Job Vacancy Trend Daily Rate Trend Daily Rate Histogram Hourly Rate Trend Hourly Rate Histogram Job Locations Skill Sets
Period
to 22 January 2021

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for SLA skills. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited SLA over the 6 months to 22 January 2021 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

Note that daily and hourly rates are treated separately in these statistics. When calculating contractor rate percentiles, daily rates are never derived from quoted hourly rates or vice versa.

Service Level Agreement (SLA)
UK
6 months to
22 Jan 2021		 Same period 2020 Same period 2019
Rank 199 172 226
Rank change year-on-year -27 +54 -31
Contract jobs citing SLA 556 1,147 1,298
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 1.32% 1.58% 1.30%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 12.30% 15.49% 12.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 342 671 715
Median daily rate £370 £320 £313
Median daily rate % change year-on-year +15.63% +2.40% +25.00%
10th Percentile £106 £115 £108
90th Percentile £598 £538 £541
UK excluding London median daily rate £350 £295 £300
% change year-on-year +18.64% -1.67% +27.66%
Number of hourly rates quoted 86 111 165
Median hourly rate £12.68 £17.00 £14.85
Median hourly rate % change year-on-year -25.41% +14.48% -1.00%
10th Percentile £10.00 £11.17 £10.00
90th Percentile £22.88 £37.50 £23.05
UK excluding London median hourly rate £12.66 £16.50 £14.85
% change year-on-year -23.27% +11.11% -1.00%

SLA is in the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills.

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK
Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 4,520 7,403 10,798
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.73% 10.19% 10.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,932 4,731 6,911
Median daily rate £471 £450 £450
Median daily rate % change year-on-year +4.72% - +2.86%
10th Percentile £263 £220 £255
90th Percentile £650 £638 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £438 £415 £425
% change year-on-year +5.42% -2.35% +6.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 222 309 353
Median hourly rate £21.05 £20.50 £20.00
Median hourly rate % change year-on-year +2.68% +2.50% -
10th Percentile £10.76 £12.00 £11.00
90th Percentile £52.50 £53.75 £47.50
Median hourly rate £21.05 £21.42 £20.16
% change year-on-year -1.70% +6.25% -1.68%

SLA
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing SLA as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for SLA in the UK

SLA
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing SLA.

Daily rate trend for SLA in the UK

SLA
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SLA over the 6 months to 22 January 2021.

Daily rate histogram for SLA in the UK

SLA
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing SLA.

Hourly rate trend for SLA in the UK

SLA
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing SLA over the 6 months to 22 January 2021.

Hourly rate histogram for SLA in the UK

SLA
Top 17 Contract 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 22 January 2021. 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
Job
Vacancies
England -16 486 £345 +6.00% 202
UK excluding London +11 372 £350 +18.64% 164
South East +36 145 £395 +43.64% 51
London -27 138 £330 -5.71% 47
Work from Home -120 96 £360 -7.69% 15
North of England +1 75 £253 -12.17% 24
Midlands +19 48 £338 -3.57% 41
North West -11 44 £220 -31.78% 18
East of England +5 41 £265 -18.46% 14
West Midlands +23 32 £425 - 23
Scotland +16 28 £363 +113.24% 5
South West +46 25 £215 -41.89% 24
Yorkshire +13 23 £202 +1.00% 4
East Midlands +19 16 £245 +53.13% 18
Wales +27 9 £476 +4.67% 4
North East +35 8 £425 +183.33% 2
Northern Ireland +16 4 - - 1

For the 6 months to 22 January 2021, IT contractor jobs citing SLA also mentioned the following skills in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads with a requirement for SLA.

1 177 (31.83%) Windows
2 154 (27.70%) ITIL
3 141 (25.36%) Active Directory
4 132 (23.74%) Microsoft
5 106 (19.06%) Finance
6 93 (16.73%) Office 365
7 81 (14.57%) Security Cleared
8 80 (14.39%) Agile Software Development
9 79 (14.21%) Service Management
10 78 (14.03%) Problem-Solving
11 67 (12.05%) Service Delivery
11 67 (12.05%) Incident Management
12 62 (11.15%) Microsoft Office
13 60 (10.79%) VMware
13 60 (10.79%) Public Sector
14 59 (10.61%) Azure
15 58 (10.43%) DevOps
15 58 (10.43%) Telecoms
16 57 (10.25%) Windows 10
17 56 (10.07%) Analytical Skills
18 55 (9.89%) Cisco
19 54 (9.71%) Change Management
19 54 (9.71%) ITSM
20 52 (9.35%) VMware Infrastructure
21 50 (8.99%) Degree
22 48 (8.63%) SC Cleared
23 47 (8.45%) Migration
23 47 (8.45%) Linux
24 41 (7.37%) Continuous Improvement
24 41 (7.37%) Windows Server

