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 14 November 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 14 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 | 6,391 | 5,300 | 4,710 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 11.44% | 14.91% | 12.84% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 13.36% | 16.58% | 14.89% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,527 | 3,214 | 2,726 |
| 10th Percentile | £263 | £255 | £266 |
| 25th Percentile | £400 | £381 | £396 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £500 | £475 | £500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.26% | -5.00% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £600 | £600 | £600 |
| 90th Percentile | £700 | £700 | £700 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £454 | £450 | £470 |
| % change year-on-year | +0.89% | -4.26% | -1.05% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 724 | 342 | 195 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.45 | £13.00 | £15.00 |
| 25th Percentile | £14.10 | £15.56 | £15.62 |
| Median hourly rate | £18.75 | £20.02 | £19.50 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -6.34% | +2.67% | -57.50% |
| 75th Percentile | £36.11 | £34.48 | £30.38 |
| 90th Percentile | £70.00 | £65.25 | £53.25 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £17.69 | £18.82 | £16.50 |
| % change year-on-year | -6.00% | +14.06% | -49.09% |
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 14 Nov 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies citing process or methodology skills | 47,822 | 31,965 | 31,639 |
| As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK | 85.62% | 89.95% | 86.22% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 28,595 | 20,031 | 19,058 |
| 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% | -1.41% |
| 75th Percentile | £638 | £620 | £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 | 3,822 | 2,098 | 1,126 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.50 | £14.50 | £15.10 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.50 | £17.50 | £20.12 |
| Median hourly rate | £35.00 | £25.15 | £35.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +39.17% | -28.14% | -19.54% |
| 75th Percentile | £66.66 | £44.40 | £63.75 |
| 90th Percentile | £80.00 | £67.00 | £73.53 |
| 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 14 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 14 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 14 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 | 5,481 | £500 | +3.41% | 10,133 |
| UK excluding London | -2 | 3,434 | £454 | +0.89% | 6,482 |
| London | -10 | 2,324 | £520 | +4.00% | 4,095 |
| Work from Home | -7 | 1,690 | £500 | - | 4,003 |
| South East | -4 | 898 | £475 | +3.26% | 1,646 |
| North of England | -6 | 832 | £451 | -3.94% | 1,429 |
| Midlands | -3 | 651 | £448 | +0.11% | 1,078 |
| West Midlands | -5 | 472 | £450 | -5.26% | 611 |
| North West | -5 | 419 | £445 | -1.11% | 746 |
| East of England | +1 | 340 | £430 | -14.00% | 771 |
| South West | -4 | 326 | £525 | +9.09% | 668 |
| Yorkshire | -4 | 315 | £490 | -0.44% | 479 |
| Scotland | -2 | 308 | £415 | -7.78% | 533 |
| East Midlands | +2 | 177 | £350 | -7.89% | 466 |
| North East | 0 | 99 | £378 | -16.11% | 210 |
| Wales | -2 | 81 | £446 | +8.18% | 196 |
| Northern Ireland | -1 | 30 | £463 | -2.63% | 304 |
| 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% | 1,773 |
| 2 | Stakeholder Management | 27.4% | 1,749 |
| 3 | Continuous Improvement | 24.0% | 1,534 |
| 4 | CI/CD | 17.9% | 1,145 |
| 5 | DevOps | 15.6% | 994 |
| 6 | AI | 13.2% | 841 |
| 7 | Stakeholder Engagement | 12.1% | 773 |
| 8 | Decision-Making | 10.8% | 693 |
| 9 | Migration | 10.2% | 655 |
| 10 | Customer Service | 10.0% | 638 |
| 11 | Analytics | 9.3% | 595 |
| 12 | Test Automation | 9.1% | 581 |
| 13 | Validation | 9.0% | 578 |
| 14 | ITIL | 8.0% | 509 |
| 15 | Scrum | 7.6% | 484 |
| 16 | Project Delivery | 7.2% | 459 |
| 16 | Software Engineering | 7.2% | 459 |
| 18 | Collaborative Working | 7.0% | 450 |
| 19 | Data Modelling | 7.0% | 447 |
| 20 | Infrastructure as Code | 6.9% | 440 |