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 25 February 2026.

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

6 months to
25 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 383 356 295
Rank change year-on-year -27 -61 +28
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Support 185 134 277
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.52% 0.52% 0.74%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.57% 0.56% 0.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 126 104 194
10th Percentile £154 £163 £140
25th Percentile £163 £188 £170
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £190 £214 £200
Median % change year-on-year -11.11% +6.88% -11.11%
75th Percentile £238 £255 £238
90th Percentile £288 £323 £288
UK median daily rate £190 £213 £200
% change year-on-year -10.59% +6.25% -6.98%
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 9 25
10th Percentile £12.95 £21.04 £14.53
25th Percentile £15.50 £21.05 £17.25
Median hourly rate £16.00 £24.66 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year -35.12% +39.16% -19.45%
75th Percentile £20.25 £29.00 £20.37
90th Percentile £22.90 £29.95 £24.05
UK median hourly rate £16.00 £24.66 £17.72
% change year-on-year -35.12% +39.16% -19.45%

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 32,400 23,779 34,819
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.88% 92.96% 92.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,562 15,077 23,339
10th Percentile £306 £300 £270
25th Percentile £410 £409 £412
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £503 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.29% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £623 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £750 £747
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,076 723 2,145
10th Percentile £15.00 £16.25 £13.20
25th Percentile £18.87 £22.00 £16.30
Median hourly rate £33.50 £36.50 £34.25
Median % change year-on-year -8.22% +6.57% -14.38%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £74.67 £75.20 £71.82
UK median hourly rate £32.50 £35.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -7.14% - -10.88%

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 25 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 25 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 25 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 67 £175 -10.26% 25
London -41 51 £200 -11.11% 23
Yorkshire -35 32 £190 -2.56% 15
Midlands -51 30 £174 -13.13% 10
North West -21 29 £175 -12.50% 10
West Midlands -50 19 £200 -4.76% 6
South West -22 13 £275 +15.79% 6
East of England -15 12 £240 +6.67% 11
South East -54 12 £200 -5.88% 35
East Midlands -25 11 £158 -21.25% 3
North East - 6 £175 - 1
2nd Line Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 25 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.

