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 10 March 2026.

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

 6 months to
10 Mar 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 355 294 279
Rank change year-on-year -61 -15 +29
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 213 180 296
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.59% 0.73% 0.78%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.64% 0.78% 0.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 158 126 212
10th Percentile £150 £150 £123
25th Percentile £156 £175 £144
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £195 £200 £205
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% -2.44% +0.49%
75th Percentile £232 £238 £225
90th Percentile £288 £269 £300
UK median daily rate £184 £200 £200
% change year-on-year -7.97% - -1.32%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 8 26
10th Percentile £16.25 £16.67 £17.00
25th Percentile £19.54 £17.76 £20.00
Median hourly rate £20.05 £28.25 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year -29.04% +34.52% +5.63%
75th Percentile £21.46 £30.68 £28.93
90th Percentile £24.15 £32.57 £30.88
UK median hourly rate £20.05 £23.00 £21.00
% change year-on-year -12.85% +9.52% +10.44%

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 33,332 23,040 35,329
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.11% 93.07% 92.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,054 15,071 23,616
10th Percentile £308 £300 £270
25th Percentile £413 £409 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £623 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £750 £748
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.46%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,175 758 2,288
10th Percentile £15.35 £15.44 £13.00
25th Percentile £19.41 £21.25 £16.25
Median hourly rate £36.00 £35.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +2.86% +7.69% -23.29%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £59.61
90th Percentile £75.79 £77.50 £71.78
UK median hourly rate £35.00 £33.20 £32.69
% change year-on-year +5.42% +1.56% -22.84%

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 10 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 10 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 10 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 -44 47 £201 +0.25% 10
Midlands -42 40 £175 -12.50%
North of England -55 35 £175 -10.26% 3
East of England -11 33 £195 -4.88% 1
South West -25 32 £250 +11.11% 7
East Midlands -6 30 £175 -10.83%
South East -52 25 £172 -12.05% 12
North West -30 16 £175 -9.68% 1
Yorkshire -53 12 £230 +4.55% 2
West Midlands -62 10 £150 -25.00%
North East -14 7 £175 +12.90% 1
Desktop Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 10 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.

