2nd Line Support Contract Job Trends in England

Second Line Support
UK > England

The median Second Line Support daily rate in England is £190, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 10 February 2026.

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

6 months to
10 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 372 354 283
Rank change year-on-year -18 -71 +44
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Support 188 132 295
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.56% 0.51% 0.77%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.61% 0.55% 0.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 131 97 197
10th Percentile £154 £162 £140
25th Percentile £163 £188 £175
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £190 £215 £200
Median % change year-on-year -11.63% +7.50% -11.11%
75th Percentile £238 £255 £238
90th Percentile £288 £370 £288
UK median daily rate £190 £210 £200
% change year-on-year -9.52% +5.00% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 8 28
10th Percentile £12.95 £21.03 £14.73
25th Percentile £15.50 £21.05 £17.25
Median hourly rate £16.00 £26.09 £18.72
Median % change year-on-year -38.67% +39.41% -14.93%
75th Percentile £24.58 £29.00 £20.65
90th Percentile £29.86 £30.43 £23.90
UK median hourly rate £16.00 £25.84 £18.72
% change year-on-year -38.08% +38.07% -10.88%

All Contract IT Job Roles
England

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in England. 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 England with a recognized job title 30,787 24,051 35,510
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.66% 93.06% 93.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 19,582 14,899 23,862
10th Percentile £300 £300 £270
25th Percentile £406 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £640
90th Percentile £725 £750 £745
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,964 708 2,125
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.91 £13.23
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.41 £16.67
Median hourly rate £31.18 £35.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -10.93% - -6.67%
75th Percentile £63.75 £64.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £72.50 £75.00 £72.48
UK median hourly rate £30.00 £33.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year -10.45% -4.29% -1.41%

2nd Line Support
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring '2nd Line Support' in the job title 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 jobs citing 2nd Line Support in England over the 6 months to 10 February 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
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing 2nd Line Support in England over the 6 months to 10 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for 2nd Line Support 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 IT jobs citing 2nd Line Support within the England region over the 6 months to 10 February 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
North of England -16 68 £175 -10.26% 20
London -30 55 £198 -21.00% 12
North West -9 32 £175 -12.50% 10
Midlands -46 31 £190 -5.00% 13
Yorkshire -32 30 £200 +2.56% 10
West Midlands -43 20 £200 -4.76% 10
South East -37 12 £200 -5.88% 37
East of England -8 11 - - 9
South West -15 11 £275 +22.22% 15
East Midlands -26 11 £158 -21.25% 3
North East - 6 £175 -
2nd Line Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 10 February 2026, 2nd Line Support contract job roles required 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 job ads across the England region featuring 2nd Line Support in the job title.

1 122 (64.89%) Windows
2 106 (56.38%) Microsoft 365
3 69 (36.70%) Active Directory
3 69 (36.70%) Microsoft
4 63 (33.51%) Microsoft Office
5 50 (26.60%) Android
5 50 (26.60%) Customer Service
5 50 (26.60%) Windows 10
6 41 (21.81%) Azure
7 40 (21.28%) ITIL
8 39 (20.74%) Security Cleared
9 36 (19.15%) Entra ID
10 35 (18.62%) SC Cleared
11 33 (17.55%) Service Delivery
12 32 (17.02%) Microsoft Intune
13 30 (15.96%) Problem-Solving
14 29 (15.43%) Apple
14 29 (15.43%) Service Management
14 29 (15.43%) Wireless
15 28 (14.89%) Mac OS
15 28 (14.89%) SharePoint
16 26 (13.83%) Business Intelligence
16 26 (13.83%) Cisco
16 26 (13.83%) DHCP
16 26 (13.83%) DNS
16 26 (13.83%) SAP
17 25 (13.30%) Digital Marketing
17 25 (13.30%) Programme Management
17 25 (13.30%) VPN
18 23 (12.23%) Dell

