Desktop Support Contract Job Trends

Desktop Support
UK

The median Desktop Support daily rate in the UK is £195, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 3 April 2026.

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

6 months to
3 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 421 317 282
Rank change year-on-year -104 -35 +29
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 208 214 340
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.46% 0.74% 0.77%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.50% 0.79% 0.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 158 133 243
10th Percentile £150 £150 £123
25th Percentile £156 £174 £142
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £195 £200 £200
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% - -
75th Percentile £230 £238 £225
90th Percentile £272 £278 £300
UK excluding London median daily rate £178 £200 £200
% change year-on-year -10.94% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 34 18 29
10th Percentile £16.25 £16.67 £16.85
25th Percentile £19.54 £18.91 £18.93
Median hourly rate £19.91 £23.00 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.43% +9.52% +3.96%
75th Percentile £21.46 £28.67 £25.71
90th Percentile - £32.72 £30.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.91 £23.00 £20.00
% change year-on-year -13.43% +15.00% +3.73%

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 41,358 26,984 40,963
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.19% 92.80% 92.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,778 17,737 26,805
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -3.45%
75th Percentile £613 £629 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £740
UK excluding London median daily rate £486 £475 £489
% change year-on-year +2.37% -2.86% -2.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,581 943 2,528
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £19.85 £20.47 £16.25
Median hourly rate £40.00 £32.50 £33.00
Median % change year-on-year +23.08% -1.52% -25.00%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £76.25 £71.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.16 £31.64 £33.00
% change year-on-year +26.91% -4.12% -21.43%

Desktop Support
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Desktop Support' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Desktop Support job vacancy trend in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 3 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 3 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Desktop Support within the UK over the 6 months to 3 April 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 -92 192 £200 -0.25% 22
UK excluding London -97 167 £178 -10.94% 25
London -74 39 £213 +6.25% 8
East of England -19 34 £195 -10.34% 1
Midlands -46 34 £175 -12.50%
North of England -70 30 £188 -3.85% 6
South West -36 28 £210 -6.67% 2
East Midlands -8 26 £200 +1.66%
South East -58 25 £172 -12.05% 11
Work from Home -32 14 £163 -46.28% 2
North West -45 14 £175 -15.66% 5
Yorkshire -59 12 £230 +8.24% 1
Wales -4 9 £160 - 1
West Midlands -68 8 £140 -30.00%
Scotland -2 7 £213 +34.84% 5
North East -19 4 £175 +12.90%

Desktop Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 3 April 2026, Desktop 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 Desktop Support in the job title.

1 122 (58.65%) Windows
2 92 (44.23%) Microsoft
3 81 (38.94%) Microsoft 365
4 75 (36.06%) Customer Service
5 72 (34.62%) Active Directory
6 58 (27.88%) SC Cleared
6 58 (27.88%) Security Cleared
6 58 (27.88%) Windows 10
7 38 (18.27%) Azure
8 37 (17.79%) Microsoft Intune
9 33 (15.87%) ITIL
10 32 (15.38%) Mac OS
10 32 (15.38%) Microsoft Office
11 30 (14.42%) Problem-Solving
12 27 (12.98%) Android
12 27 (12.98%) SLA
13 26 (12.50%) Migration
14 25 (12.02%) Cisco
14 25 (12.02%) Service Delivery
15 23 (11.06%) Apple
15 23 (11.06%) HP
15 23 (11.06%) SCCM
15 23 (11.06%) SharePoint
16 21 (10.10%) Business Intelligence
16 21 (10.10%) Continuous Improvement
16 21 (10.10%) Digital Marketing
16 21 (10.10%) Programme Management
16 21 (10.10%) SAP
16 21 (10.10%) Wireless
17 20 (9.62%) Dell

