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 18 August 2026.

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

6 months to
18 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 485 312 318
Rank change year-on-year -173 +6 -22
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 192 253 253
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.36% 0.77% 0.65%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.39% 0.84% 0.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 132 145 175
10th Percentile £140 £136 £125
25th Percentile £170 £160 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £213 £210 £200
Median % change year-on-year +1.19% +5.00% -
75th Percentile £241 £250 £230
90th Percentile £280 £278 £269
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 38 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 £29.00 £24.18
90th Percentile £25.11 £33.75 £27.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.33 £25.15 £18.27
% change year-on-year -23.14% +37.66% +4.52%

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 49,538 30,006 36,016
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.49% 91.28% 92.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,704 18,935 23,189
10th Percentile £325 £281 £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 £621 £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 3,506 1,542 1,988
10th Percentile £15.00 £13.56 £14.16
25th Percentile £20.69 £17.30 £20.00
Median hourly rate £41.74 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +65.94% -41.51% +3.61%
75th Percentile £67.84 £53.83 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £72.50 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £44.02
% change year-on-year +68.99% -42.87% +22.28%

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 18 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 18 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 18 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 -177 164 £225 +5.26% 30
UK excluding London -145 121 £213 +6.25% 14
London -67 68 £225 +1.58% 19
North of England -90 32 £235 +20.51% 3
South West -69 24 £210 -10.64% 3
Scotland -4 21 £206 +12.24% 1
South East -87 21 £180 -16.28% 8
North West -50 20 £235 +11.90% 2
Yorkshire -44 12 £230 -2.13% 1
East of England -23 10 £173 -13.75%
Midlands -58 10 £250 +46.63% 2
Work from Home -49 9 £226 -9.50% 4
West Midlands -50 6 £225 +35.14% 1
East Midlands -20 4 £260 +52.05% 1
Northern Ireland +1 3 £175 -15.66%
Wales -22 1 - -

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

For the 6 months to 18 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.

