MCDST Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST)
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the UK excluding London with a requirement for MCDST qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 5 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 425 - 400
Rank change year-on-year - - +70
Contract jobs citing MCDST 5 0 5
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.024% - 0.024%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.065% - 0.065%
Number of daily rates quoted 5 0 4
10th Percentile £117 - -
25th Percentile £120 - -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £145 - £215
Median % change year-on-year - - +52.48%
75th Percentile £163 - -
90th Percentile - - -
UK median daily rate £145 - £215
% change year-on-year - - +52.48%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 0 1
Median hourly rate - - £15.65
UK median hourly rate - - £15.65

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK excluding London

MCDST falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in the UK excluding London.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 7,698 4,616 7,664
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 36.29% 35.08% 36.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,872 2,769 4,461
10th Percentile £280 £210 £250
25th Percentile £406 £386 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £510 £528
Median % change year-on-year -1.96% -3.32% -0.47%
75th Percentile £600 £613 £638
90th Percentile £700 £688 £706
UK median daily rate £515 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -1.90% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 932 366 830
10th Percentile £16.00 £19.34 £14.16
25th Percentile £18.87 £24.50 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £47.81 £40.94
Median % change year-on-year -47.39% +16.77% -10.02%
75th Percentile £65.00 £68.00 £63.00
90th Percentile £82.25 £81.56 £76.28
UK median hourly rate £25.77 £42.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year -39.36% +6.25% -20.00%

MCDST
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing MCDST relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

MCDST job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

MCDST
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing MCDST.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing MCDST

MCDST
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing MCDST.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing MCDST

MCDST
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 MCDST within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 5 March 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
Midlands - 5 £145 -
West Midlands - 5 £145 -
MCDST
UK

MCDST
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:

Cloud Services
1 5 (100.00%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 5 (100.00%) DHCP
1 5 (100.00%) DNS
1 5 (100.00%) TCP/IP
1 5 (100.00%) VPN
General
1 5 (100.00%) Analytical Skills
1 5 (100.00%) Social Skills
Job Titles
1 5 (100.00%) 1st/2nd Line Support
1 5 (100.00%) 1st/2nd Line Support Analyst
1 5 (100.00%) 2nd Line Support
1 5 (100.00%) 2nd Line Support Analyst
1 5 (100.00%) Analyst
1 5 (100.00%) IT Analyst
1 5 (100.00%) IT Support
1 5 (100.00%) IT Support Analyst
1 5 (100.00%) Support Analyst
Miscellaneous
1 5 (100.00%) Self-Motivation
1 5 (100.00%) Team-Oriented Environment
Operating Systems
1 5 (100.00%) Windows
1 5 (100.00%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 5 (100.00%) Change Management
1 5 (100.00%) CRM
1 5 (100.00%) Customer Service
1 5 (100.00%) Disk Encryption
1 5 (100.00%) ITIL
1 5 (100.00%) Mobile Device Management
1 5 (100.00%) Problem Management
1 5 (100.00%) Problem-Solving
1 5 (100.00%) Service Delivery
Qualifications
1 5 (100.00%) Microsoft Certification
1 5 (100.00%) Microsoft Certified Professional
System Software
1 5 (100.00%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 5 (100.00%) SCCM
Vendors
1 5 (100.00%) iManage
1 5 (100.00%) Microsoft
1 5 (100.00%) Mitel