2nd Line Support Contracts

Second Line Support
UK

The median Second Line Support daily rate in the UK is £220, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 18 January 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
18 Jan 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 366 309 358
Rank change year-on-year -57 +49 +17
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Support 160 315 513
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.50% 0.73% 0.73%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.54% 0.78% 0.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 112 211 355
10th Percentile £163 £133 £150
25th Percentile £188 £165 £169
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £220 £200 £225
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -11.11% +18.42%
75th Percentile £273 £238 £265
90th Percentile £408 £288 £323
UK excluding London median daily rate £210 £200 £200
% change year-on-year +5.00% - +8.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 26 59
10th Percentile £21.03 £17.13 £15.68
25th Percentile £22.50 £17.72 £17.72
Median hourly rate £23.99 £19.13 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year +25.44% -8.93% +20.86%
75th Percentile £29.00 £22.09 £25.00
90th Percentile £41.25 £24.61 £29.17
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.84 £19.12 £20.00
% change year-on-year +35.15% -4.40% +21.21%

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 29,457 40,283 66,465
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.78% 93.11% 94.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,018 26,769 46,331
10th Percentile £296 £279 £313
25th Percentile £409 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% +5.77%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -4.00% - +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 894 1,815 1,627
10th Percentile £15.91 £14.00 £13.41
25th Percentile £21.25 £18.00 £17.42
Median hourly rate £32.50 £40.69 £34.00
Median % change year-on-year -20.13% +19.68% +61.90%
75th Percentile £62.50 £64.45 £65.00
90th Percentile £73.75 £75.16 £72.68
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £42.50 £29.00
% change year-on-year -23.53% +46.55% +61.11%

2nd Line Support
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Job vacancy trend for 2nd Line Support in the UK

2nd Line Support
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

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

Daily rate trend for 2nd Line Support in the UK

2nd Line Support
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing 2nd Line Support over the 6 months to 18 January 2025.

Daily rate histogram for 2nd Line Support in the UK

2nd Line Support
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

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

Hourly rate trend for 2nd Line Support in the UK

2nd Line Support
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing 2nd Line Support over the 6 months to 18 January 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for 2nd Line Support in the UK

2nd Line Support
Top 16 Contract 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 18 January 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 -70 136 £225 +12.50% 69
UK excluding London -44 105 £210 +5.00% 59
London +4 54 £250 +25.00% 12
Work from Home +53 28 £253 +32.89% 24
South East 0 24 £225 +12.50% 16
North of England 0 21 £195 - 12
Midlands -17 21 £210 +5.00% 12
West Midlands -16 16 £210 +5.00% 7
Scotland +25 15 £191 +12.22% 2
North West +15 14 £200 +6.67% 10
South West -1 14 £222 +13.85% 11
Yorkshire +15 7 £195 -12.85% 1
Wales 0 6 £200 +42.86% 1
East Midlands +3 5 £200 -3.61% 5
East of England +4 2 £225 +18.42% 8
Northern Ireland - 2 - -

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

For the 6 months to 18 January 2025, 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 2nd Line Support in the job title.

1 114 (71.25%) Windows
2 96 (60.00%) Microsoft 365
3 81 (50.63%) Microsoft
4 74 (46.25%) Active Directory
5 68 (42.50%) Windows 10
6 46 (28.75%) Social Skills
7 42 (26.25%) Azure
8 37 (23.13%) ITIL
9 36 (22.50%) Microsoft Office
10 34 (21.25%) Problem-Solving
11 33 (20.63%) Customer Service
12 32 (20.00%) Microsoft Exchange
13 28 (17.50%) Microsoft Intune
14 27 (16.88%) SCCM
14 27 (16.88%) VPN
15 25 (15.63%) Finance
16 24 (15.00%) Public Sector
17 23 (14.38%) SharePoint
18 22 (13.75%) Service Management
19 21 (13.13%) Security Cleared
20 20 (12.50%) Video Conferencing
20 20 (12.50%) OneDrive
20 20 (12.50%) ITSM
21 19 (11.88%) VMware
21 19 (11.88%) Citrix
22 17 (10.63%) Analytical Skills
22 17 (10.63%) ServiceNow
22 17 (10.63%) VMware Infrastructure
22 17 (10.63%) SLA
23 16 (10.00%) SC Cleared

