Desktop Support Contract Job Trends in England

Desktop Support
UK > England

The median Desktop Support daily rate in England is £200, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 26 May 2026.

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

 6 months to
26 May 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 440 291 290
Rank change year-on-year -149 -1 -12
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 158 192 266
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.38% 0.81% 0.73%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.41% 0.87% 0.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 129 118 194
10th Percentile £145 £153 £125
25th Percentile £163 £177 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £205 £200
Median % change year-on-year -2.44% +2.50% -
75th Percentile £230 £238 £220
90th Percentile £266 £278 £274
UK median daily rate £200 £200 £200
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 16 28
10th Percentile £16.27 £15.90 £16.78
25th Percentile £18.62 £17.76 £19.53
Median hourly rate £19.91 £26.83 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year -25.78% +27.74% -9.68%
75th Percentile £23.56 £33.75 £29.06
90th Percentile £28.25 £35.63 £30.63
UK median hourly rate £19.91 £17.30 £21.00
% change year-on-year +15.09% -17.62% -9.68%

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 38,330 21,971 33,900
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.33% 92.30% 92.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,743 14,612 22,462
10th Percentile £320 £290 £284
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.96% -0.95% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £513 £508 £525
% change year-on-year +0.99% -3.33% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,666 884 2,500
10th Percentile £15.61 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £21.00 £18.47 £16.30
Median hourly rate £45.00 £28.88 £36.92
Median % change year-on-year +55.84% -21.78% -17.97%
75th Percentile £67.50 £60.25 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £73.30
UK median hourly rate £42.50 £27.52 £36.50
% change year-on-year +54.46% -24.62% -18.89%

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 26 May 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 26 May 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 26 May 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 -75 37 £213 +6.25% 8
Midlands -46 30 £200 -0.25% 1
South East -70 24 £171 -16.71% 6
North of England -87 24 £228 +16.67% 9
East Midlands -11 23 £200 +1.66%
South West -56 22 £210 -7.69%
East of England -31 20 £195 -4.88%
North West -39 14 £188 +11.94% 6
Yorkshire -58 10 £230 -2.13% 1
West Midlands -63 7 £145 -27.50% 1
Desktop Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 26 May 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.

1 106 (67.09%) Windows
2 80 (50.63%) Microsoft
3 65 (41.14%) Active Directory
4 62 (39.24%) Microsoft 365
5 50 (31.65%) Customer Service
6 45 (28.48%) Windows 10
7 36 (22.78%) Azure
7 36 (22.78%) Microsoft Intune
8 32 (20.25%) Problem-Solving
9 26 (16.46%) SCCM
10 24 (15.19%) SC Cleared
10 24 (15.19%) Security Cleared
11 23 (14.56%) ITIL
12 22 (13.92%) SharePoint
13 19 (12.03%) Asset Management
13 19 (12.03%) Entra ID
14 18 (11.39%) Migration
14 18 (11.39%) VPN
15 17 (10.76%) Mac OS
16 16 (10.13%) Apple iOS
16 16 (10.13%) Continuous Improvement
17 15 (9.49%) ServiceNow
17 15 (9.49%) SLA
18 14 (8.86%) ITSM
19 13 (8.23%) PowerShell
20 12 (7.59%) Service Delivery
21 10 (6.33%) Degree
21 10 (6.33%) DNS
21 10 (6.33%) HP
21 10 (6.33%) Logistics

