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 13 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
13 Jan 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 217 194 163
Rank change year-on-year -23 -31 +13
Contract jobs citing SLA 464 414 663
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.27% 1.32% 1.55%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 7.36% 9.23% 10.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 249 214 331
10th Percentile £171 £148 £148
25th Percentile £256 £192 £195
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £413 £261 £400
Median % change year-on-year +58.35% -34.88% +33.33%
75th Percentile £538 £500 £513
90th Percentile £630 £588 £635
UK excluding London median daily rate £350 £262 £300
% change year-on-year +33.72% -12.75% +31.87%
Number of hourly rates quoted 109 43 68
10th Percentile £16.12 £14.70 £12.83
25th Percentile £17.69 £19.05 £13.32
Median hourly rate £18.50 £24.18 £17.83
Median % change year-on-year -23.49% +35.60% +2.34%
75th Percentile £20.35 £26.13 £33.75
90th Percentile £34.79 £36.19 £62.58
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.50 £24.18 £16.00
% change year-on-year -23.49% +51.13% -5.52%

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 6,301 4,486 6,181
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.22% 14.31% 14.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,065 2,627 4,105
10th Percentile £313 £258 £311
25th Percentile £406 £375 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £600 £625 £645
90th Percentile £700 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.58% -5.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 301 174 245
10th Percentile £15.25 £15.00 £13.07
25th Percentile £17.69 £21.01 £17.13
Median hourly rate £26.11 £29.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -9.97% -10.77% +35.42%
75th Percentile £62.50 £64.73 £60.00
90th Percentile £73.75 £75.00 £79.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.72 £29.00 £30.00
% change year-on-year -28.55% -3.33% +39.53%

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 13 January 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 13 January 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 13 January 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 -32 418 £411 +58.17% 200
UK excluding London -25 329 £350 +33.72% 196
London -24 106 £496 +102.24% 43
Work from Home -15 95 £460 +97.85% 55
East of England +34 86 £400 +54.74% 27
South East -42 62 £423 +69.00% 63
North of England -62 62 £293 -10.00% 30
Midlands -52 49 £198 -21.00% 40
South West -5 47 £308 -44.09% 18
West Midlands -34 38 £225 +2.86% 18
North West -47 31 £300 -31.82% 14
Yorkshire -31 24 £365 +52.08% 13
Scotland +6 17 £350 +66.67% 19
East Midlands -29 11 £134 -61.71% 22
North East -4 7 £265 +0.95% 3
Northern Ireland -6 7 £500 +237.84% 1
Wales -4 3 £183 -16.82% 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 21 (4.53%) SharePoint
2 20 (4.31%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (0.86%) Oracle Workflow
4 3 (0.65%) IIS
4 3 (0.65%) Tomcat
5 2 (0.43%) Confluence
6 1 (0.22%) ArcGIS
6 1 (0.22%) GeoServer
6 1 (0.22%) MQSeries
6 1 (0.22%) Oracle Spatial
6 1 (0.22%) WebSphere
6 1 (0.22%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 38 (8.19%) Microsoft Excel
2 36 (7.76%) Spreadsheet
3 28 (6.03%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (1.08%) MS Visio
5 4 (0.86%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (0.86%) Oracle Smart View
6 2 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 14 (3.02%) Oracle EBS
1 14 (3.02%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
2 9 (1.94%) Oracle Payables
3 7 (1.51%) Oracle Assets
3 7 (1.51%) Oracle General Ledger
4 5 (1.08%) Oracle Receivables
5 4 (0.86%) Oracle ERP
5 4 (0.86%) Oracle FAH
5 4 (0.86%) Remedy ITSM
5 4 (0.86%) Workday HCM
6 3 (0.65%) iTrent
6 3 (0.65%) Oracle EBS R12
7 2 (0.43%) Dynamics CRM
7 2 (0.43%) Dynamics GP
