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 20 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
20 Feb 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 216 193 151
Rank change year-on-year -23 -42 +28
Contract jobs citing SLA 503 427 716
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.23% 1.38% 1.61%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 7.09% 9.42% 11.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 260 233 340
10th Percentile £192 £148 £148
25th Percentile £263 £190 £200
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £253 £366
Median % change year-on-year +68.32% -31.01% +22.00%
75th Percentile £522 £500 £525
90th Percentile £588 £603 £639
UK excluding London median daily rate £365 £250 £290
% change year-on-year +46.00% -13.79% +28.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 132 40 69
10th Percentile £16.12 £14.70 £12.46
25th Percentile £17.69 £17.97 £13.29
Median hourly rate £18.50 £22.50 £16.71
Median % change year-on-year -17.78% +34.65% -9.68%
75th Percentile £20.09 £24.18 £30.00
90th Percentile £26.11 £29.48 £37.35
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.50 £23.34 £14.16
% change year-on-year -20.74% +64.83% -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 7,099 4,535 6,437
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.38% 14.70% 14.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,576 2,713 4,223
10th Percentile £325 £258 £300
25th Percentile £413 £375 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £600 £625 £630
90th Percentile £700 £725 £744
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £483
% change year-on-year +5.26% -1.61% +1.63%
Number of hourly rates quoted 371 169 339
10th Percentile £15.31 £15.00 £12.25
25th Percentile £18.25 £21.05 £14.50
Median hourly rate £26.11 £28.00 £25.12
Median % change year-on-year -6.75% +11.49% -22.72%
75th Percentile £63.75 £65.00 £50.79
90th Percentile £73.75 £78.37 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.50 £28.50 £25.00
% change year-on-year -10.53% +14.00% -17.45%

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 20 February 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 20 February 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 20 February 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 -40 446 £425 +68.32% 290
UK excluding London -41 353 £365 +46.00% 235
London -22 119 £475 +58.33% 94
East of England +38 113 £475 +111.11% 29
Work from Home -42 98 £475 +90.00% 73
South East -54 72 £425 +68.32% 83
North of England -74 50 £340 +36.00% 56
Midlands -71 46 £210 -10.64% 39
South West -10 40 £275 -50.00% 21
West Midlands -57 35 £210 -8.89% 21
Scotland +9 25 £400 +104.08% 12
North West -48 24 £300 +20.00% 32
Yorkshire -56 19 £365 +52.08% 21
East Midlands -37 11 £334 -4.57% 17
Northern Ireland -2 7 £500 +237.84% 2
North East -10 7 £265 - 3
Wales +2 4 £183 - 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 20 (3.98%) SharePoint
2 16 (3.18%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (0.99%) Confluence
4 4 (0.80%) Oracle Workflow
5 2 (0.40%) ArcGIS
5 2 (0.40%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.20%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 1 (0.20%) GeoServer
6 1 (0.20%) LiveCycle
6 1 (0.20%) Oracle Spatial
6 1 (0.20%) SAS
6 1 (0.20%) WebSphere
6 1 (0.20%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 50 (9.94%) Microsoft Excel
2 46 (9.15%) Spreadsheet
3 32 (6.36%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (0.99%) Oracle Smart View
5 3 (0.60%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 2 (0.40%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 16 (3.18%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
2 15 (2.98%) Oracle EBS
3 12 (2.39%) Remedy ITSM
4 11 (2.19%) Oracle Payables
5 9 (1.79%) Oracle Assets
5 9 (1.79%) Oracle General Ledger
6 7 (1.39%) Oracle Receivables
7 5 (0.99%) Oracle ERP
7 5 (0.99%) Oracle FAH
8 4 (0.80%) Oracle EBS R12
9 3 (0.60%) Oracle Cash Management
9 3 (0.60%) Oracle Financials
10 2 (0.40%) Dynamics GP
10 2 (0.40%) IntelliMatch
10 2 (0.40%) Oracle E-Business Tax
10 2 (0.40%) Payment Gateway
