Desktop Support Contract Job Trends in England

Desktop Support
UK > England

The median Desktop Support daily rate in England is £197, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 2 April 2026.

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

6 months to
2 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 388 291 266
Rank change year-on-year -97 -25 +20
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 196 182 309
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.51% 0.75% 0.82%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.56% 0.81% 0.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 148 121 225
10th Percentile £150 £153 £123
25th Percentile £156 £182 £145
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £197 £200 £203
Median % change year-on-year -1.38% -1.23% -0.09%
75th Percentile £230 £244 £228
90th Percentile £275 £280 £300
UK median daily rate £195 £200 £200
% change year-on-year -2.50% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 34 9 27
10th Percentile £16.25 £16.67 £17.00
25th Percentile £19.54 £18.13 £20.00
Median hourly rate £19.91 £30.00 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year -33.63% +42.86% +0.33%
75th Percentile £21.46 £30.68 £27.86
90th Percentile - £37.50 £30.75
UK median hourly rate £19.91 £23.00 £21.00
% change year-on-year -13.43% +9.52% +3.96%

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 35,285 22,535 34,877
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.23% 92.94% 92.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,231 15,079 23,309
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £409 £411
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -3.80% -1.00% -3.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,327 833 2,302
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.99 £12.93
25th Percentile £19.96 £20.85 £16.25
Median hourly rate £41.94 £34.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +23.35% +4.62% -24.14%
75th Percentile £65.13 £65.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £76.25 £71.86
UK median hourly rate £38.63 £32.50 £32.90
% change year-on-year +18.86% -1.20% -25.00%

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 2 April 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 2 April 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 2 April 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 -70 40 £213 +6.25% 8
Midlands -44 35 £175 -12.50%
East of England -15 34 £195 -10.34% 1
North of England -70 31 £188 -3.85% 6
South West -35 28 £210 -6.67% 2
East Midlands -11 27 £200 +1.66%
South East -57 26 £172 -12.05% 11
North West -34 14 £175 -15.66% 5
Yorkshire -52 13 £230 +2.22% 1
West Midlands -66 8 £140 -30.00%
North East -19 4 £175 +12.90%
Desktop Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 2 April 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.

1 108 (55.10%) Windows
2 82 (41.84%) Microsoft
3 73 (37.24%) Microsoft 365
4 67 (34.18%) Customer Service
5 64 (32.65%) Active Directory
6 60 (30.61%) SC Cleared
6 60 (30.61%) Security Cleared
7 58 (29.59%) Windows 10
8 37 (18.88%) Azure
9 35 (17.86%) Microsoft Intune
10 28 (14.29%) Problem-Solving
11 27 (13.78%) Microsoft Office
12 26 (13.27%) ITIL
12 26 (13.27%) Mac OS
12 26 (13.27%) SLA
13 25 (12.76%) HP
13 25 (12.76%) Migration
14 24 (12.24%) SCCM
15 22 (11.22%) Apple
15 22 (11.22%) Dell
15 22 (11.22%) SharePoint
15 22 (11.22%) Wireless
16 20 (10.20%) Android
16 20 (10.20%) Time Management
17 19 (9.69%) Cisco
17 19 (9.69%) ServiceNow
18 18 (9.18%) Asset Management
18 18 (9.18%) VPN
19 17 (8.67%) Service Delivery
20 15 (7.65%) Business Intelligence

