Desktop Support Contract Job Trends

Desktop Support
UK

The median Desktop Support daily rate in the UK is £175, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 1 December 2025.

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

 6 months to
1 Dec 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 338 346 291
Rank change year-on-year +8 -55 +23
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 261 221 366
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.73% 0.61% 0.80%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.80% 0.66% 0.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 170 142 265
10th Percentile £149 £140 £131
25th Percentile £155 £174 £144
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £175 £215 £200
Median % change year-on-year -18.60% +7.50% -
75th Percentile £241 £240 £233
90th Percentile £278 £269 £302
UK excluding London median daily rate £175 £210 £200
% change year-on-year -16.67% +5.00% +3.90%
Number of hourly rates quoted 47 20 17
10th Percentile £15.10 £22.50 £16.97
25th Percentile £18.01 £23.76 £18.00
Median hourly rate £21.46 £24.18 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year -11.25% +24.00% +8.33%
75th Percentile £25.15 £30.17 £20.00
90th Percentile £31.40 £32.95 £22.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.46 £24.18 £19.50
% change year-on-year -11.25% +24.00% +9.86%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 32,486 33,393 42,696
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.92% 92.81% 93.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,605 20,273 28,801
10th Percentile £281 £300 £293
25th Percentile £402 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £647
90th Percentile £723 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £497 £500
% change year-on-year -4.43% -0.60% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,896 1,201 1,522
10th Percentile £14.15 £15.25 £15.16
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.75 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £43.90
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -20.27% +43.93%
75th Percentile £57.50 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.50 £73.75 £77.49
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -22.62% -26.97% +78.00%

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 1 December 2025.

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 1 December 2025.

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 1 December 2025. 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 +12 235 £195 -10.96% 45
UK excluding London -17 177 £175 -16.67% 43
London +21 76 £200 -7.62% 8
North of England -25 45 £175 -20.45% 15
South West +14 38 £250 +12.36% 8
South East -11 33 £178 -16.18% 8
Midlands -20 26 £170 -11.57% 9
North West -12 23 £190 -8.98% 12
East of England -9 22 £220 +4.76% 2
East Midlands -3 13 £158 -42.73% 4
West Midlands -18 13 £175 +0.29% 5
North East +1 12 £175 -
Wales +5 11 £160 -27.27%
Yorkshire -37 10 £165 -26.67% 3
Scotland -8 5 £130 -7.14% 1
Work from Home -13 4 £235 -4.08% 9
Northern Ireland -9 3 £200 +29.03%

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

For the 6 months to 1 December 2025, 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.

1 146 (55.94%) Windows
2 112 (42.91%) Microsoft 365
3 107 (41.00%) Microsoft
4 97 (37.16%) Security Cleared
5 95 (36.40%) Customer Service
5 95 (36.40%) SC Cleared
6 87 (33.33%) Active Directory
7 75 (28.74%) Windows 10
8 65 (24.90%) ITIL
8 65 (24.90%) Microsoft Office
9 42 (16.09%) Mac OS
9 42 (16.09%) SAP
10 41 (15.71%) Business Intelligence
10 41 (15.71%) Digital Marketing
10 41 (15.71%) Programme Management
11 40 (15.33%) Microsoft Exchange
12 39 (14.94%) Android
13 37 (14.18%) Cisco
13 37 (14.18%) Problem-Solving
14 36 (13.79%) Service Management
15 32 (12.26%) Azure
15 32 (12.26%) SLA
15 32 (12.26%) Workflow
16 31 (11.88%) Microsoft Intune
16 31 (11.88%) ServiceNow
17 30 (11.49%) Dell
17 30 (11.49%) HP
17 30 (11.49%) Wireless
18 29 (11.11%) Apple
18 29 (11.11%) ITSM

