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

6 months to
11 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 436 450 627
Rank change year-on-year +14 +177 -12
Permanent jobs citing Cyber Essentials PLUS 138 62 106
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 0.21% 0.22% 0.15%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.35% 1.31% 1.13%
Number of salaries quoted 112 34 92
10th Percentile £29,125 £33,975 £28,975
25th Percentile £39,697 £39,750 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year - +10.00% -20.00%
75th Percentile £65,000 £58,438 £67,813
90th Percentile £77,250 £71,875 £77,500
UK median annual salary £65,000 £63,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +3.17% +14.55% -15.38%

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 5,879 4,724 9,357
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 8.99% 16.39% 13.61%
Number of salaries quoted 3,474 2,428 6,290
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,822 £25,500
25th Percentile £37,563 £36,250 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £53,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -0.94% +11.58% -5.00%
75th Percentile £67,906 £68,114 £62,500
90th Percentile £83,750 £83,738 £77,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £57,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year +4.35% +9.52% -8.70%

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 11 May 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 11 May 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 -7 49 £65,000 +18.18% 15
Midlands -2 36 £55,000 +22.22% 9
North of England -29 30 £43,500 -20.91% 7
West Midlands 0 25 £52,500 +5.00% 7
Yorkshire -29 21 £30,000 -58.62% 3
South West -43 14 £53,750 -21.82% 6
East Midlands -18 11 £60,000 +50.00% 2
North West -7 7 £50,000 +5.26% 3
East of England -8 6 £37,262 - 7
Scotland -2 3 £60,000 +37.14% 3
North East -44 2 £105,000 +81.03% 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 (15.94%) SharePoint
2 20 (14.49%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (2.17%) Drupal
3 3 (2.17%) nginx
3 3 (2.17%) WordPress
4 1 (0.72%) CMS
Applications
1 2 (1.45%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.72%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 62 (44.93%) Microsoft 365
2 38 (27.54%) Azure
3 37 (26.81%) Entra ID
4 11 (7.97%) AWS
5 9 (6.52%) SaaS
6 7 (5.07%) OneDrive
7 4 (2.90%) IaaS
7 4 (2.90%) PaaS
7 4 (2.90%) Power Automate
8 2 (1.45%) Azure Sentinel
8 2 (1.45%) Cloud Computing
8 2 (1.45%) Copilot Studio
8 2 (1.45%) Microsoft Copilot
9 1 (0.72%) Amazon GuardDuty
9 1 (0.72%) GCP
9 1 (0.72%) Microsoft Purview
9 1 (0.72%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 25 (18.12%) Firewall
2 12 (8.70%) DHCP
2 12 (8.70%) DNS
2 12 (8.70%) VPN
2 12 (8.70%) Wi-Fi
3 11 (7.97%) LAN
3 11 (7.97%) WAN
4 7 (5.07%) Network Security
5 3 (2.17%) VLAN
6 1 (0.72%) TCP/IP
6 1 (0.72%) Wireless
6 1 (0.72%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (5.07%) SQL Server
2 3 (2.17%) MariaDB
Development Applications
1 1 (0.72%) Burp Suite
1 1 (0.72%) JIRA
1 1 (0.72%) Metasploit
General
1 51 (36.96%) Social Skills
2 18 (13.04%) Analytical Skills
3 16 (11.59%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 15 (10.87%) Organisational Skills
5 13 (9.42%) Manufacturing
6 12 (8.70%) Public Sector
7 8 (5.80%) Finance
8 5 (3.62%) Aerospace
8 5 (3.62%) Influencing Skills
8 5 (3.62%) Legal
9 4 (2.90%) Documentation Skills
9 4 (2.90%) Retail
10 3 (2.17%) Aviation
10 3 (2.17%) Local Government
10 3 (2.17%) Police
10 3 (2.17%) Telecoms
11 2 (1.45%) Social Housing
12 1 (0.72%) Aeronautics
12 1 (0.72%) Games
12 1 (0.72%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 36 (26.09%) Security Manager
2 27 (19.57%) IT Manager
3 25 (18.12%) IT Engineer
4 23 (16.67%) Cybersecurity Manager
4 23 (16.67%) IT Support
5 14 (10.14%) IT Support Engineer
5 14 (10.14%) Support Engineer
6 13 (9.42%) Security Assurance Manager
7 12 (8.70%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 11 (7.97%) Information Security Manager
9 10 (7.25%) Compliance Manager
9 10 (7.25%) Operations Manager
