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 11 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 304 265 122
Rank change year-on-year -39 -143 +19
Contract jobs citing C 172 112 328
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.63% 0.73% 1.79%
As % of the Programming Languages category 2.82% 2.66% 7.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 49 34 143
10th Percentile £400 £274 £400
25th Percentile £413 £375 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £545
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% -8.26% +11.22%
75th Percentile £538 £538 £600
90th Percentile £652 £619 £650
UK median daily rate £500 £513 £536
% change year-on-year -2.44% -4.30% -2.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 54 37 92
10th Percentile £58.90 £52.00 £52.65
25th Percentile £65.00 £55.00 £61.25
Median hourly rate £67.75 £68.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -0.37% +4.62% -
75th Percentile £70.00 £73.75 £71.88
90th Percentile £75.25 £81.50 £85.00
UK median hourly rate £67.50 £68.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year -0.74% +4.62% -

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 6,098 4,213 4,378
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 22.29% 27.62% 23.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,775 2,767 2,901
10th Percentile £335 £310 £325
25th Percentile £413 £394 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.21% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £580 £550 £588
90th Percentile £656 £622 £650
UK median daily rate £513 £503 £530
% change year-on-year +1.99% -5.19% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 454 188 326
10th Percentile £33.70 £29.80 £30.19
25th Percentile £53.53 £50.00 £52.50
Median hourly rate £65.00 £64.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +1.56% -1.54% +8.33%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £80.89 £78.59
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £56.75 £65.00
% change year-on-year +14.54% -12.69% +8.33%

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 11 August 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 11 August 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 11 August 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 -23 58 £500 -2.44% 116
East of England -7 55 £626 +47.18% 125
South West -38 27 £450 -18.18% 86
Midlands -37 21 £462 +559.29% 36
West Midlands -36 20 £450 - 20
North of England -79 6 £400 -8.57% 63
Scotland -25 5 - - 16
Yorkshire -46 3 £400 -20.00% 16
North West -41 2 - - 28
East Midlands -12 1 £525 +650.00% 16
North East -42 1 - - 20
Wales - 1 £460 - 7
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 (2.91%) 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 10 (5.81%) Simulink
2 2 (1.16%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 2 (1.16%) Oracle Retail
1 2 (1.16%) Teamcenter
2 1 (0.58%) BASE24
2 1 (0.58%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 7 (4.07%) AWS
2 6 (3.49%) Azure
2 6 (3.49%) GitHub
3 5 (2.91%) Azure DevOps
3 5 (2.91%) GitHub Copilot
4 3 (1.74%) Power Platform
5 2 (1.16%) GCP
5 2 (1.16%) IaaS
5 2 (1.16%) OCI
5 2 (1.16%) SaaS
6 1 (0.58%) Amazon CloudWatch
6 1 (0.58%) AWS CloudFormation
6 1 (0.58%) BlazeMeter
6 1 (0.58%) Copilot Studio
6 1 (0.58%) Dynamics 365
6 1 (0.58%) GitHub Actions
6 1 (0.58%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 18 (10.47%) Software-Defined Radio
1 18 (10.47%) Wireless
2 14 (8.14%) Ethernet
3 6 (3.49%) RS-232
3 6 (3.49%) RS-485
4 5 (2.91%) Wireshark
5 3 (1.74%) Bluetooth
5 3 (1.74%) Modbus
5 3 (1.74%) RS-422
6 2 (1.16%) 3GPP
6 2 (1.16%) 4G
6 2 (1.16%) 5G
6 2 (1.16%) 5G NR
6 2 (1.16%) LTE
6 2 (1.16%) Microwave Backhaul
6 2 (1.16%) MPLS
6 2 (1.16%) Radio Access Network
6 2 (1.16%) VoLTE
7 1 (0.58%) WAN
7 1 (0.58%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (5.81%) Ingres
2 5 (2.91%) Relational Database
3 4 (2.33%) RDBMS
3 4 (2.33%) SQL Server
4 3 (1.74%) Power BI
4 3 (1.74%) Tableau
5 1 (0.58%) MongoDB
5 1 (0.58%) NonStop SQL
5 1 (0.58%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 23 (13.37%) Rational DOORS
2 16 (9.30%) Git
3 8 (4.65%) Rational Rhapsody
4 7 (4.07%) Team Foundation Server
5 5 (2.91%) Oracle Forms
5 5 (2.91%) Visual Studio
6 4 (2.33%) JIRA
7 3 (1.74%) Jenkins
8 2 (1.16%) CppUnit
8 2 (1.16%) GitLab
8 2 (1.16%) PVCS
9 1 (0.58%) Atlassian Bamboo
9 1 (0.58%) CMake
9 1 (0.58%) GoogleTest
