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 4 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 412 590 678
Rank change year-on-year +178 +88 +49
Permanent jobs citing NVQ Level 3 482 80 104
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.41% 0.16% 0.14%
As % of the Qualifications category 2.35% 0.46% 0.50%
Number of salaries quoted 236 63 13
10th Percentile £37,750 £38,500 -
25th Percentile £42,500 £42,375 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £48,500 £51,000 £38,250
Median % change year-on-year -4.90% +33.33% +38.29%
75th Percentile £53,750 £54,000 £39,875
90th Percentile £58,125 £60,000 £42,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £48,750 £45,608 £38,250
% change year-on-year +6.89% +19.24% +38.29%

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 20,548 17,545 20,765
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 17.38% 35.27% 27.99%
Number of salaries quoted 11,521 7,470 9,019
10th Percentile £32,000 £29,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £43,750 £36,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -0.95%
75th Percentile £80,000 £73,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £97,500 £90,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £56,400 £47,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year +18.74% -9.52% -

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 4 October 2026.

Salary histogram for NVQ Level 3 in the UK

NVQ Level 3
Top 16 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 4 October 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 +170 432 £49,000 -4.20% 389
UK excluding London +177 419 £48,750 +6.89% 386
Midlands +72 125 £52,000 +73.33% 85
East Midlands +41 91 £52,500 +75.00% 44
North of England +23 86 £49,600 +30.53% 91
South East +13 86 £45,000 -1.33% 73
East of England +37 74 £47,500 +1.06% 50
Yorkshire - 44 £45,407 - 42
London -46 42 £54,200 +0.37% 42
West Midlands -6 34 £46,000 -20.00% 42
North West +10 31 £53,000 +39.47% 38
South West -61 22 £49,250 -7.08% 37
Wales - 17 £52,500 - 29
North East - 13 £51,000 - 15
Scotland +10 12 £45,000 - 19
Work from Home -43 9 £39,000 -14.49% 20