SLA
Co-occurring IT Skills by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same job type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 37 (6.65%) SharePoint
2 25 (4.50%) MS Exchange
3 16 (2.88%) IIS
4 13 (2.34%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 11 (1.98%) Apache
5 11 (1.98%) Red Hat Fuse
5 11 (1.98%) WebLogic
6 9 (1.62%) Skype for Business
7 7 (1.26%) Exchange Server 2010
8 6 (1.08%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
8 6 (1.08%) nginx
9 3 (0.54%) Confluence
10 2 (0.36%) Apache Spark
10 2 (0.36%) Appian
10 2 (0.36%) Exchange Server 2007
10 2 (0.36%) Exchange Server 2013
10 2 (0.36%) JBoss
10 2 (0.36%) OpenStack
10 2 (0.36%) SharePoint 2010
11 1 (0.18%) Apache ServiceMix
Applications
1 62 (11.15%) Microsoft Office
2 27 (4.86%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (2.16%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.36%) InfoPath
5 1 (0.18%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.18%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 12 (2.16%) Remedy ITSM
2 11 (1.98%) Oracle Applications
3 5 (0.90%) Dynamics CRM
4 3 (0.54%) Magento
4 3 (0.54%) Oracle Payables
5 2 (0.36%) NetSuite
5 2 (0.36%) SAP MM
5 2 (0.36%) SAP PM
5 2 (0.36%) SAP S/4HANA
6 1 (0.18%) BusinessWorks
6 1 (0.18%) Maximo
6 1 (0.18%) Oracle ERP
6 1 (0.18%) Oracle Financials
6 1 (0.18%) SAP CO
6 1 (0.18%) SAP FI
6 1 (0.18%) SAP FI/CO
6 1 (0.18%) SAP Oil and Gas
6 1 (0.18%) SAP Retail
6 1 (0.18%) SAP SD
6 1 (0.18%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 93 (16.73%) Office 365
2 59 (10.61%) Azure
3 26 (4.68%) AWS
4 19 (3.42%) IaaS
5 15 (2.70%) Azure Active Directory
6 14 (2.52%) OneDrive
6 14 (2.52%) Power Platform
7 10 (1.80%) PowerApps
8 8 (1.44%) Cloud Computing
9 7 (1.26%) Dynamics 365
9 7 (1.26%) GCP
10 6 (1.08%) PaaS
10 6 (1.08%) Veeva
11 5 (0.90%) Serverless
12 4 (0.72%) Azure Functions
12 4 (0.72%) GitHub
12 4 (0.72%) Logic Apps
12 4 (0.72%) Power Automate
13 3 (0.54%) Amazon EKS
13 3 (0.54%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 39 (7.01%) DNS
2 32 (5.76%) DHCP
3 30 (5.40%) Firewall
4 20 (3.60%) Skype
5 19 (3.42%) SAN
6 18 (3.24%) LAN
7 16 (2.88%) VPN
7 16 (2.88%) WAN
8 11 (1.98%) SSL
9 10 (1.80%) Cisco ASA
9 10 (1.80%) Network Security
9 10 (1.80%) VoIP
10 9 (1.62%) Cisco Nexus
10 9 (1.62%) TCP/IP
10 9 (1.62%) Wi-Fi
11 8 (1.44%) DMZ
11 8 (1.44%) Radio Access Network
12 7 (1.26%) Internet
12 7 (1.26%) Remote Desktop
12 7 (1.26%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (2.88%) Oracle Database
1 16 (2.88%) Oracle Database 12c
2 13 (2.34%) SQL Server
3 12 (2.16%) Big Data
4 11 (1.98%) Oracle BI EE
4 11 (1.98%) Oracle ODI
5 10 (1.80%) Hadoop
5 10 (1.80%) Power BI
6 8 (1.44%) MySQL
7 7 (1.26%) SAP BW
8 6 (1.08%) Oracle Database 11g
8 6 (1.08%) SAP HANA
9 5 (0.90%) Oracle Exadata
9 5 (0.90%) Oracle Reports
9 5 (0.90%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 4 (0.72%) Azure SQL Database
10 4 (0.72%) Relational Database
11 3 (0.54%) Amazon RDS
11 3 (0.54%) Redis
12 2 (0.36%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 17 (3.06%) JIRA
2 7 (1.26%) Git (software)
2 7 (1.26%) JMeter
2 7 (1.26%) Sonatype Nexus
3 6 (1.08%) LoadRunner
4 5 (0.90%) GitLab
4 5 (0.90%) NeoLoad
