1st Line Service Desk Analyst Contracts

First Line Service Desk Analyst
UK

The median First Line Service Desk Analyst daily rate in the UK is £155, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 1 May 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
1 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 507 522 659
Rank change year-on-year +15 +137 +94
Contract jobs requiring a 1st Line Service Desk Analyst 13 60 59
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.044% 0.14% 0.099%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.048% 0.15% 0.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 9 14 27
10th Percentile £140 £125 £107
25th Percentile £140 - £116
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £155 £150 £158
Median % change year-on-year +3.33% -4.76% +5.00%
75th Percentile £194 £173 £200
90th Percentile £195 £191 £211
UK excluding London median daily rate £148 £150 £141
% change year-on-year -1.67% +6.51% -6.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 45 29
10th Percentile - £11.00 £13.25
25th Percentile - £14.16 £14.25
Median hourly rate - £14.50 £17.00
Median % change year-on-year - -14.71% -12.82%
75th Percentile - £21.46 £20.56
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate - £14.50 £17.00
% change year-on-year - -14.71% -12.82%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. 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 with a recognized job title 27,084 40,415 56,464
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.52% 92.78% 94.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,692 26,309 39,470
10th Percentile £300 £275 £313
25th Percentile £406 £410 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -1.90% -2.78% +2.86%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £492 £500
% change year-on-year -3.46% -1.60% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,035 2,664 1,570
10th Percentile £14.07 £12.86 £14.29
25th Percentile £18.50 £16.30 £19.50
Median hourly rate £29.00 £36.42 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -20.37% -19.07% +91.49%
75th Percentile £62.50 £60.75 £65.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £72.50 £75.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.00 £39.55 £42.50
% change year-on-year -29.20% -6.94% +117.95%

1st Line Service Desk Analyst
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings that featured 1st Line Service Desk Analyst in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for 1st Line Service Desk Analyst in the UK

1st Line Service Desk Analyst
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing 1st Line Service Desk Analyst.

Daily rate trend for 1st Line Service Desk Analyst in the UK

1st Line Service Desk Analyst
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing 1st Line Service Desk Analyst.

Hourly rate trend for 1st Line Service Desk Analyst in the UK

1st Line Service Desk Analyst
Top 10 Contract Locations

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 over the 6 months to 1 May 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
England +10 13 £155 +3.33% 4
UK excluding London +17 10 £148 -1.67% 4
Work from Home +39 5 £170 +13.00% 2
South West +41 3 £140 - 2
London +37 3 £188 +20.97%
Midlands +20 3 - - 1
West Midlands +14 3 - - 1
South East +45 2 £178 +7.58% 1
North of England +9 2 £175 - 1
North West +8 2 £175 - 1

1st Line Service Desk Analyst Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities

For the 6 months to 1 May 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 co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring 1st Line Service Desk Analyst in the job title.

1 10 (76.92%) Customer Service
2 9 (69.23%) Problem-Solving
3 8 (61.54%) Active Directory
4 7 (53.85%) Microsoft
4 7 (53.85%) Microsoft Office
5 6 (46.15%) Windows
5 6 (46.15%) Analytical Skills
5 6 (46.15%) Social Skills
6 5 (38.46%) ITIL
7 4 (30.77%) Incident Management
7 4 (30.77%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 3 (23.08%) Proactive Monitoring
8 3 (23.08%) Time Management
8 3 (23.08%) Continuous Improvement
8 3 (23.08%) Finance
8 3 (23.08%) Service Delivery
8 3 (23.08%) Management Information System
8 3 (23.08%) IBM Notes
8 3 (23.08%) A+ Certification
8 3 (23.08%) Lotus
9 2 (15.38%) Microsoft Excel
9 2 (15.38%) SLA
9 2 (15.38%) Microsoft 365
9 2 (15.38%) Break/Fix
9 2 (15.38%) ServiceNow
9 2 (15.38%) Data Centre
9 2 (15.38%) Remote Desktop
9 2 (15.38%) Onboarding
9 2 (15.38%) Self-Motivation
10 1 (7.69%) User Experience

1st Line Service Desk Analyst Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities 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 3 (23.08%) IBM Notes
2 1 (7.69%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 7 (53.85%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (15.38%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (7.69%) Oracle EBS
Cloud Services
1 2 (15.38%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 2 (15.38%) Remote Desktop
General
1 6 (46.15%) Analytical Skills
1 6 (46.15%) Social Skills
2 4 (30.77%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 3 (23.08%) Finance
4 1 (7.69%) Public Sector
Miscellaneous
1 3 (23.08%) Management Information System
2 2 (15.38%) Data Centre
2 2 (15.38%) Onboarding
2 2 (15.38%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 6 (46.15%) Windows
2 1 (7.69%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 10 (76.92%) Customer Service
2 9 (69.23%) Problem-Solving
3 5 (38.46%) ITIL
4 4 (30.77%) Incident Management
5 3 (23.08%) Continuous Improvement
5 3 (23.08%) Proactive Monitoring
5 3 (23.08%) Service Delivery
5 3 (23.08%) Time Management
6 2 (15.38%) Break/Fix
7 1 (7.69%) Analytics
7 1 (7.69%) Customer Engagement
7 1 (7.69%) Service Management
7 1 (7.69%) Software Deployment
7 1 (7.69%) User Experience
Qualifications
1 3 (23.08%) A+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (15.38%) SLA
System Software
1 8 (61.54%) Active Directory
Vendors
1 7 (53.85%) Microsoft
2 3 (23.08%) Lotus
3 2 (15.38%) ServiceNow
4 1 (7.69%) Apple
4 1 (7.69%) Oracle