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 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 4 1
Rank change year-on-year -3 -3 +1
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 253 371 693
As % of all contract jobs in Scotland 16.02% 22.20% 29.39%
As % of the General category 25.02% 31.52% 43.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 153 269 423
10th Percentile £250 £191 £157
25th Percentile £358 £363 £358
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year - -5.26% +2.15%
75th Percentile £540 £516 £561
90th Percentile £580 £600 £663
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 10 11
10th Percentile £15.25 £19.59 £12.26
25th Percentile - £22.50 £13.27
Median hourly rate £17.23 £24.42 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year -29.44% +39.54% -6.67%
75th Percentile £25.58 £28.22 £38.94
90th Percentile £27.72 £29.79 £55.00
UK median hourly rate £22.00 £25.00 £21.00
% change year-on-year -12.00% +19.05% +5.00%

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 1,011 1,177 1,576
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Scotland 64.03% 70.44% 66.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 558 710 952
10th Percentile £200 £195 £203
25th Percentile £358 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £480
Median % change year-on-year - -6.25% +1.05%
75th Percentile £568 £538 £588
90th Percentile £674 £625 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 76 29 70
10th Percentile £12.60 £19.37 £11.99
25th Percentile £13.34 £21.00 £16.25
Median hourly rate £17.87 £24.00 £24.44
Median % change year-on-year -25.54% -1.78% +41.02%
75th Percentile £40.02 £27.75 £60.75
90th Percentile £67.00 £47.00 £70.38
UK median hourly rate £23.00 £30.00 £26.00
% change year-on-year -23.33% +15.38% -8.77%

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 February 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
Hourly Rate Histogram in Scotland

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Public Sector in Scotland over the 6 months to 23 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Public Sector in Scotland

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 February 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 -4 125 £450 +4.65% 6
Glasgow +2 105 £500 +5.54% 12
South Lanarkshire -2 8 £550 - 1
West Lothian - 3 £276 - 2
North Lanarkshire - 1 £350 - 1
Moray - 1 - -
Midlothian - 1 £150 - 5
Aberdeen - 1 £138 -
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 7 (2.77%) Confluence
2 6 (2.37%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (1.19%) Apache Airflow
3 3 (1.19%) CMS
3 3 (1.19%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.79%) Apache
4 2 (0.79%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.79%) Apache TomEE
4 2 (0.79%) ArcGIS
4 2 (0.79%) Drupal
5 1 (0.40%) CICS
5 1 (0.40%) Exchange Server 2013
5 1 (0.40%) Oracle Coherence
5 1 (0.40%) Umbraco
Applications
1 11 (4.35%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (3.16%) Microsoft Project
3 4 (1.58%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.79%) Adobe Illustrator
4 2 (0.79%) InDesign
4 2 (0.79%) Microsoft Office
4 2 (0.79%) Photoshop
5 1 (0.40%) Adobe After Effects
5 1 (0.40%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 1 (0.40%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.40%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 13 (5.14%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.79%) iTrent
3 1 (0.40%) IntelliMatch
3 1 (0.40%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 61 (24.11%) Azure
2 45 (17.79%) AWS
3 26 (10.28%) Power Platform
4 19 (7.51%) Azure DevOps
5 14 (5.53%) Dynamics 365
5 14 (5.53%) Microsoft 365
6 12 (4.74%) Serverless