9 1 (0.58%) JMeter
9 1 (0.58%) LoadRunner
9 1 (0.58%) PetaLinux
9 1 (0.58%) Postman
General
1 34 (19.77%) Social Skills
2 28 (16.28%) Aerospace
3 21 (12.21%) Electronics
4 14 (8.14%) Law
5 11 (6.40%) Manufacturing
6 10 (5.81%) Analytical Skills
7 8 (4.65%) Documentation Skills
8 5 (2.91%) Public Sector
9 4 (2.33%) Automotive
10 3 (1.74%) Military
11 2 (1.16%) Avionics
11 2 (1.16%) Retail
12 1 (0.58%) Finance
12 1 (0.58%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 78 (45.35%) Software Engineer
2 44 (25.58%) Embedded Engineer
3 35 (20.35%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 18 (10.47%) Developer
4 18 (10.47%) Senior
5 17 (9.88%) C++ Software Engineer
6 16 (9.30%) C Software Engineer
7 12 (6.98%) C/C++ Software Engineer
7 12 (6.98%) Software Developer
8 10 (5.81%) Lead
9 9 (5.23%) Test Leader
10 8 (4.65%) DSP Engineer
10 8 (4.65%) DSP Software Engineer
11 6 (3.49%) Linux Engineer
11 6 (3.49%) SC Cleared Software Engineer
11 6 (3.49%) Senior Developer
11 6 (3.49%) Test Engineer
12 5 (2.91%) C Developer
12 5 (2.91%) Embedded C Engineer
12 5 (2.91%) Senior C Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (6.98%) Yocto
2 7 (4.07%) .NET
3 5 (2.91%) WinForms
4 4 (2.33%) LDAP
5 3 (1.74%) ADO
5 3 (1.74%) COM
5 3 (1.74%) ODBC
5 3 (1.74%) REST
6 2 (1.16%) Itk
6 2 (1.16%) QML
6 2 (1.16%) Qt
6 2 (1.16%) Web Services
6 2 (1.16%) XML
7 1 (0.58%) .NET Core
7 1 (0.58%) AngularJS
7 1 (0.58%) GStreamer
7 1 (0.58%) Middleware
7 1 (0.58%) PostGIS
7 1 (0.58%) Razor View Engine
7 1 (0.58%) Taurus
Miscellaneous
1 30 (17.44%) Embedded Systems
2 20 (11.63%) FPGA
3 14 (8.14%) RISC-V
4 13 (7.56%) Device Driver
5 9 (5.23%) PCIe
5 9 (5.23%) Verilog
5 9 (5.23%) VHDL
6 7 (4.07%) Legacy Systems
6 7 (4.07%) MicroBlaze
7 4 (2.33%) Algorithms
7 4 (2.33%) Cloud Native
8 3 (1.74%) ARM Cortex
8 3 (1.74%) Cyber Threat
8 3 (1.74%) Low-Code
9 2 (1.16%) Analytical Mindset
9 2 (1.16%) Data Centre
9 2 (1.16%) Legacy Applications
9 2 (1.16%) Private Cloud
9 2 (1.16%) Video\Live Streaming
9 2 (1.16%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 54 (31.40%) Linux
2 22 (12.79%) Embedded Linux
3 12 (6.98%) FreeRTOS
4 10 (5.81%) Windows
5 6 (3.49%) Unix
6 2 (1.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.58%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 108 (62.79%) Software Engineering
2 33 (19.19%) Agile
3 29 (16.86%) Test Automation
4 27 (15.70%) Problem-Solving
5 25 (14.53%) Signal Processing
6 21 (12.21%) Validation
7 20 (11.63%) Digital Signal Processing
8 19 (11.05%) Software Testing
9 16 (9.30%) Data Management
10 15 (8.72%) DevOps
11 14 (8.14%) CI/CD
12 13 (7.56%) Embedded Software Development
12 13 (7.56%) Systems Engineering
12 13 (7.56%) UML
12 13 (7.56%) Workflow
13 12 (6.98%) Integration Testing
13 12 (6.98%) Migration
13 12 (6.98%) System Integration Testing
14 11 (6.40%) TDD
14 11 (6.40%) Workflow Management
Programming Languages
1 94 (54.65%) C++
2 30 (17.44%) Python
3 29 (16.86%) Embedded C
4 25 (14.53%) Ada
5 18 (10.47%) SQL
6 16 (9.30%) MATLAB
7 11 (6.40%) PL/SQL
8 10 (5.81%) Java
8 10 (5.81%) ProC
9 8 (4.65%) C#
9 8 (4.65%) Embedded C++
10 6 (3.49%) SystemVerilog
11 5 (2.91%) VB
11 5 (2.91%) VB6
12 3 (1.74%) Lua
12 3 (1.74%) PowerShell
12 3 (1.74%) Rust
13 2 (1.16%) Bash
13 2 (1.16%) JavaScript
13 2 (1.16%) Perl
Qualifications
1 56 (32.56%) Security Cleared
2 47 (27.33%) SC Cleared
3 14 (8.14%) Degree
4 10 (5.81%) DV Cleared
5 6 (3.49%) BPSS Clearance
6 3 (1.74%) 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 14 (8.14%) Def Stans
2 13 (7.56%) QA
3 9 (5.23%) MISRA
4 7 (4.07%) 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 24 (13.95%) Firmware
2 12 (6.98%) Embedded Firmware
3 9 (5.23%) Docker
4 6 (3.49%) Virtual Machines
5 5 (2.91%) VMware Infrastructure
6 4 (2.33%) Active Directory
7 1 (0.58%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 5 (2.91%) Terraform
2 3 (1.74%) Kubernetes
3 2 (1.16%) Progress Chef
3 2 (1.16%) Puppet
3 2 (1.16%) Salt
4 1 (0.58%) Grafana
4 1 (0.58%) Nagios
4 1 (0.58%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 16 (9.30%) Oracle
2 9 (5.23%) Xilinx
3 8 (4.65%) IBM
3 8 (4.65%) Intel
4 5 (2.91%) Microsemi
4 5 (2.91%) VMware
5 4 (2.33%) Lauterbach
5 4 (2.33%) MathWorks
6 3 (1.74%) Actian
6 3 (1.74%) Microsoft
6 3 (1.74%) SAP
7 2 (1.16%) Google
7 2 (1.16%) QNX
7 2 (1.16%) Red Hat
7 2 (1.16%) SaltStack
8 1 (0.58%) Citrix
8 1 (0.58%) EMC
8 1 (0.58%) HP
8 1 (0.58%) Infoblox
8 1 (0.58%) NetScout