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 10 November 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 10 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 | 6,324 | 5,179 | 4,645 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 11.43% | 14.95% | 12.82% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 13.35% | 16.61% | 14.88% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,471 | 3,127 | 2,699 |
| 10th Percentile | £263 | £255 | £266 |
| 25th Percentile | £400 | £385 | £396 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £495 | £483 | £500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +2.59% | -3.50% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £600 | £600 | £600 |
| 90th Percentile | £700 | £700 | £700 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £450 | £463 | £470 |
| % change year-on-year | -2.70% | -1.60% | -1.05% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 732 | 343 | 188 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.45 | £13.00 | £15.00 |
| 25th Percentile | £14.10 | £15.56 | £15.62 |
| Median hourly rate | £18.75 | £20.26 | £18.67 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -7.43% | +8.50% | -59.39% |
| 75th Percentile | £34.68 | £34.48 | £30.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £70.00 | £65.25 | £55.03 |
| 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 10 Nov 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies citing process or methodology skills | 47,370 | 31,186 | 31,226 |
| As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK | 85.59% | 90.02% | 86.15% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 28,285 | 19,511 | 18,789 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £297 | £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 | £624 | £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 | 3,818 | 2,038 | 1,099 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.50 | £14.38 | £15.09 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.46 | £17.30 | £20.12 |
| Median hourly rate | £35.00 | £25.15 | £35.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +39.17% | -28.14% | -19.77% |
| 75th Percentile | £65.00 | £43.75 | £63.75 |
| 90th Percentile | £80.00 | £67.00 | £73.50 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £34.28 | £22.50 | £33.27 |
| % change year-on-year | +52.36% | -32.37% | -24.21% |
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 10 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 10 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 10 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 | 5,418 | £495 | +1.54% | 9,371 |
| UK excluding London | -2 | 3,419 | £450 | -2.70% | 5,693 |
| London | -10 | 2,284 | £520 | +4.00% | 4,057 |
| Work from Home | -3 | 1,680 | £500 | - | 3,694 |
| South East | -3 | 895 | £475 | +3.04% | 1,358 |
| North of England | -5 | 825 | £454 | -4.42% | 1,235 |
| Midlands | -3 | 641 | £447 | -0.67% | 927 |
| West Midlands | -6 | 464 | £450 | -7.69% | 515 |
| North West | -4 | 418 | £450 | -3.23% | 648 |
| East of England | +1 | 343 | £428 | -14.50% | 746 |
| South West | -2 | 328 | £505 | +6.32% | 622 |
| Yorkshire | -3 | 311 | £487 | -0.97% | 403 |
| Scotland | -1 | 308 | £419 | -6.89% | 461 |
| East Midlands | +3 | 175 | £318 | -15.33% | 410 |
| North East | 0 | 97 | £380 | -15.93% | 192 |
| Wales | -2 | 83 | £468 | +13.33% | 175 |
| Northern Ireland | 0 | 31 | £463 | -2.63% | 262 |
| Channel Islands | -1 | 5 | £600 | - | 5 |
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% | 1,747 |
| 2 | Stakeholder Management | 27.3% | 1,725 |
| 3 | Continuous Improvement | 24.0% | 1,518 |
| 4 | CI/CD | 17.8% | 1,127 |
| 5 | DevOps | 15.4% | 973 |
| 6 | AI | 13.1% | 830 |
| 7 | Stakeholder Engagement | 12.1% | 767 |
| 8 | Decision-Making | 10.8% | 684 |
| 9 | Migration | 10.2% | 644 |
| 10 | Customer Service | 10.0% | 631 |
| 11 | Analytics | 9.4% | 596 |
| 12 | Test Automation | 9.0% | 567 |
| 13 | Validation | 8.9% | 563 |
| 14 | ITIL | 8.0% | 508 |
| 15 | Scrum | 7.5% | 475 |
| 16 | Project Delivery | 7.2% | 455 |
| 17 | Software Engineering | 7.2% | 453 |
| 18 | Collaborative Working | 7.1% | 446 |
| 19 | Data Modelling | 6.8% | 432 |
| 20 | Infrastructure as Code | 6.8% | 430 |