SC Cleared Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Security Check (SC) Clearance
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies advertised in the UK excluding London with a requirement for SC Cleared qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months leading up to 29 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 56 48 45
Rank change year-on-year -8 -3 +18
Permanent jobs citing SC Cleared 1,583 1,660 2,269
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 3.54% 4.76% 5.10%
As % of the Qualifications category 11.15% 11.98% 17.65%
Number of salaries quoted 1,032 1,032 1,702
10th Percentile £31,250 £40,000 £31,000
25th Percentile £46,228 £47,500 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,764 £59,430 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +0.56% +8.05% -
75th Percentile £76,000 £75,000 £66,250
90th Percentile £87,500 £81,250 £77,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £62,500 £57,500
% change year-on-year -4.00% +8.70% -4.17%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK excluding London

SC Cleared falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in the UK excluding London.

Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 14,198 13,853 12,853
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 31.74% 39.71% 28.92%
Number of salaries quoted 5,188 5,224 8,905
10th Percentile £28,250 £31,250 £27,250
25th Percentile £31,250 £42,500 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -2.63%
75th Percentile £65,000 £68,750 £65,000
90th Percentile £81,250 £81,250 £77,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -4.35%

SC Cleared
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing SC Cleared relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

SC Cleared job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

SC Cleared
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing SC Cleared.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing SC Cleared

SC Cleared
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing SC Cleared in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 29 January 2026.

Salary histogram for SC Cleared in the UK excluding London

SC Cleared
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 SC Cleared within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 29 January 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 West +13 502 £60,000 -4.00% 217
South East -24 442 £58,000 +0.87% 404
Midlands -11 209 £55,500 -11.20% 125
North of England -21 178 £60,000 +9.09% 135
West Midlands -15 137 £61,761 -4.98% 71
East of England +26 127 £51,000 -11.30% 98
North West -6 108 £62,500 +19.05% 67
East Midlands +24 68 £51,058 -1.81% 53
Scotland +4 62 £75,000 +20.00% 42
Yorkshire -9 55 £55,116 +29.69% 42
Wales +32 53 £71,039 +19.53% 34
Northern Ireland -12 17 £74,316 +25.05% 8
North East -9 14 £71,940 +21.05% 27
SC Cleared
UK