7 11 (4.35%) AWS CloudFormation
7 11 (4.35%) Power Automate
7 11 (4.35%) PowerApps
8 10 (3.95%) SaaS
9 9 (3.56%) AWS Lambda
9 9 (3.56%) Cloud Computing
10 8 (3.16%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 8 (3.16%) Entra ID
11 7 (2.77%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 6 (2.37%) Azure AI
12 6 (2.37%) Azure Cognitive Search
12 6 (2.37%) Azure Cognitive Services
13 5 (1.98%) Azure Cosmos DB
Communications & Networking
1 10 (3.95%) WAN
2 7 (2.77%) Firewall
3 6 (2.37%) VPN
4 5 (1.98%) Cisco Nexus
4 5 (1.98%) LAN
4 5 (1.98%) Network Security
5 4 (1.58%) Wi-Fi
6 3 (1.19%) BGP
6 3 (1.19%) MPLS
6 3 (1.19%) OSPF
7 2 (0.79%) DNS
7 2 (0.79%) Fibre Channel
7 2 (0.79%) Intranet
7 2 (0.79%) SDH
7 2 (0.79%) SD-WAN
7 2 (0.79%) TCP/IP
8 1 (0.40%) Cisco ASA
8 1 (0.40%) Ethernet VPN
8 1 (0.40%) IPv4
8 1 (0.40%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (7.11%) Power BI
2 12 (4.74%) SQL Server
3 10 (3.95%) Relational Database
4 9 (3.56%) MySQL
5 6 (2.37%) Amazon Athena
5 6 (2.37%) DynamoDB
5 6 (2.37%) Metadata
5 6 (2.37%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (1.98%) Elasticsearch
7 4 (1.58%) Data Lake
7 4 (1.58%) GIS
8 3 (1.19%) Geospatial Data
8 3 (1.19%) NoSQL
8 3 (1.19%) Snowflake Schema
9 2 (0.79%) Amazon Aurora
9 2 (0.79%) Big Data
9 2 (0.79%) Data Warehouse
9 2 (0.79%) Oracle Database
9 2 (0.79%) Spatial Data
9 2 (0.79%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 12 (4.74%) JIRA
2 8 (3.16%) Git
3 6 (2.37%) Jenkins
4 3 (1.19%) Cucumber
4 3 (1.19%) GitLab
5 2 (0.79%) Ant
5 2 (0.79%) Axure RP
5 2 (0.79%) Cypress.io
5 2 (0.79%) Eclipse
5 2 (0.79%) Maven
5 2 (0.79%) MLflow
5 2 (0.79%) NUnit
5 2 (0.79%) Postman
5 2 (0.79%) Selenium
5 2 (0.79%) Sonatype Nexus
5 2 (0.79%) WebDriver
6 1 (0.40%) ERwin
6 1 (0.40%) JUnit
6 1 (0.40%) Subversion
6 1 (0.40%) Visual Studio
General
1 80 (31.62%) Social Skills
2 39 (15.42%) Finance
3 30 (11.86%) Analytical Skills
4 13 (5.14%) Influencing Skills
5 8 (3.16%) Legal
6 6 (2.37%) Organisational Skills
7 5 (1.98%) Documentation Skills
7 5 (1.98%) Local Government
8 4 (1.58%) Presentation Skills
8 4 (1.58%) Telecoms
9 3 (1.19%) Banking
9 3 (1.19%) Military
9 3 (1.19%) Police
9 3 (1.19%) Retail
10 2 (0.79%) Back Office
10 2 (0.79%) Publishing
11 1 (0.40%) Billing
11 1 (0.40%) General Ledger
11 1 (0.40%) Law
11 1 (0.40%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 32 (12.65%) Analyst
2 30 (11.86%) Architect
3 29 (11.46%) Developer
4 18 (7.11%) Senior
5 15 (5.93%) Project Manager
6 12 (4.74%) Solutions Architect
7 11 (4.35%) Lead
8 10 (3.95%) Business Analyst
9 9 (3.56%) Consultant
10 8 (3.16%) Cloud Engineer
10 8 (3.16%) DBA
10 8 (3.16%) Network Engineer
10 8 (3.16%) Power Platform Developer
11 7 (2.77%) Java Developer
11 7 (2.77%) Project Officer
11 7 (2.77%) Project Support Officer
11 7 (2.77%) Support Officer
12 6 (2.37%) Artificial Intelligence Architect
12 6 (2.37%) Designer
13 5 (1.98%) Operations Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (6.72%) .NET
2 14 (5.53%) React
3 8 (3.16%) Node.js
3 8 (3.16%) REST
4 7 (2.77%) RESTful
4 7 (2.77%) Spring
5 6 (2.37%) HTML
6 5 (1.98%) CSS
6 5 (1.98%) JSON
7 4 (1.58%) AngularJS
7 4 (1.58%) Elastic Stack
7 4 (1.58%) Hugging Face
7 4 (1.58%) NumPy
7 4 (1.58%) OpenCV
7 4 (1.58%) Pandas
7 4 (1.58%) PyTorch
7 4 (1.58%) SQLAlchemy
8 3 (1.19%) boto
8 3 (1.19%) Express.js
8 3 (1.19%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 20 (7.91%) Product Ownership
2 12 (4.74%) Legacy Systems
2 12 (4.74%) Management Information System
2 12 (4.74%) NHS
3 10 (3.95%) Data Centre
4 7 (2.77%) Data Protection Act
4 7 (2.77%) Data Structures
4 7 (2.77%) Legacy Applications
5 6 (2.37%) Cyber Threat
5 6 (2.37%) Onboarding
6 5 (1.98%) Cloud Native
6 5 (1.98%) Hybrid Cloud
7 4 (1.58%) Algorithms
