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 8 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 235 201 152
Rank change year-on-year -34 -49 +42
Contract jobs citing SLA 562 447 700
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.08% 1.40% 1.62%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 6.37% 8.53% 11.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 311 259 328
10th Percentile £200 £181 £156
25th Percentile £288 £215 £205
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £350 £340
Median % change year-on-year +28.57% +2.94% +13.33%
75th Percentile £520 £534 £500
90th Percentile £600 £613 £586
UK excluding London median daily rate £440 £275 £291
% change year-on-year +60.00% -5.34% +5.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 92 55 89
10th Percentile £13.47 £16.02 £11.07
25th Percentile £17.55 £18.16 £12.75
Median hourly rate £18.67 £22.14 £16.19
Median % change year-on-year -15.70% +36.75% -12.49%
75th Percentile £20.92 £25.15 £23.80
90th Percentile £25.77 £39.15 £27.47
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.50 £22.14 £14.16
% change year-on-year -16.44% +56.36% -22.30%

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 8,821 5,238 5,932
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 16.91% 16.40% 13.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,650 3,360 3,670
10th Percentile £338 £281 £281
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year - - -4.76%
75th Percentile £600 £611 £625
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £470 £475
% change year-on-year +6.38% -1.05% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 544 222 431
10th Percentile £14.00 £14.78 £11.07
25th Percentile £19.30 £18.50 £13.52
Median hourly rate £36.07 £30.00 £24.00
Median % change year-on-year +20.23% +25.00% -39.12%
75th Percentile £68.11 £63.38 £50.54
90th Percentile £81.33 £83.37 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £37.50 £28.18 £24.00
% change year-on-year +33.07% +17.42% -36.00%

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 8 July 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 8 July 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 8 July 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 -58 478 £450 +28.57% 262
UK excluding London -69 346 £440 +60.00% 233
London -13 189 £450 +20.00% 79
Work from Home +6 135 £469 +33.93% 119
South East -83 81 £463 +76.19% 91
North of England -60 73 £435 +33.85% 40
Midlands -69 55 £292 -19.52% 24
East of England +8 53 £505 +124.44% 27
Scotland +22 51 £358 +15.95% 22
West Midlands -68 46 £288 -20.69% 15
North West -31 42 £435 +2.35% 25
Yorkshire -40 29 £438 +74.65% 9
South West -47 25 £400 +46.79% 20
Wales -12 12 £525 +100.00% 10
East Midlands -12 8 £475 - 9
Northern Ireland +6 2 £175 - 8
North East -36 2 £280 - 6

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 24 (4.27%) SharePoint
2 11 (1.96%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (1.42%) Confluence
4 7 (1.25%) OpenStack
5 5 (0.89%) IIS
5 5 (0.89%) SAS
6 4 (0.71%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 3 (0.53%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.36%) Anypoint
8 2 (0.36%) ArcGIS
8 2 (0.36%) Exchange Server 2010
