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 6 November 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 6 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 | 6,313 | 5,195 | 4,649 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 11.45% | 15.01% | 12.73% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 13.36% | 16.65% | 14.79% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,470 | 3,127 | 2,692 |
| 10th Percentile | £263 | £254 | £265 |
| 25th Percentile | £400 | £382 | £392 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £500 | £483 | £500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +3.63% | -3.50% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £600 | £600 | £600 |
| 90th Percentile | £700 | £700 | £700 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £450 | £456 | £475 |
| % change year-on-year | -1.32% | -4.00% | - |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 730 | 344 | 186 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.45 | £13.00 | £14.92 |
| 25th Percentile | £14.10 | £15.55 | £15.62 |
| Median hourly rate | £18.75 | £20.15 | £17.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -6.94% | +18.51% | -63.02% |
| 75th Percentile | £34.37 | £33.91 | £29.81 |
| 90th Percentile | £70.00 | £65.22 | £55.88 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £17.97 | £18.82 | £16.23 |
| % change year-on-year | -4.52% | +15.96% | -50.06% |
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 6 Nov 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies citing process or methodology skills | 47,255 | 31,201 | 31,435 |
| As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK | 85.67% | 90.12% | 86.06% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 28,292 | 19,532 | 18,905 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £296 | £310 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £404 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | -1.87% |
| 75th Percentile | £638 | £623 | £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 | 3,776 | 2,021 | 1,108 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.50 | £14.41 | £15.02 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.46 | £17.38 | £20.00 |
| Median hourly rate | £35.00 | £25.15 | £35.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +39.17% | -28.14% | -20.90% |
| 75th Percentile | £65.00 | £43.00 | £65.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £80.00 | £67.00 | £73.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £33.99 | £22.58 | £35.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +50.56% | -35.50% | -20.90% |
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 6 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 6 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 6 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 | 5,407 | £500 | +2.56% | 3,808 |
| UK excluding London | -2 | 3,398 | £450 | -1.32% | 3,053 |
| London | -10 | 2,297 | £520 | +4.00% | 1,268 |
| Work from Home | -3 | 1,689 | £500 | - | 1,269 |
| South East | -3 | 893 | £477 | +3.19% | 865 |
| North of England | -5 | 810 | £450 | -5.26% | 610 |
| Midlands | -4 | 643 | £447 | -0.67% | 539 |
| West Midlands | -5 | 466 | £450 | -5.56% | 294 |
| North West | -4 | 416 | £450 | -1.64% | 304 |
| East of England | 0 | 336 | £425 | -15.00% | 400 |
| South West | -4 | 328 | £503 | +5.79% | 436 |
| Scotland | -2 | 309 | £423 | -6.00% | 135 |
| Yorkshire | -4 | 304 | £487 | +0.67% | 204 |
| East Midlands | +3 | 175 | £325 | -13.33% | 243 |
| North East | -1 | 91 | £375 | -16.67% | 114 |
| Wales | -3 | 84 | £468 | +13.33% | 92 |
| Northern Ireland | -1 | 31 | £463 | -2.63% | 57 |
| 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% | 1,730 |
| 2 | Stakeholder Management | 27.1% | 1,709 |
| 3 | Continuous Improvement | 24.0% | 1,512 |
| 4 | CI/CD | 17.7% | 1,115 |
| 5 | DevOps | 15.3% | 968 |
| 6 | AI | 13.1% | 827 |
| 7 | Stakeholder Engagement | 12.1% | 766 |
| 8 | Decision-Making | 10.8% | 682 |
| 9 | Migration | 10.1% | 637 |
| 10 | Customer Service | 9.9% | 623 |
| 11 | Analytics | 9.4% | 592 |
| 12 | Test Automation | 8.9% | 560 |
| 13 | Validation | 8.8% | 554 |
| 14 | ITIL | 8.0% | 505 |
| 15 | Scrum | 7.4% | 467 |
| 16 | Project Delivery | 7.1% | 451 |
| 17 | Software Engineering | 7.1% | 448 |
| 18 | Collaborative Working | 7.0% | 445 |
| 19 | Data Modelling | 6.8% | 432 |
| 20 | Technical Leadership | 6.7% | 424 |