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 15 September 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 6 1 1
Rank change year-on-year -5 0 +1
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 271 472 751
As % of all contract jobs advertised in Scotland 17.15% 25.31% 29.86%
As % of the General category 24.89% 39.73% 44.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 179 310 528
10th Percentile £211 £162 £178
25th Percentile £388 £281 £383
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% -
75th Percentile £538 £549 £550
90th Percentile £600 £639 £623
UK median daily rate £500 £504 £525
% change year-on-year -0.73% -4.06% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 15 7
10th Percentile £16.08 £12.48 £11.60
25th Percentile £17.44 £13.57 £11.96
Median hourly rate £21.85 £18.00 £13.50
Median % change year-on-year +21.38% +33.33% -23.81%
75th Percentile £27.09 £20.26 £36.11
90th Percentile £36.87 £26.12 £55.00
UK median hourly rate £21.00 £22.56 £20.00
% change year-on-year -6.91% +12.80% +0.33%

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 1,089 1,188 1,701
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Scotland 68.92% 63.70% 67.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 633 706 1,114
10th Percentile £223 £168 £211
25th Percentile £368 £325 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +4.44% -5.26% -
75th Percentile £538 £538 £570
90th Percentile £600 £638 £638
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 49 44 39
10th Percentile £16.02 £12.30 £11.93
25th Percentile £17.08 £14.28 £12.28
Median hourly rate £19.23 £17.46 £19.18
Median % change year-on-year +10.14% -8.97% -1.01%
75th Percentile £24.66 £24.16 £58.89
90th Percentile £48.14 £41.18 £74.60
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £37.28 £27.50
% change year-on-year -32.54% +35.56% +12.43%

Public Sector
Job Vacancy Trend in Scotland

Job postings citing Public Sector as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in Scotland.

Job vacancy trend for Public Sector 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 15 September 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 15 September 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 15 September 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 -3 150 £475 +5.56% 29
Glasgow -14 89 £475 - 29
Aberdeen +2 4 £334 +51.70% 1
West Lothian 0 4 £188 -55.88% 3
Lanarkshire -1 3 £130 -69.77% 12
North Lanarkshire - 3 £314 -
Stirling 0 2 £275 +66.67%
Dundee -2 2 £201 +2.82%
South Lanarkshire +9 1 - -
Moray - 1 £650 -
West Dunbartonshire - 1 £141 -
East Renfrewshire - 1 - -
East Lothian - 1 - -
Public Sector
UK

