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 21 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
21 Mar 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 216 189 134
Rank change year-on-year -27 -55 +48
Contract jobs citing SLA 542 413 772
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.24% 1.41% 1.74%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 7.10% 9.27% 12.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 272 241 371
10th Percentile £200 £148 £150
25th Percentile £275 £190 £210
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £250 £350
Median % change year-on-year +80.00% -28.57% +17.65%
75th Percentile £535 £494 £524
90th Percentile £623 £588 £600
UK excluding London median daily rate £423 £235 £285
% change year-on-year +80.05% -17.54% +26.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 131 44 86
10th Percentile £16.10 £14.70 £11.07
25th Percentile £17.69 £18.02 £13.00
Median hourly rate £18.50 £22.21 £14.49
Median % change year-on-year -16.69% +53.24% -21.68%
75th Percentile £20.34 £24.66 £24.73
90th Percentile £26.11 £29.00 £33.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.50 £22.14 £14.00
% change year-on-year -16.44% +58.14% -22.22%

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 7,631 4,456 6,372
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.41% 15.19% 14.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,923 2,857 4,065
10th Percentile £336 £263 £300
25th Percentile £413 £375 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £515
Median % change year-on-year - -2.91% -1.90%
75th Percentile £600 £619 £625
90th Percentile £700 £717 £741
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £480
% change year-on-year +5.26% -1.04% +1.05%
Number of hourly rates quoted 406 177 372
10th Percentile £15.28 £17.26 £11.00
25th Percentile £18.45 £22.14 £13.50
Median hourly rate £28.28 £31.76 £22.94
Median % change year-on-year -10.97% +38.48% -41.19%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £45.00
90th Percentile £81.50 £78.56 £67.49
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.58 £31.76 £18.97
% change year-on-year -3.72% +67.42% -43.18%

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 21 March 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 21 March 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 21 March 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 -32 486 £450 +80.00% 258
UK excluding London -38 356 £423 +80.05% 212
London -8 155 £500 +56.25% 66
East of England +43 110 £475 +111.11% 31
Work from Home -18 109 £480 +104.04% 80
South East -66 76 £438 +75.35% 85
North of England -66 65 £365 +46.00% 49
Midlands -71 44 £296 +25.96% 29
North West -38 35 £438 +75.00% 38
South West -27 32 £316 -42.64% 16
West Midlands -74 31 £293 +24.68% 11
Scotland +17 27 £440 +131.58% 7
Yorkshire -50 23 £365 +58.70% 10
East Midlands -33 12 £534 +78.00% 18
North East - 7 £265 - 1
Northern Ireland 0 5 £500 +237.84% 2
Wales -9 1 - - 2

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 16 (2.95%) SharePoint
2 14 (2.58%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (1.29%) Confluence