10 2 (0.40%) Temenos T24
11 1 (0.20%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
11 1 (0.20%) Veritas eDiscovery
11 1 (0.20%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 57 (11.33%) Microsoft 365
2 54 (10.74%) Azure
3 38 (7.55%) AWS
4 17 (3.38%) GCP
5 15 (2.98%) Power Platform
6 12 (2.39%) Entra ID
7 10 (1.99%) IaaS
8 9 (1.79%) OCI
8 9 (1.79%) PaaS
8 9 (1.79%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 7 (1.39%) Amazon EC2
9 7 (1.39%) Amazon S3
9 7 (1.39%) AWS CloudFormation
9 7 (1.39%) GitHub
9 7 (1.39%) SaaS
10 6 (1.19%) Azure DevOps
11 5 (0.99%) Datadog
11 5 (0.99%) GitHub Actions
11 5 (0.99%) OneDrive
11 5 (0.99%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 27 (5.37%) Firewall
2 24 (4.77%) WAN
3 21 (4.17%) DNS
4 18 (3.58%) VPN
5 16 (3.18%) SD-WAN
6 15 (2.98%) DHCP
7 13 (2.58%) PABX
8 12 (2.39%) MPLS
9 11 (2.19%) LAN
10 9 (1.79%) VLAN
11 8 (1.59%) BGP
11 8 (1.59%) Cisco ASA
11 8 (1.59%) OSPF
11 8 (1.59%) SAN
11 8 (1.59%) TCP/IP
12 7 (1.39%) Network Security
12 7 (1.39%) Wi-Fi
12 7 (1.39%) Wireless
13 6 (1.19%) Cisco IOS
13 6 (1.19%) SDH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (2.58%) Power BI
2 12 (2.39%) SQL Server
3 10 (1.99%) Oracle Database
4 6 (1.19%) MongoDB
4 6 (1.19%) MySQL
4 6 (1.19%) PostgreSQL
5 5 (0.99%) Relational Database
6 3 (0.60%) Amazon RDS
6 3 (0.60%) GIS
6 3 (0.60%) Oracle Reports
6 3 (0.60%) SAP HANA
7 2 (0.40%) Azure SQL Database
7 2 (0.40%) Tableau
8 1 (0.20%) DB2
8 1 (0.20%) Geospatial Data
8 1 (0.20%) Metadata
8 1 (0.20%) Oracle Database 12c
8 1 (0.20%) Spatial Data
8 1 (0.20%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 1 (0.20%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 20 (3.98%) JIRA
2 15 (2.98%) Git
2 15 (2.98%) Jenkins
3 14 (2.78%) GitLab
4 5 (0.99%) Visual Studio
5 3 (0.60%) Chocolatey
5 3 (0.60%) CircleCI
6 2 (0.40%) Jaeger
6 2 (0.40%) JMeter
6 2 (0.40%) PVCS
7 1 (0.20%) Cucumber
7 1 (0.20%) Maven
7 1 (0.20%) Metasploit
7 1 (0.20%) Selenium
7 1 (0.20%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 238 (47.32%) Social Skills
2 100 (19.88%) Finance
3 67 (13.32%) Analytical Skills
4 55 (10.93%) Public Sector
5 37 (7.36%) Organisational Skills
6 31 (6.16%) Telecoms
7 28 (5.57%) Banking
8 21 (4.17%) Documentation Skills
8 21 (4.17%) Legal
9 13 (2.58%) Retail
10 9 (1.79%) Marketing
11 8 (1.59%) Billing
12 7 (1.39%) Aerospace
12 7 (1.39%) Financial Institution
12 7 (1.39%) Investment Banking
13 6 (1.19%) Law
14 5 (0.99%) General Ledger
15 4 (0.80%) Influencing Skills
15 4 (0.80%) Presentation Skills
16 3 (0.60%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 82 (16.30%) IT Support
2 63 (12.52%) Analyst
3 51 (10.14%) Lead
4 39 (7.75%) Administrator
5 35 (6.96%) Desktop Support
5 35 (6.96%) Technical Support
6 31 (6.16%) Support Engineer
7 26 (5.17%) Service Manager
8 24 (4.77%) Senior
8 24 (4.77%) Support Analyst
9 22 (4.37%) Service Analyst
10 21 (4.17%) Team Leader
11 20 (3.98%) Consultant
12 17 (3.38%) IT Administrator
13 16 (3.18%) Desktop Engineer
14 15 (2.98%) Developer
14 15 (2.98%) IT Engineer
15 13 (2.58%) Desktop Support Engineer
15 13 (2.58%) Service Desk Analyst
16 12 (2.39%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (2.19%) Middleware
1 11 (2.19%) Oracle Fusion
2 7 (1.39%) LDAP
2 7 (1.39%) REST
3 5 (0.99%) Kafka
3 5 (0.99%) Web Services
4 4 (0.80%) 802.1X
5 3 (0.60%) .NET
5 3 (0.60%) AWS CDK
5 3 (0.60%) CSS
5 3 (0.60%) OAuth
5 3 (0.60%) RESTful
5 3 (0.60%) SAML
6 2 (0.40%) .NET Framework
6 2 (0.40%) ADO
6 2 (0.40%) jQuery
6 2 (0.40%) OpenID
6 2 (0.40%) SOAP
6 2 (0.40%) Spring
6 2 (0.40%) Universal Windows Platform
Miscellaneous
1 31 (6.16%) Onboarding
2 26 (5.17%) Management Information System
3 19 (3.78%) Data Centre
4 18 (3.58%) Self-Motivation
5 15 (2.98%) Smartphone
6 14 (2.78%) Driving Licence
7 13 (2.58%) Product Ownership
8 9 (1.79%) Cloud Native
8 9 (1.79%) Enterprise Cloud
9 7 (1.39%) CMDB
10 6 (1.19%) Public Cloud
11 5 (0.99%) Data Protection Act
11 5 (0.99%) Enterprise Software
11 5 (0.99%) Equities
11 5 (0.99%) Mobile App
11 5 (0.99%) NHS
12 4 (0.80%) Analytical Mindset
12 4 (0.80%) Derivative
12 4 (0.80%) Equity Derivative
