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

6 months to
5 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 4 1
Rank change year-on-year -2 -3 +1
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 249 338 663
As % of all contract jobs in Scotland 14.75% 20.40% 28.90%
As % of the General category 24.39% 28.28% 44.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 152 239 408
10th Percentile £250 £191 £156
25th Percentile £358 £367 £307
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year - -5.26% +3.26%
75th Percentile £540 £517 £575
90th Percentile £598 £600 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 11 9
10th Percentile - £19.59 £12.94
25th Percentile £17.23 £21.12 £13.28
Median hourly rate £21.31 £24.18 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year -11.88% +38.17% +22.42%
75th Percentile £26.47 £26.21 £18.75
90th Percentile £28.08 £28.38 £23.33
UK median hourly rate £22.09 £23.00 £21.62
% change year-on-year -3.97% +6.41% +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 1,021 1,195 1,505
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Scotland 60.49% 72.12% 65.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 549 727 898
10th Percentile £207 £212 £178
25th Percentile £358 £365 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £460 £475
Median % change year-on-year -2.17% -3.16% -
75th Percentile £575 £538 £588
90th Percentile £675 £615 £683
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 88 32 73
10th Percentile £12.60 £18.51 £12.50
25th Percentile £13.00 £20.94 £16.25
Median hourly rate £16.25 £24.09 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year -32.54% +23.54% +10.05%
75th Percentile £41.56 £27.91 £60.75
90th Percentile £66.20 £58.22 £69.00
UK median hourly rate £25.77 £29.00 £26.37
% change year-on-year -11.14% +9.97% -24.66%

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 5 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 5 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 -2 127 £438 +1.51% 10
Glasgow +4 100 £475 - 19
South Lanarkshire -5 9 £600 +27.66%
West Lothian -2 3 £276 +47.33% 1
Moray -2 1 - -
North Lanarkshire -4 1 £350 -12.50%
Fife - 1 - -
Midlothian - 1 £150 - 7
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 9 (3.61%) Confluence
2 5 (2.01%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (1.20%) Apache
3 3 (1.20%) CMS
4 2 (0.80%) Apache Airflow
4 2 (0.80%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.80%) Apache TomEE
4 2 (0.80%) Drupal
4 2 (0.80%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.40%) CICS
5 1 (0.40%) Exchange Server 2013
5 1 (0.40%) JBoss
5 1 (0.40%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.40%) Umbraco
Applications
1 10 (4.02%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.20%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 3 (1.20%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.80%) Adobe Illustrator
3 2 (0.80%) InDesign
3 2 (0.80%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.80%) Photoshop
4 1 (0.40%) Adobe After Effects
4 1 (0.40%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 1 (0.40%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.40%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 14 (5.62%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.80%) iTrent
3 1 (0.40%) IntelliMatch
3 1 (0.40%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (0.40%) SAP GRC
3 1 (0.40%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 55 (22.09%) Azure
2 41 (16.47%) AWS
3 29 (11.65%) Power Platform
4 23 (9.24%) Azure DevOps
5 15 (6.02%) Dynamics 365
5 15 (6.02%) Microsoft 365
6 13 (5.22%) Serverless
7 12 (4.82%) Power Automate
7 12 (4.82%) PowerApps
8 8 (3.21%) AWS CloudFormation
8 8 (3.21%) AWS Lambda
9 7 (2.81%) Azure AI
9 7 (2.81%) Azure Cognitive Search
9 7 (2.81%) Azure Cognitive Services
