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 3 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
3 Aug 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 238 200 164
Rank change year-on-year -38 -36 +20
Contract jobs citing SLA 575 472 571
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.08% 1.43% 1.46%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 6.31% 8.45% 10.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 331 273 276
10th Percentile £200 £198 £156
25th Percentile £263 £220 £200
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £440 £375 £340
Median % change year-on-year +17.33% +10.29% -2.86%
75th Percentile £519 £544 £495
90th Percentile £600 £613 £588
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £325 £275
% change year-on-year +30.77% +18.18% -4.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 74 65 80
10th Percentile £13.45 £16.02 £11.79
25th Percentile £17.50 £17.48 £13.14
Median hourly rate £18.79 £22.14 £16.56
Median % change year-on-year -15.13% +33.74% -11.54%
75th Percentile £21.81 £25.15 £24.05
90th Percentile £27.23 £33.75 £30.11
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.50 £22.14 £14.70
% change year-on-year -16.44% +50.61% -19.34%

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 9,114 5,588 5,316
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.15% 16.88% 13.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,834 3,602 3,293
10th Percentile £331 £281 £292
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £505
Median % change year-on-year - -0.99% -3.81%
75th Percentile £600 £606 £625
90th Percentile £700 £713 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £475 £475
% change year-on-year +4.21% - -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 562 252 326
10th Percentile £14.00 £13.60 £11.26
25th Percentile £19.33 £17.43 £14.49
Median hourly rate £38.86 £26.93 £25.77
Median % change year-on-year +44.33% +4.50% -34.79%
75th Percentile £70.00 £60.00 £55.00
90th Percentile £81.71 £83.37 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £39.50 £24.83 £25.30
% change year-on-year +59.08% -1.86% -28.73%

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 3 August 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 3 August 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 3 August 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 -66 478 £450 +15.38% 288
UK excluding London -74 347 £425 +30.77% 222
London -12 197 £450 +7.14% 103
Work from Home -13 132 £475 +18.75% 95
South East -83 82 £463 +54.17% 85
North of England -55 79 £418 +45.09% 41
Scotland +42 61 £358 +5.29% 12
Midlands -60 55 £269 -28.33% 28
North West -30 46 £435 +33.85% 23
West Midlands -71 46 £269 -31.09% 16
East of England +2 37 £505 +124.44% 31
Yorkshire -52 30 £438 +74.65% 12
South West -49 27 £400 +35.59% 20
Wales -11 11 £525 +100.00% 7
East Midlands -16 8 £363 +174.62% 12
North East -36 3 £228 - 6
Northern Ireland +3 1 £175 - 7

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 35 (6.09%) SharePoint
2 21 (3.65%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (1.39%) Confluence
4 7 (1.22%) OpenStack
5 5 (0.87%) IIS
5 5 (0.87%) SAS
6 4 (0.70%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 3 (0.52%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.35%) Anypoint
