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 26 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 12 16 9
Rank change year-on-year +4 -7 +16
Contract jobs citing Degree 84 43 68
As % of all contract jobs in Cheshire 13.08% 9.62% 14.26%
As % of the Qualifications category 31.34% 39.09% 60.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 55 20 45
10th Percentile £313 £187 £65
25th Percentile £350 £356 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £375 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -25.00% - +12.36%
75th Percentile £472 £551 £567
90th Percentile £596 £645 £689
North West median daily rate £394 £475 £450
% change year-on-year -17.11% +5.56% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 2 7
10th Percentile £14.30 £24.02 £15.95
25th Percentile £15.50 £24.05 £21.38
Median hourly rate £16.00 £24.10 £26.66
Median % change year-on-year -33.60% -9.62% -
75th Percentile £16.50 £24.14 £30.37
90th Percentile £46.90 £24.17 £50.45
North West median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £30.00
% change year-on-year +39.88% +8.33% +25.00%

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 268 110 113
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire 41.74% 24.61% 23.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 203 67 75
10th Percentile £305 £219 £156
25th Percentile £351 £350 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £444 £425 £489
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% -13.09% +9.89%
75th Percentile £626 £550 £559
90th Percentile £716 £600 £689
North West median daily rate £475 £475 £530
% change year-on-year - -10.38% +6.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 4 8
10th Percentile - £24.06 £16.28
25th Percentile £15.50 £24.14 £23.44
Median hourly rate £18.87 £55.10 £26.66
Median % change year-on-year -65.75% +106.66% -25.94%
75th Percentile £67.25 £86.00 £36.81
90th Percentile £87.45 - £54.00
North West median hourly rate £45.46 £37.00 £40.42
% change year-on-year +22.86% -8.46% +47.49%

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 26 January 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
Hourly Rate Histogram in Cheshire

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Degree in Cheshire over the 6 months to 26 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Degree in Cheshire

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 26 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
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Knutsford 0 39 £358 -31.81% 2
Chester +6 21 £625 - 34
Warrington +8 14 £381 +100.66% 22
Macclesfield -3 2 £488 -11.36%
Crewe -4 1 - - 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 (27.38%) SharePoint
2 19 (22.62%) Confluence
3 8 (9.52%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (8.33%) Exchange Server 2013
4 7 (8.33%) Skype for Business
5 2 (2.38%) Mule
5 2 (2.38%) Mule ESB
6 1 (1.19%) Anypoint
6 1 (1.19%) JBoss
6 1 (1.19%) Tomcat
6 1 (1.19%) WebLogic
Applications
1 23 (27.38%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (13.10%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (13.10%) MS Visio
3 9 (10.71%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 6 (7.14%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (7.14%) Remedy ITSM
