Government report finds cyber job ads for beginners halved
Adverts for cyber security jobs needing under two years' experience fell by 53% from 2022 to 2025. Employers told researchers that AI is taking over some of the work that used to train beginners.
Job adverts for beginners in UK cyber security roughly halved between 2022 and 2025, a government report published on 29 September 2026 found.
The report was written by Ipsos and Perspective Economics for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Core cyber adverts asking for less than two years' experience fell by 53% over those three years. Adverts asking for six to nine years fell by 23%. More than 70% of adverts did not state any experience level, so the report calls the trend indicative.
You need to be more skilled at the point you enter, but with no low entry point to gain that skill.
Graduate numbers kept growing. UK universities produced 7,950 cyber security graduates in 2023/24, up 14% on the year before. Starts on cyber security apprenticeships in England fell by 15% in 2024/25, from 590 to 500.
In interviews, employers said AI and automation were taking over routine monitoring work in security operations centres. Those jobs have long been a first step into the field. The 51 interviews were not a representative sample. In the report's survey, 70% of cyber firms said staff used AI in their daily work, up from 53% a year earlier.
For learners aiming at cyber security, the report says 12% of core cyber adverts were open to people with GCSE, A level or foundation-level education. Among cyber firms that had recruited since 2024, 65% said they had hired through routes that did not need a degree. Employers also said they received many junior applications from people without the skills the job needed.
The government's Digital and Technologies Jobs Plan, published in October, drew on the same report. The report says part of the fall may reflect firms changing how they recruit, such as using agencies. How much of it is caused by AI is not known.
Sources
- Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (GOV.UK) Cyber security skills in the UK labour market 2026
- Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (GOV.UK) Cyber security skills in the UK labour market 2026 (full report)
- Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (GOV.UK) Digital and Technologies Jobs Plan