Public Sector Contract Job Trends in Scotland

Public Sector
UK > Scotland

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Public Sector in contract job vacancies in Scotland. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Public Sector over the 6 months leading up to 23 April 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 4 1
Rank change year-on-year -3 -3 +1
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 245 336 637
As % of all contract jobs in Scotland 14.11% 20.41% 28.57%
As % of the General category 23.86% 28.26% 43.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 157 238 399
10th Percentile £281 £192 £157
25th Percentile £375 £375 £319
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £458 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +1.67% -5.26% +3.26%
75th Percentile £558 £519 £575
90th Percentile £640 £597 £663
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £518
% change year-on-year - -3.47% -1.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 11 10
10th Percentile - £19.59 £13.10
25th Percentile £17.23 £21.12 £14.19
Median hourly rate £21.31 £24.18 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year -11.88% +38.17% +29.63%
75th Percentile £26.47 £26.21 £19.07
90th Percentile £28.08 £28.38 £23.10
UK median hourly rate £22.50 £22.95 £21.62
% change year-on-year -1.96% +6.18% +8.08%

All General Skills
Scotland

Public Sector falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring general skills in Scotland.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 1,027 1,189 1,458
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Scotland 59.16% 72.24% 65.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 543 724 873
10th Percentile £242 £238 £181
25th Percentile £358 £368 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £463 £475
Median % change year-on-year - -2.63% -
75th Percentile £575 £538 £588
90th Percentile £675 £611 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 91 36 74
10th Percentile £12.60 £16.06 £12.30
25th Percentile £13.45 £19.33 £16.06
Median hourly rate £16.82 £23.00 £19.34
Median % change year-on-year -26.87% +18.96% -9.92%
75th Percentile £44.38 £25.43 £60.00
90th Percentile £65.00 £51.11 £68.50
UK median hourly rate £28.55 £28.18 £28.50
% change year-on-year +1.31% -1.12% -18.57%

Public Sector
Job Vacancy Trend in Scotland

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Public Sector relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Scotland.

Public Sector job vacancy trend in Scotland

Public Sector
Daily Rate Trend in Scotland

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Scotland citing Public Sector.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Scotland citing Public Sector

Public Sector
Daily Rate Histogram in Scotland

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Public Sector in Scotland over the 6 months to 23 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Public Sector in Scotland

Public Sector
Hourly Rate Trend in Scotland

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Scotland citing Public Sector.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Scotland citing Public Sector

Public Sector
Contract Job Locations in Scotland

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Public Sector within the Scotland region over the 6 months to 23 April 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
Edinburgh -3 119 £438 -2.78% 20
Glasgow +7 104 £500 +5.26% 13
South Lanarkshire -3 10 £634 +34.95% 1
West Lothian -2 3 £276 +47.33% 2
Lanarkshire +3 1 £450 +37.40% 8
Moray -2 1 - -
North Lanarkshire -4 1 £350 -12.50%
Aberdeen - 1 £138 - 3
Fife - 1 - - 1
Public Sector
UK

