2nd Line Support Contract Job Trends

Second Line Support
UK

The median Second Line Support daily rate in the UK is £200, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 17 October 2025.

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

6 months to
17 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 375 390 334
Rank change year-on-year +15 -56 -3
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Support 194 172 328
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.58% 0.46% 0.68%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.64% 0.49% 0.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 138 128 223
10th Percentile £154 £148 £135
25th Percentile £163 £179 £174
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £210 £200
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -2.44%
75th Percentile £250 £273 £239
90th Percentile £288 £360 £300
UK excluding London median daily rate £198 £195 £200
% change year-on-year +1.28% -2.50% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 11 25
10th Percentile £15.50 £19.64 £15.16
25th Percentile £16.62 £21.05 £17.75
Median hourly rate £18.87 £23.80 £20.00
Median % change year-on-year -20.71% +19.00% -16.35%
75th Percentile £24.58 £24.18 £24.25
90th Percentile £30.26 £26.75 £29.15
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.45 £23.14 £19.31
% change year-on-year -24.59% +19.81% -4.12%

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 30,268 34,835 45,121
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.90% 92.96% 93.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 19,109 21,005 30,849
10th Percentile £280 £300 £300
25th Percentile £402 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £738 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £491 £500
% change year-on-year -3.26% -1.80% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,670 1,417 1,533
10th Percentile £13.80 £15.02 £14.62
25th Percentile £17.30 £20.50 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £41.27 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -39.05% -8.30% +69.56%
75th Percentile £50.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.75 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.62 £41.53 £44.50
% change year-on-year -40.72% -6.67% +97.78%

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 17 October 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 17 October 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 17 October 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 +14 172 £200 -8.68% 105
UK excluding London +17 140 £198 +1.28% 99
London -9 46 £200 -11.11% 13
North of England -4 45 £190 +2.70% 26
South East +19 33 £215 -19.55% 35
Midlands -16 28 £190 +26.67% 20
North West -7 23 £175 +16.67% 9
West Midlands -19 18 £200 +36.75% 7
Yorkshire -19 16 £190 +2.70% 16
Work from Home +4 15 £190 -15.56% 39
South West +13 13 £225 +13.92% 8
East Midlands -8 10 £158 -41.67% 13
Scotland +3 8 £225 +17.80% 2
East of England -4 7 £200 -11.11% 11
North East -2 6 £178 +9.23% 3
Wales - 3 £205 -
Northern Ireland - 3 £165 -

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

For the 6 months to 17 October 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.

1 109 (56.19%) Windows
2 89 (45.88%) Microsoft 365
3 83 (42.78%) Microsoft
4 76 (39.18%) Active Directory
5 58 (29.90%) Microsoft Office
6 53 (27.32%) Security Cleared
7 49 (25.26%) ITIL
8 47 (24.23%) Customer Service
9 46 (23.71%) Windows 10
10 43 (22.16%) SC Cleared
11 35 (18.04%) Service Management
12 33 (17.01%) ServiceNow
13 30 (15.46%) Microsoft Exchange
14 27 (13.92%) Android
14 27 (13.92%) Azure
14 27 (13.92%) Business Intelligence
14 27 (13.92%) Digital Marketing
14 27 (13.92%) Programme Management
14 27 (13.92%) SAP
14 27 (13.92%) SCCM
15 26 (13.40%) VPN
16 25 (12.89%) Entra ID
16 25 (12.89%) ITSM
17 24 (12.37%) Problem-Solving
17 24 (12.37%) SharePoint
18 23 (11.86%) Mac OS
18 23 (11.86%) Microsoft Intune
18 23 (11.86%) WAN
19 22 (11.34%) Apple
20 21 (10.82%) Cisco

