Cyber Essentials PLUS Job Trends in England

Cyber Essentials PLUS
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in England requiring Cyber Essentials PLUS skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 17 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 479 523 676
Rank change year-on-year +44 +153 +66
Permanent jobs citing Cyber Essentials PLUS 208 103 144
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.25% 0.26% 0.17%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.52% 1.62% 1.23%
Number of salaries quoted 169 69 130
10th Percentile £31,250 £39,750 £31,000
25th Percentile £50,000 £52,500 £41,563
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £64,000 £56,250
Median % change year-on-year +1.56% +13.78% -10.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £67,500 £76,250
90th Percentile £92,500 £77,500 £90,250
UK median annual salary £64,000 £63,250 £55,000
% change year-on-year +1.19% +15.00% -15.38%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
England

Cyber Essentials PLUS falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills in England.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 8,257 6,344 11,714
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in England 10.11% 16.11% 13.86%
Number of salaries quoted 5,267 3,641 8,277
10th Percentile £31,250 £29,750 £27,000
25th Percentile £43,000 £41,280 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +9.52% -8.70%
75th Percentile £78,250 £75,874 £70,750
90th Percentile £95,000 £94,000 £92,275
UK median annual salary £60,000 £57,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year +4.35% +9.52% -8.70%

Cyber Essentials PLUS
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Cyber Essentials PLUS relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in England.

Cyber Essentials PLUS job vacancy trend in England

Cyber Essentials PLUS
Salary Trend in England

Salary distribution trend for jobs in England citing Cyber Essentials PLUS.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in England citing Cyber Essentials PLUS

Cyber Essentials PLUS
Salary Histogram in England

Salary distribution for jobs citing Cyber Essentials PLUS in England over the 6 months to 17 May 2026.

Salary histogram for Cyber Essentials PLUS in England

Cyber Essentials PLUS
Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Cyber Essentials PLUS within the England region over the 6 months to 17 May 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
London -4 73 £72,500 +11.54% 10
South East -2 50 £65,000 +18.18% 17
Midlands +1 35 £55,000 +22.22% 7
North of England -19 29 £44,250 -26.25% 6
West Midlands -6 24 £52,500 +5.00% 4
Yorkshire -30 20 £30,000 -58.62% 3
South West -37 15 £55,000 -20.00% 4
East Midlands -24 11 £60,000 +50.00% 3
North West +7 7 £50,000 -9.09% 3
East of England -17 6 £37,262 - 8
North East -39 2 £105,000 +81.03%
Cyber Essentials PLUS
UK