Public Sector
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Scotland 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 9 (3.67%) Confluence
2 3 (1.22%) Apache
2 3 (1.22%) CMS
2 3 (1.22%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.82%) Apache Airflow
3 2 (0.82%) Apache Spark
3 2 (0.82%) Apache TomEE
3 2 (0.82%) Drupal
4 1 (0.41%) CICS
4 1 (0.41%) Exchange Server 2013
4 1 (0.41%) JBoss
4 1 (0.41%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.41%) OpenStack
4 1 (0.41%) Umbraco
Applications
1 10 (4.08%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.22%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 3 (1.22%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.82%) Adobe Illustrator
3 2 (0.82%) InDesign
3 2 (0.82%) Photoshop
4 1 (0.41%) Adobe After Effects
4 1 (0.41%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 1 (0.41%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (0.41%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.41%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 13 (5.31%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.82%) iTrent
3 1 (0.41%) IntelliMatch
3 1 (0.41%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (0.41%) SAP GRC
3 1 (0.41%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 48 (19.59%) Azure
2 43 (17.55%) AWS
3 25 (10.20%) Power Platform
4 22 (8.98%) Azure DevOps
5 13 (5.31%) Microsoft 365
5 13 (5.31%) Serverless
6 12 (4.90%) Dynamics 365
7 11 (4.49%) OCI
7 11 (4.49%) PowerApps
8 10 (4.08%) Power Automate
9 8 (3.27%) AWS CloudFormation
9 8 (3.27%) AWS Lambda
10 7 (2.86%) Azure AI
10 7 (2.86%) Azure Cognitive Search
10 7 (2.86%) Azure Cognitive Services
10 7 (2.86%) Cloud Computing
10 7 (2.86%) SaaS
11 6 (2.45%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 6 (2.45%) Amazon EKS
12 5 (2.04%) Azure Functions
Communications & Networking
1 6 (2.45%) Cisco Nexus
1 6 (2.45%) WAN
1 6 (2.45%) Wi-Fi
2 5 (2.04%) DNS
2 5 (2.04%) LAN
2 5 (2.04%) Network Security
3 4 (1.63%) SD-WAN
3 4 (1.63%) VPN
4 3 (1.22%) Firewall
4 3 (1.22%) Remote Desktop
5 2 (0.82%) BGP
5 2 (0.82%) Fibre Channel
5 2 (0.82%) Intranet
5 2 (0.82%) MPLS
5 2 (0.82%) OSPF
5 2 (0.82%) SDH
5 2 (0.82%) SSH
5 2 (0.82%) TCP/IP
6 1 (0.41%) DSL
6 1 (0.41%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (8.57%) Power BI
2 11 (4.49%) MySQL
2 11 (4.49%) Relational Database
3 9 (3.67%) Metadata
4 7 (2.86%) SQL Server
5 6 (2.45%) DynamoDB
5 6 (2.45%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (2.04%) Amazon Athena
7 4 (1.63%) Data Lake
7 4 (1.63%) Geospatial Data
7 4 (1.63%) MariaDB
8 3 (1.22%) Amazon Aurora
8 3 (1.22%) Oracle Database
8 3 (1.22%) Snowflake Schema
9 2 (0.82%) Azure SQL Database
9 2 (0.82%) Elasticsearch
9 2 (0.82%) GIS
9 2 (0.82%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.82%) Power Query
9 2 (0.82%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 13 (5.31%) JIRA
2 6 (2.45%) Git
3 5 (2.04%) Jenkins
4 4 (1.63%) Selenium
5 3 (1.22%) Cucumber
5 3 (1.22%) GitLab
5 3 (1.22%) WebDriver
6 2 (0.82%) Ant
6 2 (0.82%) Cypress.io
6 2 (0.82%) Eclipse
6 2 (0.82%) Maven
