2nd Line Support Contract Job Trends

Second Line Support
UK

The median Second Line Support daily rate in the UK is £190, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 7 December 2025.

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

6 months to
7 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 394 370 311
Rank change year-on-year -24 -59 +45
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Support 190 177 334
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.52% 0.50% 0.73%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.58% 0.53% 0.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 140 130 229
10th Percentile £154 £149 £133
25th Percentile £163 £180 £165
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £190 £210 £200
Median % change year-on-year -9.52% +5.00% -11.11%
75th Percentile £232 £272 £238
90th Percentile £288 £400 £288
UK excluding London median daily rate £190 £200 £197
% change year-on-year -5.00% +1.39% -1.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 15 28
10th Percentile - £20.19 £15.68
25th Percentile £15.50 £21.05 £17.72
Median hourly rate £18.44 £23.00 £19.31
Median % change year-on-year -19.85% +19.11% -12.23%
75th Percentile £24.29 £25.47 £21.70
90th Percentile £30.89 £29.00 £26.85
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.45 £23.00 £19.06
% change year-on-year -24.15% +20.67% -4.70%

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 32,988 33,120 42,501
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.93% 92.74% 93.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,924 20,243 28,641
10th Percentile £285 £300 £294
25th Percentile £403 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £645
90th Percentile £725 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £495 £500
% change year-on-year -4.04% -1.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,924 1,136 1,517
10th Percentile £14.22 £15.36 £15.16
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.75 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £34.75 £44.00
Median % change year-on-year -27.63% -21.02% +40.98%
75th Percentile £56.81 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.75 £73.66 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -22.62% -26.97% +78.00%

2nd Line Support
Job Vacancy Trend

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

2nd Line Support job vacancy trend in the UK

2nd Line Support
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

2nd Line Support
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing 2nd Line Support over the 6 months to 7 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for 2nd Line Support in the UK

2nd Line Support
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

2nd Line Support
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing 2nd Line Support over the 6 months to 7 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for 2nd Line Support in the UK

2nd Line Support
Top 17 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 Support within the UK over the 6 months to 7 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
England -14 181 £190 -11.63% 96
UK excluding London -15 142 £190 -5.00% 95
North of England -7 64 £190 +2.70% 23
London -19 44 £195 -22.00% 15
North West -2 31 £175 - 10
Midlands -26 30 £170 -2.86% 7
Yorkshire -25 25 £205 +5.13% 12
South East -18 20 £175 -25.09% 45
West Midlands -26 19 £200 +14.29% 7
East of England -3 13 £200 -11.11% 6
Work from Home -17 13 £190 -15.56% 28
East Midlands -11 11 £158 -
South West -19 10 £275 +30.95% 7
North East +3 8 £175 +11.11% 2
Northern Ireland -6 2 - - 1
Scotland -9 2 £225 +18.11% 6
Wales +2 1 £205 +2.50%

2nd Line Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 7 December 2025, 2nd Line Support 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 Support in the job title.

1 115 (60.53%) Windows
2 96 (50.53%) Microsoft 365
3 70 (36.84%) Microsoft
4 63 (33.16%) Active Directory
5 61 (32.11%) Microsoft Office
6 48 (25.26%) ITIL
7 47 (24.74%) Customer Service
8 45 (23.68%) Security Cleared
9 40 (21.05%) Windows 10
10 39 (20.53%) Android
11 38 (20.00%) SC Cleared
12 36 (18.95%) Service Management
13 34 (17.89%) Entra ID
14 32 (16.84%) Azure
15 30 (15.79%) Problem-Solving
16 29 (15.26%) Business Intelligence
16 29 (15.26%) SAP
16 29 (15.26%) Wireless
17 28 (14.74%) Digital Marketing
17 28 (14.74%) Mac OS
17 28 (14.74%) Microsoft Intune
17 28 (14.74%) Programme Management
18 27 (14.21%) Apple
19 26 (13.68%) Cisco
19 26 (13.68%) Service Delivery
19 26 (13.68%) SharePoint
19 26 (13.68%) Windows Server
20 23 (12.11%) Dell
20 23 (12.11%) HP
20 23 (12.11%) VPN

