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 17 February 2026.

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

 6 months to
17 Feb 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 334 301 281
Rank change year-on-year -33 -20 +3
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 230 181 300
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.67% 0.71% 0.79%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.73% 0.76% 0.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 162 119 217
10th Percentile £153 £152 £129
25th Percentile £156 £182 £146
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £195 £208 £205
Median % change year-on-year -6.02% +1.22% +2.50%
75th Percentile £238 £245 £225
90th Percentile £275 £274 £300
UK median daily rate £175 £200 £203
% change year-on-year -12.50% -1.23% +1.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 44 8 20
10th Percentile £16.32 £16.67 £18.95
25th Percentile £19.54 £17.76 £20.00
Median hourly rate £20.18 £28.25 £25.28
Median % change year-on-year -28.57% +11.74% +31.13%
75th Percentile £22.03 £30.68 £30.25
90th Percentile £31.40 £32.57 £33.35
UK median hourly rate £20.18 £24.18 £25.28
% change year-on-year -16.54% -4.36% +34.84%

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 31,465 23,850 35,291
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.75% 93.03% 93.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 19,965 14,903 23,634
10th Percentile £302 £294 £275
25th Percentile £409 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £503 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.29% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £643
90th Percentile £725 £750 £747
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,017 693 2,141
10th Percentile £15.00 £16.25 £13.19
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.50 £16.54
Median hourly rate £31.65 £35.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -9.57% - -12.01%
75th Percentile £63.75 £65.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £73.41 £75.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £30.00 £34.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -11.76% -2.86% -6.67%

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 17 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 17 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 17 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 -41 51 £201 +0.25% 10
Midlands -29 43 £175 -14.63% 3
North of England -44 42 £175 -18.60% 6
South West -10 36 £225 - 4
East of England +2 35 £195 -7.14% 3
East Midlands +1 29 £175 -17.65% 2
South East -42 25 £172 -12.05% 9
North West -18 21 £175 -19.54% 4
West Midlands -46 14 £175 -12.50% 1
North East -6 11 £175 -2.78% 1
Yorkshire -51 10 £200 -10.11% 2
Desktop Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 17 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.

