2nd Line Support Contract Job Trends in England

Second Line Support
UK > England

The median Second Line Support daily rate in England is £225, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 23 October 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 473 360 355
Rank change year-on-year -113 -5 -49
Contract 2nd Line Support jobs 168 172 158
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.36% 0.61% 0.50%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.39% 0.66% 0.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 105 129 119
10th Percentile £166 £154 £148
25th Percentile £190 £163 £178
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £225 £195 £219
Median % change year-on-year +15.38% -10.96% +9.50%
75th Percentile £250 £245 £275
90th Percentile £330 £288 £402
UK median daily rate £213 £195 £210
% change year-on-year +8.97% -7.14% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 20 9
10th Percentile £12.72 - £20.44
25th Percentile £13.51 £15.50 £21.05
Median hourly rate £15.24 £21.04 £24.18
Median % change year-on-year -27.57% -12.99% +22.43%
75th Percentile £17.60 £24.29 -
90th Percentile £18.22 £30.30 £27.62
UK median hourly rate £16.20 £18.44 £23.99
% change year-on-year -12.15% -23.16% +19.95%

All Contract IT Job Roles
England

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job adverts in England matching a recognised job title. The table also shows what proportion of all contract IT job adverts they make up.

6 months to
23 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Contract job adverts in England matching a recognised job title 42,882 25,893 29,455
% of contract job adverts matching a recognised job title 91.79% 91.10% 93.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,266 16,657 17,977
10th Percentile £325 £280 £300
25th Percentile £425 £403 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -2.78%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £638
90th Percentile £738 £725 £750
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,836 1,478 1,188
10th Percentile £14.36 £13.80 £15.10
25th Percentile £20.00 £17.30 £21.25
Median hourly rate £41.71 £25.15 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +65.84% -40.82% -7.49%
75th Percentile £68.00 £50.00 £67.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £41.00 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +63.02% -37.13% -10.11%

2nd Line Support Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract 2nd Line Support job postings relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

2nd Line Support job vacancy trend in England

2nd Line Support Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Support job vacancies in England.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Support job vacancies in England

2nd Line Support Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for 2nd Line Support jobs in England over the 6 months to 23 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for 2nd Line Support in England

2nd Line Support Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Support job vacancies in England.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Support job vacancies in England

2nd Line Support Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in 2nd Line Support jobs within the England region over the 6 months to 23 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
Job Ads
Past 6 Months
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
London -86 52 £240 +21.52% 22
South East -46 43 £273 +26.74% 10
North of England -74 40 £200 +5.26% 6
Yorkshire -29 23 £200 +5.26% 1
Midlands -54 14 £210 +16.67% 2
North West -61 14 £256 +46.43% 4
East of England -23 13 £240 +20.00% 11
East Midlands -17 7 - - 2
West Midlands -55 7 £210 +5.00%
South West -43 5 - - 9
North East -42 3 £188 +7.14% 1
2nd Line Support
UK

2nd Line Support Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England

For the 6 months to 23 October 2026, 2nd Line Support contract job ads cited the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract 2nd Line Support job ads across the England region.

RankSkillShareJob Ads
1Windows77.4%130
2Microsoft 36565.5%110
3Active Directory54.8%92
4Microsoft45.8%77
5Problem-Solving28.0%47
5Windows 1028.0%47
7Customer Service25.0%42
8Entra ID24.4%41
9Azure20.2%34
9ITIL20.2%34
11Microsoft Intune19.6%33
11Service Management19.6%33
13SharePoint18.5%31
14ITSM16.7%28
15User Experience16.1%27
16Continuous Improvement13.7%23
17OneDrive12.5%21
18Android11.9%20
18DNS11.9%20
18macOS11.9%20
18Microsoft Office11.9%20
22Security Cleared11.3%19
23Windows Server9.5%16
24Microsoft Exchange8.9%15
25Apple iOS8.3%14
25DHCP8.3%14
25ServiceNow8.3%14
28SCCM7.7%13
28Service Delivery7.7%13
28SQL7.7%13

2nd Line Support Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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.