Desktop Support Contract Job Trends in England

Desktop Support
UK > England

The median Desktop Support daily rate in England is £190, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 7 January 2026.

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

 6 months to
7 Jan 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 316 314 281
Rank change year-on-year -2 -33 -5
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 236 185 287
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.75% 0.68% 0.80%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.82% 0.73% 0.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 159 127 204
10th Percentile £154 £150 £130
25th Percentile £161 £182 £148
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £190 £213 £205
Median % change year-on-year -10.59% +3.66% +2.50%
75th Percentile £238 £238 £228
90th Percentile £275 £258 £288
UK median daily rate £175 £210 £200
% change year-on-year -16.67% +5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 45 6 14
10th Percentile £16.34 £23.99 £18.15
25th Percentile £19.54 £26.81 £18.61
Median hourly rate £20.18 £30.23 £19.75
Median % change year-on-year -33.23% +53.04% +1.95%
75th Percentile £23.72 £30.68 £21.31
90th Percentile £31.40 £33.84 £23.50
UK median hourly rate £20.18 £24.18 £19.75
% change year-on-year -16.54% +22.43% +5.33%

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 28,953 25,391 33,623
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.49% 92.84% 93.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,523 15,730 22,908
10th Percentile £300 £300 £280
25th Percentile £406 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -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 1,747 792 1,477
10th Percentile £14.38 £15.92 £14.25
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.24 £19.25
Median hourly rate £27.50 £35.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.43% -22.22% +28.57%
75th Percentile £62.50 £64.73 £65.00
90th Percentile £73.15 £74.99 £76.53
UK median hourly rate £26.78 £32.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -17.60% -26.97% +36.75%

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 7 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 7 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 7 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 -15 64 £185 -7.50% 4
North of England -32 45 £175 -20.45% 5
Midlands -16 39 £175 -14.63% 2
South West +5 34 £225 - 4
East of England -3 32 £195 -2.50% 2
East Midlands -6 25 £175 -44.66% 1
North West -16 25 £175 -16.67% 2
South East -38 24 £173 -13.50% 9
West Midlands -31 14 £175 -6.54% 1
North East -4 11 £175 -
Yorkshire -49 9 £165 -25.84% 3
Desktop Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 7 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.

1 139 (58.90%) Windows
2 109 (46.19%) Microsoft 365
3 95 (40.25%) Microsoft
4 85 (36.02%) Customer Service
5 83 (35.17%) Active Directory
5 83 (35.17%) Windows 10
6 81 (34.32%) Security Cleared
7 80 (33.90%) SC Cleared
8 51 (21.61%) Microsoft Office
9 41 (17.37%) Azure
10 39 (16.53%) Microsoft Intune
11 38 (16.10%) ITIL
12 34 (14.41%) Mac OS
12 34 (14.41%) SLA
13 33 (13.98%) SCCM
13 33 (13.98%) Wireless
14 31 (13.14%) Android
14 31 (13.14%) Dell
14 31 (13.14%) HP
15 29 (12.29%) Cisco
15 29 (12.29%) Service Management
16 28 (11.86%) Apple
16 28 (11.86%) Migration
17 27 (11.44%) Business Intelligence
17 27 (11.44%) Digital Marketing
17 27 (11.44%) Programme Management
17 27 (11.44%) SAP
17 27 (11.44%) SharePoint
18 25 (10.59%) Microsoft Exchange
19 24 (10.17%) Problem-Solving

