Desktop Support Contract Job Trends in England

Desktop Support
UK > England

The median Desktop Support daily rate in England is £215, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 14 October 2025.

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

 6 months to
14 Oct 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 298 334 294
Rank change year-on-year +36 -40 +5
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 237 199 329
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.84% 0.62% 0.81%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.92% 0.67% 0.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 159 127 231
10th Percentile £154 £142 £133
25th Percentile £163 £171 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £215 £210 £200
Median % change year-on-year +2.38% +5.00% -
75th Percentile £250 £239 £231
90th Percentile £280 £269 £270
UK median daily rate £210 £210 £200
% change year-on-year - +5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 11 27
10th Percentile £18.47 £18.13 £15.83
25th Percentile £24.12 £23.99 £17.36
Median hourly rate £29.05 £27.00 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year +7.59% +38.46% +4.00%
75th Percentile £33.00 £30.63 £24.25
90th Percentile £33.75 £37.00 £25.71
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £24.18 £19.50
% change year-on-year +4.01% +24.00% +9.86%

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 25,623 29,744 38,262
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.09% 93.08% 93.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 16,502 18,152 26,664
10th Percentile £276 £300 £300
25th Percentile £402 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% -2.78% -1.82%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,440 1,247 1,407
10th Percentile £13.80 £15.10 £15.23
25th Percentile £17.32 £21.25 £19.38
Median hourly rate £25.15 £43.00 £46.18
Median % change year-on-year -41.51% -6.89% +67.93%
75th Percentile £50.81 £67.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £41.27 £45.00
% change year-on-year -39.05% -8.30% +69.81%

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 14 October 2025.

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 14 October 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 14 October 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
London +10 74 £200 -2.44% 6
South West +48 52 £235 +11.90% 2
North of England 0 49 £210 +3.70% 5
South East +10 35 £215 - 6
Midlands +7 27 £171 -34.86% 1
North West 0 26 £210 +3.70% 4
West Midlands -4 17 £175 -11.95%
Yorkshire -15 13 £235 +6.82%
North East +1 10 £175 - 1
East Midlands 0 10 £158 -42.73% 1
East of England -20 9 £220 +10.00% 1
Desktop Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 14 October 2025, 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.

1 137 (57.81%) Windows
2 133 (56.12%) Social Skills
3 118 (49.79%) Microsoft
3 118 (49.79%) Microsoft 365
4 102 (43.04%) Customer Service
5 93 (39.24%) Active Directory
6 83 (35.02%) Security Cleared
7 81 (34.18%) ITIL
8 78 (32.91%) SC Cleared
9 73 (30.80%) Finance
10 67 (28.27%) Windows 10
11 65 (27.43%) Microsoft Office
12 53 (22.36%) ITSM
13 51 (21.52%) Microsoft Exchange
14 46 (19.41%) Service Management
15 45 (18.99%) ServiceNow
16 43 (18.14%) Microsoft Intune
17 40 (16.88%) Problem-Solving
18 35 (14.77%) Analytical Skills
19 34 (14.35%) Public Sector
20 32 (13.50%) Azure
21 31 (13.08%) Degree
22 30 (12.66%) Mac OS
22 30 (12.66%) Workflow
23 29 (12.24%) VPN
24 28 (11.81%) Business Intelligence
25 27 (11.39%) SAP
25 27 (11.39%) Programme Management
25 27 (11.39%) Manufacturing
25 27 (11.39%) Electronics

