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

6 months to
1 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 2 1
Rank change year-on-year -4 -1 +1
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 248 369 681
As % of all contract jobs in Scotland 16.57% 22.32% 29.02%
As % of the General category 24.87% 32.92% 43.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 166 262 420
10th Percentile £243 £193 £152
25th Percentile £402 £376 £320
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year - -5.26% -
75th Percentile £540 £523 £575
90th Percentile £600 £638 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -2.44% -2.38% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 12 9
10th Percentile £14.92 £17.19 £11.63
25th Percentile £16.41 £19.59 £12.26
Median hourly rate £17.23 £23.00 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year -25.09% +31.43% +2.70%
75th Percentile £20.21 £27.91 £55.00
90th Percentile £25.58 £33.89 £55.28
UK median hourly rate £21.00 £22.27 £21.00
% change year-on-year -5.70% +6.05% +10.53%

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 997 1,121 1,574
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Scotland 66.60% 67.82% 67.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 593 672 972
10th Percentile £201 £192 £199
25th Percentile £363 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £450 £490
Median % change year-on-year +2.78% -8.16% +3.16%
75th Percentile £550 £538 £588
90th Percentile £637 £625 £700
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £545
% change year-on-year -4.76% -3.58% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 54 29 46
10th Percentile £13.00 £16.54 £12.13
25th Percentile £13.61 £19.64 £16.25
Median hourly rate £17.87 £24.00 £21.19
Median % change year-on-year -25.54% +13.29% +25.10%
75th Percentile £25.80 £27.75 £59.03
90th Percentile £58.88 £49.23 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £23.58 £27.39 £33.00
% change year-on-year -13.91% -17.02% +32.00%

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 1 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 1 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 1 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 -3 131 £450 - 18
Glasgow -6 97 £500 +9.59% 11
South Lanarkshire +3 3 £550 -
West Lothian - 2 £289 - 3
North Lanarkshire - 2 £314 -
Lanarkshire +4 1 £130 -75.24% 15
Dundee +2 1 £115 -39.47%
Stirling 0 1 £275 +41.03%
Aberdeen - 1 £500 -
Midlothian - 1 £150 - 10
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 8 (3.23%) Confluence
2 6 (2.42%) SharePoint
3 5 (2.02%) Microsoft Exchange
4 4 (1.61%) Apache
5 3 (1.21%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.81%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.81%) Apache TomEE
6 2 (0.81%) ArcGIS
6 2 (0.81%) CMS
6 2 (0.81%) Tomcat
6 2 (0.81%) Umbraco
6 2 (0.81%) WebLogic
7 1 (0.40%) Alfresco
7 1 (0.40%) Apache Solr
7 1 (0.40%) nginx
7 1 (0.40%) Oracle Coherence
Applications
1 15 (6.05%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (3.23%) Microsoft Project
3 5 (2.02%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.81%) Adobe Illustrator
4 2 (0.81%) InDesign
4 2 (0.81%) Microsoft Office
4 2 (0.81%) 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 10 (4.03%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.40%) iTrent
Cloud Services
1 53 (21.37%) AWS
1 53 (21.37%) Azure
2 26 (10.48%) Power Platform
3 16 (6.45%) Microsoft 365
3 16 (6.45%) Serverless
4 15 (6.05%) AWS CloudFormation
5 14 (5.65%) AWS Lambda
5 14 (5.65%) Azure DevOps
6 12 (4.84%) Amazon S3
6 12 (4.84%) Dynamics 365
7 11 (4.44%) OpenShift
8 10 (4.03%) Power Automate
