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

6 months to
23 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 422 421 587
Rank change year-on-year -1 +166 +94
Permanent jobs citing Cyber Essentials PLUS 123 80 120
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 0.22% 0.30% 0.20%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.27% 1.85% 1.39%
Number of salaries quoted 107 40 100
10th Percentile £29,750 £35,925 £30,775
25th Percentile £38,750 £41,250 £39,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -8.33%
75th Percentile £65,000 £67,500 £69,612
90th Percentile £73,750 £88,875 £82,500
UK median annual salary £62,500 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +13.64% -8.33% -7.69%

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 5,423 4,334 8,631
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 9.85% 16.00% 14.09%
Number of salaries quoted 2,929 2,330 5,988
10th Percentile £29,000 £28,822 £25,750
25th Percentile £36,250 £37,500 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,500 £53,150 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.99% +11.89% -5.00%
75th Percentile £66,250 £70,000 £63,750
90th Percentile £83,750 £83,750 £77,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £60,000 £52,900
% change year-on-year - +13.42% -8.00%

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 23 March 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 23 March 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 -18 47 £65,000 +18.18% 14
Midlands -14 33 £54,500 +6.65% 5
North of England -33 26 £45,000 +12.50% 10
West Midlands +24 25 £52,500 +0.57% 4
Yorkshire -32 15 £30,000 -58.62% 1
South West -27 11 £46,250 -32.73% 4
North West -19 8 £53,000 +32.50% 8
East Midlands -35 8 £55,000 +37.50% 1
East of England -2 4 £37,262 - 3
North East -22 3 £105,000 +191.67% 1
Scotland -14 2 £58,750 +34.29% 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 24 (19.51%) SharePoint
2 20 (16.26%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (4.07%) Drupal
3 5 (4.07%) nginx
3 5 (4.07%) WordPress
4 1 (0.81%) CMS
Applications
1 1 (0.81%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.81%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 51 (41.46%) Microsoft 365
2 36 (29.27%) Azure
3 28 (22.76%) Entra ID
4 18 (14.63%) AWS
5 9 (7.32%) SaaS
6 7 (5.69%) OneDrive
7 5 (4.07%) Azure Sentinel
8 4 (3.25%) Microsoft Purview
9 3 (2.44%) Amazon GuardDuty
9 3 (2.44%) Cloud Computing
9 3 (2.44%) IaaS
9 3 (2.44%) PaaS
10 2 (1.63%) Power Automate
11 1 (0.81%) Amazon EKS
11 1 (0.81%) AWS Control Tower
11 1 (0.81%) Azure AKS
11 1 (0.81%) GCP
11 1 (0.81%) Mimecast
11 1 (0.81%) Nutanix
11 1 (0.81%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 19 (15.45%) Firewall
2 13 (10.57%) Wi-Fi
3 12 (9.76%) DHCP
3 12 (9.76%) DNS
4 11 (8.94%) VPN
4 11 (8.94%) WAN
5 10 (8.13%) LAN
6 5 (4.07%) Network Security
7 1 (0.81%) BGP
7 1 (0.81%) Internet
7 1 (0.81%) SD-WAN
7 1 (0.81%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.81%) Unified Communications
7 1 (0.81%) VLAN
7 1 (0.81%) Wireless
7 1 (0.81%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (4.07%) MariaDB
2 4 (3.25%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.81%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 1 (0.81%) Burp Suite
1 1 (0.81%) JIRA
1 1 (0.81%) Metasploit
General
1 54 (43.90%) Social Skills
2 21 (17.07%) Organisational Skills
3 19 (15.45%) Analytical Skills
4 16 (13.01%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 11 (8.94%) Public Sector
6 9 (7.32%) Finance
7 6 (4.88%) Influencing Skills
8 5 (4.07%) Local Government
8 5 (4.07%) Manufacturing
8 5 (4.07%) Police
9 4 (3.25%) Documentation Skills
9 4 (3.25%) Retail
10 2 (1.63%) Legal
10 2 (1.63%) Social Housing
11 1 (0.81%) Banking
11 1 (0.81%) Electronics
11 1 (0.81%) Games
11 1 (0.81%) Marketing
11 1 (0.81%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 38 (30.89%) Security Manager
2 25 (20.33%) Cybersecurity Manager
3 23 (18.70%) IT Manager
4 20 (16.26%) IT Engineer
5 18 (14.63%) Security Assurance Manager
6 16 (13.01%) IT Support
7 12 (9.76%) Support Engineer
8 11 (8.94%) Analyst
8 11 (8.94%) IT Support Engineer
9 10 (8.13%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 9 (7.32%) Information Security Manager
