Service Desk Support Contract Job Trends in England

Service Desk Support
UK > England

The median Service Desk Support daily rate in England is £190, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 16 September 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
16 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 472 508 521
Rank change year-on-year +36 +13 +160
Contract jobs requiring a Service Desk Support 42 20 72
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 0.15% 0.062% 0.17%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.17% 0.066% 0.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 23 11 46
10th Percentile £153 £138 £121
25th Percentile £156 £155 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £190 £170 £180
Median % change year-on-year +11.76% -5.56% +6.67%
75th Percentile £219 £190 £209
90th Percentile £238 £195 £285
UK median daily rate £190 £173 £180
% change year-on-year +10.14% -4.17% +5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 6 9
10th Percentile - £14.65 £12.69
25th Percentile £15.50 £16.38 £14.42
Median hourly rate £16.00 £21.90 £15.90
Median % change year-on-year -26.94% +37.74% -20.50%
75th Percentile £20.09 £23.80 £18.75
90th Percentile £23.33 £27.46 £27.07
UK median hourly rate £17.87 £21.90 £16.70
% change year-on-year -18.40% +31.14% -16.50%

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 25,142 30,231 40,165
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.31% 92.98% 94.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 16,215 18,878 28,055
10th Percentile £280 £300 £300
25th Percentile £400 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £506 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -3.62% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £530
% change year-on-year -4.76% -0.94% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,352 1,487 1,370
10th Percentile £13.75 £14.61 £15.25
25th Percentile £17.32 £21.25 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £47.25 £44.75
Median % change year-on-year -46.77% +5.58% +69.89%
75th Percentile £53.99 £67.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.00 £75.00 £78.00
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £43.00 £43.86
% change year-on-year -41.51% -1.96% +68.69%

Service Desk Support
Job Vacancy Trend in England

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

Job vacancy trend for Service Desk Support in England

Service Desk Support
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Service Desk Support job vacancies in England.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Service Desk Support job vacancies in England

Service Desk Support
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Service Desk Support in England over the 6 months to 16 September 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Service Desk Support in England

Service Desk Support
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Service Desk Support job vacancies in England.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Service Desk Support job vacancies in England

Service Desk Support
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Service Desk Support in England over the 6 months to 16 September 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Service Desk Support in England

Service Desk 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 Service Desk Support within the England region over the 6 months to 16 September 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
South East +32 17 £158 -7.35% 6
London +33 12 £222 +55.44% 3
Midlands -8 5 £188 -1.32% 4
North West -8 4 £175 - 2
North of England -11 4 £175 - 4
West Midlands -10 3 £188 -1.32%
South West - 3 £200 - 2
East Midlands - 2 - - 4
East of England +5 1 £350 -
Service Desk Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 16 September 2025, Service Desk 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 Service Desk Support in the job title.

1 24 (57.14%) Windows
2 20 (47.62%) Active Directory
2 20 (47.62%) Problem-Solving
2 20 (47.62%) Customer Service
3 19 (45.24%) Microsoft 365
4 16 (38.10%) ServiceNow
4 16 (38.10%) Microsoft
5 14 (33.33%) Social Skills
6 11 (26.19%) Windows 10
6 11 (26.19%) Security Cleared
7 10 (23.81%) ITSM
7 10 (23.81%) ITIL
8 8 (19.05%) Microsoft Office
8 8 (19.05%) DNS
9 7 (16.67%) Remote Desktop
9 7 (16.67%) SLA
10 6 (14.29%) TCP/IP
10 6 (14.29%) VPN
10 6 (14.29%) Citrix
10 6 (14.29%) Law
10 6 (14.29%) Azure
11 5 (11.90%) iPad
11 5 (11.90%) Apple iOS
11 5 (11.90%) Unified Communications
11 5 (11.90%) Hyper-V
11 5 (11.90%) VMware Infrastructure
11 5 (11.90%) iPhone
11 5 (11.90%) Google
11 5 (11.90%) Problem Management
11 5 (11.90%) MobileIron

