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 14 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 260 211 203
Rank change year-on-year -49 -8 -31
Contract jobs citing SLA 568 447 450
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.03% 1.35% 1.20%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 5.76% 7.68% 8.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 331 251 213
10th Percentile £181 £185 £158
25th Percentile £250 £235 £200
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £365 £330
Median % change year-on-year +16.44% +10.61% -17.50%
75th Percentile £539 £538 £500
90th Percentile £638 £613 £600
UK excluding London median daily rate £433 £325 £340
% change year-on-year +33.23% -4.41% -2.86%
Number of hourly rates quoted 81 77 49
10th Percentile £13.45 £15.80 £14.64
25th Percentile £16.01 £17.48 £17.63
Median hourly rate £19.33 £22.00 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year -12.14% -7.56% +38.86%
75th Percentile £25.75 £25.15 £24.18
90th Percentile £72.25 £38.94 £48.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.33 £18.73 £23.34
% change year-on-year +3.20% -19.75% +45.88%

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 9,867 5,820 5,017
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.85% 17.54% 13.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,182 3,725 2,914
10th Percentile £325 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £400 £398
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year - - -4.76%
75th Percentile £610 £612 £625
90th Percentile £724 £712 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £475 £475
% change year-on-year +1.05% - -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 708 282 238
10th Percentile £13.70 £13.60 £13.44
25th Percentile £16.60 £16.61 £17.72
Median hourly rate £31.46 £30.00 £27.67
Median % change year-on-year +4.87% +8.42% -23.14%
75th Percentile £65.00 £60.00 £62.66
90th Percentile £74.27 £80.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.40 £25.08 £27.50
% change year-on-year +29.19% -8.82% -29.03%

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 14 October 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 14 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for SLA in the UK

SLA
Top 16 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 14 October 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 -71 468 £425 +13.33% 420
UK excluding London -63 349 £433 +33.23% 252
London -48 176 £400 -4.76% 184
Work from Home -39 114 £461 +15.19% 162
North of England -42 86 £440 +64.15% 56
South East -62 77 £513 +28.13% 52
Scotland +29 67 £409 +0.25% 17
North West -11 67 £430 +32.15% 33
Midlands -62 56 £250 -33.33% 52
West Midlands -50 51 £250 -36.71% 29
East of England -15 45 £750 +114.29% 36
South West -51 30 £325 +18.18% 26
Yorkshire -45 17 £450 +79.64% 18
Wales -8 11 £525 +129.51% 8
East Midlands -24 5 £363 +170.52% 23
North East -40 2 £175 - 5

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 (7.75%) SharePoint
2 32 (5.63%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (1.41%) Confluence
4 6 (1.06%) OpenStack
5 4 (0.70%) IIS
