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 18 November 2025.

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

 6 months to
18 Nov 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 358 341 292
Rank change year-on-year -17 -49 +29
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Support 186 168 306
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.62% 0.55% 0.77%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.68% 0.59% 0.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 137 126 212
10th Percentile £154 £149 £133
25th Percentile £163 £180 £172
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £195 £217 £200
Median % change year-on-year -10.14% +8.50% -9.09%
75th Percentile £238 £282 £238
90th Percentile £288 £400 £300
UK median daily rate £195 £210 £200
% change year-on-year -7.14% +5.00% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 11 24
10th Percentile - £21.00 £15.10
25th Percentile £15.50 £21.05 £17.72
Median hourly rate £19.85 £24.18 £19.31
Median % change year-on-year -17.91% +25.22% -19.24%
75th Percentile £24.00 £27.88 £21.50
90th Percentile £27.51 £29.00 £24.75
UK median hourly rate £18.44 £23.80 £19.31
% change year-on-year -22.54% +23.25% -12.23%

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 27,471 28,532 37,117
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.20% 92.99% 93.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,625 17,415 25,662
10th Percentile £281 £300 £294
25th Percentile £404 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £508 £525 £534
Median % change year-on-year -3.33% -1.69% -2.91%
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 1,664 1,067 1,428
10th Percentile £14.22 £15.22 £15.33
25th Percentile £17.87 £21.25 £19.87
Median hourly rate £25.15 £40.00 £45.94
Median % change year-on-year -37.13% -12.93% +53.13%
75th Percentile £55.00 £66.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £36.08 £45.00
% change year-on-year -30.30% -19.82% +60.06%

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 18 November 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 18 November 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 18 November 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 -7 59 £190 +5.56% 19
London -3 49 £198 -21.00% 21
Midlands -27 32 £190 +8.57% 13
North West -8 27 £175 +7.69% 11
Yorkshire -25 24 £203 +9.46% 7
South East -3 23 £206 -22.82% 40
West Midlands -28 20 £200 +5.26% 10
South West -7 12 £250 +19.05% 13
East Midlands -10 12 £158 +36.96% 3
East of England -10 11 £200 -15.79% 2
North East -1 8 £175 +7.69% 1
2nd Line Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 18 November 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.

1 116 (62.37%) Windows
2 99 (53.23%) Microsoft 365
3 76 (40.86%) Microsoft
4 70 (37.63%) Active Directory
5 66 (35.48%) Microsoft Office
6 49 (26.34%) Security Cleared
7 47 (25.27%) ITIL
8 45 (24.19%) Customer Service
9 42 (22.58%) Windows 10
10 38 (20.43%) SC Cleared
10 38 (20.43%) Service Management
11 37 (19.89%) Android
12 32 (17.20%) Entra ID
13 30 (16.13%) Azure
14 29 (15.59%) Apple
14 29 (15.59%) Mac OS
14 29 (15.59%) SAP
14 29 (15.59%) Wireless
15 28 (15.05%) Business Intelligence
15 28 (15.05%) Digital Marketing
15 28 (15.05%) Problem-Solving
15 28 (15.05%) Programme Management
16 27 (14.52%) Cisco
16 27 (14.52%) Microsoft Intune
16 27 (14.52%) SCCM
16 27 (14.52%) SharePoint
17 26 (13.98%) Microsoft Exchange
17 26 (13.98%) VPN
18 25 (13.44%) Dell
19 24 (12.90%) WAN

