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 13 November 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 13 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 | 6,384 | 5,316 | 4,683 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 11.42% | 14.97% | 12.84% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 13.34% | 16.64% | 14.90% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,516 | 3,216 | 2,707 |
| 10th Percentile | £263 | £255 | £265 |
| 25th Percentile | £400 | £383 | £395 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £495 | £478 | £500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +3.66% | -4.50% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £600 | £600 | £600 |
| 90th Percentile | £700 | £700 | £700 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £450 | £454 | £470 |
| % change year-on-year | -0.88% | -3.40% | -1.05% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 729 | 343 | 192 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.45 | £13.00 | £15.00 |
| 25th Percentile | £14.10 | £15.53 | £15.62 |
| Median hourly rate | £18.75 | £20.00 | £18.99 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -6.25% | +5.35% | -58.62% |
| 75th Percentile | £35.22 | £33.94 | £30.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £70.00 | £65.25 | £53.48 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £17.69 | £18.82 | £16.23 |
| % change year-on-year | -6.00% | +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 13 Nov 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies citing process or methodology skills | 47,855 | 31,947 | 31,434 |
| As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK | 85.63% | 89.99% | 86.21% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 28,610 | 20,018 | 18,919 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £295 | £310 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £403 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | -1.41% |
| 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 | 3,819 | 2,079 | 1,112 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.50 | £14.48 | £15.10 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.46 | £17.50 | £20.12 |
| Median hourly rate | £35.00 | £25.15 | £35.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +39.17% | -28.14% | -19.38% |
| 75th Percentile | £65.60 | £43.75 | £63.75 |
| 90th Percentile | £80.00 | £67.00 | £73.73 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £35.00 | £22.63 | £33.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +54.66% | -31.42% | -24.83% |
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 13 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 13 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 13 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 | 5,470 | £498 | +2.40% | 10,407 |
| UK excluding London | -2 | 3,440 | £450 | -0.88% | 6,681 |
| London | -10 | 2,313 | £520 | +4.00% | 4,175 |
| Work from Home | -7 | 1,695 | £500 | +1.27% | 4,130 |
| South East | -4 | 904 | £475 | +3.26% | 1,697 |
| North of England | -6 | 833 | £451 | -4.15% | 1,471 |
| Midlands | -3 | 648 | £447 | -0.39% | 1,102 |
| West Midlands | -5 | 471 | £450 | -5.91% | 627 |
| North West | -5 | 420 | £445 | -1.60% | 770 |
| East of England | +1 | 341 | £428 | -14.50% | 799 |
| South West | -6 | 324 | £525 | +9.09% | 686 |
| Yorkshire | -5 | 315 | £490 | -0.44% | 496 |
| Scotland | -1 | 312 | £413 | -8.22% | 555 |
| East Midlands | +1 | 175 | £325 | -14.47% | 474 |
| North East | -1 | 99 | £378 | -16.11% | 212 |
| Wales | -3 | 81 | £446 | +8.18% | 201 |
| Northern Ireland | 0 | 30 | £463 | -2.63% | 315 |
| 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 | 27.7% | 1,767 |
| 2 | Stakeholder Management | 27.3% | 1,743 |
| 3 | Continuous Improvement | 24.0% | 1,531 |
| 4 | CI/CD | 17.9% | 1,142 |
| 5 | DevOps | 15.5% | 988 |
| 6 | AI | 13.2% | 843 |
| 7 | Stakeholder Engagement | 12.1% | 774 |
| 8 | Decision-Making | 10.8% | 692 |
| 9 | Migration | 10.2% | 653 |
| 10 | Customer Service | 10.0% | 640 |
| 11 | Analytics | 9.3% | 596 |
| 12 | Test Automation | 9.0% | 577 |
| 13 | Validation | 9.0% | 574 |
| 14 | ITIL | 8.0% | 512 |
| 15 | Scrum | 7.6% | 484 |
| 16 | Project Delivery | 7.2% | 457 |
| 17 | Software Engineering | 7.1% | 456 |
| 18 | Collaborative Working | 7.1% | 453 |
| 19 | Data Modelling | 6.9% | 442 |
| 20 | Infrastructure as Code | 6.9% | 440 |