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 20 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 17 18 12
Rank change year-on-year +1 -6 +11
Contract jobs citing Degree 72 45 52
As % of all contract jobs in Cheshire 11.30% 9.87% 13.13%
As % of the Qualifications category 27.48% 39.47% 55.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 42 21 33
10th Percentile £273 - £65
25th Percentile £331 £356 £446
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £381 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -27.38% +5.00% -0.97%
75th Percentile £488 £598 £548
90th Percentile £635 £640 £605
North West median daily rate £420 £500 £463
% change year-on-year -16.00% +8.11% +2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 2 5
10th Percentile £14.90 £24.02 £15.30
25th Percentile £15.50 £24.05 £17.25
Median hourly rate £16.00 £24.10 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -33.60% -7.33% -
75th Percentile £34.00 £24.14 £34.08
90th Percentile £47.90 £24.17 £58.63
North West median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £37.34
% change year-on-year +39.88% -12.95% +49.91%

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 262 114 94
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire 41.13% 25.00% 23.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 194 69 63
10th Percentile £271 £323 £107
25th Percentile £353 £356 £428
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% +13.64%
75th Percentile £637 £575 £549
90th Percentile £716 £641 £633
North West median daily rate £488 £475 £545
% change year-on-year +2.63% -12.84% +6.34%
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 4 6
10th Percentile - £24.06 £15.63
25th Percentile £15.50 £24.14 £19.31
Median hourly rate £19.00 £55.10 £30.04
Median % change year-on-year -65.51% +83.41% +1.47%
75th Percentile £52.00 £86.00 £42.27
90th Percentile £82.40 - £60.00
North West median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £46.18
% change year-on-year +39.88% -29.62% +78.92%

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 20 December 2025.

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 20 December 2025.

