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 16 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
16 Dec 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 233 207 164
Rank change year-on-year -26 -43 +21
Contract jobs citing SLA 461 424 674
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.26% 1.24% 1.53%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 7.25% 8.80% 10.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 245 213 335
10th Percentile £171 £149 £148
25th Percentile £213 £188 £200
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £360 £263 £400
Median % change year-on-year +37.14% -34.38% +23.08%
75th Percentile £538 £499 £538
90th Percentile £620 £588 £635
UK excluding London median daily rate £275 £261 £300
% change year-on-year +5.57% -13.17% +23.08%
Number of hourly rates quoted 111 50 59
10th Percentile £16.10 £14.67 £13.00
25th Percentile £17.51 £15.35 £14.16
Median hourly rate £18.73 £23.99 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year -21.93% +37.09% -
75th Percentile £20.92 £29.00 £31.25
90th Percentile £38.94 £48.75 £62.30
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.50 £22.50 £16.94
% change year-on-year -17.78% +32.86% -0.19%

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 6,357 4,817 6,425
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.32% 14.07% 14.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,112 2,835 4,269
10th Percentile £313 £263 £313
25th Percentile £406 £380 £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 £488 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +2.63% -5.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 318 188 232
10th Percentile £13.98 £14.72 £14.19
25th Percentile £17.69 £20.14 £19.42
Median hourly rate £25.15 £27.50 £35.25
Median % change year-on-year -8.55% -21.99% +54.32%
75th Percentile £60.46 £62.24 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £70.00 £82.80
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.69 £27.00 £35.50
% change year-on-year -23.37% -23.94% +69.05%

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 16 December 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 16 December 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 16 December 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 -20 416 £365 +39.05% 264
UK excluding London -33 321 £275 +5.57% 221
London +15 109 £500 +85.19% 73
Work from Home -15 90 £425 +70.00% 79
East of England +19 76 £313 +15.74% 29
South East -39 69 £350 +44.48% 77
North of England -58 59 £260 -12.61% 56
Midlands -44 53 £225 -28.57% 31
South West +14 44 £275 -42.11% 14
West Midlands -24 43 £320 +42.22% 19
Yorkshire -32 26 £251 +8.91% 17
North West -62 26 £285 -36.67% 31
Scotland +2 13 £335 +59.52% 11
East Midlands -29 10 £134 -72.51% 12
Northern Ireland -7 8 £500 +237.84% 6
North East -7 7 £265 +63.08% 8
Wales -1 3 £183 -16.82% 4

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 18 (3.90%) SharePoint
2 17 (3.69%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (0.87%) IIS
4 3 (0.65%) Confluence
4 3 (0.65%) Tomcat
5 1 (0.22%) Anypoint
5 1 (0.22%) ArcGIS
5 1 (0.22%) GeoServer
5 1 (0.22%) MQSeries
5 1 (0.22%) Mule
5 1 (0.22%) Oracle Self-Service HR
5 1 (0.22%) Oracle Spatial
5 1 (0.22%) Oracle Workflow
5 1 (0.22%) WebSphere
5 1 (0.22%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 32 (6.94%) Microsoft Excel
2 31 (6.72%) Spreadsheet
3 30 (6.51%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (1.08%) MS Visio
5 4 (0.87%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (0.87%) Oracle Smart View
6 2 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 14 (3.04%) Oracle EBS
2 7 (1.52%) Oracle General Ledger
2 7 (1.52%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
3 4 (0.87%) Oracle FAH
3 4 (0.87%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.87%) Workday HCM
4 3 (0.65%) iTrent
4 3 (0.65%) Oracle Assets
4 3 (0.65%) Oracle EBS R12
4 3 (0.65%) Oracle Payables