6 2 (0.35%) Anypoint
6 2 (0.35%) Exchange Server 2010
6 2 (0.35%) Mule
6 2 (0.35%) SAS
7 1 (0.18%) Apache
7 1 (0.18%) Appian
7 1 (0.18%) CICS
7 1 (0.18%) Exchange Server 2013
7 1 (0.18%) JBoss
7 1 (0.18%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 58 (10.21%) Microsoft Office
2 24 (4.23%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.70%) Spreadsheet
4 2 (0.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.35%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.18%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 1 (0.18%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 21 (3.70%) Remedy ITSM
2 8 (1.41%) ContrOCC
3 5 (0.88%) SAP S/4HANA
4 4 (0.70%) Dynamics CRM
4 4 (0.70%) Oracle Applications
5 3 (0.53%) Oracle Assets
5 3 (0.53%) Oracle General Ledger
5 3 (0.53%) Oracle Payables
5 3 (0.53%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 3 (0.53%) Oracle Receivables
6 2 (0.35%) Dynamics GP
6 2 (0.35%) Oracle Cash Management
6 2 (0.35%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 1 (0.18%) Oracle EBS
7 1 (0.18%) Oracle EBS R12
7 1 (0.18%) Oracle Financials
7 1 (0.18%) SAP HCM
7 1 (0.18%) SAP Oil and Gas
7 1 (0.18%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 124 (21.83%) Microsoft 365
2 109 (19.19%) Azure
3 63 (11.09%) Entra ID
4 39 (6.87%) AWS
5 29 (5.11%) OneDrive
6 23 (4.05%) Power Platform
7 20 (3.52%) SaaS
8 12 (2.11%) Azure DevOps
9 9 (1.58%) Datadog
10 8 (1.41%) Azure Sentinel
10 8 (1.41%) GCP
10 8 (1.41%) IaaS
10 8 (1.41%) Serverless
11 7 (1.23%) Google Workspace
11 7 (1.23%) PaaS
12 6 (1.06%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 5 (0.88%) AWS CloudFormation
13 5 (0.88%) Azure AKS
13 5 (0.88%) Dynamics 365
13 5 (0.88%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 40 (7.04%) VPN
2 37 (6.51%) DNS
3 30 (5.28%) DHCP
4 27 (4.75%) LAN
5 26 (4.58%) TCP/IP
6 25 (4.40%) WAN
7 23 (4.05%) Firewall
8 17 (2.99%) Wi-Fi
9 14 (2.46%) MPLS
9 14 (2.46%) SDH
10 12 (2.11%) SAN
11 11 (1.94%) Skype
11 11 (1.94%) VLAN
12 9 (1.58%) Network Security
13 8 (1.41%) Radio Access Network
13 8 (1.41%) Wireless
14 7 (1.23%) 5G
14 7 (1.23%) LTE
14 7 (1.23%) Wireshark
15 6 (1.06%) Cisco IOS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (3.87%) SQL Server
2 18 (3.17%) Power BI
3 8 (1.41%) Tableau
4 7 (1.23%) BigQuery
4 7 (1.23%) Looker
5 5 (0.88%) Delta Lake
6 4 (0.70%) Amazon RDS
6 4 (0.70%) Db2
7 3 (0.53%) Big Data
7 3 (0.53%) Data Lake
7 3 (0.53%) MySQL
7 3 (0.53%) Oracle Database
7 3 (0.53%) PostgreSQL
7 3 (0.53%) Relational Database
8 2 (0.35%) Elasticsearch
8 2 (0.35%) Flink
8 2 (0.35%) Metadata
8 2 (0.35%) Semantic Layer
8 2 (0.35%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 2 (0.35%) Sybase ASE
Development Applications
1 39 (6.87%) JIRA
2 6 (1.06%) GitLab
3 5 (0.88%) Git
3 5 (0.88%) RStudio
4 4 (0.70%) Chocolatey
4 4 (0.70%) Jenkins
5 2 (0.35%) Artifactory
5 2 (0.35%) Visual Studio
6 1 (0.18%) Postman
6 1 (0.18%) Toad
General
1 240 (42.25%) Social Skills
2 105 (18.49%) Analytical Skills
3 92 (16.20%) Finance
4 37 (6.51%) Organisational Skills
5 34 (5.99%) Public Sector
6 29 (5.11%) Banking
