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 February 2026.

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

6 months to
7 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 400 371 311
Rank change year-on-year -29 -60 +46
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Support 197 158 323
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.50% 0.51% 0.72%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.55% 0.55% 0.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 136 111 214
10th Percentile £154 £160 £133
25th Percentile £163 £188 £170
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £190 £210 £200
Median % change year-on-year -9.52% +5.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £238 £253 £236
90th Percentile £288 £319 £288
UK excluding London median daily rate £190 £200 £200
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 16 30
10th Percentile £12.95 £21.05 £14.86
25th Percentile £15.50 £22.50 £17.25
Median hourly rate £16.00 £25.84 £18.72
Median % change year-on-year -38.08% +38.07% -10.88%
75th Percentile £25.15 £30.19 £21.22
90th Percentile £31.59 £41.25 £24.32
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.00 £27.50 £17.72
% change year-on-year -41.82% +55.19% -11.40%

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 35,711 28,902 42,066
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.50% 92.95% 93.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,518 17,719 27,795
10th Percentile £300 £291 £275
25th Percentile £405 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £717 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £476 £490
% change year-on-year -0.21% -2.86% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,166 840 2,312
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.89 £13.15
25th Percentile £18.57 £21.25 £16.67
Median hourly rate £29.82 £33.77 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -11.69% -3.51% -
75th Percentile £61.25 £63.38 £61.51
90th Percentile £71.25 £75.00 £72.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.00 £32.13 £35.95
% change year-on-year -12.85% -10.63% +8.94%

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 February 2026.

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 February 2026.

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 February 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 -21 185 £190 -11.63% 86
UK excluding London -43 139 £190 -5.00% 82
North of England -15 67 £175 -10.26% 20
London -20 54 £195 -22.00% 11
North West -11 32 £175 -12.50% 9
Midlands -41 30 £190 -5.00% 10
Yorkshire -31 29 £200 +2.56% 11
Work from Home -17 20 £190 -24.00% 13
West Midlands -39 19 £200 -4.76% 8
South East -40 12 £200 -5.88% 30
East of England -14 11 - - 9
South West -16 11 £275 +22.22% 15
East Midlands -23 11 £158 -21.25% 2
North East - 6 £175 -
Scotland -2 5 £225 +18.42%
Northern Ireland 0 2 - -
Wales -4 1 £205 +2.50%

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

For the 6 months to 7 February 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.

1 123 (62.44%) Windows
2 110 (55.84%) Microsoft 365
3 73 (37.06%) Microsoft
4 72 (36.55%) Active Directory
5 64 (32.49%) Microsoft Office
6 52 (26.40%) Windows 10
7 51 (25.89%) Customer Service
8 50 (25.38%) Android
9 42 (21.32%) Azure
9 42 (21.32%) ITIL
10 38 (19.29%) Security Cleared
11 37 (18.78%) Entra ID
12 34 (17.26%) SC Cleared
13 33 (16.75%) Service Delivery
14 32 (16.24%) Service Management
15 31 (15.74%) Microsoft Intune
16 30 (15.23%) Problem-Solving
17 29 (14.72%) Apple
17 29 (14.72%) Wireless
18 28 (14.21%) SharePoint
19 27 (13.71%) Mac OS
20 26 (13.20%) Business Intelligence
20 26 (13.20%) Cisco
20 26 (13.20%) DHCP
20 26 (13.20%) DNS
20 26 (13.20%) SAP
21 25 (12.69%) Digital Marketing
21 25 (12.69%) Programme Management
21 25 (12.69%) VPN
22 24 (12.18%) Dell

