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

6 months to
24 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 457 494 610
Rank change year-on-year +37 +116 -43
Permanent jobs citing Cyber Essentials PLUS 171 57 101
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 0.23% 0.17% 0.15%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.47% 1.19% 1.21%
Number of salaries quoted 132 38 78
10th Percentile £30,350 £35,125 £32,500
25th Percentile £38,500 £39,750 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £41,500 £51,743
Median % change year-on-year +26.51% -19.80% -17.21%
75th Percentile £62,500 £57,500 £70,938
90th Percentile £80,875 £74,450 £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 6,932 4,806 8,330
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 9.52% 14.18% 12.67%
Number of salaries quoted 4,430 2,537 5,173
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,500 £25,500
25th Percentile £38,500 £35,000 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £50,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year - +5.26% -5.07%
75th Percentile £67,500 £67,500 £62,500
90th Percentile £82,500 £81,250 £77,500
UK median annual salary £57,500 £57,500 £54,000
% change year-on-year - +6.48% -6.09%

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 24 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 24 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 +8 60 £59,000 +42.17% 11
North of England -7 38 £45,000 -18.18% 8
Midlands -13 28 £55,000 +57.14% 7
Yorkshire -9 26 £45,000 -18.18% 2
South West -37 26 £52,500 -10.64% 6
East Midlands -15 15 £58,589 +67.40% 2
West Midlands -23 13 £48,750 +18.18% 5
East of England -3 12 £35,000 -53.95% 4
North West +2 9 £50,000 -9.09% 6
Scotland +19 7 £60,000 +60.00% 3
North East -47 3 £40,000 -46.67%
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 21 (12.28%) SharePoint
2 19 (11.11%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.58%) Site Server
Applications
1 8 (4.68%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.58%) Dynamics CRM
1 1 (0.58%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 79 (46.20%) Microsoft 365
2 67 (39.18%) Azure
3 66 (38.60%) Entra ID
4 12 (7.02%) Microsoft Copilot
5 10 (5.85%) Power Automate
6 9 (5.26%) AWS
7 7 (4.09%) Azure Sentinel
7 7 (4.09%) Copilot Studio
7 7 (4.09%) SaaS
8 6 (3.51%) Google Workspace
9 5 (2.92%) Power Platform
10 3 (1.75%) IaaS
10 3 (1.75%) Microsoft Purview
10 3 (1.75%) PaaS
11 2 (1.17%) OneDrive
12 1 (0.58%) Dynamics 365
12 1 (0.58%) Mimecast
12 1 (0.58%) Nutanix
12 1 (0.58%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 36 (21.05%) Firewall
2 18 (10.53%) DHCP
2 18 (10.53%) DNS
3 17 (9.94%) VPN
4 14 (8.19%) Wi-Fi
5 13 (7.60%) WAN
6 12 (7.02%) LAN
6 12 (7.02%) VLAN
7 8 (4.68%) Network Security
8 7 (4.09%) SSL
9 6 (3.51%) VoIP
10 5 (2.92%) TCP/IP
11 2 (1.17%) SAN
12 1 (0.58%) IPsec
12 1 (0.58%) NAS
12 1 (0.58%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (2.34%) Power BI
1 4 (2.34%) SQL Server
2 2 (1.17%) KNIME
General
1 62 (36.26%) Social Skills
2 28 (16.37%) Analytical Skills
3 20 (11.70%) Legal
4 13 (7.60%) Manufacturing
5 10 (5.85%) Finance
5 10 (5.85%) Public Sector
6 9 (5.26%) Aerospace
7 8 (4.68%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 8 (4.68%) Retail
8 7 (4.09%) Law
9 6 (3.51%) Organisational Skills
10 4 (2.34%) Documentation Skills
10 4 (2.34%) Telecoms
11 3 (1.75%) Aviation
12 2 (1.17%) Influencing Skills
12 2 (1.17%) Social Housing
13 1 (0.58%) Aeronautics
13 1 (0.58%) Banking
13 1 (0.58%) Games
13 1 (0.58%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 35 (20.47%) IT Support
2 32 (18.71%) IT Engineer
3 30 (17.54%) IT Manager
4 18 (10.53%) Security Manager
5 17 (9.94%) IT Support Engineer
5 17 (9.94%) Support Engineer
6 16 (9.36%) Analyst
6 16 (9.36%) Compliance Manager
7 15 (8.77%) IT Operations Manager
7 15 (8.77%) Operations Manager
8 13 (7.60%) Cybersecurity Manager
