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 16 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
16 Jun 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 237 185 141
Rank change year-on-year -52 -44 +44
Contract jobs citing SLA 541 440 720
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.08% 1.49% 1.65%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 6.43% 9.20% 12.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 295 254 342
10th Percentile £208 £177 £150
25th Percentile £309 £213 £208
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £325 £340
Median % change year-on-year +38.46% -4.41% +14.29%
75th Percentile £520 £530 £489
90th Percentile £597 £613 £582
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £265 £285
% change year-on-year +69.62% -7.02% +3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 92 47 87
10th Percentile £13.73 £15.80 £11.07
25th Percentile £17.69 £18.99 £12.75
Median hourly rate £18.73 £22.14 £14.80
Median % change year-on-year -15.41% +49.59% -20.00%
75th Percentile £22.18 £25.13 £23.90
90th Percentile £26.11 £33.75 £31.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.50 £22.14 £13.85
% change year-on-year -16.44% +59.86% -24.01%

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 8,420 4,784 5,974
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 16.77% 16.15% 13.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,396 3,044 3,724
10th Percentile £340 £275 £280
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £508
Median % change year-on-year - -1.48% -3.33%
75th Percentile £600 £613 £625
90th Percentile £700 £717 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £475
% change year-on-year +5.26% - -2.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 502 199 433
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.12 £11.00
25th Percentile £19.22 £21.23 £13.18
Median hourly rate £36.00 £31.76 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year +13.35% +33.45% -36.53%
75th Percentile £67.50 £67.50 £48.75
90th Percentile £82.25 £83.24 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £32.25 £19.17
% change year-on-year +24.03% +68.23% -48.88%

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 16 June 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 16 June 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 16 June 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 -62 472 £460 +37.16% 230
UK excluding London -61 334 £450 +69.62% 204
London -29 182 £475 +26.67% 64
Work from Home +10 132 £475 +90.00% 74
North of England -47 77 £438 +52.17% 41
South East -74 75 £463 +68.18% 65
East of England +20 68 £492 +118.67% 29
Midlands -73 46 £292 +10.09% 31
North West -27 43 £438 +52.17% 30
Scotland +15 42 £440 +42.51% 17
West Midlands -76 36 £292 +5.90% 11
Yorkshire -45 32 £440 +13.55% 8
South West -52 23 £400 +35.59% 15
East Midlands -21 9 £329 +31.40% 20
Wales -16 5 - - 4
North East -32 2 £280 - 3
Northern Ireland - 2 £175 - 9

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 (3.70%) SharePoint
2 12 (2.22%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (1.85%) Confluence
4 7 (1.29%) OpenStack
5 5 (0.92%) IIS
