Desktop Support Contracts 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 2 July 2025.

The table below provides contractor rate benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Jul 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 297 305 275
Rank change year-on-year +8 -30 +49
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 206 262 433
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 0.80% 0.70% 0.91%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.87% 0.76% 0.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 126 179 311
10th Percentile £153 £126 £139
25th Percentile £177 £150 £170
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £210 £200 £200
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% - +5.26%
75th Percentile £242 £230 £244
90th Percentile £278 £278 £300
UK median daily rate £205 £195 £204
% change year-on-year +5.13% -4.41% +7.37%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 31 36
10th Percentile £15.13 £17.00 £15.21
25th Percentile £18.13 £20.11 £17.23
Median hourly rate £25.15 £24.86 £24.25
Median % change year-on-year +1.19% +2.49% +21.25%
75th Percentile £33.75 £29.38 £25.71
90th Percentile - £31.50 -
UK median hourly rate £17.30 £21.00 £24.25
% change year-on-year -17.62% -13.40% +21.25%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 23,802 34,689 44,733
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.12% 92.93% 94.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,558 22,690 31,723
10th Percentile £293 £300 £313
25th Percentile £404 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% -4.55% +1.85%
75th Percentile £630 £638 £663
90th Percentile £750 £750 £763
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +1.42%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,110 2,587 1,360
10th Percentile £13.99 £12.87 £14.41
25th Percentile £17.90 £16.80 £19.50
Median hourly rate £28.34 £40.00 £43.93
Median % change year-on-year -29.15% -8.95% +75.72%
75th Percentile £57.50 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £74.52 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £26.50 £37.50 £43.00
% change year-on-year -29.33% -12.79% +68.63%

Desktop Support
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings that featured Desktop Support in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for Desktop Support in England

Desktop Support
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Desktop Support in England.

Daily rate trend for Desktop Support in England

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Desktop Support in England over the 6 months to 2 July 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Desktop Support in England

Desktop Support
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Desktop Support in England.

Hourly rate trend for Desktop Support in England

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Desktop Support in England over the 6 months to 2 July 2025.

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 2 July 2025. 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
South West +65 56 £225 +18.42% 20
London -35 54 £222 +16.58% 101
North of England +23 41 £195 +11.43% 22
South East +37 31 £215 +4.88% 34
North West +14 19 £165 +17.86% 10
Midlands +12 17 £171 +3.64% 12
East of England +14 12 £213 +21.43% 9
Yorkshire +4 12 £235 +18.99% 9
West Midlands +14 11 £192 +21.59% 9
North East +3 10 £175 -7.89% 3
East Midlands +5 6 £171 -37.82% 3
Desktop Support
UK

Desktop Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England

For the 6 months to 2 July 2025, Desktop Support contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the England region featuring Desktop Support in the job title.

1 135 (65.53%) Social Skills
2 121 (58.74%) Microsoft
3 117 (56.80%) Windows
4 82 (39.81%) Customer Service
5 76 (36.89%) Microsoft 365
6 75 (36.41%) Active Directory
7 72 (34.95%) Security Cleared
8 71 (34.47%) ITIL
9 66 (32.04%) SC Cleared
10 48 (23.30%) Windows 10
11 46 (22.33%) Problem-Solving
12 45 (21.84%) Finance
13 42 (20.39%) Microsoft Office
14 41 (19.90%) ITSM
15 40 (19.42%) ServiceNow
16 37 (17.96%) Microsoft Exchange
17 36 (17.48%) Degree
18 33 (16.02%) Microsoft Intune
19 30 (14.56%) Analytical Skills
19 30 (14.56%) VPN
20 29 (14.08%) Driving Licence
21 28 (13.59%) SLA
22 26 (12.62%) Citrix
22 26 (12.62%) Service Management
23 24 (11.65%) HP
23 24 (11.65%) SCCM
24 23 (11.17%) Time Management
25 20 (9.71%) Asset Management
25 20 (9.71%) Dell
26 19 (9.22%) Azure