2 3 (3.57%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (1.19%) SAP PM
3 1 (1.19%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 23 (27.38%) Microsoft 365
2 18 (21.43%) Azure
3 13 (15.48%) AWS
4 11 (13.10%) Power Platform
5 10 (11.90%) Apigee
6 8 (9.52%) OneDrive
7 7 (8.33%) GCP
7 7 (8.33%) SaaS
8 6 (7.14%) Kong
9 4 (4.76%) GitHub
9 4 (4.76%) GitHub Copilot
10 3 (3.57%) Entra ID
11 2 (2.38%) Azure Logic Apps
11 2 (2.38%) Azure Monitor
11 2 (2.38%) Azure Sentinel
11 2 (2.38%) OpenShift
12 1 (1.19%) AWS CloudFormation
12 1 (1.19%) Power Automate
12 1 (1.19%) PowerApps
12 1 (1.19%) Smartsheet
Communications & Networking
1 13 (15.48%) Skype
2 8 (9.52%) SSH
3 7 (8.33%) DNS
4 6 (7.14%) Internet
4 6 (7.14%) VPN
5 5 (5.95%) Unified Communications
5 5 (5.95%) Wi-Fi
6 4 (4.76%) HTTP
6 4 (4.76%) HTTPS
7 3 (3.57%) Firewall
8 2 (2.38%) Network Security
9 1 (1.19%) Intrusion Detection
9 1 (1.19%) SSL
9 1 (1.19%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (4.76%) MySQL
1 4 (4.76%) PostgreSQL
1 4 (4.76%) Power BI
1 4 (4.76%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 22 (26.19%) JIRA
2 9 (10.71%) Git
3 7 (8.33%) Postman
4 4 (4.76%) GitLab
4 4 (4.76%) Jenkins
5 1 (1.19%) Cucumber
5 1 (1.19%) JUnit
5 1 (1.19%) MLflow
General
1 57 (67.86%) Social Skills
2 39 (46.43%) Finance
3 26 (30.95%) Banking
4 24 (28.57%) Analytical Skills
5 11 (13.10%) Public Sector
6 8 (9.52%) Organisational Skills
7 7 (8.33%) Documentation Skills
8 5 (5.95%) Legal
9 4 (4.76%) Corporate Banking
9 4 (4.76%) Retail
10 3 (3.57%) Influencing Skills
11 2 (2.38%) Local Government
11 2 (2.38%) Marketing
11 2 (2.38%) Retail Banking
12 1 (1.19%) Automotive
12 1 (1.19%) Investment Banking
12 1 (1.19%) Manufacturing
12 1 (1.19%) Military
12 1 (1.19%) Publishing
12 1 (1.19%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 32 (38.10%) Analyst
2 15 (17.86%) Business Analyst
3 9 (10.71%) Developer
4 8 (9.52%) Java Developer
4 8 (9.52%) Support Analyst
5 7 (8.33%) Operational Support Analyst
5 7 (8.33%) Operations Analyst
5 7 (8.33%) Operations Support Analyst
6 6 (7.14%) 1st Line Support
6 6 (7.14%) Lead
6 6 (7.14%) Technical Analyst
6 6 (7.14%) Technical Business Analyst
7 5 (5.95%) Architect
7 5 (5.95%) Banking Analyst
7 5 (5.95%) IT Support
7 5 (5.95%) IT Support Technician
7 5 (5.95%) Project Manager
7 5 (5.95%) Service Desk Support
7 5 (5.95%) Service Desk Technician
7 5 (5.95%) Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (20.24%) JSON
2 15 (17.86%) XML
3 10 (11.90%) JWT
3 10 (11.90%) OAuth
3 10 (11.90%) Spring
3 10 (11.90%) Spring Boot
4 9 (10.71%) REST
4 9 (10.71%) SOAP
4 9 (10.71%) Swagger
5 8 (9.52%) Hibernate
5 8 (9.52%) RESTful
6 6 (7.14%) OpenAPI
7 4 (4.76%) JAX-RS
7 4 (4.76%) OAuth2
7 4 (4.76%) Spring MVC
7 4 (4.76%) Spring Security
8 2 (2.38%) J2EE
8 2 (2.38%) Middleware
8 2 (2.38%) Web Services
9 1 (1.19%) .NET
Miscellaneous
1 10 (11.90%) Management Information System
2 8 (9.52%) Enterprise Software
2 8 (9.52%) Tandem
3 5 (5.95%) Low-Code
3 5 (5.95%) Onboarding
3 5 (5.95%) Video Conferencing
4 3 (3.57%) Digital Wallet
4 3 (3.57%) PKI
4 3 (3.57%) PMI
5 2 (2.38%) Cloud Native
5 2 (2.38%) Operational Technology
5 2 (2.38%) Product Ownership
5 2 (2.38%) SCADA
5 2 (2.38%) Self-Motivation
6 1 (1.19%) AI Agents