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 3 (0.62%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (0.41%) SharePoint
Applications
1 13 (2.70%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (1.45%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (1.04%) AutoCAD
4 4 (0.83%) EPLAN
5 1 (0.21%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.21%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 3 (0.62%) SAP PM
2 1 (0.21%) C-CURE
2 1 (0.21%) SAP CO
2 1 (0.21%) SAP FI
2 1 (0.21%) SAP FI/CO
2 1 (0.21%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 3 (0.62%) Entra ID
1 3 (0.62%) Microsoft 365
2 2 (0.41%) AWS
2 2 (0.41%) Cloud Computing
3 1 (0.21%) Azure
Communications & Networking
1 7 (1.45%) LAN
1 7 (1.45%) TCP/IP
1 7 (1.45%) WAN
2 4 (0.83%) Structured Cabling
3 2 (0.41%) Modbus
4 1 (0.21%) DHCP
4 1 (0.21%) DNS
4 1 (0.21%) Firewall
4 1 (0.21%) NAS
4 1 (0.21%) NGN
4 1 (0.21%) SAN
4 1 (0.21%) VPN
4 1 (0.21%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.21%) DTS
1 1 (0.21%) GIS
Development Applications
1 3 (0.62%) Appcelerator Titanium
1 3 (0.62%) Hudson
General
1 149 (30.91%) Manufacturing
2 82 (17.01%) Social Skills
3 58 (12.03%) Electronics
4 30 (6.22%) Retail
5 20 (4.15%) Pharmaceutical
6 18 (3.73%) Finance
7 17 (3.53%) Analytical Skills
8 16 (3.32%) Automotive
9 13 (2.70%) Military
10 10 (2.07%) Aerospace
10 10 (2.07%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 8 (1.66%) Advertising
12 6 (1.24%) Legal
13 4 (0.83%) Public Sector
13 4 (0.83%) Social Housing
14 3 (0.62%) Organisational Skills
15 2 (0.41%) Banking
16 1 (0.21%) Law
16 1 (0.21%) Local Government
16 1 (0.21%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 90 (18.67%) Senior
2 73 (15.15%) Senior Technician
3 52 (10.79%) Technical Engineer
4 38 (7.88%) Electrical Engineer
5 37 (7.68%) Lead
6 20 (4.15%) Team Leader
7 12 (2.49%) Field Engineer
7 12 (2.49%) Field Service Engineer
8 11 (2.28%) Reliability Engineer
9 10 (2.07%) Mechanical Engineer
10 6 (1.24%) Electrical Supervisor
10 6 (1.24%) Installations Engineer
11 5 (1.04%) Design Engineer
11 5 (1.04%) Electrical Design Engineer
11 5 (1.04%) Manufacturing Engineer
11 5 (1.04%) Senior Reliability Engineer
11 5 (1.04%) Support Engineer
11 5 (1.04%) Test Engineer
12 4 (0.83%) Technical Support
12 4 (0.83%) Technical Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (0.62%) MonoRail
2 1 (0.21%) EDI
2 1 (0.21%) SAP ALE
Miscellaneous
1 126 (26.14%) Onboarding
1 126 (26.14%) SCADA
2 106 (21.99%) Robotics
3 88 (18.26%) Driving Licence
4 60 (12.45%) Renewable Energy
5 37 (7.68%) FMCG
6 18 (3.73%) Data Centre
7 11 (2.28%) CCTV
8 5 (1.04%) Management Information System
8 5 (1.04%) Self-Motivation
8 5 (1.04%) Solar Panel
9 4 (0.83%) Fibre Optics
10 3 (0.62%) Low-Code
11 2 (0.41%) Housing Association
12 1 (0.21%) 3D Printing
12 1 (0.21%) Analytical Mindset
12 1 (0.21%) IoT
12 1 (0.21%) iPad
12 1 (0.21%) Photovoltaics
12 1 (0.21%) Solar Energy
Operating Systems
1 12 (2.49%) Windows
2 3 (0.62%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 231 (47.93%) Preventative Maintenance
2 133 (27.59%) Continuous Improvement
3 131 (27.18%) Proactive Maintenance
4 126 (26.14%) Line Management
5 124 (25.73%) Mechatronics
6 101 (20.95%) Problem-Solving
7 60 (12.45%) Logistics
8 56 (11.62%) Technical Leadership
9 48 (9.96%) Actionable Insight
9 48 (9.96%) CRM
10 46 (9.54%) Order Management
11 27 (5.60%) Customer Service
12 18 (3.73%) Root Cause Analysis
13 17 (3.53%) Customer Experience
14 16 (3.32%) Collaborative Working
14 16 (3.32%) Mentoring
15 10 (2.07%) Facilities Management
16 9 (1.87%) System Testing
17 8 (1.66%) CAFM
17 8 (1.66%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 3 (0.62%) C
1 3 (0.62%) C++
Qualifications
1 214 (44.40%) City & Guilds
2 129 (26.76%) Degree
3 75 (15.56%) HNC
4 37 (7.68%) HND
5 18 (3.73%) Security Cleared
6 9 (1.87%) NVQ Level 4
7 8 (1.66%) DBS Check
7 8 (1.66%) SC Cleared
8 4 (0.83%) CTC Cleared
9 3 (0.62%) DV Cleared
10 2 (0.41%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 1 (0.21%) A+ Certification
11 1 (0.21%) Microsoft Certification
11 1 (0.21%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (0.62%) GDPR
1 3 (0.62%) SLA
2 2 (0.41%) 21 CFR Part 11
2 2 (0.41%) GMP
2 2 (0.41%) QA
3 1 (0.21%) COSHH
3 1 (0.21%) ISO 9001
3 1 (0.21%) NEBOSH
System Software
1 4 (0.83%) Firmware
2 3 (0.62%) Active Directory
3 1 (0.21%) Hyper-V
3 1 (0.21%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 1 (0.21%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 46 (9.54%) NEC
2 29 (6.02%) Siemens
3 27 (5.60%) Microsoft
4 19 (3.94%) SAP
5 17 (3.53%) Allen-Bradley
6 9 (1.87%) Google
7 4 (0.83%) Foundry
7 4 (0.83%) Remedy
7 4 (0.83%) Rockwell
8 3 (0.62%) Facebook
8 3 (0.62%) Keysight
9 2 (0.41%) ServiceNow
10 1 (0.21%) Infor
10 1 (0.21%) Instagram
10 1 (0.21%) Sitecore
10 1 (0.21%) VMware