3rd Line Support Contract Job Trends in the North of England

Third Line Support
England > North of England

The median Third Line Support daily rate in the North of England is £388, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 10 December 2025.

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

6 months to
10 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 204 162 173
Rank change year-on-year -42 +11 +56
Contract jobs requiring a 3rd Line Support 2 4 13
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 0.043% 0.11% 0.27%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.047% 0.11% 0.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 2 9
10th Percentile - £246 £247
25th Percentile £369 £251 £263
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £388 £273 £300
Median % change year-on-year +42.20% -9.17% -
75th Percentile £406 £306 £338
90th Percentile - £317 £358
England median daily rate £450 £350 £325
% change year-on-year +28.57% +7.69% -7.14%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 2 0
Median hourly rate - £27.59 -
England median hourly rate £30.00 £27.59 -
% change year-on-year +8.74% - -

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 4,226 3,485 4,420
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.65% 92.00% 93.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,846 1,960 2,985
10th Percentile £213 £239 £265
25th Percentile £363 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.63% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £550 £575 £588
90th Percentile £650 £650 £675
England median daily rate £507 £525 £534
% change year-on-year -3.38% -1.69% -2.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 258 195 205
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.36 £15.75
25th Percentile £19.36 £18.00 £17.72
Median hourly rate £29.60 £24.76 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +19.55% -9.96% +30.95%
75th Percentile £53.44 £44.75 £46.18
90th Percentile £74.26 £67.91 £61.19
England median hourly rate £25.15 £37.25 £45.00
% change year-on-year -32.48% -17.22% +36.36%

3rd Line Support
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring '3rd Line Support' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North of England.

3rd Line Support job vacancy trend in the North of England

3rd Line Support
Daily Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 3rd Line Support job vacancies in the North of England.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 3rd Line Support job vacancies in the North of England

3rd Line Support
Hourly Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 3rd Line Support job vacancies in the North of England.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 3rd Line Support job vacancies in the North of England

3rd Line 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 3rd Line Support within the North of England region over the 6 months to 10 December 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 -15 2 £388 - 9
3rd Line Support
England

3rd Line Support Skill Set
Top 26 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North of England

For the 6 months to 10 December 2025, 3rd Line 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 North of England region featuring 3rd Line Support in the job title.

1 2 (100.00%) Active Directory
2 1 (50.00%) Active Directory Federation Services
2 1 (50.00%) Continuous Improvement
2 1 (50.00%) Degree
2 1 (50.00%) Entra ID
2 1 (50.00%) Identity Access Management
2 1 (50.00%) ITIL
2 1 (50.00%) Load Balancing
2 1 (50.00%) Microsoft
2 1 (50.00%) Microsoft 365
2 1 (50.00%) Microsoft Exchange
2 1 (50.00%) Nutanix
2 1 (50.00%) OneDrive
2 1 (50.00%) PowerShell
2 1 (50.00%) Proofpoint
2 1 (50.00%) QNAP
2 1 (50.00%) Security Cleared
2 1 (50.00%) Single Sign-On
2 1 (50.00%) SQL
2 1 (50.00%) SQL Server
2 1 (50.00%) User Experience
2 1 (50.00%) VMware
2 1 (50.00%) Windows
2 1 (50.00%) Windows Server
2 1 (50.00%) Windows Server 2016
2 1 (50.00%) Windows Server 2019

3rd Line Support Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North of 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 1 (50.00%) Microsoft Exchange
Cloud Services
1 1 (50.00%) Entra ID
1 1 (50.00%) Microsoft 365
1 1 (50.00%) Nutanix
1 1 (50.00%) OneDrive
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (50.00%) SQL Server
General
1 1 (50.00%) Analytical Skills
1 1 (50.00%) Public Sector
1 1 (50.00%) Social Skills
Miscellaneous
1 1 (50.00%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 1 (50.00%) Windows
1 1 (50.00%) Windows Server
1 1 (50.00%) Windows Server 2016
1 1 (50.00%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 1 (50.00%) Continuous Improvement
1 1 (50.00%) Identity Access Management
1 1 (50.00%) ITIL
1 1 (50.00%) Load Balancing
1 1 (50.00%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 1 (50.00%) PowerShell
1 1 (50.00%) SQL
Qualifications
1 1 (50.00%) Degree
1 1 (50.00%) Security Cleared
System Software
1 2 (100.00%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 1 (50.00%) Active Directory Federation Services
1 1 (50.00%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 1 (50.00%) Microsoft
1 1 (50.00%) Proofpoint
1 1 (50.00%) QNAP
1 1 (50.00%) VMware