8 10 (4.03%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 9 (3.63%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 8 (3.23%) Amazon EKS
10 8 (3.23%) Entra ID
10 8 (3.23%) PowerApps
10 8 (3.23%) SaaS
11 6 (2.42%) Cloud Computing
11 6 (2.42%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 9 (3.63%) Firewall
1 9 (3.63%) WAN
2 6 (2.42%) VPN
3 5 (2.02%) LAN
4 4 (1.61%) Network Security
4 4 (1.61%) Wi-Fi
5 3 (1.21%) Cisco ISE
5 3 (1.21%) Cisco Nexus
5 3 (1.21%) MPLS
5 3 (1.21%) Unified Communications
6 2 (0.81%) SDH
6 2 (0.81%) SD-WAN
6 2 (0.81%) TETRA
6 2 (0.81%) VoIP
7 1 (0.40%) Cisco Firepower
7 1 (0.40%) Ethernet VPN
7 1 (0.40%) HTTP
7 1 (0.40%) IPsec
7 1 (0.40%) VXLAN
7 1 (0.40%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (6.85%) Power BI
2 12 (4.84%) SQL Server
3 11 (4.44%) PostgreSQL
4 9 (3.63%) Relational Database
5 7 (2.82%) Amazon Aurora
6 6 (2.42%) Elasticsearch
7 5 (2.02%) Amazon Athena
7 5 (2.02%) MongoDB
7 5 (2.02%) MySQL
7 5 (2.02%) Oracle Database
8 4 (1.61%) DynamoDB
9 3 (1.21%) Data Lake
9 3 (1.21%) GIS
9 3 (1.21%) Oracle Reports
10 2 (0.81%) Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.81%) Geospatial Data
10 2 (0.81%) InfluxDB
10 2 (0.81%) NoSQL
10 2 (0.81%) Snowflake Schema
10 2 (0.81%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 15 (6.05%) Git
1 15 (6.05%) JIRA
2 11 (4.44%) Jenkins
3 4 (1.61%) GitLab
4 3 (1.21%) Cypress.io
4 3 (1.21%) Subversion
4 3 (1.21%) Terragrunt
4 3 (1.21%) webpack
5 2 (0.81%) Ant
5 2 (0.81%) Axure RP
5 2 (0.81%) CircleCI
5 2 (0.81%) Cucumber
5 2 (0.81%) Eclipse
5 2 (0.81%) Maven
5 2 (0.81%) Oracle Forms
5 2 (0.81%) Postman
6 1 (0.40%) MLflow
6 1 (0.40%) Mockito
6 1 (0.40%) SonarQube
6 1 (0.40%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 74 (29.84%) Social Skills
2 34 (13.71%) Finance
3 27 (10.89%) Analytical Skills
4 9 (3.63%) Influencing Skills
5 6 (2.42%) Telecoms
6 5 (2.02%) Legal
6 5 (2.02%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (1.61%) Presentation Skills
8 3 (1.21%) Local Government
8 3 (1.21%) Retail
9 2 (0.81%) Back Office
9 2 (0.81%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (0.81%) Law
10 1 (0.40%) Digital Healthcare
10 1 (0.40%) Electronics
10 1 (0.40%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 1 (0.40%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.40%) Military
10 1 (0.40%) Police
10 1 (0.40%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 40 (16.13%) Developer
2 28 (11.29%) Analyst
3 25 (10.08%) Architect
4 16 (6.45%) Senior
5 13 (5.24%) Project Manager
6 12 (4.84%) Business Analyst
7 11 (4.44%) Solutions Architect
8 10 (4.03%) Consultant
8 10 (4.03%) Lead
9 9 (3.63%) Java Developer
10 8 (3.23%) Network Engineer
11 7 (2.82%) Cloud Engineer
11 7 (2.82%) Site Reliability Engineer
11 7 (2.82%) Support Officer
12 6 (2.42%) Delivery Manager
12 6 (2.42%) Power Platform Developer
12 6 (2.42%) Project Officer
12 6 (2.42%) Project Support Officer
12 6 (2.42%) Site Engineer
12 6 (2.42%) User Researcher
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (5.65%) .NET
1 14 (5.65%) React
2 12 (4.84%) Node.js
3 11 (4.44%) HTML
3 11 (4.44%) Spring
4 10 (4.03%) REST
5 9 (3.63%) AWS CDK
5 9 (3.63%) CSS
6 8 (3.23%) RESTful
7 7 (2.82%) PyTorch
7 7 (2.82%) Spring Boot
8 5 (2.02%) JSON
8 5 (2.02%) XML
9 4 (1.61%) AngularJS
9 4 (1.61%) NumPy
9 4 (1.61%) OAuth
9 4 (1.61%) OpenCV
9 4 (1.61%) Spring Security
9 4 (1.61%) Spring Web Flow
9 4 (1.61%) SQLAlchemy
Miscellaneous
1 13 (5.24%) Management Information System
1 13 (5.24%) Product Ownership
2 12 (4.84%) NHS
3 11 (4.44%) Legacy Systems
4 7 (2.82%) Cloud Native
4 7 (2.82%) Cyber Threat
4 7 (2.82%) Legacy Applications
5 5 (2.02%) Data Centre