2nd Line Support 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 26 (13.68%) SharePoint
2 20 (10.53%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (2.63%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 61 (32.11%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (3.16%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.53%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (1.05%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.53%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 96 (50.53%) Microsoft 365
2 34 (17.89%) Entra ID
3 32 (16.84%) Azure
4 14 (7.37%) OneDrive
5 6 (3.16%) Google Workspace
6 2 (1.05%) AWS
7 1 (0.53%) Mimecast
7 1 (0.53%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 29 (15.26%) Wireless
2 23 (12.11%) VPN
3 21 (11.05%) DHCP
3 21 (11.05%) DNS
3 21 (11.05%) TCP/IP
3 21 (11.05%) WAN
4 17 (8.95%) LAN
5 9 (4.74%) Firewall
6 8 (4.21%) Wi-Fi
7 6 (3.16%) Network Security
7 6 (3.16%) PABX
7 6 (3.16%) Structured Cabling
8 4 (2.11%) BGP
8 4 (2.11%) IPsec
8 4 (2.11%) MPLS
9 3 (1.58%) VoIP
10 1 (0.53%) Broadband
10 1 (0.53%) Remote Desktop
10 1 (0.53%) VLAN
10 1 (0.53%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.53%) Electronic Patient Records
1 1 (0.53%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 2 (1.05%) JIRA
2 1 (0.53%) Hudson
General
1 68 (35.79%) Social Skills
2 37 (19.47%) Public Sector
3 35 (18.42%) Manufacturing
4 34 (17.89%) Finance
5 28 (14.74%) Electronics
5 28 (14.74%) Marketing
5 28 (14.74%) Telecoms
6 9 (4.74%) Analytical Skills
6 9 (4.74%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 5 (2.63%) Organisational Skills
8 3 (1.58%) Legal
8 3 (1.58%) Retail
9 2 (1.05%) Banking
9 2 (1.05%) Law
9 2 (1.05%) Local Government
10 1 (0.53%) Advertising
10 1 (0.53%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (0.53%) Multimedia
10 1 (0.53%) Publishing
Miscellaneous
1 23 (12.11%) Data Centre
2 13 (6.84%) Driving Licence
3 10 (5.26%) NHS
4 8 (4.21%) Management Information System
5 7 (3.68%) Smartphone
6 6 (3.16%) CMDB
6 6 (3.16%) Onboarding
6 6 (3.16%) Self-Motivation
7 5 (2.63%) Team-Oriented Environment
8 4 (2.11%) PKI
9 3 (1.58%) iPhone
9 3 (1.58%) Video Conferencing
10 2 (1.05%) Client/Server
10 2 (1.05%) Data Protection Act
10 2 (1.05%) Enterprise Software
10 2 (1.05%) Life Science
10 2 (1.05%) Renewable Energy
11 1 (0.53%) CCTV
11 1 (0.53%) Hedge funds
11 1 (0.53%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 115 (60.53%) Windows
2 40 (21.05%) Windows 10
3 39 (20.53%) Android
4 28 (14.74%) Mac OS
5 26 (13.68%) Windows Server
6 14 (7.37%) Apple iOS
7 8 (4.21%) Linux
8 7 (3.68%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (3.16%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 48 (25.26%) ITIL
2 47 (24.74%) Customer Service
3 36 (18.95%) Service Management
4 30 (15.79%) Problem-Solving
5 29 (15.26%) Business Intelligence
6 28 (14.74%) Digital Marketing
6 28 (14.74%) Programme Management
7 26 (13.68%) Service Delivery
8 18 (9.47%) ITSM
9 9 (4.74%) Customer Experience
9 9 (4.74%) Migration
9 9 (4.74%) Problem Management
10 8 (4.21%) Asset Management
10 8 (4.21%) Mobile Device Management
10 8 (4.21%) Network Management
11 7 (3.68%) Workflow
12 6 (3.16%) Break/Fix
12 6 (3.16%) Change Management
12 6 (3.16%) Incident Management
12 6 (3.16%) Network Monitoring
Programming Languages
1 9 (4.74%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.53%) SQL
Qualifications
1 45 (23.68%) Security Cleared
2 38 (20.00%) SC Cleared
3 18 (9.47%) Degree
4 9 (4.74%) Microsoft Certification
5 6 (3.16%) ECDL
5 6 (3.16%) MCP
6 5 (2.63%) MCDST
7 3 (1.58%) DV Cleared
8 2 (1.05%) DBS Check
8 2 (1.05%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 2 (1.05%) MCSE
9 1 (0.53%) Azure Certification
9 1 (0.53%) CCNA
9 1 (0.53%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (0.53%) HND
9 1 (0.53%) ITIL Certification
9 1 (0.53%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (5.79%) SLA
2 1 (0.53%) Cyber Essentials
System Software
1 63 (33.16%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.11%) Virtual Desktop
3 2 (1.05%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.53%) BitLocker
4 1 (0.53%) Firmware
4 1 (0.53%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.53%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 28 (14.74%) Microsoft Intune
2 21 (11.05%) SCCM
3 3 (1.58%) Jamf Pro
3 3 (1.58%) SCOM
Vendors
1 70 (36.84%) Microsoft
2 29 (15.26%) SAP
3 27 (14.21%) Apple
4 26 (13.68%) Cisco
5 23 (12.11%) Dell
5 23 (12.11%) HP
6 14 (7.37%) ServiceNow
7 7 (3.68%) Google
8 6 (3.16%) Citrix
9 5 (2.63%) iManage
9 5 (2.63%) Mitel
10 4 (2.11%) Juniper
11 3 (1.58%) Logitech
11 3 (1.58%) Meraki
11 3 (1.58%) SolarWinds
11 3 (1.58%) VMware
12 2 (1.05%) Remedy
13 1 (0.53%) Sage
13 1 (0.53%) Sophos
13 1 (0.53%) WatchGuard