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

6 months to
28 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 6 4 1
Rank change year-on-year -2 -3 +1
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 248 335 654
As % of all contract jobs in Scotland 14.90% 20.59% 28.53%
As % of the General category 24.46% 28.76% 43.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 146 238 401
10th Percentile £245 £191 £155
25th Percentile £358 £363 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £449 £475
Median % change year-on-year +0.28% -5.53% +5.56%
75th Percentile £538 £518 £575
90th Percentile £578 £600 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 10 8
10th Percentile - £19.73 £12.79
25th Percentile £17.23 £22.50 £13.27
Median hourly rate £21.31 £24.26 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year -12.15% +38.60% +15.97%
75th Percentile £26.47 £26.98 £18.75
90th Percentile £28.08 £28.38 £19.99
UK median hourly rate £22.00 £24.00 £21.00
% change year-on-year -8.33% +14.29% +5.00%

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 1,014 1,165 1,516
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Scotland 60.94% 71.60% 66.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 548 713 909
10th Percentile £201 £215 £181
25th Percentile £358 £365 £369
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £457 £475
Median % change year-on-year -1.53% -3.79% -
75th Percentile £575 £538 £588
90th Percentile £675 £613 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 85 30 71
10th Percentile £12.60 £18.27 £12.50
25th Percentile £13.00 £20.96 £16.25
Median hourly rate £16.82 £24.09 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year -30.18% +23.54% +13.97%
75th Percentile £50.00 £26.98 £60.38
90th Percentile £67.40 £44.50 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £29.53 £26.00
% change year-on-year -14.82% +13.56% -25.71%

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 28 March 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 28 March 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 -4 129 £438 +1.51% 10
Glasgow +4 98 £475 - 19
South Lanarkshire -6 8 - -
West Lothian -2 3 £276 +47.33% 1
Moray -2 1 - -
North Lanarkshire -4 1 £350 -12.50%
Fife - 1 - -
Midlothian - 1 £150 - 7
Aberdeen - 1 £138 -
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 8 (3.23%) Confluence
2 5 (2.02%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (1.21%) Apache
3 3 (1.21%) Apache Airflow
3 3 (1.21%) CMS
4 2 (0.81%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.81%) Apache TomEE
4 2 (0.81%) Drupal
4 2 (0.81%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.40%) CICS
5 1 (0.40%) Exchange Server 2013
5 1 (0.40%) JBoss
5 1 (0.40%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.40%) Oracle Coherence
5 1 (0.40%) Umbraco
Applications
1 10 (4.03%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.21%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 3 (1.21%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.81%) Adobe Illustrator
3 2 (0.81%) InDesign
3 2 (0.81%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.81%) Photoshop
4 1 (0.40%) Adobe After Effects
4 1 (0.40%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 1 (0.40%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.40%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 14 (5.65%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.81%) iTrent
3 1 (0.40%) IntelliMatch
3 1 (0.40%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 57 (22.98%) Azure
2 39 (15.73%) AWS
3 30 (12.10%) Power Platform
4 21 (8.47%) Azure DevOps
5 15 (6.05%) Dynamics 365
5 15 (6.05%) Microsoft 365
6 12 (4.84%) Power Automate
6 12 (4.84%) PowerApps
6 12 (4.84%) Serverless
7 8 (3.23%) AWS CloudFormation
8 7 (2.82%) AWS Lambda
8 7 (2.82%) Azure AI
8 7 (2.82%) Azure Cognitive Search
