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 30 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
30 Apr 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 218 196 137
Rank change year-on-year -22 -59 +45
Contract jobs citing SLA 539 403 759
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.14% 1.38% 1.74%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 6.75% 8.83% 12.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 280 241 354
10th Percentile £200 £150 £150
25th Percentile £306 £200 £202
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £250 £330
Median % change year-on-year +80.00% -24.24% +10.92%
75th Percentile £525 £506 £484
90th Percentile £603 £613 £582
UK excluding London median daily rate £438 £235 £285
% change year-on-year +86.17% -17.54% +15.85%
Number of hourly rates quoted 119 38 96
10th Percentile £16.21 £14.70 £11.07
25th Percentile £17.69 £18.20 £12.84
Median hourly rate £18.50 £22.27 £14.75
Median % change year-on-year -16.93% +50.98% -20.27%
75th Percentile £20.35 £24.66 £23.80
90th Percentile £34.95 £30.43 £32.63
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.50 £22.14 £14.00
% change year-on-year -16.44% +58.14% -24.32%

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 7,985 4,564 6,263
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 16.92% 15.62% 14.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,169 2,925 3,956
10th Percentile £333 £264 £296
25th Percentile £413 £400 £403
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £510
Median % change year-on-year - -1.96% -2.86%
75th Percentile £600 £623 £625
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% +2.63%
Number of hourly rates quoted 463 179 385
10th Percentile £14.00 £18.04 £10.95
25th Percentile £18.50 £22.21 £13.18
Median hourly rate £33.12 £34.50 £21.12
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% +63.39% -44.07%
75th Percentile £67.25 £65.00 £45.00
90th Percentile £81.00 £83.01 £67.38
UK excluding London median hourly rate £36.00 £40.78 £18.00
% change year-on-year -11.71% +126.53% -52.00%

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 30 April 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 30 April 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 30 April 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 -36 481 £450 +80.00% 187
UK excluding London -56 342 £438 +86.17% 176
London +5 172 £486 +21.50% 39
Work from Home -24 116 £475 +102.13% 81
East of England +30 98 £485 +115.56% 32
North of England -55 75 £400 +86.05% 28
South East -68 72 £438 +75.00% 58
North West -33 41 £450 +109.30% 18
Midlands -84 41 £293 +24.68% 30
Scotland +15 31 £447 +132.81% 6
West Midlands -75 31 £293 +24.68% 18
Yorkshire -48 27 £365 +16.80% 8
South West -48 21 £463 -15.91% 12
East Midlands -30 9 £329 +9.50% 12
North East - 7 £270 - 3
Wales -11 5 - - 8
Northern Ireland +3 3 £338 +128.04% 6

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 16 (2.97%) SharePoint
2 15 (2.78%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (1.48%) Confluence
4 5 (0.93%) OpenStack
4 5 (0.93%) Oracle Workflow
5 4 (0.74%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 4 (0.74%) IIS
