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 24 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 8 7
Rank change year-on-year +5 -1 +6
Contract jobs citing SC Cleared 607 185 246
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 21.16% 13.94% 12.49%
As % of the Qualifications category 59.22% 43.53% 39.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 482 128 183
10th Percentile £350 £333 £288
25th Percentile £425 £450 £347
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £545 £450
Median % change year-on-year -10.55% +21.11% -16.67%
75th Percentile £552 £689 £556
90th Percentile £639 £714 £644
England median daily rate £525 £525 £538
% change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 5 9
10th Percentile £17.66 - £13.25
25th Percentile £18.20 £18.51 £14.00
Median hourly rate £23.58 £35.00 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year -32.64% +59.09% -60.00%
75th Percentile £25.77 - £67.50
90th Percentile £65.25 £39.18 £69.96
England median hourly rate £25.15 £60.00 £50.00
% change year-on-year -58.08% +20.00% -16.53%

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 1,025 425 625
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands 35.73% 32.03% 31.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 744 288 395
10th Percentile £315 £159 £263
25th Percentile £409 £328 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £485 £498 £450
Median % change year-on-year -2.51% +10.56% -14.29%
75th Percentile £560 £600 £575
90th Percentile £644 £700 £663
England median daily rate £520 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -0.95% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 45 17 39
10th Percentile £14.00 £16.97 £14.00
25th Percentile £17.30 £18.50 £22.33
Median hourly rate £22.01 £23.60 £28.50
Median % change year-on-year -6.74% -17.19% +42.50%
75th Percentile £25.77 £35.00 £55.63
90th Percentile £68.10 £39.14 £60.50
England median hourly rate £31.18 £50.00 £38.45
% change year-on-year -37.65% +30.03% -23.10%

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 24 March 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 24 March 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 24 March 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 +1 314 £485 -3.96% 35
Birmingham +5 100 £475 -22.76% 22
Warwickshire -5 75 £426 -22.64% 3
Worcestershire +5 50 £675 -3.57% 7
Herefordshire +1 39 £600 -14.29% 7
Solihull +1 17 £456 +8.63% 1
Wolverhampton -4 2 - -
Coventry -25 2 £488 - 1
Staffordshire - 2 £350 - 15
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
1 114 (18.78%) SAS
2 65 (10.71%) Confluence
3 25 (4.12%) WebLogic
4 13 (2.14%) Tuxedo
5 4 (0.66%) SharePoint
6 3 (0.49%) Apache
7 2 (0.33%) Apache Airflow
8 1 (0.16%) NetWeaver
8 1 (0.16%) nginx
8 1 (0.16%) SAP EP
Applications
1 7 (1.15%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (0.99%) Microsoft Project
3 5 (0.82%) Microsoft Excel
4 4 (0.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.33%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.16%) Camtasia
Business Applications
1 2 (0.33%) SAP PP
1 2 (0.33%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (0.16%) Oracle Assets
2 1 (0.16%) Oracle EBS
2 1 (0.16%) Oracle ERP
2 1 (0.16%) SAP CRM
2 1 (0.16%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 118 (19.44%) AWS
2 90 (14.83%) Azure
3 35 (5.77%) GitHub
4 31 (5.11%) OpenShift
5 27 (4.45%) GCP
6 22 (3.62%) Amazon S3
7 21 (3.46%) Amazon EC2
8 20 (3.29%) GitHub Actions
9 19 (3.13%) Serverless
10 16 (2.64%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 16 (2.64%) Azure Data Factory
11 13 (2.14%) Power Platform
12 12 (1.98%) Azure DevOps
13 11 (1.81%) AWS KMS
13 11 (1.81%) SaaS
14 9 (1.48%) Datadog
14 9 (1.48%) Microsoft 365