Service Desk 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 5 (11.90%) SharePoint
2 3 (7.14%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (4.76%) HCL Notes
Applications
1 8 (19.05%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (2.38%) NetSuite
1 1 (2.38%) Oracle EBS
Cloud Services
1 19 (45.24%) Microsoft 365
2 6 (14.29%) Azure
3 5 (11.90%) Google Workspace
4 2 (4.76%) Power Platform
4 2 (4.76%) SaaS
5 1 (2.38%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 8 (19.05%) DNS
2 7 (16.67%) Remote Desktop
3 6 (14.29%) TCP/IP
3 6 (14.29%) VPN
4 5 (11.90%) Firewall
4 5 (11.90%) Unified Communications
5 4 (9.52%) Wi-Fi
6 2 (4.76%) Internet
7 1 (2.38%) Broadband
7 1 (2.38%) Cisco IOS
7 1 (2.38%) DHCP
7 1 (2.38%) WebEx
General
1 14 (33.33%) Social Skills
2 6 (14.29%) Law
3 5 (11.90%) Legal
4 3 (7.14%) Finance
5 2 (4.76%) Analytical Skills
5 2 (4.76%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 2 (4.76%) Local Government
5 2 (4.76%) Manufacturing
6 1 (2.38%) Aviation
6 1 (2.38%) Organisational Skills
6 1 (2.38%) Public Sector
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (2.38%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 5 (11.90%) iPad
1 5 (11.90%) iPhone
2 3 (7.14%) Enterprise Software
2 3 (7.14%) Video Conferencing
3 2 (4.76%) Low-Code
3 2 (4.76%) Onboarding
3 2 (4.76%) Self-Motivation
3 2 (4.76%) Smartphone
4 1 (2.38%) Data Centre
4 1 (2.38%) Driving Licence
4 1 (2.38%) FMCG
4 1 (2.38%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 24 (57.14%) Windows
2 11 (26.19%) Windows 10
3 5 (11.90%) Apple iOS
3 5 (11.90%) Windows Server
3 5 (11.90%) Windows Server 2012
3 5 (11.90%) Windows Server 2016
4 3 (7.14%) Mac OS
5 2 (4.76%) Linux
6 1 (2.38%) Android
6 1 (2.38%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 20 (47.62%) Customer Service
1 20 (47.62%) Problem-Solving
2 10 (23.81%) ITIL
2 10 (23.81%) ITSM
3 5 (11.90%) Creative Problem-Solving
3 5 (11.90%) CRM
3 5 (11.90%) Preventative Maintenance
3 5 (11.90%) PRINCE2
3 5 (11.90%) Problem Management
3 5 (11.90%) Service Management
4 4 (9.52%) User Experience
5 3 (7.14%) Asset Management
5 3 (7.14%) Continuous Improvement
5 3 (7.14%) Cybersecurity
5 3 (7.14%) Proactive Management
5 3 (7.14%) Service Delivery
5 3 (7.14%) Ticket Management
5 3 (7.14%) Virtual Environments
6 2 (4.76%) Collaborative Working
6 2 (4.76%) Proactive Monitoring
Qualifications
1 11 (26.19%) Security Cleared
2 4 (9.52%) SC Cleared
3 3 (7.14%) Degree
4 1 (2.38%) A+ Certification
4 1 (2.38%) DV Cleared
4 1 (2.38%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (16.67%) SLA
2 5 (11.90%) GDPR
System Software
1 20 (47.62%) Active Directory
2 5 (11.90%) Hyper-V
2 5 (11.90%) Terminal Services
2 5 (11.90%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 4 (9.52%) Microsoft Intune
2 2 (4.76%) SCCM
3 1 (2.38%) AirWatch
Vendors
1 16 (38.10%) Microsoft
1 16 (38.10%) ServiceNow
2 6 (14.29%) Citrix
3 5 (11.90%) Google
3 5 (11.90%) MobileIron
3 5 (11.90%) Nexthink
3 5 (11.90%) VMware
4 3 (7.14%) HP
5 2 (4.76%) Lotus
5 2 (4.76%) SAP
6 1 (2.38%) Apple
6 1 (2.38%) Bomgar
6 1 (2.38%) Cisco
6 1 (2.38%) Dell
6 1 (2.38%) Oracle