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

 6 months to
29 Aug 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 253 204 180
Rank change year-on-year -49 -24 +4
Contract jobs citing SLA 581 456 525
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.08% 1.38% 1.36%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 6.19% 8.15% 10.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 348 261 249
10th Percentile £181 £180 £156
25th Percentile £250 £216 £200
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £350 £330
Median % change year-on-year +21.43% +6.06% -17.50%
75th Percentile £525 £544 £493
90th Percentile £600 £613 £591
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £325 £315
% change year-on-year +30.77% +3.17% -1.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 63 62 71
10th Percentile £13.45 £15.55 £12.00
25th Percentile £14.45 £17.48 £13.22
Median hourly rate £18.79 £22.14 £18.07
Median % change year-on-year -15.13% +22.56% +1.93%
75th Percentile £22.26 £25.15 £24.18
90th Percentile £27.44 £33.75 £36.80
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.79 £18.80 £15.24
% change year-on-year -0.05% +23.36% -12.91%

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 9,381 5,595 5,165
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.40% 16.98% 13.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,959 3,596 3,155
10th Percentile £325 £289 £289
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year - -2.44% -2.38%
75th Percentile £600 £606 £625
90th Percentile £700 £713 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £475 £484
% change year-on-year +3.58% -1.81% -3.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 585 258 281
10th Percentile £13.86 £13.60 £11.80
25th Percentile £17.21 £17.03 £14.44
Median hourly rate £35.00 £30.00 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year +16.67% +20.00% -28.57%
75th Percentile £68.75 £60.00 £55.00
90th Percentile £79.60 £83.68 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £36.07 £26.50 £24.18
% change year-on-year +36.11% +9.59% -29.91%

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 29 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 29 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 29 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 -63 477 £429 +14.40% 485
UK excluding London -50 346 £425 +30.77% 308
London -29 196 £425 -5.56% 211
Work from Home -14 138 £463 +44.53% 174
North of England -39 97 £436 +74.15% 66
South East -75 75 £473 +49.29% 96
North West -19 68 £435 +33.85% 40
Scotland +34 66 £353 +5.22% 13
Midlands -56 52 £250 -28.57% 60
West Midlands -46 45 £250 -34.64% 38
East of England -14 30 £505 +44.29% 36
South West -45 30 £356 +9.54% 32
Yorkshire -51 26 £450 +87.87% 18
Wales -14 11 £525 +169.23% 5
East Midlands -18 6 £363 +170.52% 22
North East -35 3 £228 - 9
Northern Ireland 0 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 40 (6.88%) SharePoint
2 27 (4.65%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (1.38%) Confluence
4 7 (1.20%) OpenStack
5 5 (0.86%) IIS
6 4 (0.69%) SAS
7 3 (0.52%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.34%) Anypoint
