Developer Contract Job Trends in the West Midlands

Developer
England > West Midlands

The median Developer daily rate in the West Midlands is £460, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 2 November 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Nov 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 30 35 17
Rank change year-on-year +5 -18 -6
Contract Developer jobs 255 128 157
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 7.18% 6.38% 8.29%
As % of the Job Titles category 7.93% 7.13% 8.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 202 93 98
10th Percentile £393 £365 £330
25th Percentile £413 £413 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £460 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -8.00% - +11.11%
75th Percentile £550 £553 £575
90th Percentile £620 £650 £666
England median daily rate £520 £503 £525
% change year-on-year +3.48% -4.29% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 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 adverts in the West Midlands matching a recognised job title. The table also shows what proportion of all contract IT job adverts they make up.

6 months to
2 Nov 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Contract job adverts in the West Midlands matching a recognised job title 3,214 1,794 1,757
% of contract job adverts matching a recognised job title 90.43% 89.39% 92.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,951 1,163 1,112
10th Percentile £350 £258 £213
25th Percentile £413 £400 £380
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% - +5.26%
75th Percentile £600 £588 £612
90th Percentile £680 £675 £700
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 243 104 58
10th Percentile £13.98 £12.62 £12.58
25th Percentile £17.45 £15.73 £14.03
Median hourly rate £22.00 £25.15 £23.05
Median % change year-on-year -12.52% +9.11% +3.41%
75th Percentile £38.75 £36.38 £33.23
90th Percentile £55.00 £50.00 £45.63
England median hourly rate £41.00 £25.15 £41.27
% change year-on-year +63.02% -39.05% -10.35%

Developer Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract Developer job postings relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands.

Developer job vacancy trend 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.

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 Developer jobs in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 2 November 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Developer in the West Midlands

Developer Hourly Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Developer job vacancies 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 Developer jobs within the West Midlands region over the 6 months to 2 November 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		 Job Ads
Past 6 Months		 Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months		 Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Live
Jobs
Shropshire +18 118 £490 +5.95% 5
Birmingham -2 50 £425 -15.00% 47
Coventry +7 38 £425 - 9
Warwickshire -12 15 £450 -5.01% 5
Solihull -4 14 £600 +2.13% 2
Herefordshire +3 3 - - 1
Wolverhampton - 3 £350 - 7
Staffordshire -12 2 £600 +33.33% 13
Dudley - 2 £400 - 5
Developer
England

Developer Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the West Midlands

For the 6 months to 2 November 2026, Developer contract job ads cited 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 Developer job ads across the West Midlands region.

RankSkillShareJob Ads
1Agile45.5%116
2Java36.5%93
3Security Cleared31.8%81
4SC Cleared28.2%72
5Microsoft25.5%65
6BPSS Clearance24.7%63
7JavaScript23.5%60
8CI/CD20.8%53
9Front End Development19.6%50
10SQL19.2%49
11Continuous Improvement18.4%47
11Microservices18.4%47
13Git16.9%43
13Power Platform16.9%43
15Spring16.5%42
15Sprint Planning16.5%42
17Scrum16.1%41
17Spring Boot16.1%41
19Problem-Solving15.7%40
20Azure15.3%39
20DevOps15.3%39
22AWS14.9%38
22REST14.9%38
24React14.5%37
24SOAP14.5%37
26Accessibility13.3%34
27C#12.9%33
27Test Automation12.9%33
29User Stories12.5%32
30Power Automate12.2%31

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

RankJob TitleShareJob Ads
1Java Developer29.4%75
2Senior Developer18.0%46
3Front-End Developer (Client-Side Developer)11.0%28
4Senior Java Developer8.6%22
5Dynamics 365 Developer7.8%20
6Software Developer7.5%19
7Lead Developer5.9%15
7Power Platform Developer5.9%15
9Scala Developer5.5%14
10React Developer4.7%12
10SC Cleared Java Developer4.7%12
12Oracle Developer4.3%11
13Automation Developer3.9%10
14.NET Developer3.5%9
14Full-Stack Developer3.5%9
14Java Software Developer3.5%9
14Lead Java Developer3.5%9
18Senior Dynamics 365 Developer3.1%8
18ServiceNow Developer3.1%8
20Business Intelligence Developer2.7%7
96 Developer jobs in the West Midlands