Desktop 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 23 (11.06%) SharePoint
2 15 (7.21%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 32 (15.38%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (6.73%) Spreadsheet
3 8 (3.85%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.48%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.96%) assyst
2 1 (0.48%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 81 (38.94%) Microsoft 365
2 38 (18.27%) Azure
3 13 (6.25%) Entra ID
4 5 (2.40%) OneDrive
5 4 (1.92%) Google Ads
5 4 (1.92%) Google Workspace
5 4 (1.92%) Slack
6 2 (0.96%) Microsoft Copilot
7 1 (0.48%) Google Drive
7 1 (0.48%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 21 (10.10%) Wireless
2 17 (8.17%) VPN
3 9 (4.33%) DNS
3 9 (4.33%) Skype
4 8 (3.85%) Cisco IOS
4 8 (3.85%) TCP/IP
5 7 (3.37%) DHCP
6 6 (2.88%) PABX
7 4 (1.92%) Wi-Fi
8 3 (1.44%) Softphone
9 2 (0.96%) Firewall
9 2 (0.96%) LAN
10 1 (0.48%) IPv4
10 1 (0.48%) Telepresence
10 1 (0.48%) Unified Communications
10 1 (0.48%) VoIP
Development Applications
1 4 (1.92%) JIRA
General
1 78 (37.50%) Social Skills
2 31 (14.90%) Finance
3 26 (12.50%) Public Sector
4 24 (11.54%) Telecoms
5 22 (10.58%) Manufacturing
6 21 (10.10%) Electronics
6 21 (10.10%) Marketing
7 18 (8.65%) Analytical Skills
8 9 (4.33%) Retail
9 6 (2.88%) Law
9 6 (2.88%) Organisational Skills
10 4 (1.92%) Aerospace
11 3 (1.44%) Banking
11 3 (1.44%) Documentation Skills
12 2 (0.96%) Legal
12 2 (0.96%) Local Government
12 2 (0.96%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.48%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 27 (12.98%) Self-Motivation
2 23 (11.06%) Smartphone
3 15 (7.21%) Data Centre
4 11 (5.29%) Onboarding
5 10 (4.81%) Mobile App
6 8 (3.85%) Hybrid Cloud
6 8 (3.85%) Management Information System
7 6 (2.88%) iPhone
8 5 (2.40%) Enterprise Software
8 5 (2.40%) iPad
9 2 (0.96%) Hedge funds
9 2 (0.96%) Tandem
9 2 (0.96%) Video Conferencing
9 2 (0.96%) Virtual Team
10 1 (0.48%) Analytical Mindset
10 1 (0.48%) Augmented Reality
10 1 (0.48%) Data Protection Act
10 1 (0.48%) Virtual Reality
Operating Systems
1 122 (58.65%) Windows
2 58 (27.88%) Windows 10
3 32 (15.38%) Mac OS
4 27 (12.98%) Android
5 10 (4.81%) Apple iOS
5 10 (4.81%) Windows Server
6 6 (2.88%) Windows 7
7 4 (1.92%) Windows 8
8 1 (0.48%) Linux
8 1 (0.48%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 75 (36.06%) Customer Service
2 33 (15.87%) ITIL
3 30 (14.42%) Problem-Solving
4 26 (12.50%) Migration
5 25 (12.02%) Service Delivery
6 21 (10.10%) Business Intelligence
6 21 (10.10%) Continuous Improvement
6 21 (10.10%) Digital Marketing
6 21 (10.10%) Programme Management
7 20 (9.62%) Time Management
8 18 (8.65%) Asset Management
8 18 (8.65%) Logistics
9 13 (6.25%) Incident Management
10 10 (4.81%) Computer Science
10 10 (4.81%) Inventory Management
10 10 (4.81%) ITSM
10 10 (4.81%) Service Management
11 9 (4.33%) Infrastructure Management
11 9 (4.33%) Project Delivery
11 9 (4.33%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 12 (5.77%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.48%) Python
Qualifications
1 58 (27.88%) SC Cleared
1 58 (27.88%) Security Cleared
2 15 (7.21%) Degree
3 13 (6.25%) ITIL Certification
4 8 (3.85%) A+ Certification
5 2 (0.96%) Computer Science Degree
5 2 (0.96%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (12.98%) SLA
2 3 (1.44%) GDPR
3 2 (0.96%) QA
System Software
1 72 (34.62%) Active Directory
2 4 (1.92%) Firmware
3 1 (0.48%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 37 (17.79%) Microsoft Intune
2 23 (11.06%) SCCM
3 2 (0.96%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 92 (44.23%) Microsoft
2 25 (12.02%) Cisco
3 23 (11.06%) Apple
3 23 (11.06%) HP
4 21 (10.10%) SAP
5 20 (9.62%) Dell
6 19 (9.13%) ServiceNow
7 10 (4.81%) Starlink
8 8 (3.85%) McAfee
9 5 (2.40%) Google
10 4 (1.92%) Remedy
11 3 (1.44%) Bloomberg
12 2 (0.96%) Salesforce
13 1 (0.48%) Altiris
13 1 (0.48%) Barracuda Networks
13 1 (0.48%) Citrix
13 1 (0.48%) CrowdStrike
13 1 (0.48%) Nexthink
13 1 (0.48%) SolarWinds
13 1 (0.48%) Veeam