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 21 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 448 483 613
Rank change year-on-year +35 +130 -43
Permanent jobs citing Cyber Essentials PLUS 168 58 103
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 0.23% 0.17% 0.15%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.45% 1.21% 1.20%
Number of salaries quoted 129 39 80
10th Percentile £30,250 £35,500 £32,500
25th Percentile £38,500 £39,750 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £41,500 £53,500
Median % change year-on-year +26.51% -22.43% -14.40%
75th Percentile £62,500 £57,500 £71,250
90th Percentile £77,500 £73,800 £85,000
UK median annual salary £57,500 £65,000 £65,000
% change year-on-year -11.54% - -

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 6,853 4,783 8,560
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 9.45% 14.10% 12.67%
Number of salaries quoted 4,398 2,514 5,356
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,500 £25,500
25th Percentile £37,750 £35,000 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £50,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year - +5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £67,500 £67,500 £62,500
90th Percentile £82,500 £81,250 £77,500
UK median annual salary £57,500 £57,500 £53,500
% change year-on-year - +7.48% -6.96%

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 21 July 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 21 July 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 -12 56 £59,000 +42.17% 13
North of England +4 37 £45,000 -18.18% 10
Midlands -10 30 £54,000 +54.29% 7
Yorkshire -14 26 £45,000 -18.18% 2
South West -36 26 £52,500 -10.64% 6
West Midlands -8 15 £48,750 +18.18% 5
East Midlands -11 15 £58,589 +67.40% 2
East of England 0 12 £35,000 -53.95% 3
North West +2 8 £52,925 -3.77% 8
Scotland +18 7 £60,000 +60.00% 3
North East -47 3 £40,000 -46.67% 1
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 23 (13.69%) SharePoint
2 19 (11.31%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.60%) CMS
3 1 (0.60%) Site Server
Applications
1 8 (4.76%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.60%) Dynamics CRM
1 1 (0.60%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 80 (47.62%) Microsoft 365
2 66 (39.29%) Azure
2 66 (39.29%) Entra ID
3 12 (7.14%) Microsoft Copilot
4 10 (5.95%) Power Automate
5 8 (4.76%) AWS
5 8 (4.76%) SaaS
6 7 (4.17%) Copilot Studio
7 6 (3.57%) Azure Sentinel
8 5 (2.98%) Google Workspace
8 5 (2.98%) Power Platform
9 3 (1.79%) IaaS
9 3 (1.79%) PaaS
10 2 (1.19%) Microsoft Purview
10 2 (1.19%) OneDrive
11 1 (0.60%) Dynamics 365
11 1 (0.60%) Nutanix
11 1 (0.60%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 35 (20.83%) Firewall
2 18 (10.71%) DHCP
2 18 (10.71%) DNS
3 17 (10.12%) VPN
4 14 (8.33%) Wi-Fi
5 13 (7.74%) WAN
6 12 (7.14%) LAN
7 11 (6.55%) VLAN
8 8 (4.76%) Network Security
9 6 (3.57%) SSL
10 5 (2.98%) TCP/IP
10 5 (2.98%) VoIP
11 1 (0.60%) IPsec
11 1 (0.60%) NAS
11 1 (0.60%) SAN
11 1 (0.60%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (2.38%) Power BI
1 4 (2.38%) SQL Server
2 2 (1.19%) KNIME
General
1 61 (36.31%) Social Skills
2 28 (16.67%) Analytical Skills
3 18 (10.71%) Legal
4 14 (8.33%) Manufacturing
5 9 (5.36%) Aerospace
5 9 (5.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 9 (5.36%) Public Sector
6 8 (4.76%) Finance
6 8 (4.76%) Retail
7 7 (4.17%) Law
8 6 (3.57%) Organisational Skills
9 4 (2.38%) Documentation Skills
9 4 (2.38%) Telecoms
10 3 (1.79%) Aviation
11 2 (1.19%) Influencing Skills
11 2 (1.19%) Social Housing
12 1 (0.60%) Aeronautics
12 1 (0.60%) Banking
12 1 (0.60%) Games
12 1 (0.60%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 35 (20.83%) IT Support
2 33 (19.64%) IT Engineer
3 30 (17.86%) IT Manager
4 19 (11.31%) Security Manager
5 17 (10.12%) IT Support Engineer
5 17 (10.12%) Support Engineer
6 16 (9.52%) Compliance Manager
7 15 (8.93%) Analyst
7 15 (8.93%) IT Operations Manager
7 15 (8.93%) Operations Manager
