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 14 April 2026.

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

 6 months to
14 Apr 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 425 309 295
Rank change year-on-year -116 -14 +19
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 202 217 327
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.44% 0.74% 0.75%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.48% 0.80% 0.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 152 132 235
10th Percentile £150 £150 £123
25th Percentile £156 £175 £141
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £195 £200 £200
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% - -
75th Percentile £221 £239 £225
90th Percentile £250 £279 £300
UK excluding London median daily rate £177 £200 £200
% change year-on-year -11.72% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 33 21 30
10th Percentile £16.25 £16.67 £16.25
25th Percentile £19.54 £17.30 £18.44
Median hourly rate £19.91 £23.00 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.43% +9.52% +2.94%
75th Percentile £21.46 £24.66 £25.71
90th Percentile £23.27 £30.68 £30.38
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.91 £23.00 £20.00
% change year-on-year -13.43% +15.00% +5.18%

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 42,188 27,123 40,371
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.27% 92.63% 92.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,193 17,821 26,390
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £407 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.80% -1.00% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £628 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +2.63% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,670 980 2,573
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.83 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.09 £19.91 £16.25
Median hourly rate £41.53 £31.42 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +32.16% -10.22% -22.22%
75th Percentile £65.25 £63.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £78.03 £75.58 £72.43
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £30.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year +41.67% -14.29% -17.38%

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 14 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 14 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop 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 Desktop Support within the UK over the 6 months to 14 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 -103 183 £195 -2.50% 17
UK excluding London -95 160 £177 -11.72% 15
London -74 40 £213 +6.25% 4
Midlands -49 33 £187 -6.38% 2
East of England -14 32 £195 -10.34% 2
North of England -83 27 £219 +12.18% 7
East Midlands -12 25 £200 +1.66%
South East -55 25 £172 -12.05% 2
South West -45 24 £210 -6.67% 1
Work from Home -38 14 £163 -46.28% 5
North West -36 13 £200 -3.61% 4
Yorkshire -58 12 £230 +8.24% 3
Wales -6 10 £160 -
Scotland -7 8 £213 +34.84% 1
West Midlands -65 8 £140 -30.00% 2
North East -26 2 £175 +12.90% 1
Northern Ireland -8 1 £175 +16.67%

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

For the 6 months to 14 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 (60.40%) Windows
2 93 (46.04%) Microsoft
3 74 (36.63%) Customer Service
3 74 (36.63%) Microsoft 365
4 73 (36.14%) Active Directory
5 56 (27.72%) Windows 10
6 46 (22.77%) SC Cleared
6 46 (22.77%) Security Cleared
7 37 (18.32%) Azure
7 37 (18.32%) Microsoft Intune
8 32 (15.84%) ITIL
9 31 (15.35%) Problem-Solving
10 28 (13.86%) Mac OS
10 28 (13.86%) Microsoft Office
11 27 (13.37%) Migration
12 24 (11.88%) SLA
13 23 (11.39%) SCCM
13 23 (11.39%) Service Delivery
14 22 (10.89%) Android
14 22 (10.89%) SharePoint
15 21 (10.40%) Continuous Improvement
16 20 (9.90%) Cisco
17 18 (8.91%) Apple
17 18 (8.91%) Asset Management
17 18 (8.91%) Logistics
18 17 (8.42%) HP
18 17 (8.42%) ServiceNow
18 17 (8.42%) Time Management
19 16 (7.92%) Degree
19 16 (7.92%) VPN

