Service Desk Support Contract Job Trends in the South East

Service Desk Support
England > South East

The median Service Desk Support daily rate in the South East is £158, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 15 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
15 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 142 180 188
Rank change year-on-year +38 +8 +47
Contract jobs requiring a Service Desk Support 17 5 23
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the South East 0.49% 0.11% 0.41%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.55% 0.12% 0.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 10 4 16
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £153 - £121
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £158 £170 £165
Median % change year-on-year -7.35% +3.03% +3.13%
75th Percentile £179 £187 £185
90th Percentile £200 £217 £200
England median daily rate £190 £170 £180
% change year-on-year +11.76% -5.56% +7.46%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 0 4
10th Percentile £15.15 - -
25th Percentile £15.50 - £14.42
Median hourly rate £16.00 - £16.17
75th Percentile £16.50 - £22.19
90th Percentile £17.05 - £28.38
England median hourly rate £16.00 £21.90 £15.90
% change year-on-year -26.94% +37.74% -20.50%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
South East

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the South East. 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 South East with a recognized job title 3,097 4,244 5,348
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.08% 92.48% 94.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,000 2,539 3,632
10th Percentile £204 £250 £213
25th Percentile £363 £400 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £513 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.44% +2.50% -
75th Percentile £600 £625 £613
90th Percentile £650 £688 £700
England median daily rate £505 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -3.81% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 274 323 250
10th Percentile £13.50 £16.06 £16.00
25th Percentile £15.50 £33.00 £21.05
Median hourly rate £25.15 £57.50 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -56.26% +15.00% +108.33%
75th Percentile £57.50 £75.00 £66.19
90th Percentile £71.50 £80.00 £75.67
England median hourly rate £25.15 £47.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year -47.05% +5.56% +73.08%

Service Desk Support
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

Job vacancy trend for Service Desk Support in the South East

Service Desk Support
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Service Desk Support job vacancies in the South East.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Service Desk Support job vacancies in the South East

Service Desk Support
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Service Desk Support job vacancies in the South East.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Service Desk Support job vacancies in the South East

Service Desk Support
Contract Job Locations in the South East

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 South East region over the 6 months to 15 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
West Sussex +3 6 £200 +17.65%
Kent - 5 £155 -
Thames Valley - 4 £160 - 1
Hampshire +17 2 £200 -11.11% 1
Berkshire - 2 £160 - 1
Buckinghamshire - 2 £185 -
Service Desk Support
England

Service Desk Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the South East

For the 6 months to 15 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 South East region featuring Service Desk Support in the job title.

1 14 (82.35%) Windows
2 12 (70.59%) Problem-Solving
3 9 (52.94%) Active Directory
3 9 (52.94%) ServiceNow
3 9 (52.94%) Windows 10
3 9 (52.94%) Customer Service
4 8 (47.06%) Microsoft 365
4 8 (47.06%) Microsoft
5 7 (41.18%) ITIL
5 7 (41.18%) ITSM
6 6 (35.29%) Remote Desktop
7 5 (29.41%) Windows Server 2012
7 5 (29.41%) Windows Server
7 5 (29.41%) MobileIron
7 5 (29.41%) Creative Problem-Solving
7 5 (29.41%) GDPR
7 5 (29.41%) Hyper-V
7 5 (29.41%) VMware Infrastructure
7 5 (29.41%) iPhone
7 5 (29.41%) iPad
7 5 (29.41%) Apple iOS
7 5 (29.41%) Google Workspace
7 5 (29.41%) Law
7 5 (29.41%) Legal
7 5 (29.41%) VMware
7 5 (29.41%) Google
7 5 (29.41%) Firewall
7 5 (29.41%) PRINCE2
7 5 (29.41%) Microsoft Office
7 5 (29.41%) Citrix

Service Desk Support Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the South East 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 (29.41%) SharePoint
2 1 (5.88%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 5 (29.41%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 8 (47.06%) Microsoft 365
2 5 (29.41%) Google Workspace
3 2 (11.76%) Azure
4 1 (5.88%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 6 (35.29%) Remote Desktop
2 5 (29.41%) DNS
2 5 (29.41%) Firewall
2 5 (29.41%) TCP/IP
2 5 (29.41%) VPN
3 2 (11.76%) Unified Communications
General
1 5 (29.41%) Law
1 5 (29.41%) Legal
1 5 (29.41%) Social Skills
Miscellaneous
1 5 (29.41%) iPad
1 5 (29.41%) iPhone
2 1 (5.88%) Onboarding
2 1 (5.88%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 14 (82.35%) Windows
2 9 (52.94%) Windows 10
3 5 (29.41%) Apple iOS
3 5 (29.41%) Windows Server
3 5 (29.41%) Windows Server 2012
3 5 (29.41%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 12 (70.59%) Problem-Solving
2 9 (52.94%) Customer Service
3 7 (41.18%) ITIL
3 7 (41.18%) ITSM
4 5 (29.41%) Creative Problem-Solving
4 5 (29.41%) CRM
4 5 (29.41%) Preventative Maintenance
4 5 (29.41%) PRINCE2
5 1 (5.88%) Analytics
5 1 (5.88%) Chat Support
5 1 (5.88%) Coaching
5 1 (5.88%) Critical Thinking
5 1 (5.88%) Incident Management
5 1 (5.88%) Service Delivery
5 1 (5.88%) Service Management
5 1 (5.88%) Virtual Environments
Qualifications
1 4 (23.53%) Security Cleared
2 2 (11.76%) SC Cleared
3 1 (5.88%) Degree
3 1 (5.88%) DV Cleared
3 1 (5.88%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (29.41%) GDPR
2 3 (17.65%) SLA
System Software
1 9 (52.94%) Active Directory
2 5 (29.41%) Hyper-V
2 5 (29.41%) Terminal Services
2 5 (29.41%) VMware Infrastructure
Vendors
1 9 (52.94%) ServiceNow
2 8 (47.06%) Microsoft
3 5 (29.41%) Citrix
3 5 (29.41%) Google
3 5 (29.41%) MobileIron
3 5 (29.41%) Nexthink
3 5 (29.41%) VMware