4 5 (0.90%) SilkPerformer
4 5 (0.90%) WebLOAD
5 4 (0.72%) Jenkins
6 3 (0.54%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.54%) Terragrunt
7 1 (0.18%) AdminStudio
7 1 (0.18%) Fiddler
7 1 (0.18%) git-flow
7 1 (0.18%) Introscope
7 1 (0.18%) Mockito
7 1 (0.18%) MSI
7 1 (0.18%) SoapUI
7 1 (0.18%) Subversion
General
1 106 (19.06%) Finance
2 60 (10.79%) Public Sector
3 58 (10.43%) Telecoms
4 22 (3.96%) Banking
5 19 (3.42%) Manufacturing
6 16 (2.88%) Retail
7 14 (2.52%) Marketing
8 13 (2.34%) Electronics
9 5 (0.90%) Danish Language
10 4 (0.72%) Billing
11 2 (0.36%) Aerospace
11 2 (0.36%) Automotive
11 2 (0.36%) Back Office
11 2 (0.36%) Financial Institution
11 2 (0.36%) Front Office
11 2 (0.36%) Housing Association
11 2 (0.36%) Legal
11 2 (0.36%) Local Government
12 1 (0.18%) General Ledger
12 1 (0.18%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 109 (19.60%) Analyst
2 55 (9.89%) Service Analyst
3 47 (8.45%) Service Desk Analyst
3 47 (8.45%) Support Engineer
4 34 (6.12%) 1st Line Support
5 29 (5.22%) Consultant
5 29 (5.22%) IT Support
6 27 (4.86%) Administrator
7 26 (4.68%) IT Analyst
8 24 (4.32%) Service Desk Support
9 23 (4.14%) Support Analyst
10 22 (3.96%) Service Manager
11 20 (3.60%) DBA
11 20 (3.60%) Network Engineer
12 19 (3.42%) Cloud Engineer
12 19 (3.42%) Developer
13 18 (3.24%) 2nd Line Support
13 18 (3.24%) Oracle DBA
14 17 (3.06%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 17 (3.06%) Service Desk Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (1.62%) Kafka
1 9 (1.62%) Oracle GoldenGate
2 8 (1.44%) Web Services
2 8 (1.44%) XML
3 6 (1.08%) .NET
3 6 (1.08%) Node.js
4 5 (0.90%) 802.1X
4 5 (0.90%) CSS
4 5 (0.90%) HTML
4 5 (0.90%) SAP ALE
4 5 (0.90%) SAP XI
5 4 (0.72%) LAMP
5 4 (0.72%) Middleware
5 4 (0.72%) Visualforce
6 3 (0.54%) EDI
6 3 (0.54%) JSON
6 3 (0.54%) LDAP
6 3 (0.54%) LEMP Stack
6 3 (0.54%) PySpark
6 3 (0.54%) React Native
Miscellaneous
1 56 (10.07%) Analytical Skills
2 29 (5.22%) Management Information System
3 22 (3.96%) Data Centre
4 20 (3.60%) Self-Motivation
5 19 (3.42%) NHS
6 14 (2.52%) Replication
7 10 (1.80%) CMDB
7 10 (1.80%) Cyberthreat
7 10 (1.80%) Video Conferencing
8 9 (1.62%) User Experience
9 7 (1.26%) Digital Signage
9 7 (1.26%) Public Cloud
10 6 (1.08%) Blackberry
10 6 (1.08%) Fat Client
10 6 (1.08%) Mobile App
10 6 (1.08%) Thin Client
11 5 (0.90%) Enterprise Software
11 5 (0.90%) PKI
11 5 (0.90%) Smart Meter
11 5 (0.90%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 177 (31.83%) Windows
2 57 (10.25%) Windows 10
3 47 (8.45%) Linux
4 41 (7.37%) Windows Server
5 22 (3.96%) Unix
6 21 (3.78%) Windows Server 2012
7 20 (3.60%) Windows 7
8 15 (2.70%) Apple iOS
8 15 (2.70%) Windows Server 2016
9 13 (2.34%) Mac OS
9 13 (2.34%) Ubuntu
10 9 (1.62%) CentOS
10 9 (1.62%) Solaris
10 9 (1.62%) Windows Server 2019
11 8 (1.44%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 8 (1.44%) Windows Server 2008
12 6 (1.08%) Oracle Linux
13 5 (0.90%) Windows Server 2003
14 4 (0.72%) Android
15 3 (0.54%) AIX
Processes & Methodologies
1 154 (27.70%) ITIL
2 80 (14.39%) Agile Software Development
3 79 (14.21%) Service Management
4 78 (14.03%) Problem-Solving
5 67 (12.05%) Incident Management
5 67 (12.05%) Service Delivery
6 58 (10.43%) DevOps