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 (11.22%) SharePoint
2 7 (3.57%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 27 (13.78%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (7.14%) Spreadsheet
3 8 (4.08%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (1.02%) assyst
2 1 (0.51%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 73 (37.24%) Microsoft 365
2 37 (18.88%) Azure
3 13 (6.63%) Entra ID
4 4 (2.04%) Google Ads
4 4 (2.04%) Google Workspace
4 4 (2.04%) OneDrive
4 4 (2.04%) Slack
5 2 (1.02%) Microsoft Copilot
6 1 (0.51%) Google Drive
6 1 (0.51%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 22 (11.22%) Wireless
2 18 (9.18%) VPN
3 9 (4.59%) DNS
4 8 (4.08%) TCP/IP
5 7 (3.57%) DHCP
6 6 (3.06%) PABX
7 3 (1.53%) Softphone
7 3 (1.53%) Wi-Fi
8 2 (1.02%) Firewall
8 2 (1.02%) LAN
9 1 (0.51%) IPv4
9 1 (0.51%) Skype
9 1 (0.51%) Telepresence
9 1 (0.51%) Unified Communications
9 1 (0.51%) VoIP
Development Applications
1 4 (2.04%) JIRA
General
1 67 (34.18%) Social Skills
2 26 (13.27%) Finance
3 20 (10.20%) Public Sector
4 18 (9.18%) Telecoms
5 17 (8.67%) Analytical Skills
6 16 (8.16%) Manufacturing
7 15 (7.65%) Electronics
7 15 (7.65%) Marketing
8 9 (4.59%) Retail
9 6 (3.06%) Law
10 5 (2.55%) Organisational Skills
11 4 (2.04%) Aerospace
12 3 (1.53%) Banking
12 3 (1.53%) Documentation Skills
13 2 (1.02%) Legal
13 2 (1.02%) Local Government
13 2 (1.02%) Pharmaceutical
Miscellaneous
1 27 (13.78%) Self-Motivation
2 21 (10.71%) Smartphone
3 17 (8.67%) Data Centre
4 10 (5.10%) Onboarding
5 8 (4.08%) Hybrid Cloud
5 8 (4.08%) Management Information System
6 6 (3.06%) iPhone
7 5 (2.55%) iPad
8 4 (2.04%) Enterprise Software
9 3 (1.53%) Video Conferencing
9 3 (1.53%) Virtual Team
10 2 (1.02%) Hedge funds
10 2 (1.02%) Mobile App
10 2 (1.02%) Tandem
11 1 (0.51%) Analytical Mindset
11 1 (0.51%) Data Protection Act
11 1 (0.51%) Driving Licence
Operating Systems
1 108 (55.10%) Windows
2 58 (29.59%) Windows 10
3 26 (13.27%) Mac OS
4 20 (10.20%) Android
5 10 (5.10%) Windows Server
6 9 (4.59%) Apple iOS
7 5 (2.55%) Windows 7
8 4 (2.04%) Windows 8
9 1 (0.51%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 67 (34.18%) Customer Service
2 28 (14.29%) Problem-Solving
3 26 (13.27%) ITIL
4 25 (12.76%) Migration
5 20 (10.20%) Time Management
6 18 (9.18%) Asset Management
7 17 (8.67%) Service Delivery
8 15 (7.65%) Business Intelligence
8 15 (7.65%) Digital Marketing
8 15 (7.65%) Programme Management
9 13 (6.63%) Continuous Improvement
9 13 (6.63%) Incident Management
10 11 (5.61%) ITSM
11 10 (5.10%) Logistics
12 9 (4.59%) Project Delivery
12 9 (4.59%) Root Cause Analysis
12 9 (4.59%) Service Management
13 8 (4.08%) Business Impact Analysis
13 8 (4.08%) Impact Analysis
13 8 (4.08%) Inventory Management
Programming Languages
1 12 (6.12%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.51%) Python
Qualifications
1 60 (30.61%) SC Cleared
1 60 (30.61%) Security Cleared
2 8 (4.08%) A+ Certification
3 7 (3.57%) Degree
4 5 (2.55%) ITIL Certification
5 2 (1.02%) Computer Science Degree
5 2 (1.02%) Microsoft Certification
6 1 (0.51%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (13.27%) SLA
2 3 (1.53%) GDPR
3 2 (1.02%) QA
System Software
1 64 (32.65%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.04%) Firmware
3 1 (0.51%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 35 (17.86%) Microsoft Intune
2 24 (12.24%) SCCM
3 1 (0.51%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 82 (41.84%) Microsoft
2 25 (12.76%) HP
3 22 (11.22%) Apple
3 22 (11.22%) Dell
4 19 (9.69%) Cisco
4 19 (9.69%) ServiceNow
5 15 (7.65%) SAP
6 10 (5.10%) Starlink
7 9 (4.59%) McAfee
8 5 (2.55%) Google
9 4 (2.04%) Remedy
10 3 (1.53%) Bloomberg
11 2 (1.02%) Salesforce
12 1 (0.51%) Altiris
12 1 (0.51%) Barracuda Networks
12 1 (0.51%) Citrix
12 1 (0.51%) CrowdStrike
12 1 (0.51%) Nexthink
12 1 (0.51%) SolarWinds
12 1 (0.51%) Veeam