C Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

C
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring C skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 1 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 300 263 131
Rank change year-on-year -37 -132 -3
Contract jobs citing C 173 110 307
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.63% 0.72% 1.70%
As % of the Programming Languages category 2.89% 2.58% 7.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 38 31 134
10th Percentile £363 £375 £400
25th Percentile £400 £409 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £538
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% -7.06% +2.48%
75th Percentile £538 £575 £588
90th Percentile £679 £638 £638
UK median daily rate £472 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -10.05% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 67 37 72
10th Percentile £59.90 £51.70 £52.65
25th Percentile £65.00 £54.25 £61.25
Median hourly rate £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% +7.69%
75th Percentile - £73.75 £80.00
90th Percentile £70.50 £87.50 £85.00
UK median hourly rate £68.00 £68.00 £67.25
% change year-on-year - +1.12% +3.46%

All Programming Languages
UK excluding London

C falls under the Programming Languages category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring coding skills in the UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for coding skills 5,991 4,256 4,361
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 21.68% 27.76% 24.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,672 2,759 2,829
10th Percentile £329 £313 £325
25th Percentile £413 £399 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £550 £585
90th Percentile £669 £625 £650
UK median daily rate £520 £501 £525
% change year-on-year +3.90% -4.67% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 448 210 279
10th Percentile £29.96 £31.25 £35.00
25th Percentile £52.88 £50.00 £54.18
Median hourly rate £65.00 £62.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.84% -4.62% +4.00%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £77.15 £76.38 £79.34
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +18.18% -15.38% +4.00%

C
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing C relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

C job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

C
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing C.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing C

C
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing C in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 1 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for C in the UK excluding London

C
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing C.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing C

C
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing C in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 1 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for C in the UK excluding London

C
Contract Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing C within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 1 September 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
South East -12 57 £475 -5.00% 181
East of England -10 54 £700 +30.23% 183
South West -35 34 £450 -20.88% 125
West Midlands -30 20 £450 - 32
Midlands -36 20 £450 - 63
Scotland -28 5 - - 49
North of England -80 4 £400 -6.43% 78
Yorkshire -38 2 £400 -20.00% 18
North East -45 1 - - 14
North West -65 1 - - 48
C
UK

