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

6 months to
9 Jul 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 9 5 1
Rank change year-on-year -4 -4 +1
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 273 329 569
As % of all contract jobs in Scotland 12.39% 19.31% 27.36%
As % of the General category 20.65% 26.73% 42.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 179 214 369
10th Percentile £313 £185 £156
25th Percentile £406 £313 £263
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £450
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% - -2.70%
75th Percentile £570 £504 £538
90th Percentile £721 £588 £613
UK median daily rate £513 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +2.50% - -3.85%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 10 15
10th Percentile - £16.88 £12.00
25th Percentile £25.19 £18.80 £13.23
Median hourly rate £25.39 £22.08 £16.92
Median % change year-on-year +14.97% +30.50% +10.19%
75th Percentile £25.58 £27.13 £18.96
90th Percentile - £30.12 £22.94
UK median hourly rate £24.19 £22.49 £23.00
% change year-on-year +7.58% -2.24% +14.43%

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 1,322 1,231 1,325
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Scotland 59.98% 72.24% 63.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 698 720 796
10th Percentile £250 £229 £175
25th Percentile £361 £365 £322
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £460 £465 £450
Median % change year-on-year -0.97% +3.22% -5.26%
75th Percentile £575 £538 £550
90th Percentile £674 £600 £638
UK median daily rate £520 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +4.00% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 106 41 71
10th Percentile £12.68 £16.02 £12.00
25th Percentile £13.45 £16.55 £13.23
Median hourly rate £16.25 £19.97 £17.00
Median % change year-on-year -18.63% +17.47% -8.11%
75th Percentile £43.96 £26.21 £29.13
90th Percentile £61.50 £45.80 £60.75
UK median hourly rate £32.50 £27.13 £31.97
% change year-on-year +19.82% -15.15% +6.57%

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 9 July 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 9 July 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 -2 128 £451 +0.11% 22
Glasgow +4 117 £525 +11.70% 24
South Lanarkshire -2 12 £669 +42.23% 2
Lanarkshire 0 3 £431 +231.73% 15
West Lothian -4 2 £388 +106.67% 2
East Lothian +4 1 - -
Moray -1 1 - -
North Lanarkshire -3 1 £350 -12.50%
Aberdeen -4 1 £138 -58.80%
Dundee -5 1 - -
Inverclyde - 1 £675 -
Fife - 1 - -
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 13 (4.76%) Confluence
2 4 (1.47%) SharePoint
3 3 (1.10%) CMS
4 2 (0.73%) Apache
4 2 (0.73%) Drupal
4 2 (0.73%) JBoss
5 1 (0.37%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.37%) CICS
5 1 (0.37%) Exchange Server 2013
5 1 (0.37%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.37%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.37%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 8 (2.93%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.47%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.73%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.73%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.37%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 1 (0.37%) Adobe Illustrator
4 1 (0.37%) InDesign
4 1 (0.37%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.37%) Photoshop
Business Applications
1 5 (1.83%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.37%) Dynamics GP
2 1 (0.37%) IntelliMatch
2 1 (0.37%) iTrent
2 1 (0.37%) Oracle Applications
2 1 (0.37%) Oracle ERP
2 1 (0.37%) Payment Gateway
2 1 (0.37%) SAP GRC
2 1 (0.37%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 52 (19.05%) AWS
2 45 (16.48%) Azure
3 22 (8.06%) Power Platform
4 19 (6.96%) Azure DevOps
5 16 (5.86%) Microsoft 365
6 14 (5.13%) OCI
6 14 (5.13%) Serverless
