Problem-Solving Contract Job Trends
Problem Solving
UK
The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs citing Problem-Solving skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 30 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 30 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 11 | 6 | 8 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -5 | +2 | +5 |
| Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving | 6,210 | 5,164 | 4,646 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 11.33% | 15.09% | 12.66% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 13.24% | 16.71% | 14.69% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,415 | 3,100 | 2,696 |
| 10th Percentile | £263 | £248 | £263 |
| 25th Percentile | £400 | £381 | £384 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £495 | £483 | £500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +2.59% | -3.50% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £600 | £600 | £600 |
| 90th Percentile | £700 | £700 | £700 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £450 | £463 | £473 |
| % change year-on-year | -2.70% | -2.12% | -0.53% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 701 | 343 | 197 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.45 | £13.03 | £14.59 |
| 25th Percentile | £14.10 | £15.50 | £15.62 |
| Median hourly rate | £18.75 | £20.04 | £17.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -6.44% | +17.88% | -64.88% |
| 75th Percentile | £33.99 | £33.94 | £30.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £70.00 | £65.11 | £61.60 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £17.97 | £18.82 | £16.23 |
| % change year-on-year | -4.52% | +15.96% | -64.63% |
All Process & Methodology Skills
UK
Problem-Solving falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies citing process or methodology skills.
| 6 months to 30 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies citing process or methodology skills | 46,919 | 30,911 | 31,623 |
| As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK | 85.59% | 90.32% | 86.15% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 28,147 | 19,277 | 19,029 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £295 | £310 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £404 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | -2.33% |
| 75th Percentile | £638 | £619 | £638 |
| 90th Percentile | £738 | £725 | £738 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £475 | £500 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.26% | -5.00% | - |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 3,650 | 1,982 | 1,134 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.50 | £14.38 | £15.00 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.50 | £17.30 | £20.00 |
| Median hourly rate | £35.00 | £25.15 | £36.08 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +39.17% | -30.30% | -17.73% |
| 75th Percentile | £65.00 | £42.79 | £65.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £79.10 | £65.93 | £73.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £33.99 | £22.32 | £35.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +52.32% | -36.24% | -17.65% |
Problem-Solving Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Problem-Solving relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.
Problem-Solving Daily Rate Trend
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Problem-Solving.
Problem-Solving Daily Rate Histogram
Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Problem-Solving over the 6 months to 30 October 2026.
Problem-Solving Hourly Rate Trend
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Problem-Solving.
Problem-Solving Hourly Rate Histogram
Hourly rate distribution for jobs citing Problem-Solving over the 6 months to 30 October 2026.
Problem-Solving Top 18 Contract Job Locations
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Problem-Solving within the UK over the 6 months to 30 October 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 |
Job Ads Past 6 Months |
Median Daily Rate Past 6 Months |
Median Daily Rate % Change on Same Period Last Year |
Live Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | -4 | 5,331 | £500 | +2.56% | 2,537 |
| UK excluding London | -2 | 3,341 | £450 | -2.70% | 2,334 |
| London | -10 | 2,268 | £520 | +4.00% | 535 |
| Work from Home | -3 | 1,658 | £500 | - | 852 |
| South East | -4 | 888 | £475 | +2.98% | 572 |
| North of England | -6 | 794 | £450 | -5.26% | 490 |
| Midlands | -5 | 633 | £446 | -0.89% | 448 |
| West Midlands | -8 | 456 | £450 | -7.26% | 229 |
| North West | -5 | 407 | £450 | -4.05% | 247 |
| East of England | 0 | 322 | £425 | -15.00% | 294 |
| South West | -4 | 322 | £503 | +5.79% | 377 |
| Scotland | -2 | 309 | £425 | -5.56% | 101 |
| Yorkshire | -6 | 299 | £488 | -1.27% | 158 |
| East Midlands | +1 | 175 | £375 | - | 218 |
| North East | -3 | 89 | £375 | -16.67% | 93 |
| Wales | -4 | 80 | £468 | +13.33% | 81 |
| Northern Ireland | -1 | 30 | £463 | -2.63% | 39 |
| Channel Islands | -2 | 5 | £600 | - |
Problem-Solving Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Processes & Methodologies
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Agile | 27.4% | 1,704 |
| 2 | Stakeholder Management | 26.7% | 1,661 |
| 3 | Continuous Improvement | 23.7% | 1,472 |
| 4 | CI/CD | 17.6% | 1,094 |
| 5 | DevOps | 15.3% | 952 |
| 6 | AI | 13.1% | 812 |
| 7 | Stakeholder Engagement | 11.9% | 737 |
| 8 | Decision-Making | 10.7% | 665 |
| 9 | Migration | 10.1% | 625 |
| 10 | Customer Service | 9.7% | 605 |
| 11 | Analytics | 9.3% | 579 |
| 12 | Test Automation | 8.7% | 539 |
| 13 | Validation | 8.6% | 531 |
| 14 | ITIL | 8.2% | 508 |
| 15 | Scrum | 7.3% | 453 |
| 16 | Software Engineering | 7.0% | 435 |
| 17 | Data Modelling | 6.9% | 431 |
| 18 | Project Delivery | 6.9% | 430 |
| 19 | Collaborative Working | 6.7% | 416 |
| 20 | Technical Leadership | 6.7% | 413 |