5 5 (0.92%) Oracle Workflow
5 5 (0.92%) SAS
6 4 (0.74%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 3 (0.55%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.37%) ArcGIS
9 1 (0.18%) Apache
9 1 (0.18%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.18%) LiveCycle
9 1 (0.18%) Smallworld
Applications
1 49 (9.06%) Microsoft Excel
1 49 (9.06%) Microsoft Office
2 18 (3.33%) Spreadsheet
3 6 (1.11%) MS Visio
4 5 (0.92%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.37%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.18%) Autodesk Inventor
6 1 (0.18%) MicroStation
6 1 (0.18%) Oracle Smart View
Business Applications
1 14 (2.59%) Remedy ITSM
2 12 (2.22%) Oracle Payables
2 12 (2.22%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 10 (1.85%) Oracle Assets
4 7 (1.29%) Oracle Receivables
5 6 (1.11%) Oracle ERP
6 5 (0.92%) Oracle Applications
6 5 (0.92%) Oracle General Ledger
6 5 (0.92%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 4 (0.74%) Dynamics CRM
8 3 (0.55%) ContrOCC
8 3 (0.55%) Oracle Cash Management
8 3 (0.55%) Oracle EBS
9 2 (0.37%) Dynamics GP
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 Financials
9 2 (0.37%) Payment Gateway
10 1 (0.18%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 96 (17.74%) Azure
2 65 (12.01%) Microsoft 365
3 57 (10.54%) AWS
4 23 (4.25%) Entra ID
4 23 (4.25%) Power Platform
5 17 (3.14%) Azure DevOps
6 16 (2.96%) IaaS
7 15 (2.77%) GCP
7 15 (2.77%) OCI
7 15 (2.77%) PaaS
7 15 (2.77%) SaaS
8 14 (2.59%) Amazon S3
9 13 (2.40%) OneDrive
10 11 (2.03%) Datadog
10 11 (2.03%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 10 (1.85%) Amazon EC2
12 9 (1.66%) AWS CloudFormation
12 9 (1.66%) Azure Sentinel
12 9 (1.66%) Snowflake
13 7 (1.29%) Amazon CloudWatch
Communications & Networking
1 32 (5.91%) DNS
2 30 (5.55%) Firewall
3 26 (4.81%) DHCP
4 25 (4.62%) VPN
5 20 (3.70%) WAN
6 17 (3.14%) Wi-Fi
7 15 (2.77%) SAN
8 13 (2.40%) Network Security
9 12 (2.22%) Cisco ASA
9 12 (2.22%) LAN
9 12 (2.22%) SD-WAN
10 11 (2.03%) TCP/IP
10 11 (2.03%) VLAN
11 10 (1.85%) Wireless
12 8 (1.48%) Cisco IOS
13 7 (1.29%) 5G
13 7 (1.29%) BGP
13 7 (1.29%) LTE
13 7 (1.29%) MPLS
13 7 (1.29%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (3.51%) Power BI
2 16 (2.96%) SQL Server
3 9 (1.66%) Oracle Reports
4 8 (1.48%) Tableau
5 7 (1.29%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (0.92%) Oracle Database
6 5 (0.92%) Pentaho
7 4 (0.74%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (0.74%) MySQL
7 4 (0.74%) Relational Database
8 3 (0.55%) Amazon Athena
8 3 (0.55%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 2 (0.37%) GIS
9 2 (0.37%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.37%) SAP HANA
9 2 (0.37%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 1 (0.18%) Azure SQL Database
10 1 (0.18%) Data Warehouse
10 1 (0.18%) Db2
10 1 (0.18%) Hadoop
Development Applications
1 48 (8.87%) JIRA
2 20 (3.70%) GitLab
3 18 (3.33%) Jenkins
4 16 (2.96%) Git
5 7 (1.29%) Chocolatey
6 4 (0.74%) Maven
7 3 (0.55%) Visual Studio
8 2 (0.37%) Artifactory
8 2 (0.37%) JMeter
8 2 (0.37%) Toad
9 1 (0.18%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.18%) CircleCI
9 1 (0.18%) Cucumber