Public Sector
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in Scotland by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 12 (4.43%) SharePoint
2 7 (2.58%) Confluence
3 5 (1.85%) Microsoft Exchange
4 4 (1.48%) Apache
4 4 (1.48%) Exchange Server 2013
5 3 (1.11%) Tomcat
6 2 (0.74%) ArcGIS
6 2 (0.74%) CMS
6 2 (0.74%) JBoss
6 2 (0.74%) nginx
6 2 (0.74%) OpenROAD
6 2 (0.74%) Umbraco
6 2 (0.74%) WebLogic
7 1 (0.37%) Alfresco
7 1 (0.37%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.37%) Apache Solr
7 1 (0.37%) Drupal
7 1 (0.37%) IIS
7 1 (0.37%) Joomla!
7 1 (0.37%) WordPress
Applications
1 23 (8.49%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (2.95%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (1.48%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (1.48%) Microsoft Project
3 4 (1.48%) MS Visio
3 4 (1.48%) Oracle Smart View
4 1 (0.37%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 3 (1.11%) Oracle ERP
2 2 (0.74%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.74%) Oracle Payables
3 1 (0.37%) Dynamics GP
3 1 (0.37%) Oracle Cash Management
3 1 (0.37%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 1 (0.37%) Oracle Receivables
Cloud Services
1 49 (18.08%) AWS
2 41 (15.13%) Azure
3 20 (7.38%) Microsoft 365
4 18 (6.64%) Amazon S3
4 18 (6.64%) Power Platform
5 15 (5.54%) AWS Lambda
5 15 (5.54%) Serverless
6 14 (5.17%) Azure DevOps
7 13 (4.80%) AWS CloudFormation
8 11 (4.06%) GitHub
9 10 (3.69%) Amazon EKS
9 10 (3.69%) OpenShift
10 8 (2.95%) GitHub Actions
10 8 (2.95%) SaaS
11 7 (2.58%) Entra ID
11 7 (2.58%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 6 (2.21%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 5 (1.85%) Azure Sentinel
13 5 (1.85%) Dynamics 365
13 5 (1.85%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 9 (3.32%) Firewall
2 4 (1.48%) VPN
2 4 (1.48%) WAN
2 4 (1.48%) Wi-Fi
3 3 (1.11%) Cisco ISE
3 3 (1.11%) LAN
3 3 (1.11%) Unified Communications
4 2 (0.74%) Internet
4 2 (0.74%) Network Security
4 2 (0.74%) TETRA
4 2 (0.74%) VoIP
4 2 (0.74%) WLAN
5 1 (0.37%) Cisco Nexus
5 1 (0.37%) HTTP
5 1 (0.37%) IPsec
5 1 (0.37%) MQTT
5 1 (0.37%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (5.54%) PostgreSQL
2 12 (4.43%) Amazon Aurora
3 11 (4.06%) Power BI
4 8 (2.95%) Oracle Reports
5 7 (2.58%) Power Query
6 6 (2.21%) Relational Database
7 5 (1.85%) Amazon RDS
7 5 (1.85%) Elasticsearch
7 5 (1.85%) MongoDB
8 4 (1.48%) Metadata
8 4 (1.48%) MySQL
8 4 (1.48%) Oracle Database
9 3 (1.11%) GIS
9 3 (1.11%) MariaDB
9 3 (1.11%) SQL Server
9 3 (1.11%) Tableau
10 2 (0.74%) Big Data
10 2 (0.74%) Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.74%) InfluxDB
10 2 (0.74%) Oracle BI Publisher
Development Applications
1 20 (7.38%) Git
2 15 (5.54%) JIRA
3 13 (4.80%) Jenkins
4 11 (4.06%) Cypress.io
5 5 (1.85%) Subversion
5 5 (1.85%) webpack
6 4 (1.48%) Terragrunt
7 3 (1.11%) Cucumber
7 3 (1.11%) Selenium
8 2 (0.74%) CircleCI
8 2 (0.74%) GitLab
8 2 (0.74%) Newman
8 2 (0.74%) Oracle Forms
8 2 (0.74%) Postman
8 2 (0.74%) TeamCity
8 2 (0.74%) WebDriver
9 1 (0.37%) Balsamiq
9 1 (0.37%) ClearCase
9 1 (0.37%) Team Foundation Server
9 1 (0.37%) Tricentis qTest
General
1 86 (31.73%) Social Skills
2 49 (18.08%) Finance
3 38 (14.02%) Analytical Skills
4 13 (4.80%) Telecoms
5 12 (4.43%) Influencing Skills
5 12 (4.43%) Marketing
6 10 (3.69%) Electronics
6 10 (3.69%) Manufacturing
7 7 (2.58%) Organisational Skills
8 5 (1.85%) Legal
8 5 (1.85%) Publishing
9 3 (1.11%) Documentation Skills
9 3 (1.11%) Presentation Skills
10 2 (0.74%) Back Office
10 2 (0.74%) Banking
10 2 (0.74%) Law
10 2 (0.74%) Military
11 1 (0.37%) Digital Health
11 1 (0.37%) Local Government
11 1 (0.37%) Retail
Job Titles
1 39 (14.39%) Developer
2 38 (14.02%) Analyst
3 22 (8.12%) Architect
4 17 (6.27%) Senior
5 14 (5.17%) Lead
6 12 (4.43%) Business Analyst
6 12 (4.43%) Solutions Architect
7 9 (3.32%) .NET Developer
7 9 (3.32%) Project Manager
8 7 (2.58%) RF Engineer
8 7 (2.58%) Service Analyst
8 7 (2.58%) Service Desk Analyst
8 7 (2.58%) Software Developer
8 7 (2.58%) Technical Leader
9 6 (2.21%) Administrator
9 6 (2.21%) Consultant
9 6 (2.21%) Designer
9 6 (2.21%) Front-End Developer (Client-Side Developer)
9 6 (2.21%) Network Engineer
9 6 (2.21%) Programme Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (7.38%) .NET
1 20 (7.38%) React
2 17 (6.27%) HTML
3 15 (5.54%) AWS CDK
4 14 (5.17%) CSS
5 12 (4.43%) RESTful
