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

6 months to
19 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 6 3
Rank change year-on-year +3 -3 +8
Contract jobs citing SC Cleared 693 268 267
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 20.02% 15.59% 14.18%
As % of the Qualifications category 58.58% 46.29% 41.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 515 191 190
10th Percentile £358 £300 £313
25th Percentile £413 £413 £374
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £500 £517
Median % change year-on-year -7.00% -3.29% -6.00%
75th Percentile £544 £560 £612
90th Percentile £630 £645 £675
England median daily rate £525 £525 £534
% change year-on-year +0.05% -1.59% -3.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 51 18 4
10th Percentile £14.26 £18.76 £13.48
25th Percentile £54.84 - £13.81
Median hourly rate £63.14 £18.87 £18.00
Median % change year-on-year +234.58% +4.83% -34.55%
75th Percentile £70.41 £25.15 £25.88
90th Percentile £75.00 - £32.85
England median hourly rate £63.48 £25.15 £55.00
% change year-on-year +152.41% -54.27% -4.06%

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 1,183 579 640
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 34.18% 33.68% 33.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 833 383 418
10th Percentile £325 £184 £308
25th Percentile £405 £380 £374
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £469 £500 £519
Median % change year-on-year -6.20% -3.66% -5.64%
75th Percentile £545 £575 £625
90th Percentile £656 £638 £725
England median daily rate £525 £525 £538
% change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 84 47 21
10th Percentile £16.03 - £14.00
25th Percentile £33.27 £18.87 £20.50
Median hourly rate £52.50 £30.00 £33.93
Median % change year-on-year +75.00% -11.58% +31.51%
75th Percentile £67.84 £43.63 £52.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £51.00 £58.75
England median hourly rate £53.00 £25.15 £47.50
% change year-on-year +110.74% -47.05% -13.64%

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 19 August 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 19 August 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 19 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 +1 447 £469 -10.67% 36
Birmingham -5 87 £475 - 48
Warwickshire -17 47 £425 -15.05% 6
Solihull +2 38 £463 +2.78% 6
Herefordshire 0 22 £700 -12.50% 2
Staffordshire +1 10 £388 +13.14% 14
Coventry -18 10 £425 +54.55% 3
Worcestershire -7 9 £700 +19.15% 6
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
1 100 (14.43%) SAS
2 78 (11.26%) Confluence
3 18 (2.60%) Apache Airflow
4 12 (1.73%) SharePoint
5 11 (1.59%) WebLogic
6 9 (1.30%) Tuxedo
7 3 (0.43%) Oracle Workflow
8 2 (0.29%) Apache
8 2 (0.29%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.14%) IIS
9 1 (0.14%) Jupyter
9 1 (0.14%) NetWeaver
9 1 (0.14%) OpenStack
9 1 (0.14%) SAP EP
Applications
1 13 (1.88%) Microsoft Office
1 13 (1.88%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 11 (1.59%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (1.01%) Microsoft Project
4 4 (0.58%) MS Visio
4 4 (0.58%) Notepad++
Business Applications
1 8 (1.15%) SAP PSCD
2 5 (0.72%) SAP S/4HANA
3 2 (0.29%) SAP ERP
4 1 (0.14%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.14%) Oracle ERP
4 1 (0.14%) Oracle Payroll
4 1 (0.14%) SAP BRIM
4 1 (0.14%) SAP CO
4 1 (0.14%) SAP CRM
4 1 (0.14%) SAP EWM
4 1 (0.14%) SAP FI
4 1 (0.14%) SAP FI/CO
4 1 (0.14%) SAP FI-CA
4 1 (0.14%) SAP Hybris
Cloud Services
1 169 (24.39%) AWS
2 76 (10.97%) Azure
3 44 (6.35%) GitHub
4 38 (5.48%) Amazon S3
5 35 (5.05%) GitHub Actions
6 34 (4.91%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 32 (4.62%) Amazon EC2
8 29 (4.18%) Power Platform
9 28 (4.04%) Serverless
10 24 (3.46%) AWS Lambda
11 23 (3.32%) Azure DevOps
12 21 (3.03%) Amazon ECS
12 21 (3.03%) Amazon EKS
13 17 (2.45%) Microsoft 365
