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 26 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
26 Sep 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 248 212 197
Rank change year-on-year -36 -15 -18
Contract jobs citing SLA 572 431 487
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.04% 1.30% 1.27%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 5.92% 7.59% 9.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 336 252 223
10th Percentile £181 £180 £158
25th Percentile £250 £230 £200
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £350 £325
Median % change year-on-year +21.43% +7.69% -18.75%
75th Percentile £538 £538 £500
90th Percentile £620 £613 £600
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £325 £340
% change year-on-year +30.77% -4.41% +4.61%
Number of hourly rates quoted 77 67 56
10th Percentile £13.45 £15.80 £12.75
25th Percentile £16.01 £17.48 £14.92
Median hourly rate £19.33 £22.14 £22.75
Median % change year-on-year -12.69% -2.68% +30.00%
75th Percentile £25.75 £25.15 £24.18
90th Percentile £72.25 £39.36 £48.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.33 £18.73 £17.91
% change year-on-year +3.20% +4.59% +2.33%

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 9,667 5,681 5,146
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.62% 17.17% 13.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,089 3,642 3,011
10th Percentile £325 £300 £276
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £500 £504
Median % change year-on-year +1.00% -0.79% -4.00%
75th Percentile £601 £606 £625
90th Percentile £700 £706 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £475
% change year-on-year +2.63% - -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 641 269 249
10th Percentile £13.86 £13.60 £12.69
25th Percentile £16.60 £16.92 £15.50
Median hourly rate £32.40 £30.00 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +7.98% +9.09% -22.54%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.25 £62.24
90th Percentile £75.00 £80.55 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.40 £27.86 £27.50
% change year-on-year +16.28% +1.31% -23.61%

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 26 September 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 26 September 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 26 September 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 -60 469 £425 +13.33% 641
UK excluding London -50 349 £425 +30.77% 387
London -31 184 £411 -1.50% 305
Work from Home -11 124 £463 +35.63% 200
North of England -45 85 £415 +54.81% 88
South East -73 72 £475 +35.71% 82
Scotland +26 65 £375 -17.58% 27
North West -10 61 £400 +23.08% 51
Midlands -54 54 £250 -31.03% 74
West Midlands -49 49 £250 -35.90% 44
East of England -11 47 £650 +85.71% 57
South West -49 30 £301 +1.86% 37
Yorkshire -50 21 £463 +93.08% 30
Wales -6 11 £525 +169.23% 13
East Midlands -20 5 £363 +170.52% 30
North East -37 3 £228 - 7
Northern Ireland -3 1 £175 - 13

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 44 (7.69%) SharePoint
2 32 (5.59%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (1.57%) Confluence
4 6 (1.05%) OpenStack
5 4 (0.70%) IIS
6 3 (0.52%) SAS
7 2 (0.35%) Anypoint
7 2 (0.35%) Apache
