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

6 months to
20 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 462 487 614
Rank change year-on-year +25 +127 -55
Permanent jobs citing Cyber Essentials PLUS 167 56 103
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 0.23% 0.16% 0.15%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.45% 1.17% 1.17%
Number of salaries quoted 129 37 80
10th Percentile £30,250 £36,250 £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 £75,100 £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 6,825 4,795 8,789
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 9.43% 14.10% 12.64%
Number of salaries quoted 4,408 2,521 5,545
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,500 £25,250
25th Percentile £37,500 £35,000 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £50,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year - +5.26% -5.26%
75th Percentile £67,500 £67,500 £62,500
90th Percentile £82,500 £81,250 £77,500
UK median annual salary £57,500 £57,500 £53,000
% change year-on-year - +8.49% -7.83%

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 20 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 20 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 +1 56 £59,000 +42.17% 13
North of England +6 37 £45,000 -18.18% 8
Midlands -5 29 £54,000 +54.29% 6
Yorkshire -1 26 £45,000 -18.18% 2
South West -38 26 £52,500 -10.64% 6
East Midlands -8 15 £58,589 +67.40% 1
West Midlands -7 14 £48,750 +18.18% 5
East of England -7 12 £35,000 -53.95% 3
North West 0 8 £52,925 -3.77% 6
Scotland +18 7 £60,000 +60.00% 2
North East -45 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 22 (13.17%) SharePoint
2 18 (10.78%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.60%) CMS
3 1 (0.60%) Site Server
Applications
1 8 (4.79%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.60%) Dynamics CRM
1 1 (0.60%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 78 (46.71%) Microsoft 365
2 65 (38.92%) Entra ID
3 64 (38.32%) Azure
4 12 (7.19%) Microsoft Copilot
5 10 (5.99%) Power Automate
6 8 (4.79%) AWS
6 8 (4.79%) SaaS
7 7 (4.19%) Copilot Studio
8 6 (3.59%) Azure Sentinel
9 5 (2.99%) Power Platform
10 4 (2.40%) Google Workspace
11 3 (1.80%) IaaS
11 3 (1.80%) PaaS
12 2 (1.20%) Microsoft Purview
12 2 (1.20%) OneDrive
13 1 (0.60%) Dynamics 365
13 1 (0.60%) Nutanix
13 1 (0.60%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 35 (20.96%) Firewall
2 17 (10.18%) DHCP
2 17 (10.18%) DNS
3 16 (9.58%) VPN
4 13 (7.78%) WAN
4 13 (7.78%) Wi-Fi
5 12 (7.19%) LAN
6 10 (5.99%) VLAN
7 8 (4.79%) Network Security
8 5 (2.99%) SSL
8 5 (2.99%) TCP/IP
9 4 (2.40%) VoIP
10 1 (0.60%) IPsec
10 1 (0.60%) NAS
10 1 (0.60%) SAN
10 1 (0.60%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (2.40%) Power BI
1 4 (2.40%) SQL Server
2 2 (1.20%) KNIME
General
1 61 (36.53%) Social Skills
2 28 (16.77%) Analytical Skills
3 18 (10.78%) Legal
4 14 (8.38%) Manufacturing
5 9 (5.39%) Aerospace
5 9 (5.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 9 (5.39%) Public Sector
6 8 (4.79%) Retail
7 7 (4.19%) Finance
7 7 (4.19%) Law
8 6 (3.59%) Organisational Skills
9 4 (2.40%) Documentation Skills
9 4 (2.40%) Telecoms
10 3 (1.80%) Aviation
11 2 (1.20%) Influencing Skills
11 2 (1.20%) 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 34 (20.36%) IT Support
2 32 (19.16%) IT Engineer
3 29 (17.37%) IT Manager
4 20 (11.98%) Security Manager
5 16 (9.58%) Compliance Manager
5 16 (9.58%) IT Support Engineer
5 16 (9.58%) Support Engineer
6 15 (8.98%) Analyst
6 15 (8.98%) IT Operations Manager
6 15 (8.98%) Operations Manager
7 14 (8.38%) Cybersecurity Manager
7 14 (8.38%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 11 (6.59%) Support Technician
9 10 (5.99%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
9 10 (5.99%) IT Support Technician
9 10 (5.99%) IT Technician