4 3 (0.65%) Oracle Receivables
5 2 (0.43%) Dynamics CRM
5 2 (0.43%) Dynamics GP
5 2 (0.43%) Oracle Cash Management
5 2 (0.43%) Oracle Financials
5 2 (0.43%) Temenos T24
6 1 (0.22%) Oracle HRMS
6 1 (0.22%) SAP Payroll
Cloud Services
1 72 (15.62%) Microsoft 365
2 36 (7.81%) Azure
3 29 (6.29%) AWS
4 10 (2.17%) Entra ID
5 9 (1.95%) SaaS
6 8 (1.74%) GCP
7 7 (1.52%) Power Platform
8 5 (1.08%) Cloud Computing
8 5 (1.08%) GitHub
8 5 (1.08%) GitHub Actions
8 5 (1.08%) OpenShift
8 5 (1.08%) PaaS
9 4 (0.87%) IaaS
9 4 (0.87%) OCI
10 3 (0.65%) OneDrive
10 3 (0.65%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 2 (0.43%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 2 (0.43%) AWS CloudFormation
11 2 (0.43%) Datadog
11 2 (0.43%) WhatsApp
Communications & Networking
1 20 (4.34%) WAN
2 18 (3.90%) Firewall
3 17 (3.69%) LAN
4 16 (3.47%) Wireless
5 13 (2.82%) DNS
5 13 (2.82%) PABX
6 12 (2.60%) SD-WAN
7 11 (2.39%) MPLS
7 11 (2.39%) VPN
8 9 (1.95%) DHCP
9 7 (1.52%) BGP
9 7 (1.52%) Network Security
9 7 (1.52%) OSPF
10 6 (1.30%) SDH
11 5 (1.08%) Broadband
11 5 (1.08%) Cisco IOS
11 5 (1.08%) Structured Cabling
11 5 (1.08%) TCP/IP
11 5 (1.08%) VoIP
12 4 (0.87%) Radio Access Network
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (2.39%) SQL Server
2 6 (1.30%) Oracle Database
3 5 (1.08%) MySQL
3 5 (1.08%) PostgreSQL
3 5 (1.08%) Power BI
4 4 (0.87%) MongoDB
5 3 (0.65%) Amazon RDS
6 2 (0.43%) Data Warehouse
6 2 (0.43%) GIS
6 2 (0.43%) Oracle Reports
6 2 (0.43%) SAP HANA
7 1 (0.22%) Amazon Aurora
7 1 (0.22%) Azure SQL Database
7 1 (0.22%) Metadata
7 1 (0.22%) OLTP
7 1 (0.22%) Oracle Database 12c
7 1 (0.22%) Relational Database
7 1 (0.22%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 1 (0.22%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 11 (2.39%) JIRA
2 6 (1.30%) Jenkins
2 6 (1.30%) Postman
3 5 (1.08%) GitLab
3 5 (1.08%) Visual Studio
4 3 (0.65%) Git
4 3 (0.65%) Selenium
5 2 (0.43%) CircleCI
5 2 (0.43%) Cucumber
5 2 (0.43%) Jaeger
5 2 (0.43%) PVCS
5 2 (0.43%) Zephyr
6 1 (0.22%) Metasploit
6 1 (0.22%) TestDirector
General
1 205 (44.47%) Social Skills
2 95 (20.61%) Finance
3 58 (12.58%) Analytical Skills
4 49 (10.63%) Public Sector
5 32 (6.94%) Telecoms
6 29 (6.29%) Banking
7 24 (5.21%) Organisational Skills
8 21 (4.56%) Legal
9 15 (3.25%) Retail
10 14 (3.04%) Documentation Skills
11 9 (1.95%) Financial Institution
11 9 (1.95%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 9 (1.95%) Manufacturing
11 9 (1.95%) Marketing
12 8 (1.74%) Law
13 6 (1.30%) Local Government
14 5 (1.08%) Influencing Skills
14 5 (1.08%) Police
15 4 (0.87%) General Ledger
15 4 (0.87%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 67 (14.53%) Analyst
1 67 (14.53%) IT Support
2 46 (9.98%) Lead
3 33 (7.16%) Support Engineer
4 32 (6.94%) Desktop Support
5 30 (6.51%) Support Analyst
6 26 (5.64%) Senior
7 22 (4.77%) Team Leader
8 19 (4.12%) Administrator
8 19 (4.12%) Service Manager
9 18 (3.90%) Technical Support
10 16 (3.47%) Consultant
10 16 (3.47%) Desktop Engineer
11 15 (3.25%) Applications Support
11 15 (3.25%) Developer
11 15 (3.25%) IT Engineer
11 15 (3.25%) Service Analyst
12 14 (3.04%) Delivery Manager
12 14 (3.04%) IT Manager
13 13 (2.82%) IT Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (1.08%) Kafka
2 4 (0.87%) RESTful
3 3 (0.65%) Middleware
3 3 (0.65%) Oracle Fusion
3 3 (0.65%) XML
4 2 (0.43%) .NET
4 2 (0.43%) CSS
4 2 (0.43%) Elastic Stack
4 2 (0.43%) Gherkin
4 2 (0.43%) Node.js
4 2 (0.43%) OAuth
4 2 (0.43%) OAuth2
4 2 (0.43%) OpenID
4 2 (0.43%) REST
4 2 (0.43%) SAML
4 2 (0.43%) SOAP
4 2 (0.43%) Universal Windows Platform
5 1 (0.22%) Lightning Web Components
5 1 (0.22%) PostGIS
5 1 (0.22%) RAML
Miscellaneous
1 24 (5.21%) Management Information System
2 23 (4.99%) Onboarding
3 22 (4.77%) Driving Licence
4 21 (4.56%) Self-Motivation
5 18 (3.90%) Data Centre
6 13 (2.82%) Smartphone
7 10 (2.17%) Product Ownership
8 7 (1.52%) Derivative
9 6 (1.30%) Analytical Mindset
9 6 (1.30%) Enterprise Cloud