4 5 (0.92%) Oracle Workflow
5 4 (0.74%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 3 (0.55%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.55%) ArcGIS
7 2 (0.37%) SAS
8 1 (0.18%) GeoServer
8 1 (0.18%) IIS
8 1 (0.18%) LiveCycle
8 1 (0.18%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.18%) Oracle Spatial
8 1 (0.18%) Smallworld
8 1 (0.18%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.18%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 55 (10.15%) Microsoft Excel
2 46 (8.49%) Spreadsheet
3 32 (5.90%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (0.92%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (0.92%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.18%) Autodesk Inventor
5 1 (0.18%) MicroStation
5 1 (0.18%) Oracle Smart View
Business Applications
1 13 (2.40%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
1 13 (2.40%) Remedy ITSM
2 12 (2.21%) Oracle Payables
3 10 (1.85%) Oracle Assets
3 10 (1.85%) Oracle EBS
4 7 (1.29%) Oracle Receivables
5 6 (1.11%) Oracle ERP
6 5 (0.92%) Oracle General Ledger
7 3 (0.55%) Oracle Cash Management
8 2 (0.37%) Dynamics CRM
8 2 (0.37%) IntelliMatch
8 2 (0.37%) Oracle E-Business Tax
8 2 (0.37%) Payment Gateway
8 2 (0.37%) Temenos T24
9 1 (0.18%) Adobe Campaign
9 1 (0.18%) Oracle Applications
9 1 (0.18%) Oracle EBS R12
9 1 (0.18%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
9 1 (0.18%) SAP Payroll
9 1 (0.18%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 61 (11.25%) Azure
2 56 (10.33%) Microsoft 365
3 47 (8.67%) AWS
4 21 (3.87%) Power Platform
5 18 (3.32%) GCP
6 14 (2.58%) IaaS
6 14 (2.58%) PaaS
7 12 (2.21%) Entra ID
7 12 (2.21%) SaaS
7 12 (2.21%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 11 (2.03%) Amazon EC2
8 11 (2.03%) Amazon S3
9 10 (1.85%) Datadog
10 9 (1.66%) AWS CloudFormation
10 9 (1.66%) Snowflake
11 8 (1.48%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 8 (1.48%) Azure DevOps
12 7 (1.29%) OCI
13 6 (1.11%) GitHub
14 5 (0.92%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 31 (5.72%) Firewall
2 29 (5.35%) WAN
3 20 (3.69%) DNS
3 20 (3.69%) VPN
4 18 (3.32%) SD-WAN
5 17 (3.14%) LAN
6 15 (2.77%) DHCP
7 14 (2.58%) Network Security
8 13 (2.40%) Wi-Fi
9 12 (2.21%) Cisco ASA
9 12 (2.21%) MPLS
9 12 (2.21%) SAN
10 10 (1.85%) BGP
10 10 (1.85%) OSPF
11 9 (1.66%) VLAN
12 8 (1.48%) Cisco IOS
12 8 (1.48%) PABX
12 8 (1.48%) TCP/IP
13 7 (1.29%) SDH
13 7 (1.29%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (3.32%) Power BI
2 16 (2.95%) SQL Server
3 11 (2.03%) Oracle Database
4 9 (1.66%) MySQL
5 6 (1.11%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (0.92%) MongoDB
6 5 (0.92%) Relational Database
7 4 (0.74%) GIS
7 4 (0.74%) Oracle Reports
7 4 (0.74%) Tableau
8 3 (0.55%) SAP HANA
9 2 (0.37%) Amazon RDS
9 2 (0.37%) Azure SQL Database
9 2 (0.37%) Pentaho
9 2 (0.37%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 1 (0.18%) Geospatial Data
10 1 (0.18%) Metadata
10 1 (0.18%) Oracle BI Publisher
10 1 (0.18%) Oracle Database 12c
10 1 (0.18%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 30 (5.54%) JIRA
2 17 (3.14%) Jenkins
3 16 (2.95%) GitLab
4 15 (2.77%) Git
5 6 (1.11%) Chocolatey
