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 17 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
17 Feb 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 213 201 152
Rank change year-on-year -12 -49 +25
Contract jobs citing SLA 499 405 720
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.24% 1.33% 1.61%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 7.16% 9.09% 11.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 260 216 342
10th Percentile £192 £145 £148
25th Percentile £263 £185 £200
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £250 £371
Median % change year-on-year +70.00% -32.57% +23.58%
75th Percentile £520 £500 £525
90th Percentile £588 £611 £637
UK excluding London median daily rate £365 £250 £298
% change year-on-year +46.00% -15.97% +38.37%
Number of hourly rates quoted 131 38 69
10th Percentile £16.10 £14.70 £12.46
25th Percentile £17.69 £17.73 £13.29
Median hourly rate £18.50 £23.34 £16.71
Median % change year-on-year -20.74% +39.68% -9.68%
75th Percentile £20.21 £24.18 £30.00
90th Percentile £26.11 £30.43 £37.35
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.50 £24.18 £14.16
% change year-on-year -23.49% +70.76% -21.82%

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 6,969 4,457 6,479
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.33% 14.63% 14.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,494 2,655 4,249
10th Percentile £325 £260 £300
25th Percentile £413 £375 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £600 £625 £630
90th Percentile £700 £725 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £475 £484
% change year-on-year +3.58% -1.86% +1.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 363 165 338
10th Percentile £15.25 £15.00 £12.25
25th Percentile £18.24 £20.30 £14.50
Median hourly rate £25.77 £27.35 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year -5.78% +9.40% -23.08%
75th Percentile £63.45 £65.00 £51.71
90th Percentile £69.65 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.81 £27.68 £25.00
% change year-on-year -17.58% +10.70% -14.68%

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 17 February 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 17 February 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 17 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 -26 443 £425 +70.00% 221
UK excluding London -39 349 £365 +46.00% 191
London -4 119 £475 +90.00% 70
East of England +39 111 £475 +111.11% 24
Work from Home -43 97 £475 +102.13% 71
South East -44 72 £425 +63.15% 78
North of England -68 49 £320 +28.00% 38
Midlands -68 45 £210 -7.69% 30
South West -13 41 £275 -50.00% 16
West Midlands -53 34 £210 -1.18% 19
Scotland +10 24 £360 +80.00% 12
North West -50 24 £300 +20.00% 21
Yorkshire -42 18 £365 +52.08% 15
East Midlands -34 11 £334 -4.57% 11
Northern Ireland -3 7 £500 +237.84% 1
North East -7 7 £265 - 2
Wales -1 4 £183 - 3

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 20 (4.01%) SharePoint
2 17 (3.41%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (1.00%) Confluence
4 4 (0.80%) Oracle Workflow
5 2 (0.40%) ArcGIS
5 2 (0.40%) IIS
5 2 (0.40%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.20%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 1 (0.20%) GeoServer
6 1 (0.20%) LiveCycle
6 1 (0.20%) Oracle Spatial
6 1 (0.20%) WebSphere
6 1 (0.20%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 49 (9.82%) Microsoft Excel
2 46 (9.22%) Spreadsheet
3 32 (6.41%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (1.00%) Oracle Smart View
5 3 (0.60%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 2 (0.40%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 16 (3.21%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
2 15 (3.01%) Oracle EBS
3 13 (2.61%) Remedy ITSM
4 11 (2.20%) Oracle Payables
5 9 (1.80%) Oracle Assets
5 9 (1.80%) Oracle General Ledger
6 7 (1.40%) Oracle Receivables
7 5 (1.00%) Oracle ERP
7 5 (1.00%) Oracle FAH
8 4 (0.80%) Oracle EBS R12
9 3 (0.60%) Oracle Cash Management
9 3 (0.60%) Oracle Financials
10 2 (0.40%) Dynamics GP
10 2 (0.40%) IntelliMatch
10 2 (0.40%) Oracle E-Business Tax
10 2 (0.40%) Payment Gateway
10 2 (0.40%) Temenos T24
