Desktop Support Contract Job Trends in England

Desktop Support
UK > England

The median Desktop Support daily rate in England is £195, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 11 January 2026.

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

 6 months to
11 Jan 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 316 315 277
Rank change year-on-year -1 -38 +2
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 229 180 293
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.74% 0.67% 0.80%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.80% 0.72% 0.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 154 123 209
10th Percentile £154 £150 £129
25th Percentile £163 £182 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £195 £210 £205
Median % change year-on-year -7.14% +2.44% +2.50%
75th Percentile £238 £238 £227
90th Percentile £275 £265 £280
UK median daily rate £175 £209 £200
% change year-on-year -16.17% +4.38% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 45 5 15
10th Percentile £16.34 £27.45 £18.20
25th Percentile £19.54 £30.00 £18.94
Median hourly rate £20.18 £30.45 £20.00
Median % change year-on-year -33.73% +52.25% +3.24%
75th Percentile £23.72 £30.68 £23.00
90th Percentile £31.40 £34.47 £30.90
UK median hourly rate £20.82 £24.18 £20.00
% change year-on-year -13.90% +20.90% +6.67%

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 28,488 25,027 33,935
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.52% 92.90% 93.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,175 15,498 23,097
10th Percentile £300 £300 £275
25th Percentile £406 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £501 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.67% - -4.55%
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 1,738 757 1,541
10th Percentile £14.41 £15.91 £14.16
25th Percentile £18.45 £21.25 £19.06
Median hourly rate £27.50 £35.00 £43.33
Median % change year-on-year -21.43% -19.22% +23.80%
75th Percentile £61.25 £64.73 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.50 £75.00 £76.25
UK median hourly rate £26.50 £32.50 £42.50
% change year-on-year -18.46% -23.53% +28.79%

Desktop Support
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Desktop Support' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Desktop Support job vacancy trend in England

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in England.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in England

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Desktop Support in England over the 6 months to 11 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Desktop Support in England

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in England.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in England

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Desktop Support in England over the 6 months to 11 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Desktop Support in England

Desktop 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 Desktop Support within the England region over the 6 months to 11 January 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
London -6 61 £200 - 6
North of England -22 42 £175 -20.45% 4
Midlands -15 39 £175 -14.63% 2
South West -8 34 £225 - 4
East of England +2 32 £195 -2.50% 4
East Midlands -2 26 £175 -44.66% 1
North West -14 23 £175 -16.67% 2
South East -25 23 £173 -13.50% 8
West Midlands -25 13 £175 -6.54% 1
North East 0 11 £175 -
Yorkshire -48 8 £165 -25.84% 2
Desktop Support
UK

Desktop Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England

For the 6 months to 11 January 2026, Desktop 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 Desktop Support in the job title.

1 134 (58.52%) Windows
2 104 (45.41%) Microsoft 365
3 93 (40.61%) Microsoft
4 85 (37.12%) Customer Service
5 81 (35.37%) Windows 10
6 80 (34.93%) Security Cleared
7 79 (34.50%) SC Cleared
8 78 (34.06%) Active Directory
9 48 (20.96%) Microsoft Office
10 41 (17.90%) Azure
11 37 (16.16%) ITIL
11 37 (16.16%) Microsoft Intune
12 34 (14.85%) Mac OS
12 34 (14.85%) SLA
13 33 (14.41%) SCCM
13 33 (14.41%) Wireless
14 31 (13.54%) Android
14 31 (13.54%) HP
15 30 (13.10%) Dell
16 29 (12.66%) Cisco
16 29 (12.66%) Service Management
17 28 (12.23%) Apple
17 28 (12.23%) Migration
18 27 (11.79%) Business Intelligence
18 27 (11.79%) Digital Marketing
18 27 (11.79%) Programme Management
18 27 (11.79%) SAP
18 27 (11.79%) SharePoint
19 24 (10.48%) Microsoft Exchange
19 24 (10.48%) ServiceNow