6 10 (3.69%) Node.js
6 10 (3.69%) REST
7 8 (2.95%) AngularJS
8 7 (2.58%) PyTorch
9 6 (2.21%) Oracle Fusion
9 6 (2.21%) Spring Boot
10 5 (1.85%) .NET Framework
10 5 (1.85%) CSS3
10 5 (1.85%) HTML5
10 5 (1.85%) Redux
10 5 (1.85%) SOAP
10 5 (1.85%) Spring
11 4 (1.48%) Hugging Face
11 4 (1.48%) Thymeleaf
Miscellaneous
1 17 (6.27%) Management Information System
2 12 (4.43%) Product Ownership
3 7 (2.58%) Cloud Native
3 7 (2.58%) Legacy Systems
4 6 (2.21%) Legacy Applications
4 6 (2.21%) Self-Motivation
4 6 (2.21%) Wiki
5 5 (1.85%) Freedom of Information
6 4 (1.48%) Device Driver
6 4 (1.48%) Driving Licence
6 4 (1.48%) Hybrid Cloud
6 4 (1.48%) Mobile App
7 3 (1.11%) Algorithms
7 3 (1.11%) Cyber Threat
7 3 (1.11%) Data Structures
7 3 (1.11%) Onboarding
7 3 (1.11%) PKI
8 2 (0.74%) Client/Server
8 2 (0.74%) Data Centre
8 2 (0.74%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 28 (10.33%) Linux
2 26 (9.59%) Windows
3 14 (5.17%) Unix
4 12 (4.43%) Windows Server
5 6 (2.21%) Windows 10
6 5 (1.85%) Mac OS
6 5 (1.85%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (1.48%) Windows Server 2012
8 3 (1.11%) AIX
9 2 (0.74%) Apple iOS
9 2 (0.74%) Oracle Linux
9 2 (0.74%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 84 (31.00%) Agile
2 45 (16.61%) Problem-Solving
3 44 (16.24%) DevOps
4 38 (14.02%) CI/CD
5 33 (12.18%) Project Management
6 30 (11.07%) Mentoring
7 27 (9.96%) User Experience
8 25 (9.23%) Infrastructure as Code
9 23 (8.49%) Business Intelligence
9 23 (8.49%) Coaching
10 22 (8.12%) Continuous Improvement
11 21 (7.75%) Cybersecurity
12 20 (7.38%) Migration
13 19 (7.01%) Roadmaps
13 19 (7.01%) Scrum
14 18 (6.64%) Service Design
15 17 (6.27%) Service Delivery
15 17 (6.27%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 16 (5.90%) Programme Management
17 15 (5.54%) Data Analysis
Programming Languages
1 30 (11.07%) Python
2 25 (9.23%) JavaScript
3 24 (8.86%) Java
4 23 (8.49%) SQL
5 21 (7.75%) TypeScript
6 13 (4.80%) Shell Script
7 9 (3.32%) C#
8 7 (2.58%) Bash
8 7 (2.58%) PL/SQL
8 7 (2.58%) PowerShell
9 6 (2.21%) VBA
10 5 (1.85%) Bicep
11 4 (1.48%) Perl
12 3 (1.11%) C++
12 3 (1.11%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 2 (0.74%) Apex Code
13 2 (0.74%) Groovy
13 2 (0.74%) Objective-C
13 2 (0.74%) R
13 2 (0.74%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 55 (20.30%) Security Cleared
2 35 (12.92%) Degree
3 28 (10.33%) SC Cleared
4 10 (3.69%) BPSS Clearance
5 8 (2.95%) Master's Degree
6 7 (2.58%) Microsoft Certification
7 6 (2.21%) Azure Certification
7 6 (2.21%) CCNA
7 6 (2.21%) CIMA
7 6 (2.21%) Cisco Certification
8 5 (1.85%) CISSP
8 5 (1.85%) Computer Science Degree
8 5 (1.85%) Postgraduate
9 4 (1.48%) AWS Certification
9 4 (1.48%) HND
9 4 (1.48%) MCSA
10 3 (1.11%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 3 (1.11%) HNC
10 3 (1.11%) ISEB
11 2 (0.74%) CompTIA CySA+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (9.23%) Accessibility
2 17 (6.27%) GDPR
3 15 (5.54%) Disclosure Scotland
4 8 (2.95%) QA
5 6 (2.21%) NCSC
6 4 (1.48%) SLA
7 3 (1.11%) Cyber Essentials
7 3 (1.11%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 3 (1.11%) Data Quality
8 2 (0.74%) Actionable Recommendations
8 2 (0.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 2 (0.74%) PMO
8 2 (0.74%) WCAG
9 1 (0.37%) COBIT
9 1 (0.37%) NIST
9 1 (0.37%) P3O
System Software
1 20 (7.38%) Docker
2 10 (3.69%) Active Directory
3 4 (1.48%) Hyper-V
3 4 (1.48%) KVM
4 3 (1.11%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (1.11%) Virtual Servers
5 1 (0.37%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 19 (7.01%) Kubernetes
2 18 (6.64%) Terraform
3 17 (6.27%) Grafana
4 8 (2.95%) Prometheus
5 6 (2.21%) Ansible
6 5 (1.85%) SCCM
7 4 (1.48%) Argo
7 4 (1.48%) Istio
8 3 (1.11%) Kibana
8 3 (1.11%) logstash
8 3 (1.11%) Red Hat Satellite
9 2 (0.74%) Fluentd
9 2 (0.74%) HAProxy
9 2 (0.74%) Microsoft Intune
9 2 (0.74%) Nagios
9 2 (0.74%) Single Sign-On
10 1 (0.37%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 56 (20.66%) Microsoft
2 30 (11.07%) Oracle
3 11 (4.06%) SAP
4 6 (2.21%) Cisco
5 4 (1.48%) Salesforce
6 3 (1.11%) Commvault
6 3 (1.11%) F5
6 3 (1.11%) Fortinet
6 3 (1.11%) OpenAI
6 3 (1.11%) Red Hat
6 3 (1.11%) Splunk
6 3 (1.11%) VMware
7 2 (0.74%) Apple
7 2 (0.74%) ArcSight
7 2 (0.74%) Avaya
7 2 (0.74%) Extreme Networks
7 2 (0.74%) ServiceNow
8 1 (0.37%) Genesys
8 1 (0.37%) NetApp
8 1 (0.37%) Siemens