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 9 August 2026.

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

6 months to
9 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 487 309 330
Rank change year-on-year -178 +21 -33
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 185 255 257
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.35% 0.77% 0.66%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.37% 0.84% 0.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 131 145 180
10th Percentile £140 £136 £126
25th Percentile £170 £160 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £213 £200 £200
Median % change year-on-year +6.25% - -
75th Percentile £243 £245 £234
90th Percentile £288 £278 £270
UK excluding London median daily rate £213 £200 £203
% change year-on-year +6.25% -1.23% +1.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 39 28
10th Percentile £16.26 - £16.25
25th Percentile £17.25 £13.75 £18.00
Median hourly rate £22.00 £17.30 £20.91
Median % change year-on-year +27.17% -17.25% -1.12%
75th Percentile £23.50 £27.75 £24.89
90th Percentile £25.11 £33.75 £29.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.33 £25.00 £18.27
% change year-on-year -22.68% +36.84% +4.64%

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 49,618 30,282 36,100
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.59% 91.38% 92.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,853 19,212 23,341
10th Percentile £329 £283 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.87%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £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 3,461 1,511 2,024
10th Percentile £15.00 £13.60 £14.16
25th Percentile £20.75 £17.28 £20.30
Median hourly rate £42.30 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +68.19% -41.51% +1.18%
75th Percentile £67.84 £53.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £72.75 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.65 £25.13 £45.00
% change year-on-year +69.72% -44.16% +23.29%

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 9 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 9 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 9 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 -170 157 £225 +6.51% 15
UK excluding London -139 120 £213 +6.25% 9
London -89 62 £225 +1.93% 8
North of England -81 28 £235 +20.51% 2
South West -71 24 £210 -10.64%
South East -76 23 £180 -16.28% 5
Scotland -3 21 £206 +12.24% 1
North West -53 16 £235 +11.90% 2
Yorkshire -38 12 £230 -2.13%
East of England -20 11 £173 -13.75%
Work from Home -59 10 £213 -15.00% 4
Midlands -60 10 £250 +46.63% 1
West Midlands -56 6 £225 +35.14% 1
East Midlands -12 4 £260 +52.05%
Northern Ireland +2 3 £175 -15.66%
Wales -21 1 - -

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

For the 6 months to 9 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.

1 135 (72.97%) Windows
2 85 (45.95%) Microsoft
3 78 (42.16%) Microsoft 365
4 72 (38.92%) Active Directory
5 58 (31.35%) Customer Service
6 46 (24.86%) ITIL
7 45 (24.32%) Windows 10
8 43 (23.24%) Security Cleared
9 40 (21.62%) SC Cleared
10 35 (18.92%) Microsoft Intune
11 33 (17.84%) Problem-Solving
12 32 (17.30%) ITSM
13 28 (15.14%) ServiceNow
13 28 (15.14%) SharePoint
14 26 (14.05%) Azure
14 26 (14.05%) VPN
15 24 (12.97%) Asset Management
15 24 (12.97%) SLA
16 23 (12.43%) Degree
16 23 (12.43%) Service Management
17 22 (11.89%) Mac OS
17 22 (11.89%) SCCM
17 22 (11.89%) Service Delivery
18 21 (11.35%) Entra ID
19 19 (10.27%) Migration
20 18 (9.73%) Virtual Desktop
21 17 (9.19%) Apple iOS
22 16 (8.65%) Apple
23 14 (7.57%) Android
23 14 (7.57%) Citrix

