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 15 November 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 15 Nov 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 11 | 7 | 8 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -4 | +1 | +4 |
| Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving | 6,328 | 5,272 | 4,700 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 11.46% | 14.93% | 12.85% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 13.39% | 16.62% | 14.90% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,500 | 3,186 | 2,725 |
| 10th Percentile | £263 | £253 | £267 |
| 25th Percentile | £400 | £381 | £396 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £495 | £475 | £500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +4.21% | -5.00% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £600 | £600 | £600 |
| 90th Percentile | £700 | £700 | £700 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £454 | £450 | £466 |
| % change year-on-year | +0.89% | -3.49% | -1.84% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 719 | 336 | 186 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.45 | £13.00 | £15.00 |
| 25th Percentile | £14.10 | £15.56 | £15.62 |
| Median hourly rate | £18.75 | £20.02 | £18.99 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -6.34% | +5.45% | -57.27% |
| 75th Percentile | £36.81 | £34.48 | £30.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £70.00 | £65.25 | £53.13 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £17.69 | £18.82 | £16.23 |
| % change year-on-year | -6.00% | +15.96% | -49.78% |
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 15 Nov 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies citing process or methodology skills | 47,249 | 31,724 | 31,549 |
| As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK | 85.57% | 89.83% | 86.26% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 28,234 | 19,857 | 18,990 |
| 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% | -1.41% |
| 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 | 3,804 | 2,095 | 1,115 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.50 | £14.50 | £15.10 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.49 | £17.50 | £20.12 |
| Median hourly rate | £35.00 | £25.15 | £35.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +39.17% | -28.14% | -19.22% |
| 75th Percentile | £66.66 | £44.75 | £63.75 |
| 90th Percentile | £80.00 | £67.00 | £73.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £35.00 | £22.63 | £33.93 |
| % change year-on-year | +54.66% | -33.30% | -22.58% |
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 15 November 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 15 November 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 15 November 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 | -3 | 5,424 | £500 | +3.63% | 10,295 |
| UK excluding London | -2 | 3,394 | £454 | +0.89% | 6,564 |
| London | -10 | 2,303 | £520 | +4.00% | 4,168 |
| Work from Home | -6 | 1,670 | £500 | +1.27% | 4,089 |
| South East | -3 | 888 | £480 | +4.23% | 1,691 |
| North of England | -6 | 823 | £450 | -4.05% | 1,414 |
| Midlands | -3 | 645 | £447 | - | 1,091 |
| West Midlands | -4 | 468 | £450 | -5.26% | 618 |
| North West | -5 | 414 | £445 | -1.60% | 761 |
| East of England | +1 | 334 | £428 | -14.50% | 777 |
| South West | -5 | 320 | £525 | +9.09% | 670 |
| Yorkshire | -4 | 310 | £487 | +0.26% | 449 |
| Scotland | -2 | 304 | £415 | -7.78% | 553 |
| East Midlands | 0 | 175 | £350 | -8.50% | 472 |
| North East | 0 | 99 | £375 | -16.67% | 210 |
| Wales | -2 | 80 | £425 | +3.03% | 202 |
| Northern Ireland | 0 | 30 | £463 | -2.63% | 306 |
| Channel Islands | -1 | 5 | £600 | - | 3 |
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 | 27.8% | 1,762 |
| 2 | Stakeholder Management | 27.5% | 1,740 |
| 3 | Continuous Improvement | 24.1% | 1,522 |
| 4 | CI/CD | 17.9% | 1,134 |
| 5 | DevOps | 15.5% | 983 |
| 6 | AI | 13.2% | 836 |
| 7 | Stakeholder Engagement | 12.1% | 767 |
| 8 | Decision-Making | 10.8% | 685 |
| 9 | Migration | 10.3% | 650 |
| 10 | Customer Service | 10.1% | 636 |
| 11 | Analytics | 9.3% | 591 |
| 12 | Test Automation | 9.1% | 575 |
| 12 | Validation | 9.1% | 575 |
| 14 | ITIL | 7.9% | 499 |
| 15 | Scrum | 7.6% | 483 |
| 16 | Software Engineering | 7.2% | 458 |
| 17 | Project Delivery | 7.2% | 457 |
| 18 | Collaborative Working | 7.1% | 450 |
| 19 | Data Modelling | 7.0% | 443 |
| 20 | Infrastructure as Code | 6.9% | 437 |