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

6 months to
4 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 428 445 643
Rank change year-on-year +17 +198 -5
Permanent jobs citing Cyber Essentials PLUS 134 62 105
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 0.20% 0.22% 0.15%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 2.30% 1.39% 1.13%
Number of salaries quoted 113 35 91
10th Percentile £29,000 £34,300 £28,750
25th Percentile £38,750 £39,000 £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 £58,125 £68,125
90th Percentile £75,000 £71,250 £77,500
UK median annual salary £65,000 £61,750 £55,000
% change year-on-year +5.26% +12.27% -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 5,826 4,469 9,263
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 8.89% 16.06% 13.61%
Number of salaries quoted 3,378 2,396 6,264
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,822 £25,625
25th Percentile £38,000 £37,000 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £52,500 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year - +10.53% -5.00%
75th Percentile £68,750 £67,500 £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 4 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 4 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 -19 49 £65,000 +18.18% 12
Midlands -2 36 £55,000 +22.22% 7
North of England -39 30 £43,500 +8.75% 7
West Midlands +12 26 £52,500 +5.00% 6
Yorkshire -37 21 £30,000 -58.62% 2
South West -46 11 £52,500 -23.64% 5
East Midlands -36 10 £57,500 +43.75% 1
North West -27 7 £50,000 +25.00% 4
East of England -13 5 £37,262 - 7
Scotland -20 3 £60,000 +37.14% 3
North East -36 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 23 (17.16%) SharePoint
2 20 (14.93%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (2.99%) Drupal
3 4 (2.99%) nginx
3 4 (2.99%) WordPress
4 1 (0.75%) CMS
Applications
1 1 (0.75%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.75%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 59 (44.03%) Microsoft 365
2 38 (28.36%) Azure
3 31 (23.13%) Entra ID
4 14 (10.45%) AWS
5 10 (7.46%) SaaS
6 7 (5.22%) OneDrive
7 4 (2.99%) IaaS
7 4 (2.99%) PaaS
8 3 (2.24%) Azure Sentinel
8 3 (2.24%) Cloud Computing
9 2 (1.49%) Amazon GuardDuty
9 2 (1.49%) Power Automate
10 1 (0.75%) GCP
10 1 (0.75%) Microsoft Purview
10 1 (0.75%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 24 (17.91%) Firewall
2 13 (9.70%) DHCP
2 13 (9.70%) DNS
2 13 (9.70%) VPN
2 13 (9.70%) Wi-Fi
3 12 (8.96%) LAN
3 12 (8.96%) WAN
4 7 (5.22%) Network Security
5 3 (2.24%) VLAN
6 1 (0.75%) TCP/IP
6 1 (0.75%) Wireless
6 1 (0.75%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (5.22%) SQL Server
2 4 (2.99%) MariaDB
Development Applications
1 1 (0.75%) Burp Suite
1 1 (0.75%) JIRA
1 1 (0.75%) Metasploit
General
1 52 (38.81%) Social Skills
2 18 (13.43%) Analytical Skills
3 16 (11.94%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 16 (11.94%) Organisational Skills
4 13 (9.70%) Public Sector
5 12 (8.96%) Manufacturing
6 8 (5.97%) Finance
7 5 (3.73%) Influencing Skills
8 4 (2.99%) Documentation Skills
8 4 (2.99%) Local Government
8 4 (2.99%) Police
8 4 (2.99%) Retail
9 3 (2.24%) Aerospace
9 3 (2.24%) Aviation
9 3 (2.24%) Legal
10 2 (1.49%) Social Housing
10 2 (1.49%) Telecoms
11 1 (0.75%) Banking
11 1 (0.75%) Games
11 1 (0.75%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 37 (27.61%) Security Manager
2 25 (18.66%) IT Manager
3 24 (17.91%) Cybersecurity Manager
3 24 (17.91%) IT Engineer
4 21 (15.67%) IT Support
5 14 (10.45%) IT Support Engineer
5 14 (10.45%) Security Assurance Manager
5 14 (10.45%) Support Engineer
6 13 (9.70%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 11 (8.21%) Information Security Manager
8 9 (6.72%) Analyst
8 9 (6.72%) Compliance Manager
8 9 (6.72%) Information Manager
8 9 (6.72%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
