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

6 months to
1 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 7 2 1
Rank change year-on-year -5 -1 +1
Contract jobs citing Public Sector 251 397 693
As % of all contract jobs in Scotland 16.00% 23.24% 28.91%
As % of the General category 24.02% 35.41% 43.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 168 270 436
10th Percentile £221 £190 £158
25th Percentile £405 £363 £343
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year - -5.26% -
75th Percentile £540 £532 £573
90th Percentile £600 £638 £675
UK median daily rate £500 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -2.44% -2.38% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 15 8
10th Percentile £15.24 £14.18 £11.61
25th Percentile £17.20 £18.26 £12.11
Median hourly rate £21.01 £20.29 £18.21
Median % change year-on-year +3.57% +11.43% +11.28%
75th Percentile £25.35 £25.97 £55.00
90th Percentile £27.63 £32.05 £55.42
UK median hourly rate £21.00 £22.25 £21.91
% change year-on-year -5.62% +1.57% +15.29%

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 1,045 1,121 1,608
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Scotland 66.60% 65.63% 67.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 625 658 1,004
10th Percentile £200 £181 £200
25th Percentile £360 £351 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £455 £450 £489
Median % change year-on-year +1.11% -7.93% +2.89%
75th Percentile £540 £538 £588
90th Percentile £606 £625 £700
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 51 33 41
10th Percentile £13.00 £13.85 £12.13
25th Percentile £16.28 £15.75 £15.42
Median hourly rate £19.23 £20.94 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year -8.17% +7.38% +15.15%
75th Percentile £26.21 £24.18 £56.40
90th Percentile £57.50 £33.28 £62.50
UK median hourly rate £24.00 £28.00 £31.76
% change year-on-year -14.29% -11.84% +27.04%

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 December 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 1 December 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 1 December 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 -3 133 £455 +1.11% 12
Glasgow -13 98 £455 +1.11% 23
North Lanarkshire - 3 £314 -
South Lanarkshire +8 2 £550 -
West Lothian +1 2 £289 -45.00%
Aberdeen - 2 £500 - 1
Lanarkshire +2 1 £130 - 17
Stirling 0 1 £275 +52.78%
Dundee -1 1 £115 -39.47% 4
Midlothian - 1 £150 - 7
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 (3.59%) Confluence
2 6 (2.39%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (2.39%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.59%) Apache
4 3 (1.20%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.80%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.80%) Apache TomEE
5 2 (0.80%) ArcGIS
5 2 (0.80%) Tomcat
5 2 (0.80%) WebLogic
6 1 (0.40%) Alfresco
6 1 (0.40%) Apache Solr
6 1 (0.40%) CMS
6 1 (0.40%) Exchange Server 2013
6 1 (0.40%) nginx
6 1 (0.40%) Oracle Coherence
6 1 (0.40%) Umbraco
Applications
1 13 (5.18%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (2.79%) Microsoft Project
3 4 (1.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.80%) Microsoft Office
5 1 (0.40%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 1 (0.40%) Adobe Illustrator
5 1 (0.40%) InDesign
5 1 (0.40%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.40%) Photoshop
5 1 (0.40%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 9 (3.59%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.40%) Dynamics GP
2 1 (0.40%) iTrent
Cloud Services
1 52 (20.72%) AWS
2 45 (17.93%) Azure
3 26 (10.36%) Power Platform
4 21 (8.37%) Serverless
5 19 (7.57%) AWS Lambda
6 17 (6.77%) Amazon S3
6 17 (6.77%) AWS CloudFormation
