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 19 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 16 15 10
Rank change year-on-year -1 -5 +15
Contract jobs citing Degree 84 49 73
As % of all contract jobs in Cheshire 12.54% 11.04% 14.34%
As % of the Qualifications category 30.00% 43.36% 59.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 52 23 53
10th Percentile £313 £183 £65
25th Percentile £350 £356 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £369 £500 £489
Median % change year-on-year -26.25% +2.25% +9.89%
75th Percentile £464 £583 £567
90th Percentile £583 £640 £686
North West median daily rate £390 £475 £461
% change year-on-year -17.89% +2.98% +2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 2 5
10th Percentile £14.30 £24.02 £19.06
25th Percentile £15.50 £24.05 -
Median hourly rate £16.00 £24.10 £26.66
Median % change year-on-year -33.60% -9.62% -59.30%
75th Percentile £16.50 £24.14 £34.08
90th Percentile £46.90 £24.17 £58.63
North West median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £26.66
% change year-on-year +39.88% +21.91% -0.36%

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 280 113 122
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Cheshire 41.79% 25.45% 23.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 205 72 85
10th Percentile £313 £230 £158
25th Percentile £358 £350 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £466 £475
Median % change year-on-year -3.49% -1.84% +2.70%
75th Percentile £630 £555 £550
90th Percentile £716 £600 £638
North West median daily rate £475 £475 £531
% change year-on-year - -10.59% +4.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 4 8
10th Percentile - £24.06 -
25th Percentile £15.50 £24.14 £14.00
Median hourly rate £16.00 £55.10 £26.66
Median % change year-on-year -70.96% +106.66% -25.94%
75th Percentile £19.00 £86.00 £36.81
90th Percentile £92.50 - £54.00
North West median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £34.21
% change year-on-year +39.88% -5.00% -4.97%

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 19 February 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 19 February 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 19 February 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 42 £358 -31.81% 4
Chester +4 19 £470 - 10
Warrington +7 15 £381 +103.33% 7
Crewe -5 1 - - 7
Macclesfield -6 1 £600 +14.29%
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 25 (29.76%) SharePoint
2 21 (25.00%) Confluence
3 6 (7.14%) Microsoft Exchange
4 5 (5.95%) Exchange Server 2013
4 5 (5.95%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 25 (29.76%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (10.71%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (10.71%) MS Visio
3 7 (8.33%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 6 (7.14%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 10 (11.90%) Remedy ITSM
2 4 (4.76%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (1.19%) SAP PM
3 1 (1.19%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 24 (28.57%) Microsoft 365
2 17 (20.24%) Azure
3 13 (15.48%) AWS
4 12 (14.29%) Power Platform
5 10 (11.90%) Apigee
6 8 (9.52%) SaaS
7 7 (8.33%) GCP
8 6 (7.14%) Entra ID
8 6 (7.14%) Kong
8 6 (7.14%) OneDrive
9 4 (4.76%) GitHub
9 4 (4.76%) GitHub Copilot
10 2 (2.38%) Azure DevOps
10 2 (2.38%) Azure Logic Apps
10 2 (2.38%) Azure Monitor
10 2 (2.38%) Azure Sentinel
11 1 (1.19%) IaaS
11 1 (1.19%) LangSmith
11 1 (1.19%) Power Automate
11 1 (1.19%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 15 (17.86%) Skype
2 10 (11.90%) VPN
3 8 (9.52%) DNS
4 7 (8.33%) SSH
5 5 (5.95%) Internet
5 5 (5.95%) Unified Communications
5 5 (5.95%) Wi-Fi
6 4 (4.76%) HTTP
6 4 (4.76%) HTTPS
7 2 (2.38%) Firewall
8 1 (1.19%) DHCP
8 1 (1.19%) SSL
8 1 (1.19%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (5.95%) Power BI
2 4 (4.76%) MySQL
2 4 (4.76%) PostgreSQL
2 4 (4.76%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 24 (28.57%) JIRA
2 10 (11.90%) Git
3 8 (9.52%) Postman
4 4 (4.76%) GitLab
4 4 (4.76%) Jenkins
5 1 (1.19%) MLflow
General
1 54 (64.29%) Social Skills
2 43 (51.19%) Finance
3 29 (34.52%) Banking
4 20 (23.81%) Analytical Skills
5 13 (15.48%) Public Sector
6 12 (14.29%) Organisational Skills
7 10 (11.90%) Documentation Skills
8 5 (5.95%) Corporate Banking
9 4 (4.76%) Legal
9 4 (4.76%) Retail
10 3 (3.57%) Influencing Skills
10 3 (3.57%) Retail Banking
11 2 (2.38%) Local Government
11 2 (2.38%) Marketing
12 1 (1.19%) Automotive
12 1 (1.19%) Manufacturing
12 1 (1.19%) Military
12 1 (1.19%) Pharmaceutical
12 1 (1.19%) Publishing