1 140 (72.92%) Windows
2 93 (48.44%) Microsoft
3 83 (43.23%) Microsoft 365
4 76 (39.58%) Active Directory
5 57 (29.69%) Customer Service
6 55 (28.65%) ITIL
7 44 (22.92%) Security Cleared
7 44 (22.92%) Windows 10
8 40 (20.83%) SC Cleared
9 39 (20.31%) ITSM
9 39 (20.31%) Microsoft Intune
10 35 (18.23%) Problem-Solving
11 31 (16.15%) ServiceNow
12 28 (14.58%) SharePoint
13 26 (13.54%) Azure
13 26 (13.54%) SCCM
13 26 (13.54%) Service Management
13 26 (13.54%) VPN
14 25 (13.02%) Degree
14 25 (13.02%) Service Delivery
14 25 (13.02%) SLA
15 23 (11.98%) Asset Management
16 22 (11.46%) Mac OS
17 21 (10.94%) Entra ID
17 21 (10.94%) Migration
17 21 (10.94%) Virtual Desktop
18 18 (9.38%) Apple iOS
19 17 (8.85%) PowerShell
20 16 (8.33%) Android
20 16 (8.33%) 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 (14.58%) SharePoint
2 11 (5.73%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.52%) Confluence
Applications
1 8 (4.17%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.52%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (1.04%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.52%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 83 (43.23%) Microsoft 365
2 26 (13.54%) Azure
3 21 (10.94%) Entra ID
4 14 (7.29%) OneDrive
5 6 (3.13%) SaaS
6 2 (1.04%) Microsoft Copilot
7 1 (0.52%) Google Workspace
7 1 (0.52%) IaaS
7 1 (0.52%) Mimecast
7 1 (0.52%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 26 (13.54%) VPN
2 14 (7.29%) DHCP
3 13 (6.77%) DNS
4 12 (6.25%) TCP/IP
4 12 (6.25%) Wireless
5 10 (5.21%) Wi-Fi
6 7 (3.65%) LAN
7 3 (1.56%) Firewall
7 3 (1.56%) Network Security
8 2 (1.04%) Remote Desktop
8 2 (1.04%) Value-Added Service
9 1 (0.52%) Cisco IOS
9 1 (0.52%) NAS
9 1 (0.52%) Skype
9 1 (0.52%) VLAN
9 1 (0.52%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.52%) Amazon RDS
1 1 (0.52%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 5 (2.60%) JIRA
General
1 78 (40.63%) Social Skills
2 36 (18.75%) Finance
3 19 (9.90%) Organisational Skills
4 14 (7.29%) Banking
5 11 (5.73%) Investment Banking
6 10 (5.21%) Financial Institution
6 10 (5.21%) Spanish Language
6 10 (5.21%) Telecoms
7 8 (4.17%) Analytical Skills
7 8 (4.17%) Legal
8 4 (2.08%) Front Office
8 4 (2.08%) Law
8 4 (2.08%) Manufacturing
8 4 (2.08%) Public Sector
9 2 (1.04%) Local Government
10 1 (0.52%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (0.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 1 (0.52%) Pharmaceutical
10 1 (0.52%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (3.65%) Software Packaging
2 1 (0.52%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 41 (21.35%) Onboarding
2 13 (6.77%) Driving Licence
3 12 (6.25%) Video Conferencing
4 11 (5.73%) Hedge funds
5 9 (4.69%) Smartphone
6 8 (4.17%) iPhone
7 7 (3.65%) Self-Motivation
8 4 (2.08%) Mobile App
9 3 (1.56%) iPad
9 3 (1.56%) Management Information System
10 2 (1.04%) Augmented Reality
10 2 (1.04%) BYOD
10 2 (1.04%) CMDB
10 2 (1.04%) Data Protection Act
10 2 (1.04%) Virtual Reality
11 1 (0.52%) Analytical Mindset
11 1 (0.52%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 140 (72.92%) Windows
2 44 (22.92%) Windows 10
3 22 (11.46%) Mac OS
4 18 (9.38%) Apple iOS
5 16 (8.33%) Android
6 5 (2.60%) Windows 7
6 5 (2.60%) Windows Server
7 3 (1.56%) Linux
7 3 (1.56%) Windows XP
8 1 (0.52%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 57 (29.69%) Customer Service
2 55 (28.65%) ITIL
3 39 (20.31%) ITSM
4 35 (18.23%) Problem-Solving
5 26 (13.54%) Service Management
6 25 (13.02%) Service Delivery
7 23 (11.98%) Asset Management
8 21 (10.94%) Migration
9 12 (6.25%) Break/Fix
9 12 (6.25%) Incident Management
10 11 (5.73%) Continuous Improvement
11 10 (5.21%) Logistics
11 10 (5.21%) Mobile Device Management
12 9 (4.69%) Problem Management
12 9 (4.69%) Root Cause Analysis
12 9 (4.69%) User Experience
13 8 (4.17%) Inventory Management
14 7 (3.65%) Change Management
14 7 (3.65%) Data Protection
15 6 (3.13%) Application Packaging
Programming Languages
1 17 (8.85%) PowerShell
2 3 (1.56%) Python
2 3 (1.56%) SQL
2 3 (1.56%) VBScript
3 1 (0.52%) Bash
Qualifications
1 44 (22.92%) Security Cleared
2 40 (20.83%) SC Cleared
3 25 (13.02%) Degree
4 13 (6.77%) A+ Certification
5 5 (2.60%) Computer Science Degree
6 4 (2.08%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (2.08%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 4 (2.08%) Microsoft Certification
7 3 (1.56%) DV Cleared
7 3 (1.56%) Microsoft Certified Professional
7 3 (1.56%) Network+ Certification
8 2 (1.04%) ITIL Certification
9 1 (0.52%) CTC Cleared
9 1 (0.52%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (13.02%) SLA
System Software
1 76 (39.58%) Active Directory
2 21 (10.94%) Virtual Desktop
3 8 (4.17%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (2.08%) Firmware
5 3 (1.56%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.52%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.52%) zsh
Systems Management
1 39 (20.31%) Microsoft Intune
2 26 (13.54%) SCCM
3 4 (2.08%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (0.52%) WSUS
Vendors
1 93 (48.44%) Microsoft
2 31 (16.15%) ServiceNow
3 16 (8.33%) Citrix
4 15 (7.81%) Apple
5 10 (5.21%) McAfee
6 8 (4.17%) VMware
7 7 (3.65%) Starlink
8 6 (3.13%) HP
9 4 (2.08%) Adobe
10 3 (1.56%) BeyondTrust
10 3 (1.56%) Bloomberg
10 3 (1.56%) Cisco
10 3 (1.56%) Dell
10 3 (1.56%) Google
10 3 (1.56%) Samsung
11 2 (1.04%) Autodesk
11 2 (1.04%) Meraki
11 2 (1.04%) Remedy
11 2 (1.04%) Symantec
11 2 (1.04%) Tanium