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 5 August 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 16 19
Rank change year-on-year +5 +3 -9
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 404 147 130
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 11.60% 8.84% 6.97%
As % of the General category 21.90% 13.91% 12.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 303 92 94
10th Percentile £351 £264 £269
25th Percentile £415 £406 £358
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £475 £454
Median % change year-on-year +3.16% +4.68% -12.53%
75th Percentile £575 £531 £550
90th Percentile £661 £601 £646
England median daily rate £515 £513 £515
% change year-on-year +0.49% -0.49% -4.19%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 3 8
10th Percentile £17.57 £15.87 £17.75
25th Percentile £20.31 £16.75 £18.50
Median hourly rate £21.50 £18.44 £26.47
Median % change year-on-year +16.63% -30.34% +47.03%
75th Percentile £75.00 £18.70 £35.00
90th Percentile - £18.72 £47.00
England median hourly rate £23.68 £21.50 £27.00
% change year-on-year +10.13% -20.37% +29.68%

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 1,845 1,057 1,015
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 52.96% 63.56% 54.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,171 658 689
10th Percentile £315 £210 £256
25th Percentile £408 £363 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £463 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.95% -7.50% -4.76%
75th Percentile £582 £572 £635
90th Percentile £675 £639 £756
England median daily rate £525 £510 £538
% change year-on-year +2.94% -5.12% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 127 88 69
10th Percentile £14.82 £14.00 £13.00
25th Percentile £20.31 £16.13 £14.00
Median hourly rate £30.27 £27.70 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year +9.30% +45.76% -12.58%
75th Percentile £43.96 £40.07 £32.28
90th Percentile £67.84 £50.00 £51.00
England median hourly rate £33.06 £25.15 £38.12
% change year-on-year +31.45% -34.02% +30.32%

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 5 August 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 5 August 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 5 August 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 +8 169 £490 +5.95% 45
Birmingham -3 90 £525 +10.53% 59
Coventry +4 42 £425 -2.86% 3
Solihull -11 23 £447 +6.43% 3
Warwickshire -6 21 £450 +5.88% 9
Staffordshire +9 17 £850 +51.79% 16
Worcestershire +2 9 £450 -35.71%
Dudley -6 1 £375 -
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 39 (9.65%) SAS
2 30 (7.43%) Confluence
3 15 (3.71%) Apache Airflow
4 11 (2.72%) SharePoint
5 5 (1.24%) Tuxedo
6 3 (0.74%) Apache
6 3 (0.74%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.50%) Microsoft Exchange
7 2 (0.50%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.25%) Anypoint
8 1 (0.25%) IIS
8 1 (0.25%) Jupyter
8 1 (0.25%) Oracle Coherence
Applications
1 9 (2.23%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (0.99%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.50%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.25%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.25%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 9 (2.23%) Dynamics CRM
2 8 (1.98%) ContrOCC
3 7 (1.73%) Oracle Receivables
4 6 (1.49%) Oracle General Ledger
4 6 (1.49%) Oracle Payables
5 5 (1.24%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 4 (0.99%) SAP PSCD
7 3 (0.74%) SAP ERP
8 2 (0.50%) Oracle ERP
8 2 (0.50%) Oracle Payroll
9 1 (0.25%) NEC Housing
9 1 (0.25%) Oracle Assets
9 1 (0.25%) Oracle Cash Management
9 1 (0.25%) Oracle EBS
9 1 (0.25%) Primavera
9 1 (0.25%) SAP BRIM
9 1 (0.25%) SAP HR
