SLA Contracts

Service Level Agreement (SLA)
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for SLA skills. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited SLA over the 6 months to 20 May 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
20 May 2024		 Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 132 179 174
Rank change year-on-year +47 -5 +32
Contract jobs citing SLA 744 825 1,451
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 1.75% 1.44% 1.64%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 12.33% 10.77% 12.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 358 467 928
10th Percentile £150 £140 £138
25th Percentile £213 £190 £185
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £330 £298 £370
Median % change year-on-year +10.92% -19.59% -6.15%
75th Percentile £488 £490 £518
90th Percentile £586 £588 £625
UK excluding London median daily rate £285 £250 £263
% change year-on-year +14.00% -4.76% -19.23%
Number of hourly rates quoted 91 69 110
10th Percentile £11.07 £12.93 £11.36
25th Percentile £12.83 £15.00 £12.36
Median hourly rate £14.70 £18.50 £16.50
Median % change year-on-year -20.54% +12.12% +17.86%
75th Percentile £23.45 £29.30 £22.42
90th Percentile £32.50 £47.00 £47.40
UK excluding London median hourly rate £14.00 £18.50 £16.50
% change year-on-year -24.32% +12.12% +18.79%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK

SLA is in the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 6,035 7,662 11,737
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 14.19% 13.38% 13.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,843 5,232 8,045
10th Percentile £280 £281 £300
25th Percentile £402 £413 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £525 £515
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% +1.94% +8.42%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £625
90th Percentile £750 £743 £713
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £480 £450
% change year-on-year +0.10% +6.56% +5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 381 242 315
10th Percentile £10.95 £13.33 £12.03
25th Percentile £13.18 £18.71 £16.50
Median hourly rate £21.00 £35.00 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year -40.00% +16.67% +42.86%
75th Percentile £45.00 £61.50 £50.39
90th Percentile £68.75 £77.35 £68.93
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.27 £31.89 £22.50
% change year-on-year -42.70% +41.71% +7.14%

SLA
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing SLA as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for SLA in the UK

SLA
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing SLA.

Daily rate trend for SLA in the UK

SLA
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SLA over the 6 months to 20 May 2024.

Daily rate histogram for SLA in the UK

SLA
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing SLA.

Hourly rate trend for SLA in the UK

SLA
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing SLA over the 6 months to 20 May 2024.

Hourly rate histogram for SLA in the UK

SLA
Top 16 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing SLA within the UK over the 6 months to 20 May 2024. 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
England +34 655 £330 +10.92% 512
UK excluding London +22 494 £285 +14.00% 405
London +89 215 £400 +6.67% 131
Work from Home +101 197 £375 -16.67% 141
South East -7 146 £285 +18.75% 121
North of England +14 132 £493 +31.47% 91
North West +30 99 £520 +12.43% 55
South West +40 67 £275 +98.20% 41
Midlands +11 63 £270 -13.60% 79
West Midlands +16 51 £281 -20.77% 54
Scotland +54 36 £286 +68.38% 18
Yorkshire -18 32 £450 +80.00% 29
Wales +32 29 £135 -50.91% 9
East of England -38 22 £258 -6.36% 55
East Midlands +14 12 £270 +42.11% 25
North East +11 1 - - 7

