Public Sector Contract Job Trends in the West Midlands

Public Sector
England > West Midlands

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Public Sector in contract job vacancies in the West Midlands. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Public Sector over the 6 months leading up to 12 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 16 19
Rank change year-on-year +6 +3 -6
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 437 170 142
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 12.44% 9.32% 7.45%
As % of the General category 23.37% 14.82% 13.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 329 116 89
10th Percentile £363 £269 £279
25th Percentile £425 £400 £358
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.16% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £528 £558
90th Percentile £665 £581 £653
England median daily rate £525 £500 £521
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.08% -3.47%
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 2 9
10th Percentile £17.74 £18.65 £18.00
25th Percentile £20.31 £19.29 £18.50
Median hourly rate £21.50 £20.74 £26.13
Median % change year-on-year +3.65% -20.60% +37.50%
75th Percentile £75.00 £22.34 £35.00
90th Percentile - £23.08 £60.80
England median hourly rate £21.35 £22.03 £24.59
% change year-on-year -3.09% -10.41% +19.78%

All General Skills
West Midlands

Public Sector falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring general skills in the West Midlands.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 1,870 1,147 1,084
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 53.22% 62.88% 56.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,145 734 696
10th Percentile £314 £215 £213
25th Percentile £408 £381 £374
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £485 £475 £510
Median % change year-on-year +2.11% -6.86% -2.86%
75th Percentile £580 £575 £625
90th Percentile £675 £639 £734
England median daily rate £525 £500 £538
% change year-on-year +5.00% -6.98% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 154 86 57
10th Percentile £13.47 £14.00 £13.00
25th Percentile £17.50 £19.13 £15.13
Median hourly rate £25.00 £29.67 £23.82
Median % change year-on-year -15.73% +24.54% +16.20%
75th Percentile £36.77 £40.41 £31.31
90th Percentile £65.79 £50.00 £49.25
England median hourly rate £31.16 £25.15 £38.85
% change year-on-year +23.88% -35.26% +41.27%

Public Sector
Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

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

Public Sector job vacancy trend in the West Midlands

Public Sector
Daily Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Public Sector.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Public Sector

Public Sector
Daily Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Public Sector in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 12 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Public Sector in the West Midlands

Public Sector
Hourly Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Public Sector.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Public Sector

Public Sector
Hourly Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Public Sector in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 12 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Public Sector in the West Midlands

Public Sector
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 Public Sector within the West Midlands region over the 6 months to 12 September 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 +10 216 £500 -3.24% 42
Birmingham -5 85 £525 +10.53% 79
Coventry +11 44 £425 - 4
Warwickshire -14 19 £450 -5.26% 4
Solihull -13 18 £493 +6.49% 2
Staffordshire +2 16 £850 +51.79% 5
Worcestershire +10 10 £450 - 2
Dudley -3 3 £375 - 1
Public Sector
England

