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 12 May 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
12 May 2024		 Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 423 464 534
Rank change year-on-year +41 +70 -37
Contract jobs requiring a 1st Line Support 164 242 363
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.38% 0.42% 0.41%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.41% 0.44% 0.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 78 170 217
10th Percentile £109 £121 £112
25th Percentile £123 £130 £125
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £145 £150 £149
Median % change year-on-year -3.49% +1.18% +14.23%
75th Percentile £169 £189 £185
90th Percentile £182 £250 £220
UK excluding London median daily rate £150 £150 £150
% change year-on-year - - +15.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 29 72
10th Percentile £14.06 £14.40 £12.21
25th Percentile £14.23 £15.50 £13.69
Median hourly rate £16.50 £18.50 £15.84
Median % change year-on-year -10.81% +16.81% +31.98%
75th Percentile £17.39 £20.00 £18.56
90th Percentile £18.78 £22.52 £20.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.50 £18.50 £15.84
% change year-on-year -10.81% +16.81% +31.98%

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 39,893 55,060 83,598
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.76% 94.65% 95.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,957 38,445 58,715
10th Percentile £280 £313 £313
25th Percentile £410 £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 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £500 £475
% change year-on-year -2.00% +5.26% +11.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,673 1,534 2,047
10th Percentile £12.86 £14.25 £12.50
25th Percentile £16.30 £19.06 £15.89
Median hourly rate £37.50 £45.00 £23.91
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% +88.21% +5.89%
75th Percentile £61.30 £65.75 £49.25
90th Percentile £72.90 £76.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £42.08 £20.00
% change year-on-year -4.94% +110.39% +2.56%

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 12 May 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 12 May 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 +36 144 £144 -4.00% 84
UK excluding London +35 130 £150 - 92
South East +13 45 £165 +28.16% 30
London +46 32 £144 -7.10% 7
Midlands +38 26 £150 +1.69% 16
Work from Home +88 24 £140 -20.00% 24
North of England +5 22 £138 -17.29% 21
West Midlands +22 21 £150 -7.69% 4
Scotland +46 16 £163 -35.00% 10
Yorkshire +14 13 £135 -10.15% 7
South West +5 12 £155 +12.73% 4
North West +9 8 £134 -33.25% 12
East of England -3 6 £104 -35.40% 6
East Midlands +25 5 £130 +1.96% 12
Northern Ireland - 2 £210 - 2
Wales +20 1 - - 5
North East - 1 £180 - 2

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

For the 6 months to 12 May 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 72 (43.90%) Microsoft
2 60 (36.59%) Windows
3 55 (33.54%) Microsoft 365
4 52 (31.71%) Customer Service
5 50 (30.49%) Social Skills
6 49 (29.88%) Active Directory
7 38 (23.17%) ITIL
8 37 (22.56%) Problem-Solving
9 34 (20.73%) SLA
10 29 (17.68%) Microsoft Office
11 28 (17.07%) Windows 10
12 27 (16.46%) Service Delivery
13 21 (12.80%) Security Cleared
14 18 (10.98%) Degree
15 16 (9.76%) Public Sector
16 15 (9.15%) Windows 7
17 14 (8.54%) Wi-Fi
18 13 (7.93%) ServiceNow
19 12 (7.32%) Presentation Skills
19 12 (7.32%) Analytical Skills
19 12 (7.32%) SC Cleared
19 12 (7.32%) Apple
20 10 (6.10%) Service Management
20 10 (6.10%) Decision-Making
20 10 (6.10%) Proactive Monitoring
20 10 (6.10%) Organisational Skills
21 9 (5.49%) WhatsApp
21 9 (5.49%) Time Management
21 9 (5.49%) OneDrive
21 9 (5.49%) Retail