8 2 (0.36%) Mule
8 2 (0.36%) Oracle Workflow
9 1 (0.18%) Apache
9 1 (0.18%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.18%) LiveCycle
9 1 (0.18%) Smallworld
Applications
1 53 (9.43%) Microsoft Office
2 49 (8.72%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (2.31%) Spreadsheet
4 8 (1.42%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.89%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 2 (0.36%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.18%) Autodesk Inventor
7 1 (0.18%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.18%) MicroStation
7 1 (0.18%) Oracle Smart View
Business Applications
1 17 (3.02%) Remedy ITSM
2 8 (1.42%) ContrOCC
3 7 (1.25%) Oracle Assets
3 7 (1.25%) Oracle Payables
4 6 (1.07%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 5 (0.89%) Dynamics CRM
5 5 (0.89%) Oracle Applications
5 5 (0.89%) Oracle General Ledger
5 5 (0.89%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 5 (0.89%) Oracle Receivables
6 3 (0.53%) Oracle Cash Management
6 3 (0.53%) Oracle EBS
6 3 (0.53%) Oracle ERP
7 2 (0.36%) Dynamics GP
7 2 (0.36%) IntelliMatch
7 2 (0.36%) Oracle EBS R12
7 2 (0.36%) Oracle Financials
7 2 (0.36%) Payment Gateway
8 1 (0.18%) OpenText VIM for SAP
8 1 (0.18%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 97 (17.26%) Azure
2 76 (13.52%) Microsoft 365
3 54 (9.61%) AWS
4 29 (5.16%) Entra ID
5 24 (4.27%) Power Platform
6 17 (3.02%) Azure DevOps
6 17 (3.02%) SaaS
7 15 (2.67%) OneDrive
8 14 (2.49%) Amazon S3
8 14 (2.49%) Datadog
9 13 (2.31%) IaaS
9 13 (2.31%) OCI
9 13 (2.31%) PaaS
10 11 (1.96%) Amazon EC2
10 11 (1.96%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 10 (1.78%) GCP
11 10 (1.78%) Snowflake
12 9 (1.60%) Azure Sentinel
13 8 (1.42%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 8 (1.42%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 29 (5.16%) DNS
2 28 (4.98%) VPN
3 24 (4.27%) DHCP
4 21 (3.74%) WAN
5 20 (3.56%) Firewall
6 18 (3.20%) LAN
7 17 (3.02%) Wi-Fi
8 14 (2.49%) Network Security
8 14 (2.49%) SAN
9 10 (1.78%) Cisco IOS
9 10 (1.78%) MPLS
10 9 (1.60%) Cisco ASA
10 9 (1.60%) SDH
10 9 (1.60%) TCP/IP
11 8 (1.42%) Radio Access Network
11 8 (1.42%) VLAN
11 8 (1.42%) Wireless
12 7 (1.25%) 5G
12 7 (1.25%) LTE
12 7 (1.25%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (3.56%) Power BI
2 17 (3.02%) SQL Server
3 8 (1.42%) Oracle Reports
3 8 (1.42%) Tableau
4 7 (1.25%) Oracle Database
5 5 (0.89%) Pentaho
5 5 (0.89%) Relational Database
6 4 (0.71%) Amazon RDS
6 4 (0.71%) MySQL
6 4 (0.71%) PostgreSQL
7 3 (0.53%) Amazon Athena
7 3 (0.53%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 2 (0.36%) GIS
8 2 (0.36%) Oracle Database 10g
8 2 (0.36%) Oracle Database 11g
8 2 (0.36%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 1 (0.18%) Azure SQL Database
9 1 (0.18%) Data Warehouse
9 1 (0.18%) Db2
9 1 (0.18%) Hadoop
Development Applications
1 43 (7.65%) JIRA
2 12 (2.14%) GitLab
3 10 (1.78%) Jenkins
4 9 (1.60%) Git
5 7 (1.25%) Chocolatey
6 4 (0.71%) Maven
7 3 (0.53%) Visual Studio
8 2 (0.36%) Artifactory
8 2 (0.36%) JMeter
8 2 (0.36%) Toad
9 1 (0.18%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.18%) Cucumber
9 1 (0.18%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
