COBOL Job Trends in the UK excluding London

COBOL
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring COBOL skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 11 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 533 487 626
Rank change year-on-year -46 +139 +95
Permanent jobs citing COBOL 31 3 112
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 0.051% 0.012% 0.17%
As % of the Programming Languages category 0.34% 0.039% 0.52%
Number of salaries quoted 27 1 96
10th Percentile £49,654 - -
25th Percentile £54,500 £76,727 £52,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £85,253 £73,805
Median % change year-on-year -35.49% +15.51% +10.57%
75th Percentile £59,375 £93,778 £84,964
90th Percentile £60,000 - -
UK median annual salary £55,000 £80,126 £73,805
% change year-on-year -31.36% +8.57% +19.04%

All Programming Languages
UK excluding London

COBOL falls under the Programming Languages category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring coding skills in the UK excluding London.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for coding skills 9,008 7,625 21,661
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 14.94% 29.43% 33.06%
Number of salaries quoted 6,273 5,820 16,351
10th Percentile £32,500 £32,500 £32,500
25th Percentile £42,500 £42,500 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £55,000 £54,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.55% +1.85% -1.82%
75th Percentile £70,000 £72,500 £67,500
90th Percentile £85,000 £85,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £64,559 £65,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -0.68% +8.33% -7.69%

COBOL
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing COBOL relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

COBOL job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

COBOL
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing COBOL.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing COBOL

COBOL
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing COBOL in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 11 April 2026.

Salary histogram for COBOL in the UK excluding London

COBOL
Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing COBOL within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 11 April 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
North of England -48 18 £55,000 -35.49% 11
Yorkshire -48 9 £55,000 -35.49% 5
North West - 6 £55,000 - 3
Midlands - 5 £55,000 - 3
North East - 3 £55,000 - 3
East Midlands - 3 £54,000 - 1
South East - 3 £60,000 - 1
South West - 3 £56,250 -
West Midlands - 2 £55,000 - 2
Northern Ireland - 2 - -
COBOL
UK

COBOL
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 3 (9.68%) CICS
2 1 (3.23%) WebSphere
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (25.81%) DB2
2 3 (9.68%) SQL Server
3 2 (6.45%) Easytrieve
4 1 (3.23%) Adabas
Development Applications
1 2 (6.45%) Git
General
1 8 (25.81%) Finance
2 4 (12.90%) Marketing
2 4 (12.90%) Retail
3 3 (9.68%) Public Sector
3 3 (9.68%) Social Skills
4 2 (6.45%) Legal
5 1 (3.23%) Banking
Job Titles
1 17 (54.84%) Software Engineer
2 7 (22.58%) Developer
3 4 (12.90%) COBOL Developer
4 3 (9.68%) C Developer
4 3 (9.68%) C# Developer
4 3 (9.68%) Full-Stack C# Developer
4 3 (9.68%) Full-Stack Developer
4 3 (9.68%) Lead
4 3 (9.68%) Lead Developer
4 3 (9.68%) QA Tester
4 3 (9.68%) RPG Developer
4 3 (9.68%) Tester
5 2 (6.45%) Application Development Manager
5 2 (6.45%) Applications Development Manager
5 2 (6.45%) Applications Manager
5 2 (6.45%) Development Manager
5 2 (6.45%) Digital Product Manager
5 2 (6.45%) Mainframe Software Engineer
5 2 (6.45%) Product Manager
6 1 (3.23%) Senior Mainframe Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (6.45%) ISPF
2 1 (3.23%) JSON
2 1 (3.23%) WebSphere MQ
2 1 (3.23%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 10 (32.26%) Mainframe
2 5 (16.13%) Legacy Applications
3 3 (9.68%) AS400
3 3 (9.68%) iSeries
4 2 (6.45%) Distributed Systems
4 2 (6.45%) Enterprise Software
4 2 (6.45%) Legacy Systems
4 2 (6.45%) VSAM
5 1 (3.23%) IBM Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 5 (16.13%) zOS
2 3 (9.68%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 17 (54.84%) Software Engineering
2 5 (16.13%) Coaching
3 4 (12.90%) Agile
3 4 (12.90%) ITIL
3 4 (12.90%) Project Management
4 3 (9.68%) Batch Processing
4 3 (9.68%) Full-Stack Development
4 3 (9.68%) Line Management
4 3 (9.68%) Mentoring
4 3 (9.68%) Problem-Solving
5 2 (6.45%) Backlog Management
5 2 (6.45%) Backlog Prioritisation
5 2 (6.45%) Containerisation
5 2 (6.45%) Customer Experience
5 2 (6.45%) Data-Driven Decision Making
5 2 (6.45%) Decision-Making
5 2 (6.45%) Human-Centred Design
5 2 (6.45%) Product Backlog
5 2 (6.45%) Product Strategy
5 2 (6.45%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 6 (19.35%) SQL
2 5 (16.13%) JCL
3 3 (9.68%) C
3 3 (9.68%) C#
3 3 (9.68%) RPG
4 2 (6.45%) Assembly Language
5 1 (3.23%) Natural
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (9.68%) QA
System Software
1 2 (6.45%) RACF
1 2 (6.45%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 2 (6.45%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
Vendors
1 3 (9.68%) IBM