7 4 (1.58%) Freedom of Information
7 4 (1.58%) IVR
7 4 (1.58%) Security Operations Centre
7 4 (1.58%) Self-Motivation
7 4 (1.58%) Wiki
8 3 (1.19%) Low-Code
8 3 (1.19%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 14 (5.53%) Linux
2 12 (4.74%) Windows
3 5 (1.98%) Unix
3 5 (1.98%) Windows Server
4 3 (1.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 2 (0.79%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.40%) Solaris
6 1 (0.40%) Windows Server 2012
6 1 (0.40%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 74 (29.25%) Agile
2 48 (18.97%) Problem-Solving
3 38 (15.02%) DevOps
4 35 (13.83%) Migration
5 33 (13.04%) Stakeholder Management
6 27 (10.67%) CI/CD
7 26 (10.28%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 22 (8.70%) Project Management
9 21 (8.30%) AI
9 21 (8.30%) Roadmaps
10 19 (7.51%) User Experience
11 18 (7.11%) Cybersecurity
11 18 (7.11%) Data Protection
12 17 (6.72%) Business Intelligence
12 17 (6.72%) Collaborative Working
12 17 (6.72%) CRM
12 17 (6.72%) Infrastructure as Code
12 17 (6.72%) SDLC
13 16 (6.32%) Decision-Making
13 16 (6.32%) Performance Tuning
Programming Languages
1 35 (13.83%) Python
2 21 (8.30%) C#
3 19 (7.51%) Java
4 18 (7.11%) PowerShell
5 17 (6.72%) SQL
6 15 (5.93%) JavaScript
7 9 (3.56%) TypeScript
8 8 (3.16%) Bicep
9 3 (1.19%) Bash
10 2 (0.79%) Go
11 1 (0.40%) Apex Code
11 1 (0.40%) C++
11 1 (0.40%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 1 (0.40%) JCL
11 1 (0.40%) Kusto Query Language
11 1 (0.40%) Perl
11 1 (0.40%) Shell Script
11 1 (0.40%) SPARQL
11 1 (0.40%) VBA
11 1 (0.40%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 57 (22.53%) Security Cleared
2 23 (9.09%) Degree
3 22 (8.70%) SC Cleared
4 20 (7.91%) BPSS Clearance
5 6 (2.37%) Cisco Certification
5 6 (2.37%) CISSP
5 6 (2.37%) DV Cleared
6 5 (1.98%) CompTIA Security+
6 5 (1.98%) Microsoft Certification
7 4 (1.58%) Azure Certification
7 4 (1.58%) CCNP
8 3 (1.19%) CISM
8 3 (1.19%) CompTIA CySA+
8 3 (1.19%) Computer Science Degree
8 3 (1.19%) GIAC
8 3 (1.19%) SSCP
9 2 (0.79%) CCAB
9 2 (0.79%) CEH
9 2 (0.79%) PMI Certification
9 2 (0.79%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (8.30%) QA
2 19 (7.51%) GDPR
3 17 (6.72%) Disclosure Scotland
4 13 (5.14%) Accessibility
5 12 (4.74%) Data Quality
6 9 (3.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 6 (2.37%) PMO
8 5 (1.98%) SLA
9 4 (1.58%) NCSC
9 4 (1.58%) PCI DSS
10 3 (1.19%) HIPAA
10 3 (1.19%) NIST
11 2 (0.79%) Cyber Essentials
11 2 (0.79%) GRC
11 2 (0.79%) WCAG
12 1 (0.40%) Actionable Recommendations
12 1 (0.40%) COBIT
12 1 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 1 (0.40%) ISO 20022
12 1 (0.40%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 8 (3.16%) Active Directory
2 7 (2.77%) Docker
3 4 (1.58%) Virtual Machines
3 4 (1.58%) VMware NSX
4 3 (1.19%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.79%) vSphere
6 1 (0.40%) HDFS
6 1 (0.40%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 15 (5.93%) Terraform
2 8 (3.16%) Ansible
3 7 (2.77%) Kubernetes
4 4 (1.58%) Grafana
4 4 (1.58%) Kibana
4 4 (1.58%) logstash
5 3 (1.19%) SCCM
6 2 (0.79%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.79%) vMotion
7 1 (0.40%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (0.40%) PowerCLI
7 1 (0.40%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.40%) vRealize
Vendors
1 57 (22.53%) Microsoft
2 14 (5.53%) Cisco
2 14 (5.53%) Oracle
3 9 (3.56%) Google
4 6 (2.37%) OpenAI
4 6 (2.37%) Salesforce
4 6 (2.37%) Splunk
5 5 (1.98%) Palo Alto
5 5 (1.98%) VMware
6 4 (1.58%) ServiceNow
7 3 (1.19%) Avaya
7 3 (1.19%) F5
7 3 (1.19%) Genesys
7 3 (1.19%) Greenplum
7 3 (1.19%) Informatica
7 3 (1.19%) Pega
7 3 (1.19%) Red Hat
7 3 (1.19%) Talend
8 2 (0.79%) Adobe
8 2 (0.79%) Juniper