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 12 March 2026.

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

6 months to
12 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 398 349 306
Rank change year-on-year -49 -43 +31
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Support 176 132 263
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.48% 0.54% 0.69%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.53% 0.58% 0.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 121 99 188
10th Percentile £154 £162 £140
25th Percentile £163 £188 £170
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £190 £220 £200
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% +10.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £238 £253 £238
90th Percentile £288 £319 £296
UK median daily rate £190 £213 £200
% change year-on-year -10.59% +6.25% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 10 23
10th Percentile £12.95 £21.04 £14.40
25th Percentile £15.50 £21.83 £17.25
Median hourly rate £16.25 £26.33 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year -38.28% +48.59% -13.22%
75th Percentile £20.25 £29.00 £20.19
90th Percentile £22.08 £33.96 £22.93
UK median hourly rate £16.25 £26.08 £17.72
% change year-on-year -37.69% +47.18% -12.92%

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 33,519 22,927 35,267
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.01% 93.04% 92.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,140 15,037 23,588
10th Percentile £310 £300 £270
25th Percentile £413 £409 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £623 £638 £638
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 2,206 758 2,285
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.32 £13.00
25th Percentile £19.34 £21.25 £16.25
Median hourly rate £37.00 £35.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +5.71% +7.69% -23.29%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £58.75
90th Percentile £76.25 £77.28 £71.25
UK median hourly rate £35.00 £33.45 £32.50
% change year-on-year +4.63% +2.92% -23.29%

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 12 March 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 12 March 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 12 March 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 -17 67 £175 -10.26% 17
London -46 45 £220 -12.00% 20
Yorkshire -36 35 £190 -2.56% 7
North West -22 26 £175 -14.63% 10
Midlands -58 26 £185 -7.50% 8
West Midlands -61 15 £200 -2.44% 5
East of England -19 14 £240 +6.67% 15
South West -16 12 £275 -29.94% 9
South East -59 12 £200 -5.88% 25
East Midlands -30 11 £158 -21.25% 3
North East -8 6 £175 -10.26%
2nd Line Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 12 March 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.