Desktop 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 (11.79%) SharePoint
2 24 (10.48%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.44%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 48 (20.96%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (6.55%) Spreadsheet
3 14 (6.11%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.44%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.87%) assyst
2 1 (0.44%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 104 (45.41%) Microsoft 365
2 41 (17.90%) Azure
3 16 (6.99%) OneDrive
4 11 (4.80%) Entra ID
5 2 (0.87%) Google Workspace
6 1 (0.44%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 33 (14.41%) Wireless
2 16 (6.99%) VPN
3 13 (5.68%) PABX
4 12 (5.24%) DNS
5 10 (4.37%) DHCP
6 8 (3.49%) TCP/IP
7 5 (2.18%) Structured Cabling
8 3 (1.31%) LAN
8 3 (1.31%) Softphone
8 3 (1.31%) WAN
9 2 (0.87%) Firewall
9 2 (0.87%) Telepresence
9 2 (0.87%) Unified Communications
9 2 (0.87%) VLAN
10 1 (0.44%) Network Security
10 1 (0.44%) Skype
10 1 (0.44%) Wi-Fi
Development Applications
1 2 (0.87%) JIRA
General
1 100 (43.67%) Social Skills
2 64 (27.95%) Finance
3 33 (14.41%) Public Sector
4 30 (13.10%) Telecoms
5 27 (11.79%) Electronics
5 27 (11.79%) Manufacturing
5 27 (11.79%) Marketing
6 26 (11.35%) Analytical Skills
7 12 (5.24%) Banking
8 9 (3.93%) Retail
9 7 (3.06%) Aerospace
9 7 (3.06%) Front Office
10 6 (2.62%) Documentation Skills
10 6 (2.62%) Law
11 3 (1.31%) Investment Banking
11 3 (1.31%) Organisational Skills
11 3 (1.31%) Pharmaceutical
12 2 (0.87%) Legal
13 1 (0.44%) Financial Institution
13 1 (0.44%) Retail Banking
Miscellaneous
1 30 (13.10%) Self-Motivation
2 29 (12.66%) Smartphone
3 25 (10.92%) Data Centre
4 9 (3.93%) iPad
4 9 (3.93%) iPhone
5 8 (3.49%) Management Information System
5 8 (3.49%) Onboarding
6 6 (2.62%) Video Conferencing
7 5 (2.18%) Hybrid Cloud
7 5 (2.18%) Virtual Team
8 3 (1.31%) Enterprise Software
8 3 (1.31%) Hedge funds
9 2 (0.87%) Mobile App
9 2 (0.87%) Tandem
10 1 (0.44%) BYOD
10 1 (0.44%) Data Protection Act
10 1 (0.44%) Driving Licence
10 1 (0.44%) Fat Client
10 1 (0.44%) Legacy Systems
10 1 (0.44%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 134 (58.52%) Windows
2 81 (35.37%) Windows 10
3 34 (14.85%) Mac OS
4 31 (13.54%) Android
5 19 (8.30%) Apple iOS
6 13 (5.68%) Windows Server
7 3 (1.31%) Windows 7
8 2 (0.87%) Windows 8
8 2 (0.87%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.44%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 85 (37.12%) Customer Service
2 37 (16.16%) ITIL
3 29 (12.66%) Service Management
4 28 (12.23%) Migration
5 27 (11.79%) Business Intelligence
5 27 (11.79%) Digital Marketing
5 27 (11.79%) Programme Management
6 23 (10.04%) Problem-Solving
7 22 (9.61%) Time Management
8 20 (8.73%) ITSM
8 20 (8.73%) Workflow
9 18 (7.86%) Service Delivery
10 16 (6.99%) Inventory Management
11 15 (6.55%) Mobile Device Management
12 14 (6.11%) Patch Management
13 12 (5.24%) Workflow Management
14 11 (4.80%) Incident Management
15 10 (4.37%) Antivirus Management
16 9 (3.93%) Continuous Improvement
17 8 (3.49%) Asset Management
Programming Languages
1 16 (6.99%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 80 (34.93%) Security Cleared
2 79 (34.50%) SC Cleared
3 7 (3.06%) Degree
4 6 (2.62%) ITIL Certification
5 5 (2.18%) A+ Certification
5 5 (2.18%) Microsoft Certification
6 3 (1.31%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 2 (0.87%) BPSS Clearance
7 2 (0.87%) Computer Science Degree
7 2 (0.87%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (14.85%) SLA
2 7 (3.06%) GDPR
3 3 (1.31%) QA
System Software
1 78 (34.06%) Active Directory
2 14 (6.11%) Virtual Desktop
3 4 (1.75%) Firmware
4 1 (0.44%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.44%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.44%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.44%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 37 (16.16%) Microsoft Intune
2 33 (14.41%) SCCM
Vendors
1 93 (40.61%) Microsoft
2 31 (13.54%) HP
3 30 (13.10%) Dell
4 29 (12.66%) Cisco
5 28 (12.23%) Apple
6 27 (11.79%) SAP
7 24 (10.48%) ServiceNow
8 9 (3.93%) McAfee
9 7 (3.06%) Bloomberg
10 6 (2.62%) Starlink
11 4 (1.75%) Remedy
12 3 (1.31%) Citrix
13 2 (0.87%) Google
13 2 (0.87%) VMware
14 1 (0.44%) Altiris
14 1 (0.44%) Barracuda Networks
14 1 (0.44%) CrowdStrike
14 1 (0.44%) SolarWinds
14 1 (0.44%) Trayport
14 1 (0.44%) Veeam
27 Desktop Support jobs in England