9 1 (0.25%) SAP Hybris
9 1 (0.25%) SAP IS-U
9 1 (0.25%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 94 (23.27%) AWS
2 92 (22.77%) Azure
3 33 (8.17%) Azure DevOps
4 28 (6.93%) Power Platform
5 21 (5.20%) Amazon CloudWatch
6 20 (4.95%) Amazon EC2
6 20 (4.95%) Amazon S3
6 20 (4.95%) Dynamics 365
6 20 (4.95%) Power Automate
7 17 (4.21%) Amazon SQS
7 17 (4.21%) AWS KMS
7 17 (4.21%) GitHub
7 17 (4.21%) Route 53
8 14 (3.47%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 13 (3.22%) Azure Data Factory
10 10 (2.48%) PaaS
10 10 (2.48%) PowerApps
11 9 (2.23%) Serverless
12 8 (1.98%) GitHub Actions
12 8 (1.98%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 7 (1.73%) Firewall
2 3 (0.74%) LAN
2 3 (0.74%) VPN
3 2 (0.50%) SSL
3 2 (0.50%) WAN
4 1 (0.25%) DNS
4 1 (0.25%) HTTPS
4 1 (0.25%) Internet
4 1 (0.25%) Intrusion Detection
4 1 (0.25%) Network Security
4 1 (0.25%) SMTP
4 1 (0.25%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (6.68%) Pentaho
2 25 (6.19%) Data Warehouse
3 23 (5.69%) PostgreSQL
4 19 (4.70%) Amazon RDS
4 19 (4.70%) Oracle Database
4 19 (4.70%) Power BI
5 18 (4.46%) SQL Server
6 17 (4.21%) Amazon Aurora
6 17 (4.21%) DynamoDB
6 17 (4.21%) SAS Visual Analytics
7 16 (3.96%) Oracle Reports
7 16 (3.96%) SAS Enterprise Guide
8 12 (2.97%) Data Lake
9 11 (2.72%) Metadata
10 10 (2.48%) Relational Database
11 8 (1.98%) NoSQL
12 7 (1.73%) Ingres
13 6 (1.49%) RDBMS
13 6 (1.49%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 5 (1.24%) BusinessObjects
Development Applications
1 42 (10.40%) JIRA
2 38 (9.41%) Git
2 38 (9.41%) Jenkins
3 22 (5.45%) JUnit
4 21 (5.20%) GitLab
5 20 (4.95%) Mockito
5 20 (4.95%) SonarQube
6 19 (4.70%) Maven
7 15 (3.71%) Selenium
8 13 (3.22%) DbUnit
8 13 (3.22%) jMock
9 12 (2.97%) Postman
10 11 (2.72%) Bitbucket Server
11 10 (2.48%) JMeter
11 10 (2.48%) WebDriver
12 9 (2.23%) Cucumber
12 9 (2.23%) Cypress.io
13 8 (1.98%) Team Foundation Server
14 5 (1.24%) Oracle Forms
15 3 (0.74%) Bitbucket
General
1 119 (29.46%) Social Skills
2 61 (15.10%) Finance
3 56 (13.86%) Analytical Skills
4 34 (8.42%) Local Government
5 30 (7.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 20 (4.95%) Influencing Skills
7 11 (2.72%) Legal
8 9 (2.23%) Presentation Skills
9 8 (1.98%) Military
10 5 (1.24%) Organisational Skills
10 5 (1.24%) Police
10 5 (1.24%) Telecoms
11 4 (0.99%) Documentation Skills
11 4 (0.99%) General Ledger
11 4 (0.99%) Manufacturing
12 2 (0.50%) Banking
12 2 (0.50%) Law
12 2 (0.50%) Retail
13 1 (0.25%) Advertising
13 1 (0.25%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 59 (14.60%) Senior
2 56 (13.86%) Developer
3 51 (12.62%) Architect
4 46 (11.39%) Data Engineer
5 45 (11.14%) Analyst
6 42 (10.40%) Lead
7 31 (7.67%) Java Developer
8 21 (5.20%) Business Analyst
8 21 (5.20%) Data Architect
9 13 (3.22%) Senior Developer
10 12 (2.97%) Senior Analyst
11 11 (2.72%) Release Manager
11 11 (2.72%) Technical Architect
12 10 (2.48%) Accountant
12 10 (2.48%) Designer
12 10 (2.48%) DevOps Engineer
12 10 (2.48%) HR Director
12 10 (2.48%) Systems Accountant
12 10 (2.48%) Test Analyst
13 9 (2.23%) Senior Java Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (6.93%) Spring
2 27 (6.68%) Spring Boot
3 25 (6.19%) SOAP
4 23 (5.69%) REST
5 22 (5.45%) Oracle Fusion
6 20 (4.95%) ActiveMQ
6 20 (4.95%) AngularJS
7 19 (4.70%) Hibernate
7 19 (4.70%) JPA
8 18 (4.46%) Spring Cloud
8 18 (4.46%) Web Services
9 17 (4.21%) Spring Batch
9 17 (4.21%) Spring Integration
10 16 (3.96%) RESTful
11 13 (3.22%) JSON
11 13 (3.22%) PowerMock
12 12 (2.97%) Node.js
13 11 (2.72%) Bootstrap
13 11 (2.72%) Gherkin
14 7 (1.73%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 29 (7.18%) Product Ownership
2 26 (6.44%) Cloud Native
3 18 (4.46%) Management Information System
