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 20 March 2026.

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

6 months to
20 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 368 302 274
Rank change year-on-year -66 -28 +29
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 209 179 303
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.56% 0.73% 0.80%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.61% 0.79% 0.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 157 125 218
10th Percentile £150 £153 £124
25th Percentile £156 £181 £144
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £195 £200 £205
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% -2.44% +0.49%
75th Percentile £238 £238 £227
90th Percentile £275 £269 £311
UK median daily rate £195 £200 £203
% change year-on-year -2.50% -1.23% -0.74%
Number of hourly rates quoted 36 8 26
10th Percentile £16.25 £16.67 £17.00
25th Percentile £19.54 £17.76 £20.00
Median hourly rate £19.91 £28.25 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year -29.52% +34.52% +5.00%
75th Percentile £21.46 £30.68 £28.93
90th Percentile £22.59 £32.57 £30.88
UK median hourly rate £19.91 £23.00 £21.00
% change year-on-year -13.43% +9.52% +5.32%

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 34,185 22,733 34,999
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.02% 93.02% 92.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,607 15,058 23,418
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £408 £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 £521 £525
% change year-on-year -4.03% -0.76% -4.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,238 789 2,273
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.14 £13.00
25th Percentile £19.40 £21.24 £16.25
Median hourly rate £37.50 £35.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% +7.69% -23.53%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £59.44
90th Percentile £76.58 £77.50 £71.25
UK median hourly rate £36.00 £32.50 £32.50
% change year-on-year +10.77% - -23.53%

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 20 March 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 20 March 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 20 March 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 -55 47 £207 +3.25% 8
Midlands -41 38 £175 -12.50%
East of England -3 34 £195 -2.50% 1
North of England -69 34 £175 -10.26% 3
East Midlands -11 29 £175 -10.83%
South West -33 27 £210 -6.67% 3
South East -59 27 £172 -12.05% 9
North West -31 16 £175 -9.68% 2
Yorkshire -54 13 £230 +8.24% 1
West Midlands -66 9 £145 -27.50%
North East -18 5 £175 +12.90%
Desktop Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 20 March 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.

1 112 (53.59%) Windows
2 86 (41.15%) Microsoft 365
3 85 (40.67%) Microsoft
4 69 (33.01%) Customer Service
5 68 (32.54%) Security Cleared
6 67 (32.06%) SC Cleared
7 65 (31.10%) Active Directory
8 61 (29.19%) Windows 10
9 39 (18.66%) Microsoft Office
10 35 (16.75%) Azure
11 34 (16.27%) Mac OS
11 34 (16.27%) Microsoft Intune
12 33 (15.79%) HP
13 31 (14.83%) Wireless
14 30 (14.35%) Apple
14 30 (14.35%) Dell
15 28 (13.40%) Android
16 27 (12.92%) Cisco
16 27 (12.92%) SCCM
16 27 (12.92%) SLA
17 26 (12.44%) Problem-Solving
18 25 (11.96%) Migration
19 24 (11.48%) ITIL
20 23 (11.00%) Business Intelligence
20 23 (11.00%) Digital Marketing
20 23 (11.00%) Programme Management
20 23 (11.00%) SAP
21 21 (10.05%) ServiceNow
22 20 (9.57%) SharePoint
22 20 (9.57%) Time Management