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 40 (15.33%) Microsoft Exchange
2 22 (8.43%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.38%) Exchange Server 2010
3 1 (0.38%) HCL Notes
Applications
1 65 (24.90%) Microsoft Office
2 23 (8.81%) Microsoft Excel
3 11 (4.21%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.77%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.38%) assyst
2 1 (0.38%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.38%) Eikon
2 1 (0.38%) Eze OMS
2 1 (0.38%) Fidessa
Cloud Services
1 112 (42.91%) Microsoft 365
2 32 (12.26%) Azure
3 16 (6.13%) OneDrive
4 6 (2.30%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 30 (11.49%) Wireless
2 19 (7.28%) VPN
3 13 (4.98%) PABX
4 12 (4.60%) DNS
5 11 (4.21%) DHCP
6 9 (3.45%) Skype
7 8 (3.07%) Cisco IOS
8 7 (2.68%) TCP/IP
9 6 (2.30%) LAN
10 5 (1.92%) Structured Cabling
10 5 (1.92%) WAN
11 4 (1.53%) Remote Desktop
12 3 (1.15%) Firewall
12 3 (1.15%) VLAN
13 2 (0.77%) IP Telephony
13 2 (0.77%) Softphone
13 2 (0.77%) WLAN
14 1 (0.38%) Internet
14 1 (0.38%) Intranet
14 1 (0.38%) Wi-Fi
Development Applications
1 1 (0.38%) JIRA
General
1 132 (50.57%) Social Skills
2 85 (32.57%) Finance
3 49 (18.77%) Public Sector
4 43 (16.48%) Telecoms
5 42 (16.09%) Manufacturing
6 41 (15.71%) Electronics
6 41 (15.71%) Marketing
7 33 (12.64%) Analytical Skills
8 15 (5.75%) Banking
9 9 (3.45%) Front Office
10 8 (3.07%) Retail
11 6 (2.30%) Aerospace
11 6 (2.30%) Documentation Skills
12 5 (1.92%) Organisational Skills
13 4 (1.53%) Investment Banking
14 2 (0.77%) Legal
15 1 (0.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 1 (0.38%) Law
15 1 (0.38%) Pharmaceutical
15 1 (0.38%) Retail Banking
Miscellaneous
1 28 (10.73%) Self-Motivation
2 25 (9.58%) Data Centre
3 16 (6.13%) Smartphone
4 14 (5.36%) iPad
4 14 (5.36%) iPhone
5 11 (4.21%) Driving Licence
5 11 (4.21%) Mobile App
6 10 (3.83%) Onboarding
7 8 (3.07%) Video Conferencing
8 7 (2.68%) Management Information System
9 5 (1.92%) Hedge funds
10 3 (1.15%) Virtual Team
11 2 (0.77%) CMDB
11 2 (0.77%) Tandem
12 1 (0.38%) Blackberry
12 1 (0.38%) BYOD
12 1 (0.38%) Data Protection Act
12 1 (0.38%) Fat Client
12 1 (0.38%) Legacy Systems
12 1 (0.38%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 146 (55.94%) Windows
2 75 (28.74%) Windows 10
3 42 (16.09%) Mac OS
4 39 (14.94%) Android
5 14 (5.36%) Apple iOS
6 12 (4.60%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.77%) Windows 7
7 2 (0.77%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.38%) Linux
8 1 (0.38%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 95 (36.40%) Customer Service
2 65 (24.90%) ITIL
3 41 (15.71%) Business Intelligence
3 41 (15.71%) Digital Marketing
3 41 (15.71%) Programme Management
4 37 (14.18%) Problem-Solving
5 36 (13.79%) Service Management
6 32 (12.26%) Workflow
7 29 (11.11%) ITSM
7 29 (11.11%) Service Delivery
8 28 (10.73%) Time Management
9 26 (9.96%) Migration
10 23 (8.81%) Inventory Management
11 22 (8.43%) Workflow Management
12 21 (8.05%) Patch Management
13 15 (5.75%) Mobile Device Management
14 14 (5.36%) Incident Management
15 13 (4.98%) Logistics
16 12 (4.60%) Antivirus Management
17 11 (4.21%) Ticket Management
Programming Languages
1 16 (6.13%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 97 (37.16%) Security Cleared
2 95 (36.40%) SC Cleared
3 25 (9.58%) Degree
4 18 (6.90%) ITIL Certification
5 13 (4.98%) Microsoft Certification
6 4 (1.53%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (1.53%) DBS Check
6 4 (1.53%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 3 (1.15%) A+ Certification
8 2 (0.77%) MCSE
9 1 (0.38%) Computer Science Degree
9 1 (0.38%) Dell Certification
9 1 (0.38%) MCP
9 1 (0.38%) MCSA
9 1 (0.38%) MOS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (12.26%) SLA
2 10 (3.83%) QA
3 7 (2.68%) GDPR
4 1 (0.38%) COBIT
System Software
1 87 (33.33%) Active Directory
2 15 (5.75%) Virtual Desktop
3 5 (1.92%) BitLocker
4 4 (1.53%) Firmware
5 1 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.38%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.38%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.38%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 31 (11.88%) Microsoft Intune
2 28 (10.73%) SCCM
Vendors
1 107 (41.00%) Microsoft
2 42 (16.09%) SAP
3 37 (14.18%) Cisco
4 31 (11.88%) ServiceNow
5 30 (11.49%) Dell
5 30 (11.49%) HP
6 29 (11.11%) Apple
7 9 (3.45%) McAfee
8 8 (3.07%) Bloomberg
9 7 (2.68%) Starlink
10 5 (1.92%) Remedy
11 4 (1.53%) Citrix
12 3 (1.15%) VMware
13 2 (0.77%) Reuters
13 2 (0.77%) Wyse
14 1 (0.38%) Altiris
14 1 (0.38%) Avaya
14 1 (0.38%) Lotus
14 1 (0.38%) Oracle
14 1 (0.38%) Polycom
46 Desktop Support jobs Nationwide