6 17 (6.77%) Microsoft 365
7 14 (5.58%) Azure DevOps
8 11 (4.38%) Dynamics 365
8 11 (4.38%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 10 (3.98%) OpenShift
10 9 (3.59%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 9 (3.59%) Amazon EKS
10 9 (3.59%) Power Automate
11 8 (3.19%) Entra ID
11 8 (3.19%) GitHub
12 7 (2.79%) PowerApps
12 7 (2.79%) SaaS
13 5 (1.99%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 11 (4.38%) Firewall
2 8 (3.19%) WAN
3 5 (1.99%) VPN
4 4 (1.59%) Cisco ISE
4 4 (1.59%) LAN
4 4 (1.59%) Network Security
4 4 (1.59%) Wi-Fi
5 3 (1.20%) MPLS
5 3 (1.20%) Unified Communications
6 2 (0.80%) Cisco Nexus
6 2 (0.80%) SDH
6 2 (0.80%) TETRA
6 2 (0.80%) VoIP
7 1 (0.40%) Cisco ASA
7 1 (0.40%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
7 1 (0.40%) IPsec
7 1 (0.40%) MQTT
7 1 (0.40%) Multicast
7 1 (0.40%) Software-Defined Networking
7 1 (0.40%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (7.17%) Power BI
2 12 (4.78%) PostgreSQL
3 11 (4.38%) Amazon Aurora
4 10 (3.98%) Relational Database
5 8 (3.19%) SQL Server
6 6 (2.39%) Elasticsearch
7 5 (1.99%) Amazon Athena
7 5 (1.99%) DynamoDB
7 5 (1.99%) MySQL
8 4 (1.59%) MongoDB
8 4 (1.59%) Oracle Database
9 3 (1.20%) GIS
9 3 (1.20%) Oracle Reports
10 2 (0.80%) Amazon RDS
10 2 (0.80%) Big Data
10 2 (0.80%) Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.80%) Geospatial Data
10 2 (0.80%) NoSQL
10 2 (0.80%) Spatial Data
10 2 (0.80%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 16 (6.37%) JIRA
2 14 (5.58%) Git
3 10 (3.98%) Jenkins
4 7 (2.79%) Cypress.io
5 3 (1.20%) Cucumber
5 3 (1.20%) GitLab
5 3 (1.20%) Subversion
5 3 (1.20%) Terragrunt
5 3 (1.20%) webpack
6 2 (0.80%) Ant
6 2 (0.80%) Axure RP
6 2 (0.80%) CircleCI
6 2 (0.80%) Eclipse
6 2 (0.80%) Maven
6 2 (0.80%) Oracle Forms
6 2 (0.80%) Postman
6 2 (0.80%) Selenium
7 1 (0.40%) Mockito
7 1 (0.40%) Team Foundation Server
7 1 (0.40%) WebDriver
General
1 77 (30.68%) Social Skills
2 44 (17.53%) Finance
3 35 (13.94%) Analytical Skills
4 11 (4.38%) Influencing Skills
5 9 (3.59%) Telecoms
6 7 (2.79%) Organisational Skills
7 5 (1.99%) Legal
7 5 (1.99%) Marketing
8 4 (1.59%) Electronics
8 4 (1.59%) Manufacturing
8 4 (1.59%) Presentation Skills
9 3 (1.20%) Documentation Skills
9 3 (1.20%) Local Government
9 3 (1.20%) Retail
10 2 (0.80%) Back Office
10 2 (0.80%) Law
11 1 (0.40%) Billing
11 1 (0.40%) General Ledger
11 1 (0.40%) Military
11 1 (0.40%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 39 (15.54%) Developer
2 25 (9.96%) Analyst
3 24 (9.56%) Architect
4 17 (6.77%) Senior
5 15 (5.98%) Lead
6 14 (5.58%) Project Manager
7 11 (4.38%) Solutions Architect
8 10 (3.98%) Business Analyst
8 10 (3.98%) Consultant
8 10 (3.98%) Support Officer
9 8 (3.19%) Java Developer
9 8 (3.19%) Network Engineer
10 7 (2.79%) Cloud Engineer
10 7 (2.79%) Technical Leader
11 6 (2.39%) .NET Developer
11 6 (2.39%) Delivery Manager
11 6 (2.39%) Project Officer
11 6 (2.39%) Project Support Officer
11 6 (2.39%) Site Engineer
11 6 (2.39%) User Researcher
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (6.37%) React
2 14 (5.58%) .NET
2 14 (5.58%) HTML
3 13 (5.18%) AWS CDK
4 12 (4.78%) CSS
5 11 (4.38%) Node.js
5 11 (4.38%) Spring
6 10 (3.98%) REST
7 8 (3.19%) RESTful
7 8 (3.19%) Spring Boot
8 7 (2.79%) PyTorch
9 4 (1.59%) Elastic Stack
9 4 (1.59%) Hugging Face
9 4 (1.59%) JSON
9 4 (1.59%) NumPy
9 4 (1.59%) OAuth
9 4 (1.59%) Spring Security
9 4 (1.59%) Spring Web Flow
9 4 (1.59%) SQLAlchemy
9 4 (1.59%) Thymeleaf
Miscellaneous
1 11 (4.38%) Product Ownership
2 10 (3.98%) Management Information System
2 10 (3.98%) NHS
3 9 (3.59%) Legacy Systems
4 6 (2.39%) Cloud Native
5 5 (1.99%) Cyber Threat
5 5 (1.99%) Device Driver
5 5 (1.99%) Freedom of Information
5 5 (1.99%) Legacy Applications