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 51 (21.52%) Microsoft Exchange
2 23 (9.70%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.84%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.42%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 65 (27.43%) Microsoft Office
2 24 (10.13%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (1.27%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 3 (1.27%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.42%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.42%) Eikon
2 1 (0.42%) Eze OMS
2 1 (0.42%) Fidessa
Cloud Services
1 118 (49.79%) Microsoft 365
2 32 (13.50%) Azure
3 18 (7.59%) OneDrive
4 9 (3.80%) Entra ID
5 2 (0.84%) Google Workspace
6 1 (0.42%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 29 (12.24%) VPN
2 22 (9.28%) Wireless
3 13 (5.49%) DHCP
3 13 (5.49%) DNS
4 11 (4.64%) PABX
5 8 (3.38%) TCP/IP
6 7 (2.95%) LAN
6 7 (2.95%) WAN
7 5 (2.11%) Firewall
7 5 (2.11%) Structured Cabling
8 4 (1.69%) Remote Desktop
9 3 (1.27%) Skype
9 3 (1.27%) Telepresence
9 3 (1.27%) Unified Communications
9 3 (1.27%) Wi-Fi
10 2 (0.84%) Internet
10 2 (0.84%) VLAN
10 2 (0.84%) WebEx
11 1 (0.42%) NetScaler
11 1 (0.42%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.42%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 2 (0.84%) JIRA
General
1 133 (56.12%) Social Skills
2 73 (30.80%) Finance
3 35 (14.77%) Analytical Skills
4 34 (14.35%) Public Sector
5 27 (11.39%) Electronics
5 27 (11.39%) Manufacturing
5 27 (11.39%) Marketing
5 27 (11.39%) Telecoms
6 13 (5.49%) Banking
7 10 (4.22%) Front Office
8 7 (2.95%) Documentation Skills
9 5 (2.11%) Aerospace
10 4 (1.69%) Investment Banking
11 3 (1.27%) Organisational Skills
12 2 (0.84%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 1 (0.42%) Financial Institution
13 1 (0.42%) Legal
13 1 (0.42%) Pharmaceutical
13 1 (0.42%) Retail Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.42%) FIX Protocol
Miscellaneous
1 17 (7.17%) Self-Motivation
2 16 (6.75%) Data Centre
2 16 (6.75%) Smartphone
3 14 (5.91%) iPad
3 14 (5.91%) iPhone
4 13 (5.49%) Driving Licence
5 9 (3.80%) Onboarding
6 8 (3.38%) Video Conferencing
7 4 (1.69%) CMDB
7 4 (1.69%) Hedge funds
8 3 (1.27%) Virtual Team
9 1 (0.42%) BYOD
9 1 (0.42%) Data Protection Act
9 1 (0.42%) Fat Client
9 1 (0.42%) Fixed Income
9 1 (0.42%) Legacy Systems
9 1 (0.42%) Mobile App
9 1 (0.42%) Replication
9 1 (0.42%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 137 (57.81%) Windows
2 67 (28.27%) Windows 10
3 30 (12.66%) Mac OS
4 23 (9.70%) Android
5 15 (6.33%) Apple iOS
6 8 (3.38%) Windows Server
7 3 (1.27%) Mac OS X
8 2 (0.84%) Linux
8 2 (0.84%) Windows 7
8 2 (0.84%) Windows 8
8 2 (0.84%) Windows Server 2012
8 2 (0.84%) Windows XP
9 1 (0.42%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 102 (43.04%) Customer Service
2 81 (34.18%) ITIL
3 53 (22.36%) ITSM
4 46 (19.41%) Service Management
5 40 (16.88%) Problem-Solving
6 30 (12.66%) Workflow
7 28 (11.81%) Business Intelligence
8 27 (11.39%) Digital Marketing
8 27 (11.39%) Programme Management
9 23 (9.70%) Inventory Management
9 23 (9.70%) Patch Management
10 21 (8.86%) Service Delivery
11 19 (8.02%) Collaborative Working
11 19 (8.02%) Mobile Device Management
12 18 (7.59%) Time Management
13 17 (7.17%) Migration
14 15 (6.33%) Workflow Management
15 14 (5.91%) Data Analysis
16 13 (5.49%) Asset Management
16 13 (5.49%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 21 (8.86%) PowerShell
2 3 (1.27%) SQL
3 1 (0.42%) Python
Qualifications
1 83 (35.02%) Security Cleared
2 78 (32.91%) SC Cleared
3 31 (13.08%) Degree
4 16 (6.75%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
5 13 (5.49%) Microsoft Certification
6 11 (4.64%) ITIL Certification
7 5 (2.11%) BPSS Clearance
8 4 (1.69%) DBS Check
9 3 (1.27%) Computer Science Degree
10 2 (0.84%) DV Cleared
11 1 (0.42%) CCNA
11 1 (0.42%) Cisco Certification
11 1 (0.42%) CISSP
11 1 (0.42%) CompTIA Security+
11 1 (0.42%) GIAC
11 1 (0.42%) MCSA
11 1 (0.42%) MCSE
11 1 (0.42%) MOS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (9.28%) SLA
2 12 (5.06%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 8 (3.38%) QA
4 6 (2.53%) GDPR
System Software
1 93 (39.24%) Active Directory
2 16 (6.75%) Virtual Desktop
3 3 (1.27%) vSphere
4 2 (0.84%) Firmware
4 2 (0.84%) XenApp
5 1 (0.42%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.42%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.42%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.42%) Xen
Systems Management
1 43 (18.14%) Microsoft Intune
2 24 (10.13%) SCCM
3 2 (0.84%) McAfee ePO
3 2 (0.84%) Norton AntiVirus
Vendors
1 118 (49.79%) Microsoft
2 45 (18.99%) ServiceNow
3 27 (11.39%) SAP
4 24 (10.13%) Cisco
5 23 (9.70%) Apple
5 23 (9.70%) Citrix
6 22 (9.28%) HP
7 20 (8.44%) Dell
8 11 (4.64%) McAfee
9 8 (3.38%) Bloomberg
10 6 (2.53%) Starlink
10 6 (2.53%) Wyse
11 4 (1.69%) Remedy
11 4 (1.69%) VMware
12 3 (1.27%) Sage
13 2 (0.84%) Autodesk
13 2 (0.84%) Reuters
13 2 (0.84%) Sophos
13 2 (0.84%) Symantec
13 2 (0.84%) Toshiba
18 Desktop Support jobs in England