1st Line Support Contracts

First Line Support
UK

The median First Line Support daily rate in the UK is £145 according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months to 27 April 2024.

The first table below provides contractor rate benchmarking and summary statistics including a comparison to same period in the previous 2 years.

 6 months to
27 Apr 2024		 Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 426 476 515
Rank change year-on-year +50 +39 -21
Contract jobs requiring a 1st Line Support 172 251 369
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.40% 0.42% 0.42%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.43% 0.44% 0.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 87 177 223
10th Percentile £106 £121 £111
25th Percentile £122 £131 £125
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £145 £155 £145
Median % change year-on-year -6.45% +6.90% +11.54%
75th Percentile £169 £194 £181
90th Percentile £180 £250 £203
UK excluding London median daily rate £148 £150 £148
% change year-on-year -1.67% +1.69% +15.69%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 27 73
10th Percentile £14.13 £14.80 £11.64
25th Percentile £14.25 £15.88 £13.50
Median hourly rate £16.50 £18.50 £15.00
Median % change year-on-year -10.81% +23.33% +25.00%
75th Percentile £17.80 £20.00 £18.50
90th Percentile £18.75 £22.63 £20.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.50 £18.50 £15.25
% change year-on-year -10.81% +21.31% +27.08%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
UK

The following table is for comparison with the above and includes summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 40,172 56,583 84,829
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.78% 94.61% 95.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,161 39,538 59,512
10th Percentile £275 £313 £313
25th Percentile £409 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £540 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.78% +2.86% +10.53%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £638
90th Percentile £750 £750 £731
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £500 £475
% change year-on-year -1.93% +5.26% +11.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,642 1,585 2,099
10th Percentile £12.86 £14.27 £12.50
25th Percentile £16.30 £19.50 £15.50
Median hourly rate £35.83 £45.00 £23.00
Median % change year-on-year -20.38% +95.65% -
75th Percentile £60.00 £65.75 £48.75
90th Percentile £72.50 £76.00 £63.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £37.50 £42.50 £19.50
% change year-on-year -11.76% +117.95% +2.55%

1st Line Support
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings that featured 1st Line Support in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for 1st Line Support in the UK

1st Line Support
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing 1st Line Support.

Daily rate trend for 1st Line Support in the UK

1st Line Support
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing 1st Line Support over the 6 months to 27 April 2024.

Daily rate histogram for 1st Line Support in the UK

1st Line Support
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing 1st Line Support.

Hourly rate trend for 1st Line Support in the UK

1st Line Support
Top 17 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing 1st Line Support within the UK over the 6 months to 27 April 2024. 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 +50 152 £142 -5.33% 75
UK excluding London +35 139 £148 -1.67% 81
South East +19 46 £165 +26.92% 21
London +55 31 £141 -9.19% 8
Midlands +31 26 £150 +6.19% 10
Work from Home +98 25 £140 -21.13% 16
North of England +15 25 £138 -21.43% 17
West Midlands +36 21 £150 - 1
South West +12 16 £155 +12.73% 5
Scotland +34 15 £163 -35.00% 8
Yorkshire +14 15 £133 -11.96% 6
North West +2 8 £134 -33.25% 10
East of England +6 7 £104 -32.80% 14
East Midlands +20 5 £130 +15.56% 9
Wales +17 2 - - 5
North East - 2 £173 - 1
Northern Ireland - 2 £210 - 3

1st Line Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities

For the 6 months to 27 April 2024, 1st Line Support contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring 1st Line Support in the job title.

1 78 (45.35%) Microsoft
2 67 (38.95%) Windows
3 57 (33.14%) Microsoft 365
4 53 (30.81%) Social Skills
4 53 (30.81%) Customer Service
5 52 (30.23%) Active Directory
6 42 (24.42%) Problem-Solving
7 38 (22.09%) Microsoft Office
8 37 (21.51%) SLA
9 33 (19.19%) ITIL
10 28 (16.28%) Windows 10
10 28 (16.28%) Service Delivery
11 23 (13.37%) Degree
12 20 (11.63%) Public Sector
13 19 (11.05%) Security Cleared
14 17 (9.88%) Windows 7
15 15 (8.72%) ServiceNow
16 14 (8.14%) Presentation Skills
16 14 (8.14%) Wi-Fi
17 13 (7.56%) Analytical Skills
18 12 (6.98%) Azure
18 12 (6.98%) SC Cleared
18 12 (6.98%) WhatsApp
19 10 (5.81%) Service Management
19 10 (5.81%) Apple
19 10 (5.81%) Decision-Making
19 10 (5.81%) Proactive Monitoring
19 10 (5.81%) Organisational Skills
20 9 (5.23%) Customer Requirements
20 9 (5.23%) Time Management