Cyber Essentials PLUS
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 25 (12.02%) Microsoft Exchange
1 25 (12.02%) SharePoint
2 2 (0.96%) Drupal
2 2 (0.96%) nginx
2 2 (0.96%) WordPress
3 1 (0.48%) CMS
Applications
1 4 (1.92%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.44%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.48%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.48%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 1 (0.48%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 76 (36.54%) Microsoft 365
2 58 (27.88%) Azure
3 51 (24.52%) Entra ID
4 18 (8.65%) AWS
5 17 (8.17%) SaaS
6 9 (4.33%) Microsoft Purview
6 9 (4.33%) Nutanix
7 8 (3.85%) Mimecast
7 8 (3.85%) OneDrive
8 6 (2.88%) IaaS
8 6 (2.88%) PaaS
9 5 (2.40%) Power Automate
10 3 (1.44%) Azure Sentinel
10 3 (1.44%) Copilot Studio
10 3 (1.44%) GCP
10 3 (1.44%) Microsoft Copilot
11 2 (0.96%) Datadog
11 2 (0.96%) GitHub
11 2 (0.96%) Google Compute Engine
11 2 (0.96%) Tessian
Communications & Networking
1 37 (17.79%) Firewall
2 23 (11.06%) VPN
2 23 (11.06%) WAN
3 15 (7.21%) DHCP
3 15 (7.21%) DNS
3 15 (7.21%) Network Security
4 14 (6.73%) LAN
4 14 (6.73%) Wi-Fi
5 9 (4.33%) SD-WAN
6 6 (2.88%) VLAN
7 3 (1.44%) DKIM
7 3 (1.44%) DMARC
7 3 (1.44%) VoIP
8 2 (0.96%) Wireless
9 1 (0.48%) Internet
9 1 (0.48%) Intrusion Detection
9 1 (0.48%) Kerberos
9 1 (0.48%) SSL
9 1 (0.48%) TCP/IP
9 1 (0.48%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (3.85%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.96%) BigQuery
2 2 (0.96%) MariaDB
3 1 (0.48%) Metadata
3 1 (0.48%) MS Access
3 1 (0.48%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 2 (0.96%) Jenkins
2 1 (0.48%) Burp Suite
2 1 (0.48%) JIRA
2 1 (0.48%) Metasploit
General
1 94 (45.19%) Social Skills
2 35 (16.83%) Analytical Skills
3 19 (9.13%) Legal
4 16 (7.69%) Finance
4 16 (7.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 16 (7.69%) Organisational Skills
5 13 (6.25%) Public Sector
6 11 (5.29%) Manufacturing
7 10 (4.81%) Influencing Skills
8 7 (3.37%) Retail
9 5 (2.40%) Aerospace
9 5 (2.40%) Documentation Skills
10 4 (1.92%) Banking
10 4 (1.92%) Telecoms
11 3 (1.44%) Aviation
11 3 (1.44%) Local Government
12 2 (0.96%) Games
12 2 (0.96%) Marketing
12 2 (0.96%) Police
12 2 (0.96%) Social Housing
Job Titles
1 59 (28.37%) Security Manager
2 35 (16.83%) IT Manager
3 29 (13.94%) IT Support
4 27 (12.98%) IT Engineer
5 24 (11.54%) Cybersecurity Manager
5 24 (11.54%) Operations Manager
6 19 (9.13%) IT Operations Manager
7 17 (8.17%) Information Security Manager
8 15 (7.21%) Compliance Manager
8 15 (7.21%) Information Manager
8 15 (7.21%) IT Support Engineer
8 15 (7.21%) Support Engineer
9 13 (6.25%) Security Assurance Manager
10 12 (5.77%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 12 (5.77%) Infrastructure Manager
11 11 (5.29%) Head of Security
11 11 (5.29%) Service Manager
12 10 (4.81%) Analyst
12 10 (4.81%) Delivery Manager
12 10 (4.81%) Service Delivery Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.48%) ADO
1 1 (0.48%) EDI
1 1 (0.48%) LDAP
1 1 (0.48%) SAP CAF
Miscellaneous
1 22 (10.58%) Management Information System
1 22 (10.58%) Security Posture
2 15 (7.21%) Driving Licence
2 15 (7.21%) Onboarding
3 13 (6.25%) Cyber Threat
4 9 (4.33%) Analytical Mindset
4 9 (4.33%) Security Operations Centre
5 7 (3.37%) Replication
6 6 (2.88%) Cyber Security Posture
7 5 (2.40%) Data Centre
8 4 (1.92%) Data Protection Act
8 4 (1.92%) Self-Motivation
9 3 (1.44%) NHS
9 3 (1.44%) Robotics
10 2 (0.96%) CMDB