4 16 (3.96%) Data Structures
4 16 (3.96%) Distributed Systems
5 13 (3.22%) Legacy Systems
6 8 (1.98%) Enterprise Software
7 7 (1.73%) Analytical Mindset
8 6 (1.49%) Enterprise Cloud
8 6 (1.49%) Low-Code
8 6 (1.49%) Onboarding
9 5 (1.24%) BYOD
9 5 (1.24%) NHS
10 3 (0.74%) Autonomous Agent
10 3 (0.74%) Freedom of Information
10 3 (0.74%) Taxonomies
10 3 (0.74%) Virtual Team
11 2 (0.50%) Hybrid Cloud
11 2 (0.50%) Private Cloud
11 2 (0.50%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 18 (4.46%) Linux
2 8 (1.98%) Unix
3 5 (1.24%) Windows
4 2 (0.50%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 205 (50.74%) Agile
2 106 (26.24%) DevOps
3 92 (22.77%) CI/CD
4 88 (21.78%) Stakeholder Management
5 87 (21.53%) Continuous Improvement
6 73 (18.07%) Analytics
7 71 (17.57%) Scrum
8 67 (16.58%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 66 (16.34%) Migration
10 57 (14.11%) Problem-Solving
11 55 (13.61%) Data Modelling
12 54 (13.37%) Decision-Making
13 51 (12.62%) Data Integration
14 47 (11.63%) ETL
15 41 (10.15%) Microservices
16 38 (9.41%) Data Pipeline
16 38 (9.41%) Technical Leadership
17 35 (8.66%) Test Automation
18 34 (8.42%) AI
19 33 (8.17%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 84 (20.79%) SQL
2 52 (12.87%) Java
3 25 (6.19%) Python
4 17 (4.21%) JavaScript
5 16 (3.96%) C#
6 13 (3.22%) PL/SQL
7 8 (1.98%) Scala
8 7 (1.73%) VB
8 7 (1.73%) VB6
9 6 (1.49%) Bash
10 5 (1.24%) C
11 4 (0.99%) T-SQL
11 4 (0.99%) TypeScript
12 3 (0.74%) ABAP
12 3 (0.74%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 3 (0.74%) R
13 2 (0.50%) Bicep
13 2 (0.50%) PowerShell
13 2 (0.50%) ProC
13 2 (0.50%) VBA
Qualifications
1 200 (49.50%) Security Cleared
2 164 (40.59%) SC Cleared
3 50 (12.38%) BPSS Clearance
4 21 (5.20%) Degree
5 15 (3.71%) Microsoft Certification
6 11 (2.72%) ISTQB
7 6 (1.49%) AWS Certification
8 5 (1.24%) Azure Certification
8 5 (1.24%) Computer Science Degree
9 4 (0.99%) DV Cleared
9 4 (0.99%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 4 (0.99%) SAS Certification
10 3 (0.74%) ACCA
10 3 (0.74%) CCA
10 3 (0.74%) CCAB
10 3 (0.74%) CIMA
10 3 (0.74%) Cisco Certification
10 3 (0.74%) CISM
10 3 (0.74%) CISSP
11 2 (0.50%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (8.91%) Data Quality
2 34 (8.42%) QA
3 31 (7.67%) Accessibility
4 14 (3.47%) GDPR
5 13 (3.22%) WCAG
6 9 (2.23%) SLA
7 7 (1.73%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 5 (1.24%) PMO
9 4 (0.99%) GRC
10 3 (0.74%) NCSC
11 2 (0.50%) Cyber Essentials
11 2 (0.50%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 2 (0.50%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.50%) NIST
11 2 (0.50%) PCI DSS
12 1 (0.25%) Actionable Recommendations
12 1 (0.25%) COBIT
12 1 (0.25%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 45 (11.14%) Docker
2 11 (2.72%) Postfix
3 4 (0.99%) Active Directory
4 1 (0.25%) etcd
4 1 (0.25%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.25%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 30 (7.43%) Kubernetes
2 23 (5.69%) Grafana
3 12 (2.97%) Prometheus
4 10 (2.48%) Terraform
5 4 (0.99%) Ansible
6 2 (0.50%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (0.25%) CASB
7 1 (0.25%) Fluentd
7 1 (0.25%) FortiGate
7 1 (0.25%) SCCM
7 1 (0.25%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 76 (18.81%) Oracle
2 41 (10.15%) Microsoft
3 27 (6.68%) Talend
4 17 (4.21%) Jaspersoft
5 16 (3.96%) Atlassian
5 16 (3.96%) Denodo
6 15 (3.71%) Informatica
7 12 (2.97%) Databricks
8 9 (2.23%) SAP
9 8 (1.98%) Dynatrace
9 8 (1.98%) Liquidlogic
10 6 (1.49%) ServiceNow
11 5 (1.24%) Actian
11 5 (1.24%) Cloudera
11 5 (1.24%) Pega
12 3 (0.74%) Google
12 3 (0.74%) OneLogin
12 3 (0.74%) Sparx
13 2 (0.50%) Alteryx
13 2 (0.50%) Salesforce