9 1 (0.18%) WiX
General
1 249 (44.31%) Social Skills
2 110 (19.57%) Finance
3 97 (17.26%) Analytical Skills
4 40 (7.12%) Public Sector
5 35 (6.23%) Banking
6 29 (5.16%) Organisational Skills
7 28 (4.98%) Telecoms
8 25 (4.45%) Documentation Skills
9 23 (4.09%) Legal
10 14 (2.49%) Billing
10 14 (2.49%) Retail
11 13 (2.31%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 13 (2.31%) Local Government
12 9 (1.60%) Financial Institution
12 9 (1.60%) Manufacturing
13 8 (1.42%) Influencing Skills
14 7 (1.25%) Investment Banking
15 6 (1.07%) Aerospace
15 6 (1.07%) Marketing
16 4 (0.71%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 74 (13.17%) Analyst
2 49 (8.72%) IT Support
3 41 (7.30%) Support Engineer
4 35 (6.23%) Lead
5 34 (6.05%) Senior
5 34 (6.05%) Service Manager
6 29 (5.16%) Administrator
7 26 (4.63%) IT Engineer
7 26 (4.63%) Service Analyst
8 22 (3.91%) Consultant
8 22 (3.91%) Delivery Manager
9 19 (3.38%) Service Delivery Manager
9 19 (3.38%) Technical Support
10 18 (3.20%) Desktop Support
11 17 (3.02%) Azure Engineer
11 17 (3.02%) Desktop Engineer
11 17 (3.02%) Network Engineer
12 16 (2.85%) Applications Support
13 15 (2.67%) IT Support Engineer
13 15 (2.67%) Service Desk Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (1.96%) Oracle Fusion
1 11 (1.96%) REST
2 9 (1.60%) .NET
2 9 (1.60%) Middleware
3 8 (1.42%) Web Services
4 6 (1.07%) LDAP
4 6 (1.07%) Software Packaging
5 5 (0.89%) ARM Templates
5 5 (0.89%) AWS CDK
5 5 (0.89%) Spring
6 4 (0.71%) AngularJS
6 4 (0.71%) Bootstrap
6 4 (0.71%) CSS
6 4 (0.71%) jQuery
6 4 (0.71%) JSON
6 4 (0.71%) RESTful
6 4 (0.71%) Sass
6 4 (0.71%) SOAP
6 4 (0.71%) Spring MVC
6 4 (0.71%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 52 (9.25%) Onboarding
2 32 (5.69%) Data Centre
3 18 (3.20%) CMDB
4 14 (2.49%) Enterprise Software
5 12 (2.14%) Smartphone
6 11 (1.96%) Product Ownership
7 9 (1.60%) Cloud Native
7 9 (1.60%) Cyber Threat
7 9 (1.60%) Driving Licence
8 8 (1.42%) BYOD
8 8 (1.42%) Data Protection Act
8 8 (1.42%) Management Information System
8 8 (1.42%) PKI
8 8 (1.42%) Self-Motivation
8 8 (1.42%) Virtual Team
9 7 (1.25%) Analytical Mindset
10 6 (1.07%) Fibre Optics
11 5 (0.89%) IoT
11 5 (0.89%) iPhone
12 4 (0.71%) Augmented Reality
Operating Systems
1 126 (22.42%) Windows
2 43 (7.65%) Windows 10
3 41 (7.30%) Linux
4 23 (4.09%) Windows Server
5 21 (3.74%) Android
6 18 (3.20%) Unix
7 10 (1.78%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 6 (1.07%) CentOS
8 6 (1.07%) Mac OS
9 5 (0.89%) Apple iOS
9 5 (0.89%) Windows 7
10 4 (0.71%) Windows Server 2012
10 4 (0.71%) Windows XP
11 2 (0.36%) Windows Server 2019
12 1 (0.18%) Solaris
12 1 (0.18%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2003
12 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 192 (34.16%) ITIL
2 119 (21.17%) ITSM
3 116 (20.64%) Problem-Solving
4 109 (19.40%) Continuous Improvement
5 106 (18.86%) Customer Service
6 100 (17.79%) Stakeholder Management
7 90 (16.01%) Change Management
7 90 (16.01%) Service Delivery
8 89 (15.84%) Service Management
9 80 (14.23%) Agile
10 68 (12.10%) Root Cause Analysis
11 55 (9.79%) Incident Management
12 50 (8.90%) Problem Management
13 45 (8.01%) Migration
14 43 (7.65%) Time Management