5 5 (2.02%) Data Protection Act
5 5 (2.02%) Data Structures
5 5 (2.02%) Freedom of Information
5 5 (2.02%) Onboarding
5 5 (2.02%) Wiki
6 4 (1.61%) Algorithms
6 4 (1.61%) Hybrid Cloud
6 4 (1.61%) IVR
6 4 (1.61%) Security Operations Centre
7 3 (1.21%) Cyber Defence
7 3 (1.21%) Driving Licence
7 3 (1.21%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 21 (8.47%) Linux
2 11 (4.44%) Windows
3 10 (4.03%) Unix
4 5 (2.02%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 2 (0.81%) Oracle Linux
5 2 (0.81%) Windows Server
6 1 (0.40%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 83 (33.47%) Agile
2 40 (16.13%) DevOps
2 40 (16.13%) Problem-Solving
3 37 (14.92%) CI/CD
4 28 (11.29%) Migration
5 27 (10.89%) Project Management
5 27 (10.89%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 25 (10.08%) Infrastructure as Code
7 22 (8.87%) User Experience
8 21 (8.47%) Stakeholder Management
9 20 (8.06%) Cybersecurity
9 20 (8.06%) Roadmaps
10 19 (7.66%) Continuous Improvement
10 19 (7.66%) Mentoring
11 18 (7.26%) Business Intelligence
12 17 (6.85%) Data Protection
13 15 (6.05%) Coaching
13 15 (6.05%) Data Analysis
13 15 (6.05%) Disaster Recovery
14 14 (5.65%) AI
Programming Languages
1 36 (14.52%) Python
2 24 (9.68%) Java
3 17 (6.85%) JavaScript
3 17 (6.85%) SQL
3 17 (6.85%) TypeScript
4 14 (5.65%) PowerShell
5 13 (5.24%) C#
6 7 (2.82%) Bash
7 6 (2.42%) Bicep
8 5 (2.02%) Shell Script
9 4 (1.61%) Perl
10 3 (1.21%) PL/SQL
11 2 (0.81%) Apex Code
11 2 (0.81%) Go
11 2 (0.81%) Groovy
11 2 (0.81%) R
12 1 (0.40%) C
12 1 (0.40%) C++
12 1 (0.40%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 49 (19.76%) Security Cleared
2 23 (9.27%) Degree
3 19 (7.66%) SC Cleared
4 16 (6.45%) BPSS Clearance
5 8 (3.23%) Cisco Certification
6 7 (2.82%) CISSP
6 7 (2.82%) Microsoft Certification
7 6 (2.42%) CCNA
8 5 (2.02%) DV Cleared
9 4 (1.61%) Azure Certification
9 4 (1.61%) CCNP
9 4 (1.61%) CISM
9 4 (1.61%) CompTIA Security+
9 4 (1.61%) Computer Science Degree
9 4 (1.61%) GIAC
10 3 (1.21%) CCIE
10 3 (1.21%) CEH
10 3 (1.21%) MCSA
10 3 (1.21%) SSCP
11 2 (0.81%) HNC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (8.06%) GDPR
2 16 (6.45%) Accessibility
3 15 (6.05%) Disclosure Scotland
4 14 (5.65%) QA
5 8 (3.23%) Data Quality
5 8 (3.23%) PMO
6 7 (2.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 5 (2.02%) SLA
8 4 (1.61%) PCI DSS
9 3 (1.21%) HIPAA
10 2 (0.81%) Actionable Recommendations
10 2 (0.81%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.81%) GRC
10 2 (0.81%) NCSC
11 1 (0.40%) COBIT
11 1 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.40%) NIST
11 1 (0.40%) P3O
11 1 (0.40%) WCAG
System Software
1 18 (7.26%) Docker
2 8 (3.23%) Active Directory
3 4 (1.61%) KVM
3 4 (1.61%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.40%) HDFS
4 1 (0.40%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.40%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 22 (8.87%) Terraform
2 21 (8.47%) Kubernetes
3 12 (4.84%) Grafana
4 9 (3.63%) Ansible
5 6 (2.42%) Prometheus
6 4 (1.61%) Kibana
6 4 (1.61%) logstash
6 4 (1.61%) SCCM
7 3 (1.21%) Argo
7 3 (1.21%) Istio
7 3 (1.21%) Red Hat Satellite
8 2 (0.81%) Fluentd
8 2 (0.81%) HAProxy
8 2 (0.81%) Nagios
8 2 (0.81%) Single Sign-On
9 1 (0.40%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 53 (21.37%) Microsoft
2 22 (8.87%) Oracle
3 14 (5.65%) Cisco
4 6 (2.42%) Red Hat
4 6 (2.42%) Salesforce
4 6 (2.42%) Splunk
5 5 (2.02%) F5
6 4 (1.61%) Google
6 4 (1.61%) Pega
6 4 (1.61%) ServiceNow
7 3 (1.21%) Avaya
7 3 (1.21%) Commvault
7 3 (1.21%) Genesys
7 3 (1.21%) Palo Alto
7 3 (1.21%) SAP
8 2 (0.81%) Adobe
8 2 (0.81%) Greenplum
8 2 (0.81%) Informatica
8 2 (0.81%) OpenAI
8 2 (0.81%) Talend