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

6 months to
20 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 471 499 584
Rank change year-on-year +28 +85 -66
Permanent jobs citing Cyber Essentials PLUS 182 58 88
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 0.23% 0.17% 0.15%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.41% 1.19% 1.18%
Number of salaries quoted 142 43 61
10th Percentile £31,000 £32,500 £37,500
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 £62,500 £55,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £81,250 £69,500 £76,250
UK median annual salary £57,500 £63,500 £65,000
% change year-on-year -9.45% -2.31% +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 7,565 4,876 7,467
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 9.66% 14.06% 12.54%
Number of salaries quoted 4,807 2,611 4,308
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,500 £26,000
25th Percentile £38,750 £35,000 £34,089
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £50,000 £48,000
Median % change year-on-year - +4.17% -5.77%
75th Percentile £67,500 £66,250 £63,500
90th Percentile £82,500 £80,000 £77,500
UK median annual salary £57,500 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year - +4.55% -8.33%

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 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 20 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 +1 65 £42,500 +2.41% 17
North of England 0 42 £45,000 -18.18% 14
Yorkshire -5 30 £55,000 - 5
Midlands -9 28 £58,589 +67.40% 11
South West -51 26 £52,500 -4.55% 10
East Midlands -16 16 £58,589 +67.40% 3
East of England -8 13 £35,000 -53.95% 11
West Midlands -21 12 £52,000 +60.00% 8
North West -7 9 £45,000 -18.18% 5
Scotland +5 8 £60,000 +60.00% 2
North East -59 3 £40,000 -46.67% 5
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 (11.54%) SharePoint
2 18 (9.89%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.55%) Confluence
3 1 (0.55%) Site Server
Applications
1 11 (6.04%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.55%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 2 (1.10%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 88 (48.35%) Microsoft 365
2 75 (41.21%) Azure
3 68 (37.36%) Entra ID
4 14 (7.69%) Microsoft Copilot
5 10 (5.49%) AWS
6 9 (4.95%) Google Workspace
6 9 (4.95%) Power Automate
7 8 (4.40%) Azure Sentinel
7 8 (4.40%) Power Platform
8 7 (3.85%) Copilot Studio
8 7 (3.85%) SaaS
9 3 (1.65%) IaaS
9 3 (1.65%) Microsoft Purview
9 3 (1.65%) PaaS
10 2 (1.10%) Dynamics 365
10 2 (1.10%) Mimecast
11 1 (0.55%) OneDrive
11 1 (0.55%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 36 (19.78%) Firewall
2 18 (9.89%) VPN
3 17 (9.34%) DHCP
3 17 (9.34%) DNS
3 17 (9.34%) VLAN
4 15 (8.24%) WAN
5 13 (7.14%) LAN
5 13 (7.14%) Wi-Fi
6 11 (6.04%) Network Security
6 11 (6.04%) SSL
7 9 (4.95%) VoIP
8 6 (3.30%) TCP/IP
9 4 (2.20%) SAN
10 2 (1.10%) IPsec
10 2 (1.10%) SD-WAN
11 1 (0.55%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (3.85%) Power BI
2 3 (1.65%) SQL Server
3 2 (1.10%) KNIME
Development Applications
1 1 (0.55%) JIRA
General
1 62 (34.07%) Social Skills
2 27 (14.84%) Analytical Skills
3 24 (13.19%) Legal
4 16 (8.79%) Finance
5 13 (7.14%) Manufacturing
6 10 (5.49%) Aerospace
6 10 (5.49%) Law
6 10 (5.49%) Public Sector
7 7 (3.85%) Retail
8 6 (3.30%) Organisational Skills
9 5 (2.75%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 5 (2.75%) Influencing Skills
10 4 (2.20%) Documentation Skills
10 4 (2.20%) Telecoms
11 3 (1.65%) Aviation
12 2 (1.10%) Social Housing
13 1 (0.55%) Aeronautics
13 1 (0.55%) Banking
13 1 (0.55%) Games
13 1 (0.55%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 38 (20.88%) IT Support
2 35 (19.23%) IT Manager
3 31 (17.03%) IT Engineer
4 21 (11.54%) Support Engineer
5 20 (10.99%) IT Support Engineer
6 19 (10.44%) Operations Manager
7 17 (9.34%) IT Operations Manager
8 16 (8.79%) Compliance Manager
9 14 (7.69%) Analyst
9 14 (7.69%) IT Technician
10 13 (7.14%) Security Manager
10 13 (7.14%) Senior
10 13 (7.14%) Support Technician
