Desktop Support Contract Job Trends in England

Desktop Support
UK > England

The median Desktop Support daily rate in England is £210, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 30 September 2026.

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

 6 months to
30 Sep 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 453 303 315
Rank change year-on-year -150 +12 -25
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 184 226 207
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.40% 0.81% 0.64%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.43% 0.89% 0.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 113 149 133
10th Percentile £146 £154 £140
25th Percentile £170 £163 £165
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £210 £215 £210
Median % change year-on-year -2.33% +2.38% +5.00%
75th Percentile £240 £250 £240
90th Percentile £280 £278 £269
UK median daily rate £210 £213 £205
% change year-on-year -1.18% +3.66% +2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 26 11
10th Percentile £13.04 £18.29 £18.13
25th Percentile £17.25 £25.15 £20.18
Median hourly rate £22.00 £29.60 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year -25.68% +9.63% +38.46%
75th Percentile £23.50 £33.00 £28.00
90th Percentile £23.75 £33.75 £32.50
UK median hourly rate £22.00 £23.23 £24.18
% change year-on-year -5.29% -3.93% +24.00%

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 42,921 25,318 29,860
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.20% 91.25% 93.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,434 16,345 18,286
10th Percentile £325 £275 £300
25th Percentile £425 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £512 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.54% -2.48% -3.85%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £638
90th Percentile £738 £730 £750
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -0.94%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,595 1,381 1,357
10th Percentile £14.68 £13.78 £15.00
25th Percentile £20.51 £17.33 £21.37
Median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year +68.99% -44.11% -1.92%
75th Percentile £67.84 £52.50 £67.75
90th Percentile £79.00 £70.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £41.71 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +65.84% -41.51% -3.37%

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 30 September 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 30 September 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 30 September 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 -80 76 £225 +4.05% 25
North of England -93 35 £235 +11.90% 6
South East -66 28 £180 -16.28% 6
North West -48 27 £235 +11.90% 4
Midlands -47 17 £218 +25.72% 8
South West -72 17 £225 -4.26% 2
East of England -20 12 £190 -13.64% 3
West Midlands -51 12 £210 +20.00% 5
Yorkshire -48 8 £240 +2.13% 2
East Midlands -20 5 £250 +52.21% 3
Desktop Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 30 September 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.

1 133 (72.28%) Windows
2 86 (46.74%) Microsoft
3 78 (42.39%) Microsoft 365
4 70 (38.04%) Active Directory
5 62 (33.70%) ITIL
6 55 (29.89%) Customer Service
7 46 (25.00%) ITSM
8 42 (22.83%) Windows 10
9 40 (21.74%) SCCM
10 33 (17.93%) Security Cleared
10 33 (17.93%) Service Management
11 32 (17.39%) Microsoft Intune
12 30 (16.30%) SC Cleared
13 27 (14.67%) Degree
14 26 (14.13%) Problem-Solving
14 26 (14.13%) Service Delivery
14 26 (14.13%) ServiceNow
15 23 (12.50%) SharePoint
16 22 (11.96%) Asset Management
16 22 (11.96%) Mac OS
16 22 (11.96%) VPN
17 20 (10.87%) Azure
17 20 (10.87%) PowerShell
18 19 (10.33%) Entra ID
19 18 (9.78%) Apple iOS
19 18 (9.78%) Citrix
20 17 (9.24%) Android
20 17 (9.24%) Migration
20 17 (9.24%) OneDrive
20 17 (9.24%) SLA