SLA
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 38 (5.11%) Microsoft Exchange
2 21 (2.82%) SharePoint
3 5 (0.67%) Oracle Self-Service HR
3 5 (0.67%) Oracle Workflow
4 3 (0.40%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 3 (0.40%) IIS
4 3 (0.40%) OpenStack
5 2 (0.27%) Alfresco
5 2 (0.27%) Confluence
5 2 (0.27%) Exchange Server 2007
5 2 (0.27%) JBoss
6 1 (0.13%) Exchange Server 2010
6 1 (0.13%) Exchange Server 2013
6 1 (0.13%) Red Hat Fuse
6 1 (0.13%) Skype for Business
6 1 (0.13%) Tomcat
Applications
1 100 (13.44%) Microsoft Office
2 66 (8.87%) Microsoft Excel
3 24 (3.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 12 (1.61%) MS Visio
5 6 (0.81%) Spreadsheet
6 3 (0.40%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 1 (0.13%) SPSS
Business Applications
1 7 (0.94%) Remedy ITSM
1 7 (0.94%) SAP S/4HANA
2 5 (0.67%) Oracle HRMS
3 3 (0.40%) NEC Housing
3 3 (0.40%) Oracle General Ledger
3 3 (0.40%) Shopify
4 2 (0.27%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.13%) assyst
5 1 (0.13%) Dynamics GP
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle AGIS
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Applications
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Assets
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Cash Management
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Receivables
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 1 (0.13%) SAP APO
5 1 (0.13%) SAP IBP
5 1 (0.13%) SAP MM
5 1 (0.13%) Temenos T24
Cloud Services
1 122 (16.40%) Microsoft 365
2 55 (7.39%) Azure
3 38 (5.11%) Power Platform
4 35 (4.70%) AWS
5 16 (2.15%) OneDrive
6 15 (2.02%) Entra ID
7 13 (1.75%) SuccessFactors
8 10 (1.34%) Power Automate
9 7 (0.94%) Dynamics 365
9 7 (0.94%) GCP
10 6 (0.81%) IaaS
10 6 (0.81%) WhatsApp
11 5 (0.67%) Cloud Computing
11 5 (0.67%) Lucidchart
11 5 (0.67%) PaaS
11 5 (0.67%) SaaS
11 5 (0.67%) Serverless
12 4 (0.54%) IBM Blueworks
13 3 (0.40%) Amazon EKS
13 3 (0.40%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 60 (8.06%) LAN
2 50 (6.72%) VPN
3 41 (5.51%) Wireless
4 40 (5.38%) Firewall
4 40 (5.38%) WAN
5 16 (2.15%) Remote Desktop
5 16 (2.15%) TCP/IP
5 16 (2.15%) VoIP
6 14 (1.88%) Internet
6 14 (1.88%) SAN
7 13 (1.75%) DNS
7 13 (1.75%) MPLS
8 12 (1.61%) Wi-Fi
9 10 (1.34%) DHCP
9 10 (1.34%) PSTN
10 9 (1.21%) BGP
10 9 (1.21%) IPsec
10 9 (1.21%) SD-WAN
11 8 (1.08%) DWDM
12 7 (0.94%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (3.23%) Power BI
2 13 (1.75%) SQL Server
3 9 (1.21%) Data Warehouse
4 8 (1.08%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 7 (0.94%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 7 (0.94%) Tableau
6 5 (0.67%) PostgreSQL
7 3 (0.40%) MySQL
7 3 (0.40%) Oracle Reports
8 2 (0.27%) Amazon RDS
8 2 (0.27%) Big Data
8 2 (0.27%) Data Lake
8 2 (0.27%) Data Mining
8 2 (0.27%) GIS
9 1 (0.13%) DTS
9 1 (0.13%) Elasticsearch
9 1 (0.13%) HDInsight
9 1 (0.13%) MongoDB
9 1 (0.13%) NoSQL
9 1 (0.13%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 14 (1.88%) JIRA
2 5 (0.67%) Git
3 4 (0.54%) Mocha
4 3 (0.40%) Maven
5 1 (0.13%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.13%) Cypress.io
