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 1 December 2025.

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

 6 months to
1 Dec 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 316 328 283
Rank change year-on-year +12 -45 +2
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 235 191 327
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.77% 0.62% 0.84%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.85% 0.67% 0.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 152 128 238
10th Percentile £154 £150 £131
25th Percentile £163 £182 £145
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £195 £219 £201
Median % change year-on-year -10.96% +8.82% -1.83%
75th Percentile £246 £241 £229
90th Percentile £287 £270 £288
UK median daily rate £175 £215 £200
% change year-on-year -18.60% +7.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 10 17
10th Percentile £16.48 £25.40 £16.97
25th Percentile £19.54 £27.00 £18.00
Median hourly rate £21.46 £30.23 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year -29.00% +55.00% +2.55%
75th Percentile £25.15 £32.04 £20.00
90th Percentile £31.40 £38.60 £22.75
UK median hourly rate £21.46 £24.18 £19.50
% change year-on-year -11.25% +24.00% +8.33%

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 27,774 28,440 36,203
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.19% 92.96% 93.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,810 17,495 24,926
10th Percentile £283 £300 £290
25th Percentile £403 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £503 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year -4.12% -1.78% -2.82%
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 1,680 1,030 1,405
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.22 £15.32
25th Percentile £17.87 £21.05 £19.99
Median hourly rate £25.15 £37.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -32.93% -16.67% +38.46%
75th Percentile £57.50 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £72.50 £75.00 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £43.90
% change year-on-year -28.14% -20.27% +43.93%

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 1 December 2025.

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 1 December 2025.

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 1 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
London +21 76 £200 -7.62% 8
North of England -25 45 £175 -20.45% 15
South West +14 38 £250 +12.36% 8
South East -11 33 £178 -16.18% 8
Midlands -20 26 £170 -11.57% 9
North West -12 23 £190 -8.98% 12
East of England -9 22 £220 +4.76% 3
East Midlands -3 13 £158 -42.73% 4
West Midlands -18 13 £175 +0.29% 5
North East +1 12 £175 -
Yorkshire -37 10 £165 -26.67% 3
Desktop Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 1 December 2025, 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.

