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 16 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 16 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 | 6,033 | 5,075 | 4,686 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 10.91% | 15.25% | 12.46% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 12.86% | 16.85% | 14.48% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,348 | 3,011 | 2,726 |
| 10th Percentile | £262 | £241 | £263 |
| 25th Percentile | £392 | £383 | £381 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £495 | £485 | £500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +2.06% | -3.00% | -0.10% |
| 75th Percentile | £600 | £600 | £600 |
| 90th Percentile | £700 | £700 | £700 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £450 | £450 | £475 |
| % change year-on-year | - | -5.26% | -2.56% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 632 | 330 | 206 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.45 | £13.25 | £14.50 |
| 25th Percentile | £14.10 | £15.50 | £15.62 |
| Median hourly rate | £18.25 | £20.00 | £17.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -8.75% | +17.65% | -66.26% |
| 75th Percentile | £33.75 | £33.50 | £31.43 |
| 90th Percentile | £70.00 | £63.44 | £62.05 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £18.00 | £18.82 | £16.23 |
| % change year-on-year | -4.36% | +15.96% | -66.47% |
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 16 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills | 46,911 | 30,121 | 32,352 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK | 84.81% | 90.54% | 86.01% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 28,189 | 18,721 | 19,488 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £296 | £308 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £404 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | -2.42% |
| 75th Percentile | £638 | £623 | £638 |
| 90th Percentile | £738 | £725 | £750 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £475 | £500 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.26% | -5.00% | - |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 3,476 | 1,911 | 1,239 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.51 | £14.38 | £15.00 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.75 | £17.30 | £20.12 |
| Median hourly rate | £37.24 | £25.15 | £40.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +48.07% | -37.13% | -10.11% |
| 75th Percentile | £65.00 | £42.79 | £65.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £78.75 | £66.00 | £73.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £37.24 | £22.27 | £40.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +67.26% | -44.34% | -8.88% |
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 16 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 16 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 16 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 | -5 | 5,189 | £495 | +1.54% | 6,908 |
| UK excluding London | -2 | 3,244 | £450 | - | 4,121 |
| London | -11 | 2,209 | £524 | +4.75% | 3,170 |
| Work from Home | -4 | 1,613 | £500 | - | 3,128 |
| South East | -3 | 836 | £475 | +5.56% | 1,037 |
| North of England | -7 | 775 | £450 | -5.26% | 998 |
| Midlands | -5 | 619 | £450 | +2.39% | 601 |
| West Midlands | -8 | 449 | £450 | -5.26% | 346 |
| North West | -7 | 387 | £450 | -2.44% | 499 |
| South West | -6 | 323 | £506 | +10.90% | 501 |
| Scotland | -3 | 314 | £427 | -5.11% | 298 |
| East of England | 0 | 307 | £423 | -15.50% | 431 |
| Yorkshire | -5 | 304 | £475 | -4.04% | 329 |
| East Midlands | +2 | 166 | £423 | +12.12% | 255 |
| North East | -4 | 86 | £375 | -16.67% | 178 |
| Wales | -7 | 68 | £468 | +13.33% | 125 |
| Northern Ireland | -4 | 29 | £438 | -15.87% | 190 |
| 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 | 27.7% | 1,669 |
| 2 | Stakeholder Management | 26.0% | 1,568 |
| 3 | Continuous Improvement | 23.2% | 1,398 |
| 4 | CI/CD | 17.4% | 1,050 |
| 5 | DevOps | 15.4% | 930 |
| 6 | AI | 13.2% | 799 |
| 7 | Stakeholder Engagement | 11.5% | 695 |
| 8 | Decision-Making | 11.0% | 661 |
| 9 | Migration | 10.0% | 606 |
| 10 | Customer Service | 9.6% | 577 |
| 11 | Analytics | 9.5% | 571 |
| 12 | ITIL | 8.5% | 512 |
| 13 | Validation | 8.5% | 510 |
| 14 | Test Automation | 8.4% | 505 |
| 15 | Scrum | 7.4% | 449 |
| 16 | Data Modelling | 6.9% | 419 |
| 17 | Project Delivery | 6.7% | 404 |
| 18 | Software Engineering | 6.6% | 401 |
| 19 | Business Intelligence | 6.6% | 398 |
| 19 | Technical Leadership | 6.6% | 398 |