HNC Job Trends in the West Midlands

Higher National Certificate (HNC)
England > West Midlands

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies advertised in the West Midlands with a requirement for HNC qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months leading up to 15 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 163 164 164
Rank change year-on-year +1 0 +96
Permanent jobs citing HNC 15 34 14
As % of all permanent jobs in the West Midlands 0.28% 0.82% 0.37%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.72% 2.13% 1.33%
Number of salaries quoted 9 32 7
10th Percentile - - £30,500
25th Percentile £27,750 £32,500 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £47,500 £35,000 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year +35.71% - -
75th Percentile £52,500 £37,500 £45,625
90th Percentile - £56,925 £50,500
England median annual salary £45,998 £47,683 £47,500
% change year-on-year -3.53% +0.39% +19.09%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
West Midlands

HNC 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 West Midlands.

Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 2,072 1,594 1,049
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the West Midlands 39.06% 38.41% 27.93%
Number of salaries quoted 515 504 865
10th Percentile £27,694 £32,500 £27,500
25th Percentile £31,250 £42,500 £33,990
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £47,500 £57,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% +14.00% -
75th Percentile £65,000 £66,050 £61,250
90th Percentile £83,750 £80,000 £73,750
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -

HNC
Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing HNC relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands.

HNC job vacancy trend in the West Midlands

HNC
Salary Trend in the West Midlands

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing HNC.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing HNC

HNC
Salary Histogram in the West Midlands

Salary distribution for jobs citing HNC in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 15 January 2026.

Salary histogram for HNC in the West Midlands

HNC
Job Locations in the West Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing HNC within the West Midlands region over the 6 months to 15 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
Staffordshire -23 9 £39,250 +12.14% 1
Warwickshire +28 2 £47,500 - 3
Worcestershire - 1 - - 5
HNC
England

HNC
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the West Midlands 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:

Applications
1 6 (40.00%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (6.67%) Acrobat
2 1 (6.67%) Adobe Illustrator
2 1 (6.67%) CATIA
2 1 (6.67%) Photoshop
2 1 (6.67%) PTC Creo
2 1 (6.67%) Solid Edge
Communications & Networking
1 4 (26.67%) DHCP
1 4 (26.67%) DNS
1 4 (26.67%) RFID
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (26.67%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 4 (26.67%) LabVIEW
General
1 7 (46.67%) Manufacturing
2 5 (33.33%) Advertising
3 4 (26.67%) Social Skills
4 1 (6.67%) Finance
4 1 (6.67%) Marketing
4 1 (6.67%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 7 (46.67%) Support Engineer
1 7 (46.67%) Technical Engineer
1 7 (46.67%) Technical Support
1 7 (46.67%) Technical Support Engineer
2 4 (26.67%) Analyst
2 4 (26.67%) Automation Engineer
2 4 (26.67%) Help Desk Analyst
2 4 (26.67%) Help Desk Support
2 4 (26.67%) Help Desk Support Analyst
2 4 (26.67%) Support Analyst
3 1 (6.67%) Business Development Manager
3 1 (6.67%) Business Manager
3 1 (6.67%) Design Engineer
3 1 (6.67%) Development Manager
3 1 (6.67%) Mechanical Design Engineer
3 1 (6.67%) Mechanical Engineer
3 1 (6.67%) Technical Illustrator
3 1 (6.67%) Test Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 5 (33.33%) Renewable Energy
2 4 (26.67%) Driving Licence
2 4 (26.67%) Industrial Internet of Things
2 4 (26.67%) SCADA
3 1 (6.67%) Self-Motivation
3 1 (6.67%) Virtual Team
Processes & Methodologies
1 12 (80.00%) Customer Service
2 5 (33.33%) Business Development
3 4 (26.67%) B2B
3 4 (26.67%) B2B Sales
3 4 (26.67%) Commercial Awareness
3 4 (26.67%) Computer Science
3 4 (26.67%) Customer Experience
3 4 (26.67%) Data Entry
3 4 (26.67%) Disaster Recovery
3 4 (26.67%) ERP
3 4 (26.67%) ITIL
3 4 (26.67%) Mathematics
3 4 (26.67%) Server Building
3 4 (26.67%) Telesales
4 3 (20.00%) Continuous Improvement
4 3 (20.00%) Customer Insight
4 3 (20.00%) Energy Management
4 3 (20.00%) Presales
4 3 (20.00%) Product Management
5 2 (13.33%) CAD
Qualifications
1 9 (60.00%) Degree
2 4 (26.67%) MCP
2 4 (26.67%) MCSA
2 4 (26.67%) Microsoft Certification
3 3 (20.00%) HND
4 1 (6.67%) Master's Degree
4 1 (6.67%) SC Cleared
4 1 (6.67%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (6.67%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 4 (26.67%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 4 (26.67%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 10 (66.67%) Microsoft
2 4 (26.67%) Veeam
2 4 (26.67%) VMware
3 1 (6.67%) Adobe