10 9 (7.32%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
10 9 (7.32%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
10 9 (7.32%) Operations Engineer
11 8 (6.50%) IT Security Manager
11 8 (6.50%) Operations Manager
12 7 (5.69%) Information Manager
12 7 (5.69%) IT Operations Manager
13 6 (4.88%) Support Analyst
14 5 (4.07%) Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.81%) OAuth
1 1 (0.81%) SAP CAF
Miscellaneous
1 20 (16.26%) Security Posture
2 15 (12.20%) Driving Licence
3 12 (9.76%) Cyber Threat
4 11 (8.94%) Onboarding
5 10 (8.13%) Management Information System
6 8 (6.50%) Security Operations Centre
7 7 (5.69%) Replication
8 5 (4.07%) Analytical Mindset
9 4 (3.25%) Cyber Security Posture
9 4 (3.25%) Data Protection Act
9 4 (3.25%) Self-Motivation
10 3 (2.44%) NHS
11 2 (1.63%) Cloud Native
11 2 (1.63%) Cloud Security Posture
11 2 (1.63%) Educational Technology
11 2 (1.63%) Housing Association
12 1 (0.81%) Legacy Systems
12 1 (0.81%) Mobile App
12 1 (0.81%) Public Cloud
12 1 (0.81%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 24 (19.51%) Windows
2 4 (3.25%) Linux
2 4 (3.25%) Mac OS
2 4 (3.25%) Windows 10
3 2 (1.63%) Windows Server
4 1 (0.81%) Android
4 1 (0.81%) Apple iOS
4 1 (0.81%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 74 (60.16%) Cybersecurity
2 53 (43.09%) Continuous Improvement
3 43 (34.96%) Information Security
4 29 (23.58%) Disaster Recovery
5 25 (20.33%) Problem-Solving
6 22 (17.89%) ITIL
7 21 (17.07%) Risk Management
8 19 (15.45%) Incident Response
9 17 (13.82%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 16 (13.01%) Business Continuity
11 15 (12.20%) Roadmaps
11 15 (12.20%) Security Operations
12 14 (11.38%) Cloud Security
13 13 (10.57%) Service Delivery
14 12 (9.76%) IT Strategy
14 12 (9.76%) Migration
15 11 (8.94%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 11 (8.94%) Regulatory Change
16 10 (8.13%) Penetration Testing
17 9 (7.32%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 8 (6.50%) PowerShell
2 3 (2.44%) SQL
3 2 (1.63%) Bicep
3 2 (1.63%) JavaScript
4 1 (0.81%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 20 (16.26%) CISSP
1 20 (16.26%) CREST Certified
2 18 (14.63%) CISM
3 15 (12.20%) Security Cleared
4 14 (11.38%) SC Cleared
5 13 (10.57%) Microsoft Certification
6 12 (9.76%) BPSS Clearance
7 8 (6.50%) AWS Certification
8 7 (5.69%) Degree
9 6 (4.88%) CEH
9 6 (4.88%) Cisco Certification
9 6 (4.88%) CRISC
10 4 (3.25%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 4 (3.25%) CCSP
11 3 (2.44%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 3 (2.44%) Azure Certification
11 3 (2.44%) CISA
11 3 (2.44%) Computer Science Degree
11 3 (2.44%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
11 3 (2.44%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 123 (100.00%) Cyber Essentials
2 93 (75.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 35 (28.46%) GDPR
4 33 (26.83%) NIST
5 27 (21.95%) GRC
6 22 (17.89%) NCSC
6 22 (17.89%) SOC 2
7 20 (16.26%) PCI DSS
8 18 (14.63%) SOC 3
9 11 (8.94%) ISO 9001
10 9 (7.32%) Actionable Recommendations
11 6 (4.88%) ISO 14001
12 4 (3.25%) ISO 22301
12 4 (3.25%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 3 (2.44%) Def Stans
13 3 (2.44%) ISO/IEC 20000
14 1 (0.81%) California Consumer Privacy Act
System Software
1 26 (21.14%) Active Directory
2 5 (4.07%) Docker
3 3 (2.44%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (1.63%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.81%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.81%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 20 (16.26%) Microsoft Intune
2 2 (1.63%) Terraform
3 1 (0.81%) Jamf Pro
3 1 (0.81%) Kubernetes
3 1 (0.81%) Nessus
3 1 (0.81%) Nmap
3 1 (0.81%) RSA Archer
3 1 (0.81%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 56 (45.53%) Microsoft
2 11 (8.94%) Cisco
3 10 (8.13%) Meraki
4 6 (4.88%) VMware
5 4 (3.25%) Palo Alto
5 4 (3.25%) SAP
5 4 (3.25%) Ubiquiti
6 3 (2.44%) Google
6 3 (2.44%) Infor
6 3 (2.44%) Tenable
6 3 (2.44%) Xero
7 1 (0.81%) Acronis
7 1 (0.81%) Autodesk
7 1 (0.81%) Avaya
7 1 (0.81%) ForgeRock
7 1 (0.81%) Genesys
7 1 (0.81%) HubSpot
7 1 (0.81%) Qualys
7 1 (0.81%) ServiceNow
7 1 (0.81%) Trend Micro