Public Sector
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the West Midlands 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 34 (7.78%) SAS
2 30 (6.86%) Confluence
3 17 (3.89%) Apache Airflow
4 14 (3.20%) SharePoint
5 5 (1.14%) Tuxedo
6 4 (0.92%) Apache
6 4 (0.92%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.46%) Microsoft Exchange
8 1 (0.23%) Anypoint
8 1 (0.23%) IIS
8 1 (0.23%) Jupyter
8 1 (0.23%) Oracle Coherence
Applications
1 9 (2.06%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (0.92%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (0.69%) Spreadsheet
4 2 (0.46%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.46%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 16 (3.66%) Dynamics CRM
2 8 (1.83%) ContrOCC
3 7 (1.60%) Oracle General Ledger
3 7 (1.60%) Oracle Payables
3 7 (1.60%) Oracle Receivables
4 5 (1.14%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 4 (0.92%) SAP HR
5 4 (0.92%) SAP PSCD
6 3 (0.69%) SAP ERP
6 3 (0.69%) SAP Payroll
6 3 (0.69%) SAP S/4HANA
7 2 (0.46%) NetSuite
7 2 (0.46%) Oracle Payroll
7 2 (0.46%) SAP HCM
8 1 (0.23%) Oracle Assets
8 1 (0.23%) Oracle Cash Management
8 1 (0.23%) Oracle ERP
8 1 (0.23%) Primavera
8 1 (0.23%) SAP BRIM
8 1 (0.23%) SAP IS-U
Cloud Services
1 95 (21.74%) AWS
2 94 (21.51%) Azure
3 39 (8.92%) Azure DevOps
4 38 (8.70%) Power Platform
5 34 (7.78%) Power Automate
6 30 (6.86%) Dynamics 365
7 18 (4.12%) PowerApps
8 17 (3.89%) GitHub
9 15 (3.43%) Serverless
10 13 (2.97%) Azure Functions
11 12 (2.75%) Azure Data Factory
12 11 (2.52%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 11 (2.52%) PaaS
13 10 (2.29%) Amazon EC2
13 10 (2.29%) Amazon S3
13 10 (2.29%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 8 (1.83%) Amazon SQS
14 8 (1.83%) AWS KMS
14 8 (1.83%) GCP
14 8 (1.83%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 4 (0.92%) Firewall
2 2 (0.46%) LAN
2 2 (0.46%) SSL
2 2 (0.46%) VPN
2 2 (0.46%) WAN
3 1 (0.23%) DNS
3 1 (0.23%) HTTPS
3 1 (0.23%) Internet
3 1 (0.23%) SMTP
3 1 (0.23%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (5.49%) Data Warehouse
2 23 (5.26%) SQL Server
3 22 (5.03%) Pentaho
4 20 (4.58%) Oracle Database
4 20 (4.58%) Power BI
5 18 (4.12%) PostgreSQL
5 18 (4.12%) SAS Visual Analytics
6 17 (3.89%) Relational Database
6 17 (3.89%) SAS Enterprise Guide
7 16 (3.66%) Metadata
8 13 (2.97%) Data Lake
9 10 (2.29%) NoSQL
10 9 (2.06%) Oracle Reports
11 8 (1.83%) Amazon Aurora
11 8 (1.83%) Amazon RDS
11 8 (1.83%) DynamoDB
11 8 (1.83%) MongoDB
12 7 (1.60%) Ingres
13 6 (1.37%) RDBMS
14 5 (1.14%) BusinessObjects
Development Applications
1 43 (9.84%) Git
2 41 (9.38%) JIRA
3 32 (7.32%) Jenkins
4 24 (5.49%) GitLab
5 19 (4.35%) JUnit
6 18 (4.12%) SonarQube
7 17 (3.89%) Mockito
8 16 (3.66%) Maven
8 16 (3.66%) Selenium
9 14 (3.20%) Postman
10 11 (2.52%) WebDriver
11 10 (2.29%) Cucumber
11 10 (2.29%) Cypress.io
12 9 (2.06%) Team Foundation Server
13 7 (1.60%) JMeter
14 6 (1.37%) Bitbucket Server
14 6 (1.37%) DbUnit
14 6 (1.37%) jMock
15 5 (1.14%) Oracle Forms
16 3 (0.69%) Visual Studio
General
1 143 (32.72%) Social Skills
2 67 (15.33%) Analytical Skills
3 63 (14.42%) Finance
4 39 (8.92%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 26 (5.95%) Local Government
6 24 (5.49%) Influencing Skills
7 16 (3.66%) Organisational Skills
8 10 (2.29%) Legal
8 10 (2.29%) Military
9 8 (1.83%) Presentation Skills
10 7 (1.60%) Police
11 5 (1.14%) Banking
11 5 (1.14%) General Ledger
11 5 (1.14%) Telecoms
12 2 (0.46%) Advertising
12 2 (0.46%) Law
12 2 (0.46%) Manufacturing
12 2 (0.46%) Retail
13 1 (0.23%) Billing
13 1 (0.23%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 83 (18.99%) Developer
2 69 (15.79%) Senior
3 61 (13.96%) Architect
4 52 (11.90%) Analyst
4 52 (11.90%) Lead
5 41 (9.38%) Data Engineer
6 37 (8.47%) Data Architect
7 25 (5.72%) Java Developer
8 23 (5.26%) Business Analyst
8 23 (5.26%) Senior Developer
9 17 (3.89%) Dynamics 365 Developer
10 14 (3.20%) Test Analyst
11 13 (2.97%) Senior Analyst
12 12 (2.75%) Senior Java Developer
13 11 (2.52%) Designer
13 11 (2.52%) DevOps Engineer
13 11 (2.52%) Front-End Developer (Client-Side Developer)
14 10 (2.29%) Release Manager
14 10 (2.29%) Senior Manager
