SLA Contracts

Service Level Agreement (SLA)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies requiring SLA skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited SLA over the 6 months leading up to 30 April 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Apr 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 195 137 181
Rank change year-on-year -58 +44 +1
Contract jobs citing SLA 403 759 863
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 1.38% 1.74% 1.45%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 8.84% 12.14% 10.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 241 354 497
10th Percentile £150 £150 £140
25th Percentile £200 £202 £185
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £250 £330 £298
Median % change year-on-year -24.24% +10.92% -20.56%
75th Percentile £506 £484 £488
90th Percentile £613 £582 £588
UK excluding London median daily rate £235 £285 £246
% change year-on-year -17.54% +15.85% -4.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 96 70
10th Percentile £14.70 £11.07 £12.50
25th Percentile £18.20 £12.84 £15.47
Median hourly rate £22.27 £14.75 £18.50
Median % change year-on-year +50.98% -20.27% +9.79%
75th Percentile £24.66 £23.80 £29.30
90th Percentile £30.43 £32.63 £47.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.14 £14.00 £18.50
% change year-on-year +58.14% -24.32% +12.12%

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 4,558 6,250 7,982
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 15.59% 14.34% 13.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,921 3,951 5,482
10th Percentile £265 £295 £275
25th Percentile £400 £402 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.96% -2.86% +2.44%
75th Percentile £623 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £750 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £475
% change year-on-year -2.56% +2.63% +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 179 383 225
10th Percentile £18.04 £10.95 £13.21
25th Percentile £22.21 £13.18 £18.70
Median hourly rate £34.50 £21.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +64.29% -44.00% +33.93%
75th Percentile £65.00 £45.00 £62.00
90th Percentile £83.01 £67.38 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.78 £18.00 £36.25
% change year-on-year +126.53% -50.34% +72.21%

SLA
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing SLA as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for SLA in the UK

SLA
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing SLA.

Daily rate trend for SLA in the UK

SLA
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SLA over the 6 months to 30 April 2025.

Daily rate histogram for SLA in the UK

SLA
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing SLA.

Hourly rate trend for SLA in the UK

SLA
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing SLA over the 6 months to 30 April 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for SLA in the UK

SLA
Top 17 Contract 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 April 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 -49 370 £250 -24.24% 457
UK excluding London -32 280 £235 -17.54% 304
London -50 112 £400 - 177
Work from Home -36 101 £235 -37.33% 176
South East -2 90 £250 -12.28% 86
Midlands +21 58 £235 -4.08% 52
North of England -43 54 £215 -57.34% 75
West Midlands +16 47 £235 -2.08% 29
South West +16 38 £550 +100.00% 34
North West -41 36 £215 -60.00% 43
Yorkshire -4 18 £313 +8.70% 24
East of England +26 15 £225 -15.09% 41
Scotland -13 15 £192 -31.91% 11
East Midlands +9 11 £300 +11.11% 22
Wales -17 5 £158 +16.67% 10
Northern Ireland - 3 £148 - 6
Channel Islands - 2 £298 -

