Problem-Solving Contract Job Trends
Problem Solving
UK
The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Problem-Solving skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 18 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 18 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 12 | 6 | 8 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -6 | +2 | +5 |
| Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving | 6,042 | 5,078 | 4,669 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 10.99% | 15.25% | 12.47% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 12.95% | 16.85% | 14.50% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,353 | 3,011 | 2,703 |
| 10th Percentile | £261 | £240 | £268 |
| 25th Percentile | £388 | £381 | £383 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £494 | £483 | £500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +2.38% | -3.50% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £600 | £600 | £600 |
| 90th Percentile | £700 | £700 | £700 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £450 | £451 | £475 |
| % change year-on-year | -0.11% | -5.16% | -2.56% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 641 | 335 | 207 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.45 | £13.05 | £14.50 |
| 25th Percentile | £14.13 | £15.50 | £15.62 |
| Median hourly rate | £18.49 | £19.25 | £17.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -3.95% | +13.24% | -66.26% |
| 75th Percentile | £33.99 | £32.53 | £31.37 |
| 90th Percentile | £70.00 | £63.40 | £61.96 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £18.00 | £18.76 | £16.23 |
| % change year-on-year | -4.06% | +15.60% | -66.47% |
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 requiring process or methodology skills.
| 6 months to 18 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills | 46,663 | 30,144 | 32,201 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK | 84.90% | 90.54% | 86.02% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 28,020 | 18,740 | 19,349 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £300 | £310 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £405 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | -2.33% |
| 75th Percentile | £638 | £625 | £638 |
| 90th Percentile | £736 | £725 | £750 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £475 | £500 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.26% | -5.00% | - |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 3,483 | 1,926 | 1,223 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.51 | £14.38 | £15.00 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.75 | £17.30 | £20.12 |
| Median hourly rate | £37.24 | £25.08 | £40.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +48.51% | -37.31% | -9.60% |
| 75th Percentile | £65.00 | £42.50 | £65.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £78.75 | £65.25 | £73.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £37.24 | £22.27 | £40.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +67.26% | -44.34% | -8.73% |
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 18 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 of jobs citing Problem-Solving over the 6 months to 18 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 18 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 |
Matching Contract IT Job Ads |
Median Daily Rate Past 6 Months |
Median Daily Rate % Change on Same Period Last Year |
Live Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | -5 | 5,195 | £495 | +1.54% | 8,432 |
| UK excluding London | -2 | 3,250 | £450 | -0.11% | 5,406 |
| London | -11 | 2,212 | £520 | +4.00% | 3,422 |
| Work from Home | -4 | 1,618 | £500 | - | 3,417 |
| South East | -3 | 843 | £475 | +2.98% | 1,301 |
| North of England | -6 | 771 | £450 | -5.26% | 1,214 |
| Midlands | -5 | 622 | £450 | +0.67% | 850 |
| West Midlands | -8 | 450 | £450 | -5.26% | 476 |
| North West | -5 | 392 | £450 | -1.64% | 602 |
| South West | -5 | 321 | £503 | +5.79% | 631 |
| Scotland | -3 | 311 | £425 | -5.56% | 404 |
| East of England | 0 | 310 | £420 | -16.00% | 684 |
| Yorkshire | -6 | 296 | £480 | -3.03% | 398 |
| East Midlands | +1 | 168 | £418 | +11.33% | 373 |
| North East | -5 | 85 | £378 | -16.11% | 223 |
| Wales | -6 | 71 | £468 | +13.33% | 179 |
| Northern Ireland | -4 | 29 | £438 | -16.67% | 223 |
| Channel Islands | -2 | 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 | 27.6% | 1,669 |
| 2 | Stakeholder Management | 26.1% | 1,579 |
| 3 | Continuous Improvement | 23.3% | 1,405 |
| 4 | CI/CD | 17.5% | 1,056 |
| 5 | DevOps | 15.4% | 933 |
| 6 | AI | 13.2% | 799 |
| 7 | Stakeholder Engagement | 11.6% | 700 |
| 8 | Decision-Making | 10.8% | 652 |
| 9 | Migration | 10.0% | 605 |
| 10 | Customer Service | 9.5% | 577 |
| 11 | Analytics | 9.5% | 571 |
| 12 | ITIL | 8.4% | 510 |
| 13 | Test Automation | 8.4% | 506 |
| 13 | Validation | 8.4% | 506 |
| 15 | Scrum | 7.4% | 445 |
| 16 | Data Modelling | 7.0% | 420 |
| 17 | Project Delivery | 6.8% | 412 |
| 18 | Software Engineering | 6.7% | 406 |
| 19 | Business Intelligence | 6.6% | 401 |
| 20 | Technical Leadership | 6.6% | 397 |