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 22 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 14 18 16
Rank change year-on-year +4 -2 -7
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 376 135 145
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 10.93% 8.35% 7.37%
As % of the General category 20.49% 13.38% 13.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 277 82 105
10th Percentile £350 £256 £259
25th Percentile £413 £406 £358
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £463 £450
Median % change year-on-year +8.11% +2.78% -12.20%
75th Percentile £575 £511 £550
90th Percentile £650 £617 £633
England median daily rate £515 £503 £516
% change year-on-year +2.49% -2.52% -2.74%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 3 9
10th Percentile £17.57 £15.87 £15.58
25th Percentile £20.31 £16.75 £18.50
Median hourly rate £25.77 £18.44 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year +39.79% -2.97% +5.56%
75th Percentile £75.00 £18.70 £35.00
90th Percentile - £18.72 £43.00
England median hourly rate £24.01 £21.70 £27.50
% change year-on-year +10.63% -21.09% +30.95%

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 1,835 1,009 1,063
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 53.36% 62.44% 54.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,173 624 723
10th Percentile £313 £202 £250
25th Percentile £402 £362 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £454 £500
Median % change year-on-year +8.29% -9.13% -2.34%
75th Percentile £581 £562 £625
90th Percentile £675 £651 £750
England median daily rate £525 £513 £538
% change year-on-year +2.44% -4.65% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 119 83 90
10th Percentile £15.96 £14.00 £11.43
25th Percentile £20.31 £16.07 £13.60
Median hourly rate £30.27 £28.18 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year +7.42% +61.03% -16.02%
75th Percentile £43.96 £40.13 £32.27
90th Percentile £69.27 £50.00 £56.25
England median hourly rate £33.99 £26.04 £35.86
% change year-on-year +30.53% -27.37% +19.42%

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 22 July 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 22 July 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 22 July 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 +6 137 £481 +5.94% 31
Birmingham -3 95 £525 +10.53% 37
Coventry +4 37 £450 +2.86% 2
Warwickshire -4 30 £500 +17.65% 12
Solihull -9 21 £447 +6.43% 1
Staffordshire +8 15 £850 +51.79% 12
Worcestershire +1 9 £450 -35.71%
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 32 (8.51%) SAS
2 20 (5.32%) Confluence
3 16 (4.26%) Apache Airflow
4 11 (2.93%) SharePoint
5 5 (1.33%) Tuxedo
6 3 (0.80%) Apache
6 3 (0.80%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.53%) Microsoft Exchange
7 2 (0.53%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.27%) Anypoint
8 1 (0.27%) IIS
8 1 (0.27%) Jupyter
8 1 (0.27%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.27%) Oracle Coherence
Applications
1 8 (2.13%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.06%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.27%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 8 (2.13%) ContrOCC
2 7 (1.86%) Dynamics CRM
2 7 (1.86%) Oracle Receivables
3 6 (1.60%) Oracle General Ledger
3 6 (1.60%) Oracle Payables
4 5 (1.33%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 4 (1.06%) SAP PSCD
6 3 (0.80%) NEC Housing
6 3 (0.80%) SAP ERP
7 2 (0.53%) Oracle ERP
7 2 (0.53%) SAP S/4HANA
8 1 (0.27%) Oracle Assets
8 1 (0.27%) Oracle Cash Management
8 1 (0.27%) Oracle EBS
8 1 (0.27%) Primavera
8 1 (0.27%) SAP BRIM
8 1 (0.27%) SAP HR
8 1 (0.27%) SAP Hybris
8 1 (0.27%) SAP IS-U
