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 18 April 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 181 148 222
Rank change year-on-year -33 +74 +16
Permanent jobs citing HNC 16 26 30
As % of all permanent jobs in the West Midlands 0.20% 0.78% 0.42%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.69% 1.80% 1.70%
Number of salaries quoted 10 21 18
10th Percentile - - £27,500
25th Percentile £27,750 £32,500 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £40,000 £35,000 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year +14.29% -17.65% -
75th Percentile £43,438 £37,500 £56,875
90th Percentile £51,250 £58,750 £57,500
England median annual salary £42,500 £47,683 £46,000
% change year-on-year -10.87% +3.66% +39.39%

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 2,321 1,442 1,767
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the West Midlands 29.49% 43.19% 25.02%
Number of salaries quoted 613 578 1,273
10th Percentile £27,500 £28,625 £25,750
25th Percentile £31,250 £36,925 £31,552
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £47,000 £51,675 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -9.05% +3.35% -4.76%
75th Percentile £63,750 £65,000 £62,500
90th Percentile £83,750 £76,325 £77,500
England median annual salary £58,497 £57,500 £55,000
% change year-on-year +1.73% +4.55% -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 18 April 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 18 April 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 6 £28,500 -18.57% 5
West Bromwich - 3 £40,000 -
Warwickshire - 2 £47,500 - 2
Worcestershire - 1 - -
Dudley - 1 £42,500 -
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 3 (18.75%) AutoCAD
2 2 (12.50%) PTC Creo
2 2 (12.50%) Solid Edge
3 1 (6.25%) Acrobat
3 1 (6.25%) Adobe Illustrator
3 1 (6.25%) CATIA
3 1 (6.25%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (6.25%) Photoshop
3 1 (6.25%) SOLIDWORKS
Communications & Networking
1 4 (25.00%) DHCP
1 4 (25.00%) DNS
1 4 (25.00%) RFID
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (25.00%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 4 (25.00%) LabVIEW
General
1 13 (81.25%) Manufacturing
2 2 (12.50%) Social Skills
3 1 (6.25%) Agriculture
Job Titles
1 5 (31.25%) Systems Engineer
2 4 (25.00%) Analyst
2 4 (25.00%) Help Desk Analyst
2 4 (25.00%) Help Desk Support
2 4 (25.00%) Help Desk Support Analyst
2 4 (25.00%) Support Analyst
3 3 (18.75%) Control Systems Engineer
3 3 (18.75%) Support Engineer
3 3 (18.75%) Technical Engineer
3 3 (18.75%) Technical Support
3 3 (18.75%) Technical Support Engineer
4 2 (12.50%) Design Engineer
4 2 (12.50%) Mechanical Design Engineer
4 2 (12.50%) Mechanical Engineer
5 1 (6.25%) Programmer
5 1 (6.25%) Technical Illustrator
Miscellaneous
1 3 (18.75%) Driving Licence
2 2 (12.50%) Self-Motivation
Processes & Methodologies
1 7 (43.75%) Customer Service
2 6 (37.50%) Continuous Improvement
2 6 (37.50%) ERP
3 5 (31.25%) Change Management
4 4 (25.00%) Computer Science
4 4 (25.00%) Disaster Recovery
4 4 (25.00%) ITIL
4 4 (25.00%) Server Building
5 3 (18.75%) CAD
5 3 (18.75%) Customer Insight
5 3 (18.75%) Design for Manufacturing
5 3 (18.75%) Energy Management
5 3 (18.75%) Presales
5 3 (18.75%) Product Management
5 3 (18.75%) Root Cause Analysis
6 2 (12.50%) Customer Requirements
6 2 (12.50%) Manufacturing Engineering
6 2 (12.50%) Problem-Solving
6 2 (12.50%) Production Planning
6 2 (12.50%) Validation
Qualifications
1 8 (50.00%) Degree
2 6 (37.50%) HND
3 4 (25.00%) MCSA
3 4 (25.00%) Microsoft Certification
3 4 (25.00%) Microsoft Certified Professional
4 1 (6.25%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (12.50%) QA
System Software
1 4 (25.00%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 3 (18.75%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 5 (31.25%) Microsoft
2 4 (25.00%) Veeam
2 4 (25.00%) VMware
3 3 (18.75%) Allen-Bradley
4 1 (6.25%) Adobe