1st Line Service Desk Analyst Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

First Line Service Desk Analyst
UK > UK excluding London

The median First Line Service Desk Analyst daily rate in the UK excluding London is £185, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 3 November 2025.

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

6 months to
3 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 378 348 360
Rank change year-on-year -30 +12 +74
Contract jobs requiring a 1st Line Service Desk Analyst 14 15 62
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.084% 0.090% 0.30%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.093% 0.098% 0.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 5 12 29
10th Percentile - £112 £121
25th Percentile £150 £137 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £185 £140 £165
Median % change year-on-year +32.14% -15.15% +4.76%
75th Percentile £200 £170 £173
90th Percentile £230 £206 £199
UK median daily rate £186 £140 £165
% change year-on-year +33.04% -15.15% +3.13%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 1 33
10th Percentile - - £13.25
25th Percentile - - £14.25
Median hourly rate £17.87 £14.16 £19.81
Median % change year-on-year +26.20% -28.52% -
75th Percentile - - £20.56
90th Percentile - - -
UK median hourly rate £23.94 £14.16 £19.81
% change year-on-year +69.03% -28.52% -

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
UK excluding London

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the UK excluding London. 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 UK excluding London with a recognized job title 15,003 15,325 19,499
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 89.70% 92.10% 93.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,288 8,775 12,937
10th Percentile £208 £218 £213
25th Percentile £363 £375 £381
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £490 £500
Median % change year-on-year -3.06% -2.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £588 £600
90th Percentile £671 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,446 1,063 1,261
10th Percentile £13.75 £14.73 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.00 £19.28 £18.38
Median hourly rate £25.15 £36.17 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -30.46% -18.73% +85.42%
75th Percentile £50.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £73.71 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £37.39 £45.00
% change year-on-year -32.74% -16.91% +57.89%

1st Line Service Desk Analyst
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring '1st Line Service Desk Analyst' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

1st Line Service Desk Analyst job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

1st Line Service Desk Analyst
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 1st Line Service Desk Analyst job vacancies in the UK excluding London.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 1st Line Service Desk Analyst job vacancies in the UK excluding London

1st Line Service Desk Analyst
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 1st Line Service Desk Analyst job vacancies in the UK excluding London.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 1st Line Service Desk Analyst job vacancies in the UK excluding London

1st Line Service Desk Analyst
Contract Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing 1st Line Service Desk Analyst within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 3 November 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
Midlands - 7 £250 - 6
West Midlands - 6 £250 - 3
South East +6 5 £193 +13.24% 3
South West +4 1 £155 +10.71% 1
North West -26 1 £150 -
North of England -40 1 £150 +11.11% 2
East Midlands - 1 - - 3
1st Line Service Desk Analyst
UK

1st Line Service Desk Analyst Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London

For the 6 months to 3 November 2025, 1st Line Service Desk Analyst 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 UK excluding London region featuring 1st Line Service Desk Analyst in the job title.

1 10 (71.43%) Customer Service
1 10 (71.43%) Problem-Solving
2 7 (50.00%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (50.00%) Windows
3 6 (42.86%) ServiceNow
4 5 (35.71%) HCL Notes
4 5 (35.71%) Lotus
4 5 (35.71%) Microsoft
4 5 (35.71%) Proactive Monitoring
5 4 (28.57%) Active Directory
5 4 (28.57%) Microsoft 365
5 4 (28.57%) Security Cleared
5 4 (28.57%) Windows 10
6 3 (21.43%) Degree
6 3 (21.43%) ITIL
6 3 (21.43%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 3 (21.43%) SC Cleared
7 2 (14.29%) Azure
7 2 (14.29%) Coaching
7 2 (14.29%) DNS
7 2 (14.29%) DV Cleared
7 2 (14.29%) ITSM
7 2 (14.29%) Microsoft Certification
7 2 (14.29%) Microsoft Intune
7 2 (14.29%) Power Platform
7 2 (14.29%) SCCM
7 2 (14.29%) Service Delivery
7 2 (14.29%) Service Management
7 2 (14.29%) User Experience
7 2 (14.29%) Wi-Fi

1st Line Service Desk Analyst Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 5 (35.71%) HCL Notes
2 1 (7.14%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 7 (50.00%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 4 (28.57%) Microsoft 365
2 2 (14.29%) Azure
2 2 (14.29%) Power Platform
3 1 (7.14%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 2 (14.29%) DNS
1 2 (14.29%) Wi-Fi
2 1 (7.14%) VoIP
General
1 6 (42.86%) Social Skills
2 5 (35.71%) Analytical Skills
2 5 (35.71%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 3 (21.43%) Finance
4 2 (14.29%) Legal
Miscellaneous
1 5 (35.71%) Data Centre
2 3 (21.43%) Video Conferencing
3 1 (7.14%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 7 (50.00%) Windows
2 4 (28.57%) Windows 10
3 1 (7.14%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 10 (71.43%) Customer Service
1 10 (71.43%) Problem-Solving
2 5 (35.71%) Proactive Monitoring
3 3 (21.43%) ITIL
4 2 (14.29%) Coaching
4 2 (14.29%) ITSM
4 2 (14.29%) Service Delivery
4 2 (14.29%) Service Management
4 2 (14.29%) User Experience
5 1 (7.14%) Critical Thinking
5 1 (7.14%) Identity Access Management
5 1 (7.14%) Stakeholder Management
5 1 (7.14%) Virtual Environments
Qualifications
1 4 (28.57%) Security Cleared
2 3 (21.43%) Degree
2 3 (21.43%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
2 3 (21.43%) SC Cleared
3 2 (14.29%) DV Cleared
3 2 (14.29%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (7.14%) SLA
System Software
1 4 (28.57%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 2 (14.29%) Microsoft Intune
1 2 (14.29%) SCCM
Vendors
1 6 (42.86%) ServiceNow
2 5 (35.71%) Lotus
2 5 (35.71%) Microsoft
3 1 (7.14%) Cisco