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 30 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
30 Nov 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 219 214 173
Rank change year-on-year -5 -41 +16
Contract jobs citing SLA 464 430 688
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.29% 1.19% 1.50%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 7.39% 8.64% 10.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 246 208 343
10th Percentile £171 £148 £148
25th Percentile £213 £185 £200
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £350 £266 £400
Median % change year-on-year +31.46% -33.44% +29.03%
75th Percentile £532 £500 £530
90th Percentile £608 £588 £632
UK excluding London median daily rate £300 £253 £320
% change year-on-year +18.81% -21.09% +39.13%
Number of hourly rates quoted 104 56 53
10th Percentile £16.11 £14.56 £12.66
25th Percentile £17.69 £15.60 £14.16
Median hourly rate £18.97 £24.18 £17.95
Median % change year-on-year -21.55% +34.75% +4.48%
75th Percentile £25.15 £27.69 £33.75
90th Percentile £37.38 £46.25 £63.95
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.50 £24.18 £17.50
% change year-on-year -23.49% +38.17% +3.86%

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 6,276 4,978 6,585
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.51% 13.73% 14.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,033 2,906 4,392
10th Percentile £310 £265 £313
25th Percentile £404 £382 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £600 £625 £649
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.58% -5.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 312 221 241
10th Percentile £13.60 £13.52 £15.25
25th Percentile £17.65 £17.50 £20.51
Median hourly rate £26.31 £26.50 £36.00
Median % change year-on-year -0.74% -26.39% +53.19%
75th Percentile £60.77 £54.36 £65.00
90th Percentile £79.99 £70.00 £83.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.82 £25.60 £40.00
% change year-on-year -10.86% -36.00% +90.48%

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 30 November 2025.

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 30 November 2025.

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 30 November 2025. 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 -6 416 £358 +24.35% 215
UK excluding London -14 320 £300 +18.81% 207
London +29 109 £475 +58.33% 63
Work from Home -4 88 £400 +14.29% 67
South East -17 77 £424 +84.24% 65
East of England +23 62 £313 +5.04% 30
North of England -60 60 £260 -22.39% 38
Midlands -33 56 £350 - 34
South West +31 46 £275 -39.23% 21
West Midlands -11 44 £365 +26.96% 23
North West -47 27 £285 -36.67% 19
Yorkshire -22 26 £240 +5.29% 15
Scotland +1 12 £320 +52.38% 15
East Midlands -30 12 £134 -72.51% 11
Northern Ireland -13 8 £500 +199.40% 6
North East -5 7 £265 +63.08% 4
Wales -7 3 £183 -16.82% 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 17 (3.66%) SharePoint
2 16 (3.45%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (0.86%) IIS
4 3 (0.65%) Anypoint
4 3 (0.65%) Confluence
4 3 (0.65%) Tomcat
5 2 (0.43%) Mule
5 2 (0.43%) Oracle Self-Service HR
5 2 (0.43%) Oracle Workflow
6 1 (0.22%) ArcGIS
6 1 (0.22%) GeoServer
6 1 (0.22%) MQSeries
6 1 (0.22%) Oracle Spatial
Applications
1 32 (6.90%) Microsoft Office
2 31 (6.68%) Microsoft Excel
3 24 (5.17%) Spreadsheet
4 5 (1.08%) MS Visio
5 4 (0.86%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (0.86%) Oracle Smart View
6 2 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 14 (3.02%) Oracle EBS
2 7 (1.51%) Oracle General Ledger
2 7 (1.51%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 5 (1.08%) Oracle Assets
3 5 (1.08%) Oracle EBS R12
4 4 (0.86%) Oracle FAH
4 4 (0.86%) Workday HCM
5 3 (0.65%) iTrent
5 3 (0.65%) Oracle Payables
5 3 (0.65%) Oracle Receivables
5 3 (0.65%) Remedy ITSM
6 2 (0.43%) Dynamics CRM
6 2 (0.43%) Dynamics GP
6 2 (0.43%) Oracle Cash Management
6 2 (0.43%) Oracle ERP
6 2 (0.43%) Oracle Financials
6 2 (0.43%) Oracle HRMS
6 2 (0.43%) SAP S/4HANA
