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

6 months to
1 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 5 1
Rank change year-on-year -1 -4 +1
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 288 279 461
As % of all contract jobs in Scotland 12.58% 17.49% 24.99%
As % of the General category 20.21% 25.23% 39.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 196 177 300
10th Percentile £296 £207 £156
25th Percentile £404 £366 £254
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £450
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% - -5.26%
75th Percentile £560 £525 £538
90th Percentile £716 £600 £639
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 7 15
10th Percentile - £16.28 £12.48
25th Percentile - £17.81 £13.57
Median hourly rate - £19.83 £18.00
Median % change year-on-year - +10.17% +17.23%
75th Percentile - £26.22 £20.26
90th Percentile - £35.09 £26.12
UK median hourly rate £21.50 £21.00 £22.78
% change year-on-year +2.38% -7.81% +13.90%

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 1,425 1,106 1,166
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Scotland 62.23% 69.34% 63.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 775 632 690
10th Percentile £232 £220 £168
25th Percentile £363 £362 £306
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £463 £450
Median % change year-on-year - +2.78% -5.26%
75th Percentile £558 £538 £538
90th Percentile £650 £588 £638
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 101 49 47
10th Percentile £13.13 £16.02 £12.30
25th Percentile £13.45 £16.63 £14.07
Median hourly rate £16.86 £19.23 £17.00
Median % change year-on-year -12.32% +13.12% -11.37%
75th Percentile £40.48 £24.66 £22.55
90th Percentile £60.00 £48.14 £38.32
UK median hourly rate £31.16 £25.15 £36.50
% change year-on-year +23.88% -31.10% +32.73%

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 September 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 1 September 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
Glasgow +12 136 £475 +2.70% 89
Edinburgh 0 130 £470 -0.64% 101
South Lanarkshire -2 8 £669 - 1
Lanarkshire -1 4 £431 +231.73% 77
Dumfries and Galloway - 2 £500 - 1
East Lothian +5 1 - -
Dundee -4 1 - -
Inverclyde - 1 £675 - 2
Fife - 1 - -
Midlothian - 1 £500 - 81
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 17 (5.90%) Confluence
2 10 (3.47%) CMS
3 7 (2.43%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.69%) JBoss
5 1 (0.35%) Apache
5 1 (0.35%) IIS
5 1 (0.35%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.35%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 9 (3.13%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (1.74%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.69%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.69%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.35%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 1 (0.35%) Adobe Illustrator
4 1 (0.35%) InDesign
4 1 (0.35%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.35%) Photoshop
4 1 (0.35%) Trello
Business Applications
1 2 (0.69%) Dynamics GP
2 1 (0.35%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.35%) Oracle Applications
2 1 (0.35%) Oracle ERP
2 1 (0.35%) SAP GRC
2 1 (0.35%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 51 (17.71%) AWS
2 43 (14.93%) Azure
3 21 (7.29%) Microsoft 365
4 17 (5.90%) Power Platform
5 16 (5.56%) Azure DevOps
6 15 (5.21%) OCI
7 14 (4.86%) Amazon S3
8 12 (4.17%) Serverless
9 10 (3.47%) GCP
10 8 (2.78%) AWS Lambda
10 8 (2.78%) SaaS
11 6 (2.08%) Amazon EKS
11 6 (2.08%) AWS CloudFormation
11 6 (2.08%) Azure Monitor
11 6 (2.08%) Entra ID