7 22 (3.87%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 22 (3.87%) Telecoms
8 16 (2.82%) Legal
9 15 (2.64%) Billing
9 15 (2.64%) Documentation Skills
10 12 (2.11%) Local Government
11 11 (1.94%) Manufacturing
12 10 (1.76%) Aerospace
12 10 (1.76%) Retail
13 7 (1.23%) Influencing Skills
14 5 (0.88%) Back Office
15 4 (0.70%) French Language
15 4 (0.70%) Front Office
16 3 (0.53%) Law
Job Titles
1 76 (13.38%) Analyst
2 63 (11.09%) Support Engineer
3 51 (8.98%) IT Support
4 33 (5.81%) IT Engineer
5 32 (5.63%) Lead
6 31 (5.46%) Consultant
7 29 (5.11%) Senior
8 27 (4.75%) Service Analyst
9 26 (4.58%) Desktop Support
9 26 (4.58%) Field Engineer
10 25 (4.40%) IT Support Engineer
10 25 (4.40%) Network Engineer
10 25 (4.40%) Service Manager
11 24 (4.23%) Architect
11 24 (4.23%) Service Desk Analyst
12 17 (2.99%) Delivery Manager
12 17 (2.99%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 16 (2.82%) Applications Support
13 16 (2.82%) Desktop Engineer
14 15 (2.64%) Incident Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (4.05%) REST
2 13 (2.29%) Terraform
3 9 (1.58%) .NET
4 7 (1.23%) LDAP
4 7 (1.23%) OAuth
5 6 (1.06%) PySpark
5 6 (1.06%) XML
6 4 (0.70%) Kafka
6 4 (0.70%) Middleware
6 4 (0.70%) Software Packaging
7 3 (0.53%) .NET Framework
7 3 (0.53%) ARM Templates
7 3 (0.53%) Elastic Stack
7 3 (0.53%) Java RMI
7 3 (0.53%) SAML
7 3 (0.53%) SOAP
8 2 (0.35%) OpenAPI
8 2 (0.35%) OpenID
8 2 (0.35%) OpenTelemetry
8 2 (0.35%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 67 (11.80%) Onboarding
2 29 (5.11%) CMDB
3 27 (4.75%) Data Centre
4 20 (3.52%) Enterprise Software
5 18 (3.17%) Smartphone
6 17 (2.99%) Video Conferencing
7 15 (2.64%) PKI
8 14 (2.46%) Security Posture
9 12 (2.11%) Virtual Team
10 11 (1.94%) Driving Licence
11 10 (1.76%) Management Information System
12 9 (1.58%) Security Operations Centre
13 8 (1.41%) Cyber Threat
14 7 (1.23%) Fat Client
14 7 (1.23%) iPhone
14 7 (1.23%) Replication
14 7 (1.23%) Self-Motivation
14 7 (1.23%) Thin Client
15 6 (1.06%) Analytical Mindset
15 6 (1.06%) Fibre Optics
Operating Systems
1 174 (30.63%) Windows
2 61 (10.74%) Windows 10
3 49 (8.63%) Windows Server
4 44 (7.75%) Android
5 28 (4.93%) Linux
6 19 (3.35%) Apple iOS
7 14 (2.46%) macOS
8 12 (2.11%) Unix
9 11 (1.94%) Windows 7
10 6 (1.06%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 4 (0.70%) Windows Server 2012
12 3 (0.53%) Windows Server 2019
12 3 (0.53%) Windows XP
13 2 (0.35%) CentOS
14 1 (0.18%) OpenVMS
14 1 (0.18%) Ubuntu
14 1 (0.18%) VMS
14 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2003
14 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2016
14 1 (0.18%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 242 (42.61%) ITIL
2 152 (26.76%) ITSM
3 147 (25.88%) Service Management
4 139 (24.47%) Customer Service
5 127 (22.36%) Problem-Solving
6 123 (21.65%) Continuous Improvement
7 113 (19.89%) Stakeholder Management
8 98 (17.25%) Service Delivery
9 88 (15.49%) Incident Management
10 79 (13.91%) Change Management
11 68 (11.97%) Root Cause Analysis
12 57 (10.04%) Problem Management
13 50 (8.80%) Validation
14 45 (7.92%) Agile
14 45 (7.92%) Incident Response
15 41 (7.22%) Asset Management