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

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 28 (14.89%) SharePoint
2 20 (10.64%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (2.66%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 63 (33.51%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.60%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.53%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (1.60%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.53%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 106 (56.38%) Microsoft 365
2 41 (21.81%) Azure
3 36 (19.15%) Entra ID
4 15 (7.98%) OneDrive
5 7 (3.72%) Google Workspace
6 5 (2.66%) AWS
7 3 (1.60%) GCP
8 1 (0.53%) Mimecast
8 1 (0.53%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 29 (15.43%) Wireless
2 26 (13.83%) DHCP
2 26 (13.83%) DNS
3 25 (13.30%) VPN
4 23 (12.23%) WAN
5 21 (11.17%) TCP/IP
6 19 (10.11%) LAN
7 9 (4.79%) Firewall
7 9 (4.79%) Wi-Fi
8 6 (3.19%) Network Security
8 6 (3.19%) PABX
8 6 (3.19%) Structured Cabling
9 4 (2.13%) BGP
9 4 (2.13%) IPsec
9 4 (2.13%) MPLS
10 3 (1.60%) VoIP
11 2 (1.06%) VLAN
12 1 (0.53%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.60%) MySQL
1 3 (1.60%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.53%) Electronic Patient Records
2 1 (0.53%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 3 (1.60%) JIRA
General
1 69 (36.70%) Social Skills
2 37 (19.68%) Finance
2 37 (19.68%) Public Sector
3 33 (17.55%) Manufacturing
4 26 (13.83%) Telecoms
5 25 (13.30%) Electronics
5 25 (13.30%) Marketing
6 11 (5.85%) Analytical Skills
7 10 (5.32%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 10 (5.32%) Organisational Skills
8 5 (2.66%) Retail
9 4 (2.13%) Banking
10 2 (1.06%) Law
10 2 (1.06%) Legal
11 1 (0.53%) Documentation Skills
11 1 (0.53%) Investment Banking
11 1 (0.53%) Multimedia
11 1 (0.53%) Publishing
Miscellaneous
1 23 (12.23%) Data Centre
2 14 (7.45%) Driving Licence
3 12 (6.38%) Onboarding
4 11 (5.85%) NHS
5 10 (5.32%) Smartphone
6 7 (3.72%) Management Information System
7 6 (3.19%) CMDB
7 6 (3.19%) Team-Oriented Environment
8 5 (2.66%) Self-Motivation
9 4 (2.13%) PKI
9 4 (2.13%) Video Conferencing
10 3 (1.60%) iPhone
10 3 (1.60%) Mobile Payment
11 2 (1.06%) Data Protection Act
12 1 (0.53%) CCTV
12 1 (0.53%) Hedge funds
12 1 (0.53%) Smartcard
12 1 (0.53%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 122 (64.89%) Windows
2 50 (26.60%) Android
2 50 (26.60%) Windows 10
3 28 (14.89%) Mac OS
4 23 (12.23%) Windows Server
5 21 (11.17%) Apple iOS
6 8 (4.26%) Linux
7 6 (3.19%) Windows Server 2016
7 6 (3.19%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 50 (26.60%) Customer Service
2 40 (21.28%) ITIL
3 33 (17.55%) Service Delivery
4 30 (15.96%) Problem-Solving
5 29 (15.43%) Service Management
6 26 (13.83%) Business Intelligence
7 25 (13.30%) Digital Marketing
7 25 (13.30%) Programme Management
8 13 (6.91%) ITSM
9 11 (5.85%) Asset Management
10 10 (5.32%) Mobile Device Management
11 9 (4.79%) Customer Experience
11 9 (4.79%) Migration
12 8 (4.26%) Network Management
13 6 (3.19%) Break/Fix
13 6 (3.19%) Change Management
13 6 (3.19%) Continuous Improvement
13 6 (3.19%) Network Monitoring
14 5 (2.66%) CRM
14 5 (2.66%) Disk Encryption
Programming Languages
1 8 (4.26%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 39 (20.74%) Security Cleared
2 35 (18.62%) SC Cleared
3 11 (5.85%) Degree
4 8 (4.26%) Microsoft Certification
5 6 (3.19%) ECDL
5 6 (3.19%) Microsoft Certified Professional
6 5 (2.66%) MCDST
7 2 (1.06%) CCNA
7 2 (1.06%) Cisco Certification
7 2 (1.06%) DBS Check
7 2 (1.06%) MCSE
8 1 (0.53%) Azure Certification
8 1 (0.53%) Computer Science Degree
8 1 (0.53%) DV Cleared
8 1 (0.53%) ITIL Certification
8 1 (0.53%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 1 (0.53%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (3.72%) SLA
2 2 (1.06%) Cyber Essentials
3 1 (0.53%) GDPR
System Software
1 69 (36.70%) Active Directory
2 3 (1.60%) Virtual Desktop
3 1 (0.53%) BitLocker
3 1 (0.53%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (0.53%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 32 (17.02%) Microsoft Intune
2 20 (10.64%) SCCM
3 2 (1.06%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (0.53%) SCOM
4 1 (0.53%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 69 (36.70%) Microsoft
2 29 (15.43%) Apple
3 26 (13.83%) Cisco
3 26 (13.83%) SAP
4 23 (12.23%) Dell
4 23 (12.23%) HP
5 14 (7.45%) ServiceNow
6 11 (5.85%) Google
7 5 (2.66%) Citrix
7 5 (2.66%) iManage
7 5 (2.66%) Mitel
8 4 (2.13%) Juniper
9 3 (1.60%) Logitech
9 3 (1.60%) Meraki
9 3 (1.60%) Remedy
10 2 (1.06%) VMware
11 1 (0.53%) Charles River
11 1 (0.53%) SolarWinds
11 1 (0.53%) Sophos
11 1 (0.53%) WatchGuard