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 6 April 2026.

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

6 months to
6 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 396 295 270
Rank change year-on-year -101 -25 +23
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 189 184 301
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.49% 0.75% 0.81%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.53% 0.81% 0.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 143 123 218
10th Percentile £150 £153 £123
25th Percentile £156 £179 £144
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £195 £200 £200
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% - -
75th Percentile £230 £246 £225
90th Percentile £269 £278 £311
UK median daily rate £195 £200 £200
% change year-on-year -2.50% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 33 9 27
10th Percentile £16.25 £16.67 £16.70
25th Percentile £19.54 £18.13 £19.48
Median hourly rate £19.91 £30.00 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year -33.63% +42.86% +0.33%
75th Percentile £21.46 £30.68 £27.86
90th Percentile - £37.50 £30.75
UK median hourly rate £19.91 £23.00 £21.00
% change year-on-year -13.43% +9.52% +3.96%

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 35,703 22,640 34,614
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.34% 92.87% 92.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,481 15,159 23,114
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £409 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £507 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.52% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -3.31%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,372 844 2,312
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.84 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.09 £20.29 £16.25
Median hourly rate £42.50 £33.00 £33.00
Median % change year-on-year +28.79% - -24.57%
75th Percentile £65.60 £65.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £78.70 £76.25 £71.25
UK median hourly rate £40.00 £31.76 £33.07
% change year-on-year +25.94% -3.95% -26.52%

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 6 April 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 6 April 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 6 April 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 -65 41 £213 +6.25% 8
Midlands -50 34 £175 -12.50%
East of England -14 33 £195 -10.34% 1
North of England -80 28 £206 +5.77% 6
East Midlands -11 26 £200 +1.66%
South West -34 26 £210 -6.67% 2
South East -60 25 £172 -12.05% 11
North West -42 13 £175 -15.66% 5
Yorkshire -51 12 £230 +8.24% 1
West Midlands -60 8 £140 -30.00%
North East -21 3 £175 +12.90%
Desktop Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 6 April 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.

1 107 (56.61%) Windows
2 79 (41.80%) Microsoft
3 66 (34.92%) Microsoft 365
4 65 (34.39%) Customer Service
5 62 (32.80%) Active Directory
6 56 (29.63%) Windows 10
7 53 (28.04%) SC Cleared
7 53 (28.04%) Security Cleared
8 37 (19.58%) Azure
9 35 (18.52%) Microsoft Intune
10 28 (14.81%) Problem-Solving
11 25 (13.23%) ITIL
12 24 (12.70%) Mac OS
12 24 (12.70%) Migration
12 24 (12.70%) SLA
13 23 (12.17%) SCCM
14 22 (11.64%) Microsoft Office
14 22 (11.64%) SharePoint
15 21 (11.11%) HP
16 19 (10.05%) Time Management
17 18 (9.52%) Apple
17 18 (9.52%) Asset Management
17 18 (9.52%) Dell
17 18 (9.52%) ServiceNow
17 18 (9.52%) Wireless
18 17 (8.99%) VPN
19 16 (8.47%) Android
19 16 (8.47%) Service Delivery
20 15 (7.94%) Cisco
21 13 (6.88%) Continuous Improvement