8 7 (2.82%) Azure Cognitive Services
8 7 (2.82%) Cloud Computing
8 7 (2.82%) GCP
9 6 (2.42%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 6 (2.42%) Azure Cosmos DB
9 6 (2.42%) Entra ID
9 6 (2.42%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 8 (3.23%) WAN
2 6 (2.42%) Cisco Nexus
2 6 (2.42%) LAN
2 6 (2.42%) Network Security
3 5 (2.02%) DNS
3 5 (2.02%) Firewall
3 5 (2.02%) Wi-Fi
4 4 (1.61%) MPLS
5 3 (1.21%) BGP
5 3 (1.21%) OSPF
5 3 (1.21%) SDH
5 3 (1.21%) SD-WAN
5 3 (1.21%) VPN
6 2 (0.81%) Fibre Channel
6 2 (0.81%) Intranet
6 2 (0.81%) Remote Desktop
6 2 (0.81%) SSH
6 2 (0.81%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.40%) Cisco ISE
7 1 (0.40%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (8.87%) Power BI
2 12 (4.84%) SQL Server
3 11 (4.44%) Relational Database
4 10 (4.03%) MySQL
5 7 (2.82%) Metadata
5 7 (2.82%) PostgreSQL
6 6 (2.42%) DynamoDB
7 5 (2.02%) Amazon Athena
7 5 (2.02%) Geospatial Data
8 4 (1.61%) Data Lake
9 3 (1.21%) MariaDB
9 3 (1.21%) NoSQL
9 3 (1.21%) Snowflake Schema
10 2 (0.81%) Amazon Aurora
10 2 (0.81%) Azure SQL Database
10 2 (0.81%) Elasticsearch
10 2 (0.81%) GIS
10 2 (0.81%) MongoDB
10 2 (0.81%) Oracle Database
10 2 (0.81%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 11 (4.44%) JIRA
2 8 (3.23%) Git
3 5 (2.02%) Jenkins
4 3 (1.21%) Cucumber
4 3 (1.21%) GitLab
4 3 (1.21%) Selenium
5 2 (0.81%) Ant
5 2 (0.81%) Axure RP
5 2 (0.81%) Cypress.io
5 2 (0.81%) Eclipse
5 2 (0.81%) Maven
5 2 (0.81%) MLflow
5 2 (0.81%) NUnit
5 2 (0.81%) Sonatype Nexus
5 2 (0.81%) WebDriver
6 1 (0.40%) ERwin
6 1 (0.40%) JUnit
6 1 (0.40%) Mockito
6 1 (0.40%) Subversion
6 1 (0.40%) Visual Studio
General
1 72 (29.03%) Social Skills
2 37 (14.92%) Finance
3 27 (10.89%) Analytical Skills
4 13 (5.24%) Influencing Skills
5 8 (3.23%) Legal
6 6 (2.42%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (1.61%) Documentation Skills
7 4 (1.61%) Telecoms
8 3 (1.21%) Banking
8 3 (1.21%) Local Government
8 3 (1.21%) Military
8 3 (1.21%) Police
8 3 (1.21%) Presentation Skills
8 3 (1.21%) Retail
9 2 (0.81%) Back Office
10 1 (0.40%) Billing
10 1 (0.40%) General Ledger
10 1 (0.40%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 1 (0.40%) Marketing
10 1 (0.40%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 37 (14.92%) Analyst
2 28 (11.29%) Developer
3 25 (10.08%) Architect
4 23 (9.27%) Senior
5 14 (5.65%) Project Manager
6 12 (4.84%) Lead
7 11 (4.44%) Business Analyst
7 11 (4.44%) Consultant
8 9 (3.63%) Power Platform Developer
9 8 (3.23%) DBA
9 8 (3.23%) Designer
9 8 (3.23%) Network Engineer
9 8 (3.23%) Solutions Architect
10 7 (2.82%) Artificial Intelligence Architect
10 7 (2.82%) Cloud Engineer
10 7 (2.82%) Java Developer
11 6 (2.42%) Data Analyst
11 6 (2.42%) Project Officer
11 6 (2.42%) Project Support Officer
11 6 (2.42%) Support Officer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (8.06%) .NET
2 17 (6.85%) React
3 8 (3.23%) REST
3 8 (3.23%) RESTful
3 8 (3.23%) Spring
4 7 (2.82%) Node.js
5 6 (2.42%) HTML
6 5 (2.02%) CSS
6 5 (2.02%) JSON
7 4 (1.61%) AngularJS
7 4 (1.61%) Spring Boot
8 3 (1.21%) ASP.NET
8 3 (1.21%) Express.js
8 3 (1.21%) Hibernate
8 3 (1.21%) JPA
8 3 (1.21%) XML
9 2 (0.81%) JSP
9 2 (0.81%) OAuth
9 2 (0.81%) Oracle Fusion
9 2 (0.81%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 20 (8.06%) Product Ownership
2 14 (5.65%) Legacy Systems
3 12 (4.84%) Management Information System
3 12 (4.84%) NHS
4 9 (3.63%) Data Centre
5 8 (3.23%) Data Protection Act
6 7 (2.82%) Legacy Applications
7 5 (2.02%) Cyber Threat
7 5 (2.02%) Data Structures
8 4 (1.61%) Freedom of Information
8 4 (1.61%) IVR
8 4 (1.61%) Onboarding
8 4 (1.61%) Self-Motivation
8 4 (1.61%) Wiki
9 3 (1.21%) Cloud Native
9 3 (1.21%) EPoS
9 3 (1.21%) Low-Code
9 3 (1.21%) Replication
9 3 (1.21%) Security Operations Centre
9 3 (1.21%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 21 (8.47%) Linux