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 (11.44%) SharePoint
2 25 (10.59%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.42%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 51 (21.61%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (6.36%) Microsoft Excel
2 15 (6.36%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.42%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.85%) assyst
2 1 (0.42%) Eikon
2 1 (0.42%) Eze OMS
2 1 (0.42%) Fidessa
2 1 (0.42%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 109 (46.19%) Microsoft 365
2 41 (17.37%) Azure
3 16 (6.78%) OneDrive
4 11 (4.66%) Entra ID
5 2 (0.85%) Google Workspace
6 1 (0.42%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 33 (13.98%) Wireless
2 17 (7.20%) VPN
3 13 (5.51%) DNS
3 13 (5.51%) PABX
4 11 (4.66%) DHCP
5 9 (3.81%) TCP/IP
6 5 (2.12%) Structured Cabling
7 3 (1.27%) LAN
7 3 (1.27%) Softphone
7 3 (1.27%) WAN
8 2 (0.85%) Firewall
8 2 (0.85%) Telepresence
8 2 (0.85%) Unified Communications
8 2 (0.85%) VLAN
9 1 (0.42%) Network Security
9 1 (0.42%) Skype
9 1 (0.42%) Wi-Fi
Development Applications
1 2 (0.85%) JIRA
General
1 102 (43.22%) Social Skills
2 65 (27.54%) Finance
3 33 (13.98%) Public Sector
4 30 (12.71%) Telecoms
5 27 (11.44%) Electronics
5 27 (11.44%) Manufacturing
5 27 (11.44%) Marketing
6 26 (11.02%) Analytical Skills
7 12 (5.08%) Banking
8 9 (3.81%) Retail
9 8 (3.39%) Front Office
10 7 (2.97%) Aerospace
11 6 (2.54%) Documentation Skills
11 6 (2.54%) Law
12 3 (1.27%) Investment Banking
12 3 (1.27%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (1.27%) Pharmaceutical
13 2 (0.85%) Legal
14 1 (0.42%) Financial Institution
14 1 (0.42%) Retail Banking
Miscellaneous
1 30 (12.71%) Self-Motivation
2 29 (12.29%) Smartphone
3 25 (10.59%) Data Centre
4 11 (4.66%) Onboarding
5 9 (3.81%) iPad
5 9 (3.81%) iPhone
6 8 (3.39%) Management Information System
7 6 (2.54%) Video Conferencing
8 5 (2.12%) Hybrid Cloud
8 5 (2.12%) Virtual Team
9 4 (1.69%) Hedge funds
10 3 (1.27%) Enterprise Software
11 2 (0.85%) Mobile App
11 2 (0.85%) Tandem
12 1 (0.42%) BYOD
12 1 (0.42%) Data Protection Act
12 1 (0.42%) Driving Licence
12 1 (0.42%) Fat Client
12 1 (0.42%) Legacy Systems
12 1 (0.42%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 139 (58.90%) Windows
2 83 (35.17%) Windows 10
3 34 (14.41%) Mac OS
4 31 (13.14%) Android
5 19 (8.05%) Apple iOS
6 13 (5.51%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.85%) Windows 7
7 2 (0.85%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.42%) Linux
8 1 (0.42%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 85 (36.02%) Customer Service
2 38 (16.10%) ITIL
3 29 (12.29%) Service Management
4 28 (11.86%) Migration
5 27 (11.44%) Business Intelligence
5 27 (11.44%) Digital Marketing
5 27 (11.44%) Programme Management
6 24 (10.17%) Problem-Solving
7 23 (9.75%) Time Management
8 22 (9.32%) ITSM
9 20 (8.47%) Workflow
10 18 (7.63%) Service Delivery
11 16 (6.78%) Inventory Management
12 15 (6.36%) Mobile Device Management
12 15 (6.36%) Patch Management
13 12 (5.08%) Workflow Management
14 11 (4.66%) Incident Management
15 10 (4.24%) Antivirus Management
16 8 (3.39%) Business Impact Analysis
16 8 (3.39%) Impact Analysis
Programming Languages
1 17 (7.20%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 81 (34.32%) Security Cleared
2 80 (33.90%) SC Cleared
3 7 (2.97%) Degree
4 6 (2.54%) ITIL Certification
5 5 (2.12%) A+ Certification
5 5 (2.12%) Microsoft Certification
6 4 (1.69%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (1.69%) DBS Check
7 3 (1.27%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 2 (0.85%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (14.41%) SLA
2 7 (2.97%) GDPR
3 4 (1.69%) QA
System Software
1 83 (35.17%) Active Directory
2 14 (5.93%) Virtual Desktop
3 4 (1.69%) Firmware
4 1 (0.42%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.42%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.42%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.42%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 39 (16.53%) Microsoft Intune
2 33 (13.98%) SCCM
Vendors
1 95 (40.25%) Microsoft
2 31 (13.14%) Dell
2 31 (13.14%) HP
3 29 (12.29%) Cisco
4 28 (11.86%) Apple
5 27 (11.44%) SAP
6 24 (10.17%) ServiceNow
7 9 (3.81%) McAfee
8 8 (3.39%) Bloomberg
9 6 (2.54%) Starlink
10 4 (1.69%) Remedy
11 3 (1.27%) Citrix
12 2 (0.85%) Google
12 2 (0.85%) Reuters
12 2 (0.85%) VMware
13 1 (0.42%) Altiris
13 1 (0.42%) Barracuda Networks
13 1 (0.42%) Salesforce
13 1 (0.42%) Veeam
13 1 (0.42%) Wyse
26 Desktop Support jobs in England