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

6 months to
19 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 8 4 1
Rank change year-on-year -4 -3 +1
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 241 332 640
As % of all contract jobs in Scotland 13.95% 20.18% 28.52%
As % of the General category 23.47% 27.92% 43.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 153 234 400
10th Percentile £277 £192 £156
25th Percentile £381 £378 £322
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £451 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +0.11% -5.26% +3.54%
75th Percentile £558 £519 £575
90th Percentile £630 £588 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year -0.05% -4.71% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 11 9
10th Percentile - £19.59 £12.94
25th Percentile £17.23 £21.12 £16.25
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 £19.17
90th Percentile £28.08 £28.38 £23.33
UK median hourly rate £22.50 £22.95 £21.73
% change year-on-year -1.96% +5.61% +8.65%

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 1,465
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Scotland 59.43% 72.28% 65.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 548 722 880
10th Percentile £240 £238 £180
25th Percentile £361 £368 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £459 £463 £475
Median % change year-on-year -0.81% -2.63% -
75th Percentile £575 £538 £588
90th Percentile £675 £612 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 90 35 73
10th Percentile £12.60 £16.16 £12.30
25th Percentile £13.45 £19.67 £16.25
Median hourly rate £16.54 £23.00 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year -28.11% +17.95% -8.28%
75th Percentile £38.23 £26.21 £60.00
90th Percentile £65.40 £52.89 £69.00
UK median hourly rate £27.71 £28.68 £28.00
% change year-on-year -3.37% +2.41% -20.00%

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 19 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 19 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 -2 115 £438 -2.78% 24
Glasgow +9 105 £500 +5.26% 16
South Lanarkshire -5 9 £600 +27.66% 1
West Lothian -2 3 £276 +47.33% 1
Moray -2 1 - -
North Lanarkshire -4 1 £350 -12.50%
Fife - 1 - - 1
Aberdeen - 1 £138 - 3
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 (3.73%) Confluence
2 3 (1.24%) Apache
2 3 (1.24%) CMS
2 3 (1.24%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (1.24%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.83%) Apache Airflow
3 2 (0.83%) Apache Spark
3 2 (0.83%) Apache TomEE
3 2 (0.83%) Drupal
4 1 (0.41%) CICS
4 1 (0.41%) Exchange Server 2013
4 1 (0.41%) JBoss
4 1 (0.41%) OpenStack
4 1 (0.41%) Umbraco
Applications
1 9 (3.73%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.24%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 3 (1.24%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.83%) Adobe Illustrator
3 2 (0.83%) InDesign
3 2 (0.83%) 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 (5.39%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.83%) 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 50 (20.75%) Azure
2 41 (17.01%) AWS
3 24 (9.96%) Power Platform
4 22 (9.13%) Azure DevOps
5 13 (5.39%) Microsoft 365
5 13 (5.39%) Serverless
6 12 (4.98%) Dynamics 365
7 11 (4.56%) PowerApps
8 10 (4.15%) OCI
8 10 (4.15%) Power Automate
9 8 (3.32%) AWS CloudFormation
9 8 (3.32%) AWS Lambda
10 7 (2.90%) Azure AI
10 7 (2.90%) Azure Cognitive Search
10 7 (2.90%) Azure Cognitive Services
