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 6 November 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 6 2 1
Rank change year-on-year -4 -1 +1
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 267 442 686
As % of all contract jobs in Scotland 16.78% 24.60% 28.99%
As % of the General category 24.79% 38.01% 43.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 169 298 448
10th Percentile £203 £172 £164
25th Percentile £406 £326 £349
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +2.78% -5.26% -
75th Percentile £538 £524 £550
90th Percentile £627 £600 £652
UK median daily rate £500 £503 £525
% change year-on-year -0.50% -4.29% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 13 7
10th Percentile £14.28 £13.30 £11.60
25th Percentile £14.80 £15.00 £11.96
Median hourly rate £16.12 £19.59 £13.54
Median % change year-on-year -17.71% +44.68% -23.59%
75th Percentile £19.91 £24.18 £55.00
90th Percentile £24.73 £32.95 £55.56
UK median hourly rate £21.00 £22.78 £21.41
% change year-on-year -7.81% +6.42% +7.78%

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 common skills in Scotland.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for common skills 1,077 1,163 1,586
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Scotland 67.69% 64.72% 67.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 641 676 1,008
10th Percentile £200 £167 £191
25th Percentile £363 £331 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £460 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +2.22% -5.26% -
75th Percentile £538 £531 £575
90th Percentile £613 £619 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 56 38 37
10th Percentile £13.00 £13.24 £11.86
25th Percentile £16.02 £14.73 £12.26
Median hourly rate £19.05 £19.30 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year -1.27% -1.05% +7.68%
75th Percentile £25.80 £24.18 £56.40
90th Percentile £47.09 £36.90 £75.45
UK median hourly rate £25.00 £29.50 £30.00
% change year-on-year -15.25% -1.67% +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 6 November 2025.

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 6 November 2025.

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 6 November 2025. 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 -3 144 £467 +3.73% 19
Glasgow -12 97 £500 +11.11% 41
Aberdeen -2 4 £334 +51.70% 2
South Lanarkshire +8 3 £550 -
West Lothian +5 3 £289 -45.00% 2
North Lanarkshire - 3 £314 -
Dundee -2 2 £201 +2.82% 5
Stirling 0 1 £275 +71.88% 1
Lanarkshire -1 1 £130 -55.93% 24
Midlothian - 1 £150 - 14
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 (3.37%) Microsoft Exchange
2 8 (3.00%) SharePoint
3 7 (2.62%) Confluence
4 4 (1.50%) Exchange Server 2013
5 3 (1.12%) Apache
6 2 (0.75%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.75%) ArcGIS
6 2 (0.75%) CMS
6 2 (0.75%) Tomcat
6 2 (0.75%) Umbraco
6 2 (0.75%) WebLogic
7 1 (0.37%) Alfresco
7 1 (0.37%) Apache Solr
7 1 (0.37%) Drupal
7 1 (0.37%) Joomla!
7 1 (0.37%) nginx
7 1 (0.37%) Oracle Coherence
7 1 (0.37%) WordPress
Applications
1 13 (4.87%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (2.62%) Microsoft Project
3 5 (1.87%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.75%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 8 (3.00%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.37%) Dynamics GP
Cloud Services
1 50 (18.73%) AWS
2 43 (16.10%) Azure
3 26 (9.74%) Power Platform
4 23 (8.61%) Microsoft 365
5 18 (6.74%) Amazon S3
6 16 (5.99%) AWS Lambda
6 16 (5.99%) Serverless
7 14 (5.24%) AWS CloudFormation
8 12 (4.49%) Azure DevOps
9 11 (4.12%) GitHub
10 10 (3.75%) Amazon EKS
10 10 (3.75%) Dynamics 365
