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 12 November 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 12 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 | 6,377 | 5,279 | 4,648 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 11.42% | 15.00% | 12.83% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 13.33% | 16.67% | 14.88% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,511 | 3,190 | 2,694 |
| 10th Percentile | £263 | £255 | £266 |
| 25th Percentile | £400 | £384 | £396 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £495 | £480 | £500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +3.13% | -4.00% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £600 | £600 | £600 |
| 90th Percentile | £700 | £700 | £700 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £452 | £460 | £470 |
| % change year-on-year | -1.68% | -2.13% | -1.05% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 734 | 343 | 189 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.45 | £13.00 | £15.00 |
| 25th Percentile | £14.10 | £15.56 | £15.62 |
| Median hourly rate | £18.75 | £20.04 | £18.70 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -6.44% | +7.17% | -59.24% |
| 75th Percentile | £35.22 | £34.24 | £30.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £70.00 | £65.25 | £54.60 |
| 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 12 Nov 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies citing process or methodology skills | 47,836 | 31,674 | 31,229 |
| As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK | 85.65% | 90.02% | 86.17% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 28,616 | 19,843 | 18,785 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £298 | £310 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £404 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | -1.50% |
| 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 | 3,823 | 2,054 | 1,104 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.50 | £14.38 | £15.10 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.46 | £17.46 | £20.12 |
| Median hourly rate | £35.00 | £25.15 | £35.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +39.17% | -28.14% | -18.92% |
| 75th Percentile | £65.60 | £43.75 | £63.75 |
| 90th Percentile | £80.00 | £67.00 | £73.50 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £34.28 | £22.53 | £33.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +52.15% | -31.73% | -24.70% |
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 12 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 12 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 12 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 | 5,467 | £498 | +2.05% | 8,849 |
| UK excluding London | -2 | 3,447 | £452 | -1.68% | 5,418 |
| London | -10 | 2,305 | £520 | +4.00% | 3,794 |
| Work from Home | -5 | 1,692 | £500 | +0.60% | 3,521 |
| South East | -4 | 904 | £475 | +3.26% | 1,274 |
| North of England | -6 | 833 | £454 | -4.42% | 1,186 |
| Midlands | -3 | 650 | £447 | -0.67% | 890 |
| West Midlands | -5 | 472 | £450 | -7.26% | 492 |
| North West | -3 | 422 | £450 | -2.44% | 630 |
| East of England | +1 | 344 | £430 | -14.00% | 688 |
| South West | -6 | 327 | £515 | +8.42% | 594 |
| Yorkshire | -4 | 313 | £490 | -0.44% | 386 |
| Scotland | -1 | 311 | £419 | -6.89% | 453 |
| East Midlands | +2 | 176 | £318 | -16.45% | 397 |
| North East | -2 | 99 | £378 | -16.11% | 178 |
| Wales | -2 | 82 | £468 | +13.33% | 171 |
| Northern Ireland | 0 | 31 | £463 | -2.63% | 253 |
| Channel Islands | -1 | 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% | 1,760 |
| 2 | Stakeholder Management | 27.4% | 1,747 |
| 3 | Continuous Improvement | 24.0% | 1,531 |
| 4 | CI/CD | 17.8% | 1,136 |
| 5 | DevOps | 15.4% | 984 |
| 6 | AI | 13.2% | 839 |
| 7 | Stakeholder Engagement | 12.1% | 771 |
| 8 | Decision-Making | 10.8% | 691 |
| 9 | Migration | 10.2% | 651 |
| 10 | Customer Service | 10.0% | 637 |
| 11 | Analytics | 9.4% | 599 |
| 12 | Test Automation | 9.0% | 571 |
| 13 | Validation | 8.9% | 570 |
| 14 | ITIL | 8.0% | 510 |
| 15 | Scrum | 7.5% | 479 |
| 16 | Project Delivery | 7.2% | 456 |
| 17 | Software Engineering | 7.1% | 454 |
| 18 | Collaborative Working | 7.1% | 452 |
| 19 | Data Modelling | 6.9% | 439 |
| 20 | Infrastructure as Code | 6.9% | 438 |