 37 £275 -50.00% 17
North West -45 33 £436 +74.50% 34
West Midlands -76 32 £293 +24.68% 14
Scotland +21 28 £440 +131.58% 7
Yorkshire -52 22 £360 +56.52% 18
East Midlands -34 11 £534 +52.57% 17
North East - 7 £265 - 1
Northern Ireland 0 5 £500 +237.84%
Wales -11 1 - - 4

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 17 (3.12%) SharePoint
2 15 (2.75%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (1.28%) Confluence
4 5 (0.92%) Oracle Workflow
5 4 (0.73%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 3 (0.55%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.55%) ArcGIS
7 2 (0.37%) SAS
8 1 (0.18%) GeoServer
8 1 (0.18%) IIS
8 1 (0.18%) LiveCycle
8 1 (0.18%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.18%) Oracle Spatial
8 1 (0.18%) Smallworld
8 1 (0.18%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.18%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 56 (10.28%) Microsoft Excel
2 46 (8.44%) Spreadsheet
3 32 (5.87%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (0.92%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (0.92%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.37%) Oracle Smart View
6 1 (0.18%) Autodesk Inventor
6 1 (0.18%) MicroStation
Business Applications
1 14 (2.57%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
2 13 (2.39%) Remedy ITSM
3 12 (2.20%) Oracle Payables
4 11 (2.02%) Oracle EBS
5 10 (1.83%) Oracle Assets
6 7 (1.28%) Oracle Receivables
7 6 (1.10%) Oracle ERP
7 6 (1.10%) Oracle General Ledger
8 3 (0.55%) Oracle Cash Management
9 2 (0.37%) Dynamics CRM
9 2 (0.37%) IntelliMatch
9 2 (0.37%) Oracle EBS R12
9 2 (0.37%) Oracle E-Business Tax
9 2 (0.37%) Oracle FAH
9 2 (0.37%) Oracle Financials
9 2 (0.37%) Payment Gateway
9 2 (0.37%) Temenos T24
10 1 (0.18%) OpenText VIM for SAP
10 1 (0.18%) SAP S/4HANA
10 1 (0.18%) Veritas eDiscovery
Cloud Services
1 62 (11.38%) Microsoft 365
2 61 (11.19%) Azure
3 46 (8.44%) AWS
4 21 (3.85%) Power Platform
5 18 (3.30%) GCP
6 14 (2.57%) IaaS
7 13 (2.39%) Entra ID
7 13 (2.39%) PaaS
7 13 (2.39%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 11 (2.02%) Amazon EC2
8 11 (2.02%) Amazon S3
8 11 (2.02%) SaaS
9 10 (1.83%) Datadog
10 9 (1.65%) AWS CloudFormation
10 9 (1.65%) Snowflake
11 8 (1.47%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 8 (1.47%) Azure DevOps
12 7 (1.28%) OCI
13 6 (1.10%) GitHub
13 6 (1.10%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 32 (5.87%) Firewall
2 30 (5.50%) WAN
3 22 (4.04%) VPN
4 21 (3.85%) DNS
5 18 (3.30%) SD-WAN
6 17 (3.12%) LAN
7 16 (2.94%) DHCP
8 14 (2.57%) Network Security
9 13 (2.39%) PABX
9 13 (2.39%) Wi-Fi
10 12 (2.20%) MPLS
10 12 (2.20%) SAN
11 11 (2.02%) Cisco ASA
12 10 (1.83%) BGP
12 10 (1.83%) OSPF
12 10 (1.83%) TCP/IP
13 9 (1.65%) VLAN
14 8 (1.47%) Cisco IOS
14 8 (1.47%) Wireless
15 7 (1.28%) SDH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (3.30%) Power BI
2 16 (2.94%) SQL Server
3 11 (2.02%) Oracle Database
4 9 (1.65%) MySQL
5 6 (1.10%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (0.92%) MongoDB
6 5 (0.92%) Relational Database
7 4 (0.73%) GIS
8 3 (0.55%) Oracle Reports
8 3 (0.55%) SAP HANA
8 3 (0.55%) Tableau
9 2 (0.37%) Amazon RDS
9 2 (0.37%) Azure SQL Database
9 2 (0.37%) Pentaho
9 2 (0.37%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 1 (0.18%) Geospatial Data
10 1 (0.18%) Metadata
10 1 (0.18%) Oracle BI Publisher