7 2 (0.35%) Exchange Server 2010
7 2 (0.35%) Mule
8 1 (0.17%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.17%) Appian
8 1 (0.17%) CICS
8 1 (0.17%) Exchange Server 2013
8 1 (0.17%) JBoss
8 1 (0.17%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 52 (9.09%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (3.85%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.70%) Spreadsheet
4 2 (0.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.35%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.35%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.17%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 1 (0.17%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 19 (3.32%) Remedy ITSM
2 8 (1.40%) ContrOCC
3 5 (0.87%) SAP S/4HANA
4 4 (0.70%) Dynamics CRM
4 4 (0.70%) Oracle Applications
4 4 (0.70%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 3 (0.52%) Oracle Assets
5 3 (0.52%) Oracle General Ledger
5 3 (0.52%) Oracle Payables
5 3 (0.52%) Oracle Receivables
6 2 (0.35%) Dynamics GP
6 2 (0.35%) Oracle Cash Management
6 2 (0.35%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.35%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 1 (0.17%) Actimize
7 1 (0.17%) Oracle EBS R12
7 1 (0.17%) Oracle Financials
7 1 (0.17%) SAP HCM
7 1 (0.17%) SAP Oil and Gas
7 1 (0.17%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 120 (20.98%) Microsoft 365
2 110 (19.23%) Azure
3 60 (10.49%) Entra ID
4 46 (8.04%) AWS
5 27 (4.72%) OneDrive
6 22 (3.85%) Power Platform
7 20 (3.50%) SaaS
8 13 (2.27%) Azure DevOps
9 9 (1.57%) Datadog
9 9 (1.57%) GCP
10 8 (1.40%) IaaS
10 8 (1.40%) Serverless
11 7 (1.22%) Amazon S3
11 7 (1.22%) Azure Sentinel
11 7 (1.22%) OCI
11 7 (1.22%) PaaS
12 6 (1.05%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 6 (1.05%) AWS CloudFormation
13 5 (0.87%) Google Workspace
13 5 (0.87%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 40 (6.99%) DNS
2 37 (6.47%) VPN
3 31 (5.42%) DHCP
4 25 (4.37%) TCP/IP
5 24 (4.20%) LAN
5 24 (4.20%) WAN
6 22 (3.85%) Firewall
7 16 (2.80%) Wi-Fi
8 14 (2.45%) SDH
9 13 (2.27%) MPLS
9 13 (2.27%) SAN
10 11 (1.92%) Skype
10 11 (1.92%) VLAN
11 10 (1.75%) Network Security
12 8 (1.40%) Wireless
13 7 (1.22%) Cisco IOS
13 7 (1.22%) Radio Access Network
14 6 (1.05%) LTE
14 6 (1.05%) Unified Communications
14 6 (1.05%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (3.85%) SQL Server
2 17 (2.97%) Power BI
3 8 (1.40%) Tableau
4 5 (0.87%) BigQuery
4 5 (0.87%) Delta Lake
4 5 (0.87%) Looker
4 5 (0.87%) Oracle Reports
4 5 (0.87%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (0.70%) Amazon Athena
5 4 (0.70%) Amazon RDS
5 4 (0.70%) Db2
6 3 (0.52%) Big Data
6 3 (0.52%) Data Lake
6 3 (0.52%) MySQL
6 3 (0.52%) Oracle Database
6 3 (0.52%) Pentaho
6 3 (0.52%) Relational Database
7 2 (0.35%) Flink
7 2 (0.35%) Metadata
7 2 (0.35%) Oracle Database 11g
Development Applications
1 42 (7.34%) JIRA
2 9 (1.57%) GitLab
3 7 (1.22%) Git
4 6 (1.05%) Jenkins
5 5 (0.87%) RStudio
6 4 (0.70%) Chocolatey
7 3 (0.52%) Visual Studio
8 2 (0.35%) Artifactory
8 2 (0.35%) Toad
9 1 (0.17%) Postman
9 1 (0.17%) WiX
General
1 238 (41.61%) Social Skills
2 109 (19.06%) Analytical Skills
3 97 (16.96%) Finance
4 33 (5.77%) Public Sector
5 29 (5.07%) Banking
6 28 (4.90%) Organisational Skills