10 7 (2.90%) Cloud Computing
11 6 (2.49%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 6 (2.49%) Amazon EKS
11 6 (2.49%) Entra ID
11 6 (2.49%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 7 (2.90%) WAN
2 6 (2.49%) Cisco Nexus
2 6 (2.49%) LAN
2 6 (2.49%) Network Security
2 6 (2.49%) Wi-Fi
3 5 (2.07%) DNS
4 4 (1.66%) SD-WAN
4 4 (1.66%) VPN
5 3 (1.24%) Firewall
5 3 (1.24%) Remote Desktop
6 2 (0.83%) BGP
6 2 (0.83%) Fibre Channel
6 2 (0.83%) Intranet
6 2 (0.83%) MPLS
6 2 (0.83%) OSPF
6 2 (0.83%) SDH
6 2 (0.83%) SSH
6 2 (0.83%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.41%) DSL
7 1 (0.41%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (8.30%) Power BI
2 11 (4.56%) MySQL
2 11 (4.56%) Relational Database
3 9 (3.73%) Metadata
4 8 (3.32%) SQL Server
5 6 (2.49%) DynamoDB
5 6 (2.49%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (2.07%) Amazon Athena
7 4 (1.66%) Data Lake
7 4 (1.66%) Geospatial Data
7 4 (1.66%) MariaDB
8 3 (1.24%) Amazon Aurora
8 3 (1.24%) Snowflake Schema
9 2 (0.83%) Azure SQL Database
9 2 (0.83%) Elasticsearch
9 2 (0.83%) GIS
9 2 (0.83%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.83%) Oracle Database
9 2 (0.83%) Power Query
9 2 (0.83%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 13 (5.39%) JIRA
2 6 (2.49%) Git
3 5 (2.07%) Jenkins
4 4 (1.66%) Selenium
5 3 (1.24%) Cucumber
5 3 (1.24%) GitLab
5 3 (1.24%) WebDriver
6 2 (0.83%) Ant
6 2 (0.83%) Cypress.io
6 2 (0.83%) Eclipse
6 2 (0.83%) Maven
6 2 (0.83%) MLflow
6 2 (0.83%) NUnit
6 2 (0.83%) Sonatype Nexus
6 2 (0.83%) 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 (25.73%) Social Skills
2 38 (15.77%) Finance
3 23 (9.54%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (4.15%) Influencing Skills
5 8 (3.32%) Organisational Skills
6 7 (2.90%) Legal
7 4 (1.66%) Documentation Skills
8 3 (1.24%) Banking
8 3 (1.24%) Military
8 3 (1.24%) Police
8 3 (1.24%) Telecoms
9 2 (0.83%) Local Government
9 2 (0.83%) Presentation Skills
9 2 (0.83%) Retail
10 1 (0.41%) General Ledger
10 1 (0.41%) Marketing
10 1 (0.41%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 36 (14.94%) Analyst
2 24 (9.96%) Senior
3 23 (9.54%) Developer
4 22 (9.13%) Architect
5 15 (6.22%) Consultant
6 13 (5.39%) Lead
7 12 (4.98%) Project Manager
8 10 (4.15%) Business Analyst
9 9 (3.73%) DevOps Engineer
9 9 (3.73%) Network Engineer
10 8 (3.32%) DBA
10 8 (3.32%) Power Platform Developer
11 7 (2.90%) Artificial Intelligence Architect
12 6 (2.49%) Cloud Consultant
12 6 (2.49%) Cloud Engineer
12 6 (2.49%) Data Analyst
12 6 (2.49%) Designer
12 6 (2.49%) Oracle Consultant
13 5 (2.07%) 1st Line Support Analyst
13 5 (2.07%) Operations Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (7.47%) .NET
2 16 (6.64%) React
3 8 (3.32%) Spring
4 7 (2.90%) RESTful
5 6 (2.49%) JSON
5 6 (2.49%) REST
6 5 (2.07%) Node.js
7 4 (1.66%) Spring Boot
8 3 (1.24%) ASP.NET
8 3 (1.24%) Middleware
8 3 (1.24%) XML
9 2 (0.83%) ADO
9 2 (0.83%) ASP.NET MVC
9 2 (0.83%) Gherkin
9 2 (0.83%) Hibernate
9 2 (0.83%) HTML
9 2 (0.83%) JSP
9 2 (0.83%) Kafka
9 2 (0.83%) Spring Security
9 2 (0.83%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 19 (7.88%) Product Ownership
2 13 (5.39%) Legacy Systems
3 11 (4.56%) Management Information System
4 8 (3.32%) NHS
5 7 (2.90%) Data Centre
6 6 (2.49%) Data Protection Act
6 6 (2.49%) Legacy Applications
7 5 (2.07%) Data Structures
7 5 (2.07%) Self-Motivation
8 4 (1.66%) IVR
9 3 (1.24%) Cloud Native
9 3 (1.24%) Cyber Threat
9 3 (1.24%) Freedom of Information