14 15 (2.16%) GCP
15 14 (2.02%) Virtual Private Cloud
16 12 (1.73%) Amazon SQS
17 11 (1.59%) AWS CodePipeline
17 11 (1.59%) AWS KMS
18 10 (1.44%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 18 (2.60%) Firewall
2 8 (1.15%) DNS
2 8 (1.15%) SSL
2 8 (1.15%) WAN
3 7 (1.01%) VPN
4 6 (0.87%) LAN
4 6 (0.87%) Network Security
5 5 (0.72%) TCP/IP
6 4 (0.58%) DHCP
6 4 (0.58%) PuTTY
6 4 (0.58%) SNMP
6 4 (0.58%) WinSCP
7 3 (0.43%) DMVPN
7 3 (0.43%) Internet
7 3 (0.43%) Intranet
7 3 (0.43%) IPsec
7 3 (0.43%) SD-WAN
8 2 (0.29%) Cisco IPT
8 2 (0.29%) VLAN
8 2 (0.29%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 80 (11.54%) Data Warehouse
2 75 (10.82%) Pentaho
3 41 (5.92%) PostgreSQL
4 33 (4.76%) Oracle Reports
5 30 (4.33%) MySQL
6 27 (3.90%) Data Lake
6 27 (3.90%) Oracle Database
7 20 (2.89%) Amazon Redshift
7 20 (2.89%) SAS Enterprise Guide
7 20 (2.89%) SAS Visual Analytics
8 19 (2.74%) Power BI
9 18 (2.60%) Metadata
10 17 (2.45%) Amazon RDS
11 16 (2.31%) Base SAS
11 16 (2.31%) BusinessObjects
11 16 (2.31%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
12 13 (1.88%) DynamoDB
12 13 (1.88%) SQL Server
13 10 (1.44%) NoSQL
13 10 (1.44%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 120 (17.32%) JIRA
2 90 (12.99%) Git
3 88 (12.70%) GitLab
4 80 (11.54%) Jenkins
5 37 (5.34%) Zephyr
6 32 (4.62%) Postman
7 30 (4.33%) JUnit
8 22 (3.17%) Selenium
9 20 (2.89%) Bitbucket
9 20 (2.89%) Maven
10 15 (2.16%) Mockito
11 12 (1.73%) Cucumber
11 12 (1.73%) SonarQube
11 12 (1.73%) WebDriver
12 10 (1.44%) Artifactory
13 9 (1.30%) JMeter
14 7 (1.01%) Atlassian Bamboo
14 7 (1.01%) Bitbucket Server
14 7 (1.01%) DbUnit
14 7 (1.01%) jMock
General
1 177 (25.54%) Social Skills
2 160 (23.09%) Public Sector
3 49 (7.07%) Analytical Skills
4 39 (5.63%) Finance
5 15 (2.16%) Influencing Skills
6 13 (1.88%) Organisational Skills
7 10 (1.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 9 (1.30%) Presentation Skills
9 7 (1.01%) Documentation Skills
9 7 (1.01%) Telecoms
10 6 (0.87%) Advertising
10 6 (0.87%) Legal
11 4 (0.58%) Aerospace
11 4 (0.58%) Military
12 2 (0.29%) Banking
12 2 (0.29%) Billing
12 2 (0.29%) General Ledger
13 1 (0.14%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 152 (21.93%) Data Engineer
2 82 (11.83%) Architect
3 59 (8.51%) Developer
4 48 (6.93%) Senior
5 45 (6.49%) Analyst
6 40 (5.77%) Data Architect
7 37 (5.34%) Tester
8 35 (5.05%) Consultant
8 35 (5.05%) Lead
9 31 (4.47%) Scrum Master
10 29 (4.18%) Java Developer
11 23 (3.32%) Technical Architect
12 22 (3.17%) QA Tester
13 21 (3.03%) Test Analyst
14 19 (2.74%) SAS Engineer
14 19 (2.74%) Software Engineer
15 18 (2.60%) Administrator
15 18 (2.60%) Project Manager
15 18 (2.60%) SAP Consultant
15 18 (2.60%) SAS Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (5.19%) Spring
2 25 (3.61%) Spring Boot
3 23 (3.32%) REST
4 17 (2.45%) RESTful
4 17 (2.45%) SOAP
5 14 (2.02%) JPA
5 14 (2.02%) Web Services
6 13 (1.88%) ActiveMQ
7 12 (1.73%) AngularJS
7 12 (1.73%) Hibernate
7 12 (1.73%) Spring Cloud
8 10 (1.44%) JSON
8 10 (1.44%) Node.js
8 10 (1.44%) Spring Batch
8 10 (1.44%) Spring Integration
9 9 (1.30%) AWS CDK
9 9 (1.30%) Oracle Fusion
9 9 (1.30%) WireMock
10 7 (1.01%) Bootstrap
10 7 (1.01%) PowerMock
Miscellaneous
1 41 (5.92%) Product Ownership
2 39 (5.63%) Cloud Native
3 21 (3.03%) Distributed Systems
4 15 (2.16%) Legacy Systems
5 14 (2.02%) Onboarding
6 13 (1.88%) Enterprise Software
7 11 (1.59%) Linux Command Line
8 9 (1.30%) Analytical Mindset
9 8 (1.15%) Distributed Architecture
10 7 (1.01%) Data Centre
10 7 (1.01%) Enterprise Cloud
10 7 (1.01%) SCADA
11 6 (0.87%) Autonomous Agent
12 5 (0.72%) Self-Motivation
13 4 (0.58%) Data Structures
13 4 (0.58%) Robotics
14 3 (0.43%) Cyber Threat
14 3 (0.43%) Low-Code
14 3 (0.43%) Virtual Team
15 2 (0.29%) Data Fabric
Operating Systems
1 54 (7.79%) Unix
2 39 (5.63%) Linux
3 29 (4.18%) Windows
4 10 (1.44%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.43%) Android