8 13 (7.60%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 11 (6.43%) IT Technician
9 11 (6.43%) Lead
9 11 (6.43%) Senior
9 11 (6.43%) Support Technician
10 10 (5.85%) IT Support Technician
10 10 (5.85%) Senior IT Support
11 9 (5.26%) IT Security Engineer
11 9 (5.26%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.58%) SAP CAF
Miscellaneous
1 29 (16.96%) Security Posture
2 24 (14.04%) Management Information System
3 21 (12.28%) Driving Licence
4 16 (9.36%) Analytical Mindset
5 15 (8.77%) Onboarding
6 12 (7.02%) Cyber Threat
7 5 (2.92%) Cyber Security Posture
7 5 (2.92%) Self-Motivation
8 4 (2.34%) Data Centre
9 3 (1.75%) Robotics
10 2 (1.17%) AI Agents
10 2 (1.17%) Housing Association
10 2 (1.17%) Private Cloud
10 2 (1.17%) Replication
10 2 (1.17%) Security Operations Centre
11 1 (0.58%) BYOD
11 1 (0.58%) Clustering
11 1 (0.58%) Culture of Ownership
11 1 (0.58%) NHS
11 1 (0.58%) PMI
Operating Systems
1 57 (33.33%) Windows
2 26 (15.20%) Windows Server
3 15 (8.77%) Linux
4 11 (6.43%) Mac OS
5 9 (5.26%) Windows Server 2019
6 3 (1.75%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 90 (52.63%) Cybersecurity
2 57 (33.33%) Risk Management
3 54 (31.58%) Continuous Improvement
4 45 (26.32%) Disaster Recovery
5 41 (23.98%) Information Security
6 36 (21.05%) Incident Response
7 33 (19.30%) ITIL
8 31 (18.13%) Project Delivery
9 29 (16.96%) Problem-Solving
10 25 (14.62%) ITSM
10 25 (14.62%) Service Management
11 24 (14.04%) Data Protection
11 24 (14.04%) Roadmaps
12 23 (13.45%) Service Delivery
13 22 (12.87%) Internal Audit
13 22 (12.87%) Security Management
14 21 (12.28%) ISMS
14 21 (12.28%) Vulnerability Management
15 20 (11.70%) Data Security
16 19 (11.11%) Information Security Management
Programming Languages
1 6 (3.51%) C
1 6 (3.51%) PowerShell
2 4 (2.34%) SQL
3 2 (1.17%) Bicep
3 2 (1.17%) JavaScript
3 2 (1.17%) XAML
Qualifications
1 32 (18.71%) Degree
2 27 (15.79%) CISSP
3 19 (11.11%) Security Cleared
4 17 (9.94%) CISM
4 17 (9.94%) Microsoft Certification
5 14 (8.19%) SC Cleared
6 12 (7.02%) CompTIA Security+
7 8 (4.68%) BPSS Clearance
8 7 (4.09%) Cisco Certification
8 7 (4.09%) DBS Check
8 7 (4.09%) Network+ Certification
9 6 (3.51%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
10 4 (2.34%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 4 (2.34%) Azure Certification
10 4 (2.34%) CCSP
10 4 (2.34%) CREST Certified
11 3 (1.75%) CEH
12 2 (1.17%) AAT
12 2 (1.17%) CCNP
12 2 (1.17%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 171 (100.00%) Cyber Essentials
2 106 (61.99%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 31 (18.13%) GDPR
4 19 (11.11%) ISO 9001
5 18 (10.53%) ISO 14001
6 16 (9.36%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 16 (9.36%) NIST
7 11 (6.43%) GRC
8 10 (5.85%) NCSC
9 9 (5.26%) PCI DSS
10 8 (4.68%) Actionable Recommendations
10 8 (4.68%) SOC 2
11 3 (1.75%) Def Stans
11 3 (1.75%) SLA
12 2 (1.17%) QA
12 2 (1.17%) SOC 3
13 1 (0.58%) COBIT
13 1 (0.58%) ISO 22301
13 1 (0.58%) NIST 800
System Software
1 45 (26.32%) Active Directory
2 14 (8.19%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (6.43%) Hyper-V
4 3 (1.75%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (1.75%) vSphere
5 2 (1.17%) Docker
5 2 (1.17%) Firmware
6 1 (0.58%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 1 (0.58%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 46 (26.90%) Microsoft Intune
2 7 (4.09%) Jamf Pro
3 3 (1.75%) Single Sign-On
4 2 (1.17%) Kubernetes
4 2 (1.17%) Nessus
4 2 (1.17%) Proxmox
5 1 (0.58%) FortiGate
5 1 (0.58%) SCCM
5 1 (0.58%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 89 (52.05%) Microsoft
2 14 (8.19%) VMware
3 12 (7.02%) Cisco
4 9 (5.26%) Veeam
5 8 (4.68%) Meraki
6 6 (3.51%) Apple
6 6 (3.51%) Datto
6 6 (3.51%) Google
6 6 (3.51%) SonicWALL
7 4 (2.34%) Ubiquiti
8 3 (1.75%) SAP
9 2 (1.17%) Fortinet
9 2 (1.17%) Qualys
9 2 (1.17%) Xero
10 1 (0.58%) Autodesk
10 1 (0.58%) LogicMonitor
10 1 (0.58%) Nimble Storage
10 1 (0.58%) Palo Alto
10 1 (0.58%) SolarWinds
10 1 (0.58%) Splunk