SLA
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 18 (4.47%) SharePoint
2 16 (3.97%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (2.48%) Skype for Business
4 6 (1.49%) IIS
4 6 (1.49%) Oracle Workflow
5 5 (1.24%) Confluence
6 4 (0.99%) Exchange Server 2010
6 4 (0.99%) Oracle Self-Service HR
7 2 (0.50%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 2 (0.50%) Tomcat
7 2 (0.50%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.25%) Apache
8 1 (0.25%) JBoss
8 1 (0.25%) nginx
8 1 (0.25%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.25%) WebLogic Portal
8 1 (0.25%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 46 (11.41%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (8.93%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (1.24%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.74%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.50%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.25%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 1 (0.25%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 4 (0.99%) Oracle HRMS
2 2 (0.50%) Exchequer
2 2 (0.50%) Oracle Financials
2 2 (0.50%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.25%) Oracle Payables
3 1 (0.25%) SAP Oil and Gas
3 1 (0.25%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.25%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 57 (14.14%) Microsoft 365
2 54 (13.40%) Azure
3 20 (4.96%) AWS
4 11 (2.73%) Entra ID
5 10 (2.48%) IaaS
5 10 (2.48%) SaaS
6 9 (2.23%) OneDrive
7 8 (1.99%) Google Workspace
7 8 (1.99%) Power Platform
8 7 (1.74%) PaaS
9 3 (0.74%) Azure Sentinel
9 3 (0.74%) Dynamics 365
9 3 (0.74%) Yammer
10 2 (0.50%) Amazon OpenSearch
10 2 (0.50%) Amazon S3
10 2 (0.50%) Cloud Computing
10 2 (0.50%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 1 (0.25%) Amazon EC2
11 1 (0.25%) BigCommerce
11 1 (0.25%) Google Kubernetes Engine
Communications & Networking
1 27 (6.70%) VPN
2 26 (6.45%) DNS
3 24 (5.96%) LAN
4 21 (5.21%) Firewall
5 18 (4.47%) DHCP
6 16 (3.97%) WAN
7 15 (3.72%) Network Security
8 14 (3.47%) TCP/IP
9 13 (3.23%) Skype
9 13 (3.23%) Wireless
10 10 (2.48%) Remote Desktop
10 10 (2.48%) SAN
10 10 (2.48%) Wi-Fi
11 8 (1.99%) Cisco Firepower
11 8 (1.99%) MPLS
12 7 (1.74%) BGP
13 6 (1.49%) VoIP
14 5 (1.24%) Cisco IOS
14 5 (1.24%) Junos
14 5 (1.24%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (1.99%) SQL Server
2 5 (1.24%) Power BI
3 4 (0.99%) MySQL
3 4 (0.99%) Oracle Database
4 2 (0.50%) BusinessObjects
5 1 (0.25%) Data Warehouse
5 1 (0.25%) Elasticsearch
5 1 (0.25%) MongoDB
5 1 (0.25%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.25%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.25%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 13 (3.23%) JIRA
2 3 (0.74%) GitLab
2 3 (0.74%) Maven
3 2 (0.50%) Git
4 1 (0.25%) Mockito
4 1 (0.25%) Toad
General
1 163 (40.45%) Social Skills
2 88 (21.84%) Finance
3 60 (14.89%) Analytical Skills
4 40 (9.93%) Public Sector
5 27 (6.70%) Telecoms
6 26 (6.45%) Organisational Skills
7 20 (4.96%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 17 (4.22%) Banking
9 9 (2.23%) Retail
10 7 (1.74%) Influencing Skills
10 7 (1.74%) Police
11 6 (1.49%) Legal
11 6 (1.49%) Marketing
11 6 (1.49%) Military
12 5 (1.24%) Electronics
12 5 (1.24%) Financial Institution
13 4 (0.99%) Law
13 4 (0.99%) Manufacturing
13 4 (0.99%) Presentation Skills
14 3 (0.74%) Automotive
Job Titles
1 79 (19.60%) Analyst
2 55 (13.65%) Support Engineer
3 35 (8.68%) Desktop Engineer
4 32 (7.94%) Desktop Support
5 31 (7.69%) Service Analyst
5 31 (7.69%) Service Desk Analyst
6 27 (6.70%) Support Analyst
7 26 (6.45%) Desktop Support Engineer
8 23 (5.71%) Service Manager
9 21 (5.21%) Network Engineer
10 17 (4.22%) Administrator
10 17 (4.22%) IT Engineer
11 16 (3.97%) Lead
11 16 (3.97%) Support Assistant
12 15 (3.72%) IT Support
13 14 (3.47%) 2nd Line Support
13 14 (3.47%) Server Engineer
14 13 (3.23%) Architect
15 12 (2.98%) Applications Support
15 12 (2.98%) Senior
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (0.99%) JSON
1 4 (0.99%) Spring
1 4 (0.99%) XML
2 3 (0.74%) CSS
2 3 (0.74%) J2EE
2 3 (0.74%) jQuery
2 3 (0.74%) REST
3 2 (0.50%) AngularJS
3 2 (0.50%) Bootstrap
3 2 (0.50%) Elastic Stack
3 2 (0.50%) JWT
3 2 (0.50%) OAuth
3 2 (0.50%) Sass
3 2 (0.50%) Spring Batch
3 2 (0.50%) Spring Boot
3 2 (0.50%) Spring MVC
3 2 (0.50%) VML
3 2 (0.50%) Web Services
4 1 (0.25%) Apache Camel
4 1 (0.25%) AWS CDK