8 2 (0.35%) Apache
8 2 (0.35%) ArcGIS
8 2 (0.35%) Exchange Server 2010
8 2 (0.35%) Mule
9 1 (0.17%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.17%) Exchange Server 2013
9 1 (0.17%) JBoss
9 1 (0.17%) LiveCycle
9 1 (0.17%) Oracle Workflow
9 1 (0.17%) Skype for Business
9 1 (0.17%) Smallworld
Applications
1 54 (9.39%) Microsoft Office
2 35 (6.09%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (1.22%) Spreadsheet
4 6 (1.04%) MS Visio
5 4 (0.70%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 2 (0.35%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.17%) Autodesk Inventor
7 1 (0.17%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.17%) MicroStation
7 1 (0.17%) Oracle Smart View
Business Applications
1 17 (2.96%) Remedy ITSM
2 8 (1.39%) ContrOCC
3 5 (0.87%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.87%) Oracle Applications
3 5 (0.87%) Oracle Assets
3 5 (0.87%) Oracle Payables
3 5 (0.87%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 4 (0.70%) Oracle General Ledger
4 4 (0.70%) Oracle Receivables
4 4 (0.70%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 3 (0.52%) Oracle Cash Management
6 2 (0.35%) Dynamics GP
6 2 (0.35%) IntelliMatch
6 2 (0.35%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.35%) Oracle ERP
6 2 (0.35%) Payment Gateway
7 1 (0.17%) Actimize
7 1 (0.17%) Oracle EBS R12
7 1 (0.17%) Oracle Financials
7 1 (0.17%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 104 (18.09%) Azure
1 104 (18.09%) Microsoft 365
2 50 (8.70%) Entra ID
3 49 (8.52%) AWS
4 25 (4.35%) Power Platform
5 20 (3.48%) OneDrive
6 17 (2.96%) Datadog
7 16 (2.78%) SaaS
8 15 (2.61%) Azure DevOps
9 13 (2.26%) Amazon S3
10 12 (2.09%) IaaS
10 12 (2.09%) OCI
10 12 (2.09%) PaaS
10 12 (2.09%) Snowflake
11 10 (1.74%) Amazon EC2
11 10 (1.74%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 9 (1.57%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 9 (1.57%) Azure Sentinel
13 7 (1.22%) AWS CloudFormation
14 6 (1.04%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 37 (6.43%) DNS
2 34 (5.91%) VPN
3 31 (5.39%) DHCP
4 27 (4.70%) LAN
5 26 (4.52%) WAN
6 24 (4.17%) Wi-Fi
7 23 (4.00%) Firewall
8 19 (3.30%) Network Security
8 19 (3.30%) TCP/IP
9 16 (2.78%) SAN
10 12 (2.09%) SDH
10 12 (2.09%) VLAN
11 10 (1.74%) Cisco IOS
11 10 (1.74%) MPLS
12 8 (1.39%) Cisco ASA
12 8 (1.39%) Radio Access Network
12 8 (1.39%) Wireless
13 7 (1.22%) LTE
13 7 (1.22%) Skype
13 7 (1.22%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (4.17%) SQL Server
2 20 (3.48%) Power BI
3 10 (1.74%) Tableau
4 8 (1.39%) Oracle Reports
5 6 (1.04%) MySQL
5 6 (1.04%) Oracle Database
6 5 (0.87%) Pentaho
6 5 (0.87%) PostgreSQL
7 4 (0.70%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (0.70%) Relational Database
8 3 (0.52%) Amazon Athena
8 3 (0.52%) Big Data
8 3 (0.52%) Data Lake
9 2 (0.35%) Db2
9 2 (0.35%) GIS
9 2 (0.35%) Oracle Database 10g
9 2 (0.35%) Oracle Database 11g
9 2 (0.35%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 1 (0.17%) Data Warehouse
10 1 (0.17%) Hadoop
Development Applications
1 45 (7.83%) JIRA
2 10 (1.74%) GitLab
3 9 (1.57%) Chocolatey
4 8 (1.39%) Jenkins
5 6 (1.04%) Git
6 4 (0.70%) Maven
7 3 (0.52%) Visual Studio
8 2 (0.35%) Artifactory
8 2 (0.35%) Toad