10 1 (0.18%) Oracle Database 12c
10 1 (0.18%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 29 (5.32%) JIRA
2 17 (3.12%) Jenkins
3 16 (2.94%) GitLab
4 15 (2.75%) Git
5 6 (1.10%) Chocolatey
6 5 (0.92%) Visual Studio
7 4 (0.73%) Maven
8 3 (0.55%) CircleCI
9 2 (0.37%) JMeter
10 1 (0.18%) Bitbucket
10 1 (0.18%) Cucumber
10 1 (0.18%) Metasploit
10 1 (0.18%) Selenium
10 1 (0.18%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 255 (46.79%) Social Skills
2 111 (20.37%) Finance
3 71 (13.03%) Analytical Skills
4 49 (8.99%) Public Sector
5 36 (6.61%) Banking
6 33 (6.06%) Organisational Skills
7 32 (5.87%) Telecoms
8 24 (4.40%) Documentation Skills
9 20 (3.67%) Legal
10 18 (3.30%) Retail
11 11 (2.02%) Marketing
12 10 (1.83%) Financial Institution
12 10 (1.83%) Investment Banking
13 9 (1.65%) Billing
14 7 (1.28%) Aerospace
14 7 (1.28%) Presentation Skills
15 6 (1.10%) Law
16 5 (0.92%) Local Government
17 4 (0.73%) General Ledger
17 4 (0.73%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 81 (14.86%) IT Support
2 66 (12.11%) Analyst
3 49 (8.99%) Lead
4 40 (7.34%) Administrator
5 35 (6.42%) Senior
6 34 (6.24%) Support Engineer
7 32 (5.87%) Service Manager
8 31 (5.69%) Desktop Support
8 31 (5.69%) Technical Support
9 24 (4.40%) IT Engineer
10 22 (4.04%) Service Analyst
11 21 (3.85%) Support Analyst
12 20 (3.67%) Consultant
13 17 (3.12%) Team Leader
14 16 (2.94%) Delivery Manager
14 16 (2.94%) Developer
14 16 (2.94%) IT Administrator
15 15 (2.75%) Desktop Engineer
15 15 (2.75%) Service Delivery Manager
16 14 (2.57%) IT Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (2.39%) Oracle Fusion
2 11 (2.02%) Middleware
3 9 (1.65%) REST
4 8 (1.47%) Web Services
5 7 (1.28%) LDAP
6 6 (1.10%) CSS
7 5 (0.92%) AWS CDK
7 5 (0.92%) jQuery
7 5 (0.92%) Spring
8 4 (0.73%) 802.1X
8 4 (0.73%) AngularJS
8 4 (0.73%) Bootstrap
8 4 (0.73%) J2EE
8 4 (0.73%) Kafka
8 4 (0.73%) RESTful
8 4 (0.73%) Sass
8 4 (0.73%) Spring MVC
9 3 (0.55%) .NET
9 3 (0.55%) OAuth
9 3 (0.55%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 38 (6.97%) Onboarding
2 27 (4.95%) Management Information System
3 24 (4.40%) Data Centre
4 20 (3.67%) Self-Motivation
5 19 (3.49%) Product Ownership
6 15 (2.75%) Smartphone
7 13 (2.39%) Cloud Native
8 12 (2.20%) Driving Licence
9 10 (1.83%) CMDB
9 10 (1.83%) Data Protection Act
9 10 (1.83%) Enterprise Cloud
10 7 (1.28%) Public Cloud
11 6 (1.10%) Cyber Threat
11 6 (1.10%) Equities
12 5 (0.92%) Enterprise Software
12 5 (0.92%) IoT
13 4 (0.73%) Analytical Mindset
13 4 (0.73%) BYOD
13 4 (0.73%) PropTech
13 4 (0.73%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 98 (17.98%) Windows
2 31 (5.69%) Linux
3 27 (4.95%) Windows 10
4 18 (3.30%) Unix
5 12 (2.20%) Windows Server
6 7 (1.28%) CentOS
6 7 (1.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 6 (1.10%) Mac OS
8 5 (0.92%) Android
8 5 (0.92%) Apple iOS
9 1 (0.18%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.18%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.18%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 139 (25.50%) ITIL
2 115 (21.10%) Customer Service
3 100 (18.35%) Service Delivery
4 85 (15.60%) Time Management
5 81 (14.86%) Continuous Improvement
6 76 (13.94%) ITSM
7 66 (12.11%) Problem-Solving
8 64 (11.74%) Stakeholder Management
9 60 (11.01%) Incident Management
10 58 (10.64%) Agile
