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 13 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 9 8
Rank change year-on-year +6 -1 +8
Contract jobs citing SC Cleared 495 164 242
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 19.18% 11.23% 12.86%
As % of the Qualifications category 55.81% 36.69% 40.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 376 111 181
10th Percentile £363 £400 £325
25th Percentile £453 £469 £394
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £550 £450
Median % change year-on-year -6.36% +22.22% -16.67%
75th Percentile £584 £665 £588
90th Percentile £689 £700 £650
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -2.22%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 5 13
10th Percentile - £23.63 £19.70
25th Percentile £18.20 £31.32 £62.50
Median hourly rate £21.46 £35.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -38.69% -46.15% +71.72%
75th Percentile £25.15 - £67.50
90th Percentile - £39.18 £69.75
England median hourly rate £25.15 £60.00 £56.49
% change year-on-year -58.08% +6.21% -6.78%

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 887 447 601
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 34.37% 30.60% 31.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 625 288 362
10th Percentile £306 £185 £275
25th Percentile £425 £400 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £518 £463
Median % change year-on-year -3.38% +11.83% -7.45%
75th Percentile £580 £603 £575
90th Percentile £675 £700 £650
England median daily rate £520 £525 £541
% change year-on-year -0.95% -3.00% -1.59%
Number of hourly rates quoted 44 17 43
10th Percentile £14.00 £16.97 £17.20
25th Percentile £16.30 £18.50 £23.00
Median hourly rate £19.44 £29.00 £34.50
Median % change year-on-year -32.98% -15.94% +76.92%
75th Percentile £25.15 £35.00 £67.50
90th Percentile £33.50 £52.50 £68.50
England median hourly rate £25.15 £47.50 £45.88
% change year-on-year -47.05% +3.53% +1.96%

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 13 February 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 13 February 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 13 February 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 +1 210 £500 +1.73% 49
Birmingham +5 97 £480 -30.33% 20
Warwickshire -1 77 £400 -28.67% 9
Worcestershire +13 65 £650 +85.71% 4
Herefordshire +4 48 £625 +85.19% 3
Solihull -6 6 £500 +22.70% 6
Coventry - 5 £488 -
Staffordshire - 4 £270 - 8
Wolverhampton -1 2 - -
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 85 (17.17%) SAS
2 39 (7.88%) Confluence
3 21 (4.24%) WebLogic
4 7 (1.41%) Tuxedo
5 6 (1.21%) Apache
5 6 (1.21%) nginx
6 1 (0.20%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.20%) NetWeaver
6 1 (0.20%) SAP EP
6 1 (0.20%) SharePoint
Applications
1 9 (1.82%) Microsoft Project
2 5 (1.01%) Mozilla Thunderbird
3 4 (0.81%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (0.61%) Microsoft Excel
5 2 (0.40%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.40%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.20%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.20%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.40%) SAP PP
1 2 (0.40%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.20%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.20%) Oracle Assets
2 1 (0.20%) SAP CRM
2 1 (0.20%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 96 (19.39%) Azure
2 92 (18.59%) AWS
3 29 (5.86%) GitHub
4 27 (5.45%) OpenShift
5 23 (4.65%) Amazon EC2
5 23 (4.65%) Amazon S3
6 20 (4.04%) GCP
7 18 (3.64%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 17 (3.43%) Serverless
9 16 (3.23%) Azure Data Factory
10 13 (2.63%) AWS KMS
