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 2 December 2025.

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

 6 months to
2 Dec 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 319 320 277
Rank change year-on-year +1 -43 +13
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 232 189 315
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.76% 0.62% 0.82%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.83% 0.67% 0.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 151 127 228
10th Percentile £154 £150 £131
25th Percentile £163 £182 £143
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £195 £219 £200
Median % change year-on-year -10.96% +9.50% -1.23%
75th Percentile £243 £240 £231
90th Percentile £288 £270 £288
UK median daily rate £175 £215 £200
% change year-on-year -18.60% +7.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 10 17
10th Percentile £16.46 £25.40 £16.97
25th Percentile £19.54 £27.00 £18.00
Median hourly rate £21.46 £30.23 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year -29.00% +55.00% +1.14%
75th Percentile £25.15 £32.04 £20.00
90th Percentile £31.40 £38.60 £22.75
UK median hourly rate £20.82 £24.18 £19.50
% change year-on-year -13.90% +24.00% +6.12%

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 27,984 28,207 36,022
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.24% 92.96% 93.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,940 17,360 24,787
10th Percentile £285 £300 £290
25th Percentile £403 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £504 £525 £534
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% -1.69% -2.91%
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 1,688 1,011 1,400
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.25 £15.33
25th Percentile £17.94 £21.00 £20.00
Median hourly rate £25.47 £37.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -32.08% -16.67% +38.46%
75th Percentile £57.50 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £72.50 £74.75 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.00
% change year-on-year -28.14% -20.45% +44.26%

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 December 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 2 December 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 2 December 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 +19 75 £200 -7.30% 9
North of England -34 44 £175 -20.45% 19
South West +9 37 £250 +12.36% 8
South East -5 33 £178 -16.18% 11
Midlands -15 26 £170 -11.57% 8
East of England -8 22 £220 +4.76% 5
North West -18 22 £190 -8.98% 16
East Midlands -7 13 £158 -42.73% 4
West Midlands -23 13 £175 +0.29% 4
North East +2 12 £175 -
Yorkshire -33 10 £165 -26.67% 3
Desktop Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 2 December 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.

