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 5 November 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 5 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 | 6,284 | 5,195 | 4,649 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 11.46% | 15.01% | 12.73% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 13.38% | 16.65% | 14.79% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,460 | 3,127 | 2,692 |
| 10th Percentile | £263 | £254 | £265 |
| 25th Percentile | £400 | £382 | £392 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £498 | £483 | £500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +3.11% | -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 | 724 | 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 | £35.22 | £33.91 | £29.81 |
| 90th Percentile | £70.00 | £65.22 | £55.88 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £18.00 | £18.82 | £16.23 |
| % change year-on-year | -4.36% | +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 5 Nov 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies citing process or methodology skills | 46,957 | 31,201 | 31,435 |
| As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK | 85.67% | 90.12% | 86.06% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 28,115 | 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 | 3,742 | 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 | £33.98 | £22.58 | £35.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +50.50% | -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 5 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 5 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 5 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 | 5,381 | £500 | +2.56% | 3,928 |
| UK excluding London | -2 | 3,381 | £450 | -1.32% | 3,143 |
| London | -10 | 2,288 | £520 | +4.00% | 1,254 |
| Work from Home | -2 | 1,682 | £500 | - | 1,349 |
| South East | -2 | 889 | £475 | +2.87% | 888 |
| North of England | -5 | 808 | £450 | -5.26% | 655 |
| Midlands | -4 | 640 | £446 | -0.89% | 557 |
| West Midlands | -5 | 465 | £450 | -5.56% | 317 |
| North West | -4 | 415 | £450 | -1.64% | 339 |
| East of England | 0 | 332 | £425 | -15.00% | 419 |
| South West | -3 | 324 | £500 | +5.26% | 424 |
| Scotland | -2 | 309 | £423 | -6.00% | 140 |
| Yorkshire | -5 | 303 | £487 | +0.72% | 208 |
| East Midlands | +3 | 173 | £318 | -15.33% | 238 |
| North East | -1 | 91 | £375 | -16.67% | 119 |
| Wales | -3 | 84 | £468 | +13.33% | 82 |
| Northern Ireland | -1 | 31 | £463 | -2.63% | 55 |
| 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% | 1,723 |
| 2 | Stakeholder Management | 27.1% | 1,701 |
| 3 | Continuous Improvement | 24.0% | 1,507 |
| 4 | CI/CD | 17.6% | 1,109 |
| 5 | DevOps | 15.4% | 965 |
| 6 | AI | 13.1% | 822 |
| 7 | Stakeholder Engagement | 12.2% | 764 |
| 8 | Decision-Making | 10.8% | 679 |
| 9 | Migration | 10.1% | 635 |
| 10 | Customer Service | 9.9% | 621 |
| 11 | Analytics | 9.4% | 591 |
| 12 | Test Automation | 8.8% | 554 |
| 13 | Validation | 8.8% | 553 |
| 14 | ITIL | 8.0% | 503 |
| 15 | Scrum | 7.4% | 465 |
| 16 | Project Delivery | 7.2% | 450 |
| 17 | Software Engineering | 7.1% | 445 |
| 18 | Collaborative Working | 7.0% | 443 |
| 19 | Data Modelling | 6.9% | 431 |
| 20 | Technical Leadership | 6.7% | 423 |