Desktop Support Contract Job Trends

Desktop Support
UK

The median Desktop Support daily rate in the UK is £210, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 21 June 2026.

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

6 months to
21 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 482 307 313
Rank change year-on-year -175 +6 -10
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 168 242 301
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.33% 0.81% 0.69%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.36% 0.88% 0.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 132 135 205
10th Percentile £145 £153 £126
25th Percentile £163 £175 £143
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £210 £205 £200
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% +2.50% -0.99%
75th Percentile £238 £241 £220
90th Percentile £279 £278 £270
UK excluding London median daily rate £210 £203 £200
% change year-on-year +3.70% +1.25% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 37 35
10th Percentile £19.00 £13.75 £16.55
25th Percentile £20.06 £15.12 £18.13
Median hourly rate £22.00 £17.30 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year +27.17% -17.62% -9.68%
75th Percentile £24.25 £30.25 £27.88
90th Percentile £25.61 £33.75 £31.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.00 £23.75 £23.75
% change year-on-year -7.37% - +35.71%

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 46,817 27,571 40,801
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.38% 92.17% 92.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 28,459 17,717 26,128
10th Percentile £325 £289 £281
25th Percentile £414 £402 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.00% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £492
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.36% -1.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,118 1,192 3,003
10th Percentile £15.33 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £21.00 £17.58 £16.45
Median hourly rate £43.69 £27.45 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +59.16% -26.80% -16.67%
75th Percentile £67.50 £57.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -37.13% -1.45%

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 21 June 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
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 21 June 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 -161 148 £209 -0.60% 14
UK excluding London -143 120 £210 +3.70% 22
London -77 45 £216 -2.37% 4
South East -72 25 £170 -17.07% 4
Midlands -51 23 £200 +13.68% 1
North of England -89 22 £230 +17.95% 5
South West -67 20 £210 -6.67% 3
Work from Home -45 15 £190 -24.00% 3
East of England -23 14 £195 -8.24% 1
Scotland -7 13 £213 +6.25% 3
East Midlands -10 13 £200 +16.67%
North West -48 11 £233 +40.91% 1
Yorkshire -56 11 £230 -2.13% 3
West Midlands -57 10 £210 -10.64% 1
Northern Ireland -3 3 £175 +6.06% 4
Wales -18 1 - - 1

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

For the 6 months to 21 June 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.

1 119 (70.83%) Windows
2 74 (44.05%) Microsoft
3 65 (38.69%) Active Directory
4 63 (37.50%) Microsoft 365
5 42 (25.00%) Customer Service
6 41 (24.40%) Windows 10
7 34 (20.24%) Problem-Solving
8 33 (19.64%) Microsoft Intune
9 32 (19.05%) Azure
10 27 (16.07%) ITIL
10 27 (16.07%) Security Cleared
11 24 (14.29%) SC Cleared
12 23 (13.69%) SharePoint
13 22 (13.10%) Asset Management
14 18 (10.71%) Apple
14 18 (10.71%) SCCM
14 18 (10.71%) VPN
15 17 (10.12%) Entra ID
15 17 (10.12%) Migration
15 17 (10.12%) SLA
16 16 (9.52%) Apple iOS
16 16 (9.52%) Mac OS
16 16 (9.52%) ServiceNow
17 15 (8.93%) Android
18 14 (8.33%) ITSM
19 13 (7.74%) Degree
19 13 (7.74%) Service Delivery
19 13 (7.74%) Service Management
20 12 (7.14%) Continuous Improvement
20 12 (7.14%) Microsoft Exchange