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 7 (4.27%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (3.66%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.61%) Site Server
Applications
1 29 (17.68%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (3.05%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (1.83%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (1.83%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.61%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 55 (33.54%) Microsoft 365
2 9 (5.49%) OneDrive
2 9 (5.49%) WhatsApp
3 8 (4.88%) Azure
4 7 (4.27%) Entra ID
5 1 (0.61%) AWS
5 1 (0.61%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 14 (8.54%) Wi-Fi
2 7 (4.27%) LAN
3 4 (2.44%) DHCP
3 4 (2.44%) Remote Desktop
4 3 (1.83%) DNS
4 3 (1.83%) VPN
5 2 (1.22%) WAN
6 1 (0.61%) Firewall
6 1 (0.61%) NAS
6 1 (0.61%) Network Security
6 1 (0.61%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.61%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 2 (1.22%) JIRA
2 1 (0.61%) Hudson
General
1 50 (30.49%) Social Skills
2 16 (9.76%) Public Sector
3 12 (7.32%) Analytical Skills
3 12 (7.32%) Presentation Skills
4 10 (6.10%) Organisational Skills
5 9 (5.49%) Retail
6 7 (4.27%) Finance
7 4 (2.44%) Telecoms
8 2 (1.22%) Advertising
8 2 (1.22%) Banking
8 2 (1.22%) Electronics
8 2 (1.22%) Front Office
8 2 (1.22%) Manufacturing
8 2 (1.22%) Marketing
8 2 (1.22%) Pharmaceutical
9 1 (0.61%) Back Office
9 1 (0.61%) Dutch Language
9 1 (0.61%) French Language
9 1 (0.61%) Local Government
9 1 (0.61%) Spanish Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (1.22%) FIX Protocol
2 1 (0.61%) .NET
2 1 (0.61%) Middleware
2 1 (0.61%) XML
2 1 (0.61%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 6 (3.66%) Digital Signage
2 5 (3.05%) iPhone
3 3 (1.83%) Data Centre
3 3 (1.83%) NHS
4 2 (1.22%) Onboarding
4 2 (1.22%) Self-Motivation
4 2 (1.22%) Smartphone
5 1 (0.61%) Blackberry
5 1 (0.61%) BYOD
5 1 (0.61%) Client/Server
5 1 (0.61%) Driving Licence
5 1 (0.61%) EPoS
5 1 (0.61%) iPad
5 1 (0.61%) Management Information System
5 1 (0.61%) PKI
5 1 (0.61%) SCADA
5 1 (0.61%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 60 (36.59%) Windows
2 28 (17.07%) Windows 10
3 15 (9.15%) Windows 7
4 8 (4.88%) Apple iOS
5 5 (3.05%) Mac OS
6 4 (2.44%) Android
7 3 (1.83%) Mac OS X
7 3 (1.83%) Windows Server 2008
8 2 (1.22%) Linux
8 2 (1.22%) Windows Server
9 1 (0.61%) Unix
9 1 (0.61%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.61%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 52 (31.71%) Customer Service
2 38 (23.17%) ITIL
3 37 (22.56%) Problem-Solving
4 27 (16.46%) Service Delivery
5 10 (6.10%) Decision-Making
5 10 (6.10%) Proactive Monitoring
5 10 (6.10%) Service Management
6 9 (5.49%) Time Management
7 8 (4.88%) CRM
8 7 (4.27%) Customer Requirements
9 5 (3.05%) Continuous Improvement
9 5 (3.05%) Mobile Device Management
10 4 (2.44%) Asset Management
10 4 (2.44%) Customer Experience
10 4 (2.44%) Information Security
10 4 (2.44%) Inventory Management
10 4 (2.44%) Proactive Maintenance
10 4 (2.44%) User Experience
11 3 (1.83%) Incident Management
11 3 (1.83%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 9 (5.49%) SQL
2 1 (0.61%) C#
2 1 (0.61%) Java
2 1 (0.61%) VB
Qualifications
1 21 (12.80%) Security Cleared
2 18 (10.98%) Degree
3 12 (7.32%) SC Cleared
4 5 (3.05%) DBS Check
5 4 (2.44%) Cisco Certification
5 4 (2.44%) HNC
5 4 (2.44%) Microsoft Certification
6 3 (1.83%) A+ Certification
6 3 (1.83%) CCNA
7 2 (1.22%) ITIL Certification
8 1 (0.61%) AWS Certification
8 1 (0.61%) ECDL
8 1 (0.61%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 1 (0.61%) MCP
8 1 (0.61%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (20.73%) SLA
2 1 (0.61%) Data Quality
2 1 (0.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 49 (29.88%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.61%) VMware Infrastructure
2 1 (0.61%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 7 (4.27%) Microsoft Intune
2 3 (1.83%) SCCM
3 2 (1.22%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
4 1 (0.61%) WSUS
Vendors
1 72 (43.90%) Microsoft
2 13 (7.93%) ServiceNow
3 12 (7.32%) Apple
4 7 (4.27%) Cisco
5 3 (1.83%) Citrix
5 3 (1.83%) Juniper
5 3 (1.83%) Mitel
5 3 (1.83%) Progress
5 3 (1.83%) SAP
6 2 (1.22%) Bomgar
6 2 (1.22%) Dell
6 2 (1.22%) iManage
7 1 (0.61%) BMC
7 1 (0.61%) CA
7 1 (0.61%) Remedy
7 1 (0.61%) Veeam
7 1 (0.61%) VMware
103 1st Line Support jobs Nationwide