6 5 (0.92%) Visual Studio
7 4 (0.74%) Maven
8 3 (0.55%) CircleCI
9 2 (0.37%) JMeter
10 1 (0.18%) Bitbucket
10 1 (0.18%) Cucumber
10 1 (0.18%) Metasploit
10 1 (0.18%) Selenium
10 1 (0.18%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 255 (47.05%) Social Skills
2 110 (20.30%) Finance
3 70 (12.92%) Analytical Skills
4 48 (8.86%) Public Sector
5 36 (6.64%) Banking
6 33 (6.09%) Organisational Skills
7 31 (5.72%) Telecoms
8 23 (4.24%) Documentation Skills
9 19 (3.51%) Legal
9 19 (3.51%) Retail
10 11 (2.03%) Marketing
11 10 (1.85%) Financial Institution
11 10 (1.85%) Investment Banking
12 9 (1.66%) Billing
13 7 (1.29%) Aerospace
13 7 (1.29%) Presentation Skills
14 6 (1.11%) Law
15 5 (0.92%) Local Government
16 4 (0.74%) Influencing Skills
16 4 (0.74%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 80 (14.76%) IT Support
2 64 (11.81%) Analyst
3 46 (8.49%) Lead
4 41 (7.56%) Administrator
5 35 (6.46%) Senior
6 34 (6.27%) Service Manager
7 31 (5.72%) Support Engineer
8 30 (5.54%) Technical Support
9 28 (5.17%) Desktop Support
10 23 (4.24%) IT Engineer
11 22 (4.06%) Service Analyst
12 19 (3.51%) Consultant
13 18 (3.32%) Delivery Manager
13 18 (3.32%) Support Analyst
14 17 (3.14%) Service Delivery Manager
15 16 (2.95%) Developer
15 16 (2.95%) IT Administrator
15 16 (2.95%) Team Leader
16 13 (2.40%) IT Support Engineer
16 13 (2.40%) Service Desk Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (2.58%) Oracle Fusion
2 11 (2.03%) Middleware
3 9 (1.66%) REST
4 8 (1.48%) Web Services
5 7 (1.29%) LDAP
6 6 (1.11%) CSS
7 5 (0.92%) AWS CDK
7 5 (0.92%) jQuery
7 5 (0.92%) Spring
8 4 (0.74%) 802.1X
8 4 (0.74%) AngularJS
8 4 (0.74%) Bootstrap
8 4 (0.74%) J2EE
8 4 (0.74%) Kafka
8 4 (0.74%) RESTful
8 4 (0.74%) Sass
8 4 (0.74%) Spring MVC
9 3 (0.55%) .NET
9 3 (0.55%) OAuth
9 3 (0.55%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 38 (7.01%) Onboarding
2 27 (4.98%) Management Information System
3 25 (4.61%) Data Centre
4 20 (3.69%) Product Ownership
5 17 (3.14%) Self-Motivation
6 13 (2.40%) Cloud Native
7 12 (2.21%) Driving Licence
8 11 (2.03%) Data Protection Act
9 10 (1.85%) CMDB
9 10 (1.85%) Enterprise Cloud
9 10 (1.85%) Smartphone
10 6 (1.11%) Cyber Threat
10 6 (1.11%) Enterprise Software
10 6 (1.11%) Equities
10 6 (1.11%) Public Cloud
11 5 (0.92%) IoT
12 4 (0.74%) Analytical Mindset
12 4 (0.74%) BYOD
12 4 (0.74%) PropTech
12 4 (0.74%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 92 (16.97%) Windows
2 32 (5.90%) Linux
3 26 (4.80%) Windows 10
4 18 (3.32%) Unix
5 11 (2.03%) Windows Server
6 7 (1.29%) CentOS
6 7 (1.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 5 (0.92%) Android
7 5 (0.92%) Mac OS
8 4 (0.74%) Apple iOS
9 1 (0.18%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.18%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.18%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 143 (26.38%) ITIL
2 109 (20.11%) Customer Service
3 97 (17.90%) Service Delivery
4 84 (15.50%) Time Management
5 81 (14.94%) Continuous Improvement
6 79 (14.58%) ITSM
7 67 (12.36%) Stakeholder Management
8 66 (12.18%) Problem-Solving
9 63 (11.62%) Incident Management
10 61 (11.25%) Agile
11 59 (10.89%) Change Management
