2nd Line Support Contract Job Trends in Manchester

Second Line Support
North West > Manchester

The median Second Line Support daily rate in Manchester is £178, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 21 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
21 Sep 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 84 83 90
Rank change year-on-year -1 +7 +19
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Support 3 2 16
As % of all contract jobs advertised in Manchester 0.30% 0.17% 0.94%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.32% 0.18% 1.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 2 2 7
10th Percentile £157 £154 £156
25th Percentile £164 £159 £176
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £178 £170 £180
Median % change year-on-year +4.41% -5.56% +7.46%
75th Percentile £189 £184 £209
90th Percentile £196 £191 £286
North West median daily rate £188 £150 £200
% change year-on-year +25.42% -25.25% +19.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 0 6
10th Percentile - - £16.75
25th Percentile - - £17.75
Median hourly rate £33.00 - £19.00
75th Percentile - - £19.94
90th Percentile - - £20.00
North West median hourly rate £33.00 £18.07 £19.50
% change year-on-year +82.67% -7.36% -

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
Manchester

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in Manchester. 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 Manchester with a recognized job title 928 1,113 1,589
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.89% 94.16% 93.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 593 675 1,152
10th Percentile £304 £325 £285
25th Percentile £400 £411 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £458 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -8.50% - -
75th Percentile £575 £597 £594
90th Percentile £656 £688 £675
North West median daily rate £450 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -8.16% -2.00% +3.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 81 35 60
10th Percentile £13.00 £15.55 £15.72
25th Percentile £17.08 £18.39 £16.85
Median hourly rate £22.32 £31.00 £19.25
Median % change year-on-year -28.02% +61.04% -1.28%
75th Percentile £33.00 £62.50 £43.75
90th Percentile £70.00 £85.60 £70.00
North West median hourly rate £25.15 £37.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -32.03% +5.71% +50.80%

2nd Line Support
Job Vacancy Trend in Manchester

Job postings that featured 2nd Line Support in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in Manchester.

Job vacancy trend for 2nd Line Support in Manchester

2nd Line Support
Daily Rate Trend in Manchester

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Support job vacancies in Manchester.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Support job vacancies in Manchester

2nd Line Support
Hourly Rate Trend in Manchester

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Support job vacancies in Manchester.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Support job vacancies in Manchester

2nd Line Support Skill Set
Top 20 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in Manchester

For the 6 months to 21 September 2025, 2nd Line 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 Manchester region featuring 2nd Line Support in the job title.

1 2 (66.67%) Windows
1 2 (66.67%) Microsoft Exchange
1 2 (66.67%) Microsoft
1 2 (66.67%) Active Directory
1 2 (66.67%) Azure
1 2 (66.67%) Microsoft 365
1 2 (66.67%) Windows Server
2 1 (33.33%) Cloud Native
2 1 (33.33%) Collaborative Working
2 1 (33.33%) Customer Service
2 1 (33.33%) Security Cleared
2 1 (33.33%) ITIL
2 1 (33.33%) Entra ID
2 1 (33.33%) Windows 10
2 1 (33.33%) High Availability
2 1 (33.33%) Service Management
2 1 (33.33%) ITSM
2 1 (33.33%) Workflow
2 1 (33.33%) Microsoft Certification
2 1 (33.33%) VPN

2nd Line Support Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in Manchester 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 2 (66.67%) Microsoft Exchange
Cloud Services
1 2 (66.67%) Azure
1 2 (66.67%) Microsoft 365
2 1 (33.33%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 1 (33.33%) VPN
Miscellaneous
1 1 (33.33%) Cloud Native
Operating Systems
1 2 (66.67%) Windows
1 2 (66.67%) Windows Server
2 1 (33.33%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 1 (33.33%) Collaborative Working
1 1 (33.33%) Customer Service
1 1 (33.33%) High Availability
1 1 (33.33%) ITIL
1 1 (33.33%) ITSM
1 1 (33.33%) Service Management
1 1 (33.33%) Workflow
Qualifications
1 1 (33.33%) Microsoft Certification
1 1 (33.33%) Security Cleared
System Software
1 2 (66.67%) Active Directory
Vendors
1 2 (66.67%) Microsoft
6 2nd Line Support jobs in Manchester