National Vocational Qualification Level 3 (NVQ Level 3)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies with a requirement for NVQ Level 3 qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months leading up to 20 May 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 527 119 796
Rank change year-on-year -408 +677 +140
Permanent jobs citing NVQ Level 3 215 1,169 90
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.23% 2.65% 0.093%
As % of the Qualifications category 1.02% 6.62% 0.35%
Number of salaries quoted 12 17 33
10th Percentile £27,875 £25,750 £23,141
25th Percentile £33,875 £29,688 £29,971
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,500 £42,000 £31,985
Median % change year-on-year -15.48% +31.31% +5.71%
75th Percentile £45,938 £54,250 £42,976
90th Percentile £52,500 - £61,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £35,500 £42,000 £31,985
% change year-on-year -15.48% +31.31% +5.71%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

NVQ Level 3 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.

Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 21,135 17,657 26,009
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 22.91% 40.04% 26.74%
Number of salaries quoted 9,153 7,607 17,170
10th Percentile £29,750 £30,750 £28,500
25th Percentile £42,215 £41,000 £38,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £54,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% +1.85% -9.40%
75th Percentile £77,500 £73,729 £71,000
90th Percentile £92,500 £91,250 £87,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £51,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +6.80% +3.00% -3.85%

NVQ Level 3
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing NVQ Level 3 relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

NVQ Level 3 job vacancy trend in the UK

NVQ Level 3
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing NVQ Level 3.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing NVQ Level 3

NVQ Level 3
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing NVQ Level 3 over the 6 months to 20 May 2026.

Salary histogram for NVQ Level 3 in the UK

NVQ Level 3
Top 10 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing NVQ Level 3 within the UK over the 6 months to 20 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
England -365 212 £35,500 -15.48% 39
UK excluding London -255 210 £35,500 -15.48% 31
Midlands +65 186 - - 5
West Midlands +54 186 - - 4
North of England -129 14 £35,500 - 9
North West -91 7 £50,000 - 2
Yorkshire - 7 £35,500 - 5
Work from Home +28 5 £32,500 -5.11% 2
East of England -47 5 - - 4
South East -269 5 £35,750 -14.88% 8

NVQ Level 3
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 4 (1.86%) Microsoft Exchange
1 4 (1.86%) SharePoint
Applications
1 4 (1.86%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.93%) AutoCAD
2 2 (0.93%) EPLAN
Cloud Services
1 2 (0.93%) Entra ID
1 2 (0.93%) Google Workspace
1 2 (0.93%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 4 (1.86%) LAN
1 4 (1.86%) WAN
2 2 (0.93%) VPN
Development Applications
1 2 (0.93%) JIRA
General
1 197 (91.63%) Finance
1 197 (91.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
2 5 (2.33%) Public Sector
3 4 (1.86%) Social Skills
4 3 (1.40%) Electronics
4 3 (1.40%) Manufacturing
5 2 (0.93%) Games
5 2 (0.93%) Legal
5 2 (0.93%) Organisational Skills
5 2 (0.93%) Pharmaceutical
6 1 (0.47%) Fire and Rescue
Job Titles
1 197 (91.63%) Facilities Engineer
1 197 (91.63%) Systems Engineer
2 4 (1.86%) 2nd Line Support
2 4 (1.86%) Analyst
2 4 (1.86%) Support Engineer
2 4 (1.86%) Technical Engineer
2 4 (1.86%) Technical Support
2 4 (1.86%) Technical Support Engineer
3 3 (1.40%) Manufacturing Engineer
3 3 (1.40%) Senior
3 3 (1.40%) Senior Test Engineer
3 3 (1.40%) Test Engineer
4 2 (0.93%) IT Analyst
4 2 (0.93%) IT Support
4 2 (0.93%) IT Support Analyst
4 2 (0.93%) Service Analyst
4 2 (0.93%) Service Desk Analyst
4 2 (0.93%) Software Engineer
4 2 (0.93%) Support Analyst
Miscellaneous
1 7 (3.26%) Driving Licence
2 3 (1.40%) Low-Code
3 2 (0.93%) SCADA
4 1 (0.47%) Smart City
Operating Systems
1 8 (3.72%) Windows
2 4 (1.86%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 201 (93.49%) Preventative Maintenance
2 200 (93.02%) Mentoring
3 199 (92.56%) Inventory Management
4 9 (4.19%) Problem-Solving
5 8 (3.72%) ITIL
6 4 (1.86%) Customer Service
6 4 (1.86%) Virtual Environments
7 3 (1.40%) Continuous Improvement
7 3 (1.40%) Risk Assessment
7 3 (1.40%) Test Automation
8 2 (0.93%) Agile
8 2 (0.93%) Customer Requirements
8 2 (0.93%) ITSM
8 2 (0.93%) Mathematics
8 2 (0.93%) Service Management
8 2 (0.93%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 3 (1.40%) C
1 3 (1.40%) C++
Qualifications
1 198 (92.09%) City & Guilds
2 197 (91.63%) Postgraduate
3 7 (3.26%) Degree
4 5 (2.33%) HNC
5 4 (1.86%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 2 (0.93%) A+ Certification
6 2 (0.93%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 197 (91.63%) COSHH
2 2 (0.93%) GDPR
System Software
1 6 (2.79%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 1 (0.47%) OpenView
Vendors
1 6 (2.79%) Microsoft
2 3 (1.40%) Keysight
3 2 (0.93%) Allen-Bradley
3 2 (0.93%) Google
3 2 (0.93%) ServiceNow
3 2 (0.93%) Siemens
3 2 (0.93%) Wonderware