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

6 months to
31 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 7 4 1
Rank change year-on-year -3 -3 +1
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 247 353 692
As % of all contract jobs in Scotland 16.06% 21.79% 29.12%
As % of the General category 24.50% 31.60% 43.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 154 256 424
10th Percentile £238 £189 £155
25th Percentile £400 £334 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £446 £475
Median % change year-on-year +0.84% -6.05% +1.06%
75th Percentile £540 £500 £569
90th Percentile £580 £594 £663
UK median daily rate £500 £509 £525
% change year-on-year -1.72% -3.10% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 11 11
10th Percentile £15.25 £19.59 £11.65
25th Percentile - £21.05 £12.77
Median hourly rate £17.23 £24.18 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year -28.74% +38.17% -1.24%
75th Percentile £25.58 £28.07 £38.94
90th Percentile £27.72 £34.50 £55.00
UK median hourly rate £21.50 £25.00 £20.00
% change year-on-year -14.00% +25.00% +2.96%

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 1,008 1,117 1,598
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Scotland 65.54% 68.95% 67.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 553 672 957
10th Percentile £200 £192 £200
25th Percentile £363 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £480
Median % change year-on-year - -6.25% +1.05%
75th Percentile £569 £538 £588
90th Percentile £675 £625 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £530
% change year-on-year -4.76% -0.94% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 70 31 71
10th Percentile £13.00 £16.10 £11.86
25th Percentile £13.50 £20.97 £16.25
Median hourly rate £17.87 £24.00 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -25.54% -7.69% +50.05%
75th Percentile £29.79 £28.07 £60.75
90th Percentile £64.80 £65.00 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £22.50 £28.21 £26.00
% change year-on-year -20.23% +8.48% +4.00%

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 31 January 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 31 January 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 31 January 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 -4 133 £450 +4.41% 9
Glasgow -1 93 £500 +11.11% 20
South Lanarkshire - 7 £550 - 1
West Lothian - 3 £276 - 2
Stirling 0 1 £275 -21.43%
North Lanarkshire - 1 £314 -
Moray - 1 - -
Midlothian - 1 £150 - 9
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 6 (2.43%) Confluence
1 6 (2.43%) Microsoft Exchange
2 5 (2.02%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.62%) CMS
4 3 (1.21%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.81%) Apache
5 2 (0.81%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.81%) Apache TomEE
5 2 (0.81%) ArcGIS
5 2 (0.81%) Drupal
5 2 (0.81%) Umbraco
6 1 (0.40%) CICS
6 1 (0.40%) Exchange Server 2013
6 1 (0.40%) nginx
6 1 (0.40%) Oracle Coherence
Applications
1 13 (5.26%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (3.64%) Microsoft Project
3 6 (2.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (1.21%) Microsoft Office
5 2 (0.81%) Adobe Illustrator
5 2 (0.81%) InDesign
5 2 (0.81%) Photoshop
6 1 (0.40%) Adobe After Effects
6 1 (0.40%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 1 (0.40%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.40%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 10 (4.05%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.40%) iTrent
Cloud Services
1 56 (22.67%) Azure
2 49 (19.84%) AWS
3 25 (10.12%) Power Platform
4 17 (6.88%) Azure DevOps