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 (13.69%) SharePoint
2 12 (7.14%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.60%) Confluence
Applications
1 11 (6.55%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.60%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.60%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 3 (1.79%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 63 (37.50%) Microsoft 365
2 32 (19.05%) Azure
3 17 (10.12%) Entra ID
4 4 (2.38%) Google Ads
4 4 (2.38%) Google Workspace
4 4 (2.38%) OneDrive
5 3 (1.79%) Slack
6 2 (1.19%) Microsoft Copilot
7 1 (0.60%) Google Drive
7 1 (0.60%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 18 (10.71%) VPN
2 9 (5.36%) DHCP
2 9 (5.36%) Wireless
3 8 (4.76%) DNS
4 7 (4.17%) TCP/IP
4 7 (4.17%) Wi-Fi
5 3 (1.79%) LAN
6 2 (1.19%) Firewall
6 2 (1.19%) Remote Desktop
7 1 (0.60%) Cisco IOS
7 1 (0.60%) IPv4
7 1 (0.60%) Skype
7 1 (0.60%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.60%) Amazon RDS
1 1 (0.60%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 6 (3.57%) JIRA
General
1 61 (36.31%) Social Skills
2 20 (11.90%) Finance
3 10 (5.95%) Analytical Skills
3 10 (5.95%) Banking
3 10 (5.95%) Organisational Skills
4 7 (4.17%) Investment Banking
5 6 (3.57%) Financial Institution
5 6 (3.57%) Spanish Language
6 4 (2.38%) Law
7 3 (1.79%) Public Sector
7 3 (1.79%) Telecoms
8 2 (1.19%) Legal
8 2 (1.19%) Local Government
8 2 (1.19%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.60%) Aerospace
9 1 (0.60%) Documentation Skills
9 1 (0.60%) Front Office
9 1 (0.60%) Pharmaceutical
9 1 (0.60%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (2.98%) Software Packaging
2 1 (0.60%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 22 (13.10%) Onboarding
2 14 (8.33%) Smartphone
3 10 (5.95%) Self-Motivation
4 8 (4.76%) iPhone
5 7 (4.17%) Driving Licence
5 7 (4.17%) Hedge funds
5 7 (4.17%) Video Conferencing
6 5 (2.98%) Hybrid Cloud
7 3 (1.79%) Augmented Reality
7 3 (1.79%) Data Protection Act
7 3 (1.79%) Enterprise Software
7 3 (1.79%) iPad
7 3 (1.79%) Virtual Reality
8 2 (1.19%) BYOD
8 2 (1.19%) Virtual Team
9 1 (0.60%) Analytical Mindset
9 1 (0.60%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 119 (70.83%) Windows
2 41 (24.40%) Windows 10
3 16 (9.52%) Apple iOS
3 16 (9.52%) Mac OS
4 15 (8.93%) Android
5 9 (5.36%) Windows 7
6 5 (2.98%) Windows Server
7 4 (2.38%) Windows XP
8 3 (1.79%) Windows 8
9 2 (1.19%) Linux
10 1 (0.60%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 42 (25.00%) Customer Service
2 34 (20.24%) Problem-Solving
3 27 (16.07%) ITIL
4 22 (13.10%) Asset Management
5 17 (10.12%) Migration
6 14 (8.33%) ITSM
7 13 (7.74%) Service Delivery
7 13 (7.74%) Service Management
8 12 (7.14%) Continuous Improvement
9 10 (5.95%) Inventory Management
9 10 (5.95%) Mobile Device Management
9 10 (5.95%) Root Cause Analysis
10 9 (5.36%) Incident Management
10 9 (5.36%) Logistics
11 8 (4.76%) Project Delivery
11 8 (4.76%) User Experience
12 7 (4.17%) Business Continuity
12 7 (4.17%) Problem Management
13 6 (3.57%) Application Packaging
13 6 (3.57%) Patch Management
Programming Languages
1 11 (6.55%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.60%) Bash
2 1 (0.60%) Python
Qualifications
1 27 (16.07%) Security Cleared
2 24 (14.29%) SC Cleared
3 13 (7.74%) Degree
4 6 (3.57%) A+ Certification
5 3 (1.79%) ITIL Certification
5 3 (1.79%) Microsoft Certified Professional
6 2 (1.19%) Computer Science Degree
6 2 (1.19%) DV Cleared
6 2 (1.19%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 1 (0.60%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (10.12%) SLA
System Software
1 65 (38.69%) Active Directory
2 6 (3.57%) Virtual Desktop
3 3 (1.79%) Firmware
4 2 (1.19%) BitLocker
4 2 (1.19%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.60%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.60%) zsh
Systems Management
1 33 (19.64%) Microsoft Intune
2 18 (10.71%) SCCM
3 6 (3.57%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (0.60%) WSUS
Vendors
1 74 (44.05%) Microsoft
2 18 (10.71%) Apple
3 16 (9.52%) ServiceNow
4 10 (5.95%) HP
5 8 (4.76%) Starlink
6 7 (4.17%) McAfee
7 6 (3.57%) Citrix
7 6 (3.57%) Google
8 4 (2.38%) Remedy
9 3 (1.79%) Bloomberg
9 3 (1.79%) Dell
10 2 (1.19%) VMware
11 1 (0.60%) Adobe
11 1 (0.60%) BMC
11 1 (0.60%) Cisco
11 1 (0.60%) Meraki
11 1 (0.60%) MobileIron
11 1 (0.60%) Nexthink
11 1 (0.60%) Salesforce
11 1 (0.60%) Samsung