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 3 June 2026.

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

6 months to
3 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 427 276 291
Rank change year-on-year -151 +15 -10
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 164 202 263
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.39% 0.84% 0.71%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.43% 0.91% 0.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 131 125 186
10th Percentile £145 £153 £126
25th Percentile £163 £188 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £210 £200
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -
75th Percentile £234 £250 £225
90th Percentile £270 £278 £273
UK median daily rate £200 £205 £200
% change year-on-year -2.44% +2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 18 27
10th Percentile £19.45 £15.12 £16.70
25th Percentile £19.91 £17.03 £19.07
Median hourly rate £22.00 £26.83 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year -17.99% +27.74% -10.64%
75th Percentile £23.72 £33.75 £27.88
90th Percentile £27.90 £34.88 £30.25
UK median hourly rate £22.00 £17.30 £21.00
% change year-on-year +27.17% -17.62% -10.64%

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 38,507 22,115 34,261
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.34% 92.38% 92.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,765 14,615 22,560
10th Percentile £325 £290 £285
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £518 £517 £525
Median % change year-on-year +0.10% -1.52% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £513 £504 £525
% change year-on-year +1.69% -4.00% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,712 936 2,585
10th Percentile £15.79 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £21.25 £18.13 £16.30
Median hourly rate £45.00 £29.57 £37.75
Median % change year-on-year +52.21% -21.68% -16.11%
75th Percentile £67.50 £60.00 £62.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £74.00
UK median hourly rate £42.50 £28.00 £37.50
% change year-on-year +51.79% -25.33% -16.67%

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 3 June 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 3 June 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 3 June 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 -89 44 £213 -4.82% 6
Midlands -43 29 £200 -6.12%
South East -69 25 £170 -17.07% 3
North of England -91 25 £230 +17.95% 11
South West -56 22 £210 -7.69%
East Midlands -12 21 £200 +1.66%
East of England -27 18 £195 -4.88% 1
North West -40 14 £188 +4.17% 7
Yorkshire -60 11 £230 -2.13% 2
West Midlands -60 8 £150 -31.82%
Desktop Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 3 June 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.

1 113 (68.90%) Windows
2 81 (49.39%) Microsoft
3 69 (42.07%) Active Directory
4 64 (39.02%) Microsoft 365
5 48 (29.27%) Customer Service
6 46 (28.05%) Windows 10
7 36 (21.95%) Azure
7 36 (21.95%) Microsoft Intune
8 33 (20.12%) Problem-Solving
9 26 (15.85%) SCCM
10 25 (15.24%) ITIL
10 25 (15.24%) SC Cleared
10 25 (15.24%) Security Cleared
11 22 (13.41%) Asset Management
11 22 (13.41%) SharePoint
12 20 (12.20%) Entra ID
13 19 (11.59%) Mac OS
14 18 (10.98%) VPN
15 16 (9.76%) Continuous Improvement
15 16 (9.76%) Migration
16 15 (9.15%) Apple iOS
16 15 (9.15%) ITSM
16 15 (9.15%) ServiceNow
17 14 (8.54%) Degree
17 14 (8.54%) PowerShell
17 14 (8.54%) SLA
18 12 (7.32%) Microsoft Exchange
18 12 (7.32%) Microsoft Office
19 11 (6.71%) Apple
19 11 (6.71%) DNS

