Desktop Support Contract Job Trends

Desktop Support
UK

The median Desktop Support daily rate in the UK is £213, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 31 August 2026.

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

6 months to
31 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 484 323 334
Rank change year-on-year -161 +11 -24
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 194 257 253
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.36% 0.78% 0.66%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.39% 0.85% 0.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 129 149 170
10th Percentile £140 £142 £135
25th Percentile £170 £160 £156
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £213 £213 £200
Median % change year-on-year - +6.25% -
75th Percentile £240 £245 £236
90th Percentile £280 £278 £269
UK excluding London median daily rate £213 £210 £203
% change year-on-year +1.19% +3.70% +1.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 40 24
10th Percentile £16.38 - £18.04
25th Percentile £17.25 £13.75 £18.24
Median hourly rate £22.00 £20.98 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.86% -0.10% +6.33%
75th Percentile £23.50 £31.40 £24.89
90th Percentile £25.03 £33.75 £28.23
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.67 £25.15 £23.53
% change year-on-year -17.83% +6.90% +34.44%

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 49,691 30,076 35,928
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.46% 91.26% 93.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,638 19,002 22,670
10th Percentile £325 £280 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.69%
75th Percentile £625 £620 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,580 1,568 1,839
10th Percentile £14.96 £13.73 £14.16
25th Percentile £20.51 £17.00 £20.00
Median hourly rate £42.00 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +67.00% -41.51% +1.96%
75th Percentile £67.84 £53.78 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.41 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £44.04
% change year-on-year +68.99% -42.89% +13.95%

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 31 August 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 31 August 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 31 August 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 -159 165 £225 +4.65% 29
UK excluding London -130 121 £213 +1.19% 24
London -68 70 £225 +1.58% 7
North of England -82 32 £238 +15.85% 8
South West -69 24 £210 -6.67% 3
North West -48 23 £235 +11.90% 7
Scotland -12 21 £175 -4.76%
South East -79 21 £190 -11.63% 11
Midlands -57 10 £250 +46.20% 5
East of England -18 9 £173 -21.59%
Work from Home -47 9 £226 -9.50% 6
Yorkshire -49 9 £240 +2.13% 1
West Midlands -49 7 £225 +30.43% 3
Northern Ireland +1 4 £175 +6.06%
East Midlands -16 3 £270 +57.89% 2
Wales -16 1 - -

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

For the 6 months to 31 August 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.

1 142 (73.20%) Windows
2 95 (48.97%) Microsoft
3 87 (44.85%) Microsoft 365
4 78 (40.21%) Active Directory
5 59 (30.41%) ITIL
6 57 (29.38%) Customer Service
7 47 (24.23%) Windows 10
8 44 (22.68%) Security Cleared
9 43 (22.16%) ITSM
10 40 (20.62%) Microsoft Intune
11 39 (20.10%) SC Cleared
12 34 (17.53%) ServiceNow
13 31 (15.98%) Problem-Solving
14 29 (14.95%) SCCM
14 29 (14.95%) SharePoint
15 28 (14.43%) Service Management
16 27 (13.92%) Azure
17 26 (13.40%) Service Delivery
17 26 (13.40%) VPN
18 25 (12.89%) Degree
19 24 (12.37%) Asset Management
19 24 (12.37%) SLA
20 23 (11.86%) Entra ID
21 22 (11.34%) Mac OS
21 22 (11.34%) Virtual Desktop
22 21 (10.82%) Migration
23 18 (9.28%) Apple iOS
24 17 (8.76%) Android
24 17 (8.76%) Citrix
24 17 (8.76%) PowerShell

