Degree Contract Job Trends in Cheshire

Academic Degree
North West > Cheshire

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in Cheshire with a requirement for Degree qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 13 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 14 10 10
Rank change year-on-year -4 0 +11
Contract jobs citing Degree 78 55 74
As % of all contract jobs in Cheshire 11.69% 13.10% 13.83%
As % of the Qualifications category 28.78% 48.25% 56.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 56 29 55
10th Percentile £331 £188 £65
25th Percentile £352 £435 £158
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £392 £550 £489
Median % change year-on-year -28.75% +12.47% +11.14%
75th Percentile £494 £591 £559
90th Percentile £616 £686 £689
North West median daily rate £400 £500 £489
% change year-on-year -20.00% +2.25% +8.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 4 5
10th Percentile - £24.06 £19.06
25th Percentile £15.50 £24.14 -
Median hourly rate £16.00 £28.35 £26.66
Median % change year-on-year -43.55% +6.32% -59.30%
75th Percentile £16.50 £33.75 £34.08
90th Percentile - - £58.63
North West median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £26.53
% change year-on-year +39.88% +22.53% -8.53%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
Cheshire

Degree falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in Cheshire.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 271 114 131
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire 40.63% 27.14% 24.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 201 73 91
10th Percentile £313 £230 £158
25th Percentile £359 £335 £391
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year - - +6.74%
75th Percentile £630 £580 £540
90th Percentile £716 £600 £638
North West median daily rate £478 £497 £515
% change year-on-year -3.92% -3.50% +3.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 7 8
10th Percentile - £24.11 -
25th Percentile £15.50 £27.72 £14.00
Median hourly rate £17.50 £32.50 £26.66
Median % change year-on-year -46.15% +21.91% -25.94%
75th Percentile £19.00 £85.63 £36.81
90th Percentile £58.13 £86.00 £54.00
North West median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £17.50
% change year-on-year +39.88% +85.71% -51.39%

Degree
Job Vacancy Trend in Cheshire

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Degree relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire.

Degree job vacancy trend in Cheshire

Degree
Daily Rate Trend in Cheshire

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Degree.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Degree

Degree
Daily Rate Histogram in Cheshire

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Degree in Cheshire over the 6 months to 13 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Degree in Cheshire

Degree
Hourly Rate Trend in Cheshire

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Degree.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Cheshire citing Degree

Degree
Contract Job Locations in Cheshire

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Degree within the Cheshire region over the 6 months to 13 March 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
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Knutsford +3 49 £368 -28.08% 9
Warrington +6 12 £388 +106.67% 13
Chester -3 12 £750 +25.00% 10
Macclesfield +2 1 £600 +3.45% 1
Degree
North West