7 24 (4.20%) Telecoms
8 20 (3.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 19 (3.32%) Documentation Skills
10 16 (2.80%) Legal
11 15 (2.62%) Billing
12 12 (2.10%) Local Government
13 11 (1.92%) Aerospace
13 11 (1.92%) Manufacturing
14 10 (1.75%) Retail
15 9 (1.57%) Influencing Skills
16 6 (1.05%) Back Office
17 4 (0.70%) Financial Institution
17 4 (0.70%) French Language
18 3 (0.52%) Front Office
Job Titles
1 72 (12.59%) Analyst
2 61 (10.66%) Support Engineer
3 49 (8.57%) IT Support
4 37 (6.47%) Lead
5 33 (5.77%) IT Engineer
5 33 (5.77%) Senior
6 30 (5.24%) Consultant
7 29 (5.07%) Service Analyst
8 26 (4.55%) Field Engineer
8 26 (4.55%) Service Manager
9 25 (4.37%) Desktop Support
10 24 (4.20%) Architect
10 24 (4.20%) IT Support Engineer
10 24 (4.20%) Network Engineer
11 22 (3.85%) Service Desk Analyst
12 18 (3.15%) Applications Support
13 17 (2.97%) Delivery Manager
13 17 (2.97%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 16 (2.80%) Administrator
15 15 (2.62%) Desktop Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (3.85%) REST
2 14 (2.45%) Terraform
3 11 (1.92%) .NET
4 8 (1.40%) LDAP
5 7 (1.22%) OAuth
6 6 (1.05%) Middleware
6 6 (1.05%) PySpark
6 6 (1.05%) XML
7 5 (0.87%) Kafka
8 4 (0.70%) Software Packaging
9 3 (0.52%) .NET Framework
9 3 (0.52%) ARM Templates
9 3 (0.52%) Elastic Stack
9 3 (0.52%) Java RMI
9 3 (0.52%) JSON
9 3 (0.52%) SAML
9 3 (0.52%) SOAP
10 2 (0.35%) EDI
10 2 (0.35%) JDBC
10 2 (0.35%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 67 (11.71%) Onboarding
2 28 (4.90%) CMDB
2 28 (4.90%) Data Centre
3 21 (3.67%) Enterprise Software
4 16 (2.80%) Security Posture
4 16 (2.80%) Smartphone
4 16 (2.80%) Video Conferencing
5 15 (2.62%) PKI
6 13 (2.27%) Virtual Team
7 9 (1.57%) Driving Licence
8 8 (1.40%) Cyber Threat
9 7 (1.22%) Fat Client
9 7 (1.22%) iPhone
9 7 (1.22%) Replication
9 7 (1.22%) Self-Motivation
9 7 (1.22%) Thin Client
10 6 (1.05%) Analytical Mindset
10 6 (1.05%) Fibre Optics
10 6 (1.05%) Management Information System
11 5 (0.87%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 174 (30.42%) Windows
2 61 (10.66%) Windows 10
3 52 (9.09%) Windows Server
4 42 (7.34%) Android
5 31 (5.42%) Linux
6 16 (2.80%) Apple iOS
7 14 (2.45%) Mac OS
8 12 (2.10%) Unix
8 12 (2.10%) Windows 7
9 8 (1.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 4 (0.70%) CentOS
10 4 (0.70%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.52%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.52%) Windows XP
12 1 (0.17%) OpenVMS
12 1 (0.17%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.17%) VMS
12 1 (0.17%) Windows Server 2003
12 1 (0.17%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.17%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 237 (41.43%) ITIL
2 146 (25.52%) ITSM
3 135 (23.60%) Service Management
4 134 (23.43%) Customer Service
4 134 (23.43%) Problem-Solving
5 130 (22.73%) Continuous Improvement
6 113 (19.76%) Stakeholder Management
7 91 (15.91%) Service Delivery
8 80 (13.99%) Change Management
9 79 (13.81%) Incident Management
10 73 (12.76%) Root Cause Analysis
11 56 (9.79%) Problem Management
12 49 (8.57%) Agile
13 47 (8.22%) Validation
14 42 (7.34%) Runbook
15 40 (6.99%) Asset Management
15 40 (6.99%) Incident Response
16 38 (6.64%) Migration