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 28 (15.14%) SharePoint
2 11 (5.95%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.54%) Confluence
Applications
1 8 (4.32%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.54%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (1.08%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.54%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 78 (42.16%) Microsoft 365
2 26 (14.05%) Azure
3 21 (11.35%) Entra ID
4 13 (7.03%) OneDrive
5 5 (2.70%) SaaS
6 2 (1.08%) Microsoft Copilot
7 1 (0.54%) Google Ads
7 1 (0.54%) Google Workspace
7 1 (0.54%) IaaS
7 1 (0.54%) Mimecast
7 1 (0.54%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 26 (14.05%) VPN
2 13 (7.03%) DHCP
3 12 (6.49%) DNS
4 11 (5.95%) TCP/IP
4 11 (5.95%) Wireless
5 10 (5.41%) Wi-Fi
6 7 (3.78%) LAN
7 3 (1.62%) Firewall
8 2 (1.08%) Network Security
8 2 (1.08%) Remote Desktop
9 1 (0.54%) Cisco IOS
9 1 (0.54%) NAS
9 1 (0.54%) Skype
9 1 (0.54%) Value-Added Service
9 1 (0.54%) VLAN
9 1 (0.54%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.54%) Amazon RDS
1 1 (0.54%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 5 (2.70%) JIRA
General
1 75 (40.54%) Social Skills
2 34 (18.38%) Finance
3 19 (10.27%) Organisational Skills
4 14 (7.57%) Banking
5 11 (5.95%) Investment Banking
6 10 (5.41%) Financial Institution
6 10 (5.41%) Spanish Language
7 9 (4.86%) Telecoms
8 8 (4.32%) Analytical Skills
9 7 (3.78%) Legal
10 4 (2.16%) Law
10 4 (2.16%) Manufacturing
11 3 (1.62%) Front Office
11 3 (1.62%) Public Sector
12 2 (1.08%) Local Government
13 1 (0.54%) Documentation Skills
13 1 (0.54%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 1 (0.54%) Pharmaceutical
13 1 (0.54%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (3.24%) Software Packaging
2 1 (0.54%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 40 (21.62%) Onboarding
2 13 (7.03%) Driving Licence
3 11 (5.95%) Hedge funds
3 11 (5.95%) Video Conferencing
4 9 (4.86%) Smartphone
5 8 (4.32%) iPhone
6 7 (3.78%) Self-Motivation
7 4 (2.16%) Mobile App
8 3 (1.62%) iPad
9 2 (1.08%) Augmented Reality
9 2 (1.08%) BYOD
9 2 (1.08%) CMDB
9 2 (1.08%) Data Protection Act
9 2 (1.08%) Enterprise Software
9 2 (1.08%) Management Information System
9 2 (1.08%) Virtual Reality
10 1 (0.54%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 135 (72.97%) Windows
2 45 (24.32%) Windows 10
3 22 (11.89%) Mac OS
4 17 (9.19%) Apple iOS
5 14 (7.57%) Android
6 5 (2.70%) Windows 7
6 5 (2.70%) Windows Server
7 3 (1.62%) Linux
7 3 (1.62%) Windows XP
8 1 (0.54%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 58 (31.35%) Customer Service
2 46 (24.86%) ITIL
3 33 (17.84%) Problem-Solving
4 32 (17.30%) ITSM
5 24 (12.97%) Asset Management
6 23 (12.43%) Service Management
7 22 (11.89%) Service Delivery
8 19 (10.27%) Migration
9 12 (6.49%) Incident Management
10 11 (5.95%) Break/Fix
11 10 (5.41%) Continuous Improvement
11 10 (5.41%) Mobile Device Management
12 9 (4.86%) Logistics
12 9 (4.86%) Root Cause Analysis
12 9 (4.86%) User Experience
13 8 (4.32%) Problem Management
14 7 (3.78%) Inventory Management
15 6 (3.24%) Change Management
15 6 (3.24%) Data Protection
15 6 (3.24%) Patch Management
Programming Languages
1 12 (6.49%) PowerShell
2 2 (1.08%) Python
2 2 (1.08%) SQL
2 2 (1.08%) VBScript
3 1 (0.54%) Bash
Qualifications
1 43 (23.24%) Security Cleared
2 40 (21.62%) SC Cleared
3 23 (12.43%) Degree
4 12 (6.49%) A+ Certification
5 4 (2.16%) BPSS Clearance
5 4 (2.16%) Computer Science Degree
5 4 (2.16%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
5 4 (2.16%) Microsoft Certification
6 3 (1.62%) Microsoft Certified Professional
6 3 (1.62%) Network+ Certification
7 2 (1.08%) DV Cleared
7 2 (1.08%) ITIL Certification
8 1 (0.54%) CTC Cleared
8 1 (0.54%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (12.97%) SLA
System Software
1 72 (38.92%) Active Directory
2 18 (9.73%) Virtual Desktop
3 7 (3.78%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (2.16%) Firmware
5 3 (1.62%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.54%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.54%) zsh
Systems Management
1 35 (18.92%) Microsoft Intune
2 22 (11.89%) SCCM
3 5 (2.70%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (0.54%) WSUS
Vendors
1 85 (45.95%) Microsoft
2 28 (15.14%) ServiceNow
3 16 (8.65%) Apple
4 14 (7.57%) Citrix
5 9 (4.86%) McAfee
6 7 (3.78%) HP
6 7 (3.78%) Starlink
6 7 (3.78%) VMware
7 4 (2.16%) Dell
8 3 (1.62%) Adobe
8 3 (1.62%) Bloomberg
8 3 (1.62%) Google
9 2 (1.08%) BeyondTrust
9 2 (1.08%) Cisco
9 2 (1.08%) Meraki
9 2 (1.08%) Remedy
9 2 (1.08%) Samsung
10 1 (0.54%) BMC
10 1 (0.54%) Salesforce
10 1 (0.54%) Symantec