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 20 (9.57%) SharePoint
2 7 (3.35%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 39 (18.66%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (6.70%) Spreadsheet
3 10 (4.78%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.48%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.96%) assyst
2 1 (0.48%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 86 (41.15%) Microsoft 365
2 35 (16.75%) Azure
3 14 (6.70%) Entra ID
4 6 (2.87%) OneDrive
5 4 (1.91%) Google Ads
5 4 (1.91%) Google Workspace
5 4 (1.91%) Slack
6 2 (0.96%) Microsoft Copilot
7 1 (0.48%) Google Drive
7 1 (0.48%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 31 (14.83%) Wireless
2 20 (9.57%) VPN
3 11 (5.26%) DNS
4 9 (4.31%) DHCP
4 9 (4.31%) TCP/IP
5 8 (3.83%) PABX
6 3 (1.44%) Softphone
6 3 (1.44%) Wi-Fi
7 2 (0.96%) Firewall
7 2 (0.96%) LAN
8 1 (0.48%) IPv4
8 1 (0.48%) Network Security
8 1 (0.48%) Skype
8 1 (0.48%) Telepresence
8 1 (0.48%) Unified Communications
8 1 (0.48%) VoIP
Development Applications
1 4 (1.91%) JIRA
General
1 72 (34.45%) Social Skills
2 37 (17.70%) Finance
3 29 (13.88%) Public Sector
4 26 (12.44%) Telecoms
5 24 (11.48%) Manufacturing
6 23 (11.00%) Electronics
6 23 (11.00%) Marketing
7 17 (8.13%) Analytical Skills
8 9 (4.31%) Retail
9 6 (2.87%) Law
9 6 (2.87%) Organisational Skills
10 5 (2.39%) Aerospace
11 4 (1.91%) Banking
11 4 (1.91%) Documentation Skills
12 2 (0.96%) Legal
12 2 (0.96%) Local Government
12 2 (0.96%) Pharmaceutical
13 1 (0.48%) Financial Institution
13 1 (0.48%) Investment Banking
Miscellaneous
1 27 (12.92%) Self-Motivation
2 25 (11.96%) Data Centre
3 23 (11.00%) Smartphone
4 11 (5.26%) Onboarding
5 8 (3.83%) Hybrid Cloud
5 8 (3.83%) Management Information System
6 6 (2.87%) iPhone
7 5 (2.39%) iPad
7 5 (2.39%) Video Conferencing
7 5 (2.39%) Virtual Team
8 4 (1.91%) Enterprise Software
9 3 (1.44%) Hedge funds
10 2 (0.96%) Mobile App
10 2 (0.96%) Tandem
11 1 (0.48%) Analytical Mindset
11 1 (0.48%) Data Protection Act
11 1 (0.48%) Driving Licence
Operating Systems
1 112 (53.59%) Windows
2 61 (29.19%) Windows 10
3 34 (16.27%) Mac OS
4 28 (13.40%) Android
5 11 (5.26%) Windows Server
6 9 (4.31%) Apple iOS
7 5 (2.39%) Windows 7
8 4 (1.91%) Windows 8
9 1 (0.48%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 69 (33.01%) Customer Service
2 26 (12.44%) Problem-Solving
3 25 (11.96%) Migration
4 24 (11.48%) ITIL
5 23 (11.00%) Business Intelligence
5 23 (11.00%) Digital Marketing
5 23 (11.00%) Programme Management
6 20 (9.57%) Time Management
7 18 (8.61%) Service Delivery
8 16 (7.66%) Asset Management
9 13 (6.22%) Continuous Improvement
9 13 (6.22%) Incident Management
9 13 (6.22%) ITSM
10 9 (4.31%) Project Delivery
11 8 (3.83%) Business Impact Analysis
11 8 (3.83%) Disaster Recovery
11 8 (3.83%) Impact Analysis
11 8 (3.83%) Inventory Management
11 8 (3.83%) Service Management
11 8 (3.83%) Workflow
Programming Languages
1 13 (6.22%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.48%) Python
Qualifications
1 68 (32.54%) Security Cleared
2 67 (32.06%) SC Cleared
3 8 (3.83%) A+ Certification
4 6 (2.87%) Degree
5 5 (2.39%) ITIL Certification
6 3 (1.44%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 2 (0.96%) Computer Science Degree
7 2 (0.96%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (12.92%) SLA
2 4 (1.91%) GDPR
3 2 (0.96%) QA
System Software
1 65 (31.10%) Active Directory
2 5 (2.39%) Firmware
3 1 (0.48%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 34 (16.27%) Microsoft Intune
2 27 (12.92%) SCCM
3 1 (0.48%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 85 (40.67%) Microsoft
2 33 (15.79%) HP
3 30 (14.35%) Apple
3 30 (14.35%) Dell
4 27 (12.92%) Cisco
5 23 (11.00%) SAP
6 21 (10.05%) ServiceNow
7 8 (3.83%) McAfee
8 7 (3.35%) Starlink
9 5 (2.39%) Google
10 4 (1.91%) Remedy
11 3 (1.44%) Bloomberg
12 2 (0.96%) Salesforce
13 1 (0.48%) Altiris
13 1 (0.48%) Barracuda Networks
13 1 (0.48%) Citrix
13 1 (0.48%) CrowdStrike
13 1 (0.48%) Nexthink
13 1 (0.48%) SolarWinds
13 1 (0.48%) Veeam