11 1 (0.20%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
11 1 (0.20%) Veritas eDiscovery
11 1 (0.20%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 58 (11.62%) Microsoft 365
2 53 (10.62%) Azure
3 37 (7.41%) AWS
4 17 (3.41%) GCP
5 15 (3.01%) Power Platform
6 12 (2.40%) Entra ID
7 10 (2.00%) IaaS
8 9 (1.80%) PaaS
8 9 (1.80%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 8 (1.60%) OCI
10 7 (1.40%) Amazon EC2
10 7 (1.40%) Amazon S3
10 7 (1.40%) AWS CloudFormation
10 7 (1.40%) GitHub
10 7 (1.40%) SaaS
11 6 (1.20%) Azure DevOps
12 5 (1.00%) Datadog
12 5 (1.00%) GitHub Actions
12 5 (1.00%) OneDrive
12 5 (1.00%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 26 (5.21%) Firewall
2 23 (4.61%) DNS
2 23 (4.61%) WAN
3 18 (3.61%) VPN
4 17 (3.41%) DHCP
5 15 (3.01%) SD-WAN
6 13 (2.61%) PABX
7 12 (2.40%) MPLS
8 10 (2.00%) LAN
9 9 (1.80%) VLAN
10 8 (1.60%) SAN
10 8 (1.60%) TCP/IP
11 7 (1.40%) BGP
11 7 (1.40%) Cisco ASA
11 7 (1.40%) OSPF
11 7 (1.40%) Wi-Fi
11 7 (1.40%) Wireless
12 6 (1.20%) Broadband
12 6 (1.20%) Network Security
12 6 (1.20%) SDH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (2.61%) Power BI
2 11 (2.20%) SQL Server
3 9 (1.80%) Oracle Database
4 6 (1.20%) MongoDB
4 6 (1.20%) MySQL
4 6 (1.20%) PostgreSQL
5 5 (1.00%) Relational Database
6 3 (0.60%) Amazon RDS
6 3 (0.60%) GIS
6 3 (0.60%) Oracle Reports
6 3 (0.60%) SAP HANA
7 2 (0.40%) Azure SQL Database
7 2 (0.40%) Tableau
8 1 (0.20%) Geospatial Data
8 1 (0.20%) Metadata
8 1 (0.20%) Oracle BI Publisher
8 1 (0.20%) Oracle Database 12c
8 1 (0.20%) Spatial Data
8 1 (0.20%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 1 (0.20%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 19 (3.81%) JIRA
2 15 (3.01%) Git
2 15 (3.01%) Jenkins
3 14 (2.81%) GitLab
4 5 (1.00%) Visual Studio
5 3 (0.60%) Chocolatey
5 3 (0.60%) CircleCI
6 2 (0.40%) Jaeger
6 2 (0.40%) JMeter
6 2 (0.40%) PVCS
7 1 (0.20%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.20%) Maven
7 1 (0.20%) Metasploit
7 1 (0.20%) Selenium
7 1 (0.20%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 235 (47.09%) Social Skills
2 98 (19.64%) Finance
3 67 (13.43%) Analytical Skills
4 56 (11.22%) Public Sector
5 36 (7.21%) Organisational Skills
6 31 (6.21%) Telecoms
7 28 (5.61%) Banking
8 21 (4.21%) Documentation Skills
9 19 (3.81%) Legal
10 13 (2.61%) Retail
11 8 (1.60%) Billing
11 8 (1.60%) Marketing
12 7 (1.40%) Aerospace
12 7 (1.40%) Investment Banking
13 6 (1.20%) Financial Institution
13 6 (1.20%) Law
14 5 (1.00%) General Ledger
15 4 (0.80%) Influencing Skills
15 4 (0.80%) Presentation Skills
16 3 (0.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 81 (16.23%) IT Support
2 64 (12.83%) Analyst
3 51 (10.22%) Lead
4 38 (7.62%) Administrator
5 35 (7.01%) Desktop Support
6 34 (6.81%) Technical Support
7 31 (6.21%) Support Engineer
8 25 (5.01%) Senior
8 25 (5.01%) Service Manager
9 24 (4.81%) Support Analyst
10 23 (4.61%) Service Analyst
11 21 (4.21%) Team Leader
12 20 (4.01%) Consultant
13 17 (3.41%) IT Administrator
14 16 (3.21%) Desktop Engineer
15 15 (3.01%) Developer
15 15 (3.01%) IT Engineer
16 14 (2.81%) Service Desk Analyst
17 13 (2.61%) Desktop Support Engineer
18 12 (2.40%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (2.20%) Middleware
2 10 (2.00%) Oracle Fusion
3 7 (1.40%) LDAP
3 7 (1.40%) REST
4 5 (1.00%) Kafka
4 5 (1.00%) Web Services
5 4 (0.80%) 802.1X
6 3 (0.60%) .NET
6 3 (0.60%) AWS CDK
6 3 (0.60%) CSS
6 3 (0.60%) OAuth
6 3 (0.60%) RESTful
6 3 (0.60%) SAML
7 2 (0.40%) .NET Framework
7 2 (0.40%) ADO
7 2 (0.40%) jQuery
7 2 (0.40%) Node.js
7 2 (0.40%) OpenID
7 2 (0.40%) SOAP
7 2 (0.40%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 31 (6.21%) Onboarding
2 26 (5.21%) Management Information System
3 20 (4.01%) Data Centre
4 18 (3.61%) Self-Motivation
5 15 (3.01%) Smartphone
6 14 (2.81%) Driving Licence
7 13 (2.61%) Product Ownership
8 9 (1.80%) Cloud Native
9 8 (1.60%) Enterprise Cloud
10 7 (1.40%) CMDB
11 6 (1.20%) Public Cloud
12 5 (1.00%) Data Protection Act
12 5 (1.00%) Enterprise Software
12 5 (1.00%) Equities
12 5 (1.00%) Mobile App
12 5 (1.00%) NHS
13 4 (0.80%) Clustering
13 4 (0.80%) Derivative
13 4 (0.80%) Equity Derivative
13 4 (0.80%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 95 (19.04%) Windows