6 2 (0.82%) MLflow
6 2 (0.82%) NUnit
6 2 (0.82%) Sonatype Nexus
6 2 (0.82%) Terragrunt
7 1 (0.41%) Jasmine
7 1 (0.41%) Subversion
7 1 (0.41%) Team Foundation Server
7 1 (0.41%) TeamCity
7 1 (0.41%) Visual Studio
General
1 62 (25.31%) Social Skills
2 39 (15.92%) Finance
3 23 (9.39%) Analytical Skills
4 11 (4.49%) Influencing Skills
5 9 (3.67%) Legal
6 8 (3.27%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (1.63%) Documentation Skills
8 3 (1.22%) Banking
8 3 (1.22%) Military
8 3 (1.22%) Police
8 3 (1.22%) Presentation Skills
8 3 (1.22%) Telecoms
9 2 (0.82%) Local Government
9 2 (0.82%) Retail
10 1 (0.41%) Back Office
10 1 (0.41%) General Ledger
10 1 (0.41%) Marketing
10 1 (0.41%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 37 (15.10%) Analyst
2 24 (9.80%) Architect
3 23 (9.39%) Developer
3 23 (9.39%) Senior
4 16 (6.53%) Consultant
5 14 (5.71%) Lead
6 12 (4.90%) Project Manager
7 10 (4.08%) Business Analyst
8 9 (3.67%) DevOps Engineer
9 8 (3.27%) DBA
9 8 (3.27%) Network Engineer
9 8 (3.27%) Power Platform Developer
10 7 (2.86%) Artificial Intelligence Architect
10 7 (2.86%) Cloud Consultant
10 7 (2.86%) Oracle Consultant
11 6 (2.45%) Cloud Engineer
11 6 (2.45%) Data Analyst
11 6 (2.45%) Designer
12 5 (2.04%) Java Developer
12 5 (2.04%) Service Desk Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (7.35%) .NET
2 16 (6.53%) React
3 8 (3.27%) Spring
4 7 (2.86%) REST
4 7 (2.86%) RESTful
5 6 (2.45%) JSON
6 5 (2.04%) Node.js
7 4 (1.63%) Spring Boot
8 3 (1.22%) ASP.NET
8 3 (1.22%) Middleware
8 3 (1.22%) XML
9 2 (0.82%) ADO
9 2 (0.82%) Gherkin
9 2 (0.82%) Hibernate
9 2 (0.82%) HTML
9 2 (0.82%) JSP
9 2 (0.82%) JSTL
9 2 (0.82%) Kafka
9 2 (0.82%) SOAP
9 2 (0.82%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 20 (8.16%) Product Ownership
2 13 (5.31%) Legacy Systems
3 12 (4.90%) Management Information System
4 8 (3.27%) NHS
5 7 (2.86%) Data Centre
6 6 (2.45%) Data Protection Act
6 6 (2.45%) Legacy Applications
7 5 (2.04%) Data Structures
7 5 (2.04%) Self-Motivation
8 4 (1.63%) IVR
9 3 (1.22%) Cloud Native
9 3 (1.22%) Cyber Threat
9 3 (1.22%) Freedom of Information
9 3 (1.22%) Hybrid Cloud
9 3 (1.22%) Low-Code
9 3 (1.22%) Onboarding
9 3 (1.22%) Replication
9 3 (1.22%) Wiki
10 2 (0.82%) NVMe
10 2 (0.82%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 20 (8.16%) Linux
2 18 (7.35%) Windows
3 5 (2.04%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 5 (2.04%) Windows 10
3 5 (2.04%) Windows Server
4 3 (1.22%) Unix
5 1 (0.41%) Android
5 1 (0.41%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.41%) Mac OS
5 1 (0.41%) Rocky
5 1 (0.41%) Solaris
5 1 (0.41%) Ubuntu
5 1 (0.41%) Windows Server 2012
5 1 (0.41%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 62 (25.31%) Agile
2 40 (16.33%) DevOps
3 37 (15.10%) Problem-Solving
4 36 (14.69%) CI/CD
4 36 (14.69%) Migration
5 30 (12.24%) Stakeholder Management
6 29 (11.84%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 28 (11.43%) Continuous Improvement
8 27 (11.02%) Roadmaps
9 26 (10.61%) AI
10 21 (8.57%) Business Intelligence
11 20 (8.16%) Decision-Making
12 17 (6.94%) Infrastructure as Code
