Desktop Support Engineer Contracts

Desktop Support Engineer
UK

The median Desktop Support Engineer daily rate in the UK is £200, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 7 May 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
7 May 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 342 388 437
Rank change year-on-year +46 +49 +76
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support Engineer 168 192 294
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.57% 0.44% 0.50%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.62% 0.48% 0.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 97 150 226
10th Percentile £150 £125 £138
25th Percentile £169 £140 £160
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £200 £200
Median % change year-on-year - - +11.11%
75th Percentile £238 £218 £239
90th Percentile £258 £261 £283
UK excluding London median daily rate £203 £200 £200
% change year-on-year +1.25% - +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 15 12
10th Percentile £16.67 £16.25 £15.60
25th Percentile £18.91 £17.00 £16.54
Median hourly rate £23.00 £18.13 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year +26.86% -19.42% +18.42%
75th Percentile £24.07 £21.41 £25.18
90th Percentile £24.90 £27.36 £29.12
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.00 £18.00 £18.97
% change year-on-year +27.78% -5.10% +3.76%

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 27,103 40,251 55,892
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.50% 92.75% 94.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,687 26,220 39,044
10th Percentile £300 £280 £313
25th Percentile £406 £409 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% -2.78% +2.86%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -3.06% -2.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,052 2,676 1,569
10th Percentile £14.13 £12.86 £14.25
25th Percentile £18.50 £16.30 £19.25
Median hourly rate £29.00 £36.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -20.55% -18.89% +88.21%
75th Percentile £62.50 £61.30 £65.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £72.50 £76.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.00 £40.00 £42.16
% change year-on-year -30.00% -5.11% +115.96%

Desktop Support Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings that featured Desktop Support Engineer in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Desktop Support Engineer in the UK

Desktop Support Engineer
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Desktop Support Engineer.

Daily rate trend for Desktop Support Engineer in the UK

Desktop Support Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Desktop Support Engineer over the 6 months to 7 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Desktop Support Engineer in the UK

Desktop Support Engineer
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Desktop Support Engineer.

Hourly rate trend for Desktop Support Engineer in the UK

Desktop Support Engineer
Top 17 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Desktop Support Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 7 May 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 +44 149 £200 - 27
UK excluding London +55 133 £203 +1.25% 16
South West +48 34 £235 +27.72% 3
London +22 33 £200 +5.26% 17
North of England +31 32 £195 +21.88% 2
South East +6 24 £195 -4.88% 7
East of England +34 16 £210 +20.00% 1
Yorkshire +22 11 £235 +18.99% 1
North West +15 11 £155 +10.71% 1
Midlands +26 10 £200 +63.93% 4
North East +5 10 £155 -20.51%
West Midlands +25 8 £200 +37.93% 2
Scotland +14 7 £150 -6.25%
Northern Ireland -5 7 £150 +7.14%
Work from Home +31 5 £276 +38.13% 2
Wales +6 3 - -
East Midlands +8 2 £300 +145.90% 2

Desktop Support Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities

For the 6 months to 7 May 2025, Desktop Support Engineer 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 Desktop Support Engineer in the job title.

1 106 (63.10%) Social Skills
2 98 (58.33%) Windows
3 93 (55.36%) Microsoft
4 72 (42.86%) Active Directory
5 63 (37.50%) Microsoft 365
6 59 (35.12%) Customer Service
7 57 (33.93%) Windows 10
8 49 (29.17%) Security Cleared
9 47 (27.98%) Finance
10 46 (27.38%) SC Cleared
11 42 (25.00%) Microsoft Office
12 38 (22.62%) ITIL
13 36 (21.43%) VPN
14 33 (19.64%) Microsoft Exchange
15 32 (19.05%) Problem-Solving
16 31 (18.45%) HP
17 29 (17.26%) Dell
18 27 (16.07%) SCCM
19 26 (15.48%) SLA
19 26 (15.48%) Customer Experience
19 26 (15.48%) Microsoft Intune
20 25 (14.88%) ServiceNow
21 23 (13.69%) Dell Certification
21 23 (13.69%) Mathematics
21 23 (13.69%) Driving Licence
22 21 (12.50%) Time Management
22 21 (12.50%) Citrix
22 21 (12.50%) SharePoint
23 20 (11.90%) Degree
24 18 (10.71%) Manufacturing