15 8 (1.32%) Virtual Private Cloud
16 7 (1.15%) AWS Lambda
16 7 (1.15%) Azure Key Vault
Communications & Networking
1 20 (3.29%) Firewall
2 19 (3.13%) VPN
3 18 (2.97%) WAN
4 16 (2.64%) BGP
5 14 (2.31%) MPLS
6 13 (2.14%) IPsec
7 11 (1.81%) Network Security
8 10 (1.65%) Intrusion Detection
9 8 (1.32%) LAN
10 7 (1.15%) DNS
10 7 (1.15%) Wireless
11 5 (0.82%) 5G
11 5 (0.82%) OSPF
11 5 (0.82%) VLAN
11 5 (0.82%) Wi-Fi
12 4 (0.66%) SSL
12 4 (0.66%) Unified Communications
12 4 (0.66%) WLAN
13 3 (0.49%) DHCP
13 3 (0.49%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 58 (9.56%) Pentaho
2 47 (7.74%) PostgreSQL
3 34 (5.60%) Data Warehouse
4 32 (5.27%) Oracle Database
4 32 (5.27%) SAS Enterprise Guide
5 23 (3.79%) Amazon RDS
6 22 (3.62%) Metadata
6 22 (3.62%) MySQL
7 14 (2.31%) Amazon Redshift
7 14 (2.31%) Oracle Reports
8 13 (2.14%) Elasticsearch
9 12 (1.98%) Metadata Repository
10 11 (1.81%) MongoDB
11 9 (1.48%) Power BI
12 7 (1.15%) Amazon Aurora
12 7 (1.15%) DynamoDB
12 7 (1.15%) Redis
13 6 (0.99%) Relational Database
14 5 (0.82%) SAS Visual Analytics
14 5 (0.82%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 103 (16.97%) Git
2 93 (15.32%) JIRA
3 84 (13.84%) Jenkins
4 61 (10.05%) GitLab
5 44 (7.25%) JUnit
6 36 (5.93%) Selenium
7 18 (2.97%) Cucumber
8 14 (2.31%) Mockito
9 13 (2.14%) JMeter
9 13 (2.14%) Maven
9 13 (2.14%) Postman
9 13 (2.14%) Zephyr
10 12 (1.98%) WebDriver
11 10 (1.65%) SonarQube
12 9 (1.48%) MSI
13 8 (1.32%) Atlassian Bamboo
13 8 (1.32%) Bitbucket
14 5 (0.82%) DbUnit
14 5 (0.82%) jMock
15 4 (0.66%) CA Gen
General
1 153 (25.21%) Social Skills
2 75 (12.36%) Public Sector
3 54 (8.90%) Analytical Skills
4 31 (5.11%) Finance
5 17 (2.80%) Documentation Skills
6 9 (1.48%) Aeronautics
7 7 (1.15%) Advertising
7 7 (1.15%) Legal
7 7 (1.15%) Organisational Skills
7 7 (1.15%) Presentation Skills
7 7 (1.15%) Telecoms
8 3 (0.49%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (0.33%) Electronics
9 2 (0.33%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.16%) Aerospace
10 1 (0.16%) Automotive
10 1 (0.16%) Banking
10 1 (0.16%) Police
10 1 (0.16%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 107 (17.63%) Data Engineer
2 55 (9.06%) Senior
3 48 (7.91%) Architect
4 45 (7.41%) Developer
5 42 (6.92%) Analyst
6 37 (6.10%) Tester
7 26 (4.28%) Support Engineer
8 25 (4.12%) Java Developer
9 24 (3.95%) Test Specialist
10 19 (3.13%) Business Analyst
10 19 (3.13%) Data Architect
10 19 (3.13%) Senior Data Engineer
11 18 (2.97%) Platform Engineer
12 17 (2.80%) Lead
13 16 (2.64%) Consultant
13 16 (2.64%) SAS Engineer
14 15 (2.47%) Release Manager
15 14 (2.31%) Administrator
15 14 (2.31%) Delivery Manager
15 14 (2.31%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (6.92%) Spring
2 37 (6.10%) REST
3 31 (5.11%) Spring Boot
4 19 (3.13%) pytest
5 13 (2.14%) JPA
5 13 (2.14%) WireMock
6 12 (1.98%) Kafka
6 12 (1.98%) Keycloak
7 11 (1.81%) Middleware
8 10 (1.65%) FastAPI
8 10 (1.65%) Flask
9 9 (1.48%) Node.js
10 8 (1.32%) AngularJS
10 8 (1.32%) SOAP
11 7 (1.15%) ActiveMQ
11 7 (1.15%) Hibernate
11 7 (1.15%) Spring Batch
11 7 (1.15%) Spring Integration
11 7 (1.15%) Web Services
11 7 (1.15%) WebSockets
Miscellaneous
1 23 (3.79%) Cloud Native
2 16 (2.64%) Distributed Systems
3 14 (2.31%) Legacy Systems
3 14 (2.31%) Product Ownership
4 13 (2.14%) Data Centre
4 13 (2.14%) Onboarding
5 12 (1.98%) Enterprise Software
6 11 (1.81%) Hybrid Cloud
6 11 (1.81%) PKI
7 9 (1.48%) SCADA
8 8 (1.32%) Distributed Architecture
8 8 (1.32%) Driving Licence
9 6 (0.99%) Security Operations Centre
10 5 (0.82%) Private Cloud
10 5 (0.82%) Security Posture
11 4 (0.66%) Analytical Mindset
11 4 (0.66%) CSOC
11 4 (0.66%) Cyber Threat
11 4 (0.66%) Robotics