9 3 (1.24%) Hybrid Cloud
9 3 (1.24%) Low-Code
9 3 (1.24%) Onboarding
9 3 (1.24%) Replication
9 3 (1.24%) Wiki
10 2 (0.83%) NVMe
10 2 (0.83%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 21 (8.71%) Linux
2 18 (7.47%) Windows
3 5 (2.07%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 5 (2.07%) Windows 10
3 5 (2.07%) Windows Server
4 4 (1.66%) 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 61 (25.31%) Agile
2 40 (16.60%) DevOps
3 38 (15.77%) Problem-Solving
4 36 (14.94%) Migration
5 35 (14.52%) CI/CD
6 29 (12.03%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 27 (11.20%) Stakeholder Management
8 26 (10.79%) Continuous Improvement
8 26 (10.79%) Roadmaps
9 25 (10.37%) AI
10 21 (8.71%) Business Intelligence
11 19 (7.88%) Decision-Making
12 16 (6.64%) CRM
12 16 (6.64%) Infrastructure as Code
13 15 (6.22%) Change Management
13 15 (6.22%) Data Protection
14 14 (5.81%) Machine Learning
14 14 (5.81%) Project Management
14 14 (5.81%) User Experience
15 13 (5.39%) Performance Tuning
Programming Languages
1 34 (14.11%) Python
2 24 (9.96%) Java
3 21 (8.71%) C#
4 20 (8.30%) SQL
5 15 (6.22%) PowerShell
6 14 (5.81%) JavaScript
7 8 (3.32%) TypeScript
8 4 (1.66%) Bash
8 4 (1.66%) Bicep
9 2 (0.83%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 2 (0.83%) Go
10 1 (0.41%) C++
10 1 (0.41%) COBOL
10 1 (0.41%) JCL
10 1 (0.41%) Kusto Query Language
10 1 (0.41%) Perl
10 1 (0.41%) Shell Script
10 1 (0.41%) SPARQL
10 1 (0.41%) VBA
10 1 (0.41%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 59 (24.48%) Security Cleared
2 34 (14.11%) SC Cleared
3 19 (7.88%) BPSS Clearance
4 16 (6.64%) Degree
5 6 (2.49%) Cisco Certification
6 5 (2.07%) CCNP
6 5 (2.07%) DV Cleared
7 4 (1.66%) Microsoft Certification
8 3 (1.24%) CCAB
8 3 (1.24%) Computer Science Degree
8 3 (1.24%) ITIL Certification
8 3 (1.24%) PMI Certification
9 2 (0.83%) CCIE
9 2 (0.83%) CIPD
9 2 (0.83%) CompTIA CySA+
9 2 (0.83%) CompTIA Security+
9 2 (0.83%) PMP
10 1 (0.41%) CBAP
10 1 (0.41%) IIBA
10 1 (0.41%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (7.47%) QA
2 17 (7.05%) Disclosure Scotland
3 14 (5.81%) GDPR
4 10 (4.15%) Accessibility
4 10 (4.15%) Data Quality
5 7 (2.90%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 5 (2.07%) PMO
7 4 (1.66%) PCI DSS
8 3 (1.24%) Actionable Recommendations
8 3 (1.24%) GRC
8 3 (1.24%) HIPAA
8 3 (1.24%) NCSC
8 3 (1.24%) NIST
8 3 (1.24%) SLA
8 3 (1.24%) WCAG
9 1 (0.41%) COBIT
9 1 (0.41%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.41%) ISO 20022
9 1 (0.41%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 10 (4.15%) Active Directory
2 7 (2.90%) Docker
3 4 (1.66%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (1.66%) VMware NSX
4 2 (0.83%) Ceph
4 2 (0.83%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.83%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (0.83%) 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 15 (6.22%) Terraform
2 10 (4.15%) Ansible
2 10 (4.15%) Kubernetes
3 5 (2.07%) Istio
4 4 (1.66%) Grafana
4 4 (1.66%) Microsoft Intune
5 2 (0.83%) Argo
5 2 (0.83%) 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 46 (19.09%) Microsoft
2 18 (7.47%) Oracle
3 14 (5.81%) Cisco
3 14 (5.81%) Salesforce
4 10 (4.15%) Google
5 7 (2.90%) OpenAI
5 7 (2.90%) Palo Alto
6 6 (2.49%) VMware
7 4 (1.66%) F5
7 4 (1.66%) ServiceNow
8 3 (1.24%) Avaya
8 3 (1.24%) Genesys
8 3 (1.24%) Greenplum
8 3 (1.24%) Informatica
8 3 (1.24%) Pega
8 3 (1.24%) Red Hat
8 3 (1.24%) Splunk
8 3 (1.24%) Talend
9 2 (0.83%) Juniper
9 2 (0.83%) SAP