9 1 (0.17%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.17%) JMeter
9 1 (0.17%) WiX
General
1 245 (42.61%) Social Skills
2 113 (19.65%) Finance
3 105 (18.26%) Analytical Skills
4 41 (7.13%) Public Sector
5 33 (5.74%) Banking
6 27 (4.70%) Organisational Skills
7 26 (4.52%) Telecoms
8 21 (3.65%) Documentation Skills
9 19 (3.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 19 (3.30%) Legal
10 14 (2.43%) Local Government
10 14 (2.43%) Retail
11 10 (1.74%) Billing
12 9 (1.57%) Influencing Skills
12 9 (1.57%) Manufacturing
13 8 (1.39%) Financial Institution
14 6 (1.04%) Aerospace
14 6 (1.04%) Marketing
15 4 (0.70%) French Language
16 3 (0.52%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 78 (13.57%) Analyst
2 51 (8.87%) Support Engineer
3 45 (7.83%) Senior
4 41 (7.13%) IT Support
5 34 (5.91%) Lead
5 34 (5.91%) Service Manager
6 29 (5.04%) IT Engineer
7 28 (4.87%) Service Analyst
8 23 (4.00%) Desktop Support
9 22 (3.83%) Consultant
9 22 (3.83%) Network Engineer
10 21 (3.65%) Delivery Manager
10 21 (3.65%) Field Engineer
11 19 (3.30%) Service Desk Analyst
12 18 (3.13%) Administrator
12 18 (3.13%) Desktop Engineer
12 18 (3.13%) IT Support Engineer
12 18 (3.13%) Service Delivery Manager
13 17 (2.96%) Applications Support
13 17 (2.96%) Azure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (2.09%) .NET
2 11 (1.91%) REST
3 9 (1.57%) Oracle Fusion
4 8 (1.39%) LDAP
5 6 (1.04%) Web Services
5 6 (1.04%) XML
6 5 (0.87%) AWS CDK
6 5 (0.87%) Jakarta EE
6 5 (0.87%) Middleware
6 5 (0.87%) Software Packaging
7 4 (0.70%) .NET Framework
7 4 (0.70%) AngularJS
7 4 (0.70%) Bootstrap
7 4 (0.70%) CSS
7 4 (0.70%) jQuery
7 4 (0.70%) Sass
7 4 (0.70%) SOAP
7 4 (0.70%) Spring
7 4 (0.70%) Spring MVC
8 3 (0.52%) Java RMI
Miscellaneous
1 62 (10.78%) Onboarding
2 32 (5.57%) Data Centre
3 22 (3.83%) CMDB
4 17 (2.96%) Enterprise Software
5 14 (2.43%) PKI
6 13 (2.26%) Smartphone
7 12 (2.09%) Cyber Threat
8 10 (1.74%) Driving Licence
8 10 (1.74%) Product Ownership
8 10 (1.74%) Virtual Team
9 8 (1.39%) BYOD
9 8 (1.39%) Cloud Native
9 8 (1.39%) Data Protection Act
9 8 (1.39%) iPhone
9 8 (1.39%) Self-Motivation
10 7 (1.22%) Video Conferencing
11 6 (1.04%) Analytical Mindset
11 6 (1.04%) Fat Client
11 6 (1.04%) Fibre Optics
11 6 (1.04%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 153 (26.61%) Windows
2 56 (9.74%) Windows 10
3 35 (6.09%) Windows Server
4 30 (5.22%) Linux
5 26 (4.52%) Android
6 15 (2.61%) Unix
7 10 (1.74%) Windows 7
8 9 (1.57%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 8 (1.39%) Mac OS
10 5 (0.87%) Windows Server 2012
11 4 (0.70%) Apple iOS
11 4 (0.70%) CentOS
12 3 (0.52%) Windows Server 2019
12 3 (0.52%) Windows XP
13 1 (0.17%) OpenVMS
13 1 (0.17%) Ubuntu
13 1 (0.17%) VMS
13 1 (0.17%) Windows Server 2003
13 1 (0.17%) Windows Server 2008
13 1 (0.17%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 209 (36.35%) ITIL
2 131 (22.78%) ITSM
3 125 (21.74%) Continuous Improvement
4 121 (21.04%) Problem-Solving
5 117 (20.35%) Customer Service
6 106 (18.43%) Service Management
6 106 (18.43%) Stakeholder Management
7 96 (16.70%) Change Management
7 96 (16.70%) Service Delivery
8 69 (12.00%) Agile
9 67 (11.65%) Root Cause Analysis
10 58 (10.09%) Incident Management
11 53 (9.22%) Problem Management
12 49 (8.52%) Migration
