Navigating eDV Talent Landscape

Latest insights and trends

Whether you're a prime contractor, sub-prime consultancy or SME supporting critical government programmes, this report is your blueprint for building high-performing cleared teams.

Drawing on candidate surveys, market data, and real-world hiring insights from our national security recruitment experts, the report explores key themes including salary pressure, hybrid work, process bottlenecks and retention risks.

Built for decision-makers operating in high-clearance environments, this whitepaper is designed to support strategic hiring, reduce delivery risk, and future-proof your talent approach.

In this report you'll find;

• Clearance bottlenecks and delivery risk: Understand how onboarding delays, sign-off gaps and poor post-offer communication are costing top talent.

• 2025 salary and bonus trends: Get real numbers on salary inflation, DV bonus structures and how candidates are changing expectations mid-process.

• Hiring process insights: Learn why fast, 1–2 stage processes are winning and where consultancies are losing candidates post-offer.

• Retention and motivation drivers: Discover what makes eDV candidates stay, leave, or disengage, and how SMEs and primes are responding differently.

• Strategic recommendations: Practical, segmented actions for primes, sub-primes and SMEs to boost attraction, engagement and delivery continuity.

Key Findings

• Salary inflation:
  18% average salary uplift across eDV-cleared tech roles, with some specialist candidates seeing increases up to 33%.

• Hiring speed = Success:
  Top-performing consultancies are securing hires in just 2 weeks. Delay beyond 4 weeks and dropout risk increases significantly.

• Bonus expectations:
  80% of roles now offer DV or eDV bonuses, a key differentiator in tight-budget environments.

• Candidate priorities:
  While only 22% cite salary as their top priority, 90% of accepted offers are compensation-led. Flexibility and career growth follow closely.

• Work-life balance matters:
  Rigid working models are losing candidates. Hybrid, ROTA flexibility, and 9-day fortnights are becoming expected.

• Post-offer silence = Dropouts:
  Delays in contracts, lack of onboarding clarity, and poor engagement during clearance are leading to last-minute offer withdrawals.

Download the full report