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 (13.41%) SharePoint
2 12 (7.32%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 12 (7.32%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.44%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.61%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 3 (1.83%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.61%) assyst
Cloud Services
1 64 (39.02%) Microsoft 365
2 36 (21.95%) Azure
3 20 (12.20%) Entra ID
4 4 (2.44%) Google Ads
4 4 (2.44%) Google Workspace
4 4 (2.44%) Slack
5 3 (1.83%) OneDrive
6 2 (1.22%) Microsoft Copilot
7 1 (0.61%) Google Drive
7 1 (0.61%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 18 (10.98%) VPN
2 11 (6.71%) DNS
3 10 (6.10%) DHCP
3 10 (6.10%) TCP/IP
4 6 (3.66%) Wireless
5 5 (3.05%) Wi-Fi
6 3 (1.83%) Firewall
7 2 (1.22%) LAN
8 1 (0.61%) IPv4
8 1 (0.61%) Skype
8 1 (0.61%) Softphone
8 1 (0.61%) Telepresence
8 1 (0.61%) Unified Communications
8 1 (0.61%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.61%) Amazon RDS
1 1 (0.61%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 6 (3.66%) JIRA
General
1 59 (35.98%) Social Skills
2 20 (12.20%) Finance
3 12 (7.32%) Analytical Skills
4 9 (5.49%) Banking
5 8 (4.88%) Organisational Skills
6 7 (4.27%) Law
7 6 (3.66%) Investment Banking
8 5 (3.05%) Financial Institution
8 5 (3.05%) Spanish Language
9 3 (1.83%) Pharmaceutical
9 3 (1.83%) Public Sector
10 2 (1.22%) Legal
10 2 (1.22%) Local Government
10 2 (1.22%) Manufacturing
10 2 (1.22%) Retail
11 1 (0.61%) Aerospace
11 1 (0.61%) Front Office
11 1 (0.61%) Telecoms
Miscellaneous
1 22 (13.41%) Onboarding
2 16 (9.76%) Smartphone
3 11 (6.71%) Self-Motivation
4 8 (4.88%) Hybrid Cloud
4 8 (4.88%) iPhone
5 6 (3.66%) Hedge funds
6 5 (3.05%) Enterprise Software
6 5 (3.05%) Video Conferencing
7 3 (1.83%) Data Protection Act
7 3 (1.83%) iPad
8 2 (1.22%) Driving Licence
8 2 (1.22%) Virtual Team
9 1 (0.61%) Analytical Mindset
9 1 (0.61%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 113 (68.90%) Windows
2 46 (28.05%) Windows 10
3 19 (11.59%) Mac OS
4 15 (9.15%) Apple iOS
5 9 (5.49%) Android
6 5 (3.05%) Windows 7
6 5 (3.05%) Windows Server
7 4 (2.44%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 48 (29.27%) Customer Service
2 33 (20.12%) Problem-Solving
3 25 (15.24%) ITIL
4 22 (13.41%) Asset Management
5 16 (9.76%) Continuous Improvement
5 16 (9.76%) Migration
6 15 (9.15%) ITSM
7 11 (6.71%) Service Delivery
7 11 (6.71%) Service Management
8 10 (6.10%) Business Continuity
8 10 (6.10%) Logistics
9 9 (5.49%) Disaster Recovery
9 9 (5.49%) Incident Management
9 9 (5.49%) Project Delivery
9 9 (5.49%) User Experience
10 8 (4.88%) BCP
10 8 (4.88%) Root Cause Analysis
11 7 (4.27%) Business Continuity Planning
11 7 (4.27%) Stakeholder Management
11 7 (4.27%) Time Management
Programming Languages
1 14 (8.54%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.61%) Bash
2 1 (0.61%) Python
Qualifications
1 25 (15.24%) SC Cleared
1 25 (15.24%) Security Cleared
2 14 (8.54%) Degree
3 7 (4.27%) A+ Certification
4 3 (1.83%) Computer Science Degree
4 3 (1.83%) ITIL Certification
5 2 (1.22%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (8.54%) SLA
System Software
1 69 (42.07%) Active Directory
2 6 (3.66%) Virtual Desktop
3 3 (1.83%) Firmware
4 2 (1.22%) BitLocker
4 2 (1.22%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.61%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.61%) zsh
Systems Management
1 36 (21.95%) Microsoft Intune
2 26 (15.85%) SCCM
3 2 (1.22%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (0.61%) WSUS
Vendors
1 81 (49.39%) Microsoft
2 15 (9.15%) ServiceNow
3 11 (6.71%) Apple
3 11 (6.71%) HP
4 8 (4.88%) Starlink
5 7 (4.27%) McAfee
6 6 (3.66%) Citrix
7 5 (3.05%) Dell
7 5 (3.05%) Google
8 4 (2.44%) Bloomberg
8 4 (2.44%) Remedy
9 2 (1.22%) Salesforce
9 2 (1.22%) VMware
10 1 (0.61%) Adobe
10 1 (0.61%) Barracuda Networks
10 1 (0.61%) BMC
10 1 (0.61%) Cisco
10 1 (0.61%) Nexthink
10 1 (0.61%) SolarWinds
10 1 (0.61%) Veeam