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 6 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 465 487 599
Rank change year-on-year +22 +112 -43
Permanent jobs citing Cyber Essentials PLUS 179 65 91
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 0.24% 0.19% 0.15%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.45% 1.33% 1.20%
Number of salaries quoted 138 46 66
10th Percentile £30,175 £32,500 £32,500
25th Percentile £38,500 £36,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £41,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +8.43% -17.00% -20.00%
75th Percentile £61,250 £55,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £81,250 £72,500 £76,250
UK median annual salary £57,500 £64,000 £65,000
% change year-on-year -10.16% -1.54% +4.00%

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 7,310 4,878 7,606
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 9.63% 14.18% 12.69%
Number of salaries quoted 4,667 2,625 4,511
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,500 £26,000
25th Percentile £38,750 £35,000 £33,500
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 £63,250
90th Percentile £82,500 £80,000 £77,500
UK median annual salary £57,500 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year - +4.55% -4.54%

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 6 August 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 6 August 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 -9 64 £45,000 +8.43% 16
North of England -4 40 £45,000 -18.18% 13
Midlands -19 29 £56,295 +60.84% 11
Yorkshire 0 27 £45,000 -18.18% 4
South West -41 27 £52,500 -4.55% 9
West Midlands -18 15 £47,500 +46.15% 5
East Midlands -8 14 £58,589 +67.40% 6
East of England -14 12 £35,000 -53.95% 7
North West +6 10 £47,500 -13.64% 7
Scotland +29 7 £60,000 +60.00% 2
North East -52 3 £40,000 -46.67% 2
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 20 (11.17%) SharePoint
2 19 (10.61%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.56%) Confluence
3 1 (0.56%) Site Server
Applications
1 8 (4.47%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.56%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.56%) Dynamics CRM
1 1 (0.56%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 83 (46.37%) Microsoft 365
2 71 (39.66%) Azure
3 66 (36.87%) Entra ID
4 12 (6.70%) Microsoft Copilot
5 11 (6.15%) AWS
6 9 (5.03%) Power Automate
7 8 (4.47%) Azure Sentinel
7 8 (4.47%) Google Workspace
8 7 (3.91%) Copilot Studio
8 7 (3.91%) SaaS
9 5 (2.79%) Power Platform
10 4 (2.23%) Microsoft Purview
11 3 (1.68%) IaaS
11 3 (1.68%) PaaS
12 2 (1.12%) Mimecast
13 1 (0.56%) Dynamics 365
13 1 (0.56%) Nutanix
13 1 (0.56%) OneDrive
13 1 (0.56%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 35 (19.55%) Firewall
2 18 (10.06%) DHCP
2 18 (10.06%) DNS
2 18 (10.06%) VPN
3 15 (8.38%) VLAN
4 14 (7.82%) Wi-Fi
5 13 (7.26%) WAN
6 11 (6.15%) LAN
7 10 (5.59%) SSL
8 9 (5.03%) Network Security
9 8 (4.47%) VoIP
10 6 (3.35%) TCP/IP
11 3 (1.68%) SAN
12 2 (1.12%) IPsec
12 2 (1.12%) SD-WAN
13 1 (0.56%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (2.23%) Power BI
2 3 (1.68%) SQL Server
3 2 (1.12%) KNIME
Development Applications
1 1 (0.56%) JIRA
General
1 62 (34.64%) Social Skills
2 27 (15.08%) Analytical Skills
3 21 (11.73%) Legal
4 15 (8.38%) Finance
5 13 (7.26%) Manufacturing
6 11 (6.15%) Public Sector
7 10 (5.59%) Aerospace
8 8 (4.47%) Law
8 8 (4.47%) Retail
9 6 (3.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 6 (3.35%) Organisational Skills
10 4 (2.23%) Documentation Skills
10 4 (2.23%) Influencing Skills
10 4 (2.23%) Telecoms
11 3 (1.68%) Aviation
12 2 (1.12%) Social Housing
13 1 (0.56%) Aeronautics
13 1 (0.56%) Banking
13 1 (0.56%) Games
13 1 (0.56%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 38 (21.23%) IT Support
2 32 (17.88%) IT Engineer
2 32 (17.88%) IT Manager
3 20 (11.17%) Support Engineer
4 19 (10.61%) IT Support Engineer
5 17 (9.50%) Analyst
6 16 (8.94%) Compliance Manager
6 16 (8.94%) Operations Manager
7 14 (7.82%) IT Operations Manager
7 14 (7.82%) Security Manager
8 13 (7.26%) Senior