Desktop Support Engineer 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 33 (19.64%) Microsoft Exchange
2 21 (12.50%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.60%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
Applications
1 42 (25.00%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (3.57%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 6 (3.57%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.79%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.60%) Final Cut Pro
4 1 (0.60%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.60%) QuarkXPress
Business Applications
1 1 (0.60%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 63 (37.50%) Microsoft 365
2 18 (10.71%) Azure
3 10 (5.95%) OneDrive
4 6 (3.57%) Entra ID
5 2 (1.19%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 36 (21.43%) VPN
2 14 (8.33%) LAN
3 12 (7.14%) DHCP
3 12 (7.14%) DNS
4 11 (6.55%) Wi-Fi
5 10 (5.95%) Remote Desktop
6 9 (5.36%) WAN
7 8 (4.76%) Firewall
7 8 (4.76%) Structured Cabling
7 8 (4.76%) VLAN
7 8 (4.76%) VoIP
8 6 (3.57%) Wireless
9 2 (1.19%) Telepresence
9 2 (1.19%) Unified Communications
10 1 (0.60%) Internet
10 1 (0.60%) TCP/IP
10 1 (0.60%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.60%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 3 (1.79%) JIRA
General
1 106 (63.10%) Social Skills
2 47 (27.98%) Finance
3 18 (10.71%) Manufacturing
3 18 (10.71%) Public Sector
4 16 (9.52%) Analytical Skills
5 14 (8.33%) Telecoms
6 13 (7.74%) Electronics
6 13 (7.74%) Marketing
7 7 (4.17%) Documentation Skills
8 6 (3.57%) Banking
9 5 (2.98%) Legal
9 5 (2.98%) Presentation Skills
10 3 (1.79%) Investment Banking
11 2 (1.19%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 2 (1.19%) Organisational Skills
11 2 (1.19%) Pharmaceutical
Miscellaneous
1 23 (13.69%) Driving Licence
2 10 (5.95%) iPhone
3 9 (5.36%) NHS
3 9 (5.36%) Smartphone
4 7 (4.17%) iPad
4 7 (4.17%) Management Information System
4 7 (4.17%) Self-Motivation
5 6 (3.57%) Data Centre
6 5 (2.98%) Video Conferencing
7 3 (1.79%) CMDB
8 2 (1.19%) BYOD
8 2 (1.19%) Data Protection Act
8 2 (1.19%) Device Driver
8 2 (1.19%) Handset
9 1 (0.60%) Enterprise Software
9 1 (0.60%) Fat Client
9 1 (0.60%) Product Ownership
9 1 (0.60%) Replication
9 1 (0.60%) RSA SecurID
9 1 (0.60%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 98 (58.33%) Windows
2 57 (33.93%) Windows 10
3 9 (5.36%) Mac OS
4 7 (4.17%) Windows 7
4 7 (4.17%) Windows 8
4 7 (4.17%) Windows Server
4 7 (4.17%) Windows XP
5 6 (3.57%) Windows Server 2016
6 5 (2.98%) Windows Server 2003
6 5 (2.98%) Windows Server 2008
6 5 (2.98%) Windows Server 2012
7 4 (2.38%) Android
7 4 (2.38%) Apple iOS
8 3 (1.79%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.60%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 59 (35.12%) Customer Service
2 38 (22.62%) ITIL
3 32 (19.05%) Problem-Solving
4 26 (15.48%) Customer Experience
5 23 (13.69%) Mathematics
6 21 (12.50%) Time Management
7 14 (8.33%) ITSM
8 13 (7.74%) Business Intelligence
8 13 (7.74%) Collaborative Working
8 13 (7.74%) Digital Marketing
8 13 (7.74%) Programme Management
8 13 (7.74%) Root Cause Analysis
9 12 (7.14%) Service Delivery
10 11 (6.55%) Case Management
11 9 (5.36%) Inventory Management
12 7 (4.17%) Antivirus Management
12 7 (4.17%) Asset Management
12 7 (4.17%) Break/Fix
12 7 (4.17%) Service Management
13 6 (3.57%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 11 (6.55%) PowerShell
2 2 (1.19%) Bash
2 2 (1.19%) Python
2 2 (1.19%) SQL
Qualifications
1 49 (29.17%) Security Cleared
2 46 (27.38%) SC Cleared
3 23 (13.69%) Dell Certification
4 20 (11.90%) Degree
5 12 (7.14%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 11 (6.55%) Microsoft Certification
7 7 (4.17%) A+ Certification
7 7 (4.17%) ITIL Certification
8 4 (2.38%) DBS Check
9 2 (1.19%) Computer Science Degree
10 1 (0.60%) ACSP
10 1 (0.60%) BPSS Clearance
10 1 (0.60%) CISSP
10 1 (0.60%) CompTIA Security+
10 1 (0.60%) GIAC
10 1 (0.60%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (15.48%) SLA
2 11 (6.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 6 (3.57%) QA
4 1 (0.60%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.60%) GxP
System Software
1 72 (42.86%) Active Directory
2 9 (5.36%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (1.19%) vSphere
3 2 (1.19%) XenApp
4 1 (0.60%) Virtual Desktop
4 1 (0.60%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 27 (16.07%) SCCM
2 26 (15.48%) Microsoft Intune
3 8 (4.76%) AppManager
4 2 (1.19%) Jamf Pro
4 2 (1.19%) McAfee ePO
4 2 (1.19%) Norton AntiVirus
5 1 (0.60%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 93 (55.36%) Microsoft
2 31 (18.45%) HP
3 29 (17.26%) Dell
4 25 (14.88%) ServiceNow
5 21 (12.50%) Citrix
6 13 (7.74%) SAP
7 11 (6.55%) VMware
8 9 (5.36%) McAfee
9 8 (4.76%) Apple
9 8 (4.76%) Ivanti
10 7 (4.17%) Canon
10 7 (4.17%) Cisco
11 3 (1.79%) Adobe
12 2 (1.19%) Barracuda Networks
12 2 (1.19%) Draytek
12 2 (1.19%) Kaspersky
12 2 (1.19%) NETGEAR
12 2 (1.19%) Panasonic
12 2 (1.19%) Sage
12 2 (1.19%) WatchGuard
27 Desktop Support Engineer jobs Nationwide