9 1 (0.18%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 1 (0.18%) WiX
General
1 236 (43.62%) Social Skills
2 108 (19.96%) Finance
3 89 (16.45%) Analytical Skills
4 41 (7.58%) Public Sector
5 34 (6.28%) Banking
6 29 (5.36%) Organisational Skills
7 26 (4.81%) Documentation Skills
8 22 (4.07%) Telecoms
9 21 (3.88%) Legal
10 13 (2.40%) Billing
11 12 (2.22%) Retail
12 11 (2.03%) Aerospace
12 11 (2.03%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 10 (1.85%) Local Government
14 9 (1.66%) Manufacturing
15 8 (1.48%) Financial Institution
16 7 (1.29%) Investment Banking
17 6 (1.11%) Influencing Skills
17 6 (1.11%) Marketing
17 6 (1.11%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 70 (12.94%) Analyst
2 55 (10.17%) IT Support
3 38 (7.02%) Support Engineer
4 36 (6.65%) Lead
5 35 (6.47%) Administrator
6 34 (6.28%) Service Manager
7 31 (5.73%) Senior
8 30 (5.55%) Service Analyst
9 24 (4.44%) IT Engineer
10 22 (4.07%) Delivery Manager
11 21 (3.88%) Consultant
11 21 (3.88%) Technical Support
12 20 (3.70%) Service Delivery Manager
13 18 (3.33%) Desktop Support
14 17 (3.14%) Azure Engineer
14 17 (3.14%) Desktop Engineer
15 16 (2.96%) Service Desk Analyst
16 15 (2.77%) Coordinator
16 15 (2.77%) Network Engineer
17 13 (2.40%) IT Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (2.77%) Oracle Fusion
2 13 (2.40%) Middleware
3 11 (2.03%) LDAP
4 10 (1.85%) REST
5 8 (1.48%) .NET
5 8 (1.48%) Web Services
6 6 (1.11%) Software Packaging
7 5 (0.92%) ARM Templates
7 5 (0.92%) AWS CDK
7 5 (0.92%) Spring
8 4 (0.74%) 802.1X
8 4 (0.74%) AngularJS
8 4 (0.74%) Bootstrap
8 4 (0.74%) CSS
8 4 (0.74%) J2EE
8 4 (0.74%) jQuery
8 4 (0.74%) Sass
8 4 (0.74%) Spring MVC
9 3 (0.55%) ADO
10 2 (0.37%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 45 (8.32%) Onboarding
2 32 (5.91%) Data Centre
3 17 (3.14%) CMDB
4 16 (2.96%) Product Ownership
5 15 (2.77%) Management Information System
6 11 (2.03%) Cloud Native
7 10 (1.85%) Smartphone
8 9 (1.66%) BYOD
8 9 (1.66%) Cyber Threat
8 9 (1.66%) Enterprise Software
9 8 (1.48%) Data Protection Act
10 7 (1.29%) PKI
10 7 (1.29%) Virtual Team
11 6 (1.11%) Analytical Mindset
11 6 (1.11%) Driving Licence
11 6 (1.11%) Self-Motivation
12 5 (0.92%) IoT
12 5 (0.92%) Security Posture
13 4 (0.74%) Augmented Reality
13 4 (0.74%) iPhone
Operating Systems
1 114 (21.07%) Windows
2 46 (8.50%) Linux
3 36 (6.65%) Windows 10
4 20 (3.70%) Windows Server
5 19 (3.51%) Unix
6 17 (3.14%) Android
7 14 (2.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 11 (2.03%) CentOS
9 5 (0.92%) Apple iOS
9 5 (0.92%) Mac OS
9 5 (0.92%) Windows 7
10 4 (0.74%) Windows XP
11 3 (0.55%) Windows Server 2012
12 2 (0.37%) Windows Server 2019
13 1 (0.18%) Solaris
13 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2003
13 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 165 (30.50%) ITIL
2 102 (18.85%) ITSM
3 98 (18.11%) Problem-Solving
4 94 (17.38%) Continuous Improvement
5 90 (16.64%) Stakeholder Management
6 88 (16.27%) Customer Service
7 85 (15.71%) Service Delivery
8 76 (14.05%) Change Management
8 76 (14.05%) Root Cause Analysis
8 76 (14.05%) Service Management
9 75 (13.86%) Agile
10 54 (9.98%) Incident Management
11 53 (9.80%) Problem Management