1 121 (65.41%) Windows
2 105 (56.76%) Microsoft 365
3 69 (37.30%) Active Directory
4 65 (35.14%) Microsoft
5 59 (31.89%) Microsoft Office
6 54 (29.19%) Customer Service
7 51 (27.57%) Android
7 51 (27.57%) Windows 10
8 38 (20.54%) Azure
8 38 (20.54%) ITIL
9 35 (18.92%) Security Cleared
10 34 (18.38%) Entra ID
11 33 (17.84%) Microsoft Intune
11 33 (17.84%) SC Cleared
12 32 (17.30%) Service Delivery
13 29 (15.68%) Apple
13 29 (15.68%) Problem-Solving
13 29 (15.68%) Wireless
14 27 (14.59%) Mac OS
15 26 (14.05%) Cisco
15 26 (14.05%) Service Management
16 25 (13.51%) Business Intelligence
16 25 (13.51%) SAP
16 25 (13.51%) SharePoint
17 24 (12.97%) Digital Marketing
17 24 (12.97%) Programme Management
18 23 (12.43%) Dell
18 23 (12.43%) DHCP
18 23 (12.43%) DNS
18 23 (12.43%) 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 25 (13.51%) SharePoint
2 19 (10.27%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (2.16%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 59 (31.89%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.62%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 5 (2.70%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.54%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 105 (56.76%) Microsoft 365
2 38 (20.54%) Azure
3 34 (18.38%) Entra ID
4 15 (8.11%) OneDrive
5 7 (3.78%) Google Workspace
6 4 (2.16%) AWS
7 3 (1.62%) GCP
8 1 (0.54%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 29 (15.68%) Wireless
2 23 (12.43%) DHCP
2 23 (12.43%) DNS
3 22 (11.89%) WAN
4 20 (10.81%) VPN
5 19 (10.27%) LAN
5 19 (10.27%) TCP/IP
6 11 (5.95%) Wi-Fi
7 8 (4.32%) Firewall
8 6 (3.24%) Network Security
8 6 (3.24%) PABX
8 6 (3.24%) Structured Cabling
9 3 (1.62%) BGP
9 3 (1.62%) IPsec
9 3 (1.62%) MPLS
9 3 (1.62%) VoIP
10 2 (1.08%) VLAN
11 1 (0.54%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.62%) MySQL
1 3 (1.62%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.54%) Electronic Patient Records
2 1 (0.54%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 8 (4.32%) JIRA
General
1 69 (37.30%) Social Skills
2 37 (20.00%) Finance
3 36 (19.46%) Public Sector
4 33 (17.84%) Manufacturing
5 25 (13.51%) Telecoms
6 24 (12.97%) Electronics
6 24 (12.97%) Marketing
7 11 (5.95%) Organisational Skills
8 10 (5.41%) Analytical Skills
9 9 (4.86%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 5 (2.70%) Retail
11 4 (2.16%) Banking
12 2 (1.08%) Investment Banking
12 2 (1.08%) Law
12 2 (1.08%) Legal
13 1 (0.54%) Documentation Skills
13 1 (0.54%) Multimedia
13 1 (0.54%) Publishing
Miscellaneous
1 23 (12.43%) Data Centre
2 16 (8.65%) Driving Licence
3 13 (7.03%) NHS
4 11 (5.95%) Onboarding
5 10 (5.41%) Smartphone
6 7 (3.78%) Management Information System
7 6 (3.24%) CMDB
7 6 (3.24%) Team-Oriented Environment
8 5 (2.70%) Self-Motivation
9 4 (2.16%) Video Conferencing
10 3 (1.62%) iPhone
10 3 (1.62%) Mobile Payment
10 3 (1.62%) PKI
11 2 (1.08%) Data Protection Act
12 1 (0.54%) CCTV
12 1 (0.54%) Hedge funds
12 1 (0.54%) Smartcard
12 1 (0.54%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 121 (65.41%) Windows
2 51 (27.57%) Android
2 51 (27.57%) Windows 10
3 27 (14.59%) Mac OS
4 22 (11.89%) Apple iOS
4 22 (11.89%) Windows Server
5 8 (4.32%) Linux
6 4 (2.16%) Windows Server 2016
6 4 (2.16%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 54 (29.19%) Customer Service
2 38 (20.54%) ITIL
3 32 (17.30%) Service Delivery
4 29 (15.68%) Problem-Solving
5 26 (14.05%) Service Management
6 25 (13.51%) Business Intelligence
7 24 (12.97%) Digital Marketing
7 24 (12.97%) Programme Management
8 12 (6.49%) ITSM
9 11 (5.95%) Asset Management
10 10 (5.41%) Mobile Device Management
11 9 (4.86%) Customer Experience
12 8 (4.32%) Migration
12 8 (4.32%) Network Management
12 8 (4.32%) Problem Management
13 6 (3.24%) Break/Fix
13 6 (3.24%) Change Management
13 6 (3.24%) Continuous Improvement
13 6 (3.24%) Network Monitoring
14 5 (2.70%) Disk Encryption
Programming Languages
1 7 (3.78%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 35 (18.92%) Security Cleared
2 33 (17.84%) SC Cleared
3 8 (4.32%) Degree
4 7 (3.78%) Microsoft Certification
5 6 (3.24%) ECDL
6 5 (2.70%) MCDST
6 5 (2.70%) Microsoft Certified Professional
7 2 (1.08%) DBS Check
8 1 (0.54%) Azure Certification
8 1 (0.54%) CCNA
8 1 (0.54%) Cisco Certification
8 1 (0.54%) Computer Science Degree
8 1 (0.54%) ITIL Certification
8 1 (0.54%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 1 (0.54%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (3.78%) SLA
2 2 (1.08%) Cyber Essentials
3 1 (0.54%) GDPR
System Software
1 69 (37.30%) Active Directory
2 2 (1.08%) Virtual Desktop
3 1 (0.54%) BitLocker
3 1 (0.54%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 33 (17.84%) Microsoft Intune
2 21 (11.35%) SCCM
3 2 (1.08%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (0.54%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 65 (35.14%) Microsoft
2 29 (15.68%) Apple
3 26 (14.05%) Cisco
4 25 (13.51%) SAP
5 23 (12.43%) Dell
5 23 (12.43%) HP
6 16 (8.65%) ServiceNow
7 11 (5.95%) Google
8 5 (2.70%) iManage
8 5 (2.70%) Mitel
8 5 (2.70%) Remedy
9 4 (2.16%) Citrix
10 3 (1.62%) Juniper
10 3 (1.62%) Meraki
11 2 (1.08%) Logitech
11 2 (1.08%) VMware
12 1 (0.54%) Ariba
12 1 (0.54%) Bloomberg
12 1 (0.54%) Charles River