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 28 (14.21%) SharePoint
2 22 (11.17%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (2.54%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 64 (32.49%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.03%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (1.52%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.51%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 110 (55.84%) Microsoft 365
2 42 (21.32%) Azure
3 37 (18.78%) Entra ID
4 15 (7.61%) OneDrive
5 7 (3.55%) Google Workspace
6 5 (2.54%) AWS
7 3 (1.52%) GCP
8 1 (0.51%) Mimecast
8 1 (0.51%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 29 (14.72%) Wireless
2 26 (13.20%) DHCP
2 26 (13.20%) DNS
3 25 (12.69%) VPN
4 22 (11.17%) WAN
5 21 (10.66%) TCP/IP
6 19 (9.64%) LAN
7 11 (5.58%) Wi-Fi
8 9 (4.57%) Firewall
9 6 (3.05%) Network Security
9 6 (3.05%) PABX
9 6 (3.05%) Structured Cabling
10 3 (1.52%) BGP
10 3 (1.52%) IPsec
10 3 (1.52%) MPLS
10 3 (1.52%) VoIP
11 2 (1.02%) VLAN
12 1 (0.51%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.52%) MySQL
1 3 (1.52%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.51%) Electronic Patient Records
2 1 (0.51%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 3 (1.52%) JIRA
2 1 (0.51%) Hudson
General
1 71 (36.04%) Social Skills
2 37 (18.78%) Finance
3 36 (18.27%) Public Sector
4 35 (17.77%) Manufacturing
5 26 (13.20%) Telecoms
6 25 (12.69%) Electronics
6 25 (12.69%) Marketing
7 12 (6.09%) Analytical Skills
8 10 (5.08%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 9 (4.57%) Organisational Skills
10 6 (3.05%) Law
11 5 (2.54%) Retail
12 4 (2.03%) Banking
13 3 (1.52%) Legal
14 2 (1.02%) Documentation Skills
15 1 (0.51%) French Language
15 1 (0.51%) Investment Banking
15 1 (0.51%) Multimedia
15 1 (0.51%) Publishing
Miscellaneous
1 23 (11.68%) Data Centre
2 15 (7.61%) Driving Licence
3 12 (6.09%) Onboarding
4 10 (5.08%) NHS
4 10 (5.08%) Smartphone
5 7 (3.55%) Management Information System
6 6 (3.05%) CMDB
6 6 (3.05%) Team-Oriented Environment
7 5 (2.54%) Self-Motivation
8 4 (2.03%) Video Conferencing
9 3 (1.52%) iPhone
9 3 (1.52%) Mobile Payment
9 3 (1.52%) PKI
10 2 (1.02%) Data Protection Act
10 2 (1.02%) Life Science
10 2 (1.02%) Renewable Energy
11 1 (0.51%) CCTV
11 1 (0.51%) Enterprise Software
11 1 (0.51%) Hedge funds
11 1 (0.51%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 123 (62.44%) Windows
2 52 (26.40%) Windows 10
3 50 (25.38%) Android
4 27 (13.71%) Mac OS
5 24 (12.18%) Windows Server
6 21 (10.66%) Apple iOS
7 8 (4.06%) Linux
8 6 (3.05%) Windows Server 2016
8 6 (3.05%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 51 (25.89%) Customer Service
2 42 (21.32%) ITIL
3 33 (16.75%) Service Delivery
4 32 (16.24%) Service Management
5 30 (15.23%) Problem-Solving
6 26 (13.20%) Business Intelligence
7 25 (12.69%) Digital Marketing
7 25 (12.69%) Programme Management
8 17 (8.63%) ITSM
9 11 (5.58%) Asset Management
10 10 (5.08%) Mobile Device Management
11 9 (4.57%) Customer Experience
11 9 (4.57%) Migration
12 8 (4.06%) Network Management
13 7 (3.55%) Problem Management
14 6 (3.05%) Break/Fix
14 6 (3.05%) Change Management
14 6 (3.05%) Continuous Improvement
14 6 (3.05%) Network Monitoring
15 5 (2.54%) Disk Encryption
Programming Languages
1 8 (4.06%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 38 (19.29%) Security Cleared
2 34 (17.26%) SC Cleared
3 13 (6.60%) Degree
4 8 (4.06%) Microsoft Certification
5 6 (3.05%) ECDL
5 6 (3.05%) Microsoft Certified Professional
6 5 (2.54%) MCDST
7 2 (1.02%) DBS Check
7 2 (1.02%) MCSE
8 1 (0.51%) Azure Certification
8 1 (0.51%) CCNA
8 1 (0.51%) Cisco Certification
8 1 (0.51%) Computer Science Degree
8 1 (0.51%) DV Cleared
8 1 (0.51%) ITIL Certification
8 1 (0.51%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 1 (0.51%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (4.06%) SLA
2 2 (1.02%) Cyber Essentials
3 1 (0.51%) GDPR
System Software
1 72 (36.55%) Active Directory
2 3 (1.52%) Virtual Desktop
3 1 (0.51%) BitLocker
3 1 (0.51%) Firmware
3 1 (0.51%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (0.51%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 31 (15.74%) Microsoft Intune
2 21 (10.66%) SCCM
3 2 (1.02%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (0.51%) SCOM
4 1 (0.51%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 73 (37.06%) Microsoft
2 29 (14.72%) Apple
3 26 (13.20%) Cisco
3 26 (13.20%) SAP
4 24 (12.18%) Dell
5 23 (11.68%) HP
6 15 (7.61%) ServiceNow
7 11 (5.58%) Google
8 6 (3.05%) Citrix
9 5 (2.54%) iManage
9 5 (2.54%) Mitel
10 3 (1.52%) Juniper
10 3 (1.52%) Logitech
10 3 (1.52%) Meraki
10 3 (1.52%) Remedy
11 2 (1.02%) VMware
12 1 (0.51%) Ariba
12 1 (0.51%) Bloomberg
12 1 (0.51%) Charles River
12 1 (0.51%) Sophos