5 15 (6.07%) Microsoft 365
5 15 (6.07%) Serverless
6 14 (5.67%) AWS CloudFormation
7 13 (5.26%) AWS Lambda
8 12 (4.86%) Dynamics 365
9 10 (4.05%) Cloud Computing
9 10 (4.05%) Power Automate
10 9 (3.64%) PowerApps
10 9 (3.64%) SaaS
11 8 (3.24%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 8 (3.24%) Amazon S3
12 7 (2.83%) Entra ID
12 7 (2.83%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 6 (2.43%) OpenShift
14 5 (2.02%) GCP
14 5 (2.02%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 11 (4.45%) Firewall
2 10 (4.05%) WAN
3 6 (2.43%) Network Security
3 6 (2.43%) VPN
4 5 (2.02%) Cisco Nexus
4 5 (2.02%) LAN
4 5 (2.02%) Wi-Fi
5 3 (1.21%) BGP
5 3 (1.21%) MPLS
5 3 (1.21%) OSPF
5 3 (1.21%) Unified Communications
6 2 (0.81%) Cisco ISE
6 2 (0.81%) DNS
6 2 (0.81%) Fibre Channel
6 2 (0.81%) Intranet
6 2 (0.81%) SDH
6 2 (0.81%) SD-WAN
6 2 (0.81%) TCP/IP
6 2 (0.81%) VoIP
7 1 (0.40%) Cisco Firepower
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (6.88%) Power BI
2 12 (4.86%) Relational Database
2 12 (4.86%) SQL Server
3 10 (4.05%) PostgreSQL
4 8 (3.24%) MySQL
5 5 (2.02%) Amazon Athena
5 5 (2.02%) Amazon Aurora
5 5 (2.02%) Elasticsearch
6 4 (1.62%) Data Lake
6 4 (1.62%) DynamoDB
6 4 (1.62%) GIS
6 4 (1.62%) Metadata
7 3 (1.21%) Geospatial Data
7 3 (1.21%) NoSQL
7 3 (1.21%) Oracle Database
7 3 (1.21%) Snowflake Schema
8 2 (0.81%) Big Data
8 2 (0.81%) Data Warehouse
8 2 (0.81%) Spatial Data
8 2 (0.81%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 11 (4.45%) JIRA
2 8 (3.24%) Git
2 8 (3.24%) Jenkins
3 3 (1.21%) Cucumber
3 3 (1.21%) Cypress.io
3 3 (1.21%) GitLab
4 2 (0.81%) Ant
4 2 (0.81%) Axure RP
4 2 (0.81%) Eclipse
4 2 (0.81%) Maven
4 2 (0.81%) MLflow
4 2 (0.81%) Postman
4 2 (0.81%) Selenium
4 2 (0.81%) Sonatype Nexus
4 2 (0.81%) Subversion
4 2 (0.81%) Team Foundation Server
4 2 (0.81%) WebDriver
5 1 (0.40%) JUnit
5 1 (0.40%) NUnit
5 1 (0.40%) Visual Studio
General
1 73 (29.55%) Social Skills
2 31 (12.55%) Finance
3 26 (10.53%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (4.05%) Influencing Skills
5 6 (2.43%) Legal
5 6 (2.43%) Organisational Skills
6 4 (1.62%) Documentation Skills
6 4 (1.62%) Local Government
6 4 (1.62%) Presentation Skills
6 4 (1.62%) Telecoms
7 3 (1.21%) Military
7 3 (1.21%) Police
7 3 (1.21%) Retail
8 2 (0.81%) Back Office
8 2 (0.81%) Banking
8 2 (0.81%) Publishing
9 1 (0.40%) Billing
9 1 (0.40%) Digital Healthcare
9 1 (0.40%) General Ledger
9 1 (0.40%) Law
Job Titles
1 34 (13.77%) Developer
2 28 (11.34%) Analyst
3 27 (10.93%) Architect
4 16 (6.48%) Senior
5 14 (5.67%) Project Manager
6 12 (4.86%) Solutions Architect
7 11 (4.45%) Lead
8 10 (4.05%) Network Engineer
9 9 (3.64%) Business Analyst
10 8 (3.24%) Cloud Engineer
10 8 (3.24%) Consultant
10 8 (3.24%) Java Developer
11 7 (2.83%) DBA
12 6 (2.43%) .NET Developer
12 6 (2.43%) Power Platform Developer
12 6 (2.43%) Project Officer
12 6 (2.43%) Project Support Officer
12 6 (2.43%) Support Officer
13 5 (2.02%) Operations Engineer
13 5 (2.02%) Site Reliability Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (6.48%) .NET
2 15 (6.07%) React
3 9 (3.64%) REST
4 8 (3.24%) Node.js
4 8 (3.24%) Spring
5 7 (2.83%) HTML
5 7 (2.83%) PyTorch
5 7 (2.83%) RESTful
6 6 (2.43%) AWS CDK
6 6 (2.43%) JSON
7 5 (2.02%) CSS
8 4 (1.62%) Elastic Stack
8 4 (1.62%) Hugging Face
8 4 (1.62%) NumPy
8 4 (1.62%) OpenCV
8 4 (1.62%) Pandas
8 4 (1.62%) Spring Boot
8 4 (1.62%) SQLAlchemy
8 4 (1.62%) XML
9 3 (1.21%) SpaCy
Miscellaneous
1 20 (8.10%) Product Ownership
2 12 (4.86%) NHS
3 11 (4.45%) Management Information System
4 10 (4.05%) Data Centre
5 8 (3.24%) Legacy Applications
5 8 (3.24%) Legacy Systems
6 7 (2.83%) Data Structures
7 6 (2.43%) Cyber Threat