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 20 December 2025. 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 -11 26 £358 -32.45% 2
Chester +7 21 £625 - 6
Warrington +7 13 £379 +68.33% 5
Crewe -4 2 - - 2
Macclesfield -3 1 £375 -36.17% 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 21 (29.17%) SharePoint
2 12 (16.67%) Confluence
3 8 (11.11%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (9.72%) Exchange Server 2013
4 7 (9.72%) Skype for Business
5 2 (2.78%) Mule
5 2 (2.78%) Mule ESB
6 1 (1.39%) Anypoint
6 1 (1.39%) JBoss
6 1 (1.39%) Tomcat
6 1 (1.39%) WebLogic
Applications
1 22 (30.56%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (11.11%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (11.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 7 (9.72%) MS Visio
4 6 (8.33%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 4 (5.56%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (1.39%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 22 (30.56%) Microsoft 365
2 17 (23.61%) Azure
3 9 (12.50%) AWS
3 9 (12.50%) Power Platform
4 8 (11.11%) OneDrive
5 7 (9.72%) Apigee
5 7 (9.72%) SaaS
6 6 (8.33%) GCP
7 4 (5.56%) Entra ID
7 4 (5.56%) GitHub
7 4 (5.56%) GitHub Copilot
8 3 (4.17%) Azure Logic Apps
8 3 (4.17%) Azure Monitor
8 3 (4.17%) Azure Sentinel
8 3 (4.17%) Kong
8 3 (4.17%) Smartsheet
9 2 (2.78%) OpenShift
10 1 (1.39%) Power Automate
10 1 (1.39%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 11 (15.28%) Skype
2 9 (12.50%) SSH
3 8 (11.11%) DNS
4 6 (8.33%) Internet
5 5 (6.94%) Firewall
5 5 (6.94%) Unified Communications
5 5 (6.94%) Wi-Fi
6 4 (5.56%) HTTP
6 4 (5.56%) HTTPS
6 4 (5.56%) VPN
7 3 (4.17%) Network Security
8 2 (2.78%) Intrusion Detection
9 1 (1.39%) SSL
9 1 (1.39%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (5.56%) MySQL
1 4 (5.56%) PostgreSQL
1 4 (5.56%) Relational Database
2 2 (2.78%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 17 (23.61%) JIRA
2 8 (11.11%) Git
3 5 (6.94%) Postman
4 4 (5.56%) GitLab
4 4 (5.56%) Jenkins
5 2 (2.78%) TestRail
6 1 (1.39%) Cucumber
6 1 (1.39%) JUnit
General
1 48 (66.67%) Social Skills
2 24 (33.33%) Finance
3 22 (30.56%) Analytical Skills
4 17 (23.61%) Banking
5 10 (13.89%) Public Sector
6 6 (8.33%) Documentation Skills
6 6 (8.33%) Organisational Skills
7 5 (6.94%) Legal
8 3 (4.17%) Influencing Skills
8 3 (4.17%) Investment Banking
9 2 (2.78%) Corporate Banking
9 2 (2.78%) Local Government
9 2 (2.78%) Marketing
9 2 (2.78%) Military
9 2 (2.78%) Retail Banking
10 1 (1.39%) Automotive
10 1 (1.39%) Presentation Skills
10 1 (1.39%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 24 (33.33%) Analyst
2 9 (12.50%) Developer
3 8 (11.11%) Java Developer
4 7 (9.72%) Operational Support Analyst
4 7 (9.72%) Operations Analyst
4 7 (9.72%) Operations Support Analyst
4 7 (9.72%) Support Analyst
5 5 (6.94%) Business Analyst
5 5 (6.94%) Cybersecurity Engineer
5 5 (6.94%) IT Support
5 5 (6.94%) IT Support Technician
5 5 (6.94%) IT Technician
5 5 (6.94%) Lead
5 5 (6.94%) Service Desk Support
5 5 (6.94%) Service Desk Technician
5 5 (6.94%) Support Technician
6 4 (5.56%) 1st Line Support
6 4 (5.56%) Apigee Developer
6 4 (5.56%) Project Manager
6 4 (5.56%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (18.06%) JSON
2 11 (15.28%) XML
3 10 (13.89%) Spring
3 10 (13.89%) Spring Boot
4 8 (11.11%) Hibernate
4 8 (11.11%) RESTful
5 7 (9.72%) JWT
5 7 (9.72%) OAuth
6 4 (5.56%) JAX-RS
6 4 (5.56%) OAuth2
6 4 (5.56%) REST
6 4 (5.56%) SOAP
6 4 (5.56%) Spring MVC
6 4 (5.56%) Spring Security
6 4 (5.56%) Swagger
7 3 (4.17%) OpenAPI
8 2 (2.78%) J2EE
8 2 (2.78%) Middleware
8 2 (2.78%) Web Services
9 1 (1.39%) React
Miscellaneous
1 9 (12.50%) Tandem
2 8 (11.11%) Management Information System
3 7 (9.72%) Enterprise Software
4 5 (6.94%) Low-Code
4 5 (6.94%) Onboarding
4 5 (6.94%) PMI
4 5 (6.94%) Video Conferencing
5 3 (4.17%) PKI
6 2 (2.78%) Product Ownership
6 2 (2.78%) Self-Motivation
7 1 (1.39%) Cloud Native
7 1 (1.39%) CMDB
7 1 (1.39%) Digital Wallet
7 1 (1.39%) Distributed Systems
7 1 (1.39%) Hybrid Cloud
7 1 (1.39%) Operational Technology
7 1 (1.39%) SCADA
7 1 (1.39%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 25 (34.72%) Windows
2 9 (12.50%) Unix
3 4 (5.56%) Windows 10
4 2 (2.78%) Windows Server
5 1 (1.39%) Linux
5 1 (1.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 1 (1.39%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (41.67%) Computer Science
2 28 (38.89%) Problem-Solving
3 24 (33.33%) ITIL
4 22 (30.56%) Stakeholder Management
5 21 (29.17%) Project Management
6 20 (27.78%) Agile
7 15 (20.83%) CI/CD
7 15 (20.83%) Microservices
7 15 (20.83%) Problem Management
8 14 (19.44%) Validation
9 13 (18.06%) Change Management
9 13 (18.06%) Incident Response
10 12 (16.67%) Continuous Improvement
10 12 (16.67%) Cybersecurity
11 11 (15.28%) API Design
12 10 (13.89%) AI
12 10 (13.89%) Information Security
12 10 (13.89%) Migration
13 9 (12.50%) Cryptography
13 9 (12.50%) Six Sigma
Programming Languages
1 11 (15.28%) Java
2 8 (11.11%) Python
3 7 (9.72%) SQL
4 6 (8.33%) PowerShell
5 3 (4.17%) Kusto Query Language
6 2 (2.78%) Bash
6 2 (2.78%) JavaScript
6 2 (2.78%) PL/SQL
7 1 (1.39%) C#
7 1 (1.39%) Perl
7 1 (1.39%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 28 (38.89%) Computer Science Degree
2 16 (22.22%) Security Cleared
3 6 (8.33%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
4 5 (6.94%) Azure Certification
4 5 (6.94%) PMI Certification
4 5 (6.94%) PMP
5 4 (5.56%) CISSP
5 4 (5.56%) SC Cleared
6 3 (4.17%) CISM
6 3 (4.17%) ITIL Certification
7 2 (2.78%) A+ Certification
7 2 (2.78%) AWS Certification
7 2 (2.78%) BPSS Clearance
7 2 (2.78%) Master's Degree
7 2 (2.78%) MBA
7 2 (2.78%) Microsoft Certification
7 2 (2.78%) SAFe Agilist
7 2 (2.78%) TOGAF Certification
8 1 (1.39%) Check Point Certification
8 1 (1.39%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (5.56%) NIST
2 3 (4.17%) GDPR
2 3 (4.17%) P3O
2 3 (4.17%) PMO
3 2 (2.78%) Basel III
3 2 (2.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 2 (2.78%) PCI DSS
3 2 (2.78%) PSD2
3 2 (2.78%) QA
4 1 (1.39%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (1.39%) Data Quality
4 1 (1.39%) HIPAA
4 1 (1.39%) ISO 20022
4 1 (1.39%) ISO 8583
4 1 (1.39%) NCSC
4 1 (1.39%) PMBOK
System Software
1 18 (25.00%) Active Directory
2 10 (13.89%) Docker
3 1 (1.39%) VMware ESXi
3 1 (1.39%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 15 (20.83%) SCCM
2 12 (16.67%) Kubernetes
2 12 (16.67%) Microsoft Intune
3 4 (5.56%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 2 (2.78%) HP ALM
4 2 (2.78%) QRadar
5 1 (1.39%) Ansible
5 1 (1.39%) Red Hat Satellite
5 1 (1.39%) SCOM
5 1 (1.39%) SCOrch
5 1 (1.39%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (1.39%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 33 (45.83%) Microsoft
2 9 (12.50%) IBM
3 8 (11.11%) Splunk
4 6 (8.33%) Cisco
4 6 (8.33%) Citrix
4 6 (8.33%) Gemalto
4 6 (8.33%) ServiceNow
4 6 (8.33%) Thales
5 5 (6.94%) Oracle
6 4 (5.56%) MuleSoft
6 4 (5.56%) Remedy
7 3 (4.17%) LogRhythm
7 3 (4.17%) Planview
8 2 (2.78%) AppDynamics
8 2 (2.78%) ArcSight
8 2 (2.78%) Dynatrace
8 2 (2.78%) HP
8 2 (2.78%) Palo Alto
8 2 (2.78%) Zscaler
9 1 (1.39%) Veeam