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 32 (20.00%) Microsoft Exchange
2 23 (14.38%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.63%) Apache
3 1 (0.63%) Exchange Server 2003
3 1 (0.63%) Exchange Server 2007
3 1 (0.63%) Exchange Server 2010
3 1 (0.63%) Tomcat
3 1 (0.63%) WebSphere
Applications
1 36 (22.50%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.88%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.88%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 5 (3.13%) assyst
2 1 (0.63%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 96 (60.00%) Microsoft 365
2 42 (26.25%) Azure
3 20 (12.50%) OneDrive
4 13 (8.13%) Entra ID
5 4 (2.50%) Asana
5 4 (2.50%) AWS
5 4 (2.50%) Slack
6 3 (1.88%) Google Workspace
6 3 (1.88%) WhatsApp
6 3 (1.88%) Yammer
7 1 (0.63%) GCP
7 1 (0.63%) GitHub
7 1 (0.63%) Power Platform
7 1 (0.63%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 27 (16.88%) VPN
2 15 (9.38%) Firewall
3 11 (6.88%) DNS
4 10 (6.25%) DHCP
4 10 (6.25%) TCP/IP
5 9 (5.63%) WAN
6 8 (5.00%) Wi-Fi
7 7 (4.38%) Remote Desktop
8 5 (3.13%) LAN
8 5 (3.13%) VoIP
9 4 (2.50%) IPsec
9 4 (2.50%) WLAN
10 3 (1.88%) BGP
10 3 (1.88%) MPLS
10 3 (1.88%) SAN
10 3 (1.88%) VLAN
10 3 (1.88%) WebEx
10 3 (1.88%) Wireless
11 1 (0.63%) Cisco IOS
11 1 (0.63%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (1.25%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.63%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.63%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 5 (3.13%) JIRA
2 3 (1.88%) MSI
General
1 46 (28.75%) Social Skills
2 25 (15.63%) Finance
3 24 (15.00%) Public Sector
4 17 (10.63%) Analytical Skills
5 9 (5.63%) Telecoms
6 8 (5.00%) Banking
6 8 (5.00%) Electronics
6 8 (5.00%) Manufacturing
6 8 (5.00%) Marketing
7 7 (4.38%) Back Office
8 3 (1.88%) Law
8 3 (1.88%) Legal
8 3 (1.88%) Presentation Skills
9 2 (1.25%) Organisational Skills
10 1 (0.63%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (0.63%) Financial Institution
10 1 (0.63%) Front Office
10 1 (0.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 1 (0.63%) Local Government
10 1 (0.63%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.88%) Software Packaging
2 2 (1.25%) LDAP
Miscellaneous
1 20 (12.50%) Video Conferencing
2 9 (5.63%) Onboarding
3 6 (3.75%) Management Information System
4 5 (3.13%) Data Centre
4 5 (3.13%) Driving Licence
4 5 (3.13%) iPhone
5 4 (2.50%) BYOD
6 3 (1.88%) CCTV
6 3 (1.88%) Educational Technology
6 3 (1.88%) iPad
6 3 (1.88%) NHS
6 3 (1.88%) PKI
6 3 (1.88%) Self-Motivation
6 3 (1.88%) Smartphone
7 2 (1.25%) Data Protection Act
7 2 (1.25%) Replication
8 1 (0.63%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 114 (71.25%) Windows
2 68 (42.50%) Windows 10
3 10 (6.25%) Apple iOS
3 10 (6.25%) Windows Server
4 7 (4.38%) Mac OS
5 6 (3.75%) Windows Server 2016
6 5 (3.13%) Android