9 7 (2.81%) Cloud Computing
10 6 (2.41%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 6 (2.41%) Azure Cosmos DB
10 6 (2.41%) Entra ID
10 6 (2.41%) OCI
10 6 (2.41%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 8 (3.21%) WAN
2 6 (2.41%) Cisco Nexus
2 6 (2.41%) LAN
2 6 (2.41%) Network Security
3 5 (2.01%) DNS
3 5 (2.01%) Firewall
3 5 (2.01%) Wi-Fi
4 4 (1.61%) MPLS
5 3 (1.20%) BGP
5 3 (1.20%) OSPF
5 3 (1.20%) Remote Desktop
5 3 (1.20%) SDH
5 3 (1.20%) SD-WAN
5 3 (1.20%) VPN
6 2 (0.80%) Fibre Channel
6 2 (0.80%) Intranet
6 2 (0.80%) SSH
6 2 (0.80%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.40%) HTTP
7 1 (0.40%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (8.84%) Power BI
2 12 (4.82%) SQL Server
3 11 (4.42%) MySQL
3 11 (4.42%) Relational Database
4 8 (3.21%) Metadata
5 7 (2.81%) PostgreSQL
6 6 (2.41%) DynamoDB
7 5 (2.01%) Amazon Athena
7 5 (2.01%) Geospatial Data
8 4 (1.61%) Data Lake
8 4 (1.61%) MariaDB
9 3 (1.20%) Amazon Aurora
9 3 (1.20%) Snowflake Schema
10 2 (0.80%) Azure SQL Database
10 2 (0.80%) Elasticsearch
10 2 (0.80%) GIS
10 2 (0.80%) MongoDB
10 2 (0.80%) NoSQL
10 2 (0.80%) Power Query
10 2 (0.80%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 12 (4.82%) JIRA
2 9 (3.61%) Git
3 5 (2.01%) Jenkins
4 4 (1.61%) Selenium
5 3 (1.20%) Cucumber
5 3 (1.20%) GitLab
5 3 (1.20%) WebDriver
6 2 (0.80%) Ant
6 2 (0.80%) Axure RP
6 2 (0.80%) Cypress.io
6 2 (0.80%) Eclipse
6 2 (0.80%) Maven
6 2 (0.80%) MLflow
6 2 (0.80%) NUnit
6 2 (0.80%) Sonatype Nexus
6 2 (0.80%) Terragrunt
7 1 (0.40%) ERwin
7 1 (0.40%) Subversion
7 1 (0.40%) Team Foundation Server
7 1 (0.40%) Visual Studio
General
1 68 (27.31%) Social Skills
2 39 (15.66%) Finance
3 27 (10.84%) Analytical Skills
4 11 (4.42%) Influencing Skills
5 8 (3.21%) Legal
6 6 (2.41%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (1.61%) Documentation Skills
7 4 (1.61%) Telecoms
8 3 (1.20%) Banking
8 3 (1.20%) Local Government
8 3 (1.20%) Military
8 3 (1.20%) Police
9 2 (0.80%) Back Office
9 2 (0.80%) Presentation Skills
9 2 (0.80%) Retail
10 1 (0.40%) Billing
10 1 (0.40%) General Ledger
10 1 (0.40%) Marketing
10 1 (0.40%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 38 (15.26%) Analyst
2 28 (11.24%) Developer
3 26 (10.44%) Senior
4 21 (8.43%) Architect
5 13 (5.22%) Project Manager
6 12 (4.82%) Lead
7 11 (4.42%) Business Analyst
7 11 (4.42%) Consultant
8 9 (3.61%) Power Platform Developer
9 8 (3.21%) DBA
9 8 (3.21%) Designer
9 8 (3.21%) DevOps Engineer
9 8 (3.21%) Network Engineer
10 7 (2.81%) Artificial Intelligence Architect
10 7 (2.81%) Cloud Engineer
11 6 (2.41%) 1st Line Support
11 6 (2.41%) Data Analyst
11 6 (2.41%) Java Developer
11 6 (2.41%) Project Officer
11 6 (2.41%) Support Officer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (8.03%) .NET
2 17 (6.83%) React
3 9 (3.61%) Spring
4 8 (3.21%) REST
4 8 (3.21%) RESTful
5 7 (2.81%) Node.js
6 6 (2.41%) HTML
7 5 (2.01%) CSS
7 5 (2.01%) JSON
7 5 (2.01%) Spring Boot
8 3 (1.20%) AngularJS
8 3 (1.20%) ASP.NET
8 3 (1.20%) Express.js
8 3 (1.20%) XML
9 2 (0.80%) .NET Framework
9 2 (0.80%) FHIR
9 2 (0.80%) Hibernate
9 2 (0.80%) JSP
9 2 (0.80%) JWT
9 2 (0.80%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 20 (8.03%) Product Ownership
2 13 (5.22%) Legacy Systems
3 12 (4.82%) Management Information System
3 12 (4.82%) NHS
4 8 (3.21%) Data Protection Act
5 7 (2.81%) Data Centre
5 7 (2.81%) Legacy Applications
6 5 (2.01%) Data Structures
7 4 (1.61%) Cyber Threat
7 4 (1.61%) IVR
7 4 (1.61%) Self-Motivation
7 4 (1.61%) Wiki
8 3 (1.20%) Cloud Native
8 3 (1.20%) Freedom of Information
8 3 (1.20%) Hybrid Cloud
8 3 (1.20%) Low-Code
8 3 (1.20%) Onboarding
8 3 (1.20%) Replication
8 3 (1.20%) Security Operations Centre
8 3 (1.20%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 21 (8.43%) Linux
2 17 (6.83%) Windows