C
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 5 (2.89%) Tuxedo
2 1 (0.58%) ColdFusion
2 1 (0.58%) Confluence
2 1 (0.58%) Oracle SOA Suite
2 1 (0.58%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 11 (6.36%) Simulink
2 2 (1.16%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 2 (1.16%) Oracle Retail
2 1 (0.58%) BASE24
2 1 (0.58%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.58%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 6 (3.47%) AWS
2 5 (2.89%) Azure
2 5 (2.89%) GitHub
2 5 (2.89%) GitHub Copilot
3 4 (2.31%) Azure DevOps
4 2 (1.16%) IaaS
4 2 (1.16%) OCI
4 2 (1.16%) Power Platform
4 2 (1.16%) SaaS
5 1 (0.58%) Copilot Studio
5 1 (0.58%) Datadog
5 1 (0.58%) Dynamics 365
5 1 (0.58%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 21 (12.14%) Software-Defined Radio
1 21 (12.14%) Wireless
2 10 (5.78%) Ethernet
3 4 (2.31%) Wireshark
4 3 (1.73%) Bluetooth
4 3 (1.73%) RS-232
4 3 (1.73%) RS-485
5 1 (0.58%) 3GPP
5 1 (0.58%) 5G
5 1 (0.58%) 5G NR
5 1 (0.58%) Broadband
5 1 (0.58%) DHCP
5 1 (0.58%) DNS
5 1 (0.58%) LAN
5 1 (0.58%) Microwave Backhaul
5 1 (0.58%) SpaceWire
5 1 (0.58%) VoLTE
5 1 (0.58%) VPN
5 1 (0.58%) WAN
5 1 (0.58%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (5.78%) Ingres
2 5 (2.89%) Relational Database
3 4 (2.31%) RDBMS
3 4 (2.31%) SQL Server
4 2 (1.16%) Power BI
4 2 (1.16%) Tableau
5 1 (0.58%) NonStop SQL
5 1 (0.58%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 21 (12.14%) Rational DOORS
2 13 (7.51%) Git
3 12 (6.94%) Rational Rhapsody
4 8 (4.62%) JIRA
5 7 (4.05%) Team Foundation Server
6 5 (2.89%) Oracle Forms
7 2 (1.16%) CppUnit
7 2 (1.16%) Jenkins
7 2 (1.16%) PVCS
8 1 (0.58%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.58%) CMake
8 1 (0.58%) GitLab
8 1 (0.58%) GoogleTest
8 1 (0.58%) PetaLinux
8 1 (0.58%) Visual Studio
General
1 37 (21.39%) Social Skills
2 27 (15.61%) Aerospace
3 17 (9.83%) Electronics
4 14 (8.09%) Law
5 12 (6.94%) Analytical Skills
6 10 (5.78%) Manufacturing
7 6 (3.47%) Documentation Skills
8 5 (2.89%) Public Sector
9 3 (1.73%) Automotive
9 3 (1.73%) Military
10 2 (1.16%) Avionics
10 2 (1.16%) Retail
11 1 (0.58%) Finance
11 1 (0.58%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 83 (47.98%) Software Engineer
2 50 (28.90%) Embedded Engineer
3 43 (24.86%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 20 (11.56%) C Software Engineer
5 19 (10.98%) Senior
6 17 (9.83%) C++ Software Engineer
7 15 (8.67%) Lead
8 14 (8.09%) Developer
9 12 (6.94%) C/C++ Software Engineer
10 9 (5.20%) Embedded C Engineer
10 9 (5.20%) Embedded C Software Engineer
11 8 (4.62%) DSP Engineer
11 8 (4.62%) DSP Software Engineer
11 8 (4.62%) Software Developer
11 8 (4.62%) Test Leader
12 7 (4.05%) Development Engineer
12 7 (4.05%) Software Development Engineer
12 7 (4.05%) Software Team Leader
12 7 (4.05%) Team Leader
13 6 (3.47%) Linux Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (8.09%) Yocto
2 4 (2.31%) LDAP
2 4 (2.31%) OpenTofu
2 4 (2.31%) Terraform
3 3 (1.73%) .NET
3 3 (1.73%) ADO
3 3 (1.73%) COM
3 3 (1.73%) ODBC
3 3 (1.73%) REST
4 2 (1.16%) QML
4 2 (1.16%) Qt
4 2 (1.16%) XML
5 1 (0.58%) AngularJS
5 1 (0.58%) Itk
5 1 (0.58%) Middleware
5 1 (0.58%) PostGIS
5 1 (0.58%) PyTorch
5 1 (0.58%) Razor View Engine
5 1 (0.58%) Web Services
5 1 (0.58%) WinForms
Miscellaneous
1 34 (19.65%) Embedded Systems
2 20 (11.56%) FPGA
3 17 (9.83%) RISC-V
4 15 (8.67%) Device Driver
5 10 (5.78%) MicroBlaze
6 9 (5.20%) PCIe
6 9 (5.20%) Verilog
6 9 (5.20%) VHDL
7 7 (4.05%) Legacy Systems
8 6 (3.47%) Algorithms
9 3 (1.73%) ARM Cortex
9 3 (1.73%) Cloud Native
9 3 (1.73%) Low-Code
10 2 (1.16%) Analytical Mindset
10 2 (1.16%) Cyber Threat
10 2 (1.16%) Legacy Applications
10 2 (1.16%) Private Cloud
10 2 (1.16%) Virtual Team
11 1 (0.58%) Data Centre
11 1 (0.58%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 56 (32.37%) Linux
2 25 (14.45%) Embedded Linux
3 12 (6.94%) FreeRTOS
4 5 (2.89%) Unix
5 3 (1.73%) Windows
6 2 (1.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.58%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 112 (64.74%) Software Engineering
2 31 (17.92%) Agile
3 29 (16.76%) Signal Processing
4 24 (13.87%) Problem-Solving
5 23 (13.29%) Digital Signal Processing
5 23 (13.29%) Test Automation
6 20 (11.56%) Validation
7 19 (10.98%) UML
8 16 (9.25%) Data Management
8 16 (9.25%) Systems Engineering
9 15 (8.67%) Software Testing
10 12 (6.94%) CI/CD
10 12 (6.94%) Integration Testing
10 12 (6.94%) System Integration Testing
11 11 (6.36%) Embedded Software Development
11 11 (6.36%) Migration
11 11 (6.36%) Workflow
12 10 (5.78%) DevOps
12 10 (5.78%) Runbook
12 10 (5.78%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 95 (54.91%) C++
2 33 (19.08%) Embedded C
3 29 (16.76%) Python
4 23 (13.29%) Ada
5 18 (10.40%) MATLAB
6 17 (9.83%) SQL
7 11 (6.36%) PL/SQL
8 10 (5.78%) ProC
9 9 (5.20%) Embedded C++
10 7 (4.05%) Java
11 6 (3.47%) SystemVerilog
12 5 (2.89%) VB
12 5 (2.89%) VB6
13 4 (2.31%) C#
14 3 (1.73%) Lua
14 3 (1.73%) PowerShell
14 3 (1.73%) Rust
15 2 (1.16%) JavaScript
15 2 (1.16%) Perl
16 1 (0.58%) COBOL
Qualifications
1 52 (30.06%) Security Cleared
2 43 (24.86%) SC Cleared
3 15 (8.67%) Degree
4 9 (5.20%) DV Cleared
5 6 (3.47%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (2.31%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.58%) CCNA
7 1 (0.58%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (0.58%) Six Sigma Black Belt
7 1 (0.58%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (9.25%) QA
2 12 (6.94%) Def Stans
3 9 (5.20%) MISRA
4 7 (4.05%) DO-178B
5 2 (1.16%) ISO 26262
6 1 (0.58%) Data Quality
6 1 (0.58%) Disclosure Scotland
6 1 (0.58%) ISO 14001
6 1 (0.58%) ISO 8583
6 1 (0.58%) ISO 9001
6 1 (0.58%) MIL-STD-1553
6 1 (0.58%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 27 (15.61%) Firmware
2 15 (8.67%) Embedded Firmware
3 8 (4.62%) Docker
4 6 (3.47%) Virtual Machines
5 5 (2.89%) VMware Infrastructure
6 4 (2.31%) Active Directory
7 1 (0.58%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 2 (1.16%) Kubernetes
1 2 (1.16%) Progress Chef
1 2 (1.16%) Puppet
1 2 (1.16%) Salt
2 1 (0.58%) Nagios
Vendors
1 16 (9.25%) Oracle
2 10 (5.78%) IBM
3 9 (5.20%) Xilinx
4 8 (4.62%) Intel
5 5 (2.89%) Microsemi
5 5 (2.89%) VMware
6 4 (2.31%) MathWorks
7 3 (1.73%) Actian
7 3 (1.73%) Lauterbach
7 3 (1.73%) SAP
8 2 (1.16%) Microsoft
8 2 (1.16%) QNX
8 2 (1.16%) Red Hat
8 2 (1.16%) SaltStack
9 1 (0.58%) Cisco
9 1 (0.58%) EMC
9 1 (0.58%) Google
9 1 (0.58%) HP
9 1 (0.58%) Infoblox
9 1 (0.58%) NetScout