5 5 (1.99%) Wiki
6 4 (1.59%) Algorithms
6 4 (1.59%) Analytical Mindset
6 4 (1.59%) Data Centre
6 4 (1.59%) Data Protection Act
6 4 (1.59%) IVR
6 4 (1.59%) Onboarding
6 4 (1.59%) PKI
7 3 (1.20%) Driving Licence
7 3 (1.20%) Hybrid Cloud
7 3 (1.20%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 18 (7.17%) Linux
2 13 (5.18%) Windows
3 9 (3.59%) Unix
4 4 (1.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 4 (1.59%) Windows Server
5 2 (0.80%) Oracle Linux
6 1 (0.40%) Solaris
6 1 (0.40%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.40%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 83 (33.07%) Agile
2 39 (15.54%) Problem-Solving
3 38 (15.14%) DevOps
4 34 (13.55%) CI/CD
5 28 (11.16%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 27 (10.76%) Project Management
7 25 (9.96%) Infrastructure as Code
8 24 (9.56%) User Experience
9 23 (9.16%) Continuous Improvement
9 23 (9.16%) Migration
10 22 (8.76%) Business Intelligence
11 21 (8.37%) Stakeholder Management
12 20 (7.97%) Roadmaps
13 19 (7.57%) Mentoring
14 18 (7.17%) Cybersecurity
15 16 (6.37%) Data Analysis
15 16 (6.37%) Disaster Recovery
16 15 (5.98%) Data Protection
16 15 (5.98%) Microservices
16 15 (5.98%) PRINCE2
Programming Languages
1 32 (12.75%) Python
2 24 (9.56%) Java
3 21 (8.37%) TypeScript
4 20 (7.97%) JavaScript
5 13 (5.18%) SQL
6 11 (4.38%) C#
7 10 (3.98%) PowerShell
8 6 (2.39%) Bash
9 5 (1.99%) Shell Script
10 4 (1.59%) Bicep
10 4 (1.59%) Perl
11 3 (1.20%) PL/SQL
12 2 (0.80%) Apex Code
12 2 (0.80%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 2 (0.80%) Groovy
12 2 (0.80%) R
13 1 (0.40%) C
13 1 (0.40%) C++
13 1 (0.40%) Go
Qualifications
1 47 (18.73%) Security Cleared
2 24 (9.56%) Degree
3 20 (7.97%) SC Cleared
4 14 (5.58%) BPSS Clearance
5 9 (3.59%) Microsoft Certification
6 8 (3.19%) Cisco Certification
7 7 (2.79%) CCNA
7 7 (2.79%) CISSP
8 5 (1.99%) MCSA
9 4 (1.59%) Azure Certification
9 4 (1.59%) CISM
10 3 (1.20%) CCIE
10 3 (1.20%) CCNP
10 3 (1.20%) CEH
10 3 (1.20%) CompTIA Security+
10 3 (1.20%) Computer Science Degree
10 3 (1.20%) DV Cleared
10 3 (1.20%) GIAC
10 3 (1.20%) HND
10 3 (1.20%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (8.37%) Accessibility
2 19 (7.57%) GDPR
3 14 (5.58%) Disclosure Scotland
3 14 (5.58%) QA
4 8 (3.19%) PMO
5 6 (2.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 5 (1.99%) SLA
7 4 (1.59%) Data Quality
7 4 (1.59%) PCI DSS
8 3 (1.20%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.80%) Cyber Essentials
9 2 (0.80%) NCSC
10 1 (0.40%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.40%) COBIT
10 1 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 1 (0.40%) NIST
10 1 (0.40%) P3O
10 1 (0.40%) WCAG
System Software
1 16 (6.37%) Docker
2 10 (3.98%) Active Directory
3 4 (1.59%) KVM
4 3 (1.20%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.80%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.40%) HDFS
6 1 (0.40%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 19 (7.57%) Kubernetes
1 19 (7.57%) Terraform
2 15 (5.98%) Grafana
3 7 (2.79%) Prometheus
3 7 (2.79%) SCCM
4 5 (1.99%) Ansible
5 4 (1.59%) Kibana
5 4 (1.59%) logstash
6 3 (1.20%) Argo
6 3 (1.20%) Istio
6 3 (1.20%) Red Hat Satellite
7 2 (0.80%) Fluentd
7 2 (0.80%) HAProxy
7 2 (0.80%) Microsoft Intune
7 2 (0.80%) Nagios
7 2 (0.80%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 54 (21.51%) Microsoft
2 21 (8.37%) Oracle
3 14 (5.58%) Cisco
4 7 (2.79%) Salesforce
5 6 (2.39%) SAP
6 5 (1.99%) Red Hat
7 4 (1.59%) F5
7 4 (1.59%) Pega
7 4 (1.59%) ServiceNow
7 4 (1.59%) Splunk
8 3 (1.20%) Avaya
8 3 (1.20%) Commvault
8 3 (1.20%) Genesys
9 2 (0.80%) Palo Alto
10 1 (0.40%) Databricks
10 1 (0.40%) NetApp
10 1 (0.40%) Okta
10 1 (0.40%) OpenAI
10 1 (0.40%) Ping Identity
10 1 (0.40%) Siemens