7 54 (9.71%) Change Management
7 54 (9.71%) ITSM
8 47 (8.45%) Migration
9 41 (7.37%) Continuous Improvement
10 39 (7.01%) Cybersecurity
11 35 (6.29%) Problem Management
12 31 (5.58%) Stakeholder Management
13 29 (5.22%) Project Delivery
14 27 (4.86%) Configuration Management
15 25 (4.50%) Business Intelligence
16 24 (4.32%) CRM
16 24 (4.32%) Disaster Recovery
17 23 (4.14%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 40 (7.19%) SQL
2 31 (5.58%) PowerShell
3 25 (4.50%) Python
4 22 (3.96%) Java
5 20 (3.60%) C
6 12 (2.16%) VB
7 10 (1.80%) JavaScript
8 9 (1.62%) PHP
9 8 (1.44%) Perl
10 6 (1.08%) C#
10 6 (1.08%) PL/SQL
11 5 (0.90%) Bash Shell
11 5 (0.90%) Shell Script
12 4 (0.72%) Apex Code
12 4 (0.72%) Ruby
12 4 (0.72%) T-SQL
13 3 (0.54%) VBScript
14 2 (0.36%) ABAP
14 2 (0.36%) Scala
15 1 (0.18%) R
Qualifications
1 81 (14.57%) Security Cleared
2 50 (8.99%) Degree
3 48 (8.63%) SC Cleared
4 23 (4.14%) Microsoft Certification
5 20 (3.60%) Cisco Certification
5 20 (3.60%) DV Cleared
6 17 (3.06%) CCNA
7 16 (2.88%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 15 (2.70%) ITIL Certification
9 14 (2.52%) MCSE
10 13 (2.34%) CCNP
10 13 (2.34%) DBS Check
11 11 (1.98%) CISSP
12 10 (1.80%) CISM
13 8 (1.44%) CCIE
13 8 (1.44%) CISA
14 7 (1.26%) MCP
15 6 (1.08%) CCA
15 6 (1.08%) ISEB
15 6 (1.08%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (3.42%) QA
2 11 (1.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 7 (1.26%) GDPR
3 7 (1.26%) ISO/IEC 20000
4 4 (0.72%) Cyber Essentials
4 4 (0.72%) Disclosure Scotland
5 3 (0.54%) ISO 9001
6 2 (0.36%) Data Quality
6 2 (0.36%) NIST
6 2 (0.36%) PCI DSS
7 1 (0.18%) COBIT
7 1 (0.18%) COSHH
7 1 (0.18%) NIST 800
7 1 (0.18%) PMO
7 1 (0.18%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 141 (25.36%) Active Directory
2 52 (9.35%) VMware Infrastructure
3 19 (3.42%) Docker
4 17 (3.06%) Oracle RAC
5 14 (2.52%) VMware NSX
6 13 (2.34%) Firmware
7 10 (1.80%) VMware ESXi
8 9 (1.62%) Virtual Machines
9 8 (1.44%) Hyper-V
10 7 (1.26%) vSphere
11 6 (1.08%) Terminal Server
12 3 (0.54%) Terminal Services
12 3 (0.54%) Veritas Cluster Server
12 3 (0.54%) XenApp
13 2 (0.36%) BitLocker
13 2 (0.36%) NFS
13 2 (0.36%) Virtual Desktop
13 2 (0.36%) Virtual Servers
13 2 (0.36%) XenDesktop
14 1 (0.18%) VMware Server
Systems Management
1 22 (3.96%) SCCM
2 21 (3.78%) Microsoft Intune
3 18 (3.24%) Kubernetes
4 17 (3.06%) Ansible
5 15 (2.70%) vRealize
6 11 (1.98%) SCOM
6 11 (1.98%) Terraform
7 10 (1.80%) Single Sign-On
8 8 (1.44%) vCenter Server
9 7 (1.26%) AirWatch
9 7 (1.26%) NetBackup
9 7 (1.26%) Oracle RMAN
9 7 (1.26%) Puppet
10 5 (0.90%) Data Guard
10 5 (0.90%) HP ALM
10 5 (0.90%) McAfee ePO
11 4 (0.72%) Cisco IPCC
11 4 (0.72%) Cisco UCCE
11 4 (0.72%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
11 4 (0.72%) WSUS
Vendors
1 132 (23.74%) Microsoft
2 60 (10.79%) VMware
3 55 (9.89%) Cisco
4 39 (7.01%) ServiceNow
5 34 (6.12%) Oracle
5 34 (6.12%) SAP
6 30 (5.40%) HP
7 29 (5.22%) Citrix
8 22 (3.96%) Remedy
9 17 (3.06%) Dell
10 14 (2.52%) Apple
10 14 (2.52%) Juniper
11 12 (2.16%) Splunk
12 11 (1.98%) Salesforce.com
13 10 (1.80%) BMC
13 10 (1.80%) Huawei
13 10 (1.80%) Veeam
14 8 (1.44%) Fortinet
14 8 (1.44%) Red Hat
15 7 (1.26%) Nokia
219 SLA job vacancies Nationwide