12 4 (0.80%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 94 (18.69%) Windows
2 32 (6.36%) Windows 10
3 30 (5.96%) Linux
4 19 (3.78%) Unix
5 12 (2.39%) Android
5 12 (2.39%) Apple iOS
6 11 (2.19%) Windows Server
7 7 (1.39%) CentOS
7 7 (1.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 6 (1.19%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.20%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.20%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.20%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 133 (26.44%) ITIL
2 119 (23.66%) Customer Service
3 94 (18.69%) Service Delivery
4 84 (16.70%) Time Management
5 71 (14.12%) Continuous Improvement
6 66 (13.12%) ITSM
7 61 (12.13%) Incident Management
8 59 (11.73%) Problem-Solving
9 53 (10.54%) Stakeholder Management
10 48 (9.54%) Service Management
11 44 (8.75%) Change Management
12 43 (8.55%) Agile
13 40 (7.95%) Root Cause Analysis
14 36 (7.16%) Asset Management
15 30 (5.96%) Roadmaps
16 29 (5.77%) Problem Management
17 28 (5.57%) Customer Experience
17 28 (5.57%) Disaster Recovery
18 26 (5.17%) CI/CD
18 26 (5.17%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 34 (6.76%) SQL
2 29 (5.77%) Python
3 20 (3.98%) Shell Script
4 16 (3.18%) PowerShell
5 14 (2.78%) Java
6 10 (1.99%) Bash
7 7 (1.39%) MATLAB
8 6 (1.19%) PL/SQL
9 4 (0.80%) C++
9 4 (0.80%) JavaScript
10 3 (0.60%) Go
11 2 (0.40%) Kusto Query Language
11 2 (0.40%) VB
12 1 (0.20%) Apex Code
12 1 (0.20%) Bicep
12 1 (0.20%) C#
12 1 (0.20%) Groovy
12 1 (0.20%) Scala
Qualifications
1 128 (25.45%) Security Cleared
2 100 (19.88%) SC Cleared
3 33 (6.56%) Degree
4 15 (2.98%) BPSS Clearance
5 12 (2.39%) DV Cleared
6 11 (2.19%) MOS
7 10 (1.99%) ITIL Certification
8 9 (1.79%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 5 (0.99%) Master's Degree
9 5 (0.99%) Microsoft Certification
10 4 (0.80%) CISA
10 4 (0.80%) DBS Check
11 3 (0.60%) Azure Certification
11 3 (0.60%) CCA
11 3 (0.60%) Numerate Degree
11 3 (0.60%) PMI Certification
12 2 (0.40%) Cisco Certification
12 2 (0.40%) CISSP
12 2 (0.40%) HNC
12 2 (0.40%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (3.98%) GDPR
2 17 (3.38%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 11 (2.19%) Data Quality
3 11 (2.19%) QA
4 10 (1.99%) PMO
5 7 (1.39%) PCI DSS
5 7 (1.39%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 6 (1.19%) GRC
6 6 (1.19%) NIST
7 5 (0.99%) COBIT
8 3 (0.60%) Cyber Essentials
9 2 (0.40%) ISO 20022
9 2 (0.40%) ISO 31000
9 2 (0.40%) ISO 8583
9 2 (0.40%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 2 (0.40%) NIST 800
9 2 (0.40%) PSD2
9 2 (0.40%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.20%) ISO 9001
10 1 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 46 (9.15%) Active Directory
2 9 (1.79%) Docker
3 7 (1.39%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (1.19%) vSphere
5 3 (0.60%) DFS Replication
6 2 (0.40%) Firmware
6 2 (0.40%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.20%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.20%) Oracle RAC
7 1 (0.20%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.20%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 18 (3.58%) SCCM
2 17 (3.38%) Ansible
3 15 (2.98%) Microsoft Intune
3 15 (2.98%) Terraform
4 12 (2.39%) Kubernetes
5 11 (2.19%) ServiceCenter
6 9 (1.79%) Grafana
6 9 (1.79%) Single Sign-On
7 7 (1.39%) Check_MK
7 7 (1.39%) Podman
7 7 (1.39%) Red Hat Satellite
8 4 (0.80%) FortiGate
8 4 (0.80%) Prometheus
8 4 (0.80%) TeamSite
9 3 (0.60%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 3 (0.60%) SCOM
10 2 (0.40%) HP Quality Center
10 2 (0.40%) Jamf Pro
10 2 (0.40%) Puppet
10 2 (0.40%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 144 (28.63%) Microsoft
2 59 (11.73%) ServiceNow
3 52 (10.34%) Oracle
4 29 (5.77%) HP
4 29 (5.77%) SAP
5 26 (5.17%) Cisco
6 25 (4.97%) Dell
7 21 (4.17%) VMware
8 20 (3.98%) Apple
9 17 (3.38%) Remedy
10 10 (1.99%) IBM
11 9 (1.79%) Splunk
12 7 (1.39%) Red Hat
13 6 (1.19%) AppDynamics
13 6 (1.19%) Fortinet
13 6 (1.19%) Tenable
13 6 (1.19%) Workday
14 5 (0.99%) Nokia
15 4 (0.80%) BMC
15 4 (0.80%) Juniper
316 SLA jobs Nationwide