SC Cleared
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
1 154 (9.73%) Microsoft Exchange
2 37 (2.34%) SharePoint
3 26 (1.64%) Exchange Server 2003
4 12 (0.76%) Apache
5 10 (0.63%) Confluence
6 6 (0.38%) Apache Airflow
6 6 (0.38%) Apache Spark
6 6 (0.38%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 6 (0.38%) Skype for Business
7 4 (0.25%) SAS
8 3 (0.19%) Appian
8 3 (0.19%) nginx
8 3 (0.19%) Tomcat
8 3 (0.19%) WebLogic
8 3 (0.19%) WebLogic Portal
9 2 (0.13%) IIS
10 1 (0.063%) Apache Qpid
10 1 (0.063%) Apache Superset
10 1 (0.063%) Camunda
Applications
1 113 (7.14%) Microsoft Office
2 31 (1.96%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (0.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (0.32%) Adobe XD
4 5 (0.32%) Microsoft Project
4 5 (0.32%) Simulink
5 4 (0.25%) AutoCAD
6 3 (0.19%) Mozilla Thunderbird
6 3 (0.19%) Windchill
7 2 (0.13%) EPLAN
8 1 (0.063%) Abaqus
8 1 (0.063%) CATIA
8 1 (0.063%) MS Visio
8 1 (0.063%) OrCAD
8 1 (0.063%) Revit
8 1 (0.063%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 22 (1.39%) Dynamics CRM
2 11 (0.69%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
3 6 (0.38%) Primavera
4 5 (0.32%) SAP S/4HANA
5 4 (0.25%) Oracle EBS
6 3 (0.19%) Integrated Workplace Management System
7 2 (0.13%) C-CURE
7 2 (0.13%) Remedy ITSM
7 2 (0.13%) Salesforce CRM
8 1 (0.063%) Maximo
8 1 (0.063%) SAP GTS
8 1 (0.063%) SAP HR
8 1 (0.063%) SAP Payroll
8 1 (0.063%) Teamcenter
8 1 (0.063%) TRIRIGA
Cloud Services
1 313 (19.77%) Azure
2 253 (15.98%) Microsoft 365
3 176 (11.12%) AWS
4 87 (5.50%) Entra ID
5 49 (3.10%) Dynamics 365
6 48 (3.03%) GCP
7 35 (2.21%) Power Platform
8 31 (1.96%) Amazon ECS
9 30 (1.90%) SaaS
10 26 (1.64%) AWS CloudFormation
11 22 (1.39%) Amazon S3
11 22 (1.39%) dbt
12 21 (1.33%) Serverless
13 20 (1.26%) PaaS
14 19 (1.20%) PowerApps
15 18 (1.14%) Amazon ECR
15 18 (1.14%) Google Workspace
16 17 (1.07%) Pulumi
17 16 (1.01%) AWS Lambda
17 16 (1.01%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 162 (10.23%) DNS
2 146 (9.22%) DHCP
3 98 (6.19%) Firewall
4 54 (3.41%) LAN
5 51 (3.22%) VPN
6 50 (3.16%) WAN
7 45 (2.84%) TCP/IP
8 36 (2.27%) Network Security
8 36 (2.27%) Wi-Fi
9 21 (1.33%) Structured Cabling
10 17 (1.07%) BGP
11 15 (0.95%) Cisco ASA
12 14 (0.88%) Intrusion Detection
12 14 (0.88%) VLAN
13 13 (0.82%) Junos
14 12 (0.76%) IPsec
14 12 (0.76%) SMTP
15 11 (0.69%) VSAT
16 10 (0.63%) Modbus
16 10 (0.63%) Software-Defined Radio
Database & Business Intelligence
1 121 (7.64%) Amazon RDS
2 37 (2.34%) Oracle Database
3 26 (1.64%) Oracle Database 10g
4 24 (1.52%) PostgreSQL
4 24 (1.52%) Power BI
5 20 (1.26%) Elasticsearch
6 17 (1.07%) Redis
7 15 (0.95%) NoSQL
7 15 (0.95%) SQL Server
8 13 (0.82%) Big Data
9 11 (0.69%) MongoDB
10 10 (0.63%) Metadata
11 9 (0.57%) Hadoop
11 9 (0.57%) Relational Database
12 8 (0.51%) DynamoDB
12 8 (0.51%) GIS
13 5 (0.32%) Data Warehouse
13 5 (0.32%) Neo4j
13 5 (0.32%) Pentaho
14 4 (0.25%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 33 (2.08%) Git
2 28 (1.77%) JIRA
3 23 (1.45%) Jenkins
4 14 (0.88%) GitLab
5 13 (0.82%) Selenium
6 11 (0.69%) Burp Suite
6 11 (0.69%) Metasploit
7 9 (0.57%) Maven
8 8 (0.51%) Balsamiq
8 8 (0.51%) Cucumber
8 8 (0.51%) JUnit
8 8 (0.51%) Mockito
9 7 (0.44%) Cypress.io
9 7 (0.44%) JMeter
10 6 (0.38%) Locust
10 6 (0.38%) Vagrant
