2nd Line Support Contract Job Trends in England

Second Line Support
UK > England

The median Second Line Support daily rate in England is £195, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 31 October 2025.

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

 6 months to
31 Oct 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 352 362 303
Rank change year-on-year +10 -59 +18
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Support 181 157 304
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.62% 0.50% 0.76%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.68% 0.54% 0.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 135 117 210
10th Percentile £154 £148 £139
25th Percentile £163 £178 £173
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £195 £215 £200
Median % change year-on-year -9.30% +7.50% -2.44%
75th Percentile £238 £275 £240
90th Percentile £288 £404 £300
UK median daily rate £195 £210 £200
% change year-on-year -7.14% +5.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 10 24
10th Percentile - £20.70 £15.10
25th Percentile £15.50 £21.05 £17.75
Median hourly rate £21.04 £23.99 £19.75
Median % change year-on-year -12.30% +21.47% -17.40%
75th Percentile £24.29 £24.18 £21.70
90th Percentile £30.30 £27.19 £25.69
UK median hourly rate £18.44 £23.80 £20.00
% change year-on-year -22.54% +19.00% -16.35%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 26,557 29,007 37,741
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.15% 92.98% 93.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,058 17,724 26,241
10th Percentile £280 £300 £300
25th Percentile £403 £413 £418
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,546 1,114 1,425
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.10 £15.23
25th Percentile £17.69 £21.12 £19.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £41.50 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year -39.40% -9.55% +55.53%
75th Percentile £50.75 £66.61 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £37.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year -32.93% -16.67% +62.28%

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 31 October 2025.

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 31 October 2025.

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 31 October 2025. 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 -3 53 £190 +8.57% 10
London +5 47 £195 -13.33% 13
Midlands -12 31 £180 +23.08% 14
South East +5 30 £215 -19.55% 26
North West +1 25 £175 +16.67% 8
Yorkshire -18 20 £200 +8.11% 2
West Midlands -16 19 £218 +45.00% 6
South West +1 12 £250 +25.00% 8
East Midlands -5 12 £158 +36.96% 8
North East -5 8 £175 +7.69%
East of England -11 8 £200 -11.11% 8
2nd Line Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 31 October 2025, 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.

1 113 (62.43%) Windows
2 100 (55.25%) Microsoft 365
3 78 (43.09%) Microsoft
4 75 (41.44%) Active Directory
5 66 (36.46%) Microsoft Office
6 50 (27.62%) Security Cleared
7 49 (27.07%) Customer Service
8 47 (25.97%) Windows 10
9 45 (24.86%) ITIL
10 39 (21.55%) SC Cleared
11 35 (19.34%) Android
12 33 (18.23%) Service Management
13 32 (17.68%) SAP
14 31 (17.13%) Business Intelligence
14 31 (17.13%) Digital Marketing
14 31 (17.13%) Programme Management
15 30 (16.57%) Microsoft Exchange
16 29 (16.02%) Apple
16 29 (16.02%) Azure
16 29 (16.02%) Mac OS
16 29 (16.02%) Wireless
17 28 (15.47%) Cisco
17 28 (15.47%) Entra ID
17 28 (15.47%) Problem-Solving
18 27 (14.92%) Dell
18 27 (14.92%) SCCM
18 27 (14.92%) VPN
19 25 (13.81%) HP
20 24 (13.26%) Microsoft Intune
20 24 (13.26%) SharePoint

