2nd Line Desktop Support Contract Job Trends in the North of England

Second Line Desktop Support
England > North of England

The median Second Line Desktop Support daily rate in the North of England is £161, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 20 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
20 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 187 159 198
Rank change year-on-year -28 +39 +52
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Desktop Support 7 6 3
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the North of England 0.18% 0.14% 0.058%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.19% 0.16% 0.062%
Number of daily rates quoted 4 6 1
10th Percentile - £149 -
25th Percentile £126 £152 £133
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £161 £188 £135
Median % change year-on-year -14.40% +38.89% -38.64%
75th Percentile £203 £234 £138
90th Percentile - £247 -
England median daily rate £195 £190 £200
% change year-on-year +2.63% -5.00% -11.11%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
North of England

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the North of 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 the North of England with a recognized job title 3,694 3,826 4,833
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.49% 92.02% 94.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,424 2,189 3,244
10th Percentile £250 £275 £263
25th Percentile £368 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -7.00% - -
75th Percentile £563 £585 £600
90th Percentile £653 £670 £675
England median daily rate £510 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -2.86% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 218 242 206
10th Percentile £13.00 £15.22 £15.74
25th Percentile £17.39 £18.00 £17.73
Median hourly rate £22.63 £33.75 £27.35
Median % change year-on-year -32.95% +23.40% +29.71%
75th Percentile £49.28 £49.69 £46.18
90th Percentile £76.30 £70.00 £62.87
England median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £45.00
% change year-on-year -45.54% +2.62% +73.08%

2nd Line Desktop Support
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

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

Job vacancy trend for 2nd Line Desktop Support in the North of England

2nd Line Desktop Support
Daily Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Desktop Support job vacancies in the North of England.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Desktop Support job vacancies in the North of England

2nd Line Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Desktop Support job vacancies in the North of England.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Desktop Support job vacancies in the North of England

2nd Line Desktop Support
Contract Job Locations in the North of England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing 2nd Line Desktop Support within the North of England region over the 6 months to 20 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
North West -13 3 - - 4
Yorkshire -12 2 £126 -32.80%
North East - 2 £195 - 1
2nd Line Desktop Support
England

2nd Line Desktop Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the North of England

For the 6 months to 20 September 2025, 2nd Line 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 North of England region featuring 2nd Line Desktop Support in the job title.

1 7 (100.00%) Windows
2 5 (71.43%) Problem-Solving
2 5 (71.43%) Analytical Skills
2 5 (71.43%) Social Skills
2 5 (71.43%) Time Management
2 5 (71.43%) Microsoft
2 5 (71.43%) Active Directory
2 5 (71.43%) ITIL
3 4 (57.14%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (57.14%) Microsoft 365
4 3 (42.86%) Windows 8
4 3 (42.86%) Windows Server 2012
4 3 (42.86%) Technical Analysis
4 3 (42.86%) Mentoring
4 3 (42.86%) Windows 10
4 3 (42.86%) Infrastructure Monitoring
4 3 (42.86%) Canon
4 3 (42.86%) Proactive Maintenance
4 3 (42.86%) Project Delivery
4 3 (42.86%) Windows Server 2016
4 3 (42.86%) Business Case
4 3 (42.86%) Windows Server
4 3 (42.86%) Presentation Skills
4 3 (42.86%) Documentation Skills
4 3 (42.86%) LAN
4 3 (42.86%) VPN
4 3 (42.86%) Windows XP
4 3 (42.86%) MS Visio
4 3 (42.86%) Microsoft Certification
4 3 (42.86%) Windows Server 2008

2nd Line Desktop Support Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the North of 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 2 (28.57%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 4 (57.14%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (42.86%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 3 (42.86%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 4 (57.14%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 3 (42.86%) LAN
1 3 (42.86%) VPN
General
1 5 (71.43%) Analytical Skills
1 5 (71.43%) Social Skills
2 3 (42.86%) Documentation Skills
2 3 (42.86%) Manufacturing
2 3 (42.86%) Presentation Skills
3 2 (28.57%) Banking
Miscellaneous
1 3 (42.86%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 7 (100.00%) Windows
2 3 (42.86%) Windows 10
2 3 (42.86%) Windows 8
2 3 (42.86%) Windows Server
2 3 (42.86%) Windows Server 2003
2 3 (42.86%) Windows Server 2008
2 3 (42.86%) Windows Server 2012
2 3 (42.86%) Windows Server 2016
2 3 (42.86%) Windows XP
3 2 (28.57%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 5 (71.43%) ITIL
1 5 (71.43%) Problem-Solving
1 5 (71.43%) Time Management
2 3 (42.86%) Asset Management
2 3 (42.86%) Business Case
2 3 (42.86%) Infrastructure Monitoring
2 3 (42.86%) Mentoring
2 3 (42.86%) Proactive Maintenance
2 3 (42.86%) Project Delivery
2 3 (42.86%) Technical Analysis
3 2 (28.57%) Coaching
3 2 (28.57%) Patch Management
3 2 (28.57%) Service Management
Qualifications
1 3 (42.86%) Microsoft Certification
2 2 (28.57%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (28.57%) QA
System Software
1 5 (71.43%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 3 (42.86%) SCCM
Vendors
1 5 (71.43%) Microsoft
2 3 (42.86%) Canon
3 2 (28.57%) Apple
3 2 (28.57%) Citrix