2nd Line Support Contract Job Trends
Second Line Support
UK
The median Second Line Support daily rate in the UK is £213, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 20 October 2026.
The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.
| 6 months to 20 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 499 | 365 | 387 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -134 | +22 | -55 |
| Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Support | 182 | 199 | 172 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 0.33% | 0.60% | 0.46% |
| As % of the Job Titles category | 0.36% | 0.66% | 0.50% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 112 | 142 | 128 |
| 10th Percentile | £160 | £154 | £148 |
| 25th Percentile | £185 | £163 | £178 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £213 | £198 | £210 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +7.59% | -5.95% | +5.00% |
| 75th Percentile | £241 | £249 | £271 |
| 90th Percentile | £318 | £288 | £360 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £210 | £195 | £195 |
| % change year-on-year | +7.69% | - | -2.50% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 26 | 28 | 11 |
| 10th Percentile | £12.75 | £15.50 | £19.64 |
| 25th Percentile | £13.51 | £16.39 | £21.05 |
| Median hourly rate | £15.72 | £18.44 | £23.80 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -14.74% | -22.54% | +16.10% |
| 75th Percentile | £18.07 | £24.29 | £24.18 |
| 90th Percentile | £18.75 | £30.20 | £26.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £15.24 | £17.45 | £23.14 |
| % change year-on-year | -12.64% | -24.59% | +21.38% |
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.
| 6 months to 20 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title | 50,586 | 30,151 | 34,455 |
| % of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title | 91.87% | 90.87% | 92.95% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 29,721 | 19,031 | 20,767 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £278 | £300 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £402 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £638 | £623 | £638 |
| 90th Percentile | £738 | £725 | £738 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £475 | £490 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.26% | -3.06% | -2.00% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 4,170 | 1,674 | 1,386 |
| 10th Percentile | £14.25 | £13.80 | £15.04 |
| 25th Percentile | £19.33 | £17.30 | £20.30 |
| Median hourly rate | £41.09 | £25.15 | £40.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +63.39% | -37.13% | -10.11% |
| 75th Percentile | £67.50 | £50.00 | £65.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £80.00 | £68.75 | £73.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £40.32 | £24.62 | £40.33 |
| % change year-on-year | +63.77% | -38.95% | -7.99% |
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 Daily Rate Trend
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 20 October 2026.
2nd Line Support Hourly Rate Trend
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Support job vacancies 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 20 October 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | -130 | 167 | £223 | +14.10% | 58 |
| UK excluding London | -119 | 127 | £210 | +7.69% | 40 |
| London | -89 | 51 | £240 | +20.00% | 20 |
| South East | -47 | 43 | £273 | +26.74% | 13 |
| North of England | -74 | 40 | £200 | +5.26% | 5 |
| Work from Home | -63 | 32 | £200 | +5.26% | 17 |
| Yorkshire | -30 | 23 | £200 | +5.26% | 2 |
| North West | -57 | 14 | £213 | +21.43% | 3 |
| Midlands | -58 | 14 | £210 | +16.67% | 1 |
| East of England | -21 | 13 | £240 | +20.00% | 9 |
| Wales | -5 | 8 | £138 | -32.93% | 1 |
| East Midlands | -17 | 7 | - | - | 1 |
| West Midlands | -62 | 7 | £210 | +5.00% | |
| South West | -48 | 5 | - | - | 7 |
| North East | -46 | 3 | £188 | +5.63% | |
| Northern Ireland | +3 | 2 | - | - | 1 |
| Scotland | -31 | 2 | £150 | -33.33% | 4 |
2nd Line Support Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities
For the 6 months to 20 October 2026, 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.
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Windows | 74.7% | 136 |
| 2 | Microsoft 365 | 61.5% | 112 |
| 3 | Active Directory | 52.2% | 95 |
| 4 | Microsoft | 47.3% | 86 |
| 5 | Customer Service | 26.4% | 48 |
| 6 | Problem-Solving | 25.8% | 47 |
| 6 | Windows 10 | 25.8% | 47 |
| 8 | Entra ID | 23.6% | 43 |
| 9 | Microsoft Intune | 22.0% | 40 |
| 10 | Azure | 20.9% | 38 |
| 11 | ITIL | 19.2% | 35 |
| 12 | Service Management | 17.6% | 32 |
| 13 | SharePoint | 16.5% | 30 |
| 14 | ITSM | 14.8% | 27 |
| 14 | User Experience | 14.8% | 27 |
| 16 | Continuous Improvement | 12.6% | 23 |
| 16 | Microsoft Office | 12.6% | 23 |
| 18 | OneDrive | 12.1% | 22 |
| 19 | DNS | 11.5% | 21 |
| 20 | Android | 11.0% | 20 |
| 20 | macOS | 11.0% | 20 |
| 22 | Security Cleared | 9.3% | 17 |
| 23 | Windows Server | 8.8% | 16 |
| 24 | DHCP | 8.2% | 15 |
| 24 | SQL | 8.2% | 15 |
| 26 | Apple iOS | 7.7% | 14 |
| 26 | SCCM | 7.7% | 14 |
| 28 | Customer Experience | 7.1% | 13 |
| 28 | Microsoft Exchange | 7.1% | 13 |
| 28 | Service Delivery | 7.1% | 13 |
2nd Line Support Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Job Titles
| Rank | Job Title | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2nd Line Support Engineer | 44.5% | 81 |
| 2 | IT Support | 35.7% | 65 |
| 3 | 1st/2nd Line Support | 31.3% | 57 |
| 4 | IT Support Engineer | 17.6% | 32 |
| 5 | 1st/2nd Line Support Engineer | 16.5% | 30 |
| 6 | Desktop Support | 14.3% | 26 |
| 7 | 2nd Line Desktop Support | 13.7% | 25 |
| 8 | 2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer | 12.1% | 22 |
| 9 | 2nd Line Support Analyst | 7.7% | 14 |
| 10 | 2nd Line Technical Support | 7.1% | 13 |
| 11 | Support Analyst | 6.6% | 12 |
| 12 | 2nd Line Support Technician | 6.0% | 11 |
| 13 | 1st/2nd Line Support Analyst | 4.9% | 9 |
| 14 | IT Support Technician | 4.4% | 8 |
| 14 | Windows Support Engineer | 4.4% | 8 |
| 16 | 1st/2nd Line Desktop Support | 3.3% | 6 |
| 16 | IT Support Analyst | 3.3% | 6 |
| 18 | 1st/2nd Line Support Technician | 2.7% | 5 |
| 19 | Linux Support Engineer | 2.2% | 4 |
| 19 | Microsoft 365 Engineer | 2.2% | 4 |