8 14 (8.33%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 13 (7.74%) Cybersecurity Manager
10 11 (6.55%) Support Technician
11 10 (5.95%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
11 10 (5.95%) IT Support Technician
11 10 (5.95%) IT Technician
11 10 (5.95%) Lead
11 10 (5.95%) Senior
12 9 (5.36%) IT Security Engineer
12 9 (5.36%) Senior IT Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.60%) SAP CAF
Miscellaneous
1 28 (16.67%) Security Posture
2 23 (13.69%) Management Information System
3 21 (12.50%) Driving Licence
4 16 (9.52%) Analytical Mindset
5 14 (8.33%) Onboarding
6 12 (7.14%) Cyber Threat
7 6 (3.57%) Cyber Security Posture
8 4 (2.38%) Data Centre
8 4 (2.38%) Self-Motivation
9 3 (1.79%) Robotics
10 2 (1.19%) AI Agents
10 2 (1.19%) Housing Association
10 2 (1.19%) Private Cloud
10 2 (1.19%) Replication
10 2 (1.19%) Security Operations Centre
11 1 (0.60%) BYOD
11 1 (0.60%) Clustering
11 1 (0.60%) Culture of Ownership
11 1 (0.60%) Enterprise Software
11 1 (0.60%) Enterprise Storage
Operating Systems
1 56 (33.33%) Windows
2 25 (14.88%) Windows Server
3 15 (8.93%) Linux
4 9 (5.36%) Mac OS
4 9 (5.36%) Windows Server 2019
5 3 (1.79%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 88 (52.38%) Cybersecurity
2 55 (32.74%) Risk Management
3 52 (30.95%) Continuous Improvement
4 45 (26.79%) Disaster Recovery
5 39 (23.21%) Information Security
6 34 (20.24%) Incident Response
6 34 (20.24%) ITIL
7 30 (17.86%) Project Delivery
8 29 (17.26%) Problem-Solving
9 24 (14.29%) Data Protection
9 24 (14.29%) ITSM
9 24 (14.29%) Roadmaps
9 24 (14.29%) Service Management
10 23 (13.69%) Service Delivery
11 22 (13.10%) Internal Audit
12 21 (12.50%) Security Management
13 20 (11.90%) Data Security
13 20 (11.90%) ISMS
14 19 (11.31%) Vulnerability Management
15 18 (10.71%) Information Security Management
Programming Languages
1 6 (3.57%) PowerShell
2 5 (2.98%) C
3 4 (2.38%) SQL
4 2 (1.19%) Bicep
4 2 (1.19%) JavaScript
4 2 (1.19%) XAML
Qualifications
1 29 (17.26%) Degree
2 25 (14.88%) CISSP
3 21 (12.50%) Security Cleared
4 17 (10.12%) Microsoft Certification
5 16 (9.52%) CISM
5 16 (9.52%) SC Cleared
6 10 (5.95%) BPSS Clearance
7 8 (4.76%) CompTIA Security+
8 7 (4.17%) Cisco Certification
9 6 (3.57%) DBS Check
9 6 (3.57%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 6 (3.57%) Network+ Certification
10 4 (2.38%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 4 (2.38%) Azure Certification
10 4 (2.38%) CCSP
10 4 (2.38%) CREST Certified
11 2 (1.19%) AAT
11 2 (1.19%) CCNP
11 2 (1.19%) CEH
11 2 (1.19%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 168 (100.00%) Cyber Essentials
2 103 (61.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 30 (17.86%) GDPR
4 19 (11.31%) ISO 9001
5 18 (10.71%) ISO 14001
6 16 (9.52%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 15 (8.93%) NIST
8 11 (6.55%) GRC
9 10 (5.95%) NCSC
9 10 (5.95%) PCI DSS
10 8 (4.76%) Actionable Recommendations
11 7 (4.17%) SOC 2
12 3 (1.79%) Def Stans
13 2 (1.19%) QA
13 2 (1.19%) SLA
13 2 (1.19%) SOC 3
14 1 (0.60%) COBIT
14 1 (0.60%) ISO 22301
14 1 (0.60%) NIST 800
System Software
1 44 (26.19%) Active Directory
2 13 (7.74%) VMware Infrastructure
3 9 (5.36%) Hyper-V
4 3 (1.79%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (1.79%) vSphere
5 2 (1.19%) Docker
6 1 (0.60%) Firmware
6 1 (0.60%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 1 (0.60%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 45 (26.79%) Microsoft Intune
2 5 (2.98%) Jamf Pro
3 3 (1.79%) Single Sign-On
4 2 (1.19%) Kubernetes
4 2 (1.19%) Proxmox
5 1 (0.60%) FortiGate
5 1 (0.60%) Nessus
5 1 (0.60%) SCCM
5 1 (0.60%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 89 (52.98%) Microsoft
2 13 (7.74%) VMware
3 12 (7.14%) Cisco
4 9 (5.36%) Meraki
5 8 (4.76%) Veeam
6 5 (2.98%) Apple
6 5 (2.98%) Datto
6 5 (2.98%) Google
6 5 (2.98%) SonicWALL
7 4 (2.38%) Ubiquiti
8 3 (1.79%) SAP
8 3 (1.79%) Xero
9 2 (1.19%) Fortinet
9 2 (1.19%) Qualys
10 1 (0.60%) Autodesk
10 1 (0.60%) HubSpot
10 1 (0.60%) Infor
10 1 (0.60%) LogicMonitor
10 1 (0.60%) Nimble Storage
10 1 (0.60%) SolarWinds