SC Cleared Contract Job Trends in the West Midlands

Security Check (SC) Clearance
England > West Midlands

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the West Midlands with a requirement for SC Cleared qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 16 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 4 5
Rank change year-on-year +1 +1 +5
Contract jobs citing SC Cleared 688 314 250
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 19.63% 17.15% 13.16%
As % of the Qualifications category 55.57% 48.01% 40.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 497 225 177
10th Percentile £365 £325 £358
25th Percentile £415 £425 £455
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £515 £534
Median % change year-on-year -7.77% -3.47% -3.00%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £624
90th Percentile £663 £650 £675
England median daily rate £538 £530 £530
% change year-on-year +1.42% - -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 51 21 1
10th Percentile £14.26 - -
25th Percentile £51.25 - -
Median hourly rate £63.14 £18.87 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +234.58% -46.09% -46.15%
75th Percentile £70.41 £25.15 -
90th Percentile £75.00 - -
England median hourly rate £63.31 £25.15 £60.00
% change year-on-year +151.72% -58.08% +6.21%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
West Midlands

SC Cleared falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in the West Midlands.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 1,238 654 613
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 35.33% 35.72% 32.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 863 436 393
10th Percentile £346 £222 £324
25th Percentile £413 £400 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £500 £538
Median % change year-on-year -6.00% -7.06% -0.37%
75th Percentile £575 £585 £635
90th Percentile £663 £650 £725
England median daily rate £525 £525 £538
% change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 89 52 12
10th Percentile £14.29 - £20.58
25th Percentile £28.64 £18.87 £24.48
Median hourly rate £43.96 £29.09 £38.75
Median % change year-on-year +51.12% -24.93% +42.20%
75th Percentile £67.84 £41.16 £53.69
90th Percentile £75.00 £50.00 £58.60
England median hourly rate £52.52 £25.15 £54.00
% change year-on-year +108.82% -53.43% -0.81%

SC Cleared
Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

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

SC Cleared job vacancy trend in the West Midlands

SC Cleared
Daily Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing SC Cleared.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing SC Cleared

SC Cleared
Daily Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SC Cleared in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 16 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for SC Cleared in the West Midlands

SC Cleared
Hourly Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing SC Cleared.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing SC Cleared

SC Cleared
Hourly Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing SC Cleared in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 16 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for SC Cleared in the West Midlands

SC Cleared
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 SC Cleared within the West Midlands region over the 6 months to 16 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 0 427 £481 -8.38% 67
Birmingham -5 96 £510 +7.37% 72
Warwickshire -16 46 £415 -16.92% 7
Solihull +2 37 £463 -2.63% 9
Herefordshire -2 19 £700 - 5
Staffordshire -2 13 £388 +13.14% 12
Coventry -14 13 £425 +54.55% 6
Worcestershire -3 11 £650 +8.33% 9
Walsall - 4 £600 -
SC Cleared
England