8 2 (0.34%) Apache
8 2 (0.34%) Exchange Server 2010
8 2 (0.34%) Mule
9 1 (0.17%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 1 (0.17%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.17%) ArcGIS
9 1 (0.17%) CICS
9 1 (0.17%) Exchange Server 2013
9 1 (0.17%) JBoss
9 1 (0.17%) Skype for Business
9 1 (0.17%) Smallworld
Applications
1 55 (9.47%) Microsoft Office
2 28 (4.82%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (0.86%) Spreadsheet
4 4 (0.69%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.52%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.34%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.17%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 1 (0.17%) Autodesk Inventor
7 1 (0.17%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.17%) MicroStation
Business Applications
1 14 (2.41%) Remedy ITSM
2 8 (1.38%) ContrOCC
3 5 (0.86%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.86%) Oracle Applications
4 4 (0.69%) 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 (0.34%) Dynamics GP
6 2 (0.34%) Oracle Cash Management
6 2 (0.34%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.34%) 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%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 113 (19.45%) Microsoft 365
2 104 (17.90%) Azure
3 57 (9.81%) Entra ID
4 52 (8.95%) AWS
5 24 (4.13%) OneDrive
6 21 (3.61%) Power Platform
7 20 (3.44%) SaaS
8 14 (2.41%) Datadog
9 13 (2.24%) Azure DevOps
10 10 (1.72%) IaaS
10 10 (1.72%) PaaS
11 9 (1.55%) Azure Sentinel
11 9 (1.55%) OCI
11 9 (1.55%) Serverless
12 8 (1.38%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 8 (1.38%) Amazon S3
13 7 (1.20%) Snowflake
14 6 (1.03%) dbt
14 6 (1.03%) Dynamics 365
14 6 (1.03%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 41 (7.06%) DNS
2 35 (6.02%) VPN
3 32 (5.51%) DHCP
4 27 (4.65%) WAN
5 26 (4.48%) LAN
6 23 (3.96%) TCP/IP
7 22 (3.79%) Firewall
7 22 (3.79%) Wi-Fi
8 16 (2.75%) Network Security
9 15 (2.58%) SAN
9 15 (2.58%) SDH
10 11 (1.89%) MPLS
10 11 (1.89%) VLAN
11 9 (1.55%) Skype
12 8 (1.38%) Cisco IOS
12 8 (1.38%) Radio Access Network
13 7 (1.20%) 5G
13 7 (1.20%) LTE
13 7 (1.20%) Wireless
14 6 (1.03%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (3.79%) SQL Server
2 15 (2.58%) Power BI
3 9 (1.55%) Tableau
4 7 (1.20%) Oracle Reports
5 5 (0.86%) PostgreSQL
6 4 (0.69%) Db2
6 4 (0.69%) Delta Lake
6 4 (0.69%) Pentaho
7 3 (0.52%) Amazon Athena
7 3 (0.52%) Amazon RDS
7 3 (0.52%) Big Data
7 3 (0.52%) Data Lake
7 3 (0.52%) MySQL
7 3 (0.52%) Oracle Database
7 3 (0.52%) Relational Database
8 2 (0.34%) Oracle Database 10g
8 2 (0.34%) Oracle Database 11g
8 2 (0.34%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 2 (0.34%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 1 (0.17%) GIS
Development Applications
1 43 (7.40%) JIRA
2 10 (1.72%) GitLab
3 8 (1.38%) Jenkins
4 6 (1.03%) Chocolatey
4 6 (1.03%) Git
5 4 (0.69%) RStudio
6 3 (0.52%) Visual Studio
7 2 (0.34%) Artifactory
7 2 (0.34%) Toad
8 1 (0.17%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.17%) Maven
8 1 (0.17%) WiX
General
1 243 (41.82%) Social Skills
2 107 (18.42%) Analytical Skills