11 12 (6.59%) Lead
11 12 (6.59%) Senior IT Support
12 10 (5.49%) Cybersecurity Manager
12 10 (5.49%) IT Support Technician
13 9 (4.95%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 9 (4.95%) Security Engineer
13 9 (4.95%) Senior Support Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 28 (15.38%) Security Posture
2 27 (14.84%) Management Information System
3 18 (9.89%) Driving Licence
4 17 (9.34%) Onboarding
5 16 (8.79%) Analytical Mindset
6 8 (4.40%) Cyber Threat
7 6 (3.30%) Self-Motivation
8 5 (2.75%) Cyber Security Posture
8 5 (2.75%) Data Centre
9 4 (2.20%) BYOD
9 4 (2.20%) Culture of Ownership
10 3 (1.65%) Robotics
11 2 (1.10%) AI Agents
11 2 (1.10%) Housing Association
11 2 (1.10%) NHS
11 2 (1.10%) Private Cloud
12 1 (0.55%) Clustering
12 1 (0.55%) PMI
12 1 (0.55%) Replication
12 1 (0.55%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 62 (34.07%) Windows
2 31 (17.03%) Windows Server
3 14 (7.69%) Linux
3 14 (7.69%) Mac OS
3 14 (7.69%) Windows Server 2019
4 3 (1.65%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 97 (53.30%) Cybersecurity
2 61 (33.52%) Continuous Improvement
2 61 (33.52%) Risk Management
3 46 (25.27%) Disaster Recovery
4 45 (24.73%) Information Security
5 37 (20.33%) Incident Response
6 35 (19.23%) ITIL
6 35 (19.23%) Project Delivery
7 30 (16.48%) Problem-Solving
7 30 (16.48%) Service Management
8 27 (14.84%) Data Protection
8 27 (14.84%) ITSM
9 25 (13.74%) Security Management
10 24 (13.19%) AI
10 24 (13.19%) ISMS
10 24 (13.19%) Service Delivery
10 24 (13.19%) Vulnerability Management
11 22 (12.09%) Information Security Management
11 22 (12.09%) Internal Audit
11 22 (12.09%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 8 (4.40%) SQL
2 7 (3.85%) PowerShell
3 6 (3.30%) C
4 3 (1.65%) XAML
5 2 (1.10%) Bicep
6 1 (0.55%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 39 (21.43%) Degree
2 27 (14.84%) CISSP
3 18 (9.89%) CompTIA Security+
4 17 (9.34%) CISM
5 16 (8.79%) Microsoft Certification
5 16 (8.79%) Security Cleared
6 11 (6.04%) SC Cleared
7 10 (5.49%) DBS Check
7 10 (5.49%) Network+ Certification
8 7 (3.85%) Cisco Certification
9 6 (3.30%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
10 4 (2.20%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 4 (2.20%) Azure Certification
10 4 (2.20%) BPSS Clearance
10 4 (2.20%) CCSP
10 4 (2.20%) CEH
11 3 (1.65%) CREST Certified
12 2 (1.10%) Computer Science Degree
12 2 (1.10%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
12 2 (1.10%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 182 (100.00%) Cyber Essentials
2 108 (59.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 31 (17.03%) GDPR
4 23 (12.64%) ISO 9001
5 19 (10.44%) ISO 14001
6 18 (9.89%) NIST
7 16 (8.79%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 10 (5.49%) GRC
9 9 (4.95%) NCSC
10 8 (4.40%) PCI DSS
10 8 (4.40%) SOC 2
11 6 (3.30%) SLA
12 4 (2.20%) Actionable Recommendations
12 4 (2.20%) Def Stans
13 3 (1.65%) QA
14 1 (0.55%) COBIT
14 1 (0.55%) NIST 800
14 1 (0.55%) SOC 3
System Software
1 47 (25.82%) Active Directory
2 18 (9.89%) VMware Infrastructure
3 15 (8.24%) Hyper-V
4 5 (2.75%) Firmware
5 3 (1.65%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (1.10%) Docker
6 2 (1.10%) vSphere
7 1 (0.55%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 1 (0.55%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.55%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 49 (26.92%) Microsoft Intune
2 11 (6.04%) Jamf Pro
3 3 (1.65%) Nessus
3 3 (1.65%) Proxmox
3 3 (1.65%) Single Sign-On
4 2 (1.10%) FortiGate
4 2 (1.10%) Kubernetes
5 1 (0.55%) SCCM
5 1 (0.55%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 103 (56.59%) Microsoft
2 20 (10.99%) VMware
3 12 (6.59%) Cisco
3 12 (6.59%) Veeam
4 9 (4.95%) Apple
4 9 (4.95%) Datto
4 9 (4.95%) Google
4 9 (4.95%) SonicWALL
5 4 (2.20%) Meraki
6 3 (1.65%) Dell
6 3 (1.65%) Fortinet
6 3 (1.65%) Ubiquiti
7 2 (1.10%) Palo Alto
7 2 (1.10%) Qualys
7 2 (1.10%) Splunk
7 2 (1.10%) Tenable
8 1 (0.55%) Nimble Storage
8 1 (0.55%) Salesforce
8 1 (0.55%) SAP
8 1 (0.55%) SolarWinds