Developer Contract Job Trends in the West Midlands
Developer
England > West Midlands
The median Developer daily rate in the West Midlands is £450, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 19 October 2026.
The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.
| 6 months to 19 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 29 | 32 | 16 |
| Rank change year-on-year | +3 | -16 | -5 |
| Contract jobs requiring a Developer | 252 | 125 | 166 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands | 7.10% | 6.55% | 8.83% |
| As % of the Job Titles category | 7.81% | 7.33% | 9.50% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 197 | 94 | 105 |
| 10th Percentile | £388 | £366 | £313 |
| 25th Percentile | £413 | £413 | £400 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £450 | £500 | £500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -10.00% | - | +11.11% |
| 75th Percentile | £548 | £548 | £575 |
| 90th Percentile | £610 | £650 | £658 |
| England median daily rate | £520 | £508 | £525 |
| % change year-on-year | +2.46% | -3.33% | -4.55% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 10th Percentile | - | - | - |
| 25th Percentile | £24.41 | - | - |
| Median hourly rate | £25.30 | - | - |
| 75th Percentile | £26.19 | - | - |
| 90th Percentile | - | - | - |
| England median hourly rate | £55.00 | £55.00 | £65.00 |
| % change year-on-year | - | -15.38% | +8.33% |
All Contract IT Job Roles
West Midlands
For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the West Midlands. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.
| 6 months to 19 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies in the West Midlands with a recognized job title | 3,228 | 1,706 | 1,747 |
| % of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title | 91.01% | 89.37% | 92.88% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 1,930 | 1,101 | 1,105 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £250 | £213 |
| 25th Percentile | £413 | £388 | £375 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £487 | £500 | £500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -2.67% | - | +5.26% |
| 75th Percentile | £594 | £588 | £612 |
| 90th Percentile | £684 | £675 | £706 |
| England median daily rate | £525 | £512 | £525 |
| % change year-on-year | +2.54% | -2.48% | -2.78% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 248 | 109 | 60 |
| 10th Percentile | £14.18 | £12.62 | £12.58 |
| 25th Percentile | £17.70 | £15.67 | £14.18 |
| Median hourly rate | £24.53 | £25.15 | £21.80 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -2.47% | +15.39% | -2.22% |
| 75th Percentile | £40.03 | £36.00 | £32.26 |
| 90th Percentile | £63.05 | £50.00 | £48.88 |
| England median hourly rate | £41.71 | £25.15 | £43.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +65.84% | -41.51% | -6.89% |
Developer Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Developer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands.
Developer Daily Rate Trend in the West Midlands
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Developer job vacancies in the West Midlands.
Developer Daily Rate Histogram in the West Midlands
Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Developer in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 19 October 2026.
Developer Hourly Rate Trend in the West Midlands
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Developer job vacancies in the West Midlands.
Developer Contract Job Locations in the West Midlands
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Developer within the West Midlands region over the 6 months to 19 October 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shropshire | +8 | 110 | £488 | +5.41% | 23 |
| Birmingham | +6 | 56 | £455 | -9.00% | 55 |
| Coventry | +1 | 40 | £425 | - | 12 |
| Solihull | -7 | 14 | £600 | +4.35% | 12 |
| Warwickshire | -13 | 13 | £450 | -2.70% | 15 |
| Herefordshire | -1 | 3 | - | - | |
| Wolverhampton | - | 3 | £350 | - | 3 |
| Dudley | - | 2 | £400 | - | 7 |
| Worcestershire | -6 | 1 | £450 | -30.77% | 6 |
| Staffordshire | -13 | 1 | £725 | +61.11% | 26 |
| Developer England |
|||||
Developer Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the West Midlands
For the 6 months to 19 October 2026, Developer contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the West Midlands region featuring Developer in the job title.
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Agile | 41.3% | 104 |
| 2 | Java | 34.9% | 88 |
| 3 | Security Cleared | 30.2% | 76 |
| 4 | SC Cleared | 26.6% | 67 |
| 5 | Microsoft | 24.6% | 62 |
| 6 | BPSS Clearance | 23.8% | 60 |
| 7 | JavaScript | 23.4% | 59 |
| 8 | CI/CD | 20.2% | 51 |
| 9 | SQL | 19.0% | 48 |
| 10 | Continuous Improvement | 18.3% | 46 |
| 10 | Front End Development | 18.3% | 46 |
| 12 | Git | 17.1% | 43 |
| 13 | Microservices | 15.9% | 40 |
| 13 | Problem-Solving | 15.9% | 40 |
| 13 | Sprint Planning | 15.9% | 40 |
| 16 | Power Platform | 15.5% | 39 |
| 16 | REST | 15.5% | 39 |
| 18 | Azure | 15.1% | 38 |
| 18 | DevOps | 15.1% | 38 |
| 18 | Scrum | 15.1% | 38 |
| 18 | SOAP | 15.1% | 38 |
| 22 | React | 14.7% | 37 |
| 22 | Spring | 14.7% | 37 |
| 24 | Spring Boot | 14.3% | 36 |
| 25 | Accessibility | 13.9% | 35 |
| 26 | AWS | 13.5% | 34 |
| 27 | Test Automation | 13.1% | 33 |
| 28 | C# | 12.7% | 32 |
| 29 | Power Automate | 11.9% | 30 |
| 29 | User Stories | 11.9% | 30 |
Developer Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the West Midlands by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Job Titles
| Rank | Job Title | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Java Developer | 27.4% | 69 |
| 2 | Senior Developer | 20.2% | 51 |
| 3 | Front-End Developer (Client-Side Developer) | 10.3% | 26 |
| 4 | Senior Java Developer | 8.7% | 22 |
| 5 | Dynamics 365 Developer | 7.9% | 20 |
| 6 | Software Developer | 7.5% | 19 |
| 7 | Lead Developer | 6.0% | 15 |
| 8 | Oracle Developer | 5.6% | 14 |
| 9 | Power Platform Developer | 5.2% | 13 |
| 10 | React Developer | 4.8% | 12 |
| 10 | SC Cleared Java Developer | 4.8% | 12 |
| 12 | Automation Developer | 4.0% | 10 |
| 13 | .NET Developer | 3.6% | 9 |
| 13 | Full-Stack Developer | 3.6% | 9 |
| 13 | Java Software Developer | 3.6% | 9 |
| 13 | Lead Java Developer | 3.6% | 9 |
| 17 | Business Intelligence Developer | 3.2% | 8 |
| 17 | Scala Developer | 3.2% | 8 |
| 17 | Senior Dynamics 365 Developer | 3.2% | 8 |
| 17 | ServiceNow Developer | 3.2% | 8 |