8 9 (6.72%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
8 9 (6.72%) Operations Engineer
9 8 (5.97%) IT Security Manager
9 8 (5.97%) Operations Manager
10 7 (5.22%) IT Operations Manager
11 6 (4.48%) Infrastructure Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.75%) SAP CAF
Miscellaneous
1 22 (16.42%) Security Posture
2 16 (11.94%) Management Information System
3 15 (11.19%) Driving Licence
4 14 (10.45%) Onboarding
5 12 (8.96%) Cyber Threat
6 10 (7.46%) Analytical Mindset
7 7 (5.22%) Replication
8 6 (4.48%) Security Operations Centre
9 5 (3.73%) Cyber Security Posture
10 3 (2.24%) Robotics
11 2 (1.49%) Cloud Native
11 2 (1.49%) Cloud Security Posture
11 2 (1.49%) Educational Technology
11 2 (1.49%) Housing Association
11 2 (1.49%) NHS
12 1 (0.75%) Mobile App
12 1 (0.75%) Public Cloud
12 1 (0.75%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 32 (23.88%) Windows
2 8 (5.97%) Windows Server
3 5 (3.73%) Linux
4 4 (2.99%) Mac OS
5 3 (2.24%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.75%) Android
6 1 (0.75%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.75%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 77 (57.46%) Cybersecurity
2 52 (38.81%) Continuous Improvement
3 42 (31.34%) Information Security
4 32 (23.88%) Disaster Recovery
5 31 (23.13%) Risk Management
6 26 (19.40%) Incident Response
7 24 (17.91%) ITIL
8 21 (15.67%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 20 (14.93%) Problem-Solving
10 18 (13.43%) Business Continuity
11 17 (12.69%) Security Operations
12 16 (11.94%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 16 (11.94%) Service Delivery
13 15 (11.19%) Internal Audit
13 15 (11.19%) IT Strategy
14 14 (10.45%) Roadmaps
15 13 (9.70%) Data Security
15 13 (9.70%) Root Cause Analysis
16 12 (8.96%) Penetration Testing
16 12 (8.96%) Security Management
Programming Languages
1 8 (5.97%) PowerShell
2 3 (2.24%) SQL
3 2 (1.49%) Bicep
3 2 (1.49%) C
3 2 (1.49%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 24 (17.91%) CISSP
2 17 (12.69%) CISM
2 17 (12.69%) Security Cleared
3 16 (11.94%) CREST Certified
4 15 (11.19%) SC Cleared
5 13 (9.70%) BPSS Clearance
6 12 (8.96%) Microsoft Certification
7 10 (7.46%) Degree
8 6 (4.48%) AWS Certification
8 6 (4.48%) Cisco Certification
9 5 (3.73%) CEH
10 4 (2.99%) (ISC)2 CCSP
10 4 (2.99%) CCSP
11 3 (2.24%) Azure Certification
11 3 (2.24%) CISA
11 3 (2.24%) Computer Science Degree
11 3 (2.24%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
12 2 (1.49%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 2 (1.49%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
12 2 (1.49%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 134 (100.00%) Cyber Essentials
2 99 (73.88%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 38 (28.36%) GDPR
4 28 (20.90%) NIST
5 23 (17.16%) GRC
6 21 (15.67%) NCSC
7 17 (12.69%) SOC 2
8 15 (11.19%) ISO 9001
8 15 (11.19%) PCI DSS
9 13 (9.70%) SOC 3
10 11 (8.21%) ISO 14001
11 9 (6.72%) Actionable Recommendations
12 8 (5.97%) ISO/IEC 20000
13 4 (2.99%) ISO 22301
14 3 (2.24%) Def Stans
15 1 (0.75%) California Consumer Privacy Act
15 1 (0.75%) COBIT
15 1 (0.75%) NIST 800
System Software
1 30 (22.39%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.99%) Docker
2 4 (2.99%) Virtual Machines
3 1 (0.75%) Hyper-V
3 1 (0.75%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (0.75%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 23 (17.16%) Microsoft Intune
2 2 (1.49%) Terraform
3 1 (0.75%) Nessus
3 1 (0.75%) Nmap
3 1 (0.75%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 62 (46.27%) Microsoft
2 9 (6.72%) Cisco
2 9 (6.72%) Meraki
3 4 (2.99%) Palo Alto
3 4 (2.99%) SAP
3 4 (2.99%) Ubiquiti
3 4 (2.99%) VMware
4 3 (2.24%) Google
4 3 (2.24%) Infor
4 3 (2.24%) Tenable
4 3 (2.24%) Xero
5 1 (0.75%) Autodesk
5 1 (0.75%) ForgeRock
5 1 (0.75%) HubSpot
5 1 (0.75%) Okta
5 1 (0.75%) Qualys
5 1 (0.75%) ServiceNow
5 1 (0.75%) Trend Micro