10 10 (3.75%) OpenShift
10 10 (3.75%) Power Automate
11 8 (3.00%) Entra ID
11 8 (3.00%) GitHub Actions
11 8 (3.00%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 7 (2.62%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 7 (2.62%) PowerApps
13 6 (2.25%) Amazon SQS
Communications & Networking
1 11 (4.12%) Firewall
2 8 (3.00%) WAN
3 6 (2.25%) VPN
4 5 (1.87%) Wi-Fi
5 4 (1.50%) Cisco ISE
5 4 (1.50%) LAN
5 4 (1.50%) Unified Communications
6 3 (1.12%) Cisco Nexus
6 3 (1.12%) Network Security
7 2 (0.75%) IPsec
7 2 (0.75%) MPLS
7 2 (0.75%) SD-WAN
7 2 (0.75%) TETRA
7 2 (0.75%) VoIP
8 1 (0.37%) BGP
8 1 (0.37%) Cisco Firepower
8 1 (0.37%) Ethernet VPN
8 1 (0.37%) OSPF
8 1 (0.37%) VXLAN
8 1 (0.37%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (6.37%) Power BI
2 16 (5.99%) PostgreSQL
3 13 (4.87%) Amazon Aurora
4 7 (2.62%) SQL Server
5 6 (2.25%) Elasticsearch
5 6 (2.25%) Relational Database
6 5 (1.87%) MongoDB
7 4 (1.50%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (1.50%) GIS
7 4 (1.50%) Metadata
7 4 (1.50%) MySQL
7 4 (1.50%) Oracle Database
8 3 (1.12%) MariaDB
8 3 (1.12%) Oracle Reports
8 3 (1.12%) Power Query
9 2 (0.75%) Big Data
9 2 (0.75%) DynamoDB
9 2 (0.75%) InfluxDB
9 2 (0.75%) NoSQL
9 2 (0.75%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 14 (5.24%) Git
1 14 (5.24%) JIRA
2 12 (4.49%) Jenkins
3 9 (3.37%) Cypress.io
4 5 (1.87%) webpack
5 4 (1.50%) Terragrunt
6 3 (1.12%) Axure RP
6 3 (1.12%) Cucumber
6 3 (1.12%) Subversion
7 2 (0.75%) CircleCI
7 2 (0.75%) GitLab
7 2 (0.75%) Newman
7 2 (0.75%) Oracle Forms
7 2 (0.75%) Selenium
8 1 (0.37%) Balsamiq
8 1 (0.37%) Mockito
8 1 (0.37%) Postman
8 1 (0.37%) Team Foundation Server
8 1 (0.37%) Tricentis qTest
8 1 (0.37%) WebDriver
General
1 81 (30.34%) Social Skills
2 40 (14.98%) Finance
3 33 (12.36%) Analytical Skills
4 12 (4.49%) Telecoms
5 11 (4.12%) Influencing Skills
6 10 (3.75%) Marketing
7 8 (3.00%) Electronics
7 8 (3.00%) Manufacturing
8 7 (2.62%) Legal
8 7 (2.62%) Organisational Skills
9 4 (1.50%) Presentation Skills
9 4 (1.50%) Retail
10 3 (1.12%) Documentation Skills
10 3 (1.12%) Law
10 3 (1.12%) Local Government
10 3 (1.12%) Military
10 3 (1.12%) Publishing
11 2 (0.75%) Back Office
12 1 (0.37%) Billing
12 1 (0.37%) General Ledger
Job Titles
1 38 (14.23%) Developer
2 30 (11.24%) Analyst
3 26 (9.74%) Architect
4 18 (6.74%) Senior
5 15 (5.62%) Lead
6 13 (4.87%) Project Manager
7 11 (4.12%) Solutions Architect
8 8 (3.00%) Business Analyst
8 8 (3.00%) Network Engineer
8 8 (3.00%) Support Officer
9 7 (2.62%) Cloud Engineer
9 7 (2.62%) Front-End Developer (Client-Side Developer)
9 7 (2.62%) Service Analyst
9 7 (2.62%) Service Desk Analyst
9 7 (2.62%) User Researcher
10 6 (2.25%) Consultant
10 6 (2.25%) Deployment Engineer
10 6 (2.25%) DevOps Engineer
10 6 (2.25%) Programme Manager
10 6 (2.25%) Technical Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (6.74%) HTML
2 17 (6.37%) React
3 15 (5.62%) CSS
4 14 (5.24%) AWS CDK
5 13 (4.87%) .NET
6 12 (4.49%) Node.js
7 11 (4.12%) RESTful
8 8 (3.00%) REST
9 7 (2.62%) PyTorch
9 7 (2.62%) Spring
9 7 (2.62%) Spring Boot
10 6 (2.25%) AngularJS
11 5 (1.87%) CSS3
11 5 (1.87%) HTML5
11 5 (1.87%) Redux
12 4 (1.50%) Elastic Stack
12 4 (1.50%) Hugging Face
12 4 (1.50%) NumPy
12 4 (1.50%) SQLAlchemy
12 4 (1.50%) Thymeleaf
Miscellaneous
1 12 (4.49%) Management Information System
2 10 (3.75%) Legacy Systems
3 9 (3.37%) Product Ownership
4 7 (2.62%) NHS
5 6 (2.25%) Freedom of Information
6 5 (1.87%) Cloud Native
6 5 (1.87%) Cyber Threat
6 5 (1.87%) Device Driver
6 5 (1.87%) Web Conferencing
7 4 (1.50%) Data Centre
7 4 (1.50%) Data Protection Act
7 4 (1.50%) Legacy Applications
7 4 (1.50%) Onboarding