3 5 (2.01%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 5 (2.01%) Unix
3 5 (2.01%) Windows 10
3 5 (2.01%) Windows Server
4 1 (0.40%) Android
4 1 (0.40%) Apple iOS
4 1 (0.40%) Mac OS
4 1 (0.40%) Rocky
4 1 (0.40%) Solaris
4 1 (0.40%) Ubuntu
4 1 (0.40%) Windows Server 2012
4 1 (0.40%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 67 (26.91%) Agile
2 43 (17.27%) DevOps
3 42 (16.87%) Problem-Solving
4 36 (14.46%) CI/CD
5 35 (14.06%) Migration
6 30 (12.05%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 25 (10.04%) Stakeholder Management
8 22 (8.84%) Business Intelligence
9 21 (8.43%) AI
9 21 (8.43%) Roadmaps
10 19 (7.63%) Continuous Improvement
10 19 (7.63%) Data Protection
11 18 (7.23%) Project Management
12 17 (6.83%) CRM
12 17 (6.83%) Decision-Making
12 17 (6.83%) Infrastructure as Code
12 17 (6.83%) User Experience
13 14 (5.62%) Collaborative Working
13 14 (5.62%) Cybersecurity
13 14 (5.62%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 34 (13.65%) Python
2 25 (10.04%) Java
3 23 (9.24%) C#
4 21 (8.43%) SQL
5 17 (6.83%) JavaScript
5 17 (6.83%) PowerShell
6 10 (4.02%) TypeScript
7 4 (1.61%) Bash
7 4 (1.61%) Bicep
8 2 (0.80%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 2 (0.80%) Go
9 1 (0.40%) C++
9 1 (0.40%) COBOL
9 1 (0.40%) JCL
9 1 (0.40%) Kusto Query Language
9 1 (0.40%) Perl
9 1 (0.40%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.40%) SPARQL
9 1 (0.40%) VBA
9 1 (0.40%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 61 (24.50%) Security Cleared
2 31 (12.45%) SC Cleared
3 20 (8.03%) BPSS Clearance
4 16 (6.43%) Degree
5 6 (2.41%) Cisco Certification
5 6 (2.41%) DV Cleared
6 5 (2.01%) CCNP
6 5 (2.01%) Microsoft Certification
7 4 (1.61%) ITIL Certification
8 3 (1.20%) CCAB
8 3 (1.20%) Computer Science Degree
8 3 (1.20%) PMI Certification
9 2 (0.80%) CCIE
9 2 (0.80%) CIPD
9 2 (0.80%) CISSP
9 2 (0.80%) CompTIA CySA+
9 2 (0.80%) CompTIA Security+
9 2 (0.80%) GIAC
9 2 (0.80%) MCSE
9 2 (0.80%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (7.23%) Disclosure Scotland
1 18 (7.23%) QA
2 17 (6.83%) GDPR
3 13 (5.22%) Accessibility
4 12 (4.82%) Data Quality
5 7 (2.81%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 6 (2.41%) PMO
7 4 (1.61%) PCI DSS
8 3 (1.20%) Actionable Recommendations
8 3 (1.20%) GRC
8 3 (1.20%) HIPAA
8 3 (1.20%) NCSC
8 3 (1.20%) NIST
8 3 (1.20%) SLA
8 3 (1.20%) WCAG
9 2 (0.80%) Cyber Essentials
10 1 (0.40%) COBIT
10 1 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 1 (0.40%) ISO 20022
10 1 (0.40%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 12 (4.82%) Active Directory
2 6 (2.41%) Docker
3 5 (2.01%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (1.61%) VMware NSX
5 3 (1.20%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.80%) Ceph
6 2 (0.80%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.80%) vSphere
7 1 (0.40%) HDFS
7 1 (0.40%) IAG
7 1 (0.40%) iptables
7 1 (0.40%) NFS
7 1 (0.40%) Samba
7 1 (0.40%) Squid
7 1 (0.40%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 17 (6.83%) Terraform
2 10 (4.02%) Ansible
2 10 (4.02%) Kubernetes
3 5 (2.01%) Istio
4 4 (1.61%) Grafana
5 3 (1.20%) Microsoft Intune
6 2 (0.80%) Argo
6 2 (0.80%) SCCM
6 2 (0.80%) vMotion
7 1 (0.40%) Kibana
7 1 (0.40%) logstash
7 1 (0.40%) PowerCLI
7 1 (0.40%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.40%) Rundeck
7 1 (0.40%) SELinux
7 1 (0.40%) systemd
7 1 (0.40%) vRealize
7 1 (0.40%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 51 (20.48%) Microsoft
2 17 (6.83%) Oracle
3 15 (6.02%) Cisco
4 11 (4.42%) Salesforce
5 10 (4.02%) Google
6 7 (2.81%) OpenAI
6 7 (2.81%) VMware
7 6 (2.41%) Palo Alto
8 4 (1.61%) F5
8 4 (1.61%) Red Hat
8 4 (1.61%) ServiceNow
8 4 (1.61%) Splunk
9 3 (1.20%) Avaya
9 3 (1.20%) Genesys
9 3 (1.20%) Greenplum
9 3 (1.20%) Informatica
9 3 (1.20%) Pega
9 3 (1.20%) Talend
10 2 (0.80%) Arista
10 2 (0.80%) Juniper