1 133 (56.60%) Windows
2 102 (43.40%) Microsoft 365
3 94 (40.00%) Security Cleared
4 92 (39.15%) SC Cleared
5 91 (38.72%) Microsoft
6 83 (35.32%) Customer Service
7 73 (31.06%) Active Directory
8 72 (30.64%) Windows 10
9 55 (23.40%) ITIL
9 55 (23.40%) Microsoft Office
10 34 (14.47%) Mac OS
10 34 (14.47%) Service Management
11 32 (13.62%) Azure
11 32 (13.62%) Microsoft Exchange
11 32 (13.62%) Problem-Solving
11 32 (13.62%) SLA
12 31 (13.19%) Android
12 31 (13.19%) Business Intelligence
12 31 (13.19%) Digital Marketing
12 31 (13.19%) Microsoft Intune
12 31 (13.19%) Programme Management
12 31 (13.19%) SAP
12 31 (13.19%) Workflow
13 29 (12.34%) Apple
13 29 (12.34%) Wireless
14 28 (11.91%) Cisco
14 28 (11.91%) HP
14 28 (11.91%) ITSM
15 27 (11.49%) Dell
16 26 (11.06%) 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 32 (13.62%) Microsoft Exchange
2 22 (9.36%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.43%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 55 (23.40%) Microsoft Office
2 23 (9.79%) Microsoft Excel
3 11 (4.68%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.85%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.43%) assyst
2 1 (0.43%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.43%) Eikon
2 1 (0.43%) Eze OMS
2 1 (0.43%) Fidessa
Cloud Services
1 102 (43.40%) Microsoft 365
2 32 (13.62%) Azure
3 16 (6.81%) OneDrive
4 6 (2.55%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 29 (12.34%) Wireless
2 17 (7.23%) VPN
3 13 (5.53%) PABX
4 10 (4.26%) DHCP
4 10 (4.26%) DNS
5 7 (2.98%) TCP/IP
6 5 (2.13%) LAN
6 5 (2.13%) Structured Cabling
6 5 (2.13%) WAN
7 4 (1.70%) Remote Desktop
8 2 (0.85%) Softphone
8 2 (0.85%) VLAN
9 1 (0.43%) Firewall
9 1 (0.43%) Internet
9 1 (0.43%) Intranet
9 1 (0.43%) IP Telephony
9 1 (0.43%) RFID
9 1 (0.43%) Skype
9 1 (0.43%) Telepresence
9 1 (0.43%) Wi-Fi
Development Applications
1 1 (0.43%) JIRA
General
1 116 (49.36%) Social Skills
2 75 (31.91%) Finance
3 38 (16.17%) Public Sector
4 33 (14.04%) Telecoms
5 31 (13.19%) Electronics
5 31 (13.19%) Manufacturing
5 31 (13.19%) Marketing
6 30 (12.77%) Analytical Skills
7 15 (6.38%) Banking
8 9 (3.83%) Front Office
9 8 (3.40%) Retail
10 6 (2.55%) Aerospace
10 6 (2.55%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (2.13%) Organisational Skills
12 4 (1.70%) Investment Banking
13 1 (0.43%) Financial Institution
13 1 (0.43%) Law
13 1 (0.43%) Legal
13 1 (0.43%) Pharmaceutical
13 1 (0.43%) Retail Banking
Miscellaneous
1 28 (11.91%) Self-Motivation
2 25 (10.64%) Data Centre
3 16 (6.81%) Smartphone
4 14 (5.96%) iPad
4 14 (5.96%) iPhone
5 10 (4.26%) Driving Licence
6 9 (3.83%) Onboarding
7 7 (2.98%) Management Information System
7 7 (2.98%) Video Conferencing
8 5 (2.13%) Hedge funds
9 3 (1.28%) Mobile App
9 3 (1.28%) Virtual Team
10 2 (0.85%) CMDB
10 2 (0.85%) Tandem
11 1 (0.43%) BYOD
11 1 (0.43%) Data Protection Act
11 1 (0.43%) Fat Client
11 1 (0.43%) Legacy Systems
11 1 (0.43%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 133 (56.60%) Windows
2 72 (30.64%) Windows 10
3 34 (14.47%) Mac OS
4 31 (13.19%) Android
5 14 (5.96%) Apple iOS
6 12 (5.11%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.85%) Windows 7
7 2 (0.85%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.43%) Linux
8 1 (0.43%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 83 (35.32%) Customer Service
2 55 (23.40%) ITIL
3 34 (14.47%) Service Management
4 32 (13.62%) Problem-Solving
5 31 (13.19%) Business Intelligence
5 31 (13.19%) Digital Marketing
5 31 (13.19%) Programme Management
5 31 (13.19%) Workflow
6 28 (11.91%) ITSM
7 26 (11.06%) Time Management
8 25 (10.64%) Migration
9 23 (9.79%) Inventory Management
10 21 (8.94%) Patch Management
10 21 (8.94%) Workflow Management
11 18 (7.66%) Service Delivery
12 14 (5.96%) Mobile Device Management
13 12 (5.11%) Antivirus Management
14 9 (3.83%) Incident Management
14 9 (3.83%) Investment Management
14 9 (3.83%) Ticket Management
Programming Languages
1 16 (6.81%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 94 (40.00%) Security Cleared
2 92 (39.15%) SC Cleared
3 16 (6.81%) Degree
4 12 (5.11%) Microsoft Certification
5 10 (4.26%) ITIL Certification
6 4 (1.70%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (1.70%) DBS Check
6 4 (1.70%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 1 (0.43%) A+ Certification
7 1 (0.43%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.43%) MCSA
7 1 (0.43%) MCSE
7 1 (0.43%) MOS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (13.62%) SLA
2 8 (3.40%) QA
3 7 (2.98%) GDPR
System Software
1 73 (31.06%) Active Directory
2 15 (6.38%) Virtual Desktop
3 4 (1.70%) Firmware
4 1 (0.43%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.43%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.43%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.43%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 31 (13.19%) Microsoft Intune
2 22 (9.36%) SCCM
Vendors
1 91 (38.72%) Microsoft
2 31 (13.19%) SAP
3 29 (12.34%) Apple
4 28 (11.91%) Cisco
4 28 (11.91%) HP
5 27 (11.49%) Dell
6 26 (11.06%) ServiceNow
7 9 (3.83%) McAfee
8 8 (3.40%) Bloomberg
9 7 (2.98%) Starlink
10 5 (2.13%) Remedy
11 4 (1.70%) Citrix
12 2 (0.85%) Reuters
12 2 (0.85%) VMware
12 2 (0.85%) Wyse
13 1 (0.43%) Altiris
13 1 (0.43%) Avaya
13 1 (0.43%) Polycom
13 1 (0.43%) Tradeweb
13 1 (0.43%) Trayport
46 Desktop Support jobs in England