6 3 (0.56%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.56%) SAS
7 2 (0.37%) ArcGIS
8 1 (0.19%) Apache
8 1 (0.19%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.19%) LiveCycle
8 1 (0.19%) Smallworld
8 1 (0.19%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.19%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 48 (8.91%) Microsoft Excel
2 40 (7.42%) Spreadsheet
3 35 (6.49%) Microsoft Office
4 6 (1.11%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.93%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 1 (0.19%) Autodesk Inventor
6 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.19%) MicroStation
6 1 (0.19%) Oracle Smart View
Business Applications
1 14 (2.60%) Remedy ITSM
2 11 (2.04%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 10 (1.86%) Oracle Payables
4 8 (1.48%) Oracle Assets
5 6 (1.11%) Oracle ERP
6 5 (0.93%) Oracle EBS
6 5 (0.93%) Oracle Receivables
7 4 (0.74%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
8 3 (0.56%) Oracle General Ledger
9 2 (0.37%) Dynamics CRM
9 2 (0.37%) IntelliMatch
9 2 (0.37%) Oracle Applications
9 2 (0.37%) Oracle E-Business Tax
9 2 (0.37%) Oracle Financials
9 2 (0.37%) Payment Gateway
9 2 (0.37%) Temenos T24
10 1 (0.19%) OpenText VIM for SAP
10 1 (0.19%) Oracle FAH
10 1 (0.19%) SAP S/4HANA
10 1 (0.19%) Veritas eDiscovery
Cloud Services
1 65 (12.06%) Azure
2 53 (9.83%) AWS
3 51 (9.46%) Microsoft 365
4 21 (3.90%) Power Platform
5 18 (3.34%) GCP
6 16 (2.97%) IaaS
7 15 (2.78%) PaaS
8 14 (2.60%) Amazon S3
8 14 (2.60%) SaaS
9 12 (2.23%) OCI
10 11 (2.04%) Datadog
10 11 (2.04%) Entra ID
10 11 (2.04%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 10 (1.86%) Amazon EC2
11 10 (1.86%) AWS CloudFormation
12 9 (1.67%) Azure DevOps
12 9 (1.67%) Snowflake
13 7 (1.30%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 6 (1.11%) GitHub
14 6 (1.11%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 33 (6.12%) Firewall
2 30 (5.57%) DNS
3 26 (4.82%) WAN
4 23 (4.27%) VPN
5 22 (4.08%) DHCP
6 19 (3.53%) SD-WAN
7 16 (2.97%) SAN
8 14 (2.60%) LAN
8 14 (2.60%) Network Security
8 14 (2.60%) Wi-Fi
9 12 (2.23%) Cisco ASA
10 11 (2.04%) TCP/IP
10 11 (2.04%) VLAN
11 10 (1.86%) BGP
11 10 (1.86%) OSPF
12 9 (1.67%) MPLS
13 7 (1.30%) Broadband
13 7 (1.30%) Cisco IOS
13 7 (1.30%) Wireless
14 6 (1.11%) Radio Access Network
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (3.34%) Power BI
2 15 (2.78%) SQL Server
3 9 (1.67%) PostgreSQL
4 8 (1.48%) Oracle Reports
5 7 (1.30%) Oracle Database
6 6 (1.11%) MySQL
7 5 (0.93%) Relational Database
7 5 (0.93%) Tableau
8 4 (0.74%) MongoDB
9 3 (0.56%) Amazon Athena
9 3 (0.56%) GIS
9 3 (0.56%) Pentaho
9 3 (0.56%) SAP HANA
10 2 (0.37%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 1 (0.19%) Amazon RDS
11 1 (0.19%) Apache Iceberg
11 1 (0.19%) Metadata
11 1 (0.19%) Oracle BI Publisher
11 1 (0.19%) Parquet
11 1 (0.19%) Spark SQL
Development Applications
1 36 (6.68%) JIRA
2 18 (3.34%) GitLab
3 17 (3.15%) Jenkins
4 16 (2.97%) Git
5 7 (1.30%) Chocolatey
6 4 (0.74%) Maven
6 4 (0.74%) Visual Studio
7 3 (0.56%) CircleCI
8 2 (0.37%) JMeter
8 2 (0.37%) Toad
9 1 (0.19%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.19%) Cucumber
9 1 (0.19%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 1 (0.19%) WiX
