Desktop Support Contracts in England

Desktop Support
UK > England

The median Desktop Support daily rate in England is £209, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 1 May 2025.

The table below provides contractor rate benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 297 282 280
Rank change year-on-year -15 -2 +43
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 192 286 466
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 0.79% 0.77% 0.92%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.85% 0.83% 0.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 126 214 326
10th Percentile £153 £125 £140
25th Percentile £188 £150 £170
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £209 £201 £203
Median % change year-on-year +3.73% -0.71% +6.67%
75th Percentile £248 £229 £250
90th Percentile £294 £300 £300
UK median daily rate £205 £200 £200
% change year-on-year +2.50% - +9.59%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 27 43
10th Percentile £16.67 £16.70 £16.31
25th Percentile £21.40 £20.11 £18.19
Median hourly rate £30.00 £21.00 £23.00
Median % change year-on-year +42.86% -8.70% +21.05%
75th Percentile £32.21 £29.38 £25.71
90th Percentile £37.50 £30.75 £28.14
UK median hourly rate £20.32 £21.00 £22.25
% change year-on-year -3.26% -5.62% +16.45%

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 22,549 34,488 47,741
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.59% 92.73% 94.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,007 22,894 33,903
10th Percentile £300 £275 £313
25th Percentile £409 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% +4.76%
75th Percentile £638 £643 £663
90th Percentile £750 £750 £763
UK median daily rate £515 £525 £540
% change year-on-year -1.90% -2.78% +2.86%
Number of hourly rates quoted 900 2,432 1,409
10th Percentile £14.20 £13.00 £14.35
25th Percentile £18.51 £16.30 £20.00
Median hourly rate £30.62 £36.31 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -15.67% -19.32% +100.00%
75th Percentile £63.75 £61.25 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £72.50 £76.60
UK median hourly rate £29.00 £36.42 £45.00
% change year-on-year -20.37% -19.07% +91.49%

Desktop Support
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings that featured Desktop Support in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for Desktop Support in England

Desktop Support
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Desktop Support in England.

Daily rate trend for Desktop Support in England

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Desktop Support in England over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Desktop Support in England

Desktop Support
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Desktop Support in England.

Hourly rate trend for Desktop Support in England

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Desktop Support in England over the 6 months to 1 May 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 1 May 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 -50 51 £223 +11.63% 32
South West +55 39 £223 +17.11% 12
North of England +29 39 £195 +21.88% 5
South East +14 30 £205 - 14
East of England +35 17 £218 +12.99% 2
Midlands +23 15 £210 +18.31% 2
North West +14 15 £194 +38.39% 4
Yorkshire +17 14 £230 +17.95% 1
West Midlands +16 11 £210 +10.53% 2
North East +4 10 £155 -18.42%
East Midlands +9 4 £196 +60.86%
Desktop Support
UK

Desktop Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England

For the 6 months to 1 May 2025, Desktop Support contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the England region featuring Desktop Support in the job title.

1 121 (63.02%) Windows
2 117 (60.94%) Microsoft
3 113 (58.85%) Social Skills
4 85 (44.27%) Active Directory
5 76 (39.58%) Microsoft 365
6 70 (36.46%) Customer Service
7 67 (34.90%) Windows 10
8 54 (28.13%) Security Cleared
9 49 (25.52%) SC Cleared
10 48 (25.00%) Finance
11 46 (23.96%) ITIL
12 44 (22.92%) Microsoft Office
13 38 (19.79%) SCCM
14 36 (18.75%) VPN
15 34 (17.71%) Problem-Solving
16 31 (16.15%) Microsoft Intune
16 31 (16.15%) ServiceNow
16 31 (16.15%) HP
16 31 (16.15%) Microsoft Exchange
17 30 (15.63%) SLA
18 29 (15.10%) Dell
18 29 (15.10%) Driving Licence
19 25 (13.02%) Customer Experience
20 24 (12.50%) SharePoint
21 23 (11.98%) Dell Certification
21 23 (11.98%) Mathematics
22 22 (11.46%) ITSM
23 20 (10.42%) Microsoft Certification
23 20 (10.42%) Degree
23 20 (10.42%) Asset Management

