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 12 April 2026.

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

6 months to
12 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 410 296 267
Rank change year-on-year -114 -29 +24
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 185 184 301
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.47% 0.76% 0.81%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.51% 0.81% 0.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 139 122 218
10th Percentile £149 £153 £123
25th Percentile £156 £182 £144
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £195 £200 £200
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% - -
75th Percentile £230 £247 £225
90th Percentile £266 £279 £338
UK median daily rate £195 £200 £200
% change year-on-year -2.50% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 32 9 27
10th Percentile £16.25 £16.67 £16.70
25th Percentile £18.78 £18.13 £19.48
Median hourly rate £19.91 £30.00 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year -33.63% +42.86% +1.62%
75th Percentile £21.46 £30.68 £27.86
90th Percentile - £37.50 £30.75
UK median hourly rate £19.91 £23.00 £21.00
% change year-on-year -13.43% +9.52% +5.00%

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 36,210 22,591 34,649
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.35% 92.71% 92.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,766 15,118 23,103
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £410 £411
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £509 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.05% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £640
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,405 849 2,354
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.63 £12.88
25th Percentile £20.50 £20.12 £16.25
Median hourly rate £44.00 £32.50 £34.21
Median % change year-on-year +35.38% -5.00% -21.70%
75th Percentile £67.25 £65.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £76.25 £72.20
UK median hourly rate £41.16 £31.51 £35.00
% change year-on-year +30.61% -9.97% -22.22%

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 12 April 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 12 April 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 12 April 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 -72 40 £213 +6.25% 8
Midlands -48 33 £187 -6.38%
East of England -25 32 £195 -10.34% 1
North of England -82 28 £213 +8.97% 6
East Midlands -13 25 £200 +1.66%
South West -37 25 £210 -6.67% 2
South East -56 25 £172 -12.05% 11
North West -38 13 £200 -3.61% 5
Yorkshire -55 12 £230 +8.24% 1
West Midlands -69 8 £140 -30.00%
North East -26 3 £175 +12.90%
Desktop Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 12 April 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.

1 105 (56.76%) Windows
2 78 (42.16%) Microsoft
3 64 (34.59%) Customer Service
4 63 (34.05%) Microsoft 365
5 61 (32.97%) Active Directory
6 55 (29.73%) Windows 10
7 48 (25.95%) SC Cleared
7 48 (25.95%) Security Cleared
8 36 (19.46%) Azure
9 34 (18.38%) Microsoft Intune
10 28 (15.14%) Problem-Solving
11 25 (13.51%) Migration
12 24 (12.97%) ITIL
13 23 (12.43%) SCCM
14 22 (11.89%) SLA
15 21 (11.35%) Mac OS
15 21 (11.35%) SharePoint
16 20 (10.81%) Microsoft Office
17 18 (9.73%) Asset Management
17 18 (9.73%) HP
17 18 (9.73%) ServiceNow
18 17 (9.19%) Time Management
19 16 (8.65%) VPN
20 15 (8.11%) Apple
20 15 (8.11%) Dell
20 15 (8.11%) Service Delivery
20 15 (8.11%) Wireless
21 13 (7.03%) Android
21 13 (7.03%) Continuous Improvement
21 13 (7.03%) Entra ID