7 13 (4.76%) Amazon S3
8 9 (3.30%) AWS Lambda
9 7 (2.56%) AWS CloudFormation
9 7 (2.56%) GCP
9 7 (2.56%) PowerApps
10 6 (2.20%) Amazon EKS
10 6 (2.20%) Azure Cosmos DB
10 6 (2.20%) Azure Monitor
10 6 (2.20%) GitHub
10 6 (2.20%) GitHub Actions
10 6 (2.20%) Power Automate
11 5 (1.83%) Azure Key Vault
11 5 (1.83%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 8 (2.93%) DNS
2 7 (2.56%) Wi-Fi
3 5 (1.83%) Cisco Nexus
3 5 (1.83%) Firewall
3 5 (1.83%) LAN
4 4 (1.47%) Network Security
4 4 (1.47%) WAN
5 3 (1.10%) Remote Desktop
5 3 (1.10%) SD-WAN
5 3 (1.10%) SSH
5 3 (1.10%) SSL
5 3 (1.10%) VPN
5 3 (1.10%) Wireless
6 2 (0.73%) BGP
6 2 (0.73%) Fibre Channel
6 2 (0.73%) HTTPS
6 2 (0.73%) Intranet
6 2 (0.73%) OSPF
7 1 (0.37%) HTTP
7 1 (0.37%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (6.23%) Power BI
2 12 (4.40%) MySQL
3 10 (3.66%) Relational Database
4 9 (3.30%) Metadata
5 7 (2.56%) MongoDB
6 6 (2.20%) MariaDB
6 6 (2.20%) PostgreSQL
6 6 (2.20%) SQL Server
7 5 (1.83%) Amazon Aurora
8 4 (1.47%) Amazon RDS
8 4 (1.47%) Oracle Database
9 3 (1.10%) Azure SQL Database
9 3 (1.10%) DynamoDB
9 3 (1.10%) Geospatial Data
9 3 (1.10%) Power Query
10 2 (0.73%) Elasticsearch
10 2 (0.73%) GIS
10 2 (0.73%) SQLPlus
11 1 (0.37%) Db2
11 1 (0.37%) EDRMS
Development Applications
1 16 (5.86%) JIRA
2 12 (4.40%) Git
3 10 (3.66%) Jenkins
4 9 (3.30%) Cypress.io
5 7 (2.56%) Selenium
6 5 (1.83%) Cucumber
6 5 (1.83%) Subversion
7 4 (1.47%) Gradle
7 4 (1.47%) Maven
8 3 (1.10%) GoCD
8 3 (1.10%) JProfiler
8 3 (1.10%) JUnit
8 3 (1.10%) Sonatype Nexus
8 3 (1.10%) WebDriver
9 2 (0.73%) Appium
9 2 (0.73%) Postman
9 2 (0.73%) REST Assured
9 2 (0.73%) Terragrunt
10 1 (0.37%) MLflow
10 1 (0.37%) webpack
General
1 77 (28.21%) Social Skills
2 35 (12.82%) Finance
3 23 (8.42%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (3.66%) Legal
5 9 (3.30%) Documentation Skills
5 9 (3.30%) Influencing Skills
6 8 (2.93%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (1.47%) Banking
7 4 (1.47%) Military
8 3 (1.10%) Marketing
8 3 (1.10%) Presentation Skills
9 2 (0.73%) Local Government
9 2 (0.73%) Police
9 2 (0.73%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.37%) Back Office
10 1 (0.37%) Law
10 1 (0.37%) Publishing
10 1 (0.37%) Social Housing
Job Titles
1 30 (10.99%) Analyst
2 28 (10.26%) Architect
3 27 (9.89%) Senior
4 25 (9.16%) Developer
5 19 (6.96%) Lead
6 17 (6.23%) Project Manager
7 14 (5.13%) Consultant
7 14 (5.13%) DevOps Engineer
8 11 (4.03%) Solutions Architect
9 10 (3.66%) Network Engineer
10 9 (3.30%) Cloud Engineer
11 8 (2.93%) Cloud Consultant
11 8 (2.93%) Oracle Consultant
12 7 (2.56%) Administrator
12 7 (2.56%) Designer
13 6 (2.20%) DBA
13 6 (2.20%) Help Desk Consultant
13 6 (2.20%) HR Consultant
13 6 (2.20%) Oracle HRMS Consultant
13 6 (2.20%) User Researcher
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (4.40%) .NET
1 12 (4.40%) React
2 9 (3.30%) REST
2 9 (3.30%) Spring
2 9 (3.30%) Spring Boot
3 7 (2.56%) AWS CDK
3 7 (2.56%) RESTful
4 6 (2.20%) Web Services
5 5 (1.83%) Jest
5 5 (1.83%) Node.js
5 5 (1.83%) Playwright
6 4 (1.47%) Middleware
6 4 (1.47%) SOAP
7 3 (1.10%) ARM Templates
7 3 (1.10%) FreeMarker
7 3 (1.10%) Gherkin
7 3 (1.10%) JSF
7 3 (1.10%) JSON
8 2 (0.73%) FastAPI
8 2 (0.73%) FHIR
Miscellaneous
1 25 (9.16%) Product Ownership
2 12 (4.40%) Legacy Systems
3 11 (4.03%) Management Information System
4 8 (2.93%) Data Protection Act
5 7 (2.56%) Cloud Native
5 7 (2.56%) Data Centre
6 6 (2.20%) NHS
7 5 (1.83%) Enterprise Software
8 4 (1.47%) Legacy Applications
9 3 (1.10%) Data Structures
10 2 (0.73%) Freedom of Information
10 2 (0.73%) NVMe
10 2 (0.73%) Onboarding
10 2 (0.73%) PKI
10 2 (0.73%) Self-Motivation
11 1 (0.37%) Distributed Architecture
11 1 (0.37%) Distributed Systems
11 1 (0.37%) Linux Command Line
11 1 (0.37%) Virtual Team
11 1 (0.37%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 23 (8.42%) Linux
