Service Desk Analyst Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Service Desk Analyst
UK > UK excluding London

The median Service Desk Analyst daily rate in the UK excluding London is £170, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 23 December 2025.

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

6 months to
23 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 242 159 140
Rank change year-on-year -83 -19 +3
Contract jobs requiring a Service Desk Analyst 161 214 335
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.88% 1.45% 1.72%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.98% 1.57% 1.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 66 97 180
10th Percentile £130 £135 £121
25th Percentile £140 £143 £133
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £170 £178 £165
Median % change year-on-year -4.23% +7.58% +3.13%
75th Percentile £200 £210 £208
90th Percentile £250 £262 £263
UK median daily rate £175 £190 £180
% change year-on-year -7.89% +5.56% +5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 57 36 112
10th Percentile £13.80 £14.22 £13.41
25th Percentile £14.38 £15.07 £14.03
Median hourly rate £16.00 £17.22 £15.62
Median % change year-on-year -7.08% +10.26% +0.76%
75th Percentile £18.50 £21.46 £18.75
90th Percentile £22.60 - £20.56
UK median hourly rate £16.00 £17.22 £15.64
% change year-on-year -7.08% +10.14% +0.87%

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 16,496 13,648 18,182
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.16% 92.40% 93.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,138 8,136 11,878
10th Percentile £213 £213 £213
25th Percentile £370 £363 £376
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.56% -2.50% -
75th Percentile £575 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £680 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,662 770 1,193
10th Percentile £13.88 £15.36 £14.42
25th Percentile £17.50 £20.25 £18.50
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -29.16% +83.52%
75th Percentile £57.88 £64.40 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £71.25 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.33 £33.00 £45.00
% change year-on-year -23.23% -26.67% +48.76%

Service Desk Analyst
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

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

Service Desk Analyst job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Service Desk Analyst
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

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

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

Service Desk Analyst
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Service Desk Analyst in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 23 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Service Desk Analyst in the UK excluding London

Service Desk Analyst
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

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

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

Service Desk Analyst
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Service Desk Analyst in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 23 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Service Desk Analyst in the UK excluding London

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 Service Desk Analyst within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 23 December 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
East of England +2 61 £155 -31.11% 8
North of England -72 33 £163 +8.33% 16
South East -30 26 £185 +1.65% 16
Midlands -33 25 £131 -30.97% 7
North West -41 18 £156 +4.17% 14
East Midlands -12 13 £131 -30.97% 5
West Midlands -28 12 £250 +31.58% 2
Yorkshire -45 10 £156 +15.74% 2
South West -18 7 £216 +8.13% 8
Scotland -14 5 £190 -7.32% 5
North East -18 5 £180 +20.00%
Wales -3 4 £145 +3.57% 3
Northern Ireland -6 1 - -
Service Desk Analyst
UK

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

For the 6 months to 23 December 2025, 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 Service Desk Analyst in the job title.

1 89 (55.28%) Customer Service
2 53 (32.92%) Active Directory
3 50 (31.06%) Microsoft
4 48 (29.81%) Windows
5 38 (23.60%) Microsoft 365
5 38 (23.60%) Problem-Solving
6 35 (21.74%) ITIL
7 26 (16.15%) Windows 10
8 23 (14.29%) Security Cleared
9 22 (13.66%) Microsoft Office
10 21 (13.04%) ServiceNow
11 20 (12.42%) Microsoft Exchange
12 19 (11.80%) ITSM
13 16 (9.94%) SC Cleared
14 12 (7.45%) SCCM
14 12 (7.45%) Service Management
14 12 (7.45%) VoIP
15 11 (6.83%) DNS
15 11 (6.83%) Incident Management
16 10 (6.21%) Android
17 9 (5.59%) Customer Experience
17 9 (5.59%) Degree
17 9 (5.59%) Entra ID
17 9 (5.59%) Google
17 9 (5.59%) Google Workspace
18 8 (4.97%) Active Listening
18 8 (4.97%) Azure
18 8 (4.97%) Collaborative Working
18 8 (4.97%) DV Cleared
18 8 (4.97%) ITIL Foundation Certificate