Desktop Support Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 37 (17.96%) Microsoft Exchange
2 12 (5.83%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.97%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 42 (20.39%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (6.31%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (2.91%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (2.91%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.49%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 3 (1.46%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.49%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 76 (36.89%) Microsoft 365
2 19 (9.22%) Azure
3 7 (3.40%) Entra ID
4 6 (2.91%) OneDrive
5 2 (0.97%) Google Workspace
6 1 (0.49%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 30 (14.56%) VPN
2 12 (5.83%) LAN
3 9 (4.37%) DHCP
4 8 (3.88%) DNS
4 8 (3.88%) Structured Cabling
5 7 (3.40%) Remote Desktop
5 7 (3.40%) WAN
6 6 (2.91%) Wi-Fi
7 5 (2.43%) Firewall
7 5 (2.43%) TCP/IP
8 3 (1.46%) VoIP
8 3 (1.46%) WebEx
8 3 (1.46%) Wireless
9 2 (0.97%) Internet
9 2 (0.97%) Skype
9 2 (0.97%) Telepresence
9 2 (0.97%) Unified Communications
9 2 (0.97%) VLAN
10 1 (0.49%) Intranet
10 1 (0.49%) RFID
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.49%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 2 (0.97%) JIRA
General
1 135 (65.53%) Social Skills
2 45 (21.84%) Finance
3 30 (14.56%) Analytical Skills
4 15 (7.28%) Public Sector
5 14 (6.80%) Manufacturing
6 10 (4.85%) Telecoms
7 9 (4.37%) Electronics
7 9 (4.37%) Marketing
8 8 (3.88%) Documentation Skills
9 7 (3.40%) Banking
9 7 (3.40%) Legal
10 5 (2.43%) Presentation Skills
11 4 (1.94%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (1.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 3 (1.46%) Investment Banking
13 2 (0.97%) Front Office
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.49%) FIX Protocol
Miscellaneous
1 29 (14.08%) Driving Licence
2 13 (6.31%) iPhone
3 10 (4.85%) iPad
4 9 (4.37%) Smartphone
5 6 (2.91%) NHS
5 6 (2.91%) Self-Motivation
6 5 (2.43%) CMDB
6 5 (2.43%) Management Information System
6 5 (2.43%) Video Conferencing
7 2 (0.97%) Data Centre
7 2 (0.97%) Data Protection Act
8 1 (0.49%) Enterprise Software
8 1 (0.49%) Fixed Income
8 1 (0.49%) Handset
8 1 (0.49%) Hedge funds
8 1 (0.49%) Life Science
8 1 (0.49%) Mobile App
8 1 (0.49%) Reinsurance
8 1 (0.49%) Replication
8 1 (0.49%) RSA SecurID
Operating Systems
1 117 (56.80%) Windows
2 48 (23.30%) Windows 10
3 10 (4.85%) Apple iOS
3 10 (4.85%) Mac OS
4 7 (3.40%) Windows 8
4 7 (3.40%) Windows Server
4 7 (3.40%) Windows XP
5 6 (2.91%) Windows Server 2016
6 5 (2.43%) Windows Server 2003
6 5 (2.43%) Windows Server 2008
6 5 (2.43%) Windows Server 2012
7 4 (1.94%) Android
7 4 (1.94%) Linux
8 3 (1.46%) Mac OS X
8 3 (1.46%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 82 (39.81%) Customer Service
2 71 (34.47%) ITIL
3 46 (22.33%) Problem-Solving
4 41 (19.90%) ITSM
5 26 (12.62%) Service Management
6 23 (11.17%) Time Management
7 20 (9.71%) Asset Management
8 17 (8.25%) Collaborative Working
8 17 (8.25%) Workflow
9 16 (7.77%) Customer Experience
9 16 (7.77%) Mathematics
9 16 (7.77%) Service Delivery
10 14 (6.80%) Patch Management
11 13 (6.31%) Case Management
11 13 (6.31%) Root Cause Analysis
12 12 (5.83%) Inventory Management
13 11 (5.34%) Migration
14 10 (4.85%) Business Intelligence
15 9 (4.37%) Programme Management
15 9 (4.37%) Workflow Management
Programming Languages
1 14 (6.80%) PowerShell
2 3 (1.46%) SQL
3 1 (0.49%) Python
Qualifications
1 72 (34.95%) Security Cleared
2 66 (32.04%) SC Cleared
3 36 (17.48%) Degree
4 18 (8.74%) Microsoft Certification
5 16 (7.77%) Dell Certification
6 14 (6.80%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 11 (5.34%) ITIL Certification
8 3 (1.46%) A+ Certification
9 2 (0.97%) Computer Science Degree
9 2 (0.97%) DBS Check
9 2 (0.97%) DV Cleared
9 2 (0.97%) MCP
10 1 (0.49%) BPSS Clearance
10 1 (0.49%) CCNA
10 1 (0.49%) Cisco Certification
10 1 (0.49%) CISSP
10 1 (0.49%) CompTIA Security+
10 1 (0.49%) MCSA
10 1 (0.49%) MCSE
10 1 (0.49%) MOS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (13.59%) SLA
2 13 (6.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 9 (4.37%) QA
4 1 (0.49%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.49%) GxP
System Software
1 75 (36.41%) Active Directory
2 4 (1.94%) Virtual Desktop
3 3 (1.46%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.97%) vSphere
4 2 (0.97%) XenApp
5 1 (0.49%) BitLocker
5 1 (0.49%) Firmware
5 1 (0.49%) Xen
Systems Management
1 33 (16.02%) Microsoft Intune
2 24 (11.65%) SCCM
3 2 (0.97%) AppManager
3 2 (0.97%) McAfee ePO
3 2 (0.97%) Norton AntiVirus
4 1 (0.49%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 121 (58.74%) Microsoft
2 40 (19.42%) ServiceNow
3 26 (12.62%) Citrix
4 24 (11.65%) HP
5 20 (9.71%) Dell
6 10 (4.85%) Apple
7 9 (4.37%) SAP
8 8 (3.88%) Cisco
8 8 (3.88%) McAfee
9 7 (3.40%) Canon
10 5 (2.43%) VMware
10 5 (2.43%) Wyse
11 3 (1.46%) Bloomberg
11 3 (1.46%) Remedy
11 3 (1.46%) Sage
11 3 (1.46%) Spiceworks
12 2 (0.97%) Aerohive Networks
12 2 (0.97%) AVG
12 2 (0.97%) GFI Software
12 2 (0.97%) Webroot