5 1 (0.13%) GoCD
5 1 (0.13%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.13%) JUnit
5 1 (0.13%) Octopus Deploy
5 1 (0.13%) TeamCity
5 1 (0.13%) Visual Studio
5 1 (0.13%) Yeoman
General
1 334 (44.89%) Social Skills
2 129 (17.34%) Finance
3 118 (15.86%) Analytical Skills
4 78 (10.48%) Public Sector
5 50 (6.72%) Telecoms
6 31 (4.17%) Banking
7 30 (4.03%) Organisational Skills
8 26 (3.49%) Marketing
9 22 (2.96%) Retail
10 18 (2.42%) Mandarin Language
11 16 (2.15%) Legal
12 14 (1.88%) Presentation Skills
13 13 (1.75%) Manufacturing
14 12 (1.61%) Financial Institution
14 12 (1.61%) Police
15 10 (1.34%) Investment Banking
16 8 (1.08%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 7 (0.94%) Billing
17 7 (0.94%) Electronics
17 7 (0.94%) French Language
Job Titles
1 140 (18.82%) Analyst
2 84 (11.29%) Service Analyst
3 70 (9.41%) Service Desk Analyst
4 67 (9.01%) Support Engineer
5 48 (6.45%) Service Desk Agent
6 34 (4.57%) 1st Line Support
6 34 (4.57%) Lead
7 32 (4.30%) Architect
8 30 (4.03%) IT Support
9 27 (3.63%) Network Engineer
10 26 (3.49%) Consultant
10 26 (3.49%) Service Manager
11 25 (3.36%) IT Engineer
11 25 (3.36%) Senior
12 24 (3.23%) Desktop Support
12 24 (3.23%) Technical Support
13 22 (2.96%) 2nd Line Support
13 22 (2.96%) Delivery Manager
14 20 (2.69%) Desktop Engineer
15 18 (2.42%) Desktop Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (0.81%) .NET
1 6 (0.81%) Web Services
2 5 (0.67%) Jest
2 5 (0.67%) Node.js
2 5 (0.67%) React
2 5 (0.67%) REST
2 5 (0.67%) XMPP
3 4 (0.54%) AngularJS
3 4 (0.54%) Redux
3 4 (0.54%) Spring
4 3 (0.40%) CSS
4 3 (0.40%) J2EE
4 3 (0.40%) jQuery
4 3 (0.40%) Ruby on Rails
4 3 (0.40%) Sass
4 3 (0.40%) Software Packaging
4 3 (0.40%) Spring Boot
4 3 (0.40%) Spring MVC
4 3 (0.40%) Twitter Bootstrap
4 3 (0.40%) VML
Miscellaneous
1 54 (7.26%) Data Centre
2 40 (5.38%) Management Information System
3 12 (1.61%) CMDB
3 12 (1.61%) Self-Motivation
4 11 (1.48%) Distributed Systems
5 10 (1.34%) BYOD
5 10 (1.34%) Driving Licence
6 9 (1.21%) Analytical Mindset
6 9 (1.21%) FMCG
6 9 (1.21%) Video Conferencing
7 8 (1.08%) Hedge funds
7 8 (1.08%) Onboarding
7 8 (1.08%) Virtual Team
8 7 (0.94%) Digital Signage
8 7 (0.94%) Public Cloud
9 6 (0.81%) Clustering
9 6 (0.81%) Private Cloud
10 5 (0.67%) Data Protection Act
10 5 (0.67%) PKI
11 4 (0.54%) CCTV
Operating Systems
1 199 (26.75%) Windows
2 88 (11.83%) Windows 10
3 36 (4.84%) Linux
4 33 (4.44%) Windows 7
5 28 (3.76%) Windows Server
6 27 (3.63%) Unix
7 22 (2.96%) Apple iOS
8 17 (2.28%) Mac OS
9 10 (1.34%) Android
10 8 (1.08%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 7 (0.94%) Mac OS X
12 6 (0.81%) Windows Server 2016
13 5 (0.67%) Solaris
14 4 (0.54%) Windows Server 2012
15 3 (0.40%) Ubuntu
15 3 (0.40%) Windows Server 2019
16 1 (0.13%) AIX
16 1 (0.13%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 225 (30.24%) Problem-Solving
2 209 (28.09%) Customer Service
3 171 (22.98%) ITIL
4 118 (15.86%) Service Delivery
5 77 (10.35%) Agile
6 71 (9.54%) Service Management
7 67 (9.01%) ITSM
8 51 (6.85%) Continuous Improvement
9 49 (6.59%) Customer Requirements