Degree
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Cheshire 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 23 (29.49%) Confluence
2 20 (25.64%) SharePoint
3 1 (1.28%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 21 (26.92%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (7.69%) Microsoft Project
3 4 (5.13%) MS Visio
4 3 (3.85%) Microsoft Excel
5 2 (2.56%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 10 (12.82%) Remedy ITSM
2 4 (5.13%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (1.28%) SAP PM
3 1 (1.28%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 16 (20.51%) AWS
1 16 (20.51%) Microsoft 365
2 13 (16.67%) Azure
3 10 (12.82%) Apigee
3 10 (12.82%) Power Platform
4 8 (10.26%) GCP
5 7 (8.97%) SaaS
6 6 (7.69%) Entra ID
6 6 (7.69%) Kong
7 4 (5.13%) GitHub
7 4 (5.13%) GitHub Copilot
8 3 (3.85%) Azure DevOps
9 2 (2.56%) Azure Logic Apps
9 2 (2.56%) Azure Monitor
9 2 (2.56%) Azure Sentinel
10 1 (1.28%) Google Kubernetes Engine
10 1 (1.28%) IaaS
10 1 (1.28%) LangSmith
10 1 (1.28%) Power Automate
10 1 (1.28%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 10 (12.82%) Skype
1 10 (12.82%) VPN
2 7 (8.97%) SSH
3 6 (7.69%) DNS
4 4 (5.13%) Firewall
4 4 (5.13%) HTTP
4 4 (5.13%) HTTPS
5 3 (3.85%) Internet
5 3 (3.85%) Unified Communications
5 3 (3.85%) Wi-Fi
6 2 (2.56%) Network Security
7 1 (1.28%) DHCP
7 1 (1.28%) SSL
7 1 (1.28%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (6.41%) PostgreSQL
1 5 (6.41%) Power BI
1 5 (6.41%) Relational Database
2 4 (5.13%) MySQL
3 1 (1.28%) Apache Cassandra
3 1 (1.28%) MongoDB
3 1 (1.28%) NoSQL
3 1 (1.28%) RDBMS
3 1 (1.28%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 27 (34.62%) JIRA
2 10 (12.82%) Git
3 8 (10.26%) Postman
4 4 (5.13%) GitLab
4 4 (5.13%) Jenkins
5 1 (1.28%) MLflow
General
1 46 (58.97%) Finance
2 43 (55.13%) Social Skills
3 30 (38.46%) Banking
4 15 (19.23%) Analytical Skills
5 13 (16.67%) Public Sector
6 12 (15.38%) Organisational Skills
7 10 (12.82%) Documentation Skills
8 5 (6.41%) Corporate Banking
9 4 (5.13%) Retail
10 3 (3.85%) Influencing Skills
10 3 (3.85%) Retail Banking
11 2 (2.56%) Legal
11 2 (2.56%) Local Government
12 1 (1.28%) Manufacturing
12 1 (1.28%) Marketing
12 1 (1.28%) Military
12 1 (1.28%) Pharmaceutical
12 1 (1.28%) Presentation Skills
12 1 (1.28%) Publishing
12 1 (1.28%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 23 (29.49%) Analyst
2 16 (20.51%) Business Analyst
3 10 (12.82%) 1st Line Support
4 9 (11.54%) Developer
5 8 (10.26%) Java Developer
6 7 (8.97%) Project Manager
7 6 (7.69%) Technical Analyst
7 6 (7.69%) Technical Business Analyst
8 5 (6.41%) Architect
8 5 (6.41%) Banking Analyst
8 5 (6.41%) Banking Business Analyst
9 4 (5.13%) Apigee Developer
9 4 (5.13%) Lead
9 4 (5.13%) Payments Analyst
9 4 (5.13%) Payments Business Analyst
9 4 (5.13%) Security Engineer
9 4 (5.13%) Solutions Architect
10 3 (3.85%) Azure Engineer
10 3 (3.85%) Service Desk Support
10 3 (3.85%) Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (20.51%) JSON
2 14 (17.95%) XML
3 10 (12.82%) JWT
3 10 (12.82%) OAuth
3 10 (12.82%) REST
3 10 (12.82%) SOAP
3 10 (12.82%) Swagger
4 8 (10.26%) Hibernate
4 8 (10.26%) RESTful
4 8 (10.26%) Spring
4 8 (10.26%) Spring Boot
5 6 (7.69%) OpenAPI
6 4 (5.13%) JAX-RS
6 4 (5.13%) OAuth2
6 4 (5.13%) Spring MVC
6 4 (5.13%) Spring Security
7 1 (1.28%) .NET
7 1 (1.28%) AngularJS
7 1 (1.28%) Middleware
7 1 (1.28%) React
Miscellaneous
1 11 (14.10%) Management Information System