3 104 (17.90%) Finance
4 37 (6.37%) Public Sector
5 30 (5.16%) Telecoms
6 28 (4.82%) Organisational Skills
7 27 (4.65%) Banking
8 22 (3.79%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 21 (3.61%) Documentation Skills
10 16 (2.75%) Legal
11 15 (2.58%) Local Government
12 14 (2.41%) Retail
13 12 (2.07%) Manufacturing
14 11 (1.89%) Billing
15 8 (1.38%) Influencing Skills
16 6 (1.03%) Financial Institution
17 5 (0.86%) Aerospace
18 4 (0.69%) French Language
19 3 (0.52%) Presentation Skills
20 2 (0.34%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 80 (13.77%) Analyst
2 61 (10.50%) Support Engineer
3 49 (8.43%) IT Support
4 44 (7.57%) Senior
5 35 (6.02%) IT Engineer
5 35 (6.02%) Lead
6 32 (5.51%) Consultant
7 30 (5.16%) Service Manager
8 29 (4.99%) Service Analyst
9 28 (4.82%) Field Engineer
10 25 (4.30%) Architect
10 25 (4.30%) Network Engineer
11 24 (4.13%) Desktop Support
11 24 (4.13%) IT Support Engineer
12 22 (3.79%) Service Desk Analyst
13 19 (3.27%) Delivery Manager
14 18 (3.10%) Administrator
14 18 (3.10%) Applications Support
15 16 (2.75%) Desktop Engineer
15 16 (2.75%) Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (2.75%) Terraform
2 15 (2.58%) REST
3 11 (1.89%) .NET
4 8 (1.38%) LDAP
5 6 (1.03%) Oracle Fusion
5 6 (1.03%) XML
6 5 (0.86%) Middleware
6 5 (0.86%) PySpark
6 5 (0.86%) Software Packaging
7 4 (0.69%) Kafka
7 4 (0.69%) OAuth
8 3 (0.52%) .NET Framework
8 3 (0.52%) ARM Templates
8 3 (0.52%) Java RMI
8 3 (0.52%) JSON
8 3 (0.52%) RESTful
8 3 (0.52%) SOAP
9 2 (0.34%) EDI
9 2 (0.34%) Jakarta EE
9 2 (0.34%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 62 (10.67%) Onboarding
2 28 (4.82%) Data Centre
3 24 (4.13%) CMDB
4 20 (3.44%) Enterprise Software
5 14 (2.41%) PKI
5 14 (2.41%) Smartphone
6 13 (2.24%) Virtual Team
7 12 (2.07%) Video Conferencing
8 10 (1.72%) Product Ownership
9 9 (1.55%) Cyber Threat
10 8 (1.38%) Driving Licence
10 8 (1.38%) iPhone
10 8 (1.38%) Self-Motivation
11 7 (1.20%) Fat Client
11 7 (1.20%) Thin Client
12 6 (1.03%) Fibre Optics
13 5 (0.86%) Analytical Mindset
13 5 (0.86%) BYOD
13 5 (0.86%) Data Protection Act
13 5 (0.86%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 163 (28.06%) Windows
2 64 (11.02%) Windows 10
3 36 (6.20%) Android
4 35 (6.02%) Windows Server
5 32 (5.51%) Linux
6 12 (2.07%) Mac OS
6 12 (2.07%) Unix
6 12 (2.07%) Windows 7
7 11 (1.89%) Apple iOS
8 9 (1.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 5 (0.86%) Windows Server 2012
10 4 (0.69%) CentOS
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
1 239 (41.14%) ITIL
2 141 (24.27%) ITSM
3 128 (22.03%) Customer Service
3 128 (22.03%) Service Management
4 127 (21.86%) Problem-Solving
5 122 (21.00%) Continuous Improvement
6 106 (18.24%) Stakeholder Management
7 95 (16.35%) Service Delivery
8 88 (15.15%) Change Management
9 64 (11.02%) Incident Management
10 63 (10.84%) Root Cause Analysis
11 60 (10.33%) Agile
12 59 (10.15%) Problem Management
13 49 (8.43%) Validation
14 46 (7.92%) Migration
15 39 (6.71%) DevOps
15 39 (6.71%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 38 (6.54%) Asset Management
16 38 (6.54%) Runbook
17 37 (6.37%) Customer Experience