1 118 (55.40%) Windows
2 88 (41.31%) Microsoft 365
3 81 (38.03%) Microsoft
4 72 (33.80%) Security Cleared
5 71 (33.33%) Customer Service
5 71 (33.33%) SC Cleared
6 66 (30.99%) Windows 10
7 65 (30.52%) Active Directory
8 43 (20.19%) Microsoft Office
9 35 (16.43%) Mac OS
9 35 (16.43%) Microsoft Intune
10 34 (15.96%) Azure
11 33 (15.49%) HP
12 31 (14.55%) SLA
12 31 (14.55%) Wireless
13 30 (14.08%) Dell
14 29 (13.62%) Apple
14 29 (13.62%) SCCM
15 28 (13.15%) Android
16 27 (12.68%) Cisco
17 26 (12.21%) ServiceNow
18 25 (11.74%) ITIL
18 25 (11.74%) Migration
18 25 (11.74%) Problem-Solving
19 23 (10.80%) Business Intelligence
19 23 (10.80%) Digital Marketing
19 23 (10.80%) Programme Management
19 23 (10.80%) SAP
20 21 (9.86%) SharePoint
21 20 (9.39%) 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 21 (9.86%) SharePoint
2 9 (4.23%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 43 (20.19%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (7.04%) Microsoft Excel
2 15 (7.04%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.47%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.94%) assyst
2 1 (0.47%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 88 (41.31%) Microsoft 365
2 34 (15.96%) Azure
3 12 (5.63%) Entra ID
4 10 (4.69%) OneDrive
5 4 (1.88%) Google Ads
5 4 (1.88%) Google Workspace
5 4 (1.88%) Slack
6 1 (0.47%) Google Drive
Communications & Networking
1 31 (14.55%) Wireless
2 20 (9.39%) VPN
3 13 (6.10%) PABX
4 10 (4.69%) DNS
5 9 (4.23%) TCP/IP
6 8 (3.76%) DHCP
7 3 (1.41%) Softphone
8 2 (0.94%) LAN
9 1 (0.47%) Firewall
9 1 (0.47%) IPv4
9 1 (0.47%) Network Security
9 1 (0.47%) Skype
9 1 (0.47%) Structured Cabling
9 1 (0.47%) Telepresence
9 1 (0.47%) Unified Communications
9 1 (0.47%) VoIP
9 1 (0.47%) Wi-Fi
Development Applications
1 4 (1.88%) JIRA
General
1 79 (37.09%) Social Skills
2 42 (19.72%) Finance
3 27 (12.68%) Public Sector
4 26 (12.21%) Telecoms
5 24 (11.27%) Manufacturing
6 23 (10.80%) Electronics
6 23 (10.80%) Marketing
7 18 (8.45%) Analytical Skills
8 9 (4.23%) Retail
9 7 (3.29%) Aerospace
10 6 (2.82%) Banking
10 6 (2.82%) Documentation Skills
10 6 (2.82%) Law
11 5 (2.35%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (1.41%) Pharmaceutical
13 2 (0.94%) Investment Banking
13 2 (0.94%) Legal
14 1 (0.47%) Financial Institution
Miscellaneous
1 30 (14.08%) Self-Motivation
2 29 (13.62%) Smartphone
3 25 (11.74%) Data Centre
4 11 (5.16%) Onboarding
5 8 (3.76%) Hybrid Cloud
5 8 (3.76%) Management Information System
6 6 (2.82%) iPhone
6 6 (2.82%) Video Conferencing
7 5 (2.35%) iPad
7 5 (2.35%) Virtual Team
8 4 (1.88%) Enterprise Software
9 3 (1.41%) Hedge funds
10 2 (0.94%) Mobile App
10 2 (0.94%) Tandem
11 1 (0.47%) Analytical Mindset
11 1 (0.47%) BYOD
11 1 (0.47%) Data Protection Act
11 1 (0.47%) Driving Licence
Operating Systems
1 118 (55.40%) Windows
2 66 (30.99%) Windows 10
3 35 (16.43%) Mac OS
4 28 (13.15%) Android
5 13 (6.10%) Apple iOS
6 9 (4.23%) Windows Server
7 5 (2.35%) Windows 7
8 4 (1.88%) Windows 8
9 1 (0.47%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 71 (33.33%) Customer Service
2 25 (11.74%) ITIL
2 25 (11.74%) Migration
2 25 (11.74%) Problem-Solving
3 23 (10.80%) Business Intelligence
3 23 (10.80%) Digital Marketing
3 23 (10.80%) Programme Management
4 20 (9.39%) Time Management
5 19 (8.92%) Service Delivery
6 16 (7.51%) ITSM
7 15 (7.04%) Asset Management
8 14 (6.57%) Incident Management
9 13 (6.10%) Service Management
10 11 (5.16%) Continuous Improvement
11 10 (4.69%) Workflow
12 9 (4.23%) Inventory Management
12 9 (4.23%) Project Delivery
13 8 (3.76%) Business Impact Analysis
13 8 (3.76%) Disaster Recovery
13 8 (3.76%) Impact Analysis
Programming Languages
1 13 (6.10%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.47%) Python
Qualifications
1 72 (33.80%) Security Cleared
2 71 (33.33%) SC Cleared
3 7 (3.29%) A+ Certification
4 6 (2.82%) Degree
5 5 (2.35%) ITIL Certification
6 3 (1.41%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 2 (0.94%) Computer Science Degree
7 2 (0.94%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (14.55%) SLA
2 7 (3.29%) GDPR
3 2 (0.94%) QA
System Software
1 65 (30.52%) Active Directory
2 5 (2.35%) Firmware
3 4 (1.88%) Virtual Desktop
4 1 (0.47%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.47%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.47%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 35 (16.43%) Microsoft Intune
2 29 (13.62%) SCCM
3 1 (0.47%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 81 (38.03%) Microsoft
2 33 (15.49%) HP
3 30 (14.08%) Dell
4 29 (13.62%) Apple
5 27 (12.68%) Cisco
6 26 (12.21%) ServiceNow
7 23 (10.80%) SAP
8 7 (3.29%) McAfee
9 6 (2.82%) Starlink
10 5 (2.35%) Google
10 5 (2.35%) Remedy
11 3 (1.41%) Bloomberg
12 2 (0.94%) Salesforce
13 1 (0.47%) Altiris
13 1 (0.47%) Barracuda Networks
13 1 (0.47%) Citrix
13 1 (0.47%) CrowdStrike
13 1 (0.47%) Nexthink
13 1 (0.47%) Veeam
13 1 (0.47%) VMware
27 Desktop Support jobs in England