13 16 (6.53%) Change Management
13 16 (6.53%) CRM
14 15 (6.12%) Data Protection
14 15 (6.12%) Project Management
15 14 (5.71%) Machine Learning
15 14 (5.71%) User Experience
16 13 (5.31%) Coaching
Programming Languages
1 34 (13.88%) Python
2 25 (10.20%) Java
3 21 (8.57%) C#
4 20 (8.16%) SQL
5 14 (5.71%) JavaScript
5 14 (5.71%) PowerShell
6 8 (3.27%) TypeScript
7 4 (1.63%) Bash
7 4 (1.63%) Bicep
8 2 (0.82%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 2 (0.82%) Go
9 1 (0.41%) C++
9 1 (0.41%) COBOL
9 1 (0.41%) JCL
9 1 (0.41%) Kusto Query Language
9 1 (0.41%) Perl
9 1 (0.41%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.41%) SPARQL
9 1 (0.41%) VBA
9 1 (0.41%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 60 (24.49%) Security Cleared
2 35 (14.29%) SC Cleared
3 21 (8.57%) BPSS Clearance
4 15 (6.12%) Degree
5 6 (2.45%) DV Cleared
6 5 (2.04%) CCNP
6 5 (2.04%) Cisco Certification
7 4 (1.63%) Microsoft Certification
8 3 (1.22%) CCAB
8 3 (1.22%) Computer Science Degree
8 3 (1.22%) ITIL Certification
8 3 (1.22%) PMI Certification
9 2 (0.82%) CIPD
9 2 (0.82%) CompTIA CySA+
9 2 (0.82%) CompTIA Security+
9 2 (0.82%) PMP
10 1 (0.41%) CBAP
10 1 (0.41%) IIBA
10 1 (0.41%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
10 1 (0.41%) Six Sigma Black Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (7.35%) Disclosure Scotland
1 18 (7.35%) QA
2 14 (5.71%) GDPR
3 10 (4.08%) Accessibility
3 10 (4.08%) Data Quality
4 7 (2.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 5 (2.04%) PMO
6 4 (1.63%) PCI DSS
7 3 (1.22%) Actionable Recommendations
7 3 (1.22%) GRC
7 3 (1.22%) HIPAA
7 3 (1.22%) NCSC
7 3 (1.22%) NIST
7 3 (1.22%) SLA
7 3 (1.22%) WCAG
8 1 (0.41%) COBIT
8 1 (0.41%) Cyber Essentials
8 1 (0.41%) ISO 20022
8 1 (0.41%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 8 (3.27%) Active Directory
2 7 (2.86%) Docker
3 4 (1.63%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (1.63%) VMware NSX
4 2 (0.82%) Ceph
4 2 (0.82%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.82%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (0.82%) vSphere
5 1 (0.41%) HDFS
5 1 (0.41%) IAG
5 1 (0.41%) iptables
5 1 (0.41%) NFS
5 1 (0.41%) Samba
5 1 (0.41%) Squid
5 1 (0.41%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 16 (6.53%) Terraform
2 10 (4.08%) Ansible
2 10 (4.08%) Kubernetes
3 5 (2.04%) Istio
4 4 (1.63%) Grafana
4 4 (1.63%) Microsoft Intune
5 2 (0.82%) Argo
5 2 (0.82%) vMotion
6 1 (0.41%) Kibana
6 1 (0.41%) logstash
6 1 (0.41%) PowerCLI
6 1 (0.41%) Progress Chef
6 1 (0.41%) Rundeck
6 1 (0.41%) SCCM
6 1 (0.41%) SELinux
6 1 (0.41%) systemd
6 1 (0.41%) vRealize
6 1 (0.41%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 45 (18.37%) Microsoft
2 20 (8.16%) Oracle
3 14 (5.71%) Salesforce
4 13 (5.31%) Cisco
5 10 (4.08%) Google
6 7 (2.86%) OpenAI
6 7 (2.86%) Palo Alto
7 6 (2.45%) VMware
8 4 (1.63%) F5
8 4 (1.63%) ServiceNow
9 3 (1.22%) Avaya
9 3 (1.22%) Genesys
9 3 (1.22%) Greenplum
9 3 (1.22%) Informatica
9 3 (1.22%) Pega
9 3 (1.22%) Splunk
9 3 (1.22%) Talend
10 2 (0.82%) Juniper
10 2 (0.82%) Red Hat
10 2 (0.82%) SAP