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 21 (11.35%) SharePoint
2 7 (3.78%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 20 (10.81%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (6.49%) Spreadsheet
3 5 (2.70%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (1.08%) assyst
2 1 (0.54%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 63 (34.05%) Microsoft 365
2 36 (19.46%) Azure
3 13 (7.03%) Entra ID
4 4 (2.16%) Google Ads
4 4 (2.16%) Google Workspace
4 4 (2.16%) OneDrive
4 4 (2.16%) Slack
5 2 (1.08%) Microsoft Copilot
6 1 (0.54%) Google Drive
6 1 (0.54%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 16 (8.65%) VPN
2 15 (8.11%) Wireless
3 9 (4.86%) DNS
4 8 (4.32%) TCP/IP
5 7 (3.78%) DHCP
6 3 (1.62%) PABX
6 3 (1.62%) Softphone
6 3 (1.62%) Wi-Fi
7 2 (1.08%) Firewall
7 2 (1.08%) LAN
8 1 (0.54%) IPv4
8 1 (0.54%) Skype
8 1 (0.54%) Telepresence
8 1 (0.54%) Unified Communications
8 1 (0.54%) VoIP
Development Applications
1 4 (2.16%) JIRA
General
1 64 (34.59%) Social Skills
2 19 (10.27%) Finance
3 17 (9.19%) Analytical Skills
4 12 (6.49%) Public Sector
5 11 (5.95%) Telecoms
6 9 (4.86%) Manufacturing
6 9 (4.86%) Retail
7 8 (4.32%) Electronics
7 8 (4.32%) Marketing
8 6 (3.24%) Law
9 5 (2.70%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (1.62%) Aerospace
10 3 (1.62%) Banking
11 2 (1.08%) Legal
11 2 (1.08%) Local Government
11 2 (1.08%) Pharmaceutical
12 1 (0.54%) Documentation Skills
Miscellaneous
1 23 (12.43%) Self-Motivation
2 19 (10.27%) Smartphone
3 10 (5.41%) Data Centre
3 10 (5.41%) Onboarding
4 8 (4.32%) Hybrid Cloud
4 8 (4.32%) Management Information System
5 7 (3.78%) iPhone
6 4 (2.16%) Enterprise Software
6 4 (2.16%) iPad
7 2 (1.08%) Data Protection Act
7 2 (1.08%) Hedge funds
7 2 (1.08%) Mobile App
7 2 (1.08%) Tandem
7 2 (1.08%) Video Conferencing
7 2 (1.08%) Virtual Team
8 1 (0.54%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 105 (56.76%) Windows
2 55 (29.73%) Windows 10
3 21 (11.35%) Mac OS
4 13 (7.03%) Android
5 11 (5.95%) Apple iOS
6 9 (4.86%) Windows Server
7 5 (2.70%) Windows 7
8 4 (2.16%) Windows 8
9 1 (0.54%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 64 (34.59%) Customer Service
2 28 (15.14%) Problem-Solving
3 25 (13.51%) Migration
4 24 (12.97%) ITIL
5 18 (9.73%) Asset Management
6 17 (9.19%) Time Management
7 15 (8.11%) Service Delivery
8 13 (7.03%) Continuous Improvement
8 13 (7.03%) Incident Management
9 10 (5.41%) ITSM
9 10 (5.41%) Logistics
10 9 (4.86%) Project Delivery
10 9 (4.86%) Service Management
11 8 (4.32%) Business Impact Analysis
11 8 (4.32%) Business Intelligence
11 8 (4.32%) Digital Marketing
11 8 (4.32%) Disaster Recovery
11 8 (4.32%) Impact Analysis
11 8 (4.32%) Programme Management
11 8 (4.32%) Workflow
Programming Languages
1 12 (6.49%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.54%) Python
Qualifications
1 48 (25.95%) SC Cleared
1 48 (25.95%) Security Cleared
2 8 (4.32%) A+ Certification
3 7 (3.78%) Degree
4 4 (2.16%) ITIL Certification
5 2 (1.08%) Computer Science Degree
5 2 (1.08%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (11.89%) SLA
2 2 (1.08%) QA
3 1 (0.54%) GDPR
System Software
1 61 (32.97%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.16%) Firmware
3 2 (1.08%) Virtual Desktop
4 1 (0.54%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 34 (18.38%) Microsoft Intune
2 23 (12.43%) SCCM
3 1 (0.54%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 78 (42.16%) Microsoft
2 18 (9.73%) HP
2 18 (9.73%) ServiceNow
3 15 (8.11%) Apple
3 15 (8.11%) Dell
4 12 (6.49%) Cisco
5 9 (4.86%) Starlink
6 8 (4.32%) SAP
7 7 (3.78%) McAfee
8 5 (2.70%) Google
9 4 (2.16%) Remedy
10 3 (1.62%) Bloomberg
11 2 (1.08%) Citrix
11 2 (1.08%) Salesforce
12 1 (0.54%) Altiris
12 1 (0.54%) Barracuda Networks
12 1 (0.54%) CrowdStrike
12 1 (0.54%) SolarWinds
12 1 (0.54%) Veeam
12 1 (0.54%) VMware