Desktop Support Contract Job Trends in England

Desktop Support
UK > England

The median Desktop Support daily rate in England is £200, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 21 May 2026.

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

6 months to
21 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 434 299 279
Rank change year-on-year -135 -20 +9
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 159 195 271
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.39% 0.81% 0.74%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.42% 0.87% 0.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 129 124 202
10th Percentile £145 £153 £125
25th Percentile £163 £180 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £208 £200
Median % change year-on-year -3.86% +3.75% -
75th Percentile £230 £248 £220
90th Percentile £265 £277 £275
UK median daily rate £200 £205 £200
% change year-on-year -2.56% +2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 13 28
10th Percentile £16.27 £16.67 £16.78
25th Percentile £16.48 £18.13 £19.53
Median hourly rate £19.91 £25.15 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year -20.83% +19.76% -10.64%
75th Percentile £20.86 £33.75 £29.06
90th Percentile £28.25 £36.75 £30.63
UK median hourly rate £19.91 £17.30 £21.00
% change year-on-year +15.09% -17.62% -9.68%

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 38,064 22,370 33,771
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.33% 92.38% 92.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,623 14,863 22,425
10th Percentile £320 £296 £281
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.27% -0.95% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £644
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £513 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +0.49% -2.86% -3.23%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,618 925 2,441
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £21.00 £18.50 £16.30
Median hourly rate £45.00 £29.23 £37.18
Median % change year-on-year +53.95% -21.38% -16.94%
75th Percentile £67.50 £62.50 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £73.75
UK median hourly rate £42.69 £27.99 £36.50
% change year-on-year +52.50% -23.32% -18.89%

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 21 May 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 21 May 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 21 May 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 -67 37 £207 -2.02% 6
Midlands -41 30 £200 -0.25% 1
South East -64 24 £172 -16.34% 5
East Midlands -8 23 £200 +1.66%
North of England -84 23 £230 +17.95% 7
East of England -19 22 £195 -10.34%
South West -57 21 £186 -18.13%
North West -40 14 £188 +11.94% 5
Yorkshire -56 9 £230 -2.13%
West Midlands -60 7 £145 -27.50% 1
Desktop Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 21 May 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.

1 104 (65.41%) Windows
2 79 (49.69%) Microsoft
3 64 (40.25%) Active Directory
4 62 (38.99%) Microsoft 365
5 50 (31.45%) Customer Service
6 43 (27.04%) Windows 10
7 35 (22.01%) Azure
7 35 (22.01%) Microsoft Intune
8 32 (20.13%) Problem-Solving
9 26 (16.35%) SCCM
10 24 (15.09%) SC Cleared
10 24 (15.09%) Security Cleared
11 22 (13.84%) ITIL
11 22 (13.84%) SharePoint
12 19 (11.95%) Asset Management
13 18 (11.32%) Entra ID
13 18 (11.32%) Migration
14 17 (10.69%) Mac OS
14 17 (10.69%) VPN
15 16 (10.06%) Apple iOS
15 16 (10.06%) Continuous Improvement
16 14 (8.81%) ServiceNow
16 14 (8.81%) SLA
17 13 (8.18%) ITSM
17 13 (8.18%) Service Delivery
18 12 (7.55%) PowerShell
19 10 (6.29%) Degree
19 10 (6.29%) HP
19 10 (6.29%) Logistics
20 9 (5.66%) BCP

