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 6 February 2026.

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

 6 months to
6 Feb 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 328 312 284
Rank change year-on-year -16 -28 +8
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 231 180 302
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.69% 0.69% 0.79%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.75% 0.74% 0.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 161 121 219
10th Percentile £153 £153 £129
25th Percentile £156 £182 £144
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £195 £210 £205
Median % change year-on-year -7.14% +2.44% +2.50%
75th Percentile £238 £238 £225
90th Percentile £275 £269 £276
UK median daily rate £175 £205 £200
% change year-on-year -14.63% +2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 45 6 19
10th Percentile £16.34 £21.94 £18.74
25th Percentile £19.54 £26.81 £19.63
Median hourly rate £20.18 £30.23 £23.50
Median % change year-on-year -33.23% +28.62% +21.89%
75th Percentile £23.72 £30.68 £27.86
90th Percentile £31.40 £33.84 £30.50
UK median hourly rate £20.18 £24.18 £23.50
% change year-on-year -16.54% +2.89% +25.33%

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 30,616 24,434 35,357
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.64% 93.01% 93.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 19,494 15,146 23,822
10th Percentile £300 £300 £270
25th Percentile £406 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £640
90th Percentile £725 £750 £745
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,931 720 2,109
10th Percentile £14.96 £15.99 £13.23
25th Percentile £18.82 £21.41 £16.79
Median hourly rate £30.00 £35.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% - -2.78%
75th Percentile £63.75 £64.50 £61.50
90th Percentile £71.99 £75.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £29.65 £33.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -10.17% -5.71% -

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 6 February 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 6 February 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 6 February 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 -40 54 £201 +0.25% 9
Midlands -26 43 £175 -12.50% 4
North of England -37 41 £175 -20.45% 3
South West -6 36 £225 - 8
East of England +1 35 £195 -2.50% 1
East Midlands -3 29 £175 -17.65% 2
South East -50 24 £172 -12.05% 9
North West -17 20 £175 -22.22% 3
West Midlands -38 14 £175 -6.54% 2
North East -7 11 £175 -2.78%
Yorkshire -55 10 £200 -10.11%
Desktop Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 6 February 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.

1 134 (58.01%) Windows
2 101 (43.72%) Microsoft 365
3 90 (38.96%) Microsoft
4 82 (35.50%) Active Directory
4 82 (35.50%) Windows 10
5 80 (34.63%) Customer Service
6 79 (34.20%) Security Cleared
7 78 (33.77%) SC Cleared
8 48 (20.78%) Microsoft Office
9 45 (19.48%) Azure
10 38 (16.45%) Microsoft Intune
11 36 (15.58%) ITIL
12 34 (14.72%) SLA
13 33 (14.29%) HP
13 33 (14.29%) Mac OS
13 33 (14.29%) SCCM
13 33 (14.29%) Wireless
14 32 (13.85%) Android
15 30 (12.99%) Service Management
16 29 (12.55%) Cisco
16 29 (12.55%) Dell
17 28 (12.12%) Apple
18 27 (11.69%) Problem-Solving
18 27 (11.69%) SharePoint
19 26 (11.26%) Migration
19 26 (11.26%) ServiceNow
20 25 (10.82%) Business Intelligence
20 25 (10.82%) Digital Marketing
20 25 (10.82%) Programme Management
20 25 (10.82%) SAP