SC Cleared
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 74 (10.76%) SAS
2 65 (9.45%) Confluence
3 18 (2.62%) Apache Airflow
4 11 (1.60%) SharePoint
5 10 (1.45%) WebLogic
6 4 (0.58%) Oracle Workflow
7 3 (0.44%) Apache
7 3 (0.44%) Apache Spark
7 3 (0.44%) NetWeaver
7 3 (0.44%) SAP EP
7 3 (0.44%) Tuxedo
8 1 (0.15%) IIS
8 1 (0.15%) Jupyter
8 1 (0.15%) OpenStack
Applications
1 14 (2.03%) Microsoft Excel
1 14 (2.03%) Microsoft Office
1 14 (2.03%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 7 (1.02%) Microsoft Project
3 4 (0.58%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.58%) Notepad++
4 2 (0.29%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 8 (1.16%) SAP PSCD
1 8 (1.16%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (0.44%) SAP CRM
2 3 (0.44%) SAP HCM
2 3 (0.44%) SAP HR
2 3 (0.44%) SAP Payroll
3 2 (0.29%) ResourceLink
3 2 (0.29%) SAP ERP
4 1 (0.15%) Oracle Payroll
4 1 (0.15%) SAP BRIM
4 1 (0.15%) SAP CO
4 1 (0.15%) SAP EWM
4 1 (0.15%) SAP FI
4 1 (0.15%) SAP FI/CO
4 1 (0.15%) SAP FI-CA
4 1 (0.15%) SAP Hybris
Cloud Services
1 170 (24.71%) AWS
2 73 (10.61%) Azure
3 38 (5.52%) GitHub
4 35 (5.09%) Amazon S3
5 32 (4.65%) Amazon CloudWatch
6 30 (4.36%) Amazon EC2
6 30 (4.36%) Power Platform
7 28 (4.07%) GitHub Actions
8 25 (3.63%) Serverless
9 24 (3.49%) AWS Lambda
10 22 (3.20%) Amazon ECS
10 22 (3.20%) Amazon EKS
11 19 (2.76%) Azure DevOps
11 19 (2.76%) Microsoft 365
12 13 (1.89%) GCP
12 13 (1.89%) SuccessFactors
13 11 (1.60%) Dynamics 365
13 11 (1.60%) Power Automate
13 11 (1.60%) PowerApps
13 11 (1.60%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 17 (2.47%) Firewall
2 9 (1.31%) SSL
3 8 (1.16%) DNS
3 8 (1.16%) WAN
4 7 (1.02%) Network Security
5 6 (0.87%) VPN
6 5 (0.73%) LAN
7 4 (0.58%) DMVPN
7 4 (0.58%) IPsec
7 4 (0.58%) PuTTY
7 4 (0.58%) SNMP
7 4 (0.58%) TCP/IP
7 4 (0.58%) WinSCP
8 3 (0.44%) Cisco IPT
8 3 (0.44%) DHCP
8 3 (0.44%) Intranet
8 3 (0.44%) VSAN
8 3 (0.44%) Wireless
9 2 (0.29%) ICMP
9 2 (0.29%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 69 (10.03%) Data Warehouse
2 56 (8.14%) Pentaho
3 31 (4.51%) Oracle Database
4 29 (4.22%) Data Lake
5 28 (4.07%) PostgreSQL
6 27 (3.92%) Metadata
7 26 (3.78%) Oracle Reports
8 19 (2.76%) Power BI
9 18 (2.62%) SAS Enterprise Guide
9 18 (2.62%) SAS Visual Analytics
10 17 (2.47%) MySQL
11 16 (2.33%) Base SAS
11 16 (2.33%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
12 14 (2.03%) NoSQL
12 14 (2.03%) Relational Database
13 13 (1.89%) Amazon RDS
13 13 (1.89%) BusinessObjects
14 11 (1.60%) SQL Server
15 10 (1.45%) DynamoDB
16 9 (1.31%) Amazon Redshift
Development Applications
1 96 (13.95%) JIRA
2 75 (10.90%) GitLab
3 59 (8.58%) Git
4 56 (8.14%) Jenkins
5 27 (3.92%) Zephyr
6 23 (3.34%) JUnit
6 23 (3.34%) Postman
7 22 (3.20%) Maven
8 14 (2.03%) Mockito
8 14 (2.03%) Selenium
9 13 (1.89%) Bitbucket
10 12 (1.74%) SonarQube
11 10 (1.45%) Artifactory
12 8 (1.16%) Cucumber
13 7 (1.02%) WebDriver
14 5 (0.73%) Atlassian Bamboo
14 5 (0.73%) Bitbucket Server
14 5 (0.73%) DbUnit
14 5 (0.73%) jMock
15 4 (0.58%) Oracle Forms
General
1 189 (27.47%) Social Skills