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 22 (13.84%) SharePoint
2 9 (5.66%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 9 (5.66%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (3.77%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.63%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.63%) assyst
1 1 (0.63%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 62 (38.99%) Microsoft 365
2 35 (22.01%) Azure
3 18 (11.32%) Entra ID
4 4 (2.52%) Google Ads
4 4 (2.52%) Google Workspace
4 4 (2.52%) Slack
5 3 (1.89%) OneDrive
6 2 (1.26%) Microsoft Copilot
7 1 (0.63%) Google Drive
7 1 (0.63%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 17 (10.69%) VPN
2 9 (5.66%) DNS
3 8 (5.03%) DHCP
3 8 (5.03%) TCP/IP
4 6 (3.77%) Wireless
5 4 (2.52%) Wi-Fi
6 2 (1.26%) Firewall
6 2 (1.26%) LAN
7 1 (0.63%) IPv4
7 1 (0.63%) Skype
7 1 (0.63%) Softphone
7 1 (0.63%) Telepresence
7 1 (0.63%) Unified Communications
7 1 (0.63%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.63%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 5 (3.14%) JIRA
General
1 59 (37.11%) Social Skills
2 15 (9.43%) Finance
3 13 (8.18%) Analytical Skills
4 7 (4.40%) Law
5 5 (3.14%) Banking
5 5 (3.14%) Organisational Skills
6 4 (2.52%) Public Sector
6 4 (2.52%) Retail
7 3 (1.89%) Investment Banking
8 2 (1.26%) Financial Institution
8 2 (1.26%) Legal
8 2 (1.26%) Local Government
8 2 (1.26%) Manufacturing
8 2 (1.26%) Pharmaceutical
8 2 (1.26%) Spanish Language
9 1 (0.63%) Aerospace
9 1 (0.63%) Front Office
9 1 (0.63%) Telecoms
Miscellaneous
1 18 (11.32%) Smartphone
2 17 (10.69%) Onboarding
3 13 (8.18%) Self-Motivation
4 8 (5.03%) Hybrid Cloud
4 8 (5.03%) iPhone
5 4 (2.52%) Enterprise Software
5 4 (2.52%) Hedge funds
5 4 (2.52%) Video Conferencing
6 3 (1.89%) Data Protection Act
6 3 (1.89%) iPad
6 3 (1.89%) Management Information System
7 2 (1.26%) Driving Licence
7 2 (1.26%) Virtual Team
8 1 (0.63%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 104 (65.41%) Windows
2 43 (27.04%) Windows 10
3 17 (10.69%) Mac OS
4 16 (10.06%) Apple iOS
5 8 (5.03%) Android
6 5 (3.14%) Windows 7
6 5 (3.14%) Windows Server
7 4 (2.52%) Windows 8
8 1 (0.63%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 50 (31.45%) Customer Service
2 32 (20.13%) Problem-Solving
3 22 (13.84%) ITIL
4 19 (11.95%) Asset Management
5 18 (11.32%) Migration
6 16 (10.06%) Continuous Improvement
7 13 (8.18%) ITSM
7 13 (8.18%) Service Delivery
8 10 (6.29%) Logistics
9 9 (5.66%) BCP
9 9 (5.66%) Business Continuity
9 9 (5.66%) Disaster Recovery
9 9 (5.66%) Incident Management
9 9 (5.66%) Project Delivery
9 9 (5.66%) Service Management
9 9 (5.66%) Time Management
9 9 (5.66%) User Experience
10 8 (5.03%) Root Cause Analysis
11 7 (4.40%) Business Continuity Planning
11 7 (4.40%) Inventory Management
Programming Languages
1 12 (7.55%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.63%) Python
Qualifications
1 24 (15.09%) SC Cleared
1 24 (15.09%) Security Cleared
2 10 (6.29%) Degree
3 7 (4.40%) A+ Certification
4 3 (1.89%) Computer Science Degree
4 3 (1.89%) ITIL Certification
5 1 (0.63%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (8.81%) SLA
System Software
1 64 (40.25%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.52%) Virtual Desktop
3 2 (1.26%) Firmware
3 2 (1.26%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.63%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 35 (22.01%) Microsoft Intune
2 26 (16.35%) SCCM
3 1 (0.63%) Jamf Pro
3 1 (0.63%) WSUS
Vendors
1 79 (49.69%) Microsoft
2 14 (8.81%) ServiceNow
3 10 (6.29%) HP
4 8 (5.03%) Starlink
5 7 (4.40%) Apple
5 7 (4.40%) McAfee
6 5 (3.14%) Citrix
6 5 (3.14%) Dell
6 5 (3.14%) Google
7 3 (1.89%) Bloomberg
8 2 (1.26%) Remedy
8 2 (1.26%) Salesforce
8 2 (1.26%) VMware
9 1 (0.63%) Altiris
9 1 (0.63%) Barracuda Networks
9 1 (0.63%) Cisco
9 1 (0.63%) CrowdStrike
9 1 (0.63%) Nexthink
9 1 (0.63%) SolarWinds
9 1 (0.63%) Veeam