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 2 December 2025.

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

 6 months to
2 Dec 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 364 355 282
Rank change year-on-year -9 -73 +45
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Support 182 154 305
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.59% 0.51% 0.79%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.65% 0.55% 0.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 137 116 209
10th Percentile £154 £149 £135
25th Percentile £163 £180 £170
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £190 £214 £200
Median % change year-on-year -11.11% +6.88% -11.11%
75th Percentile £238 £285 £238
90th Percentile £288 £405 £292
UK median daily rate £195 £210 £200
% change year-on-year -7.14% +5.00% -11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 10 27
10th Percentile - £20.70 £15.27
25th Percentile £15.50 £21.05 £17.72
Median hourly rate £18.44 £23.99 £19.12
Median % change year-on-year -23.16% +25.47% -15.02%
75th Percentile £21.94 £28.44 £21.50
90th Percentile £29.08 £29.21 £24.54
UK median hourly rate £18.00 £23.00 £19.12
% change year-on-year -21.74% +20.29% -13.09%

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 27,984 28,207 36,022
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.24% 92.96% 93.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,940 17,360 24,787
10th Percentile £285 £300 £290
25th Percentile £403 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £504 £525 £534
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% -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 1,688 1,011 1,400
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.25 £15.33
25th Percentile £17.94 £21.00 £20.00
Median hourly rate £25.47 £37.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -32.08% -16.67% +38.46%
75th Percentile £57.50 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £72.50 £74.75 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.00
% change year-on-year -28.14% -20.45% +44.26%

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 2 December 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 2 December 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 2 December 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 -14 64 £190 +8.57% 26
London -3 44 £195 -22.00% 14
North West -9 31 £175 - 9
Midlands -21 31 £180 -5.26% 10
Yorkshire -19 25 £205 +5.13% 16
South East -4 20 £195 -16.53% 46
West Midlands -28 19 £200 +5.26% 7
East of England -4 13 £200 -15.79% 7
East Midlands -8 12 £158 - 3
South West -9 10 £275 +28.21% 4
North East 0 8 £175 +11.11% 2
2nd Line Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 2 December 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 (62.09%) Windows
2 96 (52.75%) Microsoft 365
3 72 (39.56%) Microsoft
4 65 (35.71%) Microsoft Office
5 61 (33.52%) Active Directory
6 49 (26.92%) ITIL
7 46 (25.27%) Customer Service
8 45 (24.73%) Security Cleared
9 38 (20.88%) Android
9 38 (20.88%) SC Cleared
9 38 (20.88%) Service Management
9 38 (20.88%) Windows 10
10 32 (17.58%) Entra ID
11 30 (16.48%) Azure
12 29 (15.93%) Business Intelligence
12 29 (15.93%) SAP
12 29 (15.93%) Wireless
13 28 (15.38%) Apple
13 28 (15.38%) Digital Marketing
13 28 (15.38%) Mac OS
13 28 (15.38%) Microsoft Intune
13 28 (15.38%) Problem-Solving
13 28 (15.38%) Programme Management
14 26 (14.29%) Cisco
14 26 (14.29%) SharePoint
15 25 (13.74%) Dell
16 24 (13.19%) Service Delivery
16 24 (13.19%) VPN
16 24 (13.19%) Windows Server
17 23 (12.64%) HP