9 12 (6.70%) IT Technician
9 12 (6.70%) Lead
9 12 (6.70%) Senior IT Support
10 11 (6.15%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 11 (6.15%) Support Technician
11 10 (5.59%) Cybersecurity Manager
11 10 (5.59%) IT Support Technician
12 9 (5.03%) IT Security Engineer
12 9 (5.03%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.56%) SAP CAF
Miscellaneous
1 28 (15.64%) Security Posture
2 26 (14.53%) Management Information System
3 21 (11.73%) Driving Licence
4 17 (9.50%) Onboarding
5 16 (8.94%) Analytical Mindset
6 9 (5.03%) Cyber Threat
7 6 (3.35%) Self-Motivation
8 5 (2.79%) Cyber Security Posture
9 4 (2.23%) Data Centre
10 3 (1.68%) BYOD
10 3 (1.68%) Culture of Ownership
10 3 (1.68%) Robotics
11 2 (1.12%) AI Agents
11 2 (1.12%) Housing Association
11 2 (1.12%) Private Cloud
12 1 (0.56%) Clustering
12 1 (0.56%) Enterprise Software
12 1 (0.56%) Enterprise Storage
12 1 (0.56%) Replication
12 1 (0.56%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 59 (32.96%) Windows
2 28 (15.64%) Windows Server
3 15 (8.38%) Linux
4 14 (7.82%) Mac OS
5 10 (5.59%) Windows Server 2019
6 3 (1.68%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 94 (52.51%) Cybersecurity
2 60 (33.52%) Continuous Improvement
3 57 (31.84%) Risk Management
4 44 (24.58%) Disaster Recovery
4 44 (24.58%) Information Security
5 36 (20.11%) Incident Response
5 36 (20.11%) ITIL
6 35 (19.55%) Project Delivery
7 31 (17.32%) Problem-Solving
8 28 (15.64%) Service Management
9 26 (14.53%) ITSM
10 25 (13.97%) Data Protection
11 24 (13.41%) Roadmaps
11 24 (13.41%) Security Management
11 24 (13.41%) Service Delivery
12 23 (12.85%) ISMS
12 23 (12.85%) Vulnerability Management
13 22 (12.29%) Internal Audit
14 21 (11.73%) Data Security
14 21 (11.73%) Information Security Management
Programming Languages
1 6 (3.35%) C
1 6 (3.35%) PowerShell
2 5 (2.79%) SQL
3 2 (1.12%) Bicep
3 2 (1.12%) XAML
4 1 (0.56%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 36 (20.11%) Degree
2 27 (15.08%) CISSP
3 19 (10.61%) Security Cleared
4 17 (9.50%) CISM
4 17 (9.50%) Microsoft Certification
5 16 (8.94%) CompTIA Security+
6 14 (7.82%) SC Cleared
7 9 (5.03%) DBS Check
7 9 (5.03%) Network+ Certification
8 7 (3.91%) Cisco Certification
9 6 (3.35%) BPSS Clearance
9 6 (3.35%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
10 4 (2.23%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 4 (2.23%) Azure Certification
10 4 (2.23%) CCSP
10 4 (2.23%) CEH
11 3 (1.68%) CREST Certified
12 2 (1.12%) CompTIA CySA+
12 2 (1.12%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
12 2 (1.12%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 179 (100.00%) Cyber Essentials
2 109 (60.89%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 29 (16.20%) GDPR
4 23 (12.85%) ISO 9001
5 20 (11.17%) ISO 14001
6 17 (9.50%) NIST
7 16 (8.94%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 10 (5.59%) GRC
9 9 (5.03%) NCSC
10 8 (4.47%) PCI DSS
10 8 (4.47%) SOC 2
11 6 (3.35%) SLA
12 5 (2.79%) Actionable Recommendations
13 4 (2.23%) Def Stans
14 3 (1.68%) QA
15 1 (0.56%) COBIT
15 1 (0.56%) NIST 800
15 1 (0.56%) SOC 3
System Software
1 47 (26.26%) Active Directory
2 17 (9.50%) VMware Infrastructure
3 14 (7.82%) Hyper-V
4 4 (2.23%) Firmware
5 3 (1.68%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (1.68%) vSphere
6 2 (1.12%) Docker
7 1 (0.56%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 1 (0.56%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 48 (26.82%) Microsoft Intune
2 10 (5.59%) Jamf Pro
3 3 (1.68%) Nessus
3 3 (1.68%) Proxmox
3 3 (1.68%) Single Sign-On
4 2 (1.12%) FortiGate
4 2 (1.12%) Kubernetes
5 1 (0.56%) SCCM
5 1 (0.56%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 97 (54.19%) Microsoft
2 17 (9.50%) VMware
3 13 (7.26%) Cisco
4 11 (6.15%) Veeam
5 8 (4.47%) Apple
5 8 (4.47%) Datto
5 8 (4.47%) Google
5 8 (4.47%) SonicWALL
6 6 (3.35%) Meraki
7 4 (2.23%) Ubiquiti
8 3 (1.68%) Fortinet
8 3 (1.68%) SAP
9 2 (1.12%) Dell
9 2 (1.12%) Palo Alto
9 2 (1.12%) Qualys
9 2 (1.12%) Splunk
9 2 (1.12%) Tenable
9 2 (1.12%) Xero
10 1 (0.56%) LogicMonitor
10 1 (0.56%) Nimble Storage