6 1 (1.19%) Distributed Computing
6 1 (1.19%) Distributed Systems
6 1 (1.19%) Hybrid Cloud
6 1 (1.19%) Private Cloud
6 1 (1.19%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 25 (29.76%) Windows
2 8 (9.52%) Unix
3 6 (7.14%) Windows 10
4 2 (2.38%) Windows Server
5 1 (1.19%) Linux
5 1 (1.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 1 (1.19%) Solaris
5 1 (1.19%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 34 (40.48%) Agile
1 34 (40.48%) Computer Science
2 30 (35.71%) Problem-Solving
3 28 (33.33%) Stakeholder Management
4 24 (28.57%) ITIL
5 23 (27.38%) Project Management
6 20 (23.81%) CI/CD
7 18 (21.43%) Microservices
7 18 (21.43%) Validation
8 15 (17.86%) Problem Management
9 14 (16.67%) Continuous Improvement
10 13 (15.48%) AI
10 13 (15.48%) API Design
11 12 (14.29%) Change Management
11 12 (14.29%) DevOps
11 12 (14.29%) Incident Response
12 11 (13.10%) Customer Service
12 11 (13.10%) Cybersecurity
13 10 (11.90%) API Testing
13 10 (11.90%) Translating Business Requirements
Programming Languages
1 14 (16.67%) SQL
2 11 (13.10%) Java
3 9 (10.71%) Python
4 5 (5.95%) PowerShell
5 2 (2.38%) Bash
5 2 (2.38%) Kusto Query Language
5 2 (2.38%) PL/SQL
6 1 (1.19%) C#
6 1 (1.19%) JavaScript
6 1 (1.19%) Perl
6 1 (1.19%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 32 (38.10%) Computer Science Degree
2 17 (20.24%) Security Cleared
3 10 (11.90%) Master's Degree
4 8 (9.52%) BPSS Clearance
4 8 (9.52%) MBA
5 6 (7.14%) PMI Certification
5 6 (7.14%) PMP
6 5 (5.95%) Azure Certification
6 5 (5.95%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 4 (4.76%) CISSP
7 4 (4.76%) ITIL Certification
8 3 (3.57%) AWS Certification
8 3 (3.57%) CISM
8 3 (3.57%) SC Cleared
9 2 (2.38%) A+ Certification
9 2 (2.38%) Microsoft Certification
9 2 (2.38%) SAFe Agilist
9 2 (2.38%) TOGAF Certification
10 1 (1.19%) Check Point Certification
10 1 (1.19%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (5.95%) GDPR
2 4 (4.76%) GRC
2 4 (4.76%) PCI DSS
2 4 (4.76%) PSD2
3 3 (3.57%) ISO 8583
3 3 (3.57%) NIST
3 3 (3.57%) P3O
3 3 (3.57%) PMO
4 2 (2.38%) Basel III
4 2 (2.38%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 2 (2.38%) QA
5 1 (1.19%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (1.19%) HIPAA
5 1 (1.19%) ISO 20022
5 1 (1.19%) NCSC
5 1 (1.19%) NEBOSH
5 1 (1.19%) PMBOK
System Software
1 17 (20.24%) Active Directory
2 11 (13.10%) Docker
3 1 (1.19%) VMware ESXi
3 1 (1.19%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 15 (17.86%) SCCM
2 13 (15.48%) Kubernetes
3 12 (14.29%) Microsoft Intune
4 3 (3.57%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 2 (2.38%) Ansible
5 2 (2.38%) QRadar
6 1 (1.19%) Red Hat Satellite
6 1 (1.19%) SCOM
6 1 (1.19%) SCOrch
6 1 (1.19%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (1.19%) Terraform
6 1 (1.19%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 36 (42.86%) Microsoft
2 9 (10.71%) IBM
3 8 (9.52%) Citrix
3 8 (9.52%) ServiceNow
3 8 (9.52%) Splunk
4 7 (8.33%) Cisco
4 7 (8.33%) MuleSoft
5 6 (7.14%) Gemalto
5 6 (7.14%) Remedy
5 6 (7.14%) Thales
6 5 (5.95%) Oracle
7 2 (2.38%) AppDynamics
7 2 (2.38%) ArcSight
7 2 (2.38%) Dynatrace
7 2 (2.38%) LogRhythm
8 1 (1.19%) Databricks
8 1 (1.19%) Google
8 1 (1.19%) Palo Alto
8 1 (1.19%) Proofpoint
8 1 (1.19%) Zscaler