Miscellaneous
1 38 (9.43%) Driving Licence
2 24 (5.96%) Management Information System
3 22 (5.46%) Data Centre
4 12 (2.98%) Smartphone
5 10 (2.48%) Onboarding
5 10 (2.48%) Security Posture
6 9 (2.23%) Analytical Mindset
7 8 (1.99%) Enterprise Software
8 5 (1.24%) CMDB
8 5 (1.24%) Self-Motivation
9 4 (0.99%) Blackberry
9 4 (0.99%) Data Protection Act
9 4 (0.99%) Handset
10 3 (0.74%) BYOD
10 3 (0.74%) IVR
10 3 (0.74%) Replication
11 2 (0.50%) Cyber Threat
11 2 (0.50%) Hybrid Cloud
11 2 (0.50%) Product Ownership
11 2 (0.50%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 101 (25.06%) Windows
2 48 (11.91%) Windows 10
3 23 (5.71%) Linux
4 18 (4.47%) Windows Server
5 11 (2.73%) Windows Server 2019
6 10 (2.48%) Windows Server 2016
7 8 (1.99%) Android
7 8 (1.99%) Mac OS
7 8 (1.99%) Unix
8 7 (1.74%) Windows Server 2012
9 5 (1.24%) Windows 7
10 4 (0.99%) AIX
10 4 (0.99%) Apple iOS
11 2 (0.50%) CentOS
11 2 (0.50%) Mac OS X
11 2 (0.50%) VMS
12 1 (0.25%) MVS
12 1 (0.25%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.25%) Windows Server 2008
12 1 (0.25%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 127 (31.51%) ITIL
2 93 (23.08%) Problem-Solving
3 92 (22.83%) Customer Service
4 51 (12.66%) Service Delivery
5 46 (11.41%) Service Management
6 40 (9.93%) ITSM
7 34 (8.44%) Customer Experience
8 29 (7.20%) Continuous Improvement
9 27 (6.70%) Incident Management
10 26 (6.45%) Change Management
11 25 (6.20%) Agile
12 24 (5.96%) Mathematics
13 23 (5.71%) Problem Management
14 21 (5.21%) Break/Fix
14 21 (5.21%) Cybersecurity
14 21 (5.21%) Root Cause Analysis
15 20 (4.96%) Project Management
16 19 (4.71%) Information Security
16 19 (4.71%) Process Improvement
17 18 (4.47%) Time Management
Programming Languages
1 41 (10.17%) SQL
2 11 (2.73%) Python
3 9 (2.23%) Java
4 7 (1.74%) PowerShell
5 5 (1.24%) VB
6 4 (0.99%) JavaScript
7 1 (0.25%) Assembly Language
7 1 (0.25%) Bicep
7 1 (0.25%) JCL
7 1 (0.25%) Kusto Query Language
7 1 (0.25%) PL/SQL
7 1 (0.25%) REXX
7 1 (0.25%) Scala
Qualifications
1 117 (29.03%) Security Cleared
2 98 (24.32%) SC Cleared
3 24 (5.96%) Dell Certification
4 23 (5.71%) ITIL Certification
5 19 (4.71%) Degree
6 14 (3.47%) Cisco Certification
7 11 (2.73%) DV Cleared
8 10 (2.48%) CISSP
9 8 (1.99%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 8 (1.99%) GCIH
10 7 (1.74%) A+ Certification
11 6 (1.49%) CCSP
11 6 (1.49%) DBS Check
11 6 (1.49%) Microsoft Certification
12 4 (0.99%) CCIE
13 3 (0.74%) Azure Certification
13 3 (0.74%) BPSS Clearance
13 3 (0.74%) CEH
13 3 (0.74%) TOGAF Certification
14 2 (0.50%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (3.47%) QA
2 10 (2.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 8 (1.99%) NIST
4 7 (1.74%) GDPR
5 5 (1.24%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 3 (0.74%) Data Quality
6 3 (0.74%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.50%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.50%) Disclosure Scotland
7 2 (0.50%) PMO
8 1 (0.25%) Accessibility
System Software
1 56 (13.90%) Active Directory
2 19 (4.71%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (1.99%) Virtual Machines
3 8 (1.99%) VMware ESXi
4 6 (1.49%) DFS Replication
4 6 (1.49%) Hyper-V
4 6 (1.49%) vSphere
5 5 (1.24%) Virtual Desktop
6 4 (0.99%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 4 (0.99%) Virtual Servers
7 3 (0.74%) FreeRADIUS
7 3 (0.74%) iptables
8 2 (0.50%) KVM
9 1 (0.25%) ACF2
9 1 (0.25%) Docker
9 1 (0.25%) Firmware
9 1 (0.25%) LXC
9 1 (0.25%) RACF
9 1 (0.25%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 21 (5.21%) SCCM
2 15 (3.72%) Microsoft Intune
3 11 (2.73%) Ansible
4 9 (2.23%) Terraform
5 7 (1.74%) FortiGate
6 6 (1.49%) WSUS
7 5 (1.24%) Microsoft Clustering
7 5 (1.24%) NetApp OnCommand
7 5 (1.24%) SmoothWall
7 5 (1.24%) vCenter Server
7 5 (1.24%) vMotion
7 5 (1.24%) ZABBIX
8 4 (0.99%) Nagios
8 4 (0.99%) Tivoli
8 4 (0.99%) Tivoli Storage Manager
9 3 (0.74%) Cacti
9 3 (0.74%) Netcool
9 3 (0.74%) Puppet
9 3 (0.74%) Single Sign-On
9 3 (0.74%) TeamSite
Vendors
1 144 (35.73%) Microsoft
2 57 (14.14%) ServiceNow
3 45 (11.17%) Dell
3 45 (11.17%) HP
4 26 (6.45%) Cisco
5 25 (6.20%) VMware
6 24 (5.96%) IBM
7 21 (5.21%) Google
8 20 (4.96%) Oracle
9 12 (2.98%) Apple
10 8 (1.99%) Nokia
11 7 (1.74%) Juniper
11 7 (1.74%) Remedy
12 6 (1.49%) SAP
13 5 (1.24%) Bloomberg
13 5 (1.24%) Citrix
13 5 (1.24%) F5
13 5 (1.24%) Reuters
13 5 (1.24%) Splunk
14 4 (0.99%) Ribbon
517 SLA jobs Nationwide