2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer Contract Job Trends

Second Line Desktop Support Engineer
UK

The median Second Line Desktop Support Engineer daily rate in the UK is £208, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 13 April 2026.

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

6 months to
13 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 617 501 557
Rank change year-on-year -116 +56 +114
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer 1 22 24
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.002% 0.075% 0.055%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.002% 0.081% 0.059%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 11 14
10th Percentile - £126 £108
25th Percentile £204 £181 £132
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £208 £195 £193
Median % change year-on-year +6.41% +1.30% -8.33%
75th Percentile £211 £203 £203
90th Percentile - £220 £220
UK excluding London median daily rate £208 £195 £195
% change year-on-year +6.41% - -4.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 5 1
Median hourly rate - £23.00 £20.00
Median % change year-on-year - +15.00% -
UK excluding London median hourly rate - £23.00 £20.00
% change year-on-year - +15.00% -

All Contract IT Job Roles
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 42,387 27,118 40,704
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.26% 92.63% 92.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,322 17,814 26,600
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £407 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.82% -0.98% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £629 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +2.63% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,671 978 2,586
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.84 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.09 £20.00 £16.25
Median hourly rate £41.26 £31.50 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +30.97% -10.00% -21.40%
75th Percentile £65.25 £63.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £78.00 £75.73 £72.17
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.38 £30.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year +41.25% -14.29% -16.97%

2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring '2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer job vacancies in the UK

2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer job vacancies in the UK

2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer
Top 3 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing 2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 13 April 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
South East -53 1 £208 +6.41% 1
UK excluding London -118 1 £208 +6.41% 1
England -122 1 £208 +6.41% 2

2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer Skill Set
Top 11 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 13 April 2026, 2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer 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 featuring 2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer in the job title.

1 1 (100.00%) Active Directory
1 1 (100.00%) Customer Service
1 1 (100.00%) Degree
1 1 (100.00%) ITIL
1 1 (100.00%) Microsoft
1 1 (100.00%) Microsoft 365
1 1 (100.00%) Microsoft Exchange
1 1 (100.00%) Microsoft Office
1 1 (100.00%) Patch Management
1 1 (100.00%) Service Management
1 1 (100.00%) Windows

2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 1 (100.00%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 1 (100.00%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 1 (100.00%) Microsoft 365
Operating Systems
1 1 (100.00%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 1 (100.00%) Customer Service
1 1 (100.00%) ITIL
1 1 (100.00%) Patch Management
1 1 (100.00%) Service Management
Qualifications
1 1 (100.00%) Degree
System Software
1 1 (100.00%) Active Directory
Vendors
1 1 (100.00%) Microsoft