Cyber Essentials PLUS Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Cyber Essentials PLUS
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring Cyber Essentials PLUS skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 14 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 447 456 642
Rank change year-on-year +9 +186 -13
Permanent jobs citing Cyber Essentials PLUS 139 60 106
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 0.21% 0.21% 0.15%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.37% 1.29% 1.14%
Number of salaries quoted 112 32 92
10th Percentile £29,125 £36,525 £28,975
25th Percentile £39,697 £39,750 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year - +10.00% -20.00%
75th Percentile £65,000 £60,938 £67,813
90th Percentile £77,250 £73,125 £77,500
UK median annual salary £64,000 £63,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +1.59% +14.55% -15.38%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK excluding London

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 the UK excluding London.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 5,866 4,642 9,335
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 8.95% 16.22% 13.61%
Number of salaries quoted 3,479 2,380 6,266
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,822 £25,500
25th Percentile £38,000 £36,250 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £53,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -0.94% +11.58% -5.00%
75th Percentile £67,500 £68,028 £62,500
90th Percentile £83,750 £83,738 £77,500
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 the UK excluding London

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

Cyber Essentials PLUS job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Cyber Essentials PLUS
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Cyber Essentials PLUS.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Cyber Essentials PLUS

Cyber Essentials PLUS
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing Cyber Essentials PLUS in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 14 May 2026.

Salary histogram for Cyber Essentials PLUS in the UK excluding London

Cyber Essentials PLUS
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 Cyber Essentials PLUS within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 14 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
South East -1 50 £65,000 +18.18% 16
Midlands -1 35 £55,000 +22.22% 8
North of England -3 30 £43,500 -27.50% 5
West Midlands 0 24 £52,500 +5.00% 5
Yorkshire -42 21 £30,000 -58.62% 3
South West -38 15 £55,000 -20.00% 5
East Midlands -16 11 £60,000 +50.00% 3
North West +4 7 £50,000 -9.09% 2
East of England -11 6 £37,262 - 8
Scotland 0 3 £60,000 +37.14% 3
North East -36 2 £105,000 +81.03%
Cyber Essentials PLUS
UK