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 26 (14.29%) SharePoint
2 22 (12.09%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (2.75%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 65 (35.71%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (2.75%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (1.65%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.55%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 96 (52.75%) Microsoft 365
2 32 (17.58%) Entra ID
3 30 (16.48%) Azure
4 14 (7.69%) OneDrive
5 6 (3.30%) Google Workspace
6 2 (1.10%) AWS
7 1 (0.55%) Mimecast
7 1 (0.55%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 29 (15.93%) Wireless
2 24 (13.19%) VPN
3 22 (12.09%) WAN
4 21 (11.54%) TCP/IP
5 19 (10.44%) DHCP
5 19 (10.44%) DNS
6 18 (9.89%) LAN
7 9 (4.95%) Firewall
8 6 (3.30%) Network Security
8 6 (3.30%) PABX
8 6 (3.30%) Structured Cabling
9 5 (2.75%) Wi-Fi
10 4 (2.20%) BGP
10 4 (2.20%) IPsec
10 4 (2.20%) MPLS
11 3 (1.65%) VoIP
12 1 (0.55%) Broadband
12 1 (0.55%) Remote Desktop
12 1 (0.55%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.55%) Electronic Patient Records
1 1 (0.55%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 1 (0.55%) JIRA
General
1 63 (34.62%) Social Skills
2 38 (20.88%) Public Sector
3 34 (18.68%) Finance
4 33 (18.13%) Manufacturing
5 28 (15.38%) Electronics
5 28 (15.38%) Marketing
5 28 (15.38%) Telecoms
6 9 (4.95%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 8 (4.40%) Analytical Skills
8 5 (2.75%) Organisational Skills
9 3 (1.65%) Legal
9 3 (1.65%) Retail
10 2 (1.10%) Banking
10 2 (1.10%) Law
10 2 (1.10%) Local Government
11 1 (0.55%) Advertising
11 1 (0.55%) Multimedia
11 1 (0.55%) Publishing
Miscellaneous
1 23 (12.64%) Data Centre
2 11 (6.04%) Driving Licence
3 10 (5.49%) NHS
4 8 (4.40%) Management Information System
5 6 (3.30%) CMDB
5 6 (3.30%) Self-Motivation
5 6 (3.30%) Smartphone
6 5 (2.75%) Team-Oriented Environment
7 4 (2.20%) Onboarding
7 4 (2.20%) PKI
8 3 (1.65%) iPhone
8 3 (1.65%) Video Conferencing
9 2 (1.10%) Client/Server
9 2 (1.10%) Data Protection Act
10 1 (0.55%) CCTV
10 1 (0.55%) Enterprise Software
10 1 (0.55%) Hedge funds
10 1 (0.55%) Replication
10 1 (0.55%) Smartcard
10 1 (0.55%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 113 (62.09%) Windows
2 38 (20.88%) Android
2 38 (20.88%) Windows 10
3 28 (15.38%) Mac OS
4 24 (13.19%) Windows Server
5 14 (7.69%) Apple iOS
6 8 (4.40%) Linux
7 7 (3.85%) Windows Server 2019
8 6 (3.30%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.55%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 49 (26.92%) ITIL
2 46 (25.27%) Customer Service
3 38 (20.88%) Service Management
4 29 (15.93%) Business Intelligence
5 28 (15.38%) Digital Marketing
5 28 (15.38%) Problem-Solving
5 28 (15.38%) Programme Management
6 24 (13.19%) Service Delivery
7 19 (10.44%) ITSM
8 9 (4.95%) Migration
9 8 (4.40%) Asset Management
9 8 (4.40%) Customer Experience
9 8 (4.40%) Mobile Device Management
9 8 (4.40%) Network Management
10 7 (3.85%) Incident Management
10 7 (3.85%) Patch Management
10 7 (3.85%) Workflow
11 6 (3.30%) Change Management
11 6 (3.30%) Network Monitoring
11 6 (3.30%) Problem Management
Programming Languages
1 9 (4.95%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.55%) SQL
Qualifications
1 45 (24.73%) Security Cleared
2 38 (20.88%) SC Cleared
3 17 (9.34%) Degree
4 9 (4.95%) Microsoft Certification
5 6 (3.30%) ECDL
5 6 (3.30%) MCP
6 5 (2.75%) MCDST
7 3 (1.65%) DV Cleared
8 2 (1.10%) DBS Check
8 2 (1.10%) MCSE
9 1 (0.55%) Azure Certification
9 1 (0.55%) CCNA
9 1 (0.55%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (0.55%) ITIL Certification
9 1 (0.55%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 1 (0.55%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (5.49%) SLA
System Software
1 61 (33.52%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.20%) Virtual Desktop
3 2 (1.10%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.55%) BitLocker
4 1 (0.55%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.55%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 28 (15.38%) Microsoft Intune
2 21 (11.54%) SCCM
3 3 (1.65%) Jamf Pro
3 3 (1.65%) SCOM
Vendors
1 72 (39.56%) Microsoft
2 29 (15.93%) SAP
3 28 (15.38%) Apple
4 26 (14.29%) Cisco
5 25 (13.74%) Dell
6 23 (12.64%) HP
7 11 (6.04%) ServiceNow
8 7 (3.85%) Google
9 6 (3.30%) Citrix
10 5 (2.75%) iManage
10 5 (2.75%) Mitel
11 4 (2.20%) Juniper
12 3 (1.65%) Logitech
12 3 (1.65%) Meraki
12 3 (1.65%) Remedy
12 3 (1.65%) SolarWinds
12 3 (1.65%) VMware
13 2 (1.10%) Okta
14 1 (0.55%) CyberArk
14 1 (0.55%) WatchGuard
101 2nd Line Support jobs in England