7 4 (1.50%) PKI
7 4 (1.50%) Wiki
8 3 (1.12%) Algorithms
8 3 (1.12%) Cyber Defence
8 3 (1.12%) Data Structures
8 3 (1.12%) Driving Licence
8 3 (1.12%) EPoS
Operating Systems
1 22 (8.24%) Linux
2 20 (7.49%) Windows
3 9 (3.37%) Unix
4 7 (2.62%) Windows Server
5 5 (1.87%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 5 (1.87%) Windows 10
6 4 (1.50%) Windows Server 2012
7 2 (0.75%) Oracle Linux
8 1 (0.37%) AIX
8 1 (0.37%) Mac OS
8 1 (0.37%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 91 (34.08%) Agile
2 45 (16.85%) Problem-Solving
3 39 (14.61%) DevOps
4 36 (13.48%) CI/CD
5 30 (11.24%) Project Management
6 26 (9.74%) Infrastructure as Code
6 26 (9.74%) Mentoring
7 25 (9.36%) Business Intelligence
7 25 (9.36%) User Experience
8 23 (8.61%) Continuous Improvement
8 23 (8.61%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 21 (7.87%) Coaching
9 21 (7.87%) Roadmaps
10 20 (7.49%) Cybersecurity
10 20 (7.49%) Migration
10 20 (7.49%) Stakeholder Management
11 16 (5.99%) Service Design
12 14 (5.24%) Data Analysis
12 14 (5.24%) Decision-Making
12 14 (5.24%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 32 (11.99%) Python
2 24 (8.99%) JavaScript
3 21 (7.87%) TypeScript
4 20 (7.49%) Java
5 15 (5.62%) SQL
6 12 (4.49%) PowerShell
7 11 (4.12%) C#
8 8 (3.00%) Bash
9 6 (2.25%) Shell Script
10 5 (1.87%) Bicep
11 4 (1.50%) Perl
11 4 (1.50%) PL/SQL
12 3 (1.12%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 2 (0.75%) Apex Code
13 2 (0.75%) Groovy
13 2 (0.75%) R
14 1 (0.37%) C
14 1 (0.37%) C++
Qualifications
1 58 (21.72%) Security Cleared
2 32 (11.99%) SC Cleared
3 27 (10.11%) Degree
4 10 (3.75%) BPSS Clearance
5 8 (3.00%) Cisco Certification
5 8 (3.00%) CISSP
6 7 (2.62%) CCNA
6 7 (2.62%) Microsoft Certification
7 5 (1.87%) MCSA
8 4 (1.50%) Azure Certification
8 4 (1.50%) CISM
8 4 (1.50%) HND
8 4 (1.50%) Master's Degree
9 3 (1.12%) AWS Certification
9 3 (1.12%) CCIE
9 3 (1.12%) CompTIA Security+
9 3 (1.12%) Computer Science Degree
9 3 (1.12%) HNC
9 3 (1.12%) Postgraduate
9 3 (1.12%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (9.36%) Accessibility
2 22 (8.24%) GDPR
3 13 (4.87%) Disclosure Scotland
4 9 (3.37%) QA
5 5 (1.87%) PMO
6 4 (1.50%) SLA
7 3 (1.12%) Data Quality
7 3 (1.12%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 3 (1.12%) NCSC
8 2 (0.75%) Cyber Essentials
8 2 (0.75%) WCAG
9 1 (0.37%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.37%) COBIT
9 1 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 1 (0.37%) NIST
9 1 (0.37%) P3O
9 1 (0.37%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 17 (6.37%) Docker
2 11 (4.12%) Active Directory
3 4 (1.50%) KVM
4 3 (1.12%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.75%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.37%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 21 (7.87%) Terraform
2 19 (7.12%) Kubernetes
3 17 (6.37%) Grafana
4 8 (3.00%) Prometheus
5 7 (2.62%) SCCM
6 6 (2.25%) Ansible
7 4 (1.50%) Argo
7 4 (1.50%) Istio
7 4 (1.50%) Kibana
7 4 (1.50%) logstash
8 3 (1.12%) Red Hat Satellite
9 2 (0.75%) Fluentd
9 2 (0.75%) HAProxy
9 2 (0.75%) Microsoft Intune
9 2 (0.75%) Nagios
9 2 (0.75%) Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.37%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 60 (22.47%) Microsoft
2 23 (8.61%) Oracle
3 10 (3.75%) Cisco
4 9 (3.37%) SAP
5 5 (1.87%) F5
5 5 (1.87%) Red Hat
6 4 (1.50%) Salesforce
6 4 (1.50%) Splunk
7 3 (1.12%) Commvault
7 3 (1.12%) OpenAI
8 2 (0.75%) Palo Alto
8 2 (0.75%) ServiceNow
8 2 (0.75%) VMware
9 1 (0.37%) ArcSight
9 1 (0.37%) Atlassian
9 1 (0.37%) ForgeRock
9 1 (0.37%) Meraki
9 1 (0.37%) Pega
9 1 (0.37%) Qualys
9 1 (0.37%) SolarWinds