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 27 (14.52%) SharePoint
2 26 (13.98%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (2.69%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 66 (35.48%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (2.69%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 4 (2.15%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.54%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 99 (53.23%) Microsoft 365
2 32 (17.20%) Entra ID
3 30 (16.13%) Azure
4 15 (8.06%) OneDrive
5 6 (3.23%) Google Workspace
6 1 (0.54%) AWS
6 1 (0.54%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 29 (15.59%) Wireless
2 26 (13.98%) VPN
3 24 (12.90%) WAN
4 21 (11.29%) DHCP
4 21 (11.29%) DNS
4 21 (11.29%) TCP/IP
5 20 (10.75%) LAN
6 8 (4.30%) Firewall
7 6 (3.23%) Network Security
7 6 (3.23%) PABX
7 6 (3.23%) Structured Cabling
7 6 (3.23%) Wi-Fi
8 5 (2.69%) VoIP
9 4 (2.15%) BGP
9 4 (2.15%) IPsec
9 4 (2.15%) MPLS
10 3 (1.61%) WebEx
11 2 (1.08%) VLAN
12 1 (0.54%) Broadband
12 1 (0.54%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.54%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 1 (0.54%) JIRA
General
1 60 (32.26%) Social Skills
2 40 (21.51%) Public Sector
3 39 (20.97%) Finance
4 33 (17.74%) Manufacturing
5 28 (15.05%) Electronics
5 28 (15.05%) Marketing
5 28 (15.05%) Telecoms
6 9 (4.84%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 8 (4.30%) Analytical Skills
8 5 (2.69%) Organisational Skills
9 3 (1.61%) Legal
9 3 (1.61%) Local Government
9 3 (1.61%) Retail
10 2 (1.08%) Banking
11 1 (0.54%) Advertising
11 1 (0.54%) Law
11 1 (0.54%) Multimedia
11 1 (0.54%) Publishing
Miscellaneous
1 23 (12.37%) Data Centre
2 10 (5.38%) Driving Licence
2 10 (5.38%) NHS
3 8 (4.30%) Management Information System
4 6 (3.23%) CMDB
4 6 (3.23%) Self-Motivation
4 6 (3.23%) Smartphone
5 5 (2.69%) Team-Oriented Environment
6 4 (2.15%) Onboarding
6 4 (2.15%) PKI
7 3 (1.61%) iPhone
7 3 (1.61%) Video Conferencing
8 2 (1.08%) Client/Server
8 2 (1.08%) Data Protection Act
9 1 (0.54%) CCTV
9 1 (0.54%) Enterprise Software
9 1 (0.54%) Hedge funds
9 1 (0.54%) Replication
9 1 (0.54%) Smartcard
9 1 (0.54%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 116 (62.37%) Windows
2 42 (22.58%) Windows 10
3 37 (19.89%) Android
4 29 (15.59%) Mac OS
5 22 (11.83%) Windows Server
6 14 (7.53%) Apple iOS
7 9 (4.84%) Linux
8 7 (3.76%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (3.23%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.54%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 47 (25.27%) ITIL
2 45 (24.19%) Customer Service
3 38 (20.43%) Service Management
4 28 (15.05%) Business Intelligence
4 28 (15.05%) Digital Marketing
4 28 (15.05%) Problem-Solving
4 28 (15.05%) Programme Management
5 22 (11.83%) ITSM
5 22 (11.83%) Service Delivery
6 10 (5.38%) Asset Management
6 10 (5.38%) Mobile Device Management
7 9 (4.84%) Migration
8 8 (4.30%) Network Management
9 7 (3.76%) Incident Management
9 7 (3.76%) Patch Management
9 7 (3.76%) Workflow
10 6 (3.23%) Change Management
10 6 (3.23%) Network Monitoring
10 6 (3.23%) Problem Management
11 5 (2.69%) Infrastructure Engineering
Programming Languages
1 9 (4.84%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.54%) SQL
Qualifications
1 49 (26.34%) Security Cleared
2 38 (20.43%) SC Cleared
3 17 (9.14%) Degree
4 9 (4.84%) Microsoft Certification
5 6 (3.23%) DV Cleared
5 6 (3.23%) ECDL
5 6 (3.23%) MCP
6 5 (2.69%) MCDST
7 2 (1.08%) CCNA
7 2 (1.08%) Cisco Certification
7 2 (1.08%) MCSE
8 1 (0.54%) Azure Certification
8 1 (0.54%) DBS Check
8 1 (0.54%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 1 (0.54%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (5.91%) SLA
System Software
1 70 (37.63%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.15%) Virtual Desktop
2 4 (2.15%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (0.54%) BitLocker
3 1 (0.54%) Hyper-V
3 1 (0.54%) vSphere
3 1 (0.54%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 27 (14.52%) Microsoft Intune
1 27 (14.52%) SCCM
2 7 (3.76%) SCOM
3 3 (1.61%) Jamf Pro
4 2 (1.08%) AppManager
Vendors
1 76 (40.86%) Microsoft
2 29 (15.59%) Apple
2 29 (15.59%) SAP
3 27 (14.52%) Cisco
4 25 (13.44%) Dell
5 23 (12.37%) HP
6 14 (7.53%) ServiceNow
7 8 (4.30%) Citrix
8 7 (3.76%) Google
8 7 (3.76%) SolarWinds
9 5 (2.69%) iManage
9 5 (2.69%) Mitel
9 5 (2.69%) VMware
10 4 (2.15%) Juniper
10 4 (2.15%) Remedy
11 3 (1.61%) Logitech
11 3 (1.61%) Meraki
11 3 (1.61%) Sage
12 2 (1.08%) Ivanti
12 2 (1.08%) Okta
106 2nd Line Support jobs in England