General
1 242 (44.90%) Social Skills
2 103 (19.11%) Finance
3 82 (15.21%) Analytical Skills
4 40 (7.42%) Public Sector
5 37 (6.86%) Banking
6 32 (5.94%) Organisational Skills
7 26 (4.82%) Telecoms
8 23 (4.27%) Documentation Skills
9 20 (3.71%) Legal
10 19 (3.53%) Retail
11 10 (1.86%) Aerospace
11 10 (1.86%) Financial Institution
12 9 (1.67%) Billing
13 8 (1.48%) Investment Banking
14 7 (1.30%) Influencing Skills
15 6 (1.11%) Local Government
15 6 (1.11%) Presentation Skills
16 5 (0.93%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 5 (0.93%) Manufacturing
16 5 (0.93%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 68 (12.62%) IT Support
2 66 (12.24%) Analyst
3 43 (7.98%) Administrator
4 41 (7.61%) Lead
5 39 (7.24%) Senior
6 35 (6.49%) Service Manager
7 28 (5.19%) Service Analyst
8 27 (5.01%) Support Engineer
9 26 (4.82%) Technical Support
10 23 (4.27%) IT Engineer
11 21 (3.90%) Desktop Support
12 20 (3.71%) Consultant
13 18 (3.34%) Delivery Manager
14 17 (3.15%) Service Delivery Manager
15 15 (2.78%) Service Desk Analyst
16 13 (2.41%) Architect
16 13 (2.41%) Network Engineer
17 12 (2.23%) Azure Engineer
17 12 (2.23%) IT Administrator
18 11 (2.04%) AWS Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (2.60%) Oracle Fusion
2 12 (2.23%) Middleware
3 9 (1.67%) LDAP
3 9 (1.67%) REST
4 7 (1.30%) Web Services
5 5 (0.93%) AWS CDK
5 5 (0.93%) Spring
6 4 (0.74%) .NET
6 4 (0.74%) 802.1X
6 4 (0.74%) AngularJS
6 4 (0.74%) Bootstrap
6 4 (0.74%) CSS
6 4 (0.74%) J2EE
6 4 (0.74%) jQuery
6 4 (0.74%) Kafka
6 4 (0.74%) Sass
6 4 (0.74%) Spring MVC
7 3 (0.56%) ADO
7 3 (0.56%) Software Packaging
8 2 (0.37%) ARM Templates
Miscellaneous
1 34 (6.31%) Onboarding
2 27 (5.01%) Data Centre
3 23 (4.27%) Management Information System
4 21 (3.90%) Product Ownership
5 13 (2.41%) Cloud Native
6 12 (2.23%) Self-Motivation
7 10 (1.86%) CMDB
8 9 (1.67%) Data Protection Act
9 7 (1.30%) Cyber Threat
9 7 (1.30%) Driving Licence
9 7 (1.30%) Enterprise Cloud
10 6 (1.11%) Distributed Systems
10 6 (1.11%) Enterprise Software
10 6 (1.11%) Equities
10 6 (1.11%) Public Cloud
10 6 (1.11%) Security Posture
11 5 (0.93%) BYOD
11 5 (0.93%) IoT
11 5 (0.93%) PKI
11 5 (0.93%) PMI
Operating Systems
1 89 (16.51%) Windows
2 40 (7.42%) Linux
3 29 (5.38%) Windows 10
4 20 (3.71%) Unix
5 15 (2.78%) Windows Server
6 10 (1.86%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 9 (1.67%) CentOS
8 4 (0.74%) Android
8 4 (0.74%) Mac OS
9 3 (0.56%) Apple iOS
9 3 (0.56%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.37%) Windows 7
10 2 (0.37%) Windows Server 2019
11 1 (0.19%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.19%) Solaris
11 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.19%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 149 (27.64%) ITIL
2 89 (16.51%) Customer Service
2 89 (16.51%) Service Delivery
3 87 (16.14%) ITSM
4 84 (15.58%) Continuous Improvement
5 81 (15.03%) Stakeholder Management
6 75 (13.91%) Problem-Solving
7 71 (13.17%) Time Management
8 68 (12.62%) Root Cause Analysis
9 66 (12.24%) Change Management
10 65 (12.06%) Agile
11 64 (11.87%) Incident Management
12 61 (11.32%) Service Management
13 47 (8.72%) Problem Management
14 44 (8.16%) Roadmaps
