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

6 months to
2 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 18 7 14
Rank change year-on-year -11 +7 +11
Contract jobs citing Degree 75 63 51
As % of all contract jobs in Cheshire 11.01% 13.32% 13.46%
As % of the Qualifications category 28.52% 53.85% 54.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 49 34 32
10th Percentile £294 £356 £65
25th Percentile £352 £478 £442
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £388 £537 £500
Median % change year-on-year -27.77% +7.30% -15.25%
75th Percentile £488 £576 £542
90th Percentile £638 £631 £567
North West median daily rate £425 £532 £452
% change year-on-year -20.04% +17.72% -4.95%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 2 4
10th Percentile £14.90 £24.02 £19.73
25th Percentile £15.50 £24.05 £23.44
Median hourly rate £16.00 £24.10 £30.04
Median % change year-on-year -33.60% -19.79% -
75th Percentile £34.00 £24.14 £44.31
90th Percentile £47.90 £24.17 £62.72
North West median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £40.59
% change year-on-year +39.88% -19.93% +84.50%

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 263 117 93
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire 38.62% 24.74% 24.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 201 70 57
10th Percentile £273 £356 £65
25th Percentile £358 £425 £446
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £537 £500
Median % change year-on-year -13.33% +7.30% +14.94%
75th Percentile £638 £576 £550
90th Percentile £716 £641 £643
North West median daily rate £492 £500 £538
% change year-on-year -1.60% -6.98% +2.39%
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 3 5
10th Percentile - £24.04 £20.55
25th Percentile £15.50 £24.10 £25.50
Median hourly rate £19.00 £24.19 £34.08
Median % change year-on-year -21.46% -29.02% +30.55%
75th Percentile £52.00 £55.10 £45.00
90th Percentile £82.40 £73.64 £63.00
North West median hourly rate £45.46 £34.75 £46.18
% change year-on-year +30.82% -24.75% +92.42%