Programming Languages
1 47 (8.09%) SQL
2 43 (7.40%) PowerShell
3 39 (6.71%) Python
4 11 (1.89%) Bash
5 10 (1.72%) JavaScript
6 8 (1.38%) Java
7 7 (1.20%) Shell Script
8 6 (1.03%) PL/SQL
9 5 (0.86%) C#
10 4 (0.69%) Bicep
10 4 (0.69%) MATLAB
10 4 (0.69%) R
11 2 (0.34%) DataWeave
11 2 (0.34%) Korn
11 2 (0.34%) X++
12 1 (0.17%) ActionScript
12 1 (0.17%) COBOL
12 1 (0.17%) JCL
12 1 (0.17%) RPG
12 1 (0.17%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 166 (28.57%) Security Cleared
2 134 (23.06%) SC Cleared
3 49 (8.43%) Degree
4 26 (4.48%) DV Cleared
5 20 (3.44%) ITIL Certification
6 19 (3.27%) Microsoft Certification
7 17 (2.93%) BPSS Clearance
7 17 (2.93%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 16 (2.75%) Cisco Certification
9 11 (1.89%) Azure Certification
10 9 (1.55%) A+ Certification
10 9 (1.55%) CCNP
11 8 (1.38%) CCNA
11 8 (1.38%) Computer Science Degree
11 8 (1.38%) MCSE
11 8 (1.38%) PMI Certification
12 7 (1.20%) DBS Check
13 5 (0.86%) CCSE
13 5 (0.86%) CCSM
14 4 (0.69%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (3.96%) Data Quality
2 14 (2.41%) NIST
3 13 (2.24%) ISO/IEC 20000
4 12 (2.07%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 10 (1.72%) QA
6 9 (1.55%) PMO
7 6 (1.03%) NCSC
8 5 (0.86%) COBIT
8 5 (0.86%) Cyber Essentials
8 5 (0.86%) GDPR
8 5 (0.86%) GRC
8 5 (0.86%) ISO 9001
9 4 (0.69%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 3 (0.52%) JSP 440
11 2 (0.34%) PCI DSS
12 1 (0.17%) DICOM
12 1 (0.17%) Disclosure Scotland
12 1 (0.17%) HIPAA
12 1 (0.17%) HL7
12 1 (0.17%) ISO 20022
System Software
1 122 (21.00%) Active Directory
2 27 (4.65%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (3.10%) Virtual Desktop
4 14 (2.41%) VMware ESXi
5 11 (1.89%) Hyper-V
6 10 (1.72%) Docker
7 6 (1.03%) Firmware
7 6 (1.03%) vSphere
8 4 (0.69%) RACF
8 4 (0.69%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.52%) ACF2
10 2 (0.34%) Oracle RAC
10 2 (0.34%) Virtual Servers
11 1 (0.17%) Apache ZooKeeper
11 1 (0.17%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.17%) Ceph
11 1 (0.17%) Job Entry Subsystem
11 1 (0.17%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 1 (0.17%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 52 (8.95%) Microsoft Intune
2 30 (5.16%) SCCM
3 21 (3.61%) Kubernetes
4 12 (2.07%) Single Sign-On
5 11 (1.89%) Grafana
6 10 (1.72%) Ansible
7 9 (1.55%) vCenter Server
8 6 (1.03%) Jamf Pro
8 6 (1.03%) Prometheus
9 5 (0.86%) SCOM
10 4 (0.69%) Check_MK
10 4 (0.69%) Podman
10 4 (0.69%) Red Hat Satellite
11 3 (0.52%) Oracle Identity Management
11 3 (0.52%) Oracle Identity Manager
11 3 (0.52%) SCOrch
11 3 (0.52%) vMotion
12 2 (0.34%) AirWatch
12 2 (0.34%) CloudHub
12 2 (0.34%) Data Guard
Vendors
1 205 (35.28%) Microsoft
2 119 (20.48%) ServiceNow
3 46 (7.92%) VMware
4 44 (7.57%) Cisco
5 30 (5.16%) Oracle
6 22 (3.79%) Apple
7 18 (3.10%) Remedy
8 17 (2.93%) HP
9 11 (1.89%) Nokia
9 11 (1.89%) Zscaler
10 10 (1.72%) Splunk
11 9 (1.55%) Citrix
11 9 (1.55%) Fortinet
11 9 (1.55%) Okta
11 9 (1.55%) Salesforce
11 9 (1.55%) Tenable
12 8 (1.38%) BT
12 8 (1.38%) Databricks
12 8 (1.38%) Ericsson
12 8 (1.38%) Liquidlogic
547 SLA jobs Nationwide