10 5 (1.08%) CMDB
10 5 (1.08%) Distributed Systems
10 5 (1.08%) NHS
11 4 (0.87%) Clustering
11 4 (0.87%) Equities
11 4 (0.87%) Equity Derivative
11 4 (0.87%) Mobile App
11 4 (0.87%) Public Cloud
11 4 (0.87%) Security Operations Centre
11 4 (0.87%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 87 (18.87%) Windows
2 34 (7.38%) Windows 10
3 19 (4.12%) Android
4 16 (3.47%) Linux
4 16 (3.47%) Mac OS
5 14 (3.04%) Windows Server
6 13 (2.82%) Apple iOS
6 13 (2.82%) Unix
7 3 (0.65%) Mac OS X
8 2 (0.43%) Windows 7
8 2 (0.43%) Windows 8
8 2 (0.43%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 135 (29.28%) ITIL
2 110 (23.86%) Customer Service
3 85 (18.44%) Service Delivery
4 72 (15.62%) Continuous Improvement
5 64 (13.88%) Problem-Solving
6 60 (13.02%) Time Management
7 51 (11.06%) ITSM
8 49 (10.63%) Service Management
9 44 (9.54%) Stakeholder Management
10 41 (8.89%) Change Management
11 36 (7.81%) Agile
11 36 (7.81%) Incident Management
12 28 (6.07%) Root Cause Analysis
13 26 (5.64%) Customer Experience
14 25 (5.42%) Asset Management
15 24 (5.21%) Mentoring
15 24 (5.21%) Roadmaps
16 22 (4.77%) Line Management
16 22 (4.77%) User Experience
17 21 (4.56%) Cybersecurity
Programming Languages
1 26 (5.64%) Python
2 25 (5.42%) SQL
3 14 (3.04%) PowerShell
4 10 (2.17%) Java
4 10 (2.17%) Shell Script
5 5 (1.08%) Bash
6 4 (0.87%) C++
6 4 (0.87%) PL/SQL
7 3 (0.65%) C#
7 3 (0.65%) JavaScript
8 2 (0.43%) Go
8 2 (0.43%) Kusto Query Language
8 2 (0.43%) Ruby
9 1 (0.22%) Apex Code
9 1 (0.22%) Bicep
9 1 (0.22%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 132 (28.63%) Security Cleared
2 104 (22.56%) SC Cleared
3 37 (8.03%) Degree
4 22 (4.77%) DV Cleared
5 12 (2.60%) BPSS Clearance
6 11 (2.39%) ITIL Certification
6 11 (2.39%) MOS
7 10 (2.17%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 10 (2.17%) PMI Certification
8 9 (1.95%) Cisco Certification
9 7 (1.52%) PMP
10 6 (1.30%) CCNP
10 6 (1.30%) Computer Science Degree
10 6 (1.30%) Microsoft Certification
11 4 (0.87%) CEH
11 4 (0.87%) CISSP
12 3 (0.65%) Azure Certification
12 3 (0.65%) CISM
12 3 (0.65%) DBS Check
12 3 (0.65%) Numerate Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (3.25%) GDPR
1 15 (3.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 13 (2.82%) QA
3 8 (1.74%) NIST
4 6 (1.30%) Data Quality
5 5 (1.08%) PMO
5 5 (1.08%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 4 (0.87%) Cyber Essentials
6 4 (0.87%) PCI DSS
7 3 (0.65%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 3 (0.65%) GRC
8 2 (0.43%) COBIT
8 2 (0.43%) ISO 9001
8 2 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 2 (0.43%) NIST 800
8 2 (0.43%) PSD2
9 1 (0.22%) Accessibility
9 1 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 1 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 37 (8.03%) Active Directory
2 5 (1.08%) Docker
2 5 (1.08%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (0.87%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (0.65%) Firmware
4 3 (0.65%) Hyper-V
4 3 (0.65%) vSphere
5 2 (0.43%) BitLocker
5 2 (0.43%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 18 (3.90%) SCCM
2 14 (3.04%) Microsoft Intune
3 8 (1.74%) Grafana
3 8 (1.74%) Kubernetes
4 7 (1.52%) Ansible
4 7 (1.52%) Terraform
5 6 (1.30%) SCOM
6 5 (1.08%) Prometheus
7 4 (0.87%) Single Sign-On
8 3 (0.65%) FortiGate
8 3 (0.65%) RSA Archer
8 3 (0.65%) WSUS
9 2 (0.43%) Argo
9 2 (0.43%) Microsoft Clustering
9 2 (0.43%) NetApp OnCommand
9 2 (0.43%) ServiceCenter
9 2 (0.43%) TeamSite
9 2 (0.43%) vCenter Server
9 2 (0.43%) vMotion
10 1 (0.22%) SysTrack
Vendors
1 117 (25.38%) Microsoft
2 46 (9.98%) ServiceNow
3 39 (8.46%) Cisco
4 33 (7.16%) Oracle
5 23 (4.99%) HP
6 22 (4.77%) Dell
7 20 (4.34%) Apple
7 20 (4.34%) SAP
8 12 (2.60%) Juniper
9 10 (2.17%) VMware
10 8 (1.74%) Google
11 7 (1.52%) Fortinet
11 7 (1.52%) Remedy
11 7 (1.52%) Splunk
11 7 (1.52%) Workday
12 5 (1.08%) IBM
12 5 (1.08%) Nokia
12 5 (1.08%) Trend Micro
13 4 (0.87%) F5
13 4 (0.87%) Tenable
300 SLA jobs Nationwide