2 19 (6.96%) Windows
3 7 (2.56%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 7 (2.56%) Windows Server
4 5 (1.83%) Windows 10
5 2 (0.73%) Unix
6 1 (0.37%) Android
6 1 (0.37%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.37%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.37%) Rocky
6 1 (0.37%) Ubuntu
6 1 (0.37%) Windows Server 2012
6 1 (0.37%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (29.30%) Agile
2 45 (16.48%) Stakeholder Management
3 43 (15.75%) DevOps
4 39 (14.29%) Continuous Improvement
4 39 (14.29%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 37 (13.55%) CI/CD
6 30 (10.99%) Migration
7 26 (9.52%) AI
7 26 (9.52%) Infrastructure as Code
8 25 (9.16%) Problem-Solving
8 25 (9.16%) Project Delivery
9 22 (8.06%) Decision-Making
10 21 (7.69%) Roadmaps
10 21 (7.69%) Scrum
11 19 (6.96%) Microservices
12 17 (6.23%) Business Intelligence
12 17 (6.23%) Mentoring
13 16 (5.86%) Data Protection
13 16 (5.86%) Project Management
14 15 (5.49%) Kanban
Programming Languages
1 25 (9.16%) Python
2 24 (8.79%) Java
3 22 (8.06%) SQL
4 20 (7.33%) JavaScript
5 14 (5.13%) TypeScript
6 12 (4.40%) C#
6 12 (4.40%) PowerShell
7 8 (2.93%) Bicep
8 7 (2.56%) Bash
9 3 (1.10%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 3 (1.10%) Shell Script
10 2 (0.73%) PL/SQL
11 1 (0.37%) C++
11 1 (0.37%) COBOL
11 1 (0.37%) Groovy
11 1 (0.37%) JCL
11 1 (0.37%) Perl
11 1 (0.37%) SPARQL
11 1 (0.37%) VBA
11 1 (0.37%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 57 (20.88%) Security Cleared
2 42 (15.38%) SC Cleared
3 21 (7.69%) BPSS Clearance
4 12 (4.40%) Degree
5 8 (2.93%) DV Cleared
6 5 (1.83%) PMI Certification
6 5 (1.83%) PMP
7 4 (1.47%) ITIL Certification
8 3 (1.10%) AWS Certification
8 3 (1.10%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 3 (1.10%) CCAB
8 3 (1.10%) CCNP
8 3 (1.10%) Cisco Certification
8 3 (1.10%) IIBA
8 3 (1.10%) Microsoft Certification
9 2 (0.73%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
9 2 (0.73%) AWS Certified SysOps Administrator
9 2 (0.73%) Computer Science Degree
9 2 (0.73%) MCSE
9 2 (0.73%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (6.59%) Accessibility
2 16 (5.86%) Disclosure Scotland
2 16 (5.86%) QA
3 11 (4.03%) Data Quality
3 11 (4.03%) GDPR
4 6 (2.20%) PMO
5 5 (1.83%) WCAG
6 4 (1.47%) NIST
7 3 (1.10%) Actionable Recommendations
7 3 (1.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 3 (1.10%) NCSC
8 2 (0.73%) SLA
9 1 (0.37%) COBIT
9 1 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.37%) GRC
9 1 (0.37%) ISO 20022
9 1 (0.37%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 9 (3.30%) Active Directory
2 6 (2.20%) Docker
3 5 (1.83%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (1.47%) Hyper-V
4 4 (1.47%) VMware NSX
5 3 (1.10%) Ceph
6 2 (0.73%) Squid
6 2 (0.73%) vSphere
7 1 (0.37%) IAG
7 1 (0.37%) iptables
7 1 (0.37%) NFS
7 1 (0.37%) Samba
7 1 (0.37%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.37%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 20 (7.33%) Terraform
2 13 (4.76%) Kubernetes
3 9 (3.30%) Ansible
4 7 (2.56%) Grafana
5 6 (2.20%) Istio
6 5 (1.83%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (1.47%) Argo
8 3 (1.10%) Prometheus
9 2 (0.73%) SCCM
9 2 (0.73%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.73%) vMotion
10 1 (0.37%) PowerCLI
10 1 (0.37%) Rundeck
10 1 (0.37%) SELinux
10 1 (0.37%) systemd
10 1 (0.37%) vRealize
10 1 (0.37%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 39 (14.29%) Microsoft
2 31 (11.36%) Oracle
3 10 (3.66%) Cisco
3 10 (3.66%) Salesforce
4 7 (2.56%) VMware
5 6 (2.20%) Google
6 5 (1.83%) MuleSoft
6 5 (1.83%) Palo Alto
7 3 (1.10%) F5
7 3 (1.10%) OpenAI
7 3 (1.10%) SAP
8 2 (0.73%) Arista
8 2 (0.73%) Atlassian
8 2 (0.73%) Juniper
8 2 (0.73%) Okta
8 2 (0.73%) Red Hat
9 1 (0.37%) IFS
9 1 (0.37%) Openreach
9 1 (0.37%) UiPath
9 1 (0.37%) Workday
56 Public Sector jobs in Scotland