2 7 (8.97%) Tandem
3 5 (6.41%) Product Ownership
4 4 (5.13%) Digital Wallet
4 4 (5.13%) Enterprise Software
5 3 (3.85%) Cloud Native
5 3 (3.85%) Low-Code
5 3 (3.85%) Onboarding
5 3 (3.85%) PKI
5 3 (3.85%) PMI
5 3 (3.85%) Video Conferencing
6 2 (2.56%) Security Posture
7 1 (1.28%) AI Agents
7 1 (1.28%) Cloud Security Posture
7 1 (1.28%) Distributed Computing
7 1 (1.28%) e-Learning
7 1 (1.28%) Linux Command Line
7 1 (1.28%) Operational Technology
7 1 (1.28%) Self-Motivation
7 1 (1.28%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 27 (34.62%) Windows
2 10 (12.82%) Windows 10
3 8 (10.26%) Unix
4 5 (6.41%) Linux
5 2 (2.56%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 2 (2.56%) Windows Server
6 1 (1.28%) Solaris
6 1 (1.28%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 40 (51.28%) Agile
2 33 (42.31%) Computer Science
3 29 (37.18%) Stakeholder Management
4 21 (26.92%) CI/CD
5 19 (24.36%) ITIL
5 19 (24.36%) Problem-Solving
6 17 (21.79%) AI
6 17 (21.79%) Microservices
7 16 (20.51%) DevOps
8 15 (19.23%) Change Management
8 15 (19.23%) Project Management
9 14 (17.95%) API Design
10 13 (16.67%) Continuous Improvement
10 13 (16.67%) Customer Service
10 13 (16.67%) ITSM
11 12 (15.38%) Validation
12 11 (14.10%) Requirements Gathering
12 11 (14.10%) Workshop Facilitation
13 10 (12.82%) API Testing
13 10 (12.82%) Translating Business Requirements
Programming Languages
1 13 (16.67%) SQL
2 10 (12.82%) Java
2 10 (12.82%) Python
3 7 (8.97%) PowerShell
4 3 (3.85%) Bash
5 2 (2.56%) Kusto Query Language
6 1 (1.28%) C#
6 1 (1.28%) JavaScript
6 1 (1.28%) Perl
6 1 (1.28%) Shell Script
6 1 (1.28%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 31 (39.74%) Computer Science Degree
2 17 (21.79%) Security Cleared
3 11 (14.10%) Master's Degree
4 9 (11.54%) MBA
5 8 (10.26%) BPSS Clearance
6 7 (8.97%) PMI Certification
6 7 (8.97%) PMP
7 6 (7.69%) Azure Certification
7 6 (7.69%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 5 (6.41%) ITIL Certification
9 4 (5.13%) AWS Certification
9 4 (5.13%) CISSP
10 3 (3.85%) SAFe Agilist
10 3 (3.85%) SC Cleared
11 2 (2.56%) TOGAF Certification
12 1 (1.28%) CISM
12 1 (1.28%) IBM Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (6.41%) GDPR
1 5 (6.41%) GRC
1 5 (6.41%) PSD2
2 4 (5.13%) NIST
2 4 (5.13%) PCI DSS
2 4 (5.13%) QA
3 3 (3.85%) Basel III
3 3 (3.85%) ISO 8583
4 2 (2.56%) P3O
4 2 (2.56%) PMO
4 2 (2.56%) SLA
5 1 (1.28%) California Consumer Privacy Act
5 1 (1.28%) HIPAA
5 1 (1.28%) ISO 20022
5 1 (1.28%) NEBOSH
System Software
1 12 (15.38%) Docker
2 7 (8.97%) Active Directory
3 1 (1.28%) VMware ESXi
3 1 (1.28%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 13 (16.67%) Kubernetes
2 4 (5.13%) Active Directory Federation Services
2 4 (5.13%) SCCM
3 3 (3.85%) Ansible
3 3 (3.85%) Microsoft Intune
3 3 (3.85%) Terraform
4 2 (2.56%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (1.28%) CA Single Sign-On
5 1 (1.28%) Progress Chef
5 1 (1.28%) Red Hat Satellite
5 1 (1.28%) SCOM
5 1 (1.28%) SCOrch
5 1 (1.28%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 30 (38.46%) Microsoft
2 12 (15.38%) Cisco
2 12 (15.38%) Citrix
3 10 (12.82%) Remedy
4 9 (11.54%) ServiceNow
5 8 (10.26%) IBM
6 6 (7.69%) Gemalto
6 6 (7.69%) MuleSoft
6 6 (7.69%) Splunk
6 6 (7.69%) Thales
7 3 (3.85%) Oracle
8 2 (2.56%) Fortinet
8 2 (2.56%) Google
8 2 (2.56%) LogRhythm
8 2 (2.56%) Red Hat
8 2 (2.56%) Zscaler
9 1 (1.28%) Databricks
9 1 (1.28%) ForeScout
9 1 (1.28%) Infoblox
9 1 (1.28%) Veeam