1st/2nd Line Support Contracts

1st/2nd Line Support
UK

The median 1st/2nd Line Support daily rate in the UK is £200 according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months to 11 May 2024.

The first table below provides contractor rate benchmarking and summary statistics including a comparison to same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
11 May 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 514 600 665
Rank change year-on-year +86 +65 -18
Contract jobs requiring a 1st/2nd Line Support 76 99 179
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.18% 0.17% 0.20%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.19% 0.18% 0.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 65 68 132
10th Percentile £141 £150 £124
25th Percentile £180 £163 £149
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £200 £175
Median % change year-on-year - +14.29% +2.94%
75th Percentile £228 £243 £216
90th Percentile £253 £300 £250
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £190 £165
% change year-on-year +5.26% +15.15% +3.13%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 9 19
10th Percentile - £16.80 £15.20
25th Percentile £17.72 £17.25 £16.25
Median hourly rate £18.27 £20.00 £18.00
Median % change year-on-year -8.65% +11.11% +20.00%
75th Percentile £23.75 - £19.86
90th Percentile £24.01 £27.80 £22.98
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.00 £18.75 £18.00
% change year-on-year -4.03% +4.17% +20.00%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
UK

The following table is for comparison with the above and includes 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 39,895 54,705 83,445
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.77% 94.63% 95.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,959 38,196 58,620
10th Percentile £280 £313 £313
25th Percentile £410 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £540 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.78% +2.86% +10.53%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £638
90th Percentile £750 £750 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £500 £475
% change year-on-year -2.00% +5.26% +11.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,673 1,532 2,041
10th Percentile £12.86 £14.25 £12.50
25th Percentile £16.30 £19.06 £15.75
Median hourly rate £37.50 £45.00 £23.91
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% +88.21% +6.27%
75th Percentile £61.30 £65.75 £49.25
90th Percentile £72.90 £76.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £42.43 £20.00
% change year-on-year -5.73% +112.16% +5.26%

1st/2nd Line Support
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings that featured 1st/2nd Line Support in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for 1st/2nd Line Support in the UK

1st/2nd Line Support
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing 1st/2nd Line Support.

Daily rate trend for 1st/2nd Line Support in the UK

1st/2nd Line Support
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing 1st/2nd Line Support over the 6 months to 11 May 2024.

Daily rate histogram for 1st/2nd Line Support in the UK

1st/2nd Line Support
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing 1st/2nd Line Support.

Hourly rate trend for 1st/2nd Line Support in the UK

1st/2nd Line Support
Top 15 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing 1st/2nd Line Support within the UK over the 6 months to 11 May 2024. 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 +81 71 £198 -1.25% 21
UK excluding London +47 47 £200 +5.26% 14
London +82 29 £200 -11.11% 5
Midlands +35 16 £200 +14.29% 1
West Midlands +23 12 £200 +14.29% 1
North of England +35 11 £190 -5.00% 1
North West +20 10 £189 -5.63% 1
South West +10 9 £185 -12.94% 3
Work from Home +111 8 £255 +27.50% 6
Scotland +46 4 £200 -
East Midlands +19 4 £200 -11.11%
South East +9 4 £215 +26.47% 8
East of England +8 2 £175 +16.67% 1
Yorkshire +15 1 £190 -
Northern Ireland - 1 - -

1st/2nd Line Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities

For the 6 months to 11 May 2024, 1st/2nd Line Support 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/2nd Line Support in the job title.

1 56 (73.68%) Windows
2 54 (71.05%) Microsoft
3 47 (61.84%) Microsoft 365
4 42 (55.26%) Active Directory
5 41 (53.95%) Social Skills
6 37 (48.68%) Microsoft Office
7 32 (42.11%) SCCM
8 29 (38.16%) Windows 10
9 24 (31.58%) Customer Service
10 17 (22.37%) Apple
11 15 (19.74%) Problem-Solving
11 15 (19.74%) Asset Management
12 13 (17.11%) Mac OS
12 13 (17.11%) Windows Server
12 13 (17.11%) Microsoft Intune
13 12 (15.79%) Azure
13 12 (15.79%) Degree
13 12 (15.79%) VPN
14 11 (14.47%) DNS
14 11 (14.47%) Finance
14 11 (14.47%) VMware
15 10 (13.16%) TCP/IP
15 10 (13.16%) LAN
15 10 (13.16%) Mobile Device Management
15 10 (13.16%) Analytical Skills
15 10 (13.16%) Windows Server 2019
16 9 (11.84%) Windows Server 2012
16 9 (11.84%) VoIP
16 9 (11.84%) SLA
16 9 (11.84%) Wi-Fi