11 57 (10.46%) Change Management
11 57 (10.46%) Root Cause Analysis
12 46 (8.44%) Service Management
13 39 (7.16%) Roadmaps
14 38 (6.97%) Asset Management
14 38 (6.97%) Problem Management
15 35 (6.42%) CI/CD
16 33 (6.06%) Migration
17 32 (5.87%) Disaster Recovery
18 30 (5.50%) Incident Response
Programming Languages
1 34 (6.24%) SQL
2 33 (6.06%) Python
3 19 (3.49%) PowerShell
4 18 (3.30%) Shell Script
5 14 (2.57%) Java
6 12 (2.20%) Bash
7 7 (1.28%) JavaScript
7 7 (1.28%) MATLAB
8 6 (1.10%) PL/SQL
9 4 (0.73%) C++
10 3 (0.55%) Go
11 2 (0.37%) VB
12 1 (0.18%) Apex Code
12 1 (0.18%) Bicep
12 1 (0.18%) C#
12 1 (0.18%) Groovy
12 1 (0.18%) Korn
12 1 (0.18%) Scala
Qualifications
1 126 (23.12%) Security Cleared
2 99 (18.17%) SC Cleared
3 42 (7.71%) Degree
4 17 (3.12%) BPSS Clearance
5 14 (2.57%) DV Cleared
6 11 (2.02%) ITIL Certification
7 8 (1.47%) MOS
8 7 (1.28%) Microsoft Certification
9 6 (1.10%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 5 (0.92%) Azure Certification
10 5 (0.92%) Master's Degree
11 4 (0.73%) CISA
11 4 (0.73%) Cisco Certification
11 4 (0.73%) PMI Certification
11 4 (0.73%) RIBA
12 3 (0.55%) CCA
12 3 (0.55%) CCNP
12 3 (0.55%) MCSE
12 3 (0.55%) Numerate Degree
13 2 (0.37%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (3.49%) GDPR
2 17 (3.12%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 15 (2.75%) PMO
4 13 (2.39%) QA
5 12 (2.20%) Data Quality
6 9 (1.65%) NIST
7 7 (1.28%) GRC
8 6 (1.10%) PCI DSS
8 6 (1.10%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 4 (0.73%) COBIT
10 3 (0.55%) Cyber Essentials
11 2 (0.37%) ISO 20022
11 2 (0.37%) ISO 31000
11 2 (0.37%) ISO 8583
11 2 (0.37%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 2 (0.37%) NIST 800
11 2 (0.37%) PSD2
11 2 (0.37%) SOC 2
12 1 (0.18%) ISO 9001
12 1 (0.18%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 51 (9.36%) Active Directory
2 12 (2.20%) Docker
3 8 (1.47%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (1.47%) vSphere
4 3 (0.55%) DFS Replication
4 3 (0.55%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.37%) Firmware
5 2 (0.37%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.37%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.18%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.18%) Oracle RAC
6 1 (0.18%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.18%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 25 (4.59%) SCCM
2 20 (3.67%) Microsoft Intune
3 19 (3.49%) Terraform
4 17 (3.12%) Ansible
5 12 (2.20%) ServiceCenter
6 9 (1.65%) Grafana
6 9 (1.65%) Kubernetes
6 9 (1.65%) Single Sign-On
7 7 (1.28%) Check_MK
7 7 (1.28%) Podman
7 7 (1.28%) Red Hat Satellite
8 6 (1.10%) FortiGate
9 4 (0.73%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 4 (0.73%) Prometheus
9 4 (0.73%) TeamSite
10 2 (0.37%) HP ALM
10 2 (0.37%) HP Quality Center
10 2 (0.37%) Puppet
10 2 (0.37%) SCOM
10 2 (0.37%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 158 (28.99%) Microsoft
2 71 (13.03%) ServiceNow
3 52 (9.54%) Oracle
4 31 (5.69%) Cisco
5 30 (5.50%) HP
6 28 (5.14%) SAP
7 26 (4.77%) VMware
8 25 (4.59%) Dell
9 19 (3.49%) Apple
10 17 (3.12%) Remedy
11 14 (2.57%) Splunk
12 11 (2.02%) IBM
13 9 (1.65%) AppDynamics
13 9 (1.65%) Fortinet
13 9 (1.65%) Tenable
13 9 (1.65%) Zscaler
14 7 (1.28%) Red Hat
15 6 (1.10%) Dynatrace
16 5 (0.92%) F5
16 5 (0.92%) Palo Alto
285 SLA jobs Nationwide