Desktop Support Engineer Contract Job Trends in the North West

Desktop Support Engineer
England > North West

The median Desktop Support Engineer daily rate in the North West is £220, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 18 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
18 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 119 112 132
Rank change year-on-year -7 +20 +33
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support Engineer 14 6 10
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the North West 0.64% 0.25% 0.36%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.69% 0.27% 0.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 8 3 7
10th Percentile £177 - £143
25th Percentile £185 - £175
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £220 £149 £213
Median % change year-on-year +47.65% -29.88% +23.19%
75th Percentile £241 £197 £222
90th Percentile - £226 £224
England median daily rate £220 £200 £200
% change year-on-year +10.00% - +9.59%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 2 1
Median hourly rate - £25.19 £17.70
Median % change year-on-year - +42.30% -21.33%
England median hourly rate £24.66 £21.85 £19.00
% change year-on-year +12.89% +14.97% -3.80%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
North West

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the North West. 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 West with a recognized job title 2,020 2,240 2,585
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.49% 93.68% 92.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,333 1,270 1,757
10th Percentile £268 £275 £275
25th Percentile £368 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £490 £500
Median % change year-on-year -8.16% -2.00% +2.56%
75th Percentile £575 £587 £593
90th Percentile £678 £675 £675
England median daily rate £508 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -3.33% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 161 163 160
10th Percentile £13.00 £15.49 £15.98
25th Percentile £17.30 £18.00 £18.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £37.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -32.04% +5.71% +49.64%
75th Percentile £47.12 £54.00 £46.18
90th Percentile £71.45 £71.38 £67.30
England median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £45.00
% change year-on-year -45.54% +2.62% +73.08%

Desktop Support Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

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

Job vacancy trend for Desktop Support Engineer in the North West

Desktop Support Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support Engineer job vacancies in the North West.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support Engineer job vacancies in the North West

Desktop Support Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support Engineer job vacancies in the North West.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support Engineer job vacancies in the North West

Desktop Support Engineer
Contract Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Desktop Support Engineer within the North West region over the 6 months to 18 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
Lancashire +4 5 - -
Cheshire - 5 £228 -
Merseyside 0 3 £190 +27.52%
Manchester - 1 £213 -
Desktop Support Engineer
England

Desktop Support Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the North West

For the 6 months to 18 September 2025, Desktop Support Engineer 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 West region featuring Desktop Support Engineer in the job title.

1 14 (100.00%) Windows
2 11 (78.57%) Active Directory
3 9 (64.29%) Social Skills
4 6 (42.86%) Windows Server
4 6 (42.86%) Microsoft Exchange
4 6 (42.86%) Microsoft
4 6 (42.86%) SCCM
5 5 (35.71%) Time Management
5 5 (35.71%) Manufacturing
5 5 (35.71%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (35.71%) Asset Management
5 5 (35.71%) Microsoft 365
5 5 (35.71%) Microsoft Intune
5 5 (35.71%) Windows 8
5 5 (35.71%) Windows Server 2012
5 5 (35.71%) Technical Analysis
5 5 (35.71%) Mentoring
5 5 (35.71%) Analytical Skills
5 5 (35.71%) ITIL
5 5 (35.71%) LAN
5 5 (35.71%) VPN
5 5 (35.71%) Windows XP
5 5 (35.71%) MS Visio
5 5 (35.71%) Microsoft Certification
5 5 (35.71%) Windows Server 2003
5 5 (35.71%) Management Information System
5 5 (35.71%) Problem-Solving
5 5 (35.71%) Windows 10
5 5 (35.71%) Proactive Maintenance
5 5 (35.71%) Project Delivery

Desktop Support Engineer Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the North West 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 6 (42.86%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (14.29%) SharePoint
3 1 (7.14%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 5 (35.71%) Microsoft PowerPoint
1 5 (35.71%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 5 (35.71%) Microsoft 365
2 1 (7.14%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 5 (35.71%) LAN
1 5 (35.71%) VPN
2 1 (7.14%) Skype
2 1 (7.14%) WebEx
General
1 9 (64.29%) Social Skills
2 5 (35.71%) Analytical Skills
2 5 (35.71%) Documentation Skills
2 5 (35.71%) Manufacturing
2 5 (35.71%) Presentation Skills
3 3 (21.43%) Banking
3 3 (21.43%) Finance
3 3 (21.43%) Investment Banking
Miscellaneous
1 5 (35.71%) Management Information System
2 4 (28.57%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 14 (100.00%) Windows
2 6 (42.86%) Windows Server
3 5 (35.71%) Windows 10
3 5 (35.71%) Windows 8
3 5 (35.71%) Windows Server 2003
3 5 (35.71%) Windows Server 2008
3 5 (35.71%) Windows Server 2012
3 5 (35.71%) Windows Server 2016
3 5 (35.71%) Windows XP
4 1 (7.14%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 5 (35.71%) Asset Management
1 5 (35.71%) Business Case
1 5 (35.71%) Infrastructure Monitoring
1 5 (35.71%) ITIL
1 5 (35.71%) Mentoring
1 5 (35.71%) Proactive Maintenance
1 5 (35.71%) Problem-Solving
1 5 (35.71%) Project Delivery
1 5 (35.71%) Technical Analysis
1 5 (35.71%) Time Management
2 4 (28.57%) Customer Service
3 3 (21.43%) Data Entry
3 3 (21.43%) Logistics
4 1 (7.14%) E-Commerce
4 1 (7.14%) Security Management
4 1 (7.14%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 1 (7.14%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 5 (35.71%) Microsoft Certification
2 4 (28.57%) BPSS Clearance
2 4 (28.57%) DBS Check
System Software
1 11 (78.57%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 6 (42.86%) SCCM
2 5 (35.71%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 6 (42.86%) Microsoft
2 5 (35.71%) Canon