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 13 March 2026.

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

6 months to
13 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 359 307 280
Rank change year-on-year -52 -27 +16
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 213 179 300
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.58% 0.73% 0.79%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.63% 0.78% 0.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 160 127 215
10th Percentile £150 £150 £124
25th Percentile £156 £175 £145
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £195 £200 £205
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% -2.44% +0.49%
75th Percentile £238 £238 £229
90th Percentile £288 £269 £323
UK median daily rate £195 £200 £203
% change year-on-year -2.50% -1.23% -0.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 37 8 25
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% +5.63%
75th Percentile £21.46 £30.68 £30.00
90th Percentile £22.37 £32.57 £31.00
UK median hourly rate £19.91 £23.00 £21.00
% change year-on-year -13.43% +9.52% +8.92%

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 33,621 22,950 35,200
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.03% 93.03% 92.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,202 15,047 23,545
10th Percentile £310 £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 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,216 759 2,280
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.28 £13.00
25th Percentile £19.34 £21.25 £16.25
Median hourly rate £36.86 £35.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +5.30% +7.69% -23.53%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £58.75
90th Percentile £76.25 £77.50 £71.25
UK median hourly rate £35.00 £33.40 £32.50
% change year-on-year +4.79% +2.77% -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 13 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 13 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 13 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 -50 48 £213 +6.25% 11
Midlands -43 38 £175 -12.50%
North of England -59 35 £175 -10.26% 3
East of England -8 33 £195 -2.50% 2
South West -22 32 £250 +11.11% 7
East Midlands -8 29 £175 -10.83%
South East -63 25 £172 -12.05% 12
North West -30 16 £175 -9.68% 1
Yorkshire -51 13 £230 +4.55% 2
West Midlands -64 9 £145 -27.50%
North East -16 6 £175 +12.90%
Desktop Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 13 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 89 (41.78%) Microsoft 365
3 83 (38.97%) Microsoft
4 73 (34.27%) Security Cleared
5 72 (33.80%) Customer Service
5 72 (33.80%) SC Cleared
6 65 (30.52%) Active Directory
6 65 (30.52%) Windows 10
7 41 (19.25%) Microsoft Office
8 37 (17.37%) Microsoft Intune
9 35 (16.43%) Azure
9 35 (16.43%) Mac OS
10 33 (15.49%) HP
11 31 (14.55%) Apple
11 31 (14.55%) Wireless
12 30 (14.08%) Dell
12 30 (14.08%) SLA
13 29 (13.62%) Android
13 29 (13.62%) SCCM
14 27 (12.68%) Cisco
15 26 (12.21%) Problem-Solving
15 26 (12.21%) ServiceNow
16 25 (11.74%) Migration
17 24 (11.27%) ITIL
18 23 (10.80%) Business Intelligence
18 23 (10.80%) Digital Marketing
18 23 (10.80%) Programme Management
18 23 (10.80%) SAP
19 21 (9.86%) SharePoint
19 21 (9.86%) VPN

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 41 (19.25%) 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 89 (41.78%) Microsoft 365
2 35 (16.43%) Azure
3 13 (6.10%) Entra ID
4 9 (4.23%) OneDrive
5 4 (1.88%) Google Ads
5 4 (1.88%) Google Workspace
5 4 (1.88%) Slack
6 2 (0.94%) Microsoft Copilot
7 1 (0.47%) Google Drive
Communications & Networking
1 31 (14.55%) Wireless
2 21 (9.86%) VPN
3 13 (6.10%) PABX
4 11 (5.16%) DNS
5 9 (4.23%) DHCP
5 9 (4.23%) TCP/IP
6 3 (1.41%) Softphone
7 2 (0.94%) LAN
8 1 (0.47%) Firewall
8 1 (0.47%) IPv4
8 1 (0.47%) Network Security
8 1 (0.47%) Skype
8 1 (0.47%) Telepresence
8 1 (0.47%) Unified Communications
8 1 (0.47%) VoIP
8 1 (0.47%) Wi-Fi
Development Applications
1 4 (1.88%) JIRA
General
1 76 (35.68%) Social Skills
2 39 (18.31%) Finance
3 28 (13.15%) Public Sector
4 26 (12.21%) Telecoms
5 24 (11.27%) Manufacturing
6 23 (10.80%) Electronics
6 23 (10.80%) Marketing
7 17 (7.98%) Analytical Skills
8 9 (4.23%) Retail
9 7 (3.29%) Aerospace
10 6 (2.82%) Documentation Skills
10 6 (2.82%) Law
11 5 (2.35%) Organisational Skills
12 4 (1.88%) Banking
13 3 (1.41%) Pharmaceutical
14 2 (0.94%) Legal
15 1 (0.47%) Financial Institution
15 1 (0.47%) Investment Banking
15 1 (0.47%) Local Government
Miscellaneous
1 31 (14.55%) 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 65 (30.52%) Windows 10
3 35 (16.43%) Mac OS
4 29 (13.62%) Android
5 12 (5.63%) Apple iOS
6 10 (4.69%) Windows Server
7 5 (2.35%) Windows 7
8 4 (1.88%) Windows 8
9 1 (0.47%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 72 (33.80%) Customer Service
2 26 (12.21%) Problem-Solving
3 25 (11.74%) Migration
4 24 (11.27%) ITIL
5 23 (10.80%) Business Intelligence
5 23 (10.80%) Digital Marketing
5 23 (10.80%) Programme Management
6 20 (9.39%) Time Management
7 19 (8.92%) Service Delivery
8 16 (7.51%) Asset Management
9 15 (7.04%) ITSM
10 14 (6.57%) Incident Management
11 12 (5.63%) Continuous Improvement
12 10 (4.69%) Service Management
13 9 (4.23%) Inventory Management
13 9 (4.23%) Project Delivery
13 9 (4.23%) Workflow
14 8 (3.76%) Business Impact Analysis
14 8 (3.76%) Disaster Recovery
14 8 (3.76%) Impact Analysis
Programming Languages
1 13 (6.10%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.47%) Python
Qualifications
1 73 (34.27%) Security Cleared
2 72 (33.80%) 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 30 (14.08%) 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 2 (0.94%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 37 (17.37%) Microsoft Intune
2 29 (13.62%) SCCM
3 1 (0.47%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 83 (38.97%) Microsoft
2 33 (15.49%) HP
3 31 (14.55%) Apple
4 30 (14.08%) Dell
5 27 (12.68%) Cisco
6 26 (12.21%) ServiceNow
7 23 (10.80%) SAP
8 8 (3.76%) McAfee
9 7 (3.29%) Starlink
10 5 (2.35%) Google
11 4 (1.88%) Remedy
12 3 (1.41%) Bloomberg
13 2 (0.94%) Salesforce
14 1 (0.47%) Altiris
14 1 (0.47%) Barracuda Networks
14 1 (0.47%) Citrix
14 1 (0.47%) CrowdStrike
14 1 (0.47%) Nexthink
14 1 (0.47%) SolarWinds
14 1 (0.47%) Veeam