14 10 (2.29%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (6.64%) SOAP
2 28 (6.41%) REST
2 28 (6.41%) Spring
3 25 (5.72%) Spring Boot
4 21 (4.81%) JSON
5 17 (3.89%) ActiveMQ
5 17 (3.89%) Oracle Fusion
5 17 (3.89%) RESTful
6 16 (3.66%) AngularJS
6 16 (3.66%) Hibernate
6 16 (3.66%) JPA
6 16 (3.66%) Web Services
7 15 (3.43%) Spring Cloud
8 13 (2.97%) XML
9 12 (2.75%) Gherkin
10 9 (2.06%) Playwright
10 9 (2.06%) React
10 9 (2.06%) Terraform
10 9 (2.06%) XSLT
11 8 (1.83%) Spring Batch
Miscellaneous
1 34 (7.78%) Cloud Native
2 33 (7.55%) Product Ownership
3 23 (5.26%) Management Information System
4 14 (3.20%) Legacy Systems
5 13 (2.97%) Enterprise Software
6 10 (2.29%) Distributed Systems
7 9 (2.06%) Taxonomies
8 8 (1.83%) Data Structures
9 7 (1.60%) Self-Motivation
9 7 (1.60%) Virtual Team
10 6 (1.37%) Analytical Mindset
10 6 (1.37%) Data Fabric
10 6 (1.37%) Enterprise Cloud
10 6 (1.37%) Low-Code
11 5 (1.14%) BYOD
12 4 (0.92%) Autonomous Agent
12 4 (0.92%) Onboarding
13 3 (0.69%) Freedom of Information
14 2 (0.46%) AI Agents
14 2 (0.46%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 11 (2.52%) Linux
2 8 (1.83%) Unix
3 4 (0.92%) Windows
4 2 (0.46%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 226 (51.72%) Agile
2 112 (25.63%) DevOps
3 110 (25.17%) Continuous Improvement
4 105 (24.03%) Stakeholder Management
5 103 (23.57%) CI/CD
6 87 (19.91%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 83 (18.99%) Analytics
8 77 (17.62%) Problem-Solving
8 77 (17.62%) Scrum
9 69 (15.79%) Migration
10 59 (13.50%) Decision-Making
11 58 (13.27%) Data Modelling
12 55 (12.59%) Data Integration
13 53 (12.13%) Technical Leadership
14 46 (10.53%) Digital Transformation Programme
14 46 (10.53%) Microservices
14 46 (10.53%) Test Automation
15 44 (10.07%) AI
16 42 (9.61%) SFIA
16 42 (9.61%) Sprint Planning
Programming Languages
1 69 (15.79%) SQL
2 52 (11.90%) Java
3 37 (8.47%) JavaScript
4 24 (5.49%) C#
5 19 (4.35%) Python
6 16 (3.66%) TypeScript
7 13 (2.97%) Scala
8 9 (2.06%) PL/SQL
9 8 (1.83%) VB
9 8 (1.83%) VB6
10 6 (1.37%) ABAP
11 5 (1.14%) C
12 4 (0.92%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 4 (0.92%) T-SQL
13 3 (0.69%) Kotlin
13 3 (0.69%) R
13 3 (0.69%) VBA
14 2 (0.46%) Bash
14 2 (0.46%) PowerShell
14 2 (0.46%) ProC
Qualifications
1 201 (46.00%) Security Cleared
2 180 (41.19%) SC Cleared
3 78 (17.85%) BPSS Clearance
4 24 (5.49%) Microsoft Certification
5 19 (4.35%) Degree
6 14 (3.20%) ISTQB
7 6 (1.37%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 5 (1.14%) ACCA
8 5 (1.14%) Azure Certification
8 5 (1.14%) CIMA
9 4 (0.92%) CCAB
9 4 (0.92%) Computer Science Degree
9 4 (0.92%) SAS Certification
10 3 (0.69%) AWS Certification
10 3 (0.69%) CCA
10 3 (0.69%) CISM
10 3 (0.69%) CISSP
10 3 (0.69%) DV Cleared
11 2 (0.46%) APMG
12 1 (0.23%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (10.53%) QA
2 45 (10.30%) Accessibility
3 34 (7.78%) Data Quality
4 23 (5.26%) WCAG
5 18 (4.12%) GDPR
6 8 (1.83%) SLA
7 6 (1.37%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 5 (1.14%) GRC
9 4 (0.92%) NCSC
10 3 (0.69%) PMO
11 2 (0.46%) Cyber Essentials
11 2 (0.46%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 2 (0.46%) NIST
12 1 (0.23%) Actionable Recommendations
12 1 (0.23%) Government Security Classifications
12 1 (0.23%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 37 (8.47%) Docker
2 5 (1.14%) Postfix
3 4 (0.92%) Active Directory
4 1 (0.23%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.23%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.23%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 25 (5.72%) Kubernetes
2 20 (4.58%) Grafana
3 16 (3.66%) Prometheus
4 4 (0.92%) Ansible
5 2 (0.46%) Microsoft Intune
6 1 (0.23%) CASB
6 1 (0.23%) SCCM
6 1 (0.23%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 66 (15.10%) Oracle
2 48 (10.98%) Microsoft
3 21 (4.81%) Talend
4 14 (3.20%) Denodo
5 10 (2.29%) SAP
6 9 (2.06%) Databricks
6 9 (2.06%) ServiceNow
7 8 (1.83%) Jaspersoft
7 8 (1.83%) Liquidlogic
8 7 (1.60%) Atlassian
8 7 (1.60%) Dynatrace
8 7 (1.60%) Informatica
9 6 (1.37%) Pega
10 5 (1.14%) Actian
11 4 (0.92%) Google
12 3 (0.69%) Blue Prism
13 2 (0.46%) Concur
13 2 (0.46%) MuleSoft
13 2 (0.46%) OneLogin
13 2 (0.46%) UiPath