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 30 (15.46%) Microsoft Exchange
2 24 (12.37%) SharePoint
3 5 (2.58%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 58 (29.90%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (3.09%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 5 (2.58%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.52%) Alphatax
Cloud Services
1 89 (45.88%) Microsoft 365
2 27 (13.92%) Azure
3 25 (12.89%) Entra ID
4 14 (7.22%) OneDrive
5 5 (2.58%) Google Workspace
6 1 (0.52%) AWS
6 1 (0.52%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 26 (13.40%) VPN
2 23 (11.86%) WAN
3 21 (10.82%) Wireless
4 18 (9.28%) DHCP
4 18 (9.28%) DNS
4 18 (9.28%) LAN
5 17 (8.76%) TCP/IP
6 12 (6.19%) WebEx
7 8 (4.12%) Firewall
7 8 (4.12%) Wi-Fi
8 6 (3.09%) PABX
9 5 (2.58%) BGP
9 5 (2.58%) IPsec
9 5 (2.58%) MPLS
9 5 (2.58%) Structured Cabling
10 3 (1.55%) Network Security
10 3 (1.55%) VoIP
11 2 (1.03%) VLAN
12 1 (0.52%) Cisco Firepower
12 1 (0.52%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.52%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 6 (3.09%) JIRA
2 1 (0.52%) Hudson
General
1 59 (30.41%) Social Skills
2 48 (24.74%) Finance
3 38 (19.59%) Public Sector
4 34 (17.53%) Manufacturing
5 27 (13.92%) Electronics
5 27 (13.92%) Marketing
5 27 (13.92%) Telecoms
6 8 (4.12%) Analytical Skills
7 6 (3.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 5 (2.58%) Organisational Skills
9 4 (2.06%) Local Government
10 3 (1.55%) Banking
11 2 (1.03%) Legal
11 2 (1.03%) Retail
12 1 (0.52%) Advertising
12 1 (0.52%) Multimedia
12 1 (0.52%) Publishing
Miscellaneous
1 16 (8.25%) Data Centre
2 9 (4.64%) Driving Licence
3 8 (4.12%) NHS
4 7 (3.61%) Self-Motivation
5 6 (3.09%) Management Information System
5 6 (3.09%) Smartphone
6 5 (2.58%) CMDB
6 5 (2.58%) PKI
6 5 (2.58%) Team-Oriented Environment
7 3 (1.55%) Onboarding
7 3 (1.55%) Video Conferencing
8 2 (1.03%) Client/Server
8 2 (1.03%) Data Protection Act
8 2 (1.03%) Enterprise Software
8 2 (1.03%) Life Science
8 2 (1.03%) Renewable Energy
9 1 (0.52%) Cloud Native
9 1 (0.52%) Replication
9 1 (0.52%) W3C
9 1 (0.52%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 109 (56.19%) Windows
2 46 (23.71%) Windows 10
3 27 (13.92%) Android
4 23 (11.86%) Mac OS
5 14 (7.22%) Windows Server
6 13 (6.70%) Apple iOS
7 7 (3.61%) Windows Server 2019
8 6 (3.09%) Windows Server 2016
9 5 (2.58%) Linux
10 3 (1.55%) Mac OS X
11 2 (1.03%) Windows 8
11 2 (1.03%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 49 (25.26%) ITIL
2 47 (24.23%) Customer Service
3 35 (18.04%) Service Management
4 27 (13.92%) Business Intelligence
4 27 (13.92%) Digital Marketing
4 27 (13.92%) Programme Management
5 25 (12.89%) ITSM
6 24 (12.37%) Problem-Solving
7 20 (10.31%) Service Delivery
8 19 (9.79%) Mobile Device Management
9 13 (6.70%) Problem Management
10 11 (5.67%) Workflow
11 10 (5.15%) Migration
12 9 (4.64%) Asset Management
12 9 (4.64%) Workflow Management
13 8 (4.12%) Patch Management
14 7 (3.61%) Network Management
14 7 (3.61%) Network Monitoring
15 6 (3.09%) Change Management
16 5 (2.58%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 3 (1.55%) PowerShell
1 3 (1.55%) SQL
Qualifications
1 53 (27.32%) Security Cleared
2 43 (22.16%) SC Cleared
3 21 (10.82%) Degree
4 12 (6.19%) Microsoft Certification
5 6 (3.09%) DV Cleared
5 6 (3.09%) MCP
6 5 (2.58%) ECDL
6 5 (2.58%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 5 (2.58%) MCDST
7 2 (1.03%) CCNA
7 2 (1.03%) Cisco Certification
7 2 (1.03%) MCSE
8 1 (0.52%) Azure Certification
8 1 (0.52%) DBS Check
8 1 (0.52%) HND
8 1 (0.52%) IBM Certification
8 1 (0.52%) ITIL Certification
8 1 (0.52%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (6.19%) SLA
System Software
1 76 (39.18%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.06%) Virtual Desktop
2 4 (2.06%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (1.55%) vSphere
3 3 (1.55%) XenApp
4 1 (0.52%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 27 (13.92%) SCCM
2 23 (11.86%) Microsoft Intune
3 7 (3.61%) SCOM
4 2 (1.03%) AppManager
4 2 (1.03%) Jamf Pro
4 2 (1.03%) McAfee ePO
4 2 (1.03%) Norton AntiVirus
Vendors
1 83 (42.78%) Microsoft
2 33 (17.01%) ServiceNow
3 27 (13.92%) SAP
4 22 (11.34%) Apple
5 21 (10.82%) Cisco
6 20 (10.31%) Dell
7 18 (9.28%) Citrix
7 18 (9.28%) HP
8 13 (6.70%) Sage
9 9 (4.64%) SolarWinds
10 6 (3.09%) Google
10 6 (3.09%) VMware
11 5 (2.58%) iManage
11 5 (2.58%) Juniper
11 5 (2.58%) Mitel
11 5 (2.58%) Remedy
12 3 (1.55%) Logitech
12 3 (1.55%) Sophos
12 3 (1.55%) WatchGuard
13 2 (1.03%) Draytek