10 13 (2.63%) Microsoft 365
10 13 (2.63%) SaaS
11 12 (2.42%) Amazon ELB
11 12 (2.42%) Azure DevOps
11 12 (2.42%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 10 (2.02%) Power Platform
13 9 (1.82%) Azure Key Vault
13 9 (1.82%) Datadog
13 9 (1.82%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 31 (6.26%) Firewall
2 26 (5.25%) VPN
3 24 (4.85%) WAN
4 20 (4.04%) BGP
4 20 (4.04%) IPsec
4 20 (4.04%) MPLS
5 17 (3.43%) DNS
6 13 (2.63%) Network Security
7 9 (1.82%) Intrusion Detection
7 9 (1.82%) SMTP
7 9 (1.82%) Wireless
8 8 (1.62%) HTTP
9 7 (1.41%) FTP
9 7 (1.41%) LAN
9 7 (1.41%) SSH
10 6 (1.21%) SSL
11 5 (1.01%) IMAP
11 5 (1.01%) OpenLDAP
12 4 (0.81%) Unified Communications
12 4 (0.81%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 35 (7.07%) Pentaho
2 33 (6.67%) SAS Enterprise Guide
3 32 (6.46%) Oracle Database
4 31 (6.26%) PostgreSQL
5 24 (4.85%) Amazon RDS
6 21 (4.24%) Metadata
7 16 (3.23%) Data Warehouse
7 16 (3.23%) Elasticsearch
8 11 (2.22%) Metadata Repository
9 10 (2.02%) MongoDB
10 9 (1.82%) Amazon Aurora
10 9 (1.82%) Redis
11 6 (1.21%) Relational Database
12 5 (1.01%) MySQL
12 5 (1.01%) Power BI
13 4 (0.81%) DynamoDB
13 4 (0.81%) InfluxDB
14 3 (0.61%) SAS Visual Analytics
15 2 (0.40%) Amazon Redshift
15 2 (0.40%) Data Hub
Development Applications
1 71 (14.34%) Git
2 61 (12.32%) Jenkins
2 61 (12.32%) JIRA
3 36 (7.27%) GitLab
4 25 (5.05%) JUnit
5 20 (4.04%) Selenium
6 15 (3.03%) SonarQube
7 11 (2.22%) Mockito
8 10 (2.02%) Maven
9 7 (1.41%) MSI
9 7 (1.41%) Vagrant
10 6 (1.21%) Cucumber
11 5 (1.01%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 3 (0.61%) DbUnit
12 3 (0.61%) jMock
12 3 (0.61%) NeoLoad
13 2 (0.40%) Postman
14 1 (0.20%) Bitbucket Server
14 1 (0.20%) JMeter
14 1 (0.20%) TestDirector
General
1 126 (25.45%) Social Skills
2 57 (11.52%) Public Sector
3 44 (8.89%) Analytical Skills
4 24 (4.85%) Finance
5 13 (2.63%) Documentation Skills
6 10 (2.02%) Telecoms
7 9 (1.82%) Aeronautics
8 7 (1.41%) Presentation Skills
9 6 (1.21%) Legal
10 2 (0.40%) Electronics
10 2 (0.40%) Influencing Skills
10 2 (0.40%) Manufacturing
10 2 (0.40%) Organisational Skills
11 1 (0.20%) Advertising
11 1 (0.20%) Aerospace
11 1 (0.20%) Automotive
11 1 (0.20%) Banking
11 1 (0.20%) Marketing
11 1 (0.20%) Military
11 1 (0.20%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 53 (10.71%) Data Engineer
2 45 (9.09%) Senior
3 43 (8.69%) Architect
4 35 (7.07%) Developer
5 30 (6.06%) Analyst
6 25 (5.05%) Platform Engineer
7 21 (4.24%) Support Engineer
8 18 (3.64%) Data Architect
8 18 (3.64%) Test Specialist
9 17 (3.43%) AWS Engineer
10 16 (3.23%) Tester
11 14 (2.83%) Business Analyst
11 14 (2.83%) Consultant
11 14 (2.83%) Release Manager
12 13 (2.63%) Engagement Manager
12 13 (2.63%) Senior Data Engineer
12 13 (2.63%) Senior Developer
13 12 (2.42%) Lead
13 12 (2.42%) Python Developer
13 12 (2.42%) Senior Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 35 (7.07%) REST
2 22 (4.44%) Spring
2 22 (4.44%) Spring Boot
3 16 (3.23%) pytest
4 13 (2.63%) Keycloak
5 12 (2.42%) FastAPI
5 12 (2.42%) Flask
5 12 (2.42%) Kafka
6 11 (2.22%) LDAP
6 11 (2.22%) YAML
7 10 (2.02%) JPA
7 10 (2.02%) Middleware
8 9 (1.82%) GraphQL
8 9 (1.82%) WebSockets
9 8 (1.62%) gRPC
9 8 (1.62%) Node.js
9 8 (1.62%) React
10 7 (1.41%) JSON
11 6 (1.21%) OAuth
11 6 (1.21%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 22 (4.44%) Cloud Native
2 21 (4.24%) Onboarding
3 18 (3.64%) Data Centre
4 16 (3.23%) PKI
5 11 (2.22%) Enterprise Software
5 11 (2.22%) Hybrid Cloud
6 10 (2.02%) Driving Licence
7 8 (1.62%) Legacy Systems
7 8 (1.62%) Product Ownership
7 8 (1.62%) Replication
7 8 (1.62%) SCADA
8 7 (1.41%) FPGA
9 6 (1.21%) Private Cloud
9 6 (1.21%) Security Operations Centre
