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 21 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 21 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 | 6,087 | 5,106 | 4,631 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 11.04% | 15.26% | 12.50% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 12.98% | 16.86% | 14.52% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,383 | 3,036 | 2,684 |
| 10th Percentile | £263 | £242 | £269 |
| 25th Percentile | £389 | £383 | £384 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £495 | £485 | £500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +2.06% | -3.00% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £600 | £600 | £600 |
| 90th Percentile | £700 | £700 | £700 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £450 | £463 | £475 |
| % change year-on-year | -2.70% | -2.63% | -1.04% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 647 | 336 | 204 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.45 | £13.06 | £14.50 |
| 25th Percentile | £14.13 | £15.50 | £15.62 |
| Median hourly rate | £18.50 | £19.25 | £17.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -3.90% | +13.24% | -64.05% |
| 75th Percentile | £34.86 | £32.75 | £30.87 |
| 90th Percentile | £70.00 | £63.58 | £61.60 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £18.00 | £18.73 | £16.23 |
| % change year-on-year | -3.90% | +15.40% | -64.85% |
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 21 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills | 46,907 | 30,287 | 31,890 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK | 85.09% | 90.52% | 86.07% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 28,200 | 18,838 | 19,172 |
| 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 | £623 | £638 |
| 90th Percentile | £738 | £725 | £749 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £475 | £500 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.26% | -5.00% | - |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 3,507 | 1,927 | 1,193 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.51 | £14.38 | £15.00 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.75 | £17.30 | £20.12 |
| Median hourly rate | £37.24 | £25.08 | £39.50 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +48.51% | -36.52% | -7.06% |
| 75th Percentile | £65.00 | £42.50 | £65.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £78.75 | £65.25 | £73.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £37.24 | £22.23 | £40.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +67.54% | -44.43% | -5.88% |
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 21 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 21 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 21 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 | -6 | 5,236 | £500 | +2.56% | 8,593 |
| UK excluding London | -2 | 3,272 | £450 | -2.70% | 5,566 |
| London | -11 | 2,234 | £520 | +4.00% | 3,428 |
| Work from Home | -4 | 1,629 | £500 | - | 3,507 |
| South East | -3 | 851 | £475 | +2.70% | 1,321 |
| North of England | -6 | 777 | £450 | -5.26% | 1,216 |
| Midlands | -5 | 623 | £450 | - | 880 |
| West Midlands | -7 | 453 | £450 | -6.83% | 507 |
| North West | -5 | 398 | £450 | -1.32% | 600 |
| South West | -5 | 327 | £503 | +5.79% | 671 |
| East of England | 0 | 315 | £420 | -16.00% | 712 |
| Scotland | -3 | 309 | £427 | -5.11% | 417 |
| Yorkshire | -5 | 296 | £482 | -2.63% | 389 |
| East Midlands | +1 | 167 | £418 | +10.60% | 372 |
| North East | -4 | 85 | £380 | -15.56% | 235 |
| Wales | -7 | 72 | £468 | +13.33% | 185 |
| Northern Ireland | -4 | 30 | £450 | -12.20% | 236 |
| Channel Islands | -2 | 5 | £600 | - | 4 |
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% | 1,682 |
| 2 | Stakeholder Management | 26.3% | 1,603 |
| 3 | Continuous Improvement | 23.3% | 1,418 |
| 4 | CI/CD | 17.7% | 1,077 |
| 5 | DevOps | 15.5% | 945 |
| 6 | AI | 13.2% | 806 |
| 7 | Stakeholder Engagement | 11.6% | 708 |
| 8 | Decision-Making | 10.7% | 651 |
| 9 | Migration | 10.0% | 611 |
| 10 | Customer Service | 9.5% | 581 |
| 11 | Analytics | 9.5% | 579 |
| 12 | Test Automation | 8.5% | 518 |
| 13 | Validation | 8.5% | 515 |
| 14 | ITIL | 8.4% | 511 |
| 15 | Scrum | 7.3% | 445 |
| 16 | Data Modelling | 7.0% | 425 |
| 17 | Project Delivery | 6.9% | 418 |
| 18 | Software Engineering | 6.8% | 413 |
| 19 | Technical Leadership | 6.7% | 406 |
| 20 | Business Intelligence | 6.6% | 403 |