2 32 (6.41%) Windows 10
3 30 (6.01%) Linux
4 19 (3.81%) Unix
5 12 (2.40%) Android
5 12 (2.40%) Apple iOS
5 12 (2.40%) Windows Server
6 7 (1.40%) CentOS
6 7 (1.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 6 (1.20%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.40%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.20%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.20%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.20%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 135 (27.05%) ITIL
2 119 (23.85%) Customer Service
3 93 (18.64%) Service Delivery
4 83 (16.63%) Time Management
5 69 (13.83%) Continuous Improvement
6 65 (13.03%) ITSM
7 61 (12.22%) Incident Management
7 61 (12.22%) Problem-Solving
8 51 (10.22%) Stakeholder Management
9 47 (9.42%) Service Management
10 43 (8.62%) Change Management
11 42 (8.42%) Root Cause Analysis
12 41 (8.22%) Agile
13 35 (7.01%) Asset Management
14 30 (6.01%) Problem Management
15 29 (5.81%) Roadmaps
16 28 (5.61%) Customer Experience
16 28 (5.61%) Disaster Recovery
17 26 (5.21%) CI/CD
17 26 (5.21%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 33 (6.61%) SQL
2 28 (5.61%) Python
3 20 (4.01%) Shell Script
4 17 (3.41%) PowerShell
5 14 (2.81%) Java
6 9 (1.80%) Bash
7 7 (1.40%) MATLAB
8 6 (1.20%) PL/SQL
9 4 (0.80%) C++
9 4 (0.80%) JavaScript
10 3 (0.60%) Go
11 2 (0.40%) Kusto Query Language
11 2 (0.40%) VB
12 1 (0.20%) Apex Code
12 1 (0.20%) Bicep
12 1 (0.20%) C#
12 1 (0.20%) Groovy
12 1 (0.20%) Scala
Qualifications
1 129 (25.85%) Security Cleared
2 102 (20.44%) SC Cleared
3 34 (6.81%) Degree
4 15 (3.01%) BPSS Clearance
5 11 (2.20%) DV Cleared
5 11 (2.20%) MOS
6 10 (2.00%) ITIL Certification
7 9 (1.80%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 5 (1.00%) Master's Degree
8 5 (1.00%) Microsoft Certification
9 4 (0.80%) CISA
9 4 (0.80%) DBS Check
10 3 (0.60%) Azure Certification
10 3 (0.60%) CCA
10 3 (0.60%) Numerate Degree
10 3 (0.60%) PMI Certification
11 2 (0.40%) CRISC
11 2 (0.40%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
11 2 (0.40%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 2 (0.40%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (4.01%) GDPR
2 17 (3.41%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 11 (2.20%) Data Quality
3 11 (2.20%) QA
4 10 (2.00%) PMO
5 7 (1.40%) PCI DSS
5 7 (1.40%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 6 (1.20%) NIST
7 5 (1.00%) COBIT
7 5 (1.00%) GRC
8 3 (0.60%) Cyber Essentials
9 2 (0.40%) ISO 20022
9 2 (0.40%) ISO 31000
9 2 (0.40%) ISO 8583
9 2 (0.40%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 2 (0.40%) NIST 800
9 2 (0.40%) PSD2
9 2 (0.40%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.20%) ISO 9001
10 1 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 48 (9.62%) Active Directory
2 9 (1.80%) Docker
2 9 (1.80%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (1.20%) vSphere
4 4 (0.80%) Hyper-V
5 3 (0.60%) DFS Replication
5 3 (0.60%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.40%) Firmware
6 2 (0.40%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.20%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.20%) Oracle RAC
7 1 (0.20%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 18 (3.61%) SCCM
2 17 (3.41%) Ansible
3 15 (3.01%) Microsoft Intune
3 15 (3.01%) Terraform
4 12 (2.40%) Kubernetes
5 10 (2.00%) ServiceCenter
6 9 (1.80%) Grafana
6 9 (1.80%) Single Sign-On
7 7 (1.40%) Check_MK
7 7 (1.40%) Podman
7 7 (1.40%) Red Hat Satellite
8 4 (0.80%) Prometheus
8 4 (0.80%) SCOM
8 4 (0.80%) TeamSite
9 3 (0.60%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 3 (0.60%) FortiGate
9 3 (0.60%) WSUS
10 2 (0.40%) Microsoft Clustering
10 2 (0.40%) NetApp OnCommand
10 2 (0.40%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 146 (29.26%) Microsoft
2 57 (11.42%) ServiceNow
3 49 (9.82%) Oracle
4 28 (5.61%) HP
4 28 (5.61%) SAP
5 25 (5.01%) Cisco
6 24 (4.81%) Dell
7 23 (4.61%) VMware
8 19 (3.81%) Apple
9 18 (3.61%) Remedy
10 10 (2.00%) IBM
10 10 (2.00%) Splunk
11 7 (1.40%) Red Hat
12 6 (1.20%) AppDynamics
12 6 (1.20%) Fortinet
12 6 (1.20%) Tenable
12 6 (1.20%) Workday
13 5 (1.00%) BMC
13 5 (1.00%) Nokia
13 5 (1.00%) Trend Micro
247 SLA jobs Nationwide