Creative Thinking Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Creative Thinking
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring Creative Thinking skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 24 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 340 296 295
Rank change year-on-year -44 -1 +72
Contract jobs citing Creative Thinking 52 56 105
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.28% 0.38% 0.54%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.33% 0.43% 0.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 26 25 64
10th Percentile £153 £244 £316
25th Percentile £367 £300 £420
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -7.14% -2.33% +2.38%
75th Percentile £558 £575 £600
90th Percentile £788 £723 £655
UK median daily rate £513 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -2.38% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 2 7
10th Percentile £45.86 £30.35 £30.21
25th Percentile £51.74 £33.13 £48.75
Median hourly rate £69.00 £39.00 £75.00
Median % change year-on-year +76.92% -48.00% +25.00%
75th Percentile £85.63 £45.63 £77.50
90th Percentile £87.65 £48.85 -
UK median hourly rate £69.00 £39.00 £70.00
% change year-on-year +76.92% -44.29% +16.67%

All Process and Methodology Skills
UK excluding London

Creative Thinking falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 15,689 12,960 17,106
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 85.83% 87.26% 88.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,582 7,621 11,014
10th Percentile £220 £239 £250
25th Percentile £375 £381 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £476 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.80% - -
75th Percentile £575 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £688 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,758 745 1,210
10th Percentile £14.38 £15.50 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.30 £20.00 £17.72
Median hourly rate £23.54 £31.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -25.28% -30.00% +42.45%
75th Percentile £50.00 £64.10 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.03 £73.14 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £43.90
% change year-on-year -22.62% -25.97% +25.43%

Creative Thinking
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Creative Thinking relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Creative Thinking job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Creative Thinking
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Creative Thinking.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Creative Thinking

Creative Thinking
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Creative Thinking in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 24 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Creative Thinking in the UK excluding London

Creative Thinking
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Creative Thinking.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Creative Thinking

Creative Thinking
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Creative Thinking in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 24 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Creative Thinking in the UK excluding London

Creative Thinking
Contract Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Creative Thinking within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 24 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
South East -21 20 £450 -16.28% 25
North of England -46 14 £402 -10.67% 32
South West +5 11 £900 +80.00% 24
North West -25 9 £401 +37.80% 15
West Midlands -26 5 £475 -34.48% 11
Yorkshire -37 5 £513 +1.99% 15
Midlands -44 5 £475 -34.48% 22
Scotland +5 4 £255 -51.43% 9
Creative Thinking
UK

