1st Line Support Contract Job Trends in the South West

First Line Support
England > South West

The median First Line Support daily rate in the South West is £175, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 14 February 2026.

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

6 months to
14 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 125 112 138
Rank change year-on-year -13 +26 +8
Contract jobs requiring a 1st Line Support 16 15 13
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 0.59% 0.80% 0.41%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.65% 0.85% 0.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 3 11 11
10th Percentile £155 £163 £120
25th Percentile £161 £214 £128
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £175 £215 £155
Median % change year-on-year -18.60% +38.71% +12.73%
75th Percentile £189 £220 £158
90th Percentile £196 £238 -
England median daily rate £135 £175 £150
% change year-on-year -22.86% +16.67% -8.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 2 2
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - £12.50 £14.25
Median hourly rate - £13.00 £14.50
Median % change year-on-year - -10.34% +27.47%
75th Percentile - £13.50 £14.75
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £20.00 £14.56 £17.03
% change year-on-year +37.36% -14.49% -7.96%

All Contract IT Job Roles
South West

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the South 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 South West with a recognized job title 2,466 1,766 2,946
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.66% 94.34% 94.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,371 1,095 1,866
10th Percentile £236 £206 £220
25th Percentile £400 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% - -
75th Percentile £617 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £700 £725
England median daily rate £501 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.67% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 412 108 387
10th Percentile £17.90 £18.42 £14.36
25th Percentile £25.15 £46.25 £30.67
Median hourly rate £57.50 £65.00 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -11.54% +18.18% -15.38%
75th Percentile £65.00 £68.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £67.48 £74.61 £78.00
England median hourly rate £31.46 £35.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -10.11% - -6.67%

1st Line Support
Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring '1st Line Support' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West.

1st Line Support job vacancy trend in the South West

1st Line Support
Daily Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 1st Line Support job vacancies in the South West.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 1st Line Support job vacancies in the South West

1st Line Support
Hourly Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 1st Line Support job vacancies in the South West.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 1st Line Support job vacancies in the South West

1st Line Support
Contract Job Locations in the South West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing 1st Line Support within the South West region over the 6 months to 14 February 2026. 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
Bristol -7 7 £200 -11.11% 1
Dorset - 7 - -
Somerset -10 1 £150 -14.29% 1
Devon - 1 £175 - 3
1st Line Support
England

1st Line Support Skill Set
Top 14 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South West

For the 6 months to 14 February 2026, 1st 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 South West region featuring 1st Line Support in the job title.

1 8 (50.00%) SC Cleared
1 8 (50.00%) Security Cleared
2 6 (37.50%) Customer Service
2 6 (37.50%) High Availability
3 5 (31.25%) Collaborative Working
3 5 (31.25%) ITIL
4 3 (18.75%) Asset Management
5 2 (12.50%) Data Entry
6 1 (6.25%) Active Directory
6 1 (6.25%) BPSS Clearance
6 1 (6.25%) Citrix
6 1 (6.25%) Microsoft 365
6 1 (6.25%) SCCM
6 1 (6.25%) VPN

1st Line Support Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South West 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:

Cloud Services
1 1 (6.25%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 1 (6.25%) VPN
General
1 6 (37.50%) Social Skills
2 2 (12.50%) Organisational Skills
Processes & Methodologies
1 6 (37.50%) Customer Service
1 6 (37.50%) High Availability
2 5 (31.25%) Collaborative Working
2 5 (31.25%) ITIL
3 3 (18.75%) Asset Management
4 2 (12.50%) Data Entry
Qualifications
1 8 (50.00%) SC Cleared
1 8 (50.00%) Security Cleared
2 1 (6.25%) BPSS Clearance
System Software
1 1 (6.25%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 1 (6.25%) SCCM
Vendors
1 1 (6.25%) Citrix