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 30 (16.57%) Microsoft Exchange
2 24 (13.26%) SharePoint
3 5 (2.76%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 66 (36.46%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (2.76%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 4 (2.21%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.55%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 100 (55.25%) Microsoft 365
2 29 (16.02%) Azure
3 28 (15.47%) Entra ID
4 14 (7.73%) OneDrive
5 6 (3.31%) Google Workspace
6 1 (0.55%) AWS
6 1 (0.55%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 29 (16.02%) Wireless
2 27 (14.92%) VPN
3 23 (12.71%) DHCP
3 23 (12.71%) DNS
3 23 (12.71%) WAN
4 21 (11.60%) TCP/IP
5 19 (10.50%) LAN
6 8 (4.42%) Firewall
7 7 (3.87%) WebEx
8 6 (3.31%) PABX
8 6 (3.31%) Structured Cabling
8 6 (3.31%) Wi-Fi
9 4 (2.21%) BGP
9 4 (2.21%) IPsec
9 4 (2.21%) MPLS
9 4 (2.21%) Network Security
9 4 (2.21%) VoIP
10 2 (1.10%) VLAN
11 1 (0.55%) Broadband
11 1 (0.55%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.55%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 1 (0.55%) JIRA
General
1 59 (32.60%) Social Skills
2 46 (25.41%) Finance
3 42 (23.20%) Public Sector
4 36 (19.89%) Manufacturing
5 31 (17.13%) Electronics
5 31 (17.13%) Marketing
5 31 (17.13%) Telecoms
6 8 (4.42%) Analytical Skills
7 7 (3.87%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 5 (2.76%) Organisational Skills
9 3 (1.66%) Local Government
10 2 (1.10%) Banking
10 2 (1.10%) Legal
10 2 (1.10%) Retail
11 1 (0.55%) Advertising
11 1 (0.55%) Multimedia
11 1 (0.55%) Publishing
Miscellaneous
1 23 (12.71%) Data Centre
2 10 (5.52%) NHS
3 9 (4.97%) Driving Licence
4 8 (4.42%) Management Information System
5 7 (3.87%) Self-Motivation
6 6 (3.31%) CMDB
6 6 (3.31%) Smartphone
7 5 (2.76%) Team-Oriented Environment
8 4 (2.21%) Onboarding
8 4 (2.21%) PKI
9 3 (1.66%) Video Conferencing
10 2 (1.10%) Client/Server
10 2 (1.10%) Data Protection Act
10 2 (1.10%) iPhone
11 1 (0.55%) CCTV
11 1 (0.55%) Cloud Native
11 1 (0.55%) Enterprise Software
11 1 (0.55%) Hedge funds
11 1 (0.55%) Replication
11 1 (0.55%) Smartcard
Operating Systems
1 113 (62.43%) Windows
2 47 (25.97%) Windows 10
3 35 (19.34%) Android
4 29 (16.02%) Mac OS
5 20 (11.05%) Windows Server
6 13 (7.18%) Apple iOS
7 7 (3.87%) Linux
7 7 (3.87%) Windows Server 2019
8 6 (3.31%) Windows Server 2016
9 3 (1.66%) Mac OS X
10 2 (1.10%) Windows 8
10 2 (1.10%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 49 (27.07%) Customer Service
2 45 (24.86%) ITIL
3 33 (18.23%) Service Management
4 31 (17.13%) Business Intelligence
4 31 (17.13%) Digital Marketing
4 31 (17.13%) Programme Management
5 28 (15.47%) Problem-Solving
6 22 (12.15%) ITSM
7 21 (11.60%) Service Delivery
8 14 (7.73%) Mobile Device Management
9 10 (5.52%) Asset Management
10 8 (4.42%) Migration
10 8 (4.42%) Network Management
10 8 (4.42%) Network Monitoring
10 8 (4.42%) Patch Management
10 8 (4.42%) Workflow
11 6 (3.31%) Change Management
11 6 (3.31%) Problem Management
11 6 (3.31%) Workflow Management
12 5 (2.76%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 7 (3.87%) PowerShell
2 3 (1.66%) SQL
Qualifications
1 50 (27.62%) Security Cleared
2 39 (21.55%) SC Cleared
3 18 (9.94%) Degree
4 10 (5.52%) Microsoft Certification
5 6 (3.31%) DV Cleared
5 6 (3.31%) ECDL
5 6 (3.31%) MCP
6 5 (2.76%) MCDST
7 2 (1.10%) CCNA
7 2 (1.10%) Cisco Certification
7 2 (1.10%) MCSE
8 1 (0.55%) Azure Certification
8 1 (0.55%) DBS Check
8 1 (0.55%) ITIL Certification
8 1 (0.55%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 1 (0.55%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (6.08%) SLA
System Software
1 75 (41.44%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.21%) Virtual Desktop
2 4 (2.21%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (1.66%) vSphere
3 3 (1.66%) XenApp
4 1 (0.55%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 27 (14.92%) SCCM
2 24 (13.26%) Microsoft Intune
3 7 (3.87%) SCOM
4 3 (1.66%) Jamf Pro
5 2 (1.10%) AppManager
5 2 (1.10%) McAfee ePO
5 2 (1.10%) Norton AntiVirus
Vendors
1 78 (43.09%) Microsoft
2 32 (17.68%) SAP
3 29 (16.02%) Apple
4 28 (15.47%) Cisco
5 27 (14.92%) Dell
6 25 (13.81%) HP
7 19 (10.50%) ServiceNow
8 13 (7.18%) Citrix
9 9 (4.97%) Sage
9 9 (4.97%) SolarWinds
10 7 (3.87%) Google
10 7 (3.87%) VMware
11 5 (2.76%) iManage
11 5 (2.76%) Mitel
12 4 (2.21%) Juniper
12 4 (2.21%) Remedy
13 3 (1.66%) Logitech
13 3 (1.66%) Sophos
13 3 (1.66%) WatchGuard
14 2 (1.10%) Draytek
73 2nd Line Support jobs in England