1 132 (56.90%) Windows
2 101 (43.53%) Microsoft 365
3 92 (39.66%) Security Cleared
4 91 (39.22%) SC Cleared
5 88 (37.93%) Microsoft
6 81 (34.91%) Customer Service
7 73 (31.47%) Active Directory
8 71 (30.60%) Windows 10
9 54 (23.28%) Microsoft Office
10 52 (22.41%) ITIL
11 34 (14.66%) Mac OS
12 32 (13.79%) Microsoft Exchange
12 32 (13.79%) Problem-Solving
12 32 (13.79%) Service Management
13 31 (13.36%) Android
13 31 (13.36%) Azure
13 31 (13.36%) Business Intelligence
13 31 (13.36%) Digital Marketing
13 31 (13.36%) Microsoft Intune
13 31 (13.36%) Programme Management
13 31 (13.36%) SAP
14 30 (12.93%) SLA
14 30 (12.93%) Workflow
15 29 (12.50%) Wireless
16 28 (12.07%) Apple
16 28 (12.07%) Cisco
16 28 (12.07%) HP
17 27 (11.64%) Dell
18 26 (11.21%) ITSM
18 26 (11.21%) 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 32 (13.79%) Microsoft Exchange
2 22 (9.48%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.43%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 54 (23.28%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (9.48%) Microsoft Excel
3 11 (4.74%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.86%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.43%) assyst
2 1 (0.43%) Eikon
2 1 (0.43%) Eze OMS
2 1 (0.43%) Fidessa
Cloud Services
1 101 (43.53%) Microsoft 365
2 31 (13.36%) Azure
3 16 (6.90%) OneDrive
4 6 (2.59%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 29 (12.50%) Wireless
2 17 (7.33%) VPN
3 13 (5.60%) PABX
4 10 (4.31%) DHCP
4 10 (4.31%) DNS
5 6 (2.59%) TCP/IP
6 5 (2.16%) Structured Cabling
7 4 (1.72%) LAN
7 4 (1.72%) Remote Desktop
7 4 (1.72%) WAN
8 2 (0.86%) Softphone
8 2 (0.86%) VLAN
9 1 (0.43%) Firewall
9 1 (0.43%) NetScaler
9 1 (0.43%) Network Security
9 1 (0.43%) RFID
9 1 (0.43%) Skype
9 1 (0.43%) Telepresence
9 1 (0.43%) Unified Communications
9 1 (0.43%) Wi-Fi
Development Applications
1 1 (0.43%) JIRA
General
1 115 (49.57%) Social Skills
2 75 (32.33%) Finance
3 38 (16.38%) Public Sector
4 33 (14.22%) Telecoms
5 31 (13.36%) Electronics
5 31 (13.36%) Manufacturing
5 31 (13.36%) Marketing
6 28 (12.07%) Analytical Skills
7 15 (6.47%) Banking
8 9 (3.88%) Front Office
9 8 (3.45%) Retail
10 6 (2.59%) Aerospace
10 6 (2.59%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (2.16%) Organisational Skills
12 4 (1.72%) Investment Banking
13 1 (0.43%) Financial Institution
13 1 (0.43%) Law
13 1 (0.43%) Legal
13 1 (0.43%) Pharmaceutical
13 1 (0.43%) Retail Banking
Miscellaneous
1 28 (12.07%) Self-Motivation
2 25 (10.78%) Data Centre
3 16 (6.90%) Smartphone
4 14 (6.03%) iPad
4 14 (6.03%) iPhone
5 10 (4.31%) Driving Licence
6 9 (3.88%) Onboarding
7 7 (3.02%) Management Information System
8 6 (2.59%) Video Conferencing
9 5 (2.16%) Hedge funds
10 3 (1.29%) Virtual Team
11 2 (0.86%) CMDB
11 2 (0.86%) Mobile App
11 2 (0.86%) Tandem
12 1 (0.43%) BYOD
12 1 (0.43%) Data Protection Act
12 1 (0.43%) Fat Client
12 1 (0.43%) Legacy Systems
12 1 (0.43%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 132 (56.90%) Windows
2 71 (30.60%) Windows 10
3 34 (14.66%) Mac OS
4 31 (13.36%) Android
5 14 (6.03%) Apple iOS
6 12 (5.17%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.86%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.43%) Linux
8 1 (0.43%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 81 (34.91%) Customer Service
2 52 (22.41%) ITIL
3 32 (13.79%) Problem-Solving
3 32 (13.79%) Service Management
4 31 (13.36%) Business Intelligence
4 31 (13.36%) Digital Marketing
4 31 (13.36%) Programme Management
5 30 (12.93%) Workflow
6 26 (11.21%) ITSM
6 26 (11.21%) Time Management
7 25 (10.78%) Migration
8 23 (9.91%) Inventory Management
9 21 (9.05%) Patch Management
9 21 (9.05%) Workflow Management
10 18 (7.76%) Service Delivery
11 14 (6.03%) Mobile Device Management
12 12 (5.17%) Antivirus Management
13 9 (3.88%) Incident Management
13 9 (3.88%) Investment Management
13 9 (3.88%) Ticket Management
Programming Languages
1 16 (6.90%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 92 (39.66%) Security Cleared
2 91 (39.22%) SC Cleared
3 15 (6.47%) Degree
4 10 (4.31%) ITIL Certification
4 10 (4.31%) Microsoft Certification
5 4 (1.72%) BPSS Clearance
5 4 (1.72%) DBS Check
6 3 (1.29%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 1 (0.43%) A+ Certification
7 1 (0.43%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (12.93%) SLA
2 8 (3.45%) QA
3 7 (3.02%) GDPR
System Software
1 73 (31.47%) Active Directory
2 14 (6.03%) Virtual Desktop
3 4 (1.72%) Firmware
4 1 (0.43%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.43%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.43%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.43%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 31 (13.36%) Microsoft Intune
2 21 (9.05%) SCCM
Vendors
1 88 (37.93%) Microsoft
2 31 (13.36%) SAP
3 28 (12.07%) Apple
3 28 (12.07%) Cisco
3 28 (12.07%) HP
4 27 (11.64%) Dell
5 25 (10.78%) ServiceNow
6 9 (3.88%) McAfee
7 8 (3.45%) Bloomberg
8 7 (3.02%) Starlink
9 5 (2.16%) Remedy
10 3 (1.29%) Citrix
11 2 (0.86%) Reuters
11 2 (0.86%) VMware
12 1 (0.43%) Altiris
12 1 (0.43%) Eze Software Group
12 1 (0.43%) Tradeweb
12 1 (0.43%) Trayport
12 1 (0.43%) Wyse
55 Desktop Support jobs in England