9 6 (1.21%) VHDL
10 5 (1.01%) Algorithms
10 5 (1.01%) Data Protection Act
10 5 (1.01%) Security Posture
11 4 (0.81%) Distributed Systems
11 4 (0.81%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 58 (11.72%) Linux
2 51 (10.30%) Windows
3 24 (4.85%) Unix
4 10 (2.02%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 8 (1.62%) Windows Server
6 7 (1.41%) Amazon Linux
6 7 (1.41%) Ubuntu
6 7 (1.41%) VMS
7 3 (0.61%) Windows 10
8 2 (0.40%) Android
8 2 (0.40%) CentOS
9 1 (0.20%) AIX
9 1 (0.20%) Embedded Linux
9 1 (0.20%) Solaris
9 1 (0.20%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 134 (27.07%) CI/CD
2 125 (25.25%) DevOps
3 120 (24.24%) Agile
4 79 (15.96%) Problem-Solving
5 75 (15.15%) Stakeholder Management
6 70 (14.14%) Analytics
7 63 (12.73%) Continuous Improvement
8 62 (12.53%) Scrum
9 61 (12.32%) Containerisation
10 54 (10.91%) Test Automation
11 49 (9.90%) ETL
12 47 (9.49%) Migration
13 45 (9.09%) Data Pipeline
14 43 (8.69%) Business Intelligence
14 43 (8.69%) Data Integration
14 43 (8.69%) Data Modelling
15 39 (7.88%) Change Management
16 35 (7.07%) Microservices
17 33 (6.67%) Platform Engineering
18 32 (6.46%) Configuration Management
Programming Languages
1 106 (21.41%) SQL
2 84 (16.97%) Python
3 42 (8.48%) Java
4 29 (5.86%) PowerShell
5 24 (4.85%) Go
6 22 (4.44%) Shell Script
7 17 (3.43%) Bash
8 7 (1.41%) Groovy
8 7 (1.41%) JavaScript
8 7 (1.41%) Perl
8 7 (1.41%) PL/SQL
9 6 (1.21%) MATLAB
10 5 (1.01%) TypeScript
11 3 (0.61%) Kusto Query Language
12 2 (0.40%) C#
12 2 (0.40%) C++
13 1 (0.20%) ABAP
13 1 (0.20%) COBOL
13 1 (0.20%) Kotlin
13 1 (0.20%) R
Qualifications
1 495 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 32 (6.46%) DV Cleared
3 24 (4.85%) Azure Certification
4 16 (3.23%) BPSS Clearance
5 12 (2.42%) AWS Certification
6 10 (2.02%) Degree
7 7 (1.41%) Cisco Certification
7 7 (1.41%) CISSP
7 7 (1.41%) IIBA
8 6 (1.21%) CCNP
8 6 (1.21%) Microsoft Certification
9 5 (1.01%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 4 (0.81%) CCIE
10 4 (0.81%) CEH
10 4 (0.81%) CISM
11 3 (0.61%) CCNA
11 3 (0.61%) ISTQB
12 2 (0.40%) DBS Check
12 2 (0.40%) GCIH
12 2 (0.40%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (4.65%) Data Quality
2 18 (3.64%) NCSC
2 18 (3.64%) QA
3 13 (2.63%) NIST
4 11 (2.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 8 (1.62%) Accessibility
6 6 (1.21%) GDPR
7 4 (0.81%) WCAG
8 3 (0.61%) FATCA
9 2 (0.40%) PCI DSS
9 2 (0.40%) PMO
10 1 (0.20%) IEC 61131
10 1 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.20%) SLA
System Software
1 98 (19.80%) Docker
2 13 (2.63%) Active Directory
3 10 (2.02%) Postfix
4 7 (1.41%) DFS Replication
5 5 (1.01%) Dovecot
5 5 (1.01%) Squid
6 3 (0.61%) VMware Infrastructure
6 3 (0.61%) VMware NSX
7 2 (0.40%) Snort
7 2 (0.40%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 114 (23.03%) Kubernetes
2 42 (8.48%) Grafana
3 33 (6.67%) Terraform
4 32 (6.46%) Prometheus
5 15 (3.03%) Ansible
6 10 (2.02%) Kibana
7 8 (1.62%) Progress Chef
8 5 (1.01%) Nessus
8 5 (1.01%) Proxmox
9 4 (0.81%) logstash
10 3 (0.61%) FortiGate
11 2 (0.40%) CSIRT
11 2 (0.40%) Docker Swarm
11 2 (0.40%) QRadar
12 1 (0.20%) Fluentd
12 1 (0.20%) Host Intrusion Detection System
12 1 (0.20%) HP ALM
12 1 (0.20%) Podman
12 1 (0.20%) Puppet
12 1 (0.20%) Rsyslog
Vendors
1 86 (17.37%) Oracle
2 48 (9.70%) Microsoft
3 42 (8.48%) Talend
4 37 (7.47%) ServiceNow
5 32 (6.46%) Cisco
6 30 (6.06%) Denodo
6 30 (6.06%) Splunk
7 26 (5.25%) Dynatrace
8 23 (4.65%) Juniper
9 16 (3.23%) AppDynamics
10 14 (2.83%) Informatica
11 13 (2.63%) CyberArk
11 13 (2.63%) SAP
12 10 (2.02%) F5
13 9 (1.82%) CheckPoint
13 9 (1.82%) Jaspersoft
14 6 (1.21%) Atlassian
14 6 (1.21%) Fujitsu
14 6 (1.21%) Red Hat
15 5 (1.01%) Remedy