12 56 (10.33%) Root Cause Analysis
13 49 (9.04%) Service Management
14 39 (7.20%) Problem Management
14 39 (7.20%) Roadmaps
15 38 (7.01%) Asset Management
16 35 (6.46%) CI/CD
17 34 (6.27%) Migration
18 32 (5.90%) Disaster Recovery
19 29 (5.35%) Incident Response
Programming Languages
1 34 (6.27%) SQL
2 33 (6.09%) Python
3 19 (3.51%) PowerShell
4 18 (3.32%) Shell Script
5 14 (2.58%) Java
6 12 (2.21%) Bash
7 7 (1.29%) JavaScript
7 7 (1.29%) MATLAB
8 6 (1.11%) PL/SQL
9 4 (0.74%) C++
10 3 (0.55%) Go
11 2 (0.37%) VB
12 1 (0.18%) Apex Code
12 1 (0.18%) C#
12 1 (0.18%) Groovy
12 1 (0.18%) Korn
12 1 (0.18%) Scala
Qualifications
1 125 (23.06%) Security Cleared
2 100 (18.45%) SC Cleared
3 43 (7.93%) Degree
4 17 (3.14%) BPSS Clearance
5 14 (2.58%) DV Cleared
6 12 (2.21%) ITIL Certification
7 8 (1.48%) MOS
8 6 (1.11%) Microsoft Certification
9 5 (0.92%) Cisco Certification
9 5 (0.92%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 5 (0.92%) Master's Degree
10 4 (0.74%) Azure Certification
10 4 (0.74%) CCNP
10 4 (0.74%) CISA
10 4 (0.74%) PMI Certification
10 4 (0.74%) RIBA
11 3 (0.55%) CCA
11 3 (0.55%) CCSE
11 3 (0.55%) MCSE
11 3 (0.55%) Numerate Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (3.14%) GDPR
1 17 (3.14%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 15 (2.77%) PMO
3 13 (2.40%) QA
4 12 (2.21%) Data Quality
5 9 (1.66%) NIST
6 7 (1.29%) GRC
7 6 (1.11%) PCI DSS
7 6 (1.11%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 4 (0.74%) COBIT
9 3 (0.55%) Cyber Essentials
9 3 (0.55%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 2 (0.37%) ISO 20022
10 2 (0.37%) ISO 31000
10 2 (0.37%) ISO 8583
10 2 (0.37%) NIST 800
10 2 (0.37%) PSD2
10 2 (0.37%) SOC 2
11 1 (0.18%) ISO 9001
11 1 (0.18%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 49 (9.04%) Active Directory
2 12 (2.21%) Docker
3 9 (1.66%) VMware Infrastructure
3 9 (1.66%) vSphere
4 5 (0.92%) VMware ESXi
5 3 (0.55%) DFS Replication
6 2 (0.37%) Firmware
6 2 (0.37%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.37%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.18%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.18%) Oracle RAC
7 1 (0.18%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 24 (4.43%) SCCM
2 19 (3.51%) Microsoft Intune
2 19 (3.51%) Terraform
3 17 (3.14%) Ansible
4 12 (2.21%) ServiceCenter
5 9 (1.66%) Grafana
5 9 (1.66%) Kubernetes
5 9 (1.66%) Single Sign-On
6 7 (1.29%) Check_MK
6 7 (1.29%) Podman
6 7 (1.29%) Red Hat Satellite
7 6 (1.11%) FortiGate
8 4 (0.74%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 4 (0.74%) Prometheus
8 4 (0.74%) TeamSite
9 3 (0.55%) vCenter Server
10 2 (0.37%) HP ALM
10 2 (0.37%) Jamf Pro
10 2 (0.37%) RSA Archer
10 2 (0.37%) SCOM
Vendors
1 156 (28.78%) Microsoft
2 72 (13.28%) ServiceNow
3 52 (9.59%) Oracle
4 32 (5.90%) Cisco
5 30 (5.54%) HP
6 28 (5.17%) SAP
6 28 (5.17%) VMware
7 25 (4.61%) Dell
8 18 (3.32%) Apple
9 17 (3.14%) Remedy
10 14 (2.58%) Splunk
11 11 (2.03%) IBM
12 10 (1.85%) Fortinet
12 10 (1.85%) Tenable
13 9 (1.66%) AppDynamics
13 9 (1.66%) Zscaler
14 7 (1.29%) Red Hat
15 6 (1.11%) Dynatrace
16 5 (0.92%) F5
16 5 (0.92%) Palo Alto
279 SLA jobs Nationwide