16 40 (7.04%) Cybersecurity
17 38 (6.69%) Configuration Management
18 37 (6.51%) Runbook
19 36 (6.34%) Migration
Programming Languages
1 48 (8.45%) SQL
2 43 (7.57%) PowerShell
2 43 (7.57%) Python
3 17 (2.99%) JavaScript
4 7 (1.23%) Bash
4 7 (1.23%) Java
5 5 (0.88%) C#
5 5 (0.88%) PL/SQL
5 5 (0.88%) R
5 5 (0.88%) Shell Script
6 4 (0.70%) Google Apps Script
7 3 (0.53%) Bicep
8 2 (0.35%) COBOL
8 2 (0.35%) DataWeave
8 2 (0.35%) MATLAB
8 2 (0.35%) Perl
8 2 (0.35%) RPG
8 2 (0.35%) X++
9 1 (0.18%) ActionScript 2.0
9 1 (0.18%) Korn
Qualifications
1 192 (33.80%) Security Cleared
2 145 (25.53%) SC Cleared
3 38 (6.69%) Degree
4 37 (6.51%) DV Cleared
5 20 (3.52%) ITIL Certification
5 20 (3.52%) Microsoft Certification
6 19 (3.35%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 17 (2.99%) BPSS Clearance
8 15 (2.64%) DBS Check
9 14 (2.46%) Cisco Certification
10 11 (1.94%) A+ Certification
10 11 (1.94%) PMI Certification
11 9 (1.58%) Azure Certification
12 8 (1.41%) CCNA
13 7 (1.23%) CCNP
13 7 (1.23%) Computer Science Degree
13 7 (1.23%) MCSE
13 7 (1.23%) PMP
14 3 (0.53%) CCSE
14 3 (0.53%) CCSM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (4.05%) Data Quality
2 12 (2.11%) ISO/IEC 20000
3 11 (1.94%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 9 (1.58%) NIST
5 8 (1.41%) QA
6 7 (1.23%) PMO
7 6 (1.06%) NCSC
8 5 (0.88%) COBIT
8 5 (0.88%) Cyber Essentials
8 5 (0.88%) GDPR
8 5 (0.88%) ISO 9001
9 4 (0.70%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 3 (0.53%) JSP 440
11 2 (0.35%) HIPAA
11 2 (0.35%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.18%) DICOM
12 1 (0.18%) GRC
12 1 (0.18%) GxP
12 1 (0.18%) HL7
12 1 (0.18%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 135 (23.77%) Active Directory
2 21 (3.70%) VMware Infrastructure
3 17 (2.99%) Virtual Desktop
4 12 (2.11%) Hyper-V
5 7 (1.23%) Docker
5 7 (1.23%) Firmware
6 6 (1.06%) VMware ESXi
7 4 (0.70%) RACF
7 4 (0.70%) Virtual Machines
8 3 (0.53%) ACF2
9 2 (0.35%) Apache ZooKeeper
9 2 (0.35%) Oracle RAC
9 2 (0.35%) vSphere
10 1 (0.18%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.18%) Job Entry Subsystem
10 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 1 (0.18%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.18%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 51 (8.98%) Microsoft Intune
2 32 (5.63%) SCCM
3 22 (3.87%) Kubernetes
4 16 (2.82%) Single Sign-On
5 8 (1.41%) Ansible
5 8 (1.41%) Jamf Pro
6 7 (1.23%) Grafana
7 6 (1.06%) SCOM
8 5 (0.88%) Prometheus
9 4 (0.70%) SCOrch
10 3 (0.53%) FortiGate
10 3 (0.53%) vCenter Server
11 2 (0.35%) Check_MK
11 2 (0.35%) CloudHub
11 2 (0.35%) Istio
11 2 (0.35%) Podman
11 2 (0.35%) PowerCLI
11 2 (0.35%) Red Hat Satellite
11 2 (0.35%) systemd
11 2 (0.35%) vMotion
Vendors
1 226 (39.79%) Microsoft
2 120 (21.13%) ServiceNow
3 40 (7.04%) Cisco
4 35 (6.16%) VMware
5 25 (4.40%) Remedy
6 21 (3.70%) Apple
7 20 (3.52%) Oracle
8 15 (2.64%) HP
9 13 (2.29%) SAP
10 11 (1.94%) Google
10 11 (1.94%) Nokia
11 10 (1.76%) Citrix
11 10 (1.76%) Zscaler
12 9 (1.58%) Databricks
12 9 (1.58%) Fortinet
12 9 (1.58%) Okta
13 8 (1.41%) BT
13 8 (1.41%) Ericsson
13 8 (1.41%) Palo Alto
13 8 (1.41%) Salesforce