NVQ Level 3 Job Trends

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

	6 months to 16 Oct 2026	Same period 2025	Same period 2024
Rank	366	588	653
Rank change year-on-year	+222	+65	+77
Permanent jobs citing NVQ Level 3	573	81	102
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK	0.48%	0.17%	0.14%
As % of the Qualifications category	2.83%	0.48%	0.51%
Number of salaries quoted	284	64	12
10^th Percentile	£38,575	£32,400	-
25^th Percentile	£42,500	£38,500	£36,250
Median annual salary (50^th Percentile)	£48,475	£48,500	£38,250
Median % change year-on-year	-0.05%	+26.80%	+38.29%
75^th Percentile	£53,750	£54,000	£39,875
90^th Percentile	£58,175	£60,000	£42,238
UK excluding London median annual salary	£48,500	£45,608	£38,250
% change year-on-year	+6.34%	+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.

	6 months to 16 Oct 2026	Same period 2025	Same period 2024
Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications	20,280	16,817	19,873
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK	17.02%	34.39%	28.19%
Number of salaries quoted	11,776	7,364	8,485
10^th Percentile	£32,000	£28,750	£32,500
25^th Percentile	£43,750	£36,250	£43,650
Median annual salary (50^th Percentile)	£60,000	£55,000	£57,500
Median % change year-on-year	+9.09%	-4.35%	-
75^th Percentile	£80,000	£73,750	£75,000
90^th Percentile	£97,500	£90,000	£90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary	£55,750	£47,500	£54,793
% change year-on-year	+17.37%	-13.31%	+4.37%

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 Salary Trend

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 16 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 16 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	+205	516	£49,000	-3.92%	27
UK excluding London	+207	504	£48,500	+6.34%	22
Midlands	+94	153	£52,000	+73.33%	8
East Midlands	+60	109	£52,000	+73.33%	3
North of England	+35	103	£49,100	+29.21%	7
South East	+19	100	£45,000	-1.33%	2
East of England	+32	84	£47,500	+1.06%	2
Yorkshire	-	49	£47,650	-	2
London	-54	47	£53,400	-1.11%	4
West Midlands	-1	44	£50,500	-12.17%	5
North West	+6	37	£52,500	+38.16%	5
South West	-49	32	£50,000	-5.66%	4
North East	-	19	£51,000	-	1
Wales	-	18	£52,000	-
Scotland	+17	17	£44,368	-
Work from Home	-44	12	£39,000	-4.29%	3

NVQ Level 3 Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 16 October 2026, job vacancies citing NVQ Level 3 also mentioned the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads with a requirement for NVQ Level 3.

Rank	Skill	Share	Job Ads
1	Preventative Maintenance	50.1%	287
2	City & Guilds	44.7%	256
3	Continuous Improvement	28.1%	161
4	Proactive Maintenance	27.7%	159
5	Degree	27.4%	157
6	Line Management	26.5%	152
7	Mechatronics	25.8%	148
8	Problem-Solving	21.6%	124
9	HNC	15.9%	91
10	Technical Leadership	12.0%	69
11	Logistics	10.8%	62
12	NEC	9.9%	57
12	Order Management	9.9%	57
14	Actionable Insight	8.4%	48
14	CRM	8.4%	48
16	HND	7.5%	43
17	Siemens	7.2%	41
18	Customer Service	6.8%	39
19	Microsoft	5.6%	32
20	Root Cause Analysis	4.2%	24
21	Allen-Bradley	3.8%	22
22	Customer Experience	3.5%	20
22	Mentoring	3.5%	20
22	SAP	3.5%	20
25	Collaborative Working	3.1%	18
25	Security Cleared	3.1%	18
27	Facilities Management	2.8%	16
27	Microsoft Office	2.8%	16
29	NVQ Level 4	2.1%	12
30	Microsoft Excel	1.9%	11

NVQ Level 3 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

Qualifications

Rank	Skill	Share	Job Ads
1	City & Guilds	44.7%	256
2	Degree	27.4%	157
3	HNC	15.9%	91
4	HND	7.5%	43
5	Security Cleared	3.1%	18
6	NVQ Level 4	2.1%	12
7	DBS Check	1.7%	10
8	SC Cleared	1.4%	8
9	CTC Cleared	0.7%	4
10	DV Cleared	0.5%	3
11	A+ Certification	0.2%	1
11	Microsoft Certification	0.2%	1
11	Network+ Certification	0.2%	1