9 49 (6.59%) Incident Management
10 47 (6.32%) Time Management
11 46 (6.18%) Root Cause Analysis
12 44 (5.91%) Change Management
13 43 (5.78%) Project Delivery
14 41 (5.51%) Stakeholder Management
15 38 (5.11%) Customer Experience
16 37 (4.97%) Coaching
17 36 (4.84%) Problem Management
18 34 (4.57%) Workflow
19 33 (4.44%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 43 (5.78%) SQL
2 32 (4.30%) PowerShell
3 15 (2.02%) Java
4 10 (1.34%) Python
5 7 (0.94%) JavaScript
5 7 (0.94%) T-SQL
6 6 (0.81%) C#
7 4 (0.54%) Kusto Query Language
7 4 (0.54%) Search Processing Language
8 3 (0.40%) C++
8 3 (0.40%) Ruby
8 3 (0.40%) VB.NET
9 2 (0.27%) VBScript
10 1 (0.13%) Bash
10 1 (0.13%) R
10 1 (0.13%) TypeScript
10 1 (0.13%) VB
Qualifications
1 194 (26.08%) Security Cleared
2 131 (17.61%) SC Cleared
3 67 (9.01%) Degree
4 49 (6.59%) DV Cleared
5 34 (4.57%) Cisco Certification
6 27 (3.63%) BPSS Clearance
7 24 (3.23%) CCNP
8 23 (3.09%) CCNA
8 23 (3.09%) ITIL Certification
9 15 (2.02%) Microsoft Certification
10 11 (1.48%) MCSE
11 9 (1.21%) Computer Science Degree
12 6 (0.81%) RHCE
13 5 (0.67%) CCSA
13 5 (0.67%) JNCIA
14 4 (0.54%) BC Cleared
14 4 (0.54%) MCSA
15 3 (0.40%) DBS Check
15 3 (0.40%) JNCIS
15 3 (0.40%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (3.36%) QA
2 11 (1.48%) Disclosure Scotland
3 9 (1.21%) Data Quality
3 9 (1.21%) ISO/IEC 20000
4 5 (0.67%) Accessibility
4 5 (0.67%) GDPR
5 4 (0.54%) NIST
6 3 (0.40%) ISO 9001
7 2 (0.27%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.13%) Cyber Essentials
8 1 (0.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 106 (14.25%) Active Directory
2 29 (3.90%) VMware Infrastructure
3 17 (2.28%) Hyper-V
4 8 (1.08%) Firmware
5 7 (0.94%) Virtual Machines
6 6 (0.81%) KVM
7 5 (0.67%) Virtual Desktop
7 5 (0.67%) vSphere
8 4 (0.54%) BitLocker
9 3 (0.40%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 3 (0.40%) Virtual Servers
10 2 (0.27%) Microsoft App-V
11 1 (0.13%) Docker
11 1 (0.13%) Terminal Services
11 1 (0.13%) vCloud
11 1 (0.13%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.13%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 57 (7.66%) SCCM
2 28 (3.76%) Microsoft Intune
3 7 (0.94%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 7 (0.94%) AirWatch
4 6 (0.81%) Kubernetes
4 6 (0.81%) SCOM
4 6 (0.81%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 5 (0.67%) WSUS
6 4 (0.54%) Ansible
6 4 (0.54%) Single Sign-On
6 4 (0.54%) WhatsUp Gold
7 3 (0.40%) OPNET
7 3 (0.40%) Terraform
8 2 (0.27%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.27%) NetBackup
8 2 (0.27%) Progress Chef
8 2 (0.27%) Puppet
8 2 (0.27%) Salt
8 2 (0.27%) SCVMM
8 2 (0.27%) VxRail
Vendors
1 244 (32.80%) Microsoft
2 96 (12.90%) ServiceNow
3 51 (6.85%) Cisco
4 38 (5.11%) VMware
5 36 (4.84%) SAP
6 27 (3.63%) HP
7 24 (3.23%) Apple
8 17 (2.28%) Dell
9 16 (2.15%) Citrix
9 16 (2.15%) Juniper
10 13 (1.75%) Oracle
11 12 (1.61%) BT
11 12 (1.61%) F5
12 11 (1.48%) Remedy
13 10 (1.34%) Cadence
14 9 (1.21%) Computacenter
14 9 (1.21%) Infoblox
14 9 (1.21%) Palo Alto
15 8 (1.08%) Blue Coat
15 8 (1.08%) Red Hat
563 SLA jobs Nationwide