17 37 (6.47%) Configuration Management
17 37 (6.47%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 53 (9.27%) SQL
2 44 (7.69%) PowerShell
2 44 (7.69%) Python
3 15 (2.62%) JavaScript
4 11 (1.92%) Bash
5 7 (1.22%) Java
5 7 (1.22%) Shell Script
6 6 (1.05%) PL/SQL
7 5 (0.87%) C#
7 5 (0.87%) R
8 4 (0.70%) Bicep
8 4 (0.70%) Google Apps Script
8 4 (0.70%) MATLAB
9 2 (0.35%) COBOL
9 2 (0.35%) DataWeave
9 2 (0.35%) Perl
9 2 (0.35%) RPG
9 2 (0.35%) X++
10 1 (0.17%) ActionScript
10 1 (0.17%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 182 (31.82%) Security Cleared
2 137 (23.95%) SC Cleared
3 42 (7.34%) Degree
4 36 (6.29%) DV Cleared
5 22 (3.85%) ITIL Certification
6 21 (3.67%) Microsoft Certification
7 20 (3.50%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 16 (2.80%) BPSS Clearance
9 14 (2.45%) Cisco Certification
10 11 (1.92%) PMI Certification
11 10 (1.75%) A+ Certification
12 9 (1.57%) Azure Certification
13 8 (1.40%) CCNA
13 8 (1.40%) Computer Science Degree
14 7 (1.22%) CCNP
14 7 (1.22%) DBS Check
14 7 (1.22%) MCSE
15 6 (1.05%) PMP
16 4 (0.70%) CISSP
17 3 (0.52%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (4.55%) Data Quality
2 12 (2.10%) ISO/IEC 20000
2 12 (2.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 11 (1.92%) NIST
4 9 (1.57%) QA
5 6 (1.05%) GDPR
5 6 (1.05%) NCSC
6 5 (0.87%) COBIT
6 5 (0.87%) Cyber Essentials
6 5 (0.87%) ISO 9001
6 5 (0.87%) PMO
7 4 (0.70%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 4 (0.70%) GRC
8 3 (0.52%) JSP 440
9 2 (0.35%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.35%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.17%) Disclosure Scotland
10 1 (0.17%) HL7
10 1 (0.17%) ISO 20022
10 1 (0.17%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 136 (23.78%) Active Directory
2 25 (4.37%) VMware Infrastructure
3 17 (2.97%) Virtual Desktop
4 12 (2.10%) Hyper-V
5 9 (1.57%) VMware ESXi
6 7 (1.22%) Docker
6 7 (1.22%) Firmware
7 4 (0.70%) RACF
7 4 (0.70%) Virtual Machines
8 3 (0.52%) ACF2
8 3 (0.52%) vSphere
9 2 (0.35%) Apache ZooKeeper
9 2 (0.35%) Oracle RAC
10 1 (0.17%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.17%) Job Entry Subsystem
10 1 (0.17%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 1 (0.17%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.17%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 52 (9.09%) Microsoft Intune
2 30 (5.24%) SCCM
3 23 (4.02%) Kubernetes
4 16 (2.80%) Single Sign-On
5 11 (1.92%) Ansible
6 10 (1.75%) Grafana
7 8 (1.40%) Jamf Pro
8 6 (1.05%) SCOM
8 6 (1.05%) vCenter Server
9 5 (0.87%) Prometheus
10 4 (0.70%) Check_MK
10 4 (0.70%) Podman
10 4 (0.70%) Red Hat Satellite
10 4 (0.70%) SCOrch
11 3 (0.52%) Oracle Identity Management
11 3 (0.52%) Oracle Identity Manager
12 2 (0.35%) Data Guard
12 2 (0.35%) FortiGate
12 2 (0.35%) systemd
12 2 (0.35%) WSUS
Vendors
1 218 (38.11%) Microsoft
2 116 (20.28%) ServiceNow
3 40 (6.99%) Cisco
3 40 (6.99%) VMware
4 25 (4.37%) Oracle
5 23 (4.02%) Remedy
6 20 (3.50%) Apple
7 15 (2.62%) HP
8 12 (2.10%) SAP
9 10 (1.75%) Nokia
9 10 (1.75%) Salesforce
9 10 (1.75%) Zscaler
10 9 (1.57%) Citrix
10 9 (1.57%) Databricks
10 9 (1.57%) Google
10 9 (1.57%) Okta
11 8 (1.40%) BT
11 8 (1.40%) Fortinet
11 8 (1.40%) Liquidlogic
12 7 (1.22%) Huawei
751 SLA jobs Nationwide