6 2 (0.43%) SAP SD
7 1 (0.22%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 72 (15.52%) Microsoft 365
2 35 (7.54%) Azure
3 25 (5.39%) AWS
4 11 (2.37%) SaaS
5 10 (2.16%) Entra ID
6 8 (1.72%) Power Platform
7 7 (1.51%) IaaS
7 7 (1.51%) PaaS
8 5 (1.08%) Cloud Computing
8 5 (1.08%) GCP
9 4 (0.86%) GitHub
9 4 (0.86%) GitHub Actions
9 4 (0.86%) OCI
10 3 (0.65%) OneDrive
10 3 (0.65%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 2 (0.43%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 2 (0.43%) Amazon EC2
11 2 (0.43%) Amazon S3
11 2 (0.43%) Datadog
11 2 (0.43%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 20 (4.31%) Firewall
1 20 (4.31%) WAN
2 18 (3.88%) LAN
2 18 (3.88%) Wireless
3 16 (3.45%) DNS
4 13 (2.80%) DHCP
4 13 (2.80%) PABX
5 11 (2.37%) MPLS
5 11 (2.37%) SD-WAN
6 10 (2.16%) VPN
7 7 (1.51%) BGP
7 7 (1.51%) OSPF
8 6 (1.29%) Network Security
8 6 (1.29%) SDH
8 6 (1.29%) VoIP
9 5 (1.08%) Broadband
9 5 (1.08%) Cisco IOS
9 5 (1.08%) Structured Cabling
9 5 (1.08%) TCP/IP
10 4 (0.86%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (2.37%) SQL Server
2 6 (1.29%) Oracle Database
2 6 (1.29%) Power BI
3 5 (1.08%) MySQL
3 5 (1.08%) Oracle Reports
4 4 (0.86%) SAP HANA
5 3 (0.65%) Amazon RDS
5 3 (0.65%) GIS
5 3 (0.65%) OLTP
5 3 (0.65%) PostgreSQL
6 2 (0.43%) Data Warehouse
6 2 (0.43%) MongoDB
7 1 (0.22%) Amazon Aurora
7 1 (0.22%) Azure SQL Database
7 1 (0.22%) Geospatial Data
7 1 (0.22%) Metadata
7 1 (0.22%) Oracle Database 12c
7 1 (0.22%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 1 (0.22%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 10 (2.16%) JIRA
2 6 (1.29%) Postman
3 4 (0.86%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.65%) Git
4 3 (0.65%) GitLab
4 3 (0.65%) Selenium
4 3 (0.65%) Visual Studio
5 2 (0.43%) Cucumber
5 2 (0.43%) Jaeger
5 2 (0.43%) LSMW
5 2 (0.43%) Oracle APEX
5 2 (0.43%) PVCS
5 2 (0.43%) Visual Studio Code
5 2 (0.43%) Zephyr
6 1 (0.22%) Metasploit
6 1 (0.22%) TestDirector
General
1 204 (43.97%) Social Skills
2 93 (20.04%) Finance
3 62 (13.36%) Analytical Skills
4 53 (11.42%) Public Sector
5 34 (7.33%) Telecoms
6 29 (6.25%) Banking
7 23 (4.96%) Legal
8 18 (3.88%) Organisational Skills
9 14 (3.02%) Documentation Skills
10 11 (2.37%) Retail
11 10 (2.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 9 (1.94%) Financial Institution
12 9 (1.94%) Manufacturing
12 9 (1.94%) Marketing
13 7 (1.51%) Police
14 6 (1.29%) Law
14 6 (1.29%) Local Government
14 6 (1.29%) Military
15 4 (0.86%) Investment Banking
15 4 (0.86%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 72 (15.52%) Analyst
2 58 (12.50%) IT Support
3 48 (10.34%) Lead
4 34 (7.33%) Support Engineer
5 33 (7.11%) Support Analyst
6 30 (6.47%) Desktop Support
7 25 (5.39%) Senior
7 25 (5.39%) Team Leader
8 22 (4.74%) Service Manager
9 19 (4.09%) Service Analyst
10 18 (3.88%) Consultant
10 18 (3.88%) Delivery Manager
10 18 (3.88%) IT Manager
11 17 (3.66%) Administrator
12 16 (3.45%) Desktop Engineer
12 16 (3.45%) IT Engineer
12 16 (3.45%) Technical Support
13 15 (3.23%) Applications Support
13 15 (3.23%) Developer
14 14 (3.02%) Service Delivery Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (0.86%) CSS
1 4 (0.86%) Elastic Stack
1 4 (0.86%) RESTful
2 3 (0.65%) HTML
2 3 (0.65%) Kafka
2 3 (0.65%) Lightning Web Components
2 3 (0.65%) Node.js
2 3 (0.65%) Oracle Fusion
2 3 (0.65%) RAML
2 3 (0.65%) XML
3 2 (0.43%) .NET
3 2 (0.43%) BAPI
3 2 (0.43%) EDI
3 2 (0.43%) Middleware
3 2 (0.43%) OAuth
3 2 (0.43%) OAuth2
3 2 (0.43%) OpenID
3 2 (0.43%) SAML
3 2 (0.43%) SAP ALE
3 2 (0.43%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 25 (5.39%) Management Information System
2 23 (4.96%) Driving Licence
3 20 (4.31%) Data Centre
3 20 (4.31%) Self-Motivation
4 18 (3.88%) Onboarding
5 13 (2.80%) Smartphone
6 8 (1.72%) Product Ownership
7 6 (1.29%) Analytical Mindset
7 6 (1.29%) Enterprise Cloud
8 5 (1.08%) CMDB
8 5 (1.08%) Derivative
8 5 (1.08%) Security Posture
8 5 (1.08%) Video Conferencing
9 4 (0.86%) Cloud Native
9 4 (0.86%) Mobile App
9 4 (0.86%) NHS