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 22 (13.92%) SharePoint
2 10 (6.33%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 10 (6.33%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (3.16%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.63%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 2 (1.27%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.63%) assyst
Cloud Services
1 62 (39.24%) Microsoft 365
2 36 (22.78%) Azure
3 19 (12.03%) Entra ID
4 4 (2.53%) Google Ads
4 4 (2.53%) Google Workspace
4 4 (2.53%) Slack
5 3 (1.90%) OneDrive
6 2 (1.27%) Microsoft Copilot
7 1 (0.63%) Google Drive
7 1 (0.63%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 18 (11.39%) VPN
2 10 (6.33%) DNS
3 9 (5.70%) DHCP
3 9 (5.70%) TCP/IP
4 6 (3.80%) Wireless
5 4 (2.53%) Wi-Fi
6 3 (1.90%) Firewall
7 2 (1.27%) LAN
8 1 (0.63%) IPv4
8 1 (0.63%) Skype
8 1 (0.63%) Softphone
8 1 (0.63%) Telepresence
8 1 (0.63%) Unified Communications
8 1 (0.63%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.63%) Amazon RDS
1 1 (0.63%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 5 (3.16%) JIRA
General
1 60 (37.97%) Social Skills
2 15 (9.49%) Finance
3 12 (7.59%) Analytical Skills
4 7 (4.43%) Law
5 5 (3.16%) Banking
5 5 (3.16%) Organisational Skills
6 4 (2.53%) Public Sector
7 3 (1.90%) Investment Banking
7 3 (1.90%) Retail
8 2 (1.27%) Financial Institution
8 2 (1.27%) Legal
8 2 (1.27%) Local Government
8 2 (1.27%) Manufacturing
8 2 (1.27%) Pharmaceutical
8 2 (1.27%) Spanish Language
9 1 (0.63%) Aerospace
9 1 (0.63%) Front Office
9 1 (0.63%) Telecoms
Miscellaneous
1 18 (11.39%) Onboarding
1 18 (11.39%) Smartphone
2 12 (7.59%) Self-Motivation
3 8 (5.06%) Hybrid Cloud
3 8 (5.06%) iPhone
4 4 (2.53%) Enterprise Software
4 4 (2.53%) Video Conferencing
5 3 (1.90%) Data Protection Act
5 3 (1.90%) Hedge funds
5 3 (1.90%) iPad
6 2 (1.27%) Driving Licence
6 2 (1.27%) Management Information System
6 2 (1.27%) Virtual Team
7 1 (0.63%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 106 (67.09%) Windows
2 45 (28.48%) Windows 10
3 17 (10.76%) Mac OS
4 16 (10.13%) Apple iOS
5 9 (5.70%) Android
6 5 (3.16%) Windows 7
6 5 (3.16%) Windows Server
7 4 (2.53%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 50 (31.65%) Customer Service
2 32 (20.25%) Problem-Solving
3 23 (14.56%) ITIL
4 19 (12.03%) Asset Management
5 18 (11.39%) Migration
6 16 (10.13%) Continuous Improvement
7 14 (8.86%) ITSM
8 12 (7.59%) Service Delivery
9 10 (6.33%) Logistics
10 9 (5.70%) BCP
10 9 (5.70%) Business Continuity
10 9 (5.70%) Disaster Recovery
10 9 (5.70%) Project Delivery
10 9 (5.70%) Service Management
10 9 (5.70%) User Experience
11 8 (5.06%) Incident Management
11 8 (5.06%) Root Cause Analysis
11 8 (5.06%) Time Management
12 7 (4.43%) Business Continuity Planning
12 7 (4.43%) Data Migration
Programming Languages
1 13 (8.23%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.63%) Python
Qualifications
1 24 (15.19%) SC Cleared
1 24 (15.19%) Security Cleared
2 10 (6.33%) Degree
3 7 (4.43%) A+ Certification
4 3 (1.90%) Computer Science Degree
4 3 (1.90%) ITIL Certification
5 2 (1.27%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (9.49%) SLA
System Software
1 65 (41.14%) Active Directory
2 5 (3.16%) Virtual Desktop
3 2 (1.27%) Firmware
3 2 (1.27%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.63%) BitLocker
4 1 (0.63%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 36 (22.78%) Microsoft Intune
2 26 (16.46%) SCCM
3 1 (0.63%) Jamf Pro
3 1 (0.63%) WSUS
Vendors
1 80 (50.63%) Microsoft
2 15 (9.49%) ServiceNow
3 10 (6.33%) HP
4 9 (5.70%) Apple
5 8 (5.06%) Starlink
6 7 (4.43%) McAfee
7 5 (3.16%) Citrix
7 5 (3.16%) Dell
7 5 (3.16%) Google
8 3 (1.90%) Bloomberg
8 3 (1.90%) Remedy
9 2 (1.27%) Salesforce
9 2 (1.27%) VMware
10 1 (0.63%) Adobe
10 1 (0.63%) Barracuda Networks
10 1 (0.63%) BMC
10 1 (0.63%) Cisco
10 1 (0.63%) Nexthink
10 1 (0.63%) SolarWinds
10 1 (0.63%) Veeam
21 Desktop Support jobs Nationwide