8 1 (0.27%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 89 (23.67%) AWS
2 82 (21.81%) Azure
3 26 (6.91%) Azure DevOps
4 22 (5.85%) Power Platform
5 21 (5.59%) Amazon CloudWatch
5 21 (5.59%) Amazon S3
6 20 (5.32%) Amazon EC2
7 17 (4.52%) Amazon SQS
7 17 (4.52%) AWS KMS
7 17 (4.52%) Route 53
8 16 (4.26%) GitHub
9 15 (3.99%) Dynamics 365
10 14 (3.72%) Power Automate
11 12 (3.19%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 11 (2.93%) Azure Data Factory
13 10 (2.66%) PaaS
14 8 (2.13%) GitHub Actions
14 8 (2.13%) Serverless
15 7 (1.86%) Entra ID
15 7 (1.86%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 7 (1.86%) Firewall
2 3 (0.80%) LAN
2 3 (0.80%) VPN
3 2 (0.53%) SSL
3 2 (0.53%) WAN
4 1 (0.27%) DNS
4 1 (0.27%) HTTPS
4 1 (0.27%) Internet
4 1 (0.27%) Intrusion Detection
4 1 (0.27%) Network Security
4 1 (0.27%) SMTP
4 1 (0.27%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (5.85%) PostgreSQL
2 20 (5.32%) Pentaho
3 19 (5.05%) Amazon RDS
4 18 (4.79%) Data Warehouse
4 18 (4.79%) Oracle Database
4 18 (4.79%) Oracle Reports
5 17 (4.52%) Amazon Aurora
5 17 (4.52%) DynamoDB
5 17 (4.52%) SQL Server
6 16 (4.26%) Power BI
6 16 (4.26%) SAS Enterprise Guide
6 16 (4.26%) SAS Visual Analytics
7 9 (2.39%) Relational Database
8 7 (1.86%) Data Lake
8 7 (1.86%) Ingres
8 7 (1.86%) Metadata
9 6 (1.60%) RDBMS
10 5 (1.33%) BusinessObjects
10 5 (1.33%) MongoDB
10 5 (1.33%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 32 (8.51%) Jenkins
2 31 (8.24%) Git
3 29 (7.71%) JIRA
4 19 (5.05%) GitLab
4 19 (5.05%) JUnit
5 18 (4.79%) Mockito
6 17 (4.52%) Maven
6 17 (4.52%) SonarQube
7 13 (3.46%) DbUnit
7 13 (3.46%) jMock
8 12 (3.19%) Selenium
9 11 (2.93%) Bitbucket Server
10 10 (2.66%) JMeter
10 10 (2.66%) Postman
11 8 (2.13%) Team Foundation Server
11 8 (2.13%) WebDriver
12 7 (1.86%) Cypress.io
13 6 (1.60%) Cucumber
14 5 (1.33%) Oracle Forms
15 3 (0.80%) REST Assured
General
1 105 (27.93%) Social Skills
2 60 (15.96%) Finance
3 51 (13.56%) Analytical Skills
4 36 (9.57%) Local Government
5 26 (6.91%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 13 (3.46%) Influencing Skills
7 12 (3.19%) Legal
8 11 (2.93%) Police
9 6 (1.60%) Military
9 6 (1.60%) Presentation Skills
10 5 (1.33%) Telecoms
11 4 (1.06%) Documentation Skills
11 4 (1.06%) General Ledger
11 4 (1.06%) Manufacturing
12 3 (0.80%) Law
13 2 (0.53%) Banking
13 2 (0.53%) Organisational Skills
13 2 (0.53%) Retail
14 1 (0.27%) Billing
14 1 (0.27%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 56 (14.89%) Senior
2 49 (13.03%) Developer
3 44 (11.70%) Architect
4 43 (11.44%) Analyst
5 38 (10.11%) Data Engineer
6 32 (8.51%) Lead
7 30 (7.98%) Java Developer
8 20 (5.32%) Business Analyst
9 12 (3.19%) Accountant
9 12 (3.19%) Data Architect
9 12 (3.19%) Release Manager
9 12 (3.19%) Systems Accountant
10 11 (2.93%) Applications Support
10 11 (2.93%) Senior Developer
10 11 (2.93%) Technical Architect
11 10 (2.66%) Consultant
11 10 (2.66%) DevOps Engineer
11 10 (2.66%) Senior Accountant
11 10 (2.66%) Senior Analyst
11 10 (2.66%) Senior Systems Accountant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (6.65%) Spring
1 25 (6.65%) Spring Boot
2 23 (6.12%) SOAP
3 22 (5.85%) REST
4 21 (5.59%) Oracle Fusion
5 18 (4.79%) ActiveMQ
5 18 (4.79%) AngularJS
6 17 (4.52%) Hibernate
6 17 (4.52%) JPA
6 17 (4.52%) Spring Batch
6 17 (4.52%) Spring Integration
6 17 (4.52%) Web Services
7 16 (4.26%) Spring Cloud
8 15 (3.99%) RESTful
9 13 (3.46%) PowerMock
10 12 (3.19%) Node.js
11 11 (2.93%) Bootstrap
11 11 (2.93%) JSON
12 8 (2.13%) Gherkin
13 7 (1.86%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 27 (7.18%) Product Ownership
2 19 (5.05%) Cloud Native
3 17 (4.52%) Management Information System
4 16 (4.26%) Data Structures
4 16 (4.26%) Distributed Systems
