NHS Contract Job Trends in Wales

National Health Service (NHS)
UK > Wales

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term NHS in contract job vacancies in Wales. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited NHS over the 6 months leading up to 15 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 19 23 15
Rank change year-on-year +4 -8 -2
Contract jobs citing NHS 37 19 37
As % of all contract jobs in Wales 6.95% 5.60% 8.47%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 24.03% 15.57% 26.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 28 16 34
10th Percentile £210 £198 £201
25th Percentile £293 £247 £208
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £330 £360 £425
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% -15.29% +107.32%
75th Percentile £434 £428 £500
90th Percentile £475 £475 £531
UK median daily rate £438 £375 £283
% change year-on-year +16.67% +32.40% -2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 2 0
Median hourly rate - £25.00 -
UK median hourly rate £16.00 £24.18 £15.99
% change year-on-year -33.83% +51.27% -25.65%

All Generic Skills
Wales

NHS falls under the General and Transferable Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring generic IT skills in Wales.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 154 122 142
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Wales 28.95% 35.99% 32.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 97 78 100
10th Percentile £164 £147 £159
25th Percentile £248 £222 £207
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £350 £400 £425
Median % change year-on-year -12.50% -5.88% -
75th Percentile £447 £539 £531
90th Percentile £542 £608 £576
UK median daily rate £501 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.67% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 15 8
10th Percentile - £19.11 -
25th Percentile £17.30 £21.01 £11.75
Median hourly rate £50.00 £27.50 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year +81.82% +44.74% +18.75%
75th Percentile £83.75 £43.13 £55.56
90th Percentile £86.50 £45.00 £65.35
UK median hourly rate £36.16 £32.50 £28.00
% change year-on-year +11.26% +16.07% +24.44%

NHS
Job Vacancy Trend in Wales

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing NHS relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Wales.

NHS job vacancy trend in Wales

NHS
Daily Rate Trend in Wales

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Wales citing NHS.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Wales citing NHS

NHS
Daily Rate Histogram in Wales

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing NHS in Wales over the 6 months to 15 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for NHS in Wales

NHS
Hourly Rate Trend in Wales

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Wales citing NHS.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Wales citing NHS

NHS
Contract Job Locations in Wales

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing NHS within the Wales region over the 6 months to 15 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
South Wales +12 37 £330 -10.20% 3
NHS
UK

NHS
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Wales 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 3 (8.11%) SharePoint
2 1 (2.70%) CMS
2 1 (2.70%) Confluence
Applications
1 2 (5.41%) Microsoft Project
2 1 (2.70%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 14 (37.84%) Azure
2 8 (21.62%) GCP
3 5 (13.51%) Azure DevOps
3 5 (13.51%) Power Platform
3 5 (13.51%) PowerApps
4 4 (10.81%) Power Automate
5 2 (5.41%) Microsoft 365
6 1 (2.70%) Azure Data Factory
6 1 (2.70%) Azure Storage
6 1 (2.70%) Azure Synapse Analytics
6 1 (2.70%) GitHub
6 1 (2.70%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 9 (24.32%) Firewall
2 5 (13.51%) Ethernet VPN
2 5 (13.51%) VXLAN
3 2 (5.41%) BGP
4 1 (2.70%) Cisco ISE
4 1 (2.70%) LAN
4 1 (2.70%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (5.41%) Azure SQL Database
1 2 (5.41%) Power BI
2 1 (2.70%) Data Lake
2 1 (2.70%) Data Warehouse
2 1 (2.70%) SQL Server
2 1 (2.70%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 4 (10.81%) JMeter
2 1 (2.70%) JIRA
General
1 17 (45.95%) Social Skills
2 8 (21.62%) Public Sector
3 3 (8.11%) Analytical Skills
3 3 (8.11%) Welsh Language
4 2 (5.41%) Digital Health
4 2 (5.41%) Finance
4 2 (5.41%) Legal
4 2 (5.41%) Organisational Skills
5 1 (2.70%) Documentation Skills
5 1 (2.70%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 10 (27.03%) Lead
2 5 (13.51%) Analyst
2 5 (13.51%) Network Engineer
2 5 (13.51%) Project Manager
3 4 (10.81%) Developer
3 4 (10.81%) Juniper Engineer
3 4 (10.81%) Performance Test Leader
3 4 (10.81%) Senior
3 4 (10.81%) Senior Network Engineer
3 4 (10.81%) Test Leader
4 3 (8.11%) Applications Developer
4 3 (8.11%) Architect
4 3 (8.11%) Lead Architect
4 3 (8.11%) Network Architect
4 3 (8.11%) Power Apps Developer
5 2 (5.41%) NHS Project Manager
5 2 (5.41%) Principal Project Manager
5 2 (5.41%) Test Analyst
5 2 (5.41%) Transformation Manager
5 2 (5.41%) Transformation Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (5.41%) .NET
2 1 (2.70%) ADO
2 1 (2.70%) CSS
2 1 (2.70%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 13 (35.14%) Data Centre
2 3 (8.11%) Low-Code
2 3 (8.11%) Management Information System
3 2 (5.41%) Data Structures
3 2 (5.41%) PMI
3 2 (5.41%) Public Cloud
4 1 (2.70%) Greenfield Project
4 1 (2.70%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 1 (2.70%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 14 (37.84%) Migration
2 11 (29.73%) Agile
3 7 (18.92%) Project Management
4 6 (16.22%) PRINCE2
4 6 (16.22%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 5 (13.51%) DevOps
6 4 (10.81%) Business Case
6 4 (10.81%) Change Management
6 4 (10.81%) Performance Testing
6 4 (10.81%) Performance Tuning
6 4 (10.81%) Test Automation
6 4 (10.81%) Validation
7 3 (8.11%) Budgeting and Resource Allocation
7 3 (8.11%) Collaborative Working
7 3 (8.11%) Contract Negotiation
7 3 (8.11%) Problem-Solving
7 3 (8.11%) Project Delivery
7 3 (8.11%) Resource Allocation
7 3 (8.11%) Scenario Testing
7 3 (8.11%) Traceability Matrix
Programming Languages
1 2 (5.41%) SQL
2 1 (2.70%) Bicep
2 1 (2.70%) JavaScript
2 1 (2.70%) Python
2 1 (2.70%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 6 (16.22%) Degree
2 4 (10.81%) Master's Degree
3 3 (8.11%) PMI Certification
4 1 (2.70%) CIPD
4 1 (2.70%) PMP
4 1 (2.70%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (5.41%) QA
2 1 (2.70%) Accessibility
2 1 (2.70%) Cyber Essentials
2 1 (2.70%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
2 1 (2.70%) GDPR
2 1 (2.70%) IASME
2 1 (2.70%) ISO/IEC 27001
Systems Management
1 1 (2.70%) Terraform
Vendors
1 11 (29.73%) Microsoft
2 8 (21.62%) Google
3 7 (18.92%) Juniper
4 1 (2.70%) Cisco