13 46 (8.00%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 40 (6.96%) Asset Management
14 40 (6.96%) Validation
15 37 (6.43%) Project Management
16 35 (6.09%) Project Delivery
16 35 (6.09%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 47 (8.17%) SQL
2 36 (6.26%) PowerShell
3 34 (5.91%) Python
4 16 (2.78%) Bash
5 8 (1.39%) JavaScript
6 7 (1.22%) Java
6 7 (1.22%) PL/SQL
7 5 (0.87%) C#
7 5 (0.87%) Shell Script
8 4 (0.70%) Bicep
8 4 (0.70%) MATLAB
9 2 (0.35%) DataWeave
9 2 (0.35%) Korn
9 2 (0.35%) Scala
9 2 (0.35%) X++
10 1 (0.17%) ActionScript 2.0
10 1 (0.17%) Apex Code
10 1 (0.17%) Perl
10 1 (0.17%) VB
10 1 (0.17%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 140 (24.35%) Security Cleared
2 108 (18.78%) SC Cleared
3 53 (9.22%) Degree
4 24 (4.17%) DV Cleared
5 19 (3.30%) ITIL Certification
5 19 (3.30%) Microsoft Certification
6 16 (2.78%) BPSS Clearance
6 16 (2.78%) Cisco Certification
7 15 (2.61%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 10 (1.74%) CCNP
9 9 (1.57%) PMI Certification
10 8 (1.39%) A+ Certification
10 8 (1.39%) Azure Certification
10 8 (1.39%) MCSE
11 7 (1.22%) CCNA
11 7 (1.22%) Computer Science Degree
12 6 (1.04%) CCSE
12 6 (1.04%) CISSP
12 6 (1.04%) DBS Check
13 5 (0.87%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (2.78%) Data Quality
2 15 (2.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 12 (2.09%) NIST
3 12 (2.09%) PMO
4 11 (1.91%) QA
5 9 (1.57%) GRC
6 7 (1.22%) COBIT
6 7 (1.22%) Cyber Essentials
6 7 (1.22%) GDPR
6 7 (1.22%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 5 (0.87%) ISO 9001
7 5 (0.87%) PCI DSS
8 4 (0.70%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 3 (0.52%) ISO 20022
9 3 (0.52%) JSP 440
10 2 (0.35%) ISO 31000
10 2 (0.35%) ISO 8583
10 2 (0.35%) SOC 2
11 1 (0.17%) Disclosure Scotland
11 1 (0.17%) NCSC
System Software
1 109 (18.96%) Active Directory
2 25 (4.35%) VMware Infrastructure
3 16 (2.78%) Virtual Desktop
4 15 (2.61%) VMware ESXi
5 7 (1.22%) Hyper-V
6 6 (1.04%) Docker
6 6 (1.04%) vSphere
7 4 (0.70%) Firmware
7 4 (0.70%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.35%) ACF2
8 2 (0.35%) Oracle RAC
8 2 (0.35%) RACF
9 1 (0.17%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.17%) Ceph
9 1 (0.17%) Virtual Servers
9 1 (0.17%) VMware Workstation
9 1 (0.17%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 52 (9.04%) Microsoft Intune
2 30 (5.22%) SCCM
3 16 (2.78%) Terraform
4 15 (2.61%) Kubernetes
5 12 (2.09%) Single Sign-On
6 10 (1.74%) Ansible
6 10 (1.74%) vCenter Server
7 9 (1.57%) Grafana
8 5 (0.87%) Jamf Pro
8 5 (0.87%) Prometheus
9 4 (0.70%) Check_MK
9 4 (0.70%) Podman
9 4 (0.70%) Red Hat Satellite
9 4 (0.70%) ServiceCenter
10 3 (0.52%) FortiGate
10 3 (0.52%) Oracle Identity Management
10 3 (0.52%) Oracle Identity Manager
10 3 (0.52%) vMotion
11 2 (0.35%) AirWatch
11 2 (0.35%) CloudHub
Vendors
1 191 (33.22%) Microsoft
2 111 (19.30%) ServiceNow
3 46 (8.00%) VMware
4 45 (7.83%) Cisco
5 42 (7.30%) Oracle
6 23 (4.00%) HP
7 21 (3.65%) Apple
7 21 (3.65%) Remedy
8 13 (2.26%) SAP
8 13 (2.26%) Tenable
8 13 (2.26%) Zscaler
9 11 (1.91%) Dell
9 11 (1.91%) Nokia
10 9 (1.57%) AppDynamics
10 9 (1.57%) Databricks
10 9 (1.57%) Dynatrace
10 9 (1.57%) Fortinet
10 9 (1.57%) Okta
10 9 (1.57%) Salesforce
10 9 (1.57%) Splunk
341 SLA jobs Nationwide