11 5 (0.32%) Axure RP
11 5 (0.32%) WebDriver
12 4 (0.25%) Rational Rhapsody
12 4 (0.25%) Robot Framework
General
1 524 (33.10%) Social Skills
2 234 (14.78%) Analytical Skills
3 200 (12.63%) Public Sector
4 152 (9.60%) Finance
5 122 (7.71%) Manufacturing
6 106 (6.70%) Law
7 92 (5.81%) Marketing
8 81 (5.12%) Electronics
9 78 (4.93%) Telecoms
10 60 (3.79%) Back Office
11 54 (3.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 40 (2.53%) Organisational Skills
13 37 (2.34%) Aerospace
14 31 (1.96%) Aviation
15 30 (1.90%) Aeronautics
16 27 (1.71%) Military
17 23 (1.45%) Retail
18 21 (1.33%) Presentation Skills
19 20 (1.26%) Documentation Skills
20 15 (0.95%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 177 (11.18%) Senior
2 152 (9.60%) Consultant
3 143 (9.03%) Systems Engineer
4 142 (8.97%) Architect
5 136 (8.59%) Support Engineer
6 108 (6.82%) Analyst
7 79 (4.99%) Software Engineer
8 78 (4.93%) Lead
9 67 (4.23%) Desktop Engineer
10 64 (4.04%) Desktop Support
10 64 (4.04%) Site Engineer
11 63 (3.98%) Desktop Support Engineer
12 60 (3.79%) Developer
12 60 (3.79%) IT Support
12 60 (3.79%) Security Consultant
13 53 (3.35%) Business Manager
14 50 (3.16%) Business Systems Manager
14 50 (3.16%) Systems Manager
15 48 (3.03%) Data Engineer
16 47 (2.97%) Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (2.46%) React
2 34 (2.15%) REST
3 24 (1.52%) SAP CAF
4 23 (1.45%) .NET
4 23 (1.45%) Django
5 19 (1.20%) Node.js
6 18 (1.14%) Spring
7 17 (1.07%) AngularJS
8 15 (0.95%) Spring Boot
9 13 (0.82%) Middleware
10 11 (0.69%) Kafka
11 10 (0.63%) HTML
11 10 (0.63%) SOAP
12 9 (0.57%) ASP.NET
12 9 (0.57%) CSS
13 8 (0.51%) Web Services
14 7 (0.44%) JSON
14 7 (0.44%) Qt
14 7 (0.44%) Visualforce
14 7 (0.44%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 105 (6.63%) Legacy Systems
2 54 (3.41%) Robotics
3 49 (3.10%) e-Learning
4 45 (2.84%) Data Centre
5 35 (2.21%) Driving Licence
5 35 (2.21%) Management Information System
6 32 (2.02%) Cloud Native
6 32 (2.02%) Onboarding
7 25 (1.58%) Security Operations Centre
8 22 (1.39%) Algorithms
8 22 (1.39%) Security Posture
8 22 (1.39%) Self-Motivation
9 18 (1.14%) PKI
10 16 (1.01%) Embedded Systems
10 16 (1.01%) Operational Technology
11 15 (0.95%) Product Ownership
12 14 (0.88%) Fibre Optics
12 14 (0.88%) Linux Command Line
13 11 (0.69%) Data Structures
13 11 (0.69%) Distributed Systems
Operating Systems
1 306 (19.33%) Windows
2 227 (14.34%) Linux
3 157 (9.92%) Windows Server
4 100 (6.32%) Windows Server 2016
5 74 (4.67%) Unix
6 73 (4.61%) Windows 10
7 41 (2.59%) Android
8 34 (2.15%) Apple iOS
9 31 (1.96%) Solaris
10 26 (1.64%) Windows Server 2003
11 25 (1.58%) HPUX
12 24 (1.52%) Windows 7
13 22 (1.39%) Windows Server 2008
14 15 (0.95%) Ubuntu
15 10 (0.63%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
16 6 (0.38%) Debian
16 6 (0.38%) VMS
17 5 (0.32%) Amazon Linux
17 5 (0.32%) CentOS
18 4 (0.25%) AIX
Processes & Methodologies
1 277 (17.50%) Problem-Solving
2 210 (13.27%) Cybersecurity
3 201 (12.70%) Agile
4 196 (12.38%) Customer Service
5 188 (11.88%) Software Engineering
6 182 (11.50%) Continuous Improvement
7 159 (10.04%) Customer Experience
8 145 (9.16%) Migration
9 143 (9.03%) AI
9 143 (9.03%) ITIL
10 137 (8.65%) Project Management
11 130 (8.21%) DevOps
12 115 (7.26%) Risk Management