2 16 (6.45%) Windows
3 5 (2.02%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 5 (2.02%) Unix
3 5 (2.02%) Windows Server
4 4 (1.61%) Windows 10
5 1 (0.40%) Android
5 1 (0.40%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.40%) Mac OS
5 1 (0.40%) Rocky
5 1 (0.40%) Solaris
5 1 (0.40%) Ubuntu
5 1 (0.40%) Windows Server 2012
5 1 (0.40%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 69 (27.82%) Agile
2 43 (17.34%) Problem-Solving
3 39 (15.73%) DevOps
4 34 (13.71%) Migration
5 32 (12.90%) CI/CD
6 28 (11.29%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 28 (11.29%) Stakeholder Management
7 23 (9.27%) Roadmaps
8 22 (8.87%) Business Intelligence
9 20 (8.06%) AI
9 20 (8.06%) Data Protection
10 19 (7.66%) Continuous Improvement
10 19 (7.66%) Decision-Making
11 18 (7.26%) Project Management
12 17 (6.85%) CRM
12 17 (6.85%) Cybersecurity
12 17 (6.85%) Infrastructure as Code
12 17 (6.85%) User Experience
13 15 (6.05%) Project Delivery
13 15 (6.05%) SDLC
Programming Languages
1 32 (12.90%) Python
2 23 (9.27%) C#
3 22 (8.87%) Java
4 21 (8.47%) SQL
5 17 (6.85%) JavaScript
5 17 (6.85%) PowerShell
6 10 (4.03%) TypeScript
7 4 (1.61%) Bash
7 4 (1.61%) Bicep
8 2 (0.81%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 2 (0.81%) Go
9 1 (0.40%) C++
9 1 (0.40%) COBOL
9 1 (0.40%) JCL
9 1 (0.40%) Kusto Query Language
9 1 (0.40%) Perl
9 1 (0.40%) Shell Script
9 1 (0.40%) SPARQL
9 1 (0.40%) VBA
9 1 (0.40%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 60 (24.19%) Security Cleared
2 29 (11.69%) SC Cleared
3 20 (8.06%) BPSS Clearance
4 17 (6.85%) Degree
5 6 (2.42%) Cisco Certification
5 6 (2.42%) DV Cleared
6 5 (2.02%) CCNP
6 5 (2.02%) CISSP
6 5 (2.02%) Microsoft Certification
7 4 (1.61%) CompTIA Security+
7 4 (1.61%) ITIL Certification
8 3 (1.21%) CCAB
8 3 (1.21%) CompTIA CySA+
8 3 (1.21%) Computer Science Degree
9 2 (0.81%) CCIE
9 2 (0.81%) CISM
9 2 (0.81%) GIAC
9 2 (0.81%) MCSE
9 2 (0.81%) PMI Certification
9 2 (0.81%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (7.26%) Disclosure Scotland
1 18 (7.26%) GDPR
1 18 (7.26%) QA
2 13 (5.24%) Accessibility
3 12 (4.84%) Data Quality
4 8 (3.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 6 (2.42%) PMO
6 4 (1.61%) NCSC
6 4 (1.61%) PCI DSS
7 3 (1.21%) Cyber Essentials
7 3 (1.21%) HIPAA
7 3 (1.21%) NIST
7 3 (1.21%) SLA
7 3 (1.21%) WCAG
8 2 (0.81%) Actionable Recommendations
8 2 (0.81%) GRC
9 1 (0.40%) COBIT
9 1 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 1 (0.40%) ISO 20022
9 1 (0.40%) ISO 8583
System Software
1 11 (4.44%) Active Directory
2 7 (2.82%) Docker
3 5 (2.02%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (1.61%) VMware NSX
5 3 (1.21%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.81%) Ceph
6 2 (0.81%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.81%) vSphere
7 1 (0.40%) HDFS
7 1 (0.40%) iptables
7 1 (0.40%) NFS
7 1 (0.40%) Samba
7 1 (0.40%) Squid
7 1 (0.40%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 14 (5.65%) Terraform
2 10 (4.03%) Ansible
3 8 (3.23%) Kubernetes
4 4 (1.61%) Grafana
5 3 (1.21%) Microsoft Intune
6 2 (0.81%) Istio
6 2 (0.81%) SCCM
6 2 (0.81%) vMotion
7 1 (0.40%) Argo
7 1 (0.40%) Kibana
7 1 (0.40%) logstash
7 1 (0.40%) PowerCLI
7 1 (0.40%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.40%) Rundeck
7 1 (0.40%) SELinux
7 1 (0.40%) systemd
7 1 (0.40%) vRealize
7 1 (0.40%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 54 (21.77%) Microsoft
2 17 (6.85%) Oracle
3 15 (6.05%) Cisco
4 10 (4.03%) Google
5 8 (3.23%) Salesforce
6 7 (2.82%) OpenAI
6 7 (2.82%) VMware
7 6 (2.42%) Palo Alto
8 4 (1.61%) F5
8 4 (1.61%) Red Hat
8 4 (1.61%) ServiceNow
8 4 (1.61%) Splunk
9 3 (1.21%) Avaya
9 3 (1.21%) Genesys
9 3 (1.21%) Greenplum
9 3 (1.21%) Informatica
9 3 (1.21%) Pega
9 3 (1.21%) Talend
10 2 (0.81%) Adobe
10 2 (0.81%) Juniper