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 23 (12.50%) SharePoint
2 14 (7.61%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.54%) Confluence
3 1 (0.54%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 15 (8.15%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.54%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 3 (1.63%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.54%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 78 (42.39%) Microsoft 365
2 20 (10.87%) Azure
3 19 (10.33%) Entra ID
4 17 (9.24%) OneDrive
5 7 (3.80%) SaaS
6 2 (1.09%) Slack
7 1 (0.54%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 22 (11.96%) VPN
2 13 (7.07%) DHCP
2 13 (7.07%) TCP/IP
3 12 (6.52%) DNS
4 8 (4.35%) LAN
4 8 (4.35%) Wi-Fi
4 8 (4.35%) Wireless
5 3 (1.63%) Network Security
5 3 (1.63%) Value-Added Service
6 2 (1.09%) Cisco IOS
6 2 (1.09%) Firewall
6 2 (1.09%) Internet
6 2 (1.09%) WAN
6 2 (1.09%) WebEx
7 1 (0.54%) NAS
7 1 (0.54%) Remote Desktop
7 1 (0.54%) SD-WAN
7 1 (0.54%) Skype
7 1 (0.54%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.54%) Amazon RDS
1 1 (0.54%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 4 (2.17%) JIRA
General
1 78 (42.39%) Social Skills
2 41 (22.28%) Finance
3 21 (11.41%) Banking
4 18 (9.78%) Organisational Skills
5 14 (7.61%) Financial Institution
6 13 (7.07%) Investment Banking
7 11 (5.98%) Legal
8 10 (5.43%) Spanish Language
8 10 (5.43%) Telecoms
9 6 (3.26%) Analytical Skills
9 6 (3.26%) Front Office
10 4 (2.17%) Law
11 3 (1.63%) Manufacturing
11 3 (1.63%) Public Sector
12 2 (1.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 1 (0.54%) Pharmaceutical
13 1 (0.54%) Presentation Skills
13 1 (0.54%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.63%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 43 (23.37%) Onboarding
2 14 (7.61%) Hedge funds
3 13 (7.07%) Driving Licence
4 12 (6.52%) Video Conferencing
5 7 (3.80%) Management Information System
6 5 (2.72%) iPhone
6 5 (2.72%) Smartphone
7 4 (2.17%) Mobile App
8 3 (1.63%) CMDB
8 3 (1.63%) Self-Motivation
9 2 (1.09%) BYOD
9 2 (1.09%) Data Protection Act
9 2 (1.09%) Mobile Computing
9 2 (1.09%) NHS
10 1 (0.54%) Blackberry
10 1 (0.54%) Data Centre
10 1 (0.54%) Enterprise Software
10 1 (0.54%) iPad
Operating Systems
1 133 (72.28%) Windows
2 42 (22.83%) Windows 10
3 22 (11.96%) Mac OS
4 18 (9.78%) Apple iOS
5 17 (9.24%) Android
6 3 (1.63%) Linux
6 3 (1.63%) Windows Server
7 1 (0.54%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 62 (33.70%) ITIL
2 55 (29.89%) Customer Service
3 46 (25.00%) ITSM
4 33 (17.93%) Service Management
5 26 (14.13%) Problem-Solving
5 26 (14.13%) Service Delivery
6 22 (11.96%) Asset Management
7 17 (9.24%) Migration
8 12 (6.52%) Continuous Improvement
9 11 (5.98%) Break/Fix
9 11 (5.98%) Incident Management
10 9 (4.89%) Data Protection
11 8 (4.35%) User Experience
12 7 (3.80%) Inventory Management
12 7 (3.80%) Logistics
12 7 (3.80%) Patch Management
12 7 (3.80%) Software Deployment
13 6 (3.26%) AI
13 6 (3.26%) Mobile Device Management
13 6 (3.26%) Problem Management
Programming Languages
1 20 (10.87%) PowerShell
2 3 (1.63%) Python
2 3 (1.63%) SQL
2 3 (1.63%) VBScript
3 1 (0.54%) Bash
Qualifications
1 33 (17.93%) Security Cleared
2 30 (16.30%) SC Cleared
3 27 (14.67%) Degree
4 12 (6.52%) A+ Certification
5 5 (2.72%) Microsoft Certification
6 4 (2.17%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (2.17%) Computer Science Degree
6 4 (2.17%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 3 (1.63%) DV Cleared
7 3 (1.63%) ITIL Certification
7 3 (1.63%) Network+ Certification
8 2 (1.09%) Microsoft Certified Professional
9 1 (0.54%) CCNP
9 1 (0.54%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (0.54%) CTC Cleared
9 1 (0.54%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (9.24%) SLA
System Software
1 70 (38.04%) Active Directory
2 16 (8.70%) Virtual Desktop
3 11 (5.98%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (1.63%) BitLocker
4 3 (1.63%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.54%) Firmware
5 1 (0.54%) vSphere
5 1 (0.54%) zsh
Systems Management
1 40 (21.74%) SCCM
2 32 (17.39%) Microsoft Intune
3 1 (0.54%) Jamf Pro
3 1 (0.54%) WSUS
Vendors
1 86 (46.74%) Microsoft
2 26 (14.13%) ServiceNow
3 18 (9.78%) Citrix
4 11 (5.98%) VMware
5 7 (3.80%) Apple
5 7 (3.80%) McAfee
6 6 (3.26%) Cisco
7 5 (2.72%) Adobe
7 5 (2.72%) HP
7 5 (2.72%) Tanium
8 4 (2.17%) Bloomberg
8 4 (2.17%) Samsung
9 3 (1.63%) Autodesk
9 3 (1.63%) BeyondTrust
9 3 (1.63%) Remedy
9 3 (1.63%) Starlink
9 3 (1.63%) Symantec
10 2 (1.09%) Dell
10 2 (1.09%) Google
10 2 (1.09%) Meraki
50 Desktop Support jobs in England