12 1 (1.19%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 29 (34.52%) Analyst
2 16 (19.05%) Business Analyst
3 10 (11.90%) 1st Line Support
4 9 (10.71%) Developer
5 8 (9.52%) Java Developer
5 8 (9.52%) Project Manager
6 6 (7.14%) Support Analyst
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%) Banking Business Analyst
7 5 (5.95%) IT Support
7 5 (5.95%) IT Support Technician
7 5 (5.95%) IT Technician
7 5 (5.95%) Operational Support Analyst
7 5 (5.95%) Operations Analyst
7 5 (5.95%) Operations Support Analyst
7 5 (5.95%) Service Desk Technician
7 5 (5.95%) Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (19.05%) JSON
2 14 (16.67%) XML
3 10 (11.90%) JWT
3 10 (11.90%) OAuth
3 10 (11.90%) REST
3 10 (11.90%) SOAP
3 10 (11.90%) Swagger
4 8 (9.52%) Hibernate
4 8 (9.52%) RESTful
4 8 (9.52%) Spring
4 8 (9.52%) Spring Boot
5 6 (7.14%) OpenAPI
6 4 (4.76%) JAX-RS
6 4 (4.76%) OAuth2
6 4 (4.76%) Spring MVC
6 4 (4.76%) Spring Security
7 1 (1.19%) .NET
7 1 (1.19%) AngularJS
7 1 (1.19%) Middleware
7 1 (1.19%) React
Miscellaneous
1 10 (11.90%) Management Information System
2 7 (8.33%) Enterprise Software
2 7 (8.33%) Tandem
3 5 (5.95%) Low-Code
3 5 (5.95%) Video Conferencing
4 4 (4.76%) Digital Wallet
4 4 (4.76%) Onboarding
5 3 (3.57%) PKI
5 3 (3.57%) PMI
5 3 (3.57%) Product Ownership
6 2 (2.38%) Operational Technology
6 2 (2.38%) SCADA
6 2 (2.38%) Self-Motivation
7 1 (1.19%) AI Agents
7 1 (1.19%) Cloud Native
7 1 (1.19%) Distributed Computing
7 1 (1.19%) e-Learning
7 1 (1.19%) Private Cloud
7 1 (1.19%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 28 (33.33%) Windows
2 10 (11.90%) Windows 10
3 8 (9.52%) Unix
4 2 (2.38%) Linux
4 2 (2.38%) Windows Server
5 1 (1.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 1 (1.19%) Solaris
5 1 (1.19%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 36 (42.86%) Agile
2 32 (38.10%) Computer Science
3 29 (34.52%) Stakeholder Management
4 26 (30.95%) Problem-Solving
5 22 (26.19%) ITIL
6 21 (25.00%) Project Management
7 19 (22.62%) CI/CD
8 17 (20.24%) AI
8 17 (20.24%) Validation
9 16 (19.05%) Microservices
10 15 (17.86%) Customer Service
11 14 (16.67%) API Design
11 14 (16.67%) Problem Management
12 13 (15.48%) Change Management
12 13 (15.48%) Continuous Improvement
12 13 (15.48%) ITSM
13 12 (14.29%) DevOps
14 11 (13.10%) Requirements Gathering
14 11 (13.10%) Workshop Facilitation
15 10 (11.90%) Integration Patterns
Programming Languages
1 12 (14.29%) SQL
2 9 (10.71%) Java
3 8 (9.52%) Python
4 5 (5.95%) PowerShell
5 2 (2.38%) Kusto Query Language
6 1 (1.19%) Bash
6 1 (1.19%) C#
6 1 (1.19%) JavaScript
6 1 (1.19%) Perl
6 1 (1.19%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 31 (36.90%) Computer Science Degree
2 19 (22.62%) Security Cleared
3 11 (13.10%) Master's Degree
4 9 (10.71%) MBA
5 8 (9.52%) BPSS Clearance
6 6 (7.14%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 6 (7.14%) PMI Certification
6 6 (7.14%) PMP
7 5 (5.95%) Azure Certification
8 4 (4.76%) ITIL Certification
9 3 (3.57%) AWS Certification
9 3 (3.57%) SAFe Agilist
9 3 (3.57%) SC Cleared
10 2 (2.38%) CISM
10 2 (2.38%) CISSP
10 2 (2.38%) TOGAF Certification
11 1 (1.19%) A+ Certification
11 1 (1.19%) IBM Certification
11 1 (1.19%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
11 1 (1.19%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (5.95%) PSD2
2 4 (4.76%) GDPR
2 4 (4.76%) GRC
2 4 (4.76%) PCI DSS
3 3 (3.57%) Basel III
3 3 (3.57%) ISO 8583
3 3 (3.57%) QA
4 2 (2.38%) NIST
4 2 (2.38%) P3O
4 2 (2.38%) PMO
5 1 (1.19%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (1.19%) ISO 20022
5 1 (1.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 1 (1.19%) NCSC
5 1 (1.19%) NEBOSH
5 1 (1.19%) PMBOK
5 1 (1.19%) SLA
System Software
1 15 (17.86%) Active Directory
2 11 (13.10%) Docker
3 1 (1.19%) VMware ESXi
3 1 (1.19%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 12 (14.29%) SCCM
2 11 (13.10%) Kubernetes
3 10 (11.90%) Microsoft Intune
4 4 (4.76%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 3 (3.57%) Ansible
6 2 (2.38%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (2.38%) Terraform
7 1 (1.19%) CA Single Sign-On
7 1 (1.19%) Red Hat Satellite
7 1 (1.19%) SCOM
7 1 (1.19%) SCOrch
7 1 (1.19%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 38 (45.24%) Microsoft
2 12 (14.29%) Citrix
3 10 (11.90%) Cisco
3 10 (11.90%) Remedy
4 8 (9.52%) IBM
4 8 (9.52%) ServiceNow
5 6 (7.14%) Gemalto
5 6 (7.14%) MuleSoft
5 6 (7.14%) Thales
6 4 (4.76%) Splunk
7 3 (3.57%) Oracle
8 2 (2.38%) LogRhythm
9 1 (1.19%) Databricks
9 1 (1.19%) Google
9 1 (1.19%) Proofpoint
9 1 (1.19%) Red Hat
9 1 (1.19%) Salesforce
9 1 (1.19%) SAP
9 1 (1.19%) Veeam
9 1 (1.19%) VMware