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 (11.64%) SharePoint
2 7 (3.70%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 22 (11.64%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (6.88%) Spreadsheet
3 6 (3.17%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.53%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (1.06%) assyst
2 1 (0.53%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 66 (34.92%) Microsoft 365
2 37 (19.58%) Azure
3 13 (6.88%) Entra ID
4 4 (2.12%) Google Ads
4 4 (2.12%) Google Workspace
4 4 (2.12%) OneDrive
4 4 (2.12%) Slack
5 2 (1.06%) Microsoft Copilot
6 1 (0.53%) Google Drive
6 1 (0.53%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 18 (9.52%) Wireless
2 17 (8.99%) VPN
3 9 (4.76%) DNS
4 8 (4.23%) TCP/IP
5 7 (3.70%) DHCP
6 4 (2.12%) PABX
7 3 (1.59%) Softphone
7 3 (1.59%) Wi-Fi
8 2 (1.06%) Firewall
8 2 (1.06%) LAN
9 1 (0.53%) IPv4
9 1 (0.53%) Skype
9 1 (0.53%) Telepresence
9 1 (0.53%) Unified Communications
9 1 (0.53%) VoIP
Development Applications
1 4 (2.12%) JIRA
General
1 66 (34.92%) Social Skills
2 21 (11.11%) Finance
3 17 (8.99%) Analytical Skills
4 16 (8.47%) Public Sector
5 14 (7.41%) Telecoms
6 12 (6.35%) Manufacturing
7 11 (5.82%) Electronics
7 11 (5.82%) Marketing
8 9 (4.76%) Retail
9 6 (3.17%) Law
10 5 (2.65%) Organisational Skills
11 3 (1.59%) Aerospace
11 3 (1.59%) Banking
12 2 (1.06%) Documentation Skills
12 2 (1.06%) Legal
12 2 (1.06%) Local Government
12 2 (1.06%) Pharmaceutical
Miscellaneous
1 25 (13.23%) Self-Motivation
2 19 (10.05%) Smartphone
3 13 (6.88%) Data Centre
4 10 (5.29%) Onboarding
5 8 (4.23%) Hybrid Cloud
5 8 (4.23%) iPhone
5 8 (4.23%) Management Information System
6 5 (2.65%) iPad
7 4 (2.12%) Enterprise Software
8 2 (1.06%) Hedge funds
8 2 (1.06%) Mobile App
8 2 (1.06%) Tandem
8 2 (1.06%) Video Conferencing
8 2 (1.06%) Virtual Team
9 1 (0.53%) Analytical Mindset
9 1 (0.53%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 107 (56.61%) Windows
2 56 (29.63%) Windows 10
3 24 (12.70%) Mac OS
4 16 (8.47%) Android
5 11 (5.82%) Apple iOS
6 10 (5.29%) Windows Server
7 5 (2.65%) Windows 7
8 4 (2.12%) Windows 8
9 1 (0.53%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 65 (34.39%) Customer Service
2 28 (14.81%) Problem-Solving
3 25 (13.23%) ITIL
4 24 (12.70%) Migration
5 19 (10.05%) Time Management
6 18 (9.52%) Asset Management
7 16 (8.47%) Service Delivery
8 13 (6.88%) Continuous Improvement
8 13 (6.88%) Incident Management
9 11 (5.82%) Business Intelligence
9 11 (5.82%) Digital Marketing
9 11 (5.82%) Programme Management
10 10 (5.29%) ITSM
10 10 (5.29%) Logistics
11 9 (4.76%) Project Delivery
11 9 (4.76%) Root Cause Analysis
11 9 (4.76%) Service Management
12 8 (4.23%) Business Impact Analysis
12 8 (4.23%) Impact Analysis
12 8 (4.23%) Inventory Management
Programming Languages
1 12 (6.35%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.53%) Python
Qualifications
1 53 (28.04%) SC Cleared
1 53 (28.04%) Security Cleared
2 8 (4.23%) A+ Certification
3 7 (3.70%) Degree
4 5 (2.65%) ITIL Certification
5 2 (1.06%) Computer Science Degree
5 2 (1.06%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (12.70%) SLA
2 2 (1.06%) GDPR
2 2 (1.06%) QA
System Software
1 62 (32.80%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.12%) Firmware
3 1 (0.53%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 35 (18.52%) Microsoft Intune
2 23 (12.17%) SCCM
3 1 (0.53%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 79 (41.80%) Microsoft
2 21 (11.11%) HP
3 18 (9.52%) Apple
3 18 (9.52%) Dell
3 18 (9.52%) ServiceNow
4 15 (7.94%) Cisco
5 11 (5.82%) SAP
6 10 (5.29%) Starlink
7 8 (4.23%) McAfee
8 5 (2.65%) Google
9 4 (2.12%) Remedy
10 3 (1.59%) Bloomberg
11 2 (1.06%) Salesforce
12 1 (0.53%) Altiris
12 1 (0.53%) Barracuda Networks
12 1 (0.53%) Citrix
12 1 (0.53%) CrowdStrike
12 1 (0.53%) Nexthink
12 1 (0.53%) SolarWinds
12 1 (0.53%) Veeam