2 185 (26.89%) Public Sector
3 57 (8.28%) Analytical Skills
4 33 (4.80%) Finance
5 27 (3.92%) Influencing Skills
6 14 (2.03%) Organisational Skills
7 11 (1.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 10 (1.45%) Legal
9 9 (1.31%) Presentation Skills
10 7 (1.02%) Documentation Skills
11 6 (0.87%) Military
11 6 (0.87%) Telecoms
12 4 (0.58%) Aerospace
13 2 (0.29%) Advertising
13 2 (0.29%) Banking
13 2 (0.29%) Billing
13 2 (0.29%) General Ledger
14 1 (0.15%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 125 (18.17%) Data Engineer
2 104 (15.12%) Architect
3 67 (9.74%) Developer
4 53 (7.70%) Data Architect
5 50 (7.27%) Senior
6 47 (6.83%) Analyst
7 43 (6.25%) Lead
8 41 (5.96%) Consultant
9 30 (4.36%) Java Developer
9 30 (4.36%) Technical Architect
10 29 (4.22%) Scrum Master
11 21 (3.05%) SAP Consultant
11 21 (3.05%) Tester
12 20 (2.91%) Software Engineer
13 19 (2.76%) Test Analyst
14 18 (2.62%) SAS Architect
14 18 (2.62%) Senior Developer
15 17 (2.47%) Administrator
16 15 (2.18%) Infrastructure Engineer
17 14 (2.03%) Java Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 41 (5.96%) Spring
2 34 (4.94%) Spring Boot
3 28 (4.07%) REST
4 27 (3.92%) Terraform
5 25 (3.63%) SOAP
6 20 (2.91%) RESTful
7 14 (2.03%) Web Services
8 13 (1.89%) JPA
9 12 (1.74%) ActiveMQ
9 12 (1.74%) Oracle Fusion
10 11 (1.60%) AngularJS
10 11 (1.60%) Hibernate
10 11 (1.60%) JSON
10 11 (1.60%) Spring Cloud
11 8 (1.16%) Node.js
11 8 (1.16%) SAP PI
12 7 (1.02%) AWS CDK
12 7 (1.02%) Spring Batch
12 7 (1.02%) Spring Integration
13 6 (0.87%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 43 (6.25%) Cloud Native
2 42 (6.10%) Product Ownership
3 17 (2.47%) Enterprise Software
4 15 (2.18%) Onboarding
5 14 (2.03%) Distributed Systems
6 12 (1.74%) Linux Command Line
7 11 (1.60%) Legacy Systems
8 8 (1.16%) Analytical Mindset
8 8 (1.16%) Autonomous Agent
8 8 (1.16%) Data Centre
8 8 (1.16%) Self-Motivation
9 7 (1.02%) Data Fabric
9 7 (1.02%) Data Structures
9 7 (1.02%) SCADA
10 6 (0.87%) Enterprise Cloud
11 5 (0.73%) Distributed Architecture
12 4 (0.58%) Cyber Threat
13 3 (0.44%) Low-Code
13 3 (0.44%) Operational Technology
14 2 (0.29%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 44 (6.40%) Unix
2 39 (5.67%) Linux
3 29 (4.22%) Windows
4 12 (1.74%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.44%) Solaris
6 2 (0.29%) Android
6 2 (0.29%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.29%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.15%) AIX
7 1 (0.15%) CentOS
7 1 (0.15%) Embedded Linux
7 1 (0.15%) HPUX
7 1 (0.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.15%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.15%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 223 (32.41%) Agile
2 127 (18.46%) Continuous Improvement
3 122 (17.73%) CI/CD
4 117 (17.01%) Migration
5 115 (16.72%) DevOps
6 114 (16.57%) Test Automation
7 110 (15.99%) ETL
8 108 (15.70%) Problem-Solving
9 106 (15.41%) Analytics
10 102 (14.83%) Scrum
11 88 (12.79%) Stakeholder Management
12 68 (9.88%) Data Integration
13 66 (9.59%) Data Pipeline
14 64 (9.30%) Technical Leadership