13 110 (6.95%) Kalman Filter
14 107 (6.76%) Web Filtering
15 106 (6.70%) Analytics
16 103 (6.51%) Vulnerability Scanning
17 97 (6.13%) Vulnerability Remediation
18 96 (6.06%) Email Filtering
19 94 (5.94%) CI/CD
Programming Languages
1 180 (11.37%) Python
2 86 (5.43%) SQL
3 82 (5.18%) Java
4 65 (4.11%) PowerShell
5 48 (3.03%) JavaScript
6 44 (2.78%) C++
7 34 (2.15%) C
8 32 (2.02%) Bash
9 27 (1.71%) C#
10 25 (1.58%) Perl
11 20 (1.26%) TypeScript
12 17 (1.07%) Rust
13 15 (0.95%) VBA
14 14 (0.88%) MATLAB
15 10 (0.63%) PL/SQL
16 8 (0.51%) Go
16 8 (0.51%) Groovy
16 8 (0.51%) R
17 7 (0.44%) Apex Code
18 6 (0.38%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 1,583 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 282 (17.81%) Degree
3 276 (17.44%) DV Cleared
4 81 (5.12%) Cisco Certification
5 77 (4.86%) BPSS Clearance
6 65 (4.11%) CTC Cleared
7 61 (3.85%) CISSP
8 54 (3.41%) CCNA
9 50 (3.16%) CISM
10 48 (3.03%) CCNP
11 36 (2.27%) Master's Degree
12 28 (1.77%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
12 28 (1.77%) Microsoft Certification
13 23 (1.45%) Computer Science Degree
14 19 (1.20%) AWS Certification
15 18 (1.14%) Azure Certification
16 17 (1.07%) JNCIA
17 15 (0.95%) CompTIA Security+
18 14 (0.88%) HNC
19 12 (0.76%) CREST Certified
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 136 (8.59%) SLA
2 114 (7.20%) Cyber Essentials
3 103 (6.51%) PCI DSS
4 74 (4.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 69 (4.36%) NIST
6 45 (2.84%) QA
7 35 (2.21%) GRC
8 33 (2.08%) GDPR
9 29 (1.83%) Accessibility
10 14 (0.88%) NCSC
10 14 (0.88%) WCAG
11 12 (0.76%) Data Quality
11 12 (0.76%) ISO 9001
12 9 (0.57%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 8 (0.51%) NIST 800
14 7 (0.44%) Actionable Recommendations
14 7 (0.44%) Def Stans
15 6 (0.38%) JSP 440
16 5 (0.32%) ISO 13485
16 5 (0.32%) RMADS
System Software
1 196 (12.38%) Active Directory
2 105 (6.63%) Hyper-V
3 97 (6.13%) Terminal Server
4 76 (4.80%) Docker
5 39 (2.46%) VMware Infrastructure
6 20 (1.26%) Firmware
7 8 (0.51%) VMware NSX
7 8 (0.51%) vSphere
8 7 (0.44%) VMware ESXi
9 4 (0.25%) Embedded Firmware
9 4 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
10 3 (0.19%) DFS Replication
10 3 (0.19%) Dovecot
10 3 (0.19%) Postfix
10 3 (0.19%) Squid
10 3 (0.19%) Virtual Desktop
11 2 (0.13%) Lustre
11 2 (0.13%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 77 (4.86%) Terraform
2 65 (4.11%) Kubernetes
3 40 (2.53%) Ansible
4 33 (2.08%) Jamf Pro
5 22 (1.39%) SCCM
6 21 (1.33%) Grafana
7 17 (1.07%) Microsoft Intune
8 14 (0.88%) Prometheus
8 14 (0.88%) SCOM
9 13 (0.82%) vCenter Server
10 11 (0.69%) Nmap
11 10 (0.63%) AWS Copilot
12 9 (0.57%) Endace
12 9 (0.57%) Nessus
12 9 (0.57%) WSUS
13 6 (0.38%) Nagios
13 6 (0.38%) Puppet
14 5 (0.32%) Proxmox
15 4 (0.25%) QRadar
15 4 (0.25%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 364 (22.99%) Microsoft
2 185 (11.69%) VMware
3 174 (10.99%) Cisco
4 115 (7.26%) Splunk
5 108 (6.82%) SolarWinds
6 100 (6.32%) Veeam
7 96 (6.06%) Brocade
7 96 (6.06%) Nimble Storage
7 96 (6.06%) Tanium
8 58 (3.66%) Oracle
9 57 (3.60%) SAP
10 50 (3.16%) Google
11 37 (2.34%) Juniper
12 35 (2.21%) Salesforce
13 33 (2.08%) Apple
14 31 (1.96%) ServiceNow
15 30 (1.90%) Red Hat
16 28 (1.77%) Samsung
17 19 (1.20%) Computacenter
18 18 (1.14%) CheckPoint