12 3 (0.49%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 50 (8.24%) Linux
2 49 (8.07%) Windows
3 31 (5.11%) Unix
4 12 (1.98%) Windows Server
5 11 (1.81%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (0.49%) Android
7 2 (0.33%) AIX
7 2 (0.33%) CentOS
7 2 (0.33%) Solaris
7 2 (0.33%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.33%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.16%) Embedded Linux
8 1 (0.16%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 181 (29.82%) Agile
2 149 (24.55%) CI/CD
3 130 (21.42%) DevOps
4 99 (16.31%) Scrum
5 97 (15.98%) Continuous Improvement
6 95 (15.65%) Problem-Solving
7 92 (15.16%) Analytics
7 92 (15.16%) ETL
7 92 (15.16%) Test Automation
8 91 (14.99%) Stakeholder Management
9 65 (10.71%) Containerisation
10 62 (10.21%) Data Integration
10 62 (10.21%) Data Pipeline
11 61 (10.05%) Migration
12 60 (9.88%) Data Modelling
13 54 (8.90%) Business Intelligence
14 50 (8.24%) Microservices
15 41 (6.75%) Validation
16 38 (6.26%) Change Management
16 38 (6.26%) Observability
Programming Languages
1 161 (26.52%) SQL
2 72 (11.86%) Python
3 70 (11.53%) Java
4 30 (4.94%) PL/SQL
5 25 (4.12%) Shell Script
6 22 (3.62%) Go
7 18 (2.97%) PowerShell
8 16 (2.64%) Bash
9 6 (0.99%) Perl
10 4 (0.66%) Kusto Query Language
11 3 (0.49%) HiveQL
11 3 (0.49%) JavaScript
11 3 (0.49%) Kotlin
12 2 (0.33%) Bicep
12 2 (0.33%) C++
12 2 (0.33%) TypeScript
13 1 (0.16%) C
13 1 (0.16%) C#
13 1 (0.16%) COBOL
13 1 (0.16%) SystemVerilog
Qualifications
1 607 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 20 (3.29%) Azure Certification
2 20 (3.29%) DV Cleared
3 14 (2.31%) BPSS Clearance
4 11 (1.81%) ISTQB
5 10 (1.65%) Microsoft Certification
6 8 (1.32%) AWS Certification
7 7 (1.15%) Cisco Certification
7 7 (1.15%) Degree
7 7 (1.15%) IIBA
8 6 (0.99%) CCNP
9 5 (0.82%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 4 (0.66%) CCIE
10 4 (0.66%) CISSP
10 4 (0.66%) OCP
10 4 (0.66%) Oracle Certification
11 3 (0.49%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
11 3 (0.49%) CISM
11 3 (0.49%) SAFe Agilist
12 2 (0.33%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (5.27%) Data Quality
2 26 (4.28%) QA
3 15 (2.47%) NIST
4 14 (2.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 11 (1.81%) NCSC
6 8 (1.32%) Accessibility
7 7 (1.15%) GDPR
8 4 (0.66%) WCAG
9 3 (0.49%) FATCA
10 2 (0.33%) PMO
10 2 (0.33%) SOC 2
11 1 (0.16%) Government Security Classifications
11 1 (0.16%) GRC
11 1 (0.16%) PCI DSS
11 1 (0.16%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 105 (17.30%) Docker
2 15 (2.47%) Active Directory
3 7 (1.15%) Postfix
4 6 (0.99%) VMware Infrastructure
5 4 (0.66%) Snort
6 3 (0.49%) HDFS
6 3 (0.49%) VMware NSX
7 2 (0.33%) Terminal Services
7 2 (0.33%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.16%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 130 (21.42%) Kubernetes
2 58 (9.56%) Grafana
3 34 (5.60%) Prometheus
4 23 (3.79%) Terraform
5 16 (2.64%) Ansible
6 8 (1.32%) Progress Chef
7 7 (1.15%) Kibana
8 4 (0.66%) CSIRT
9 3 (0.49%) FortiGate
10 2 (0.33%) Docker Swarm
10 2 (0.33%) Podman
10 2 (0.33%) QRadar
10 2 (0.33%) SCCM
11 1 (0.16%) Backup Exec
11 1 (0.16%) Control-M
11 1 (0.16%) Host Intrusion Detection System
11 1 (0.16%) HP ALM
11 1 (0.16%) logstash
11 1 (0.16%) Puppet
11 1 (0.16%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 129 (21.25%) Oracle
2 75 (12.36%) Talend
3 51 (8.40%) Microsoft
4 44 (7.25%) Denodo
5 34 (5.60%) ServiceNow
6 33 (5.44%) Informatica
7 29 (4.78%) Splunk
8 23 (3.79%) Cisco
9 22 (3.62%) Dynatrace
10 15 (2.47%) Atlassian
10 15 (2.47%) Juniper
11 13 (2.14%) AppDynamics
12 11 (1.81%) SAP
13 10 (1.65%) Sage
14 8 (1.32%) CyberArk
14 8 (1.32%) Fujitsu
14 8 (1.32%) VMware
15 7 (1.15%) HP
15 7 (1.15%) Jaspersoft
15 7 (1.15%) Red Hat