11 6 (2.08%) GitHub
11 6 (2.08%) GitHub Actions
11 6 (2.08%) OpenShift
12 5 (1.74%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 5 (1.74%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 9 (3.13%) DNS
2 6 (2.08%) SSL
3 5 (1.74%) SSH
4 4 (1.39%) Firewall
4 4 (1.39%) HTTPS
4 4 (1.39%) LAN
4 4 (1.39%) Wi-Fi
5 3 (1.04%) Remote Desktop
5 3 (1.04%) Wireless
6 2 (0.69%) Cisco Nexus
6 2 (0.69%) SD-WAN
6 2 (0.69%) VPN
6 2 (0.69%) WAN
7 1 (0.35%) Cisco Wireless
7 1 (0.35%) MPLS
7 1 (0.35%) Network Security
7 1 (0.35%) SDH
7 1 (0.35%) Structured Cabling
7 1 (0.35%) VLAN
7 1 (0.35%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (4.17%) PostgreSQL
2 11 (3.82%) Amazon Aurora
2 11 (3.82%) MySQL
2 11 (3.82%) Power BI
2 11 (3.82%) SQL Server
3 10 (3.47%) MongoDB
4 9 (3.13%) MariaDB
5 5 (1.74%) Amazon RDS
5 5 (1.74%) Metadata
5 5 (1.74%) Relational Database
6 4 (1.39%) Power Query
7 3 (1.04%) Oracle Database
7 3 (1.04%) SQLPlus
8 2 (0.69%) Azure SQL Database
8 2 (0.69%) Data Warehouse
8 2 (0.69%) Geospatial Data
8 2 (0.69%) MS Access
9 1 (0.35%) NoSQL
9 1 (0.35%) SAP Data Services
9 1 (0.35%) Semantic Layer
Development Applications
1 19 (6.60%) JIRA
2 16 (5.56%) Jenkins
3 11 (3.82%) Git
4 7 (2.43%) Cypress.io
5 6 (2.08%) Gradle
5 6 (2.08%) Maven
6 5 (1.74%) Selenium
7 4 (1.39%) Cucumber
7 4 (1.39%) Subversion
8 3 (1.04%) GitLab
8 3 (1.04%) GoCD
8 3 (1.04%) JProfiler
8 3 (1.04%) JUnit
8 3 (1.04%) webpack
9 2 (0.69%) Appium
9 2 (0.69%) Postman
9 2 (0.69%) REST Assured
9 2 (0.69%) SonarQube
9 2 (0.69%) Terragrunt
9 2 (0.69%) WebDriver
General
1 74 (25.69%) Social Skills
2 31 (10.76%) Finance
3 18 (6.25%) Analytical Skills
3 18 (6.25%) Organisational Skills
4 7 (2.43%) Documentation Skills
5 6 (2.08%) Legal
5 6 (2.08%) Publishing
6 5 (1.74%) Influencing Skills
6 5 (1.74%) Local Government
6 5 (1.74%) Presentation Skills
7 3 (1.04%) Marketing
7 3 (1.04%) Retail
8 2 (0.69%) Military
9 1 (0.35%) Back Office
9 1 (0.35%) Banking
9 1 (0.35%) Law
9 1 (0.35%) Multimedia
9 1 (0.35%) Police
9 1 (0.35%) Social Housing
9 1 (0.35%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 33 (11.46%) Architect
1 33 (11.46%) Developer
2 27 (9.38%) Analyst
3 24 (8.33%) Senior
4 19 (6.60%) Lead
4 19 (6.60%) Solutions Architect
5 18 (6.25%) Project Manager
6 15 (5.21%) Consultant
7 13 (4.51%) DevOps Engineer
8 12 (4.17%) Administrator
8 12 (4.17%) Technical Architect
9 9 (3.13%) DBA
9 9 (3.13%) Software Developer
10 8 (2.78%) Business Analyst
10 8 (2.78%) Cloud Consultant
10 8 (2.78%) Cloud Engineer
10 8 (2.78%) Designer
10 8 (2.78%) Oracle Consultant
11 7 (2.43%) Java Developer
11 7 (2.43%) Systems Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (6.94%) Spring
1 20 (6.94%) Spring Boot
2 19 (6.60%) Terraform
3 14 (4.86%) React
4 12 (4.17%) REST
5 10 (3.47%) Node.js
6 8 (2.78%) .NET
6 8 (2.78%) Playwright
6 8 (2.78%) RESTful
7 7 (2.43%) Web Services
8 6 (2.08%) AWS CDK
8 6 (2.08%) Jest
9 5 (1.74%) HTML
9 5 (1.74%) Next.js
9 5 (1.74%) Vue
10 4 (1.39%) JSON
10 4 (1.39%) Middleware
11 3 (1.04%) FreeMarker
11 3 (1.04%) OAuth
11 3 (1.04%) Spring Security
Miscellaneous
1 17 (5.90%) Product Ownership
2 13 (4.51%) Cloud Native
3 11 (3.82%) Data Protection Act
3 11 (3.82%) Legacy Systems
3 11 (3.82%) Management Information System
4 8 (2.78%) NHS
5 5 (1.74%) Enterprise Software
6 3 (1.04%) Data Centre
6 3 (1.04%) Freedom of Information
6 3 (1.04%) Legacy Applications
6 3 (1.04%) Mainframe
6 3 (1.04%) Self-Motivation
7 2 (0.69%) Distributed Architecture
7 2 (0.69%) Distributed Systems
7 2 (0.69%) PKI
8 1 (0.35%) Graphic Design
8 1 (0.35%) Hybrid Cloud
8 1 (0.35%) PMI
8 1 (0.35%) Replication
