2nd Line Support Contract Job Trends

Second Line Support
UK

The median Second Line Support daily rate in the UK is £195, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 16 November 2025.

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

6 months to
16 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 382 378 319
Rank change year-on-year -4 -59 +29
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Support 206 186 338
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.58% 0.51% 0.72%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.64% 0.55% 0.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 146 138 235
10th Percentile £154 £149 £133
25th Percentile £163 £180 £166
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £195 £210 £200
Median % change year-on-year -7.14% +5.00% -6.43%
75th Percentile £238 £273 £238
90th Percentile £288 £372 £295
UK excluding London median daily rate £195 £195 £200
% change year-on-year - -2.38% +2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 13 26
10th Percentile £15.50 £19.91 £15.21
25th Percentile £16.35 £21.05 £17.72
Median hourly rate £18.00 £23.80 £19.31
Median % change year-on-year -24.37% +23.25% -12.23%
75th Percentile £24.00 £26.75 £21.50
90th Percentile £29.29 £29.00 £28.11
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.45 £24.18 £19.00
% change year-on-year -27.85% +27.26% -5.00%

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 32,121 33,965 44,165
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.96% 92.87% 93.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,371 20,492 29,993
10th Percentile £278 £300 £294
25th Percentile £402 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -3.06% -2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,875 1,270 1,571
10th Percentile £14.22 £15.10 £15.12
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.30 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £36.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -30.14% -19.10% +58.28%
75th Percentile £53.99 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £73.75 £77.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +85.11%

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 16 November 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 16 November 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 16 November 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 -2 186 £195 -10.96% 100
UK excluding London 0 149 £195 - 89
North of England -7 58 £190 +5.56% 18
London -19 49 £198 -19.39% 21
Midlands -27 32 £190 +8.57% 13
North West -10 27 £175 +7.69% 11
Yorkshire -27 24 £203 +9.46% 6
South East -2 23 £206 -22.82% 35
West Midlands -23 20 £200 +5.26% 10
Work from Home +3 16 £190 -15.56% 25
South West +3 13 £225 +7.14% 13
East Midlands -3 12 £158 +36.96% 3
East of England -8 11 £200 -15.79% 3
North East -6 7 £175 +7.69% 1
Scotland -11 7 £225 +18.11% 7
Northern Ireland - 3 £165 -
Wales +7 2 £186 -6.88%

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

For the 6 months to 16 November 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.

1 117 (56.80%) Windows
2 100 (48.54%) Microsoft 365
3 78 (37.86%) Microsoft
4 72 (34.95%) Active Directory
5 67 (32.52%) Microsoft Office
6 57 (27.67%) Security Cleared
7 53 (25.73%) ITIL
8 46 (22.33%) Customer Service
8 46 (22.33%) SC Cleared
9 43 (20.87%) Windows 10
10 39 (18.93%) Service Management
11 37 (17.96%) Android
12 33 (16.02%) Entra ID
12 33 (16.02%) SAP
13 32 (15.53%) Business Intelligence
13 32 (15.53%) Digital Marketing
13 32 (15.53%) Programme Management
14 31 (15.05%) Azure
15 29 (14.08%) Apple
15 29 (14.08%) Mac OS
15 29 (14.08%) Problem-Solving
15 29 (14.08%) Wireless
16 28 (13.59%) SCCM
17 27 (13.11%) Cisco
17 27 (13.11%) Microsoft Exchange
17 27 (13.11%) Microsoft Intune
17 27 (13.11%) SharePoint
18 26 (12.62%) VPN
19 25 (12.14%) Dell
19 25 (12.14%) WAN