1 135 (58.70%) Windows
2 101 (43.91%) Microsoft 365
3 89 (38.70%) Microsoft
4 85 (36.96%) Windows 10
5 83 (36.09%) Active Directory
6 80 (34.78%) Customer Service
7 79 (34.35%) Security Cleared
8 78 (33.91%) SC Cleared
9 48 (20.87%) Microsoft Office
10 46 (20.00%) Azure
11 38 (16.52%) Microsoft Intune
12 35 (15.22%) ITIL
13 34 (14.78%) Mac OS
13 34 (14.78%) SLA
14 33 (14.35%) HP
14 33 (14.35%) Wireless
15 32 (13.91%) Android
15 32 (13.91%) SCCM
16 31 (13.48%) Service Management
17 30 (13.04%) Dell
18 29 (12.61%) Apple
18 29 (12.61%) SharePoint
19 28 (12.17%) Cisco
20 27 (11.74%) Migration
20 27 (11.74%) Problem-Solving
21 26 (11.30%) ServiceNow
22 25 (10.87%) Business Intelligence
22 25 (10.87%) Digital Marketing
22 25 (10.87%) Programme Management
22 25 (10.87%) 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 29 (12.61%) SharePoint
2 22 (9.57%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 48 (20.87%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (6.52%) Microsoft Excel
2 15 (6.52%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.87%) assyst
2 1 (0.43%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 101 (43.91%) Microsoft 365
2 46 (20.00%) Azure
3 18 (7.83%) OneDrive
4 11 (4.78%) Entra ID
5 4 (1.74%) Google Ads
6 3 (1.30%) Google Workspace
6 3 (1.30%) Slack
7 1 (0.43%) Google Drive
Communications & Networking
1 33 (14.35%) Wireless
2 23 (10.00%) VPN
3 13 (5.65%) PABX
4 12 (5.22%) DNS
5 10 (4.35%) DHCP
6 9 (3.91%) TCP/IP
7 5 (2.17%) Structured Cabling
8 3 (1.30%) LAN
8 3 (1.30%) Softphone
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%) WAN
9 2 (0.87%) Wi-Fi
10 1 (0.43%) IPv4
10 1 (0.43%) Network Security
10 1 (0.43%) VoIP
Development Applications
1 3 (1.30%) JIRA
General
1 95 (41.30%) Social Skills
2 52 (22.61%) Finance
3 31 (13.48%) Public Sector
4 28 (12.17%) Telecoms
5 27 (11.74%) Analytical Skills
6 25 (10.87%) Electronics
6 25 (10.87%) Manufacturing
6 25 (10.87%) Marketing
7 9 (3.91%) Retail
8 7 (3.04%) Aerospace
8 7 (3.04%) Banking
9 6 (2.61%) Documentation Skills
9 6 (2.61%) Law
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
12 1 (0.43%) Front Office
Miscellaneous
1 31 (13.48%) Self-Motivation
2 28 (12.17%) Smartphone
3 25 (10.87%) Data Centre
4 11 (4.78%) Onboarding
5 8 (3.48%) Hybrid Cloud
5 8 (3.48%) Management Information System
6 7 (3.04%) iPad
6 7 (3.04%) iPhone
7 6 (2.61%) Video Conferencing
8 5 (2.17%) Virtual Team
9 4 (1.74%) Enterprise Software
10 3 (1.30%) Hedge funds
11 2 (0.87%) Mobile App
11 2 (0.87%) Tandem
12 1 (0.43%) BYOD
12 1 (0.43%) Data Protection Act
12 1 (0.43%) Driving Licence
12 1 (0.43%) Fat Client
12 1 (0.43%) Legacy Systems
12 1 (0.43%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 135 (58.70%) Windows
2 85 (36.96%) Windows 10
3 34 (14.78%) Mac OS
4 32 (13.91%) Android
5 20 (8.70%) Apple iOS
6 13 (5.65%) Windows Server
7 5 (2.17%) Windows 7
8 4 (1.74%) Windows 8
9 2 (0.87%) Windows Server 2012
10 1 (0.43%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (34.78%) Customer Service
2 35 (15.22%) ITIL
3 31 (13.48%) Service Management
4 27 (11.74%) Migration
4 27 (11.74%) Problem-Solving
5 25 (10.87%) Business Intelligence
5 25 (10.87%) Digital Marketing
5 25 (10.87%) Programme Management
6 22 (9.57%) Time Management
7 20 (8.70%) Inventory Management
7 20 (8.70%) ITSM
8 18 (7.83%) Service Delivery
9 17 (7.39%) Workflow
10 14 (6.09%) Incident Management
11 13 (5.65%) Asset Management
11 13 (5.65%) Mobile Device Management
11 13 (5.65%) Patch Management
12 11 (4.78%) Continuous Improvement
13 10 (4.35%) Antivirus Management
13 10 (4.35%) Workflow Management
Programming Languages
1 20 (8.70%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.43%) Python
Qualifications
1 79 (34.35%) Security Cleared
2 78 (33.91%) SC Cleared
3 7 (3.04%) Degree
3 7 (3.04%) ITIL Certification
4 5 (2.17%) 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 (14.78%) SLA
2 7 (3.04%) GDPR
3 2 (0.87%) QA
System Software
1 83 (36.09%) Active Directory
2 13 (5.65%) Virtual Desktop
3 3 (1.30%) Firmware
4 1 (0.43%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.43%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.43%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 38 (16.52%) Microsoft Intune
2 32 (13.91%) SCCM
3 1 (0.43%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 89 (38.70%) Microsoft
2 33 (14.35%) HP
3 30 (13.04%) Dell
4 29 (12.61%) Apple
5 28 (12.17%) Cisco
6 26 (11.30%) ServiceNow
7 25 (10.87%) SAP
8 9 (3.91%) McAfee
9 7 (3.04%) Starlink
10 5 (2.17%) Remedy
11 4 (1.74%) Google
12 3 (1.30%) Bloomberg
13 1 (0.43%) Altiris
13 1 (0.43%) Barracuda Networks
13 1 (0.43%) Citrix
13 1 (0.43%) CrowdStrike
13 1 (0.43%) Salesforce
13 1 (0.43%) SolarWinds
13 1 (0.43%) Veeam
13 1 (0.43%) VMware
28 Desktop Support jobs in England