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 20 (12.42%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (4.35%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.48%) HCL Notes
4 1 (0.62%) Exchange Server 2013
Applications
1 22 (13.66%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.86%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.86%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 3 (1.86%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (1.24%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.62%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 38 (23.60%) Microsoft 365
2 9 (5.59%) Entra ID
2 9 (5.59%) Google Workspace
3 8 (4.97%) Azure
4 6 (3.73%) GCP
5 2 (1.24%) Power Platform
6 1 (0.62%) Cloud Computing
6 1 (0.62%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 12 (7.45%) VoIP
2 11 (6.83%) DNS
3 7 (4.35%) TCP/IP
4 6 (3.73%) DHCP
4 6 (3.73%) Wi-Fi
5 3 (1.86%) VPN
6 2 (1.24%) Internet
6 2 (1.24%) Network Security
6 2 (1.24%) Remote Desktop
7 1 (0.62%) Broadband
7 1 (0.62%) SAN
7 1 (0.62%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.62%) DTS
1 1 (0.62%) Looker
General
1 71 (44.10%) Social Skills
2 20 (12.42%) Romanian Language
3 12 (7.45%) Polish Language
3 12 (7.45%) Public Sector
4 8 (4.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 8 (4.97%) Manufacturing
4 8 (4.97%) Organisational Skills
4 8 (4.97%) Retail
5 5 (3.11%) Analytical Skills
6 4 (2.48%) Legal
6 4 (2.48%) Military
6 4 (2.48%) Spanish Language
7 3 (1.86%) Finance
8 2 (1.24%) Documentation Skills
8 2 (1.24%) Local Government
8 2 (1.24%) Telecoms
9 1 (0.62%) Banking
9 1 (0.62%) French Language
9 1 (0.62%) Lithuanian Language
9 1 (0.62%) Pharmaceutical
Miscellaneous
1 8 (4.97%) Management Information System
2 7 (4.35%) Smartphone
2 7 (4.35%) Video Conferencing
3 5 (3.11%) NHS
4 4 (2.48%) Data Centre
4 4 (2.48%) Onboarding
5 3 (1.86%) Self-Motivation
6 2 (1.24%) CMDB
6 2 (1.24%) Enterprise Software
6 2 (1.24%) Smartcard
6 2 (1.24%) Virtual Team
7 1 (0.62%) Blackberry
7 1 (0.62%) BYOD
Operating Systems
1 48 (29.81%) Windows
2 26 (16.15%) Windows 10
3 10 (6.21%) Android
4 7 (4.35%) Apple iOS
4 7 (4.35%) Mac OS
5 1 (0.62%) Windows Server
5 1 (0.62%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 89 (55.28%) Customer Service
2 38 (23.60%) Problem-Solving
3 35 (21.74%) ITIL
4 19 (11.80%) ITSM
5 12 (7.45%) Service Management
6 11 (6.83%) Incident Management
7 9 (5.59%) Customer Experience
8 8 (4.97%) Active Listening
8 8 (4.97%) Collaborative Working
8 8 (4.97%) Service Delivery
9 7 (4.35%) Digital Strategy
9 7 (4.35%) Problem Management
10 5 (3.11%) Continuous Improvement
10 5 (3.11%) Migration
11 4 (2.48%) Mathematics
11 4 (2.48%) Proactive Monitoring
12 3 (1.86%) Configuration Management
12 3 (1.86%) Knowledge Management
12 3 (1.86%) Process Improvement
12 3 (1.86%) User Experience
Qualifications
1 23 (14.29%) Security Cleared
2 16 (9.94%) SC Cleared
3 9 (5.59%) Degree
4 8 (4.97%) DV Cleared
4 8 (4.97%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
5 7 (4.35%) ITIL Certification
5 7 (4.35%) Microsoft Certification
6 6 (3.73%) A+ Certification
7 3 (1.86%) MCSA
8 1 (0.62%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (4.97%) SLA
System Software
1 53 (32.92%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.62%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 12 (7.45%) SCCM
2 8 (4.97%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 50 (31.06%) Microsoft
2 21 (13.04%) ServiceNow
3 9 (5.59%) Google
4 5 (3.11%) Citrix
5 4 (2.48%) Lotus
6 3 (1.86%) Cisco
6 3 (1.86%) Remedy
7 1 (0.62%) Barracuda Networks
7 1 (0.62%) Dell
7 1 (0.62%) Ivanti
7 1 (0.62%) Sophos
7 1 (0.62%) VMware