15 39 (7.24%) Migration
16 37 (6.86%) Asset Management
16 37 (6.86%) CI/CD
17 33 (6.12%) DevOps
17 33 (6.12%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 39 (7.24%) SQL
2 35 (6.49%) Python
3 18 (3.34%) Shell Script
4 17 (3.15%) PowerShell
5 15 (2.78%) Bash
6 13 (2.41%) Java
7 9 (1.67%) MATLAB
8 5 (0.93%) JavaScript
9 4 (0.74%) PL/SQL
10 3 (0.56%) C++
10 3 (0.56%) Go
11 2 (0.37%) Scala
11 2 (0.37%) VB
12 1 (0.19%) Apex Code
12 1 (0.19%) Bicep
12 1 (0.19%) Groovy
12 1 (0.19%) Korn
Qualifications
1 116 (21.52%) Security Cleared
2 90 (16.70%) SC Cleared
3 51 (9.46%) Degree
4 20 (3.71%) DV Cleared
5 17 (3.15%) BPSS Clearance
6 14 (2.60%) ITIL Certification
7 11 (2.04%) Cisco Certification
8 9 (1.67%) Microsoft Certification
9 7 (1.30%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 6 (1.11%) CCNP
10 6 (1.11%) Master's Degree
10 6 (1.11%) PMI Certification
11 4 (0.74%) CCNA
11 4 (0.74%) CISA
11 4 (0.74%) MBA
11 4 (0.74%) RIBA
12 3 (0.56%) Azure Certification
12 3 (0.56%) CRISC
12 3 (0.56%) DBS Check
12 3 (0.56%) Numerate Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (2.97%) Data Quality
2 14 (2.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 14 (2.60%) PMO
3 13 (2.41%) QA
4 10 (1.86%) GRC
5 9 (1.67%) GDPR
5 9 (1.67%) NIST
6 6 (1.11%) PCI DSS
7 4 (0.74%) COBIT
7 4 (0.74%) Cyber Essentials
8 3 (0.56%) ISO 20022
8 3 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 3 (0.56%) JSP 440
8 3 (0.56%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 2 (0.37%) ISO 31000
9 2 (0.37%) ISO 8583
9 2 (0.37%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.19%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.19%) ISO/IEC 42001
10 1 (0.19%) NIST 800
System Software
1 63 (11.69%) Active Directory
2 18 (3.34%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (2.04%) Docker
3 11 (2.04%) VMware ESXi
4 8 (1.48%) vSphere
5 5 (0.93%) Hyper-V
6 3 (0.56%) DFS Replication
6 3 (0.56%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.19%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.19%) Ceph
7 1 (0.19%) Firmware
7 1 (0.19%) Oracle RAC
7 1 (0.19%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.19%) Virtual Servers
7 1 (0.19%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 25 (4.64%) SCCM
2 21 (3.90%) Ansible
3 20 (3.71%) Microsoft Intune
3 20 (3.71%) Terraform
4 13 (2.41%) Kubernetes
5 12 (2.23%) Grafana
5 12 (2.23%) ServiceCenter
6 9 (1.67%) Check_MK
6 9 (1.67%) Podman
6 9 (1.67%) Red Hat Satellite
6 9 (1.67%) vCenter Server
7 8 (1.48%) Single Sign-On
8 6 (1.11%) FortiGate
9 4 (0.74%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 4 (0.74%) Prometheus
9 4 (0.74%) TeamSite
10 3 (0.56%) Oracle Identity Management
10 3 (0.56%) Oracle Identity Manager
11 2 (0.37%) HP Quality Center
11 2 (0.37%) SCOM
Vendors
1 161 (29.87%) Microsoft
2 79 (14.66%) ServiceNow
3 50 (9.28%) Oracle
4 36 (6.68%) VMware
5 34 (6.31%) Cisco
6 32 (5.94%) HP
7 25 (4.64%) Dell
8 23 (4.27%) SAP
9 20 (3.71%) Apple
10 19 (3.53%) Remedy
11 15 (2.78%) Splunk
12 11 (2.04%) Fortinet
12 11 (2.04%) IBM
12 11 (2.04%) Tenable
13 10 (1.86%) AppDynamics
13 10 (1.86%) Red Hat
14 9 (1.67%) Zscaler
15 7 (1.30%) Dynatrace
15 7 (1.30%) Juniper
16 6 (1.11%) Ericsson
210 SLA jobs Nationwide