7 2 (0.43%) Oracle Cash Management
7 2 (0.43%) Oracle E-Business Tax
7 2 (0.43%) Oracle Financials
7 2 (0.43%) Temenos T24
8 1 (0.22%) SAP Payroll
8 1 (0.22%) Veritas eDiscovery
Cloud Services
1 66 (14.22%) Microsoft 365
2 43 (9.27%) Azure
3 30 (6.47%) AWS
4 13 (2.80%) GCP
5 12 (2.59%) Entra ID
6 9 (1.94%) Power Platform
7 8 (1.72%) SaaS
8 7 (1.51%) GitHub
8 7 (1.51%) IaaS
9 6 (1.29%) OCI
9 6 (1.29%) PaaS
10 5 (1.08%) Cloud Computing
10 5 (1.08%) GitHub Actions
10 5 (1.08%) OpenShift
11 3 (0.65%) AWS CloudFormation
11 3 (0.65%) AWS KMS
11 3 (0.65%) OneDrive
11 3 (0.65%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 2 (0.43%) Azure DevOps
12 2 (0.43%) Azure Key Vault
Communications & Networking
1 26 (5.60%) Firewall
2 24 (5.17%) WAN
3 18 (3.88%) DNS
4 16 (3.45%) SD-WAN
5 15 (3.23%) Wireless
6 13 (2.80%) MPLS
6 13 (2.80%) PABX
6 13 (2.80%) VPN
7 12 (2.59%) LAN
8 11 (2.37%) DHCP
9 8 (1.72%) BGP
9 8 (1.72%) OSPF
9 8 (1.72%) TCP/IP
10 7 (1.51%) Cisco ASA
11 6 (1.29%) Broadband
11 6 (1.29%) Network Security
11 6 (1.29%) SDH
11 6 (1.29%) VLAN
12 5 (1.08%) Cisco IOS
12 5 (1.08%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (2.16%) SQL Server
2 8 (1.72%) PostgreSQL
3 7 (1.51%) Oracle Database
3 7 (1.51%) Power BI
4 6 (1.29%) MongoDB
5 5 (1.08%) MySQL
6 3 (0.65%) Amazon RDS
6 3 (0.65%) Relational Database
6 3 (0.65%) SAP HANA
7 2 (0.43%) GIS
7 2 (0.43%) Oracle Reports
8 1 (0.22%) Amazon Aurora
8 1 (0.22%) Azure SQL Database
8 1 (0.22%) Data Warehouse
8 1 (0.22%) Metadata
8 1 (0.22%) Oracle Database 12c
8 1 (0.22%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 1 (0.22%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 15 (3.23%) Jenkins
2 14 (3.02%) GitLab
2 14 (3.02%) JIRA
3 12 (2.59%) Git
4 6 (1.29%) Postman
5 5 (1.08%) Visual Studio
6 3 (0.65%) CircleCI
7 2 (0.43%) Jaeger
7 2 (0.43%) PVCS
8 1 (0.22%) Metasploit
8 1 (0.22%) Selenium
8 1 (0.22%) TestDirector
General
1 206 (44.40%) Social Skills
2 96 (20.69%) Finance
3 55 (11.85%) Analytical Skills
3 55 (11.85%) Public Sector
4 32 (6.90%) Banking
5 31 (6.68%) Telecoms
6 27 (5.82%) Organisational Skills
7 22 (4.74%) Documentation Skills
8 19 (4.09%) Legal
9 13 (2.80%) Retail
10 9 (1.94%) Financial Institution
10 9 (1.94%) Manufacturing
11 8 (1.72%) Aerospace
11 8 (1.72%) Law
12 7 (1.51%) Investment Banking
12 7 (1.51%) Local Government
12 7 (1.51%) Marketing
13 6 (1.29%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 5 (1.08%) Influencing Skills
15 4 (0.86%) General Ledger
Job Titles
1 73 (15.73%) IT Support
2 66 (14.22%) Analyst
3 46 (9.91%) Lead
4 35 (7.54%) Desktop Support
5 30 (6.47%) Support Engineer
6 28 (6.03%) Administrator
7 26 (5.60%) Support Analyst
8 23 (4.96%) Service Manager
9 21 (4.53%) Team Leader
9 21 (4.53%) Technical Support
10 20 (4.31%) Consultant
10 20 (4.31%) Senior
11 19 (4.09%) Service Analyst
12 16 (3.45%) Desktop Engineer
13 15 (3.23%) IT Administrator
13 15 (3.23%) IT Manager
13 15 (3.23%) Service Desk Analyst
14 13 (2.80%) Applications Support
14 13 (2.80%) Desktop Support Engineer
14 13 (2.80%) Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (1.94%) Middleware
2 8 (1.72%) Oracle Fusion
3 6 (1.29%) Kafka
3 6 (1.29%) LDAP
4 4 (0.86%) 802.1X
4 4 (0.86%) REST
5 2 (0.43%) .NET
5 2 (0.43%) CSS
5 2 (0.43%) Elastic Stack
5 2 (0.43%) Node.js
5 2 (0.43%) OAuth
5 2 (0.43%) OAuth2
5 2 (0.43%) OpenID
5 2 (0.43%) RESTful
5 2 (0.43%) SAML
5 2 (0.43%) Universal Windows Platform
5 2 (0.43%) XML
6 1 (0.22%) ASP.NET
6 1 (0.22%) RSS
6 1 (0.22%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 30 (6.47%) Management Information System
2 24 (5.17%) Onboarding
3 21 (4.53%) Self-Motivation
4 19 (4.09%) Data Centre
5 18 (3.88%) Driving Licence
6 14 (3.02%) Smartphone
7 13 (2.80%) Product Ownership
8 7 (1.51%) Analytical Mindset
8 7 (1.51%) Public Cloud
9 6 (1.29%) CMDB
9 6 (1.29%) Derivative
9 6 (1.29%) Enterprise Cloud
9 6 (1.29%) Equities
10 5 (1.08%) Cloud Native
10 5 (1.08%) Data Protection Act