12 46 (8.50%) Time Management
13 45 (8.32%) Migration
14 43 (7.95%) DevOps
15 42 (7.76%) Asset Management
16 41 (7.58%) Roadmaps
17 40 (7.39%) CI/CD
18 36 (6.65%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 46 (8.50%) SQL
2 33 (6.10%) Python
3 20 (3.70%) PowerShell
4 17 (3.14%) Bash
5 15 (2.77%) Shell Script
6 12 (2.22%) Java
7 11 (2.03%) MATLAB
8 7 (1.29%) JavaScript
9 6 (1.11%) PL/SQL
10 4 (0.74%) Bicep
11 2 (0.37%) C#
11 2 (0.37%) Go
11 2 (0.37%) Scala
11 2 (0.37%) VB
11 2 (0.37%) X++
12 1 (0.18%) Apex Code
12 1 (0.18%) Groovy
12 1 (0.18%) Korn
Qualifications
1 119 (22.00%) Security Cleared
2 91 (16.82%) SC Cleared
3 49 (9.06%) Degree
4 24 (4.44%) DV Cleared
5 18 (3.33%) ITIL Certification
6 13 (2.40%) BPSS Clearance
6 13 (2.40%) Cisco Certification
7 12 (2.22%) Microsoft Certification
8 9 (1.66%) CCNP
8 9 (1.66%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 7 (1.29%) PMI Certification
10 6 (1.11%) Azure Certification
10 6 (1.11%) CCSE
10 6 (1.11%) Master's Degree
10 6 (1.11%) MCSE
11 5 (0.92%) CCSM
12 4 (0.74%) CCA
12 4 (0.74%) CCNA
12 4 (0.74%) CISA
12 4 (0.74%) MBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (3.70%) Data Quality
2 15 (2.77%) PMO
3 14 (2.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 14 (2.59%) QA
4 11 (2.03%) NIST
5 9 (1.66%) COBIT
5 9 (1.66%) GDPR
5 9 (1.66%) GRC
6 6 (1.11%) PCI DSS
7 3 (0.55%) Cyber Essentials
7 3 (0.55%) ISO 20022
7 3 (0.55%) JSP 440
7 3 (0.55%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 2 (0.37%) ISO 31000
8 2 (0.37%) ISO 8583
8 2 (0.37%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 2 (0.37%) SOC 2
9 1 (0.18%) Disclosure Scotland
9 1 (0.18%) HL7
9 1 (0.18%) NCSC
System Software
1 75 (13.86%) Active Directory
2 25 (4.62%) VMware Infrastructure
3 15 (2.77%) VMware ESXi
4 10 (1.85%) Docker
5 9 (1.66%) vSphere
6 8 (1.48%) Hyper-V
6 8 (1.48%) Virtual Desktop
7 3 (0.55%) DFS Replication
7 3 (0.55%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.37%) Firmware
9 1 (0.18%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.18%) Ceph
9 1 (0.18%) Oracle RAC
9 1 (0.18%) Virtual Servers
9 1 (0.18%) VMware Workstation
9 1 (0.18%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 31 (5.73%) Microsoft Intune
2 29 (5.36%) SCCM
3 24 (4.44%) Ansible
4 21 (3.88%) Terraform
5 18 (3.33%) Kubernetes
6 11 (2.03%) Check_MK
6 11 (2.03%) Grafana
6 11 (2.03%) Podman
6 11 (2.03%) Red Hat Satellite
6 11 (2.03%) Single Sign-On
7 10 (1.85%) ServiceCenter
7 10 (1.85%) vCenter Server
8 6 (1.11%) Jamf Pro
9 5 (0.92%) Prometheus
10 4 (0.74%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 3 (0.55%) FortiGate
11 3 (0.55%) Oracle Identity Management
11 3 (0.55%) Oracle Identity Manager
11 3 (0.55%) TeamSite
11 3 (0.55%) vMotion
Vendors
1 163 (30.13%) Microsoft
2 86 (15.90%) ServiceNow
3 55 (10.17%) Oracle
4 47 (8.69%) VMware
5 39 (7.21%) Cisco
6 31 (5.73%) HP
7 26 (4.81%) Apple
8 22 (4.07%) Dell
9 19 (3.51%) Remedy
10 18 (3.33%) SAP
11 13 (2.40%) Red Hat
12 12 (2.22%) Splunk
13 11 (2.03%) Tenable
14 10 (1.85%) AppDynamics
15 9 (1.66%) CheckPoint
15 9 (1.66%) Fortinet
15 9 (1.66%) Palo Alto
15 9 (1.66%) Zscaler
16 8 (1.48%) IBM
16 8 (1.48%) Salesforce
273 SLA jobs Nationwide