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 2 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 2 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 2 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 -21 30 £358 -33.46% 1
Chester +4 17 £625 - 20
Warrington -3 13 £379 +68.33% 29
Crewe -2 2 - - 8
Macclesfield -6 1 £375 -25.00% 5
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 18 (24.00%) SharePoint
2 11 (14.67%) Confluence
3 8 (10.67%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (9.33%) Exchange Server 2013
4 7 (9.33%) Skype for Business
5 2 (2.67%) Mule
5 2 (2.67%) Mule ESB
6 1 (1.33%) Anypoint
6 1 (1.33%) JBoss
6 1 (1.33%) Tomcat
6 1 (1.33%) WebLogic
Applications
1 21 (28.00%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (12.00%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (10.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 8 (10.67%) MS Visio
4 5 (6.67%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (1.33%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 19 (25.33%) Microsoft 365
2 16 (21.33%) Azure
3 9 (12.00%) SaaS
4 8 (10.67%) AWS
4 8 (10.67%) OneDrive
4 8 (10.67%) Power Platform
5 7 (9.33%) Apigee
6 5 (6.67%) GCP
7 4 (5.33%) Entra ID
7 4 (5.33%) GitHub
7 4 (5.33%) GitHub Copilot
8 3 (4.00%) Azure Logic Apps
8 3 (4.00%) Azure Monitor
8 3 (4.00%) Azure Sentinel
8 3 (4.00%) Kong
8 3 (4.00%) Smartsheet
9 2 (2.67%) OpenShift
10 1 (1.33%) Power Automate
10 1 (1.33%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 9 (12.00%) SSH
2 8 (10.67%) DNS
2 8 (10.67%) Skype
3 6 (8.00%) Firewall
3 6 (8.00%) Internet
4 5 (6.67%) Unified Communications
4 5 (6.67%) Wi-Fi
5 4 (5.33%) HTTP
5 4 (5.33%) HTTPS
5 4 (5.33%) Network Security
6 3 (4.00%) Intrusion Detection
7 1 (1.33%) SSL
7 1 (1.33%) VPN
7 1 (1.33%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (5.33%) MySQL
1 4 (5.33%) PostgreSQL
1 4 (5.33%) Relational Database
2 1 (1.33%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 16 (21.33%) JIRA
2 8 (10.67%) Git
3 4 (5.33%) GitLab
3 4 (5.33%) Jenkins
3 4 (5.33%) Postman
4 2 (2.67%) TestRail
5 1 (1.33%) Cucumber
5 1 (1.33%) JUnit
General
1 49 (65.33%) Social Skills
2 26 (34.67%) Analytical Skills
3 20 (26.67%) Finance
4 11 (14.67%) Banking
5 10 (13.33%) Public Sector
6 5 (6.67%) Documentation Skills
6 5 (6.67%) Influencing Skills
6 5 (6.67%) Legal
7 3 (4.00%) Investment Banking
7 3 (4.00%) Organisational Skills
7 3 (4.00%) Presentation Skills
7 3 (4.00%) Publishing
8 2 (2.67%) Local Government
8 2 (2.67%) Marketing
8 2 (2.67%) Military
9 1 (1.33%) Automotive
9 1 (1.33%) Corporate Banking
9 1 (1.33%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 23 (30.67%) Analyst
2 10 (13.33%) Developer
3 8 (10.67%) Java Developer
4 7 (9.33%) Operational Support Analyst
4 7 (9.33%) Operations Analyst
4 7 (9.33%) Operations Support Analyst
4 7 (9.33%) Support Analyst
5 5 (6.67%) Business Analyst
5 5 (6.67%) Cybersecurity Engineer
5 5 (6.67%) IT Support
5 5 (6.67%) IT Support Technician
5 5 (6.67%) IT Technician
5 5 (6.67%) Lead
5 5 (6.67%) Security Engineer
5 5 (6.67%) Senior
5 5 (6.67%) Service Desk Support
5 5 (6.67%) Service Desk Technician
5 5 (6.67%) Support Technician
6 4 (5.33%) Apigee Developer
6 4 (5.33%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (16.00%) JSON
2 10 (13.33%) Spring
2 10 (13.33%) Spring Boot
2 10 (13.33%) XML
3 8 (10.67%) Hibernate
3 8 (10.67%) RESTful
4 7 (9.33%) JWT
4 7 (9.33%) OAuth
5 6 (8.00%) REST
5 6 (8.00%) SOAP
6 5 (6.67%) Web Services
7 4 (5.33%) JAX-RS
7 4 (5.33%) OAuth2
7 4 (5.33%) Spring MVC
7 4 (5.33%) Spring Security
8 3 (4.00%) AngularJS
8 3 (4.00%) CSS
8 3 (4.00%) HTML
8 3 (4.00%) LDAP
8 3 (4.00%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 12 (16.00%) Management Information System
2 9 (12.00%) Tandem
3 7 (9.33%) Enterprise Software
4 5 (6.67%) Low-Code
4 5 (6.67%) Onboarding
4 5 (6.67%) Video Conferencing
5 4 (5.33%) PMI
5 4 (5.33%) Product Ownership
5 4 (5.33%) Virtual Team
6 3 (4.00%) PKI
7 2 (2.67%) Cyberattack
8 1 (1.33%) Cloud Native
8 1 (1.33%) CMDB
8 1 (1.33%) Distributed Systems
8 1 (1.33%) Hybrid Cloud
8 1 (1.33%) Operational Technology
8 1 (1.33%) SCADA
8 1 (1.33%) Security Posture
8 1 (1.33%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 22 (29.33%) Windows
2 9 (12.00%) Unix
3 2 (2.67%) Windows Server
4 1 (1.33%) Linux
4 1 (1.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (1.33%) Solaris
4 1 (1.33%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 34 (45.33%) Computer Science
2 32 (42.67%) Problem-Solving
3 30 (40.00%) ITIL
4 23 (30.67%) Agile
4 23 (30.67%) Stakeholder Management
5 21 (28.00%) Project Management
6 16 (21.33%) CI/CD
7 15 (20.00%) Problem Management
8 14 (18.67%) Change Management
8 14 (18.67%) Cybersecurity
8 14 (18.67%) Incident Response
8 14 (18.67%) Microservices
8 14 (18.67%) Validation
9 13 (17.33%) Migration
10 11 (14.67%) ITSM
10 11 (14.67%) Project Delivery
10 11 (14.67%) Service Management
11 10 (13.33%) Continuous Improvement
11 10 (13.33%) Information Security
11 10 (13.33%) Release Management
Programming Languages
1 13 (17.33%) Java
2 8 (10.67%) SQL
3 7 (9.33%) Python
4 6 (8.00%) PowerShell
5 4 (5.33%) JavaScript
6 3 (4.00%) Kusto Query Language
7 2 (2.67%) Bash
7 2 (2.67%) PL/SQL
8 1 (1.33%) Perl
Qualifications
1 30 (40.00%) Computer Science Degree
2 16 (21.33%) Security Cleared
3 6 (8.00%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
4 5 (6.67%) ITIL Certification
5 4 (5.33%) Azure Certification
5 4 (5.33%) CISSP
5 4 (5.33%) PMI Certification
5 4 (5.33%) PMP
5 4 (5.33%) SC Cleared
6 3 (4.00%) CISM
7 2 (2.67%) A+ Certification
7 2 (2.67%) BPSS Clearance
7 2 (2.67%) Microsoft Certification
8 1 (1.33%) AWS Certification
8 1 (1.33%) CCNA CyberOps
8 1 (1.33%) CompTIA Security+
8 1 (1.33%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
8 1 (1.33%) Master's Degree
8 1 (1.33%) SAFe Agilist
8 1 (1.33%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (5.33%) NIST
2 3 (4.00%) P3O
2 3 (4.00%) PMO
3 2 (2.67%) GDPR
3 2 (2.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 1 (1.33%) Basel III
4 1 (1.33%) COBIT
4 1 (1.33%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (1.33%) Data Quality
4 1 (1.33%) HIPAA
4 1 (1.33%) NCSC
4 1 (1.33%) PCI DSS
4 1 (1.33%) PMBOK
4 1 (1.33%) QA
System Software
1 18 (24.00%) Active Directory
2 9 (12.00%) Docker
3 1 (1.33%) VMware ESXi
3 1 (1.33%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 15 (20.00%) SCCM
2 12 (16.00%) Microsoft Intune
3 11 (14.67%) Kubernetes
4 4 (5.33%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 4 (5.33%) Single Sign-On
5 2 (2.67%) HP ALM
5 2 (2.67%) QRadar
6 1 (1.33%) Ansible
6 1 (1.33%) Red Hat Satellite
6 1 (1.33%) SCOM
6 1 (1.33%) SCOrch
6 1 (1.33%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 32 (42.67%) Microsoft
2 12 (16.00%) ServiceNow
3 9 (12.00%) IBM
4 8 (10.67%) Splunk
5 6 (8.00%) Gemalto
5 6 (8.00%) Thales
6 5 (6.67%) Oracle
7 4 (5.33%) Cisco
7 4 (5.33%) MuleSoft
8 3 (4.00%) Citrix
8 3 (4.00%) LogRhythm
8 3 (4.00%) Palo Alto
8 3 (4.00%) Planview
8 3 (4.00%) Zscaler
9 2 (2.67%) AppDynamics
9 2 (2.67%) ArcSight
9 2 (2.67%) Dynatrace
9 2 (2.67%) HP
10 1 (1.33%) Red Hat
10 1 (1.33%) Remedy