15 42 (7.47%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 41 (7.30%) Asset Management
17 40 (7.12%) DevOps
17 40 (7.12%) Project Management
18 39 (6.94%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 47 (8.36%) SQL
2 34 (6.05%) Python
3 26 (4.63%) PowerShell
4 17 (3.02%) Bash
5 9 (1.60%) Java
5 9 (1.60%) Shell Script
6 8 (1.42%) PL/SQL
7 7 (1.25%) JavaScript
8 6 (1.07%) MATLAB
9 4 (0.71%) Bicep
10 2 (0.36%) C#
10 2 (0.36%) DataWeave
10 2 (0.36%) Korn
10 2 (0.36%) Scala
10 2 (0.36%) VB
10 2 (0.36%) X++
11 1 (0.18%) COBOL
11 1 (0.18%) Groovy
11 1 (0.18%) RPG
11 1 (0.18%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 122 (21.71%) Security Cleared
2 96 (17.08%) SC Cleared
3 51 (9.07%) Degree
4 22 (3.91%) DV Cleared
5 20 (3.56%) ITIL Certification
6 18 (3.20%) BPSS Clearance
7 17 (3.02%) Cisco Certification
8 16 (2.85%) Microsoft Certification
9 11 (1.96%) CCNP
9 11 (1.96%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 9 (1.60%) PMI Certification
11 8 (1.42%) MCSE
12 7 (1.25%) CCNA
13 6 (1.07%) Azure Certification
13 6 (1.07%) CCSE
13 6 (1.07%) Master's Degree
14 5 (0.89%) CCSM
14 5 (0.89%) PMP
15 4 (0.71%) A+ Certification
15 4 (0.71%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (3.20%) Data Quality
2 16 (2.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 15 (2.67%) PMO
4 14 (2.49%) QA
5 11 (1.96%) NIST
6 10 (1.78%) GDPR
7 9 (1.60%) COBIT
7 9 (1.60%) GRC
8 7 (1.25%) PCI DSS
9 5 (0.89%) Cyber Essentials
9 5 (0.89%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 3 (0.53%) ISO 20022
10 3 (0.53%) ISO 9001
10 3 (0.53%) JSP 440
10 3 (0.53%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.36%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 2 (0.36%) ISO 31000
11 2 (0.36%) ISO 8583
11 2 (0.36%) SOC 2
12 1 (0.18%) NCSC
System Software
1 79 (14.06%) Active Directory
2 24 (4.27%) VMware Infrastructure
3 15 (2.67%) VMware ESXi
4 10 (1.78%) Virtual Desktop
5 8 (1.42%) Hyper-V
6 7 (1.25%) Docker
7 6 (1.07%) vSphere
8 4 (0.71%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.53%) Oracle RAC
10 2 (0.36%) Firmware
11 1 (0.18%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.18%) Ceph
11 1 (0.18%) Virtual Servers
11 1 (0.18%) VMware Workstation
11 1 (0.18%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 36 (6.41%) Microsoft Intune
2 32 (5.69%) SCCM
3 20 (3.56%) Terraform
4 16 (2.85%) Ansible
4 16 (2.85%) Kubernetes
5 11 (1.96%) Single Sign-On
6 10 (1.78%) vCenter Server
7 9 (1.60%) Grafana
8 8 (1.42%) ServiceCenter
9 6 (1.07%) Check_MK
9 6 (1.07%) Jamf Pro
9 6 (1.07%) Podman
9 6 (1.07%) Red Hat Satellite
10 5 (0.89%) Prometheus
11 3 (0.53%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 3 (0.53%) FortiGate
11 3 (0.53%) Oracle Identity Management
11 3 (0.53%) Oracle Identity Manager
11 3 (0.53%) TeamSite
11 3 (0.53%) vMotion
Vendors
1 176 (31.32%) Microsoft
2 96 (17.08%) ServiceNow
3 48 (8.54%) Oracle
4 43 (7.65%) Cisco
5 41 (7.30%) VMware
6 27 (4.80%) HP
7 26 (4.63%) Apple
8 24 (4.27%) Remedy
9 18 (3.20%) Dell
10 16 (2.85%) SAP
11 11 (1.96%) Tenable
12 10 (1.78%) Nokia
12 10 (1.78%) Zscaler
13 9 (1.60%) CheckPoint
13 9 (1.60%) Fortinet
13 9 (1.60%) IBM
13 9 (1.60%) Palo Alto
13 9 (1.60%) Salesforce
13 9 (1.60%) Splunk
14 8 (1.42%) Liquidlogic