1 114 (64.77%) Windows
2 101 (57.39%) Microsoft 365
3 62 (35.23%) Active Directory
4 57 (32.39%) Microsoft
5 54 (30.68%) Microsoft Office
6 52 (29.55%) Customer Service
7 51 (28.98%) Android
8 45 (25.57%) Windows 10
9 36 (20.45%) Azure
10 33 (18.75%) ITIL
10 33 (18.75%) Security Cleared
11 32 (18.18%) Entra ID
11 32 (18.18%) Microsoft Intune
11 32 (18.18%) SC Cleared
12 29 (16.48%) Apple
12 29 (16.48%) Wireless
13 28 (15.91%) Mac OS
13 28 (15.91%) Problem-Solving
14 26 (14.77%) Cisco
15 24 (13.64%) Business Intelligence
15 24 (13.64%) HP
15 24 (13.64%) SAP
15 24 (13.64%) Service Delivery
16 23 (13.07%) Dell
16 23 (13.07%) Digital Marketing
16 23 (13.07%) Programme Management
16 23 (13.07%) Service Management
16 23 (13.07%) Windows Server
17 22 (12.50%) Apple iOS
18 20 (11.36%) 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 20 (11.36%) SharePoint
2 12 (6.82%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.57%) IIS
Applications
1 54 (30.68%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.57%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 6 (3.41%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.57%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 101 (57.39%) Microsoft 365
2 36 (20.45%) Azure
3 32 (18.18%) Entra ID
4 14 (7.95%) OneDrive
5 7 (3.98%) Google Workspace
6 4 (2.27%) AWS
7 3 (1.70%) GCP
8 1 (0.57%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 29 (16.48%) Wireless
2 17 (9.66%) DHCP
2 17 (9.66%) DNS
2 17 (9.66%) WAN
3 16 (9.09%) LAN
4 13 (7.39%) TCP/IP
4 13 (7.39%) Wi-Fi
5 11 (6.25%) VPN
6 8 (4.55%) Firewall
7 6 (3.41%) Network Security
7 6 (3.41%) PABX
7 6 (3.41%) Structured Cabling
8 3 (1.70%) VoIP
9 2 (1.14%) BGP
9 2 (1.14%) IPsec
9 2 (1.14%) MPLS
9 2 (1.14%) VLAN
10 1 (0.57%) Internet
10 1 (0.57%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.70%) MySQL
1 3 (1.70%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.57%) Electronic Patient Records
2 1 (0.57%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 10 (5.68%) JIRA
General
1 58 (32.95%) Social Skills
2 37 (21.02%) Finance
2 37 (21.02%) Public Sector
3 30 (17.05%) Manufacturing
4 24 (13.64%) Telecoms
5 23 (13.07%) Electronics
5 23 (13.07%) Marketing
6 10 (5.68%) Organisational Skills
7 8 (4.55%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 6 (3.41%) Analytical Skills
9 5 (2.84%) Retail
10 4 (2.27%) Banking
10 4 (2.27%) Legal
11 2 (1.14%) Investment Banking
11 2 (1.14%) Law
12 1 (0.57%) Documentation Skills
12 1 (0.57%) Multimedia
12 1 (0.57%) Publishing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.57%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 23 (13.07%) Data Centre
2 16 (9.09%) Driving Licence
3 13 (7.39%) NHS
4 12 (6.82%) Onboarding
5 11 (6.25%) Smartphone
6 7 (3.98%) Management Information System
7 6 (3.41%) CMDB
8 4 (2.27%) iPhone
9 3 (1.70%) Mobile Payment
9 3 (1.70%) Team-Oriented Environment
10 2 (1.14%) Data Protection Act
10 2 (1.14%) PKI
10 2 (1.14%) Self-Motivation
10 2 (1.14%) Video Conferencing
11 1 (0.57%) CCTV
11 1 (0.57%) Hedge funds
11 1 (0.57%) Smartcard
11 1 (0.57%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 114 (64.77%) Windows
2 51 (28.98%) Android
3 45 (25.57%) Windows 10
4 28 (15.91%) Mac OS
5 23 (13.07%) Windows Server
6 22 (12.50%) Apple iOS
7 7 (3.98%) Linux
8 1 (0.57%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 52 (29.55%) Customer Service
2 33 (18.75%) ITIL
3 28 (15.91%) Problem-Solving
4 24 (13.64%) Business Intelligence
4 24 (13.64%) Service Delivery
5 23 (13.07%) Digital Marketing
5 23 (13.07%) Programme Management
5 23 (13.07%) Service Management
6 13 (7.39%) ITSM
7 12 (6.82%) Asset Management
8 9 (5.11%) Customer Experience
9 8 (4.55%) Network Management
10 7 (3.98%) Migration
10 7 (3.98%) Problem Management
11 6 (3.41%) Break/Fix
11 6 (3.41%) Mobile Device Management
11 6 (3.41%) Network Monitoring
12 5 (2.84%) AI
12 5 (2.84%) Continuous Improvement
12 5 (2.84%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 6 (3.41%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.57%) SQL
Qualifications
1 33 (18.75%) Security Cleared
2 32 (18.18%) SC Cleared
3 6 (3.41%) ECDL
4 3 (1.70%) Degree
4 3 (1.70%) Microsoft Certification
5 2 (1.14%) CCNA
5 2 (1.14%) Cisco Certification
5 2 (1.14%) DBS Check
5 2 (1.14%) ITIL Certification
5 2 (1.14%) MCDST
5 2 (1.14%) Microsoft Certified Professional
6 1 (0.57%) Computer Science Degree
6 1 (0.57%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 1 (0.57%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (4.55%) SLA
2 2 (1.14%) Cyber Essentials
3 1 (0.57%) GDPR
System Software
1 62 (35.23%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.57%) BitLocker
2 1 (0.57%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 32 (18.18%) Microsoft Intune
2 15 (8.52%) SCCM
3 2 (1.14%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (0.57%) AirWatch
4 1 (0.57%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 57 (32.39%) Microsoft
2 29 (16.48%) Apple
3 26 (14.77%) Cisco
4 24 (13.64%) HP
4 24 (13.64%) SAP
5 23 (13.07%) Dell
6 16 (9.09%) ServiceNow
7 11 (6.25%) Google
8 6 (3.41%) Remedy
9 3 (1.70%) Meraki
10 2 (1.14%) Bloomberg
10 2 (1.14%) Citrix
10 2 (1.14%) iManage
10 2 (1.14%) Juniper
10 2 (1.14%) Mitel
11 1 (0.57%) Ariba
11 1 (0.57%) Charles River
11 1 (0.57%) Logitech
11 1 (0.57%) VMware