10 5 (1.08%) NHS
11 4 (0.86%) Clustering
11 4 (0.86%) Equity Derivative
11 4 (0.86%) Security Operations Centre
11 4 (0.86%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 91 (19.61%) Windows
2 29 (6.25%) Windows 10
3 27 (5.82%) Linux
4 19 (4.09%) Unix
5 17 (3.66%) Android
6 15 (3.23%) Windows Server
7 12 (2.59%) Apple iOS
8 11 (2.37%) Mac OS
9 6 (1.29%) CentOS
9 6 (1.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 3 (0.65%) Windows 7
11 2 (0.43%) Windows 8
11 2 (0.43%) Windows Server 2012
12 1 (0.22%) Mac OS X
12 1 (0.22%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 140 (30.17%) ITIL
2 108 (23.28%) Customer Service
3 91 (19.61%) Service Delivery
4 65 (14.01%) Time Management
5 64 (13.79%) Continuous Improvement
6 54 (11.64%) ITSM
7 51 (10.99%) Problem-Solving
8 50 (10.78%) Service Management
9 45 (9.70%) Stakeholder Management
10 43 (9.27%) Change Management
11 41 (8.84%) Root Cause Analysis
12 38 (8.19%) Agile
13 37 (7.97%) Incident Management
14 30 (6.47%) Asset Management
14 30 (6.47%) Roadmaps
15 27 (5.82%) Problem Management
16 25 (5.39%) Customer Experience
17 24 (5.17%) Cybersecurity
17 24 (5.17%) DevOps
17 24 (5.17%) Disaster Recovery
Programming Languages
1 28 (6.03%) SQL
2 24 (5.17%) Python
3 20 (4.31%) Shell Script
4 15 (3.23%) PowerShell
5 11 (2.37%) Java
6 6 (1.29%) Bash
6 6 (1.29%) MATLAB
7 4 (0.86%) C++
7 4 (0.86%) PL/SQL
8 3 (0.65%) Go
8 3 (0.65%) JavaScript
9 2 (0.43%) C#
9 2 (0.43%) Kusto Query Language
10 1 (0.22%) Bicep
10 1 (0.22%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 135 (29.09%) Security Cleared
2 109 (23.49%) SC Cleared
3 33 (7.11%) Degree
4 21 (4.53%) DV Cleared
5 13 (2.80%) ITIL Certification
6 11 (2.37%) BPSS Clearance
6 11 (2.37%) MOS
7 10 (2.16%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 7 (1.51%) Microsoft Certification
8 7 (1.51%) PMI Certification
9 5 (1.08%) Cisco Certification
10 4 (0.86%) Computer Science Degree
10 4 (0.86%) PMP
11 3 (0.65%) Azure Certification
11 3 (0.65%) CCNP
11 3 (0.65%) DBS Check
11 3 (0.65%) HNC
11 3 (0.65%) Numerate Degree
12 2 (0.43%) CISSP
12 2 (0.43%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (3.66%) GDPR
2 15 (3.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 8 (1.72%) Data Quality
4 7 (1.51%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 5 (1.08%) NIST
5 5 (1.08%) QA
6 4 (0.86%) PCI DSS
7 3 (0.65%) COBIT
7 3 (0.65%) GRC
8 2 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 2 (0.43%) NIST 800
8 2 (0.43%) PMO
8 2 (0.43%) PSD2
9 1 (0.22%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.22%) ISO 9001
9 1 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 46 (9.91%) Active Directory
2 9 (1.94%) Docker
3 8 (1.72%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (1.29%) vSphere
5 3 (0.65%) DFS Replication
5 3 (0.65%) Firmware
5 3 (0.65%) Hyper-V
5 3 (0.65%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.43%) BitLocker
6 2 (0.43%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.22%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 15 (3.23%) Microsoft Intune
2 14 (3.02%) Ansible
3 13 (2.80%) SCCM
4 12 (2.59%) Kubernetes
5 10 (2.16%) Grafana
6 9 (1.94%) Terraform
7 6 (1.29%) Check_MK
7 6 (1.29%) Podman
7 6 (1.29%) Red Hat Satellite
7 6 (1.29%) SCOM
7 6 (1.29%) Single Sign-On
8 4 (0.86%) Prometheus
8 4 (0.86%) ServiceCenter
9 3 (0.65%) FortiGate
9 3 (0.65%) RSA Archer
9 3 (0.65%) WSUS
10 2 (0.43%) Argo
10 2 (0.43%) Microsoft Clustering
10 2 (0.43%) NetApp OnCommand
10 2 (0.43%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 127 (27.37%) Microsoft
2 54 (11.64%) ServiceNow
3 42 (9.05%) Oracle
4 35 (7.54%) Cisco
5 23 (4.96%) HP
6 21 (4.53%) Dell
7 20 (4.31%) SAP
8 19 (4.09%) VMware
9 18 (3.88%) Apple
10 10 (2.16%) Splunk
11 9 (1.94%) Workday
12 8 (1.72%) Fortinet
13 7 (1.51%) Remedy
14 6 (1.29%) Juniper
14 6 (1.29%) Red Hat
15 5 (1.08%) IBM
15 5 (1.08%) Nokia
15 5 (1.08%) Trend Micro
16 4 (0.86%) BMC
17 3 (0.65%) Citrix
228 SLA jobs Nationwide