10 2 (0.96%) Educational Technology
10 2 (0.96%) Housing Association
10 2 (0.96%) PKI
11 1 (0.48%) Mobile App
11 1 (0.48%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 46 (22.12%) Windows
2 17 (8.17%) Windows Server
3 8 (3.85%) Linux
4 5 (2.40%) Mac OS
5 4 (1.92%) Windows 10
6 3 (1.44%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.48%) Android
7 1 (0.48%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 122 (58.65%) Cybersecurity
2 66 (31.73%) Continuous Improvement
3 62 (29.81%) Information Security
4 56 (26.92%) Incident Response
5 54 (25.96%) Risk Management
6 46 (22.12%) Service Delivery
7 44 (21.15%) Problem-Solving
8 40 (19.23%) Disaster Recovery
9 39 (18.75%) ITIL
9 39 (18.75%) Project Delivery
10 37 (17.79%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 36 (17.31%) Vulnerability Management
12 34 (16.35%) Roadmaps
13 25 (12.02%) Data Protection
14 24 (11.54%) Root Cause Analysis
15 23 (11.06%) Project Management
16 22 (10.58%) Data Security
16 22 (10.58%) Security Operations
17 21 (10.10%) Security Management
18 20 (9.62%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 10 (4.81%) PowerShell
2 5 (2.40%) SQL
3 3 (1.44%) Python
4 2 (0.96%) Bash
4 2 (0.96%) C
4 2 (0.96%) JavaScript
5 1 (0.48%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 55 (26.44%) CISSP
2 38 (18.27%) CISM
3 18 (8.65%) Security Cleared
4 15 (7.21%) CREST Certified
4 15 (7.21%) Degree
5 14 (6.73%) SC Cleared
6 13 (6.25%) BPSS Clearance
6 13 (6.25%) Microsoft Certification
7 10 (4.81%) CISA
8 9 (4.33%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
8 9 (4.33%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
8 9 (4.33%) PMI Certification
8 9 (4.33%) PMP
9 7 (3.37%) CRISC
10 5 (2.40%) Cisco Certification
11 4 (1.92%) AWS Certification
12 3 (1.44%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 3 (1.44%) Azure Certification
12 3 (1.44%) CCSP
12 3 (1.44%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 208 (100.00%) Cyber Essentials
2 133 (63.94%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 78 (37.50%) GDPR
4 36 (17.31%) NIST
5 33 (15.87%) PCI DSS
6 25 (12.02%) QA
7 21 (10.10%) NCSC
8 20 (9.62%) GRC
9 14 (6.73%) ISO 9001
9 14 (6.73%) SOC 2
10 12 (5.77%) ISO 14001
10 12 (5.77%) SOC 3
11 9 (4.33%) Actionable Recommendations
11 9 (4.33%) ISO/IEC 20000
12 5 (2.40%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 4 (1.92%) ISO 22301
14 3 (1.44%) Def Stans
15 1 (0.48%) California Consumer Privacy Act
15 1 (0.48%) HIPAA
15 1 (0.48%) NIST 800
System Software
1 39 (18.75%) Active Directory
2 7 (3.37%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (1.92%) Docker
3 4 (1.92%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (1.44%) vSphere
5 2 (0.96%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 39 (18.75%) Microsoft Intune
2 9 (4.33%) CASB
3 8 (3.85%) SCCM
4 2 (0.96%) AirWatch
4 2 (0.96%) Kubernetes
4 2 (0.96%) Nessus
4 2 (0.96%) Prometheus
4 2 (0.96%) Terraform
4 2 (0.96%) VxRail
5 1 (0.48%) Jamf Pro
5 1 (0.48%) Nmap
5 1 (0.48%) RSA Archer
5 1 (0.48%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 89 (42.79%) Microsoft
2 14 (6.73%) Cisco
3 10 (4.81%) Meraki
3 10 (4.81%) VMware
4 5 (2.40%) SAP
5 4 (1.92%) CrowdStrike
5 4 (1.92%) CyberArk
5 4 (1.92%) Google
5 4 (1.92%) Netskope
5 4 (1.92%) Ubiquiti
6 3 (1.44%) Infor
6 3 (1.44%) Juniper
6 3 (1.44%) Palo Alto
6 3 (1.44%) Qualys
6 3 (1.44%) Xero
7 2 (0.96%) Citrix
7 2 (0.96%) ServiceNow
7 2 (0.96%) Tenable
7 2 (0.96%) Veeam
8 1 (0.48%) Datto