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 27 (13.11%) Microsoft Exchange
1 27 (13.11%) SharePoint
2 5 (2.43%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 67 (32.52%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (2.91%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 4 (1.94%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.49%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 100 (48.54%) Microsoft 365
2 33 (16.02%) Entra ID
3 31 (15.05%) Azure
4 15 (7.28%) OneDrive
5 6 (2.91%) Google Workspace
6 1 (0.49%) AWS
6 1 (0.49%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 29 (14.08%) Wireless
2 26 (12.62%) VPN
3 25 (12.14%) WAN
4 21 (10.19%) DHCP
4 21 (10.19%) DNS
4 21 (10.19%) LAN
4 21 (10.19%) TCP/IP
5 8 (3.88%) Firewall
5 8 (3.88%) Wi-Fi
6 6 (2.91%) Network Security
6 6 (2.91%) PABX
6 6 (2.91%) Structured Cabling
7 5 (2.43%) VoIP
8 4 (1.94%) BGP
8 4 (1.94%) IPsec
8 4 (1.94%) MPLS
9 3 (1.46%) WebEx
10 2 (0.97%) VLAN
11 1 (0.49%) Internet
11 1 (0.49%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.49%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 5 (2.43%) JIRA
2 1 (0.49%) Hudson
General
1 66 (32.04%) Social Skills
2 44 (21.36%) Public Sector
3 43 (20.87%) Finance
4 39 (18.93%) Manufacturing
5 32 (15.53%) Electronics
5 32 (15.53%) Marketing
5 32 (15.53%) Telecoms
6 9 (4.37%) Analytical Skills
6 9 (4.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 5 (2.43%) Organisational Skills
8 4 (1.94%) Local Government
9 3 (1.46%) Legal
9 3 (1.46%) Retail
10 2 (0.97%) Banking
11 1 (0.49%) Advertising
11 1 (0.49%) Documentation Skills
11 1 (0.49%) Law
11 1 (0.49%) Multimedia
11 1 (0.49%) Publishing
Miscellaneous
1 23 (11.17%) Data Centre
2 11 (5.34%) Driving Licence
3 10 (4.85%) NHS
4 8 (3.88%) Management Information System
5 6 (2.91%) CMDB
5 6 (2.91%) Self-Motivation
5 6 (2.91%) Smartphone
6 5 (2.43%) Team-Oriented Environment
7 4 (1.94%) Onboarding
7 4 (1.94%) PKI
8 3 (1.46%) iPhone
8 3 (1.46%) Video Conferencing
9 2 (0.97%) Client/Server
9 2 (0.97%) Data Protection Act
9 2 (0.97%) Enterprise Software
9 2 (0.97%) Life Science
9 2 (0.97%) Renewable Energy
10 1 (0.49%) CCTV
10 1 (0.49%) Replication
10 1 (0.49%) Smartcard
Operating Systems
1 117 (56.80%) Windows
2 43 (20.87%) Windows 10
3 37 (17.96%) Android
4 29 (14.08%) Mac OS
5 23 (11.17%) Windows Server
6 14 (6.80%) Apple iOS
7 9 (4.37%) Linux
8 7 (3.40%) Windows Server 2019
9 6 (2.91%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.49%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 53 (25.73%) ITIL
2 46 (22.33%) Customer Service
3 39 (18.93%) Service Management
4 32 (15.53%) Business Intelligence
4 32 (15.53%) Digital Marketing
4 32 (15.53%) Programme Management
5 29 (14.08%) Problem-Solving
6 23 (11.17%) ITSM
7 22 (10.68%) Service Delivery
8 13 (6.31%) Migration
9 12 (5.83%) Problem Management
10 11 (5.34%) Workflow
11 10 (4.85%) Asset Management
11 10 (4.85%) Mobile Device Management
12 9 (4.37%) Workflow Management
13 8 (3.88%) Network Management
14 7 (3.40%) Patch Management
15 6 (2.91%) Change Management
15 6 (2.91%) Incident Management
15 6 (2.91%) Network Monitoring
Programming Languages
1 9 (4.37%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.49%) SQL
Qualifications
1 57 (27.67%) Security Cleared
2 46 (22.33%) SC Cleared
3 20 (9.71%) Degree
4 10 (4.85%) Microsoft Certification
5 6 (2.91%) DV Cleared
5 6 (2.91%) ECDL
5 6 (2.91%) MCP
6 5 (2.43%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 5 (2.43%) MCDST
7 2 (0.97%) CCNA
7 2 (0.97%) Cisco Certification
7 2 (0.97%) MCSE
8 1 (0.49%) Azure Certification
8 1 (0.49%) DBS Check
8 1 (0.49%) HND
8 1 (0.49%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (5.83%) SLA
System Software
1 72 (34.95%) Active Directory
2 4 (1.94%) Virtual Desktop
2 4 (1.94%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (0.49%) BitLocker
3 1 (0.49%) Firmware
3 1 (0.49%) Hyper-V
3 1 (0.49%) vSphere
3 1 (0.49%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 28 (13.59%) SCCM
2 27 (13.11%) Microsoft Intune
3 7 (3.40%) SCOM
4 3 (1.46%) Jamf Pro
5 2 (0.97%) AppManager
Vendors
1 78 (37.86%) Microsoft
2 33 (16.02%) SAP
3 29 (14.08%) Apple
4 27 (13.11%) Cisco
5 25 (12.14%) Dell
6 23 (11.17%) HP
7 20 (9.71%) ServiceNow
8 7 (3.40%) Citrix
8 7 (3.40%) Google
8 7 (3.40%) SolarWinds
9 5 (2.43%) iManage
9 5 (2.43%) Mitel
9 5 (2.43%) VMware
10 4 (1.94%) Juniper
10 4 (1.94%) Remedy
11 3 (1.46%) Logitech
11 3 (1.46%) Meraki
11 3 (1.46%) Sage
12 2 (0.97%) Ivanti
12 2 (0.97%) Okta