8 5 (2.02%) Cloud Native
8 5 (2.02%) Data Protection Act
8 5 (2.02%) Onboarding
8 5 (2.02%) Wiki
9 4 (1.62%) Algorithms
9 4 (1.62%) Hybrid Cloud
9 4 (1.62%) IVR
9 4 (1.62%) Security Operations Centre
9 4 (1.62%) Web Conferencing
10 3 (1.21%) Analytical Mindset
10 3 (1.21%) Low-Code
10 3 (1.21%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 18 (7.29%) Linux
2 16 (6.48%) Windows
3 8 (3.24%) Unix
4 5 (2.02%) Windows Server
5 3 (1.21%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.40%) Solaris
6 1 (0.40%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.40%) Windows Server 2012
6 1 (0.40%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 77 (31.17%) Agile
2 43 (17.41%) Problem-Solving
3 41 (16.60%) DevOps
4 28 (11.34%) CI/CD
4 28 (11.34%) Migration
5 26 (10.53%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 26 (10.53%) Stakeholder Management
6 22 (8.91%) Project Management
7 20 (8.10%) Infrastructure as Code
8 19 (7.69%) AI
8 19 (7.69%) Roadmaps
9 18 (7.29%) Cybersecurity
9 18 (7.29%) SDLC
10 17 (6.88%) Business Intelligence
10 17 (6.88%) Continuous Improvement
10 17 (6.88%) Data Protection
10 17 (6.88%) User Experience
11 16 (6.48%) Collaborative Working
11 16 (6.48%) Performance Tuning
12 15 (6.07%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 34 (13.77%) Python
2 23 (9.31%) Java
3 19 (7.69%) SQL
4 16 (6.48%) C#
4 16 (6.48%) PowerShell
5 13 (5.26%) JavaScript
5 13 (5.26%) TypeScript
6 7 (2.83%) Bicep
7 3 (1.21%) Bash
7 3 (1.21%) Shell Script
8 2 (0.81%) Apex Code
8 2 (0.81%) C++
8 2 (0.81%) Go
9 1 (0.40%) C
9 1 (0.40%) COBOL
9 1 (0.40%) JCL
9 1 (0.40%) Perl
9 1 (0.40%) PL/SQL
9 1 (0.40%) VBA
9 1 (0.40%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 53 (21.46%) Security Cleared
2 22 (8.91%) Degree
3 20 (8.10%) SC Cleared
4 18 (7.29%) BPSS Clearance
5 9 (3.64%) Cisco Certification
6 6 (2.43%) CCNP
6 6 (2.43%) CISSP
6 6 (2.43%) DV Cleared
6 6 (2.43%) Microsoft Certification
7 5 (2.02%) CCNA
7 5 (2.02%) CompTIA Security+
8 4 (1.62%) Azure Certification
8 4 (1.62%) CCIE
8 4 (1.62%) Computer Science Degree
9 3 (1.21%) CISM
9 3 (1.21%) CompTIA CySA+
9 3 (1.21%) GIAC
9 3 (1.21%) SSCP
10 2 (0.81%) CCIE Collaboration
10 2 (0.81%) CEH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (8.10%) QA
2 17 (6.88%) Disclosure Scotland
2 17 (6.88%) GDPR
3 14 (5.67%) Accessibility
4 10 (4.05%) Data Quality
5 7 (2.83%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 7 (2.83%) PMO
6 4 (1.62%) PCI DSS
6 4 (1.62%) SLA
7 3 (1.21%) HIPAA
8 2 (0.81%) Actionable Recommendations
8 2 (0.81%) Cyber Essentials
8 2 (0.81%) GRC
8 2 (0.81%) NCSC
9 1 (0.40%) COBIT
9 1 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 1 (0.40%) NIST
9 1 (0.40%) P3O
System Software
1 12 (4.86%) Docker
2 7 (2.83%) Active Directory
3 4 (1.62%) Virtual Machines
3 4 (1.62%) VMware NSX
4 3 (1.21%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.81%) vSphere
6 1 (0.40%) HDFS
6 1 (0.40%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 15 (6.07%) Terraform
2 12 (4.86%) Kubernetes
3 9 (3.64%) Ansible
4 8 (3.24%) Grafana
5 4 (1.62%) Kibana
5 4 (1.62%) logstash
6 3 (1.21%) SCCM
7 2 (0.81%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.81%) vMotion
8 1 (0.40%) PowerCLI
8 1 (0.40%) Progress Chef
8 1 (0.40%) vRealize
Vendors
1 52 (21.05%) Microsoft
2 17 (6.88%) Cisco
3 14 (5.67%) Oracle
4 8 (3.24%) Google
5 7 (2.83%) Salesforce
6 6 (2.43%) Splunk
7 5 (2.02%) F5
7 5 (2.02%) OpenAI
7 5 (2.02%) Palo Alto
7 5 (2.02%) VMware
8 4 (1.62%) Pega
8 4 (1.62%) ServiceNow
9 3 (1.21%) Avaya
9 3 (1.21%) Genesys
9 3 (1.21%) Greenplum
9 3 (1.21%) Informatica
9 3 (1.21%) Red Hat
9 3 (1.21%) Talend
10 2 (0.81%) Adobe
10 2 (0.81%) NetApp