Desktop Support Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 31 (16.15%) Microsoft Exchange
2 24 (12.50%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.52%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
Applications
1 44 (22.92%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (3.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 6 (3.13%) MS Visio
3 5 (2.60%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.52%) Final Cut Pro
4 1 (0.52%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.52%) QuarkXPress
Business Applications
1 1 (0.52%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 76 (39.58%) Microsoft 365
2 19 (9.90%) Azure
3 15 (7.81%) OneDrive
4 10 (5.21%) Entra ID
5 1 (0.52%) AWS
5 1 (0.52%) GCP
5 1 (0.52%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 36 (18.75%) VPN
2 16 (8.33%) LAN
3 14 (7.29%) DHCP
4 13 (6.77%) DNS
4 13 (6.77%) Wi-Fi
5 11 (5.73%) Remote Desktop
5 11 (5.73%) VoIP
5 11 (5.73%) WAN
6 10 (5.21%) VLAN
7 8 (4.17%) Structured Cabling
8 6 (3.13%) Firewall
9 4 (2.08%) Wireless
10 2 (1.04%) TCP/IP
10 2 (1.04%) WebEx
11 1 (0.52%) Internet
11 1 (0.52%) Intranet
11 1 (0.52%) Network Security
11 1 (0.52%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.52%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 3 (1.56%) JIRA
General
1 113 (58.85%) Social Skills
2 48 (25.00%) Finance
3 19 (9.90%) Analytical Skills
4 14 (7.29%) Public Sector
5 12 (6.25%) Manufacturing
6 8 (4.17%) Electronics
6 8 (4.17%) Telecoms
7 7 (3.65%) Documentation Skills
7 7 (3.65%) Marketing
8 6 (3.13%) Banking
8 6 (3.13%) Legal
9 5 (2.60%) Presentation Skills
10 4 (2.08%) Organisational Skills
11 3 (1.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 3 (1.56%) Investment Banking
12 2 (1.04%) Pharmaceutical
13 1 (0.52%) Back Office
13 1 (0.52%) Influencing Skills
13 1 (0.52%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.52%) LDAP
Miscellaneous
1 29 (15.10%) Driving Licence
2 12 (6.25%) iPhone
3 10 (5.21%) Smartphone
4 9 (4.69%) NHS
5 8 (4.17%) iPad
6 7 (3.65%) Management Information System
6 7 (3.65%) Self-Motivation
7 5 (2.60%) Life Science
7 5 (2.60%) Video Conferencing
8 4 (2.08%) CMDB
8 4 (2.08%) Data Centre
9 2 (1.04%) Data Protection Act
9 2 (1.04%) Handset
10 1 (0.52%) Blog
10 1 (0.52%) BYOD
10 1 (0.52%) Client/Server
10 1 (0.52%) Mobile App
10 1 (0.52%) Reinsurance
10 1 (0.52%) Replication
10 1 (0.52%) RSA SecurID
Operating Systems
1 121 (63.02%) Windows
2 67 (34.90%) Windows 10
3 12 (6.25%) Apple iOS
4 11 (5.73%) Mac OS
5 7 (3.65%) Windows Server
6 6 (3.13%) Android
6 6 (3.13%) Windows Server 2016
7 5 (2.60%) Windows 7
7 5 (2.60%) Windows 8
7 5 (2.60%) Windows Server 2003
7 5 (2.60%) Windows Server 2008
7 5 (2.60%) Windows Server 2012
7 5 (2.60%) Windows XP
8 3 (1.56%) Linux
9 2 (1.04%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.52%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 70 (36.46%) Customer Service
2 46 (23.96%) ITIL
3 34 (17.71%) Problem-Solving
4 25 (13.02%) Customer Experience
5 23 (11.98%) Mathematics
6 22 (11.46%) ITSM
7 20 (10.42%) Asset Management
7 20 (10.42%) Time Management
8 14 (7.29%) Service Management
9 12 (6.25%) Collaborative Working
9 12 (6.25%) Service Delivery
10 11 (5.73%) Root Cause Analysis
11 10 (5.21%) Break/Fix
12 9 (4.69%) Case Management
12 9 (4.69%) Inventory Management
13 8 (4.17%) Patch Management
14 7 (3.65%) Antivirus Management
14 7 (3.65%) Business Intelligence
14 7 (3.65%) Digital Marketing
14 7 (3.65%) Programme Management
Programming Languages
1 13 (6.77%) PowerShell
2 2 (1.04%) Bash
2 2 (1.04%) Python
Qualifications
1 54 (28.13%) Security Cleared
2 49 (25.52%) SC Cleared
3 23 (11.98%) Dell Certification
4 20 (10.42%) Degree
4 20 (10.42%) Microsoft Certification
5 11 (5.73%) A+ Certification
5 11 (5.73%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 7 (3.65%) ITIL Certification
7 3 (1.56%) MCP
8 2 (1.04%) DBS Check
9 1 (0.52%) ACSP
9 1 (0.52%) BPSS Clearance
9 1 (0.52%) CISSP
9 1 (0.52%) CompTIA Security+
9 1 (0.52%) Computer Science Degree
9 1 (0.52%) GIAC
9 1 (0.52%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (15.63%) SLA
2 9 (4.69%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 4 (2.08%) QA
4 1 (0.52%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.52%) GxP
System Software
1 85 (44.27%) Active Directory
2 12 (6.25%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (0.52%) BitLocker
3 1 (0.52%) Firmware
3 1 (0.52%) Hyper-V
3 1 (0.52%) Virtual Desktop
3 1 (0.52%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 38 (19.79%) SCCM
2 31 (16.15%) Microsoft Intune
3 10 (5.21%) AppManager
4 2 (1.04%) Jamf Pro
5 1 (0.52%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 1 (0.52%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 1 (0.52%) WSUS
Vendors
1 117 (60.94%) Microsoft
2 31 (16.15%) HP
2 31 (16.15%) ServiceNow
3 29 (15.10%) Dell
4 18 (9.38%) Citrix
5 12 (6.25%) VMware
6 10 (5.21%) Apple
6 10 (5.21%) Ivanti
7 7 (3.65%) McAfee
7 7 (3.65%) SAP
8 5 (2.60%) Canon
9 4 (2.08%) Cisco
10 1 (0.52%) Adobe
10 1 (0.52%) BMC
10 1 (0.52%) EMC
10 1 (0.52%) Google
10 1 (0.52%) Quark
10 1 (0.52%) Remedy
10 1 (0.52%) Sage
10 1 (0.52%) Unisys