9 4 (0.86%) Public Cloud
9 4 (0.86%) Security Operations Centre
10 3 (0.65%) PKI
10 3 (0.65%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 87 (18.75%) Windows
2 33 (7.11%) Windows 10
3 21 (4.53%) Android
4 18 (3.88%) Mac OS
5 14 (3.02%) Apple iOS
5 14 (3.02%) Windows Server
6 12 (2.59%) Linux
7 10 (2.16%) Unix
8 3 (0.65%) Mac OS X
8 3 (0.65%) Windows 7
9 2 (0.43%) Windows 8
9 2 (0.43%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 137 (29.53%) ITIL
2 114 (24.57%) Customer Service
3 86 (18.53%) Service Delivery
4 72 (15.52%) Continuous Improvement
4 72 (15.52%) Problem-Solving
5 60 (12.93%) Service Management
6 51 (10.99%) ITSM
7 49 (10.56%) Time Management
8 43 (9.27%) Change Management
8 43 (9.27%) Stakeholder Management
9 39 (8.41%) Agile
10 35 (7.54%) Incident Management
11 29 (6.25%) Root Cause Analysis
12 26 (5.60%) Cybersecurity
13 25 (5.39%) Process Improvement
14 23 (4.96%) Customer Experience
15 22 (4.74%) Line Management
15 22 (4.74%) Mentoring
15 22 (4.74%) Roadmaps
16 20 (4.31%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 25 (5.39%) SQL
2 22 (4.74%) Python
3 11 (2.37%) PowerShell
4 10 (2.16%) Java
5 7 (1.51%) Shell Script
6 5 (1.08%) JavaScript
7 4 (0.86%) Bash
7 4 (0.86%) PL/SQL
8 3 (0.65%) Apex Code
8 3 (0.65%) C#
9 2 (0.43%) ABAP
9 2 (0.43%) C++
9 2 (0.43%) Kusto Query Language
9 2 (0.43%) Ruby
10 1 (0.22%) Bicep
10 1 (0.22%) Go
10 1 (0.22%) SOQL
10 1 (0.22%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 139 (29.96%) Security Cleared
2 106 (22.84%) SC Cleared
3 37 (7.97%) Degree
4 27 (5.82%) DV Cleared
5 12 (2.59%) BPSS Clearance
5 12 (2.59%) MOS
6 11 (2.37%) ITIL Certification
6 11 (2.37%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 11 (2.37%) PMI Certification
7 10 (2.16%) Cisco Certification
8 9 (1.94%) Microsoft Certification
9 8 (1.72%) PMP
10 6 (1.29%) CCNP
10 6 (1.29%) Computer Science Degree
11 4 (0.86%) CEH
11 4 (0.86%) CISSP
12 3 (0.65%) Azure Certification
12 3 (0.65%) CISM
12 3 (0.65%) DBS Check
12 3 (0.65%) HNC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (3.23%) GDPR
2 13 (2.80%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 12 (2.59%) QA
4 9 (1.94%) NIST
5 7 (1.51%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 6 (1.29%) Data Quality
6 6 (1.29%) PMO
7 5 (1.08%) PCI DSS
8 3 (0.65%) Cyber Essentials
8 3 (0.65%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.43%) COBIT
9 2 (0.43%) GRC
9 2 (0.43%) ISO 9001
9 2 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 2 (0.43%) NIST 800
9 2 (0.43%) PSD2
10 1 (0.22%) Accessibility
10 1 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
System Software
1 41 (8.84%) Active Directory
2 8 (1.72%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (1.29%) vSphere
4 4 (0.86%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.65%) DFS Replication
5 3 (0.65%) Docker
5 3 (0.65%) Firmware
5 3 (0.65%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.43%) BitLocker
6 2 (0.43%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.22%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 19 (4.09%) SCCM
2 14 (3.02%) Microsoft Intune
3 6 (1.29%) Grafana
3 6 (1.29%) Kubernetes
3 6 (1.29%) Terraform
4 5 (1.08%) Ansible
4 5 (1.08%) Prometheus
4 5 (1.08%) SCOM
5 4 (0.86%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (0.65%) FortiGate
6 3 (0.65%) RSA Archer
6 3 (0.65%) WSUS
7 2 (0.43%) Argo
7 2 (0.43%) Microsoft Clustering
7 2 (0.43%) NetApp OnCommand
7 2 (0.43%) vCenter Server
7 2 (0.43%) vMotion
8 1 (0.22%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 1 (0.22%) Jamf Pro
8 1 (0.22%) SysTrack
Vendors
1 110 (23.71%) Microsoft
2 42 (9.05%) Cisco
3 41 (8.84%) ServiceNow
4 39 (8.41%) Oracle
5 24 (5.17%) HP
6 23 (4.96%) Dell
6 23 (4.96%) SAP
7 20 (4.31%) Apple
8 13 (2.80%) Juniper
8 13 (2.80%) VMware
9 11 (2.37%) Google
10 7 (1.51%) Fortinet
10 7 (1.51%) Workday
11 6 (1.29%) Splunk
12 5 (1.08%) Citrix
12 5 (1.08%) Remedy
13 4 (0.86%) IBM
13 4 (0.86%) Nokia
13 4 (0.86%) Salesforce
13 4 (0.86%) Tenable
246 SLA jobs Nationwide