1st Line Support Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 8 (4.65%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (3.49%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.58%) Site Server
Applications
1 38 (22.09%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (3.49%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (2.33%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (1.74%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 2 (1.16%) assyst
2 1 (0.58%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.58%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 57 (33.14%) Microsoft 365
2 12 (6.98%) Azure
2 12 (6.98%) WhatsApp
3 7 (4.07%) Entra ID
3 7 (4.07%) OneDrive
4 1 (0.58%) AWS
4 1 (0.58%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 14 (8.14%) Wi-Fi
2 7 (4.07%) LAN
3 5 (2.91%) Remote Desktop
4 4 (2.33%) DHCP
4 4 (2.33%) VPN
5 3 (1.74%) DNS
6 2 (1.16%) Network Security
6 2 (1.16%) WAN
7 1 (0.58%) Firewall
7 1 (0.58%) NAS
7 1 (0.58%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.58%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 1 (0.58%) Hudson
General
1 53 (30.81%) Social Skills
2 20 (11.63%) Public Sector
3 14 (8.14%) Presentation Skills
4 13 (7.56%) Analytical Skills
5 10 (5.81%) Organisational Skills
6 9 (5.23%) Finance
6 9 (5.23%) Retail
7 5 (2.91%) Legal
8 4 (2.33%) Manufacturing
8 4 (2.33%) Telecoms
9 3 (1.74%) Electronics
9 3 (1.74%) Marketing
9 3 (1.74%) Pharmaceutical
10 2 (1.16%) Advertising
10 2 (1.16%) Banking
10 2 (1.16%) Front Office
11 1 (0.58%) Back Office
11 1 (0.58%) Dutch Language
11 1 (0.58%) French Language
11 1 (0.58%) Local Government
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (1.16%) FIX Protocol
1 2 (1.16%) OLE
2 1 (0.58%) .NET
2 1 (0.58%) Middleware
2 1 (0.58%) XML
2 1 (0.58%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 6 (3.49%) Digital Signage
2 5 (2.91%) iPhone
3 4 (2.33%) Management Information System
4 3 (1.74%) Data Centre
4 3 (1.74%) NHS
4 3 (1.74%) Self-Motivation
5 2 (1.16%) Smartphone
6 1 (0.58%) Biopharmaceutical
6 1 (0.58%) Blackberry
6 1 (0.58%) BYOD
6 1 (0.58%) Client/Server
6 1 (0.58%) CMDB
6 1 (0.58%) Driving Licence
6 1 (0.58%) EPoS
6 1 (0.58%) iPad
6 1 (0.58%) Onboarding
6 1 (0.58%) PKI
6 1 (0.58%) Renewable Energy
6 1 (0.58%) SCADA
6 1 (0.58%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 67 (38.95%) Windows
2 28 (16.28%) Windows 10
3 17 (9.88%) Windows 7
4 8 (4.65%) Apple iOS
5 4 (2.33%) Android
5 4 (2.33%) Mac OS
6 3 (1.74%) Mac OS X
6 3 (1.74%) Windows Server 2008
7 2 (1.16%) Linux
8 1 (0.58%) Unix
8 1 (0.58%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.58%) Windows Server 2019
8 1 (0.58%) Windows Vista
Processes & Methodologies
1 53 (30.81%) Customer Service
2 42 (24.42%) Problem-Solving
3 33 (19.19%) ITIL
4 28 (16.28%) Service Delivery
5 10 (5.81%) Decision-Making
5 10 (5.81%) Proactive Monitoring
5 10 (5.81%) Service Management
6 9 (5.23%) Customer Requirements
6 9 (5.23%) Time Management
7 8 (4.65%) CRM
8 6 (3.49%) Asset Management
8 6 (3.49%) Continuous Improvement
9 5 (2.91%) Inventory Management
9 5 (2.91%) Mobile Device Management
10 4 (2.33%) Computer Science
10 4 (2.33%) Customer Experience
10 4 (2.33%) Information Security
10 4 (2.33%) ITSM
10 4 (2.33%) Proactive Maintenance
10 4 (2.33%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 9 (5.23%) SQL
2 1 (0.58%) C#
2 1 (0.58%) Java
2 1 (0.58%) R
2 1 (0.58%) VB
Qualifications
1 23 (13.37%) Degree
2 19 (11.05%) Security Cleared
3 12 (6.98%) SC Cleared
4 7 (4.07%) Microsoft Certification
5 6 (3.49%) A+ Certification
5 6 (3.49%) DBS Check
6 4 (2.33%) HNC
7 3 (1.74%) CCNA
7 3 (1.74%) Cisco Certification
7 3 (1.74%) MCITP
8 2 (1.16%) ITIL Certification
8 2 (1.16%) MCP
9 1 (0.58%) AWS Certification
9 1 (0.58%) ECDL
9 1 (0.58%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 1 (0.58%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (21.51%) SLA
2 1 (0.58%) Data Quality
System Software
1 52 (30.23%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.58%) VMware Infrastructure
2 1 (0.58%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 7 (4.07%) Microsoft Intune
2 4 (2.33%) SCCM
3 2 (1.16%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
4 1 (0.58%) WSUS
Vendors
1 78 (45.35%) Microsoft
2 15 (8.72%) ServiceNow
3 10 (5.81%) Apple
4 6 (3.49%) Cisco
5 4 (2.33%) Citrix
5 4 (2.33%) SAP
6 3 (1.74%) Juniper
6 3 (1.74%) Mitel
6 3 (1.74%) Progress
7 2 (1.16%) Bomgar
7 2 (1.16%) iManage
7 2 (1.16%) Remedy
8 1 (0.58%) BMC
8 1 (0.58%) CA
8 1 (0.58%) Dell
8 1 (0.58%) Veeam
8 1 (0.58%) VMware
90 1st Line Support jobs Nationwide