1st/2nd Line Support 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 8 (10.53%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (9.21%) SharePoint
3 2 (2.63%) Exchange Server 2013
4 1 (1.32%) Exchange Server 2007
Applications
1 37 (48.68%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (7.89%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (3.95%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Cloud Services
1 47 (61.84%) Microsoft 365
2 12 (15.79%) Azure
3 7 (9.21%) OneDrive
4 4 (5.26%) Asana
4 4 (5.26%) Slack
5 3 (3.95%) Google Workspace
5 3 (3.95%) WhatsApp
6 1 (1.32%) Entra ID
6 1 (1.32%) Power Platform
6 1 (1.32%) Yammer
Communications & Networking
1 12 (15.79%) VPN
2 11 (14.47%) DNS
3 10 (13.16%) LAN
3 10 (13.16%) TCP/IP
4 9 (11.84%) Firewall
4 9 (11.84%) VoIP
4 9 (11.84%) Wi-Fi
5 8 (10.53%) WAN
6 6 (7.89%) VLAN
7 5 (6.58%) DHCP
8 4 (5.26%) Internet
9 3 (3.95%) FTP
9 3 (3.95%) Remote Desktop
10 2 (2.63%) Wireless
11 1 (1.32%) Cisco IOS
11 1 (1.32%) HTTP
11 1 (1.32%) SAN
11 1 (1.32%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.32%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 4 (5.26%) JIRA
2 1 (1.32%) Hudson
General
1 41 (53.95%) Social Skills
2 11 (14.47%) Finance
3 10 (13.16%) Analytical Skills
4 6 (7.89%) Documentation Skills
4 6 (7.89%) Legal
4 6 (7.89%) Public Sector
5 4 (5.26%) Banking
5 4 (5.26%) Organisational Skills
5 4 (5.26%) Telecoms
6 3 (3.95%) Multimedia
7 2 (2.63%) Billing
7 2 (2.63%) Electronics
7 2 (2.63%) Manufacturing
7 2 (2.63%) Marketing
7 2 (2.63%) Presentation Skills
8 1 (1.32%) Pharmaceutical
8 1 (1.32%) Social Housing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (1.32%) CSS
1 1 (1.32%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 9 (11.84%) iPad
2 8 (10.53%) Driving Licence
3 7 (9.21%) Video Conferencing
4 6 (7.89%) Clustering
4 6 (7.89%) Onboarding
5 5 (6.58%) Management Information System
5 5 (6.58%) Self-Motivation
6 4 (5.26%) Smartphone
7 3 (3.95%) iPhone
8 2 (2.63%) Blackberry
8 2 (2.63%) PDA
9 1 (1.32%) Data Centre
9 1 (1.32%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 56 (73.68%) Windows
2 29 (38.16%) Windows 10
3 13 (17.11%) Mac OS
3 13 (17.11%) Windows Server
4 10 (13.16%) Windows Server 2019
5 9 (11.84%) Windows Server 2012
6 6 (7.89%) Apple iOS
7 4 (5.26%) Windows Server 2008
8 3 (3.95%) Android
8 3 (3.95%) Mac OS X
8 3 (3.95%) Windows Server 2016
9 2 (2.63%) Windows 7
10 1 (1.32%) OpenVMS
10 1 (1.32%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 24 (31.58%) Customer Service
2 15 (19.74%) Asset Management
2 15 (19.74%) Problem-Solving
3 10 (13.16%) Mobile Device Management
4 8 (10.53%) ITIL
5 6 (7.89%) Decision-Making
5 6 (7.89%) Quality Management
6 5 (6.58%) Customer Experience
6 5 (6.58%) Service Delivery
7 4 (5.26%) Customer Requirements
7 4 (5.26%) Information Security
7 4 (5.26%) Inventory Management
7 4 (5.26%) Investment Management
7 4 (5.26%) Service Management
7 4 (5.26%) Software Deployment
8 3 (3.95%) Antivirus Management
8 3 (3.95%) Collaborative Working
8 3 (3.95%) Continuous Improvement
8 3 (3.95%) Proactive Maintenance
8 3 (3.95%) Software Distribution
Programming Languages
1 6 (7.89%) PowerShell
2 4 (5.26%) JavaScript
3 3 (3.95%) Python
Qualifications
1 12 (15.79%) Degree
2 4 (5.26%) ITIL Certification
3 3 (3.95%) Security Cleared
4 2 (2.63%) A+ Certification
4 2 (2.63%) DV Cleared
4 2 (2.63%) MCP
4 2 (2.63%) Microsoft Certification
4 2 (2.63%) SC Cleared
5 1 (1.32%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (11.84%) SLA
System Software
1 42 (55.26%) Active Directory
2 9 (11.84%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (10.53%) Hyper-V
4 2 (2.63%) Terminal Services
5 1 (1.32%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 32 (42.11%) SCCM
2 13 (17.11%) Microsoft Intune
3 7 (9.21%) Jamf Pro
4 6 (7.89%) Autotask
4 6 (7.89%) Failover Clustering
5 4 (5.26%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
6 1 (1.32%) AirWatch
6 1 (1.32%) PaperCut
Vendors
1 54 (71.05%) Microsoft
2 17 (22.37%) Apple
3 11 (14.47%) VMware
4 7 (9.21%) ServiceNow
5 6 (7.89%) Datto
6 4 (5.26%) Citrix
6 4 (5.26%) Palo Alto
6 4 (5.26%) Zscaler
7 3 (3.95%) Google
7 3 (3.95%) HP
8 2 (2.63%) Cisco
8 2 (2.63%) Dell
8 2 (2.63%) SAP
8 2 (2.63%) Veeam
9 1 (1.32%) BT
9 1 (1.32%) EMC
9 1 (1.32%) Facebook
9 1 (1.32%) Instagram
9 1 (1.32%) Micro Focus
9 1 (1.32%) Remedy