7 4 (2.50%) Windows 7
7 4 (2.50%) Windows Server 2012
8 3 (1.88%) Linux
8 3 (1.88%) Windows Server 2019
9 2 (1.25%) Mac OS X
9 2 (1.25%) Unix
10 1 (0.63%) CentOS
10 1 (0.63%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.63%) Windows Server 2003
10 1 (0.63%) Windows Server 2008
10 1 (0.63%) Windows Vista
10 1 (0.63%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 37 (23.13%) ITIL
2 34 (21.25%) Problem-Solving
3 33 (20.63%) Customer Service
4 22 (13.75%) Service Management
5 20 (12.50%) ITSM
6 14 (8.75%) Incident Management
7 13 (8.13%) Service Delivery
8 10 (6.25%) Asset Management
9 9 (5.63%) Business Intelligence
10 8 (5.00%) Cybersecurity
10 8 (5.00%) Digital Marketing
10 8 (5.00%) Programme Management
11 7 (4.38%) Migration
11 7 (4.38%) Mobile Device Management
11 7 (4.38%) Patch Management
12 6 (3.75%) Ticket Management
13 5 (3.13%) Computer Science
13 5 (3.13%) Investment Management
13 5 (3.13%) Root Cause Analysis
13 5 (3.13%) Software Deployment
Programming Languages
1 8 (5.00%) PowerShell
2 6 (3.75%) SQL
3 2 (1.25%) Shell Script
4 1 (0.63%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 21 (13.13%) Security Cleared
2 16 (10.00%) SC Cleared
3 15 (9.38%) Degree
4 10 (6.25%) A+ Certification
5 8 (5.00%) DBS Check
5 8 (5.00%) DV Cleared
6 7 (4.38%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 6 (3.75%) Microsoft Certification
7 6 (3.75%) Network+ Certification
8 3 (1.88%) BPSS Clearance
8 3 (1.88%) MCP
9 1 (0.63%) CCNA
9 1 (0.63%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (0.63%) Citrix Certification
9 1 (0.63%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (10.63%) SLA
2 2 (1.25%) Disclosure Scotland
3 1 (0.63%) Cyber Essentials
System Software
1 74 (46.25%) Active Directory
2 17 (10.63%) VMware Infrastructure
3 10 (6.25%) Hyper-V
4 4 (2.50%) Virtual Desktop
5 3 (1.88%) Microsoft App-V
5 3 (1.88%) Terminal Services
5 3 (1.88%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (1.88%) VMware Workstation
6 1 (0.63%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.63%) IAG
6 1 (0.63%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.63%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 28 (17.50%) Microsoft Intune
2 27 (16.88%) SCCM
3 4 (2.50%) Jamf Pro
4 3 (1.88%) AppManager
5 2 (1.25%) Control-M
5 2 (1.25%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
6 1 (0.63%) PaperCut
6 1 (0.63%) Puppet
6 1 (0.63%) Sysprep
Vendors
1 81 (50.63%) Microsoft
2 19 (11.88%) Citrix
2 19 (11.88%) VMware
3 17 (10.63%) ServiceNow
4 9 (5.63%) SAP
5 8 (5.00%) Cisco
6 7 (4.38%) Apple
6 7 (4.38%) HP
7 5 (3.13%) Dell
8 4 (2.50%) Fortinet
8 4 (2.50%) Google
8 4 (2.50%) Juniper
8 4 (2.50%) Palo Alto
8 4 (2.50%) Zscaler
9 3 (1.88%) Avaya
9 3 (1.88%) CrowdStrike
9 3 (1.88%) EMC
9 3 (1.88%) Ivanti
10 2 (1.25%) Interwoven
10 2 (1.25%) Oracle
76 2nd Line Support jobs Nationwide