5 10 (2.66%) Legacy Systems
6 7 (1.86%) Analytical Mindset
7 6 (1.60%) Enterprise Cloud
8 5 (1.33%) BYOD
8 5 (1.33%) Enterprise Software
8 5 (1.33%) Low-Code
8 5 (1.33%) NHS
8 5 (1.33%) Onboarding
9 3 (0.80%) Freedom of Information
9 3 (0.80%) Taxonomies
9 3 (0.80%) Virtual Team
10 2 (0.53%) Hybrid Cloud
10 2 (0.53%) Private Cloud
10 2 (0.53%) Reference Data
10 2 (0.53%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 18 (4.79%) Linux
2 8 (2.13%) Unix
3 5 (1.33%) Windows
4 2 (0.53%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 171 (45.48%) Agile
2 87 (23.14%) DevOps
3 77 (20.48%) Stakeholder Management
4 70 (18.62%) CI/CD
5 66 (17.55%) Continuous Improvement
6 59 (15.69%) Analytics
7 58 (15.43%) Migration
7 58 (15.43%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 53 (14.10%) Decision-Making
8 53 (14.10%) Scrum
9 45 (11.97%) Data Integration
9 45 (11.97%) Data Modelling
10 38 (10.11%) ETL
10 38 (10.11%) Problem-Solving
11 33 (8.78%) Microservices
12 32 (8.51%) Validation
13 31 (8.24%) Containerisation
13 31 (8.24%) Data Pipeline
14 30 (7.98%) Technical Leadership
15 29 (7.71%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 86 (22.87%) SQL
2 46 (12.23%) Java
3 26 (6.91%) Python
4 13 (3.46%) JavaScript
4 13 (3.46%) PL/SQL
5 12 (3.19%) C#
6 7 (1.86%) VB
6 7 (1.86%) VB6
7 6 (1.60%) Bash
8 5 (1.33%) C
9 3 (0.80%) ABAP
9 3 (0.80%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 3 (0.80%) R
9 3 (0.80%) Scala
9 3 (0.80%) T-SQL
10 2 (0.53%) Bicep
10 2 (0.53%) PowerShell
10 2 (0.53%) ProC
10 2 (0.53%) TypeScript
10 2 (0.53%) VBA
Qualifications
1 181 (48.14%) Security Cleared
2 143 (38.03%) SC Cleared
3 36 (9.57%) BPSS Clearance
4 19 (5.05%) Degree
5 11 (2.93%) Microsoft Certification
6 8 (2.13%) ISTQB
7 6 (1.60%) AWS Certification
8 5 (1.33%) Azure Certification
8 5 (1.33%) Computer Science Degree
9 4 (1.06%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 4 (1.06%) SAS Certification
10 3 (0.80%) ACCA
10 3 (0.80%) CCA
10 3 (0.80%) CCAB
10 3 (0.80%) CIMA
10 3 (0.80%) Cisco Certification
10 3 (0.80%) CISM
10 3 (0.80%) CISSP
10 3 (0.80%) DV Cleared
11 2 (0.53%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (7.98%) Data Quality
2 25 (6.65%) Accessibility
2 25 (6.65%) QA
3 12 (3.19%) GDPR
4 10 (2.66%) WCAG
5 9 (2.39%) SLA
6 6 (1.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 5 (1.33%) PMO
8 3 (0.80%) NCSC
9 2 (0.53%) Cyber Essentials
9 2 (0.53%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.53%) Government Security Classifications
9 2 (0.53%) GRC
9 2 (0.53%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.27%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.27%) COBIT
10 1 (0.27%) NIST
10 1 (0.27%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 38 (10.11%) Docker
2 11 (2.93%) Postfix
3 7 (1.86%) Active Directory
4 1 (0.27%) etcd
4 1 (0.27%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.27%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.27%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 25 (6.65%) Kubernetes
2 21 (5.59%) Grafana
3 10 (2.66%) Prometheus
3 10 (2.66%) Terraform
4 5 (1.33%) Ansible
5 2 (0.53%) Microsoft Intune
6 1 (0.27%) CASB
6 1 (0.27%) Fluentd
6 1 (0.27%) FortiGate
6 1 (0.27%) SCCM
6 1 (0.27%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 72 (19.15%) Oracle
2 39 (10.37%) Microsoft
3 23 (6.12%) Talend
4 17 (4.52%) Jaspersoft
5 15 (3.99%) Atlassian
5 15 (3.99%) Informatica
6 12 (3.19%) Databricks
7 9 (2.39%) Denodo
7 9 (2.39%) SAP
8 8 (2.13%) Liquidlogic
9 7 (1.86%) Dynatrace
10 5 (1.33%) Actian
10 5 (1.33%) Cloudera
10 5 (1.33%) Pega
10 5 (1.33%) ServiceNow
11 4 (1.06%) Google
12 3 (0.80%) NEC
12 3 (0.80%) OneLogin
12 3 (0.80%) Salesforce
12 3 (0.80%) Sparx