15 63 (9.16%) Data Modelling
16 62 (9.01%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 60 (8.72%) Containerisation
18 47 (6.83%) Decision-Making
19 43 (6.25%) Microservices
20 42 (6.10%) Test Strategy
Programming Languages
1 165 (23.98%) SQL
2 91 (13.23%) Java
3 38 (5.52%) PL/SQL
4 34 (4.94%) Python
5 23 (3.34%) JavaScript
6 16 (2.33%) Shell Script
7 14 (2.03%) ABAP
8 12 (1.74%) C#
9 11 (1.60%) TypeScript
10 10 (1.45%) Bash
10 10 (1.45%) C
11 6 (0.87%) Kotlin
11 6 (0.87%) PowerShell
11 6 (0.87%) ProC
12 5 (0.73%) COBOL
13 4 (0.58%) Scala
14 3 (0.44%) VB
14 3 (0.44%) VB6
15 2 (0.29%) T-SQL
16 1 (0.15%) C++
Qualifications
1 688 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 61 (8.87%) BPSS Clearance
3 22 (3.20%) ISTQB
3 22 (3.20%) Microsoft Certification
4 13 (1.89%) AWS Certification
4 13 (1.89%) DV Cleared
5 11 (1.60%) Degree
6 9 (1.31%) CISSP
6 9 (1.31%) SAFe Agilist
7 8 (1.16%) Cisco Certification
7 8 (1.16%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 7 (1.02%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
8 7 (1.02%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 7 (1.02%) OCP
8 7 (1.02%) Oracle Certification
9 5 (0.73%) Azure Certification
10 4 (0.58%) CCNA
10 4 (0.58%) Computer Science Degree
10 4 (0.58%) MCSE
10 4 (0.58%) SAS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 59 (8.58%) QA
2 42 (6.10%) Data Quality
3 31 (4.51%) Accessibility
4 15 (2.18%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 11 (1.60%) NIST
5 11 (1.60%) SLA
6 10 (1.45%) NCSC
7 6 (0.87%) FATCA
7 6 (0.87%) PMO
8 5 (0.73%) Cyber Essentials
8 5 (0.73%) GRC
9 3 (0.44%) GDPR
10 2 (0.29%) WCAG
11 1 (0.15%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 1 (0.15%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.15%) GMP
11 1 (0.15%) Government Security Classifications
11 1 (0.15%) GxP
11 1 (0.15%) HIPAA
11 1 (0.15%) P3O
System Software
1 64 (9.30%) Docker
2 15 (2.18%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (1.60%) Active Directory
3 11 (1.60%) vSphere
4 9 (1.31%) VMware NSX
5 8 (1.16%) VMware ESXi
6 5 (0.73%) Hyper-V
6 5 (0.73%) Postfix
6 5 (0.73%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.29%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 57 (8.28%) Kubernetes
2 28 (4.07%) Grafana
3 16 (2.33%) Prometheus
4 14 (2.03%) Ansible
5 4 (0.58%) Podman
5 4 (0.58%) PowerCLI
5 4 (0.58%) vCenter Server
5 4 (0.58%) vMotion
6 3 (0.44%) QRadar
6 3 (0.44%) SCCM
7 2 (0.29%) Data Guard
7 2 (0.29%) Kibana
7 2 (0.29%) Oracle RMAN
7 2 (0.29%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.29%) WMI
8 1 (0.15%) Backup Exec
8 1 (0.15%) Iperf
8 1 (0.15%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 163 (23.69%) Oracle
2 72 (10.47%) Talend
3 60 (8.72%) Microsoft
4 46 (6.69%) SAP
5 43 (6.25%) Denodo
6 30 (4.36%) Informatica
7 24 (3.49%) VMware
8 18 (2.62%) Dynatrace
9 16 (2.33%) ServiceNow
10 15 (2.18%) Atlassian
11 13 (1.89%) Databricks
12 12 (1.74%) Cisco
13 8 (1.16%) Splunk
13 8 (1.16%) webMethods
14 7 (1.02%) Jaspersoft
15 6 (0.87%) F5
15 6 (0.87%) Google
15 6 (0.87%) Palo Alto
15 6 (0.87%) Sage
16 5 (0.73%) Zscaler