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 29 (14.95%) SharePoint
2 11 (5.67%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.52%) Confluence
3 1 (0.52%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 10 (5.15%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.52%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 3 (1.55%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.52%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 87 (44.85%) Microsoft 365
2 27 (13.92%) Azure
3 23 (11.86%) Entra ID
4 14 (7.22%) OneDrive
5 6 (3.09%) SaaS
6 2 (1.03%) Microsoft Copilot
7 1 (0.52%) IaaS
7 1 (0.52%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 26 (13.40%) VPN
2 14 (7.22%) DHCP
3 13 (6.70%) DNS
4 12 (6.19%) TCP/IP
5 11 (5.67%) Wireless
6 10 (5.15%) Wi-Fi
7 9 (4.64%) LAN
8 3 (1.55%) Firewall
8 3 (1.55%) Network Security
8 3 (1.55%) Value-Added Service
9 2 (1.03%) Remote Desktop
9 2 (1.03%) Skype
10 1 (0.52%) Cisco IOS
10 1 (0.52%) NAS
10 1 (0.52%) VLAN
10 1 (0.52%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.52%) Amazon RDS
1 1 (0.52%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 4 (2.06%) JIRA
General
1 78 (40.21%) Social Skills
2 35 (18.04%) Finance
3 18 (9.28%) Organisational Skills
4 15 (7.73%) Banking
5 12 (6.19%) Investment Banking
6 11 (5.67%) Telecoms
7 10 (5.15%) Financial Institution
7 10 (5.15%) Spanish Language
8 9 (4.64%) Legal
9 8 (4.12%) Analytical Skills
10 5 (2.58%) Front Office
11 4 (2.06%) Law
11 4 (2.06%) Manufacturing
12 3 (1.55%) Public Sector
13 2 (1.03%) Local Government
14 1 (0.52%) Documentation Skills
14 1 (0.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 1 (0.52%) Pharmaceutical
14 1 (0.52%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (3.61%) Software Packaging
2 1 (0.52%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 42 (21.65%) Onboarding
2 15 (7.73%) Video Conferencing
3 14 (7.22%) Driving Licence
4 11 (5.67%) Hedge funds
5 10 (5.15%) Smartphone
6 7 (3.61%) iPhone
6 7 (3.61%) Self-Motivation
7 4 (2.06%) Mobile App
8 3 (1.55%) CMDB
8 3 (1.55%) Management Information System
9 2 (1.03%) Augmented Reality
9 2 (1.03%) BYOD
9 2 (1.03%) Data Protection Act
9 2 (1.03%) iPad
9 2 (1.03%) Virtual Reality
10 1 (0.52%) Blackberry
10 1 (0.52%) Data Centre
10 1 (0.52%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 142 (73.20%) Windows
2 47 (24.23%) Windows 10
3 22 (11.34%) Mac OS
4 18 (9.28%) Apple iOS
5 17 (8.76%) Android
6 5 (2.58%) Windows 7
6 5 (2.58%) Windows Server
7 3 (1.55%) Linux
7 3 (1.55%) Windows XP
8 1 (0.52%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 59 (30.41%) ITIL
2 57 (29.38%) Customer Service
3 43 (22.16%) ITSM
4 31 (15.98%) Problem-Solving
5 28 (14.43%) Service Management
6 26 (13.40%) Service Delivery
7 24 (12.37%) Asset Management
8 21 (10.82%) Migration
9 13 (6.70%) Incident Management
10 11 (5.67%) Break/Fix
10 11 (5.67%) Continuous Improvement
10 11 (5.67%) Inventory Management
11 10 (5.15%) Logistics
11 10 (5.15%) Mobile Device Management
12 9 (4.64%) Root Cause Analysis
12 9 (4.64%) User Experience
13 8 (4.12%) Problem Management
14 7 (3.61%) Change Management
14 7 (3.61%) Data Protection
15 5 (2.58%) Fault Management
Programming Languages
1 17 (8.76%) PowerShell
2 3 (1.55%) Python
2 3 (1.55%) SQL
2 3 (1.55%) VBScript
3 1 (0.52%) Bash
Qualifications
1 44 (22.68%) Security Cleared
2 39 (20.10%) SC Cleared
3 25 (12.89%) Degree
4 12 (6.19%) A+ Certification
5 4 (2.06%) BPSS Clearance
5 4 (2.06%) Computer Science Degree
5 4 (2.06%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
5 4 (2.06%) Microsoft Certification
6 3 (1.55%) DV Cleared
6 3 (1.55%) ITIL Certification
6 3 (1.55%) Microsoft Certified Professional
6 3 (1.55%) Network+ Certification
7 1 (0.52%) CTC Cleared
7 1 (0.52%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (12.37%) SLA
System Software
1 78 (40.21%) Active Directory
2 22 (11.34%) Virtual Desktop
3 8 (4.12%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (1.55%) BitLocker
5 2 (1.03%) Firmware
6 1 (0.52%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.52%) zsh
Systems Management
1 40 (20.62%) Microsoft Intune
2 29 (14.95%) SCCM
3 4 (2.06%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (0.52%) WSUS
Vendors
1 95 (48.97%) Microsoft
2 34 (17.53%) ServiceNow
3 17 (8.76%) Citrix
4 13 (6.70%) Apple
5 10 (5.15%) McAfee
6 8 (4.12%) VMware
7 7 (3.61%) Starlink
8 6 (3.09%) HP
9 5 (2.58%) Adobe
10 4 (2.06%) Cisco
10 4 (2.06%) Samsung
11 3 (1.55%) Autodesk
11 3 (1.55%) BeyondTrust
11 3 (1.55%) Bloomberg
11 3 (1.55%) Dell
11 3 (1.55%) Remedy
11 3 (1.55%) Symantec
11 3 (1.55%) Tanium
12 2 (1.03%) Google
12 2 (1.03%) Meraki