Creative Thinking
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 1 (1.92%) Apache
1 1 (1.92%) CMS
1 1 (1.92%) Confluence
Applications
1 6 (11.54%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (9.62%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 2 (3.85%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (1.92%) Acrobat
4 1 (1.92%) Adobe Illustrator
4 1 (1.92%) InDesign
4 1 (1.92%) Photoshop
Business Applications
1 2 (3.85%) SAP FI
1 2 (3.85%) SAP R/3
1 2 (3.85%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (1.92%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (1.92%) Elite 3E
Cloud Services
1 7 (13.46%) Microsoft 365
2 6 (11.54%) Figma
3 3 (5.77%) Azure
3 3 (5.77%) Dynamics 365
4 2 (3.85%) SaaS
5 1 (1.92%) Adobe Creative Cloud
5 1 (1.92%) AWS
5 1 (1.92%) Azure Sentinel
5 1 (1.92%) Entra ID
5 1 (1.92%) Power Platform
5 1 (1.92%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 5 (9.62%) DNS
2 1 (1.92%) Firewall
2 1 (1.92%) Intranet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.92%) Power BI
1 1 (1.92%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 1 (1.92%) Artifactory
1 1 (1.92%) Git
1 1 (1.92%) GitLab
1 1 (1.92%) Jenkins
1 1 (1.92%) Postman
1 1 (1.92%) Selenium
General
1 25 (48.08%) Social Skills
2 19 (36.54%) Analytical Skills
3 10 (19.23%) Finance
4 7 (13.46%) Influencing Skills
5 6 (11.54%) Banking
5 6 (11.54%) Public Sector
6 3 (5.77%) Legal
6 3 (5.77%) Military
7 2 (3.85%) General Ledger
7 2 (3.85%) Presentation Skills
8 1 (1.92%) Automotive
8 1 (1.92%) German Language
8 1 (1.92%) Law
8 1 (1.92%) Manufacturing
8 1 (1.92%) Marketing
8 1 (1.92%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 10 (19.23%) Designer
2 9 (17.31%) Analyst
3 8 (15.38%) Senior
4 5 (9.62%) 3rd Line Engineer
4 5 (9.62%) Visual Designer
5 4 (7.69%) IT Analyst
5 4 (7.69%) IT Support
5 4 (7.69%) IT Support Analyst
5 4 (7.69%) Senior Test Automation Engineer
5 4 (7.69%) Senior Test Engineer
5 4 (7.69%) Support Analyst
5 4 (7.69%) Test Automation Engineer
5 4 (7.69%) Test Engineer
6 3 (5.77%) Lead
6 3 (5.77%) Product Owner
6 3 (5.77%) UX Designer
7 2 (3.85%) Accountant
7 2 (3.85%) Cybersecurity Analyst
7 2 (3.85%) Service Designer
7 2 (3.85%) UX Service Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (1.92%) ADO
1 1 (1.92%) Apache NiFi
1 1 (1.92%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 8 (15.38%) Self-Motivation
2 7 (13.46%) Management Information System
3 5 (9.62%) Mobile App
4 4 (7.69%) Analytical Mindset
4 4 (7.69%) Onboarding
4 4 (7.69%) Product Ownership
5 2 (3.85%) Cyber Threat
5 2 (3.85%) Legacy Systems
5 2 (3.85%) Life Science
6 1 (1.92%) Client/Server
6 1 (1.92%) Cloud Native
6 1 (1.92%) Cyber Kill Chain
6 1 (1.92%) Data Protection Act
6 1 (1.92%) Greenfield Project
6 1 (1.92%) Learning Management System
6 1 (1.92%) Legacy Applications
6 1 (1.92%) Low-Code
6 1 (1.92%) Renewable Energy
6 1 (1.92%) Video Editing
Operating Systems
1 12 (23.08%) Windows
2 6 (11.54%) Windows Server
3 1 (1.92%) Linux
3 1 (1.92%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 29 (55.77%) Problem-Solving
2 27 (51.92%) Agile
3 13 (25.00%) Critical Thinking
4 11 (21.15%) Storytelling
5 10 (19.23%) Analytics
5 10 (19.23%) Decision-Making
6 9 (17.31%) AI
7 7 (13.46%) ITIL
7 7 (13.46%) Migration
7 7 (13.46%) Strategic Thinking
7 7 (13.46%) Time Management
8 6 (11.54%) Change Management
8 6 (11.54%) Computer Science
8 6 (11.54%) Data Analytics
8 6 (11.54%) Data Governance
8 6 (11.54%) Data Science
8 6 (11.54%) Data Strategy
8 6 (11.54%) ITSM
8 6 (11.54%) Systems Thinking
9 5 (9.62%) Mathematics
Programming Languages
1 6 (11.54%) PowerShell
2 5 (9.62%) TypeScript
3 2 (3.85%) SQL
4 1 (1.92%) JavaScript
4 1 (1.92%) Python
Qualifications
1 15 (28.85%) Security Cleared
2 12 (23.08%) Degree
3 7 (13.46%) SC Cleared
4 6 (11.54%) DV Cleared
5 4 (7.69%) DBS Check
6 2 (3.85%) ACCA
6 2 (3.85%) CIMA
7 1 (1.92%) CEH
7 1 (1.92%) CISSP
7 1 (1.92%) CompTIA Security+
7 1 (1.92%) PMI Certification
7 1 (1.92%) PMP
7 1 (1.92%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (21.15%) Accessibility
2 1 (1.92%) GDPR
2 1 (1.92%) NCSC
2 1 (1.92%) NIST
2 1 (1.92%) Sarbanes-Oxley
2 1 (1.92%) SLA
System Software
1 6 (11.54%) Active Directory
2 1 (1.92%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 5 (9.62%) SCCM
1 5 (9.62%) SCOM
1 5 (9.62%) vCenter Server
2 1 (1.92%) Ansible
2 1 (1.92%) Kubernetes
2 1 (1.92%) Terraform
Vendors
1 9 (17.31%) Microsoft
2 6 (11.54%) Adobe
3 5 (9.62%) VMware
4 2 (3.85%) SAP
5 1 (1.92%) Atlassian
5 1 (1.92%) Red Hat
5 1 (1.92%) ServiceNow