8 1 (0.35%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 26 (9.03%) Linux
2 15 (5.21%) Windows
3 6 (2.08%) SUSE
3 6 (2.08%) Windows Server
4 5 (1.74%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 3 (1.04%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.35%) Android
6 1 (0.35%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.35%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.35%) Rocky
6 1 (0.35%) Ubuntu
6 1 (0.35%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (27.78%) Agile
2 53 (18.40%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 48 (16.67%) Stakeholder Management
4 44 (15.28%) Continuous Improvement
4 44 (15.28%) DevOps
5 38 (13.19%) CI/CD
6 29 (10.07%) Project Delivery
7 25 (8.68%) Migration
8 22 (7.64%) Infrastructure as Code
9 20 (6.94%) AI
9 20 (6.94%) Coaching
9 20 (6.94%) Decision-Making
9 20 (6.94%) Mentoring
9 20 (6.94%) Microservices
9 20 (6.94%) Scrum
9 20 (6.94%) Workshop Facilitation
10 18 (6.25%) Data Protection
10 18 (6.25%) Digital Transformation Programme
10 18 (6.25%) Project Management
11 17 (5.90%) Problem-Solving
Programming Languages
1 33 (11.46%) Java
2 22 (7.64%) JavaScript
3 20 (6.94%) SQL
4 19 (6.60%) Python
5 18 (6.25%) TypeScript
6 9 (3.13%) Bash
7 7 (2.43%) PowerShell
8 6 (2.08%) Bicep
8 6 (2.08%) C#
9 4 (1.39%) Shell Script
10 3 (1.04%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 3 (1.04%) Groovy
10 3 (1.04%) PL/SQL
11 1 (0.35%) R
11 1 (0.35%) T-SQL
11 1 (0.35%) VB.NET
11 1 (0.35%) VBA
11 1 (0.35%) XPath
Qualifications
1 48 (16.67%) Security Cleared
2 43 (14.93%) SC Cleared
3 16 (5.56%) BPSS Clearance
4 10 (3.47%) DV Cleared
5 6 (2.08%) Degree
5 6 (2.08%) Microsoft Certification
6 5 (1.74%) PMI Certification
6 5 (1.74%) PMP
7 4 (1.39%) ITIL Certification
8 3 (1.04%) AWS Certification
8 3 (1.04%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 3 (1.04%) CISSP
8 3 (1.04%) MCSE
8 3 (1.04%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
9 2 (0.69%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
9 2 (0.69%) AWS Certified SysOps Administrator
9 2 (0.69%) CISM
9 2 (0.69%) IIBA
9 2 (0.69%) Six Sigma Black Belt
9 2 (0.69%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (7.99%) Accessibility
2 22 (7.64%) Disclosure Scotland
3 14 (4.86%) PMO
4 9 (3.13%) Data Quality
4 9 (3.13%) GDPR
4 9 (3.13%) QA
5 8 (2.78%) WCAG
6 4 (1.39%) NIST
7 3 (1.04%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 2 (0.69%) Actionable Recommendations
8 2 (0.69%) Cyber Essentials
8 2 (0.69%) GRC
8 2 (0.69%) NCSC
8 2 (0.69%) SLA
System Software
1 11 (3.82%) Docker
2 10 (3.47%) Active Directory
3 7 (2.43%) Hyper-V
4 5 (1.74%) Ceph
4 5 (1.74%) VMware Infrastructure
5 3 (1.04%) Squid
6 2 (0.69%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.35%) IAG
7 1 (0.35%) iptables
7 1 (0.35%) NFS
7 1 (0.35%) Samba
7 1 (0.35%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 13 (4.51%) Kubernetes
2 8 (2.78%) Ansible
2 8 (2.78%) Grafana
3 6 (2.08%) Istio
4 5 (1.74%) Microsoft Intune
5 4 (1.39%) Argo
6 3 (1.04%) Kibana
6 3 (1.04%) Prometheus
7 2 (0.69%) SCCM
7 2 (0.69%) Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.35%) Rundeck
8 1 (0.35%) SELinux
8 1 (0.35%) systemd
8 1 (0.35%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 35 (12.15%) Microsoft
2 32 (11.11%) Oracle
3 9 (3.13%) Salesforce
4 5 (1.74%) Cisco
4 5 (1.74%) Google
4 5 (1.74%) MuleSoft
4 5 (1.74%) VMware
5 4 (1.39%) Red Hat
6 3 (1.04%) Atlassian
6 3 (1.04%) SAP
6 3 (1.04%) UiPath
7 2 (0.69%) F5
7 2 (0.69%) Okta
7 2 (0.69%) Palo Alto
7 2 (0.69%) SaltStack
8 1 (0.35%) AppDynamics
8 1 (0.35%) EnterpriseDB
8 1 (0.35%) Qualys
8 1 (0.35%) ServiceNow
8 1 (0.35%) SolarWinds