9 10 (5.99%) Lead
10 9 (5.39%) IT Security Engineer
10 9 (5.39%) Security Engineer
10 9 (5.39%) Senior
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.60%) SAP CAF
Miscellaneous
1 28 (16.77%) Security Posture
2 22 (13.17%) Management Information System
3 20 (11.98%) Driving Licence
4 16 (9.58%) Analytical Mindset
5 14 (8.38%) Onboarding
6 13 (7.78%) Cyber Threat
7 6 (3.59%) Cyber Security Posture
8 4 (2.40%) Data Centre
8 4 (2.40%) Self-Motivation
9 3 (1.80%) Robotics
10 2 (1.20%) AI Agents
10 2 (1.20%) Housing Association
10 2 (1.20%) Private Cloud
10 2 (1.20%) Replication
10 2 (1.20%) Security Operations Centre
11 1 (0.60%) Clustering
11 1 (0.60%) Enterprise Software
11 1 (0.60%) Enterprise Storage
11 1 (0.60%) NHS
11 1 (0.60%) PMI
Operating Systems
1 55 (32.93%) Windows
2 24 (14.37%) Windows Server
3 15 (8.98%) Linux
4 8 (4.79%) Mac OS
4 8 (4.79%) Windows Server 2019
5 3 (1.80%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 88 (52.69%) Cybersecurity
2 55 (32.93%) Risk Management
3 51 (30.54%) Continuous Improvement
4 45 (26.95%) Disaster Recovery
5 38 (22.75%) Information Security
6 34 (20.36%) Incident Response
7 33 (19.76%) ITIL
8 29 (17.37%) Project Delivery
9 28 (16.77%) Problem-Solving
10 24 (14.37%) Data Protection
10 24 (14.37%) ITSM
10 24 (14.37%) Roadmaps
11 23 (13.77%) Service Delivery
11 23 (13.77%) Service Management
12 22 (13.17%) Internal Audit
13 20 (11.98%) Data Security
13 20 (11.98%) Security Management
14 19 (11.38%) ISMS
14 19 (11.38%) Vulnerability Management
15 17 (10.18%) Infrastructure Engineering
Programming Languages
1 6 (3.59%) PowerShell
2 5 (2.99%) C
3 4 (2.40%) SQL
4 2 (1.20%) Bicep
4 2 (1.20%) JavaScript
4 2 (1.20%) XAML
Qualifications
1 28 (16.77%) Degree
2 25 (14.97%) CISSP
3 21 (12.57%) Security Cleared
4 16 (9.58%) CISM
4 16 (9.58%) Microsoft Certification
4 16 (9.58%) SC Cleared
5 10 (5.99%) BPSS Clearance
6 7 (4.19%) Cisco Certification
6 7 (4.19%) CompTIA Security+
7 6 (3.59%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
8 5 (2.99%) DBS Check
8 5 (2.99%) Network+ Certification
9 4 (2.40%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 4 (2.40%) Azure Certification
9 4 (2.40%) CCSP
9 4 (2.40%) CREST Certified
10 2 (1.20%) AAT
10 2 (1.20%) CCNP
10 2 (1.20%) CEH
10 2 (1.20%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 167 (100.00%) Cyber Essentials
2 103 (61.68%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 31 (18.56%) GDPR
4 18 (10.78%) ISO 14001
4 18 (10.78%) ISO 9001
5 16 (9.58%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 15 (8.98%) NIST
7 11 (6.59%) GRC
8 10 (5.99%) NCSC
8 10 (5.99%) PCI DSS
9 9 (5.39%) Actionable Recommendations
10 7 (4.19%) SOC 2
11 3 (1.80%) Def Stans
12 2 (1.20%) QA
12 2 (1.20%) SLA
12 2 (1.20%) SOC 3
13 1 (0.60%) COBIT
13 1 (0.60%) ISO 22301
13 1 (0.60%) NIST 800
System Software
1 43 (25.75%) Active Directory
2 12 (7.19%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (4.79%) Hyper-V
4 3 (1.80%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (1.80%) vSphere
5 2 (1.20%) Docker
6 1 (0.60%) Firmware
6 1 (0.60%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 1 (0.60%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 44 (26.35%) Microsoft Intune
2 4 (2.40%) Jamf Pro
3 3 (1.80%) Single Sign-On
4 2 (1.20%) Kubernetes
4 2 (1.20%) Proxmox
5 1 (0.60%) FortiGate
5 1 (0.60%) Nessus
5 1 (0.60%) SCCM
5 1 (0.60%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 87 (52.10%) Microsoft
2 12 (7.19%) VMware
3 11 (6.59%) Cisco
4 9 (5.39%) Meraki
5 7 (4.19%) Veeam
6 4 (2.40%) Apple
6 4 (2.40%) Datto
6 4 (2.40%) Google
6 4 (2.40%) SonicWALL
6 4 (2.40%) Ubiquiti
7 3 (1.80%) SAP
7 3 (1.80%) Xero
8 2 (1.20%) Fortinet
8 2 (1.20%) Qualys
9 1 (0.60%) Autodesk
9 1 (0.60%) HubSpot
9 1 (0.60%) Infor
9 1 (0.60%) LogicMonitor
9 1 (0.60%) Nimble Storage
9 1 (0.60%) SolarWinds