Cyber Essentials PLUS
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 22 (15.83%) SharePoint
2 20 (14.39%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (2.16%) Drupal
3 3 (2.16%) nginx
3 3 (2.16%) WordPress
4 1 (0.72%) CMS
Applications
1 2 (1.44%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.72%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 62 (44.60%) Microsoft 365
2 39 (28.06%) Entra ID
3 38 (27.34%) Azure
4 10 (7.19%) AWS
5 8 (5.76%) SaaS
6 7 (5.04%) OneDrive
7 5 (3.60%) Power Automate
8 4 (2.88%) IaaS
8 4 (2.88%) PaaS
9 3 (2.16%) Copilot Studio
9 3 (2.16%) Microsoft Copilot
10 2 (1.44%) Azure Sentinel
10 2 (1.44%) Cloud Computing
11 1 (0.72%) GCP
11 1 (0.72%) Microsoft Purview
11 1 (0.72%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 25 (17.99%) Firewall
2 12 (8.63%) DHCP
2 12 (8.63%) DNS
2 12 (8.63%) VPN
2 12 (8.63%) Wi-Fi
3 11 (7.91%) LAN
3 11 (7.91%) WAN
4 6 (4.32%) Network Security
5 3 (2.16%) VLAN
6 1 (0.72%) TCP/IP
6 1 (0.72%) Wireless
6 1 (0.72%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (5.04%) SQL Server
2 3 (2.16%) MariaDB
Development Applications
1 1 (0.72%) Burp Suite
1 1 (0.72%) JIRA
1 1 (0.72%) Metasploit
General
1 50 (35.97%) Social Skills
2 17 (12.23%) Analytical Skills
3 15 (10.79%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 15 (10.79%) Organisational Skills
4 13 (9.35%) Manufacturing
5 12 (8.63%) Public Sector
6 9 (6.47%) Finance
7 6 (4.32%) Legal
8 5 (3.60%) Aerospace
8 5 (3.60%) Influencing Skills
9 4 (2.88%) Documentation Skills
9 4 (2.88%) Retail
10 3 (2.16%) Aviation
10 3 (2.16%) Local Government
10 3 (2.16%) Police
10 3 (2.16%) Telecoms
11 2 (1.44%) Banking
11 2 (1.44%) Games
11 2 (1.44%) Social Housing
12 1 (0.72%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 35 (25.18%) Security Manager
2 27 (19.42%) IT Manager
3 26 (18.71%) IT Engineer
4 23 (16.55%) Cybersecurity Manager
4 23 (16.55%) IT Support
5 14 (10.07%) IT Support Engineer
5 14 (10.07%) Support Engineer
6 13 (9.35%) Security Assurance Manager
7 12 (8.63%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 11 (7.91%) Operations Manager
9 10 (7.19%) Compliance Manager
9 10 (7.19%) Information Security Manager
9 10 (7.19%) IT Operations Manager
10 9 (6.47%) Analyst
11 8 (5.76%) Information Manager
11 8 (5.76%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
11 8 (5.76%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
11 8 (5.76%) Operations Engineer
12 7 (5.04%) IT Security Manager
13 6 (4.32%) Infrastructure Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.72%) SAP CAF
Miscellaneous
1 20 (14.39%) Security Posture
2 16 (11.51%) Management Information System
3 14 (10.07%) Driving Licence
3 14 (10.07%) Onboarding
4 11 (7.91%) Cyber Threat
5 9 (6.47%) Analytical Mindset
6 7 (5.04%) Replication
7 6 (4.32%) Cyber Security Posture
7 6 (4.32%) Security Operations Centre
8 3 (2.16%) Robotics
9 2 (1.44%) Educational Technology
9 2 (1.44%) Housing Association
9 2 (1.44%) NHS
10 1 (0.72%) Mobile App
10 1 (0.72%) Public Cloud
10 1 (0.72%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 36 (25.90%) Windows
2 9 (6.47%) Windows Server
3 6 (4.32%) Linux
4 4 (2.88%) Mac OS
5 3 (2.16%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.72%) Android
6 1 (0.72%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.72%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 78 (56.12%) Cybersecurity
2 50 (35.97%) Continuous Improvement
3 40 (28.78%) Information Security
4 35 (25.18%) Risk Management
5 34 (24.46%) Disaster Recovery
6 27 (19.42%) Incident Response
7 23 (16.55%) ITIL
8 22 (15.83%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 19 (13.67%) Business Continuity
10 18 (12.95%) Service Delivery
11 17 (12.23%) Security Operations
12 16 (11.51%) Internal Audit
12 16 (11.51%) Problem-Solving
12 16 (11.51%) Roadmaps
13 15 (10.79%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 15 (10.79%) IT Strategy
14 14 (10.07%) Data Security
15 13 (9.35%) Change Management
15 13 (9.35%) Penetration Testing
15 13 (9.35%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 8 (5.76%) PowerShell
2 3 (2.16%) SQL
3 2 (1.44%) C
3 2 (1.44%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 24 (17.27%) CISSP
2 18 (12.95%) Security Cleared
3 17 (12.23%) CISM
4 15 (10.79%) CREST Certified
5 14 (10.07%) SC Cleared
6 13 (9.35%) BPSS Clearance
6 13 (9.35%) Degree
7 11 (7.91%) Microsoft Certification
8 5 (3.60%) AWS Certification
8 5 (3.60%) Cisco Certification
9 4 (2.88%) CEH
10 3 (2.16%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 3 (2.16%) Azure Certification
10 3 (2.16%) CCSP
10 3 (2.16%) Computer Science Degree
10 3 (2.16%) CRISC
10 3 (2.16%) DV Cleared
10 3 (2.16%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
11 2 (1.44%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 2 (1.44%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 139 (100.00%) Cyber Essentials
2 99 (71.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 36 (25.90%) GDPR
4 25 (17.99%) NIST
5 21 (15.11%) NCSC
6 19 (13.67%) GRC
7 15 (10.79%) ISO 9001
8 14 (10.07%) SOC 2
9 13 (9.35%) PCI DSS
10 12 (8.63%) ISO 14001
10 12 (8.63%) SOC 3
11 9 (6.47%) Actionable Recommendations
11 9 (6.47%) ISO/IEC 20000
12 4 (2.88%) ISO 22301
13 3 (2.16%) Def Stans
14 1 (0.72%) California Consumer Privacy Act
14 1 (0.72%) COBIT
14 1 (0.72%) NIST 800
System Software
1 32 (23.02%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.88%) Virtual Machines
3 3 (2.16%) Docker
4 1 (0.72%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.72%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.72%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 26 (18.71%) Microsoft Intune
2 1 (0.72%) Nessus
2 1 (0.72%) Nmap
2 1 (0.72%) RSA Archer
2 1 (0.72%) SCCM
Vendors
1 65 (46.76%) Microsoft
2 8 (5.76%) Cisco
2 8 (5.76%) Meraki
3 4 (2.88%) SAP
3 4 (2.88%) Ubiquiti
3 4 (2.88%) VMware
4 3 (2.16%) Infor
4 3 (2.16%) Palo Alto
4 3 (2.16%) Xero
5 2 (1.44%) Google
5 2 (1.44%) Qualys
5 2 (1.44%) Tenable
6 1 (0.72%) Autodesk
6 1 (0.72%) ForgeRock
6 1 (0.72%) HubSpot
6 1 (0.72%) Okta
6 1 (0.72%) ServiceNow
6 1 (0.72%) Trend Micro