10 9 (6.52%) Analyst
10 9 (6.52%) Information Manager
10 9 (6.52%) IT Operations Manager
11 8 (5.80%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
11 8 (5.80%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
11 8 (5.80%) IT Security Manager
11 8 (5.80%) Operations Engineer
12 6 (4.35%) Infrastructure Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.72%) SAP CAF
Miscellaneous
1 21 (15.22%) Security Posture
2 17 (12.32%) Management Information System
3 15 (10.87%) Driving Licence
4 14 (10.14%) Onboarding
5 12 (8.70%) Cyber Threat
6 10 (7.25%) Analytical Mindset
7 7 (5.07%) Replication
8 6 (4.35%) Cyber Security Posture
8 6 (4.35%) Security Operations Centre
9 3 (2.17%) Robotics
10 2 (1.45%) Educational Technology
10 2 (1.45%) Housing Association
10 2 (1.45%) NHS
11 1 (0.72%) Cloud Native
11 1 (0.72%) Cloud Security Posture
11 1 (0.72%) Mobile App
11 1 (0.72%) Public Cloud
11 1 (0.72%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 35 (25.36%) Windows
2 9 (6.52%) Windows Server
3 6 (4.35%) Linux
4 4 (2.90%) Mac OS
5 3 (2.17%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.72%) Android
6 1 (0.72%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.72%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 78 (56.52%) Cybersecurity
2 51 (36.96%) Continuous Improvement
3 41 (29.71%) Information Security
4 34 (24.64%) Risk Management
5 33 (23.91%) Disaster Recovery
6 28 (20.29%) Incident Response
7 23 (16.67%) ITIL
8 22 (15.94%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 18 (13.04%) Business Continuity
10 17 (12.32%) Problem-Solving
10 17 (12.32%) Security Operations
10 17 (12.32%) Service Delivery
11 16 (11.59%) Internal Audit
11 16 (11.59%) Roadmaps
12 15 (10.87%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 15 (10.87%) IT Strategy
13 14 (10.14%) Data Security
14 13 (9.42%) Penetration Testing
14 13 (9.42%) Root Cause Analysis
15 12 (8.70%) Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 8 (5.80%) PowerShell
2 3 (2.17%) SQL
3 2 (1.45%) C
3 2 (1.45%) JavaScript
4 1 (0.72%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 24 (17.39%) CISSP
2 18 (13.04%) Security Cleared
3 17 (12.32%) CISM
4 15 (10.87%) CREST Certified
4 15 (10.87%) SC Cleared
5 14 (10.14%) BPSS Clearance
6 12 (8.70%) Degree
7 11 (7.97%) Microsoft Certification
8 5 (3.62%) AWS Certification
8 5 (3.62%) Cisco Certification
9 4 (2.90%) CEH
10 3 (2.17%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 3 (2.17%) Azure Certification
10 3 (2.17%) CCSP
10 3 (2.17%) Computer Science Degree
10 3 (2.17%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
11 2 (1.45%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 2 (1.45%) CCNP
11 2 (1.45%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 2 (1.45%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 138 (100.00%) Cyber Essentials
2 99 (71.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 37 (26.81%) GDPR
4 26 (18.84%) NIST
5 20 (14.49%) GRC
5 20 (14.49%) NCSC
6 15 (10.87%) ISO 9001
6 15 (10.87%) SOC 2
7 13 (9.42%) PCI DSS
8 12 (8.70%) ISO 14001
8 12 (8.70%) SOC 3
9 9 (6.52%) Actionable Recommendations
9 9 (6.52%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 4 (2.90%) ISO 22301
11 3 (2.17%) Def Stans
12 1 (0.72%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 1 (0.72%) COBIT
12 1 (0.72%) NIST 800
System Software
1 32 (23.19%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.90%) Virtual Machines
3 3 (2.17%) Docker
4 1 (0.72%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.72%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.72%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 25 (18.12%) Microsoft Intune
2 1 (0.72%) Nessus
2 1 (0.72%) Nmap
2 1 (0.72%) RSA Archer
2 1 (0.72%) SCCM
2 1 (0.72%) Terraform
Vendors
1 66 (47.83%) Microsoft
2 8 (5.80%) Cisco
2 8 (5.80%) Meraki
3 4 (2.90%) SAP
3 4 (2.90%) Ubiquiti
3 4 (2.90%) VMware
4 3 (2.17%) Infor
4 3 (2.17%) Palo Alto
4 3 (2.17%) Xero
5 2 (1.45%) Google
5 2 (1.45%) Qualys
5 2 (1.45%) Tenable
6 1 (0.72%) Autodesk
6 1 (0.72%) ForgeRock
6 1 (0.72%) HubSpot
6 1 (0.72%) Okta
6 1 (0.72%) ServiceNow
6 1 (0.72%) Trend Micro