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 22 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 22 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 | 6,105 | 5,098 | 4,662 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 11.07% | 15.22% | 12.51% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 13.00% | 16.82% | 14.53% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,391 | 3,038 | 2,706 |
| 10th Percentile | £263 | £245 | £267 |
| 25th Percentile | £390 | £384 | £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% | -0.52% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 647 | 337 | 204 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.45 | £13.08 | £14.50 |
| 25th Percentile | £14.13 | £15.50 | £15.62 |
| Median hourly rate | £18.49 | £19.25 | £17.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -3.95% | +13.24% | -64.88% |
| 75th Percentile | £34.25 | £32.75 | £30.87 |
| 90th Percentile | £70.00 | £63.54 | £61.60 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £18.00 | £18.76 | £16.23 |
| % change year-on-year | -4.06% | +15.60% | -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 22 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills | 46,961 | 30,310 | 32,091 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK | 85.17% | 90.50% | 86.11% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 28,235 | 18,875 | 19,314 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £300 | £310 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £405 | £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 | £750 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £475 | £500 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.26% | -5.00% | - |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 3,512 | 1,924 | 1,195 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.51 | £14.38 | £15.00 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.74 | £17.30 | £20.12 |
| Median hourly rate | £37.02 | £25.08 | £38.50 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +47.64% | -34.87% | -10.81% |
| 75th Percentile | £65.00 | £42.50 | £65.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £78.75 | £65.25 | £73.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £36.00 | £22.27 | £39.68 |
| % change year-on-year | +61.69% | -43.89% | -6.64% |
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 22 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 22 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 22 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 | 5,244 | £500 | +2.56% | 8,588 |
| UK excluding London | -2 | 3,277 | £450 | -2.70% | 5,550 |
| London | -10 | 2,237 | £520 | +4.00% | 3,437 |
| Work from Home | -3 | 1,645 | £500 | - | 3,511 |
| South East | -3 | 855 | £475 | +2.70% | 1,327 |
| North of England | -6 | 776 | £450 | -5.26% | 1,214 |
| Midlands | -5 | 626 | £450 | - | 862 |
| West Midlands | -7 | 456 | £450 | -7.74% | 494 |
| North West | -5 | 393 | £450 | -0.99% | 601 |
| South West | -5 | 324 | £503 | +5.79% | 671 |
| East of England | 0 | 315 | £420 | -16.00% | 714 |
| Scotland | -3 | 310 | £425 | -5.56% | 418 |
| Yorkshire | -5 | 296 | £487 | -1.57% | 391 |
| East Midlands | +1 | 167 | £413 | +9.27% | 367 |
| North East | -4 | 88 | £380 | -15.56% | 233 |
| Wales | -6 | 72 | £468 | +13.33% | 184 |
| Northern Ireland | -3 | 31 | £456 | -8.75% | 234 |
| 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 | 27.5% | 1,681 |
| 2 | Stakeholder Management | 26.4% | 1,613 |
| 3 | Continuous Improvement | 23.3% | 1,425 |
| 4 | CI/CD | 17.7% | 1,082 |
| 5 | DevOps | 15.5% | 945 |
| 6 | AI | 13.3% | 811 |
| 7 | Stakeholder Engagement | 11.7% | 715 |
| 8 | Decision-Making | 10.7% | 653 |
| 9 | Migration | 10.1% | 619 |
| 10 | Customer Service | 9.5% | 583 |
| 11 | Analytics | 9.5% | 577 |
| 12 | Test Automation | 8.6% | 523 |
| 13 | Validation | 8.5% | 516 |
| 14 | ITIL | 8.3% | 508 |
| 15 | Scrum | 7.3% | 448 |
| 16 | Data Modelling | 7.0% | 428 |
| 17 | Project Delivery | 6.8% | 418 |
| 18 | Software Engineering | 6.8% | 416 |
| 19 | Business Intelligence | 6.7% | 407 |
| 20 | Technical Leadership | 6.6% | 403 |