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 (11.69%) SharePoint
2 22 (9.52%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 48 (20.78%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (6.49%) Microsoft Excel
2 15 (6.49%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.87%) assyst
2 1 (0.43%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 101 (43.72%) Microsoft 365
2 45 (19.48%) Azure
3 16 (6.93%) OneDrive
4 10 (4.33%) Entra ID
5 3 (1.30%) Google Ads
5 3 (1.30%) Google Workspace
5 3 (1.30%) Slack
6 1 (0.43%) Google Drive
Communications & Networking
1 33 (14.29%) Wireless
2 21 (9.09%) VPN
3 13 (5.63%) DNS
3 13 (5.63%) PABX
4 11 (4.76%) DHCP
5 10 (4.33%) TCP/IP
6 5 (2.16%) Structured Cabling
7 4 (1.73%) LAN
8 3 (1.30%) Softphone
8 3 (1.30%) WAN
9 2 (0.87%) Firewall
9 2 (0.87%) Telepresence
9 2 (0.87%) Unified Communications
9 2 (0.87%) VLAN
9 2 (0.87%) Wi-Fi
10 1 (0.43%) IPv4
10 1 (0.43%) Network Security
10 1 (0.43%) Skype
10 1 (0.43%) VoIP
Development Applications
1 3 (1.30%) JIRA
General
1 97 (41.99%) Social Skills
2 55 (23.81%) Finance
3 31 (13.42%) Public Sector
4 28 (12.12%) Telecoms
5 27 (11.69%) Analytical Skills
6 25 (10.82%) Electronics
6 25 (10.82%) Manufacturing
6 25 (10.82%) Marketing
7 9 (3.90%) Banking
7 9 (3.90%) Retail
8 7 (3.03%) Aerospace
9 6 (2.60%) Documentation Skills
9 6 (2.60%) Law
10 3 (1.30%) Front Office
10 3 (1.30%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (1.30%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (0.87%) Investment Banking
11 2 (0.87%) Legal
12 1 (0.43%) Financial Institution
Miscellaneous
1 31 (13.42%) Self-Motivation
2 29 (12.55%) Smartphone
3 25 (10.82%) Data Centre
4 8 (3.46%) Hybrid Cloud
4 8 (3.46%) Management Information System
4 8 (3.46%) Onboarding
5 7 (3.03%) iPad
5 7 (3.03%) iPhone
5 7 (3.03%) Video Conferencing
6 5 (2.16%) Virtual Team
7 3 (1.30%) Enterprise Software
7 3 (1.30%) Hedge funds
8 2 (0.87%) Mobile App
8 2 (0.87%) Tandem
9 1 (0.43%) BYOD
9 1 (0.43%) Data Protection Act
9 1 (0.43%) Driving Licence
9 1 (0.43%) Fat Client
9 1 (0.43%) Legacy Systems
9 1 (0.43%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 134 (58.01%) Windows
2 82 (35.50%) Windows 10
3 33 (14.29%) Mac OS
4 32 (13.85%) Android
5 20 (8.66%) Apple iOS
6 13 (5.63%) Windows Server
7 5 (2.16%) Windows 7
8 4 (1.73%) Windows 8
9 2 (0.87%) Windows Server 2012
10 1 (0.43%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (34.63%) Customer Service
2 36 (15.58%) ITIL
3 30 (12.99%) Service Management
4 27 (11.69%) Problem-Solving
5 26 (11.26%) Migration
6 25 (10.82%) Business Intelligence
6 25 (10.82%) Digital Marketing
6 25 (10.82%) Programme Management
7 22 (9.52%) Time Management
8 20 (8.66%) ITSM
9 19 (8.23%) Inventory Management
10 18 (7.79%) Service Delivery
11 17 (7.36%) Workflow
12 14 (6.06%) Mobile Device Management
13 13 (5.63%) Incident Management
13 13 (5.63%) Patch Management
14 11 (4.76%) Asset Management
14 11 (4.76%) Continuous Improvement
15 10 (4.33%) Antivirus Management
15 10 (4.33%) Workflow Management
Programming Languages
1 20 (8.66%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.43%) Python
Qualifications
1 79 (34.20%) Security Cleared
2 78 (33.77%) SC Cleared
3 7 (3.03%) Degree
3 7 (3.03%) ITIL Certification
4 5 (2.16%) A+ Certification
5 3 (1.30%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 2 (0.87%) Computer Science Degree
6 2 (0.87%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (14.72%) SLA
2 7 (3.03%) GDPR
3 2 (0.87%) QA
System Software
1 82 (35.50%) Active Directory
2 14 (6.06%) Virtual Desktop
3 4 (1.73%) 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 38 (16.45%) Microsoft Intune
2 33 (14.29%) SCCM
Vendors
1 90 (38.96%) Microsoft
2 33 (14.29%) HP
3 29 (12.55%) Cisco
3 29 (12.55%) Dell
4 28 (12.12%) Apple
5 26 (11.26%) ServiceNow
6 25 (10.82%) SAP
7 9 (3.90%) McAfee
8 7 (3.03%) Starlink
9 5 (2.16%) Remedy
10 4 (1.73%) Bloomberg
10 4 (1.73%) Google
11 2 (0.87%) Citrix
12 1 (0.43%) Altiris
12 1 (0.43%) Barracuda Networks
12 1 (0.43%) CrowdStrike
12 1 (0.43%) Salesforce
12 1 (0.43%) SolarWinds
12 1 (0.43%) VMware
12 1 (0.43%) Wyse
30 Desktop Support jobs in England