5 3 (0.43%) Solaris
6 2 (0.29%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.29%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.14%) CentOS
7 1 (0.14%) Embedded Linux
7 1 (0.14%) HPUX
7 1 (0.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.14%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.14%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 239 (34.49%) Agile
2 145 (20.92%) CI/CD
3 144 (20.78%) DevOps
4 143 (20.63%) Test Automation
5 135 (19.48%) ETL
6 132 (19.05%) Continuous Improvement
7 127 (18.33%) Scrum
8 121 (17.46%) Migration
9 114 (16.45%) Analytics
10 106 (15.30%) Problem-Solving
11 79 (11.40%) Data Integration
12 75 (10.82%) Stakeholder Management
13 71 (10.25%) Data Pipeline
14 69 (9.96%) Data Modelling
15 68 (9.81%) Containerisation
16 56 (8.08%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 51 (7.36%) Business Intelligence
18 48 (6.93%) Validation
19 47 (6.78%) Technical Leadership
20 45 (6.49%) Observability
Programming Languages
1 191 (27.56%) SQL
2 78 (11.26%) Java
3 41 (5.92%) PL/SQL
4 33 (4.76%) Python
5 16 (2.31%) JavaScript
6 15 (2.16%) Shell Script
7 10 (1.44%) Bash
7 10 (1.44%) C
7 10 (1.44%) C#
8 9 (1.30%) ABAP
9 6 (0.87%) PowerShell
9 6 (0.87%) ProC
10 5 (0.72%) TypeScript
11 4 (0.58%) Kotlin
11 4 (0.58%) Scala
12 3 (0.43%) Go
12 3 (0.43%) HiveQL
12 3 (0.43%) VB
12 3 (0.43%) VB6
13 2 (0.29%) COBOL
Qualifications
1 693 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 43 (6.20%) BPSS Clearance
3 30 (4.33%) ISTQB
4 22 (3.17%) Microsoft Certification
5 14 (2.02%) DV Cleared
6 11 (1.59%) AWS Certification
6 11 (1.59%) SAFe Agilist
7 9 (1.30%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
7 9 (1.30%) Degree
8 8 (1.15%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 8 (1.15%) OCP
8 8 (1.15%) Oracle Certification
8 8 (1.15%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 6 (0.87%) Cisco Certification
9 6 (0.87%) CISSP
10 5 (0.72%) Azure Certification
11 4 (0.58%) CCNA
11 4 (0.58%) Computer Science Degree
11 4 (0.58%) MCSE
11 4 (0.58%) SAS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 58 (8.37%) QA
2 47 (6.78%) Data Quality
3 23 (3.32%) Accessibility
4 16 (2.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 10 (1.44%) NIST
6 9 (1.30%) SLA
7 8 (1.15%) NCSC
8 6 (0.87%) FATCA
8 6 (0.87%) GRC
8 6 (0.87%) PMO
9 5 (0.72%) Cyber Essentials
10 3 (0.43%) GDPR
11 1 (0.14%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.14%) Government Security Classifications
11 1 (0.14%) HIPAA
11 1 (0.14%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.14%) P3O
11 1 (0.14%) WCAG
System Software
1 84 (12.12%) Docker
2 15 (2.16%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (1.59%) Active Directory
4 8 (1.15%) VMware ESXi
4 8 (1.15%) vSphere
5 7 (1.01%) Postfix
6 6 (0.87%) VMware NSX
7 5 (0.72%) Hyper-V
7 5 (0.72%) Virtual Machines
8 3 (0.43%) HDFS
9 1 (0.14%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 76 (10.97%) Kubernetes
2 45 (6.49%) Grafana
3 30 (4.33%) Terraform
4 20 (2.89%) Prometheus
5 16 (2.31%) Ansible
6 5 (0.72%) Podman
7 4 (0.58%) PowerCLI
7 4 (0.58%) vCenter Server
7 4 (0.58%) vMotion
8 3 (0.43%) QRadar
8 3 (0.43%) SCCM
9 2 (0.29%) Kibana
9 2 (0.29%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.29%) WMI
10 1 (0.14%) Backup Exec
10 1 (0.14%) Data Guard
10 1 (0.14%) Iperf
10 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Intune
10 1 (0.14%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 187 (26.98%) Oracle
2 96 (13.85%) Talend
3 61 (8.80%) Denodo
4 58 (8.37%) Microsoft
5 41 (5.92%) SAP
6 40 (5.77%) Informatica
7 24 (3.46%) Atlassian
8 21 (3.03%) VMware
9 15 (2.16%) Dynatrace
10 14 (2.02%) Sage
11 12 (1.73%) Cisco
12 10 (1.44%) Jaspersoft
13 8 (1.15%) ServiceNow
13 8 (1.15%) webMethods
14 7 (1.01%) Databricks
15 5 (0.72%) F5
15 5 (0.72%) Splunk
16 4 (0.58%) 3PAR
16 4 (0.58%) Fortinet
16 4 (0.58%) Veeam