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 22 (10.89%) SharePoint
2 15 (7.43%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 28 (13.86%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (5.94%) Spreadsheet
3 4 (1.98%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.99%) assyst
2 1 (0.50%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 74 (36.63%) Microsoft 365
2 37 (18.32%) Azure
3 13 (6.44%) Entra ID
4 5 (2.48%) OneDrive
5 4 (1.98%) Google Ads
5 4 (1.98%) Google Workspace
5 4 (1.98%) Slack
6 2 (0.99%) Microsoft Copilot
7 1 (0.50%) Google Drive
7 1 (0.50%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 16 (7.92%) VPN
2 15 (7.43%) Wireless
3 9 (4.46%) Cisco IOS
3 9 (4.46%) DNS
3 9 (4.46%) Skype
4 8 (3.96%) TCP/IP
5 7 (3.47%) DHCP
6 4 (1.98%) Wi-Fi
7 3 (1.49%) Softphone
8 2 (0.99%) Firewall
8 2 (0.99%) LAN
8 2 (0.99%) PABX
9 1 (0.50%) IPv4
9 1 (0.50%) Remote Desktop
9 1 (0.50%) Telepresence
9 1 (0.50%) Unified Communications
9 1 (0.50%) VoIP
Development Applications
1 4 (1.98%) JIRA
General
1 74 (36.63%) Social Skills
2 26 (12.87%) Finance
3 19 (9.41%) Analytical Skills
3 19 (9.41%) Public Sector
3 19 (9.41%) Telecoms
4 16 (7.92%) Manufacturing
5 15 (7.43%) Electronics
5 15 (7.43%) Marketing
6 9 (4.46%) Retail
7 6 (2.97%) Law
7 6 (2.97%) Organisational Skills
8 3 (1.49%) Banking
9 2 (0.99%) Aerospace
9 2 (0.99%) Legal
9 2 (0.99%) Local Government
9 2 (0.99%) Pharmaceutical
10 1 (0.50%) Documentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.50%) Software Packaging
1 1 (0.50%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 22 (10.89%) Self-Motivation
2 20 (9.90%) Smartphone
3 11 (5.45%) Onboarding
4 10 (4.95%) Mobile App
5 9 (4.46%) Data Centre
6 8 (3.96%) Hybrid Cloud
6 8 (3.96%) Management Information System
7 7 (3.47%) iPhone
8 5 (2.48%) Enterprise Software
9 4 (1.98%) iPad
10 2 (0.99%) Data Protection Act
10 2 (0.99%) Hedge funds
10 2 (0.99%) Tandem
10 2 (0.99%) Video Conferencing
10 2 (0.99%) Virtual Team
11 1 (0.50%) Analytical Mindset
11 1 (0.50%) Augmented Reality
11 1 (0.50%) Driving Licence
11 1 (0.50%) Virtual Reality
Operating Systems
1 122 (60.40%) Windows
2 56 (27.72%) Windows 10
3 28 (13.86%) Mac OS
4 22 (10.89%) Android
5 12 (5.94%) Apple iOS
6 9 (4.46%) Windows Server
7 7 (3.47%) Windows 7
8 4 (1.98%) Windows 8
9 1 (0.50%) Linux
9 1 (0.50%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 74 (36.63%) Customer Service
2 32 (15.84%) ITIL
3 31 (15.35%) Problem-Solving
4 27 (13.37%) Migration
5 23 (11.39%) Service Delivery
6 21 (10.40%) Continuous Improvement
7 18 (8.91%) Asset Management
7 18 (8.91%) Logistics
8 17 (8.42%) Time Management
9 15 (7.43%) Business Intelligence
9 15 (7.43%) Digital Marketing
9 15 (7.43%) Programme Management
10 13 (6.44%) Incident Management
11 11 (5.45%) Computer Science
12 10 (4.95%) ITSM
12 10 (4.95%) Service Management
13 9 (4.46%) Infrastructure Management
13 9 (4.46%) Inventory Management
13 9 (4.46%) Project Delivery
14 8 (3.96%) Software Licensing
Programming Languages
1 12 (5.94%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.50%) Python
Qualifications
1 46 (22.77%) SC Cleared
1 46 (22.77%) Security Cleared
2 16 (7.92%) Degree
3 12 (5.94%) ITIL Certification
4 9 (4.46%) A+ Certification
5 3 (1.49%) Microsoft Certification
6 2 (0.99%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.50%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (11.88%) SLA
2 2 (0.99%) QA
3 1 (0.50%) GDPR
System Software
1 73 (36.14%) Active Directory
2 4 (1.98%) Firmware
3 2 (0.99%) Virtual Desktop
4 1 (0.50%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 37 (18.32%) Microsoft Intune
2 23 (11.39%) SCCM
3 2 (0.99%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 93 (46.04%) Microsoft
2 20 (9.90%) Cisco
3 18 (8.91%) Apple
4 17 (8.42%) HP
4 17 (8.42%) ServiceNow
5 15 (7.43%) SAP
6 14 (6.93%) Dell
7 9 (4.46%) Starlink
8 7 (3.47%) McAfee
9 5 (2.48%) Google
10 4 (1.98%) Remedy
11 3 (1.49%) Bloomberg
12 2 (0.99%) Citrix
12 2 (0.99%) Salesforce
13 1 (0.50%) Altiris
13 1 (0.50%) Barracuda Networks
13 1 (0.50%) CrowdStrike
13 1 (0.50%) SolarWinds
13 1 (0.50%) Veeam
13 1 (0.50%) VMware
Desktop Support jobs