Desktop Support Contract Job Trends

Desktop Support
UK

The median Desktop Support daily rate in the UK is £200, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 11 May 2026.

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

6 months to
11 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 444 308 295
Rank change year-on-year -136 -13 +9
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 182 225 316
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.38% 0.77% 0.73%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.41% 0.83% 0.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 142 128 235
10th Percentile £140 £150 £124
25th Percentile £156 £180 £143
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £203 £200
Median % change year-on-year -1.48% +1.25% -1.64%
75th Percentile £230 £248 £220
90th Percentile £264 £300 £275
UK excluding London median daily rate £195 £200 £200
% change year-on-year -2.50% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 29 32
10th Percentile £16.48 £13.75 £16.33
25th Percentile £19.33 £16.67 £18.13
Median hourly rate £19.91 £17.30 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year +15.09% -17.62% -10.64%
75th Percentile £21.46 £23.75 £27.44
90th Percentile £25.26 £26.87 £30.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.91 £22.50 £20.00
% change year-on-year -11.51% +12.50% +6.67%

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 43,945 27,196 39,894
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.28% 92.49% 92.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,960 17,736 25,958
10th Percentile £319 £300 £280
25th Percentile £413 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.46% -2.38% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £493 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +3.68% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,864 1,058 2,674
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.37 £18.50 £16.30
Median hourly rate £44.25 £28.51 £37.34
Median % change year-on-year +55.24% -23.66% -17.02%
75th Percentile £67.25 £62.50 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £72.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.59 £27.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year +65.76% -31.25% -5.88%

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 11 May 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 11 May 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 11 May 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 -132 166 £200 -2.68% 19
UK excluding London -108 142 £195 -2.50% 10
London -64 36 £223 +5.58% 11
Midlands -47 31 £200 -3.27% 3
East of England -22 25 £195 -10.34%
South East -62 25 £172 -14.25% 3
North of England -80 25 £225 +15.38% 4
East Midlands -13 24 £200 +1.66%
South West -51 22 £210 -7.69%
Work from Home -26 16 £163 -49.22% 1
North West -41 14 £188 +11.94% 4
Yorkshire -55 11 £230 -2.13%
Scotland -3 9 £213 +6.25%
West Midlands -62 7 £140 -41.67% 3
Wales -12 4 £160 -
Northern Ireland -5 1 £175 +16.67%

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

For the 6 months to 11 May 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.

1 118 (64.84%) Windows
2 89 (48.90%) Microsoft
3 68 (37.36%) Microsoft 365
4 67 (36.81%) Active Directory
5 58 (31.87%) Customer Service
6 50 (27.47%) Windows 10
7 36 (19.78%) Microsoft Intune
7 36 (19.78%) Problem-Solving
8 35 (19.23%) Azure
9 30 (16.48%) SC Cleared
9 30 (16.48%) Security Cleared
10 26 (14.29%) ITIL
10 26 (14.29%) SCCM
11 25 (13.74%) Migration
12 23 (12.64%) SharePoint
13 20 (10.99%) Service Delivery
14 19 (10.44%) Continuous Improvement
15 18 (9.89%) Mac OS
16 17 (9.34%) Apple iOS
16 17 (9.34%) Asset Management
16 17 (9.34%) SLA
17 16 (8.79%) Entra ID
18 15 (8.24%) VPN
19 14 (7.69%) ServiceNow
20 13 (7.14%) Android
20 13 (7.14%) ITSM
20 13 (7.14%) Logistics
20 13 (7.14%) Microsoft Office
21 12 (6.59%) PowerShell
22 11 (6.04%) Degree

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 (12.64%) SharePoint
2 11 (6.04%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 13 (7.14%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (4.40%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.55%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 2 (1.10%) assyst
2 1 (0.55%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 68 (37.36%) Microsoft 365
2 35 (19.23%) Azure
3 16 (8.79%) Entra ID
4 4 (2.20%) Google Ads
4 4 (2.20%) Google Workspace
4 4 (2.20%) OneDrive
4 4 (2.20%) Slack
5 2 (1.10%) Microsoft Copilot
6 1 (0.55%) Google Drive
6 1 (0.55%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 15 (8.24%) VPN
2 9 (4.95%) DNS
3 8 (4.40%) DHCP
3 8 (4.40%) TCP/IP
4 7 (3.85%) Wireless
5 5 (2.75%) Wi-Fi
6 4 (2.20%) Cisco IOS
6 4 (2.20%) Skype
7 3 (1.65%) Softphone
8 2 (1.10%) Firewall
8 2 (1.10%) LAN
9 1 (0.55%) IPv4
9 1 (0.55%) Remote Desktop
9 1 (0.55%) Telepresence
9 1 (0.55%) Unified Communications
9 1 (0.55%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.55%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 4 (2.20%) JIRA
General
1 68 (37.36%) Social Skills
2 16 (8.79%) Analytical Skills
3 13 (7.14%) Finance
4 8 (4.40%) Law
5 7 (3.85%) Public Sector
5 7 (3.85%) Telecoms
6 5 (2.75%) Manufacturing
6 5 (2.75%) Retail
7 4 (2.20%) Organisational Skills
8 3 (1.65%) Electronics
8 3 (1.65%) Marketing
9 2 (1.10%) Legal
9 2 (1.10%) Local Government
9 2 (1.10%) Pharmaceutical
10 1 (0.55%) Aerospace
10 1 (0.55%) Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.55%) Software Packaging
1 1 (0.55%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 20 (10.99%) Smartphone
2 14 (7.69%) Onboarding
2 14 (7.69%) Self-Motivation
3 8 (4.40%) Hybrid Cloud
4 7 (3.85%) iPhone
5 5 (2.75%) Driving Licence
5 5 (2.75%) Enterprise Software
6 4 (2.20%) Management Information System
7 3 (1.65%) Data Protection Act
7 3 (1.65%) iPad
7 3 (1.65%) Mobile App
8 2 (1.10%) Hedge funds
8 2 (1.10%) Video Conferencing
8 2 (1.10%) Virtual Team
9 1 (0.55%) Analytical Mindset
9 1 (0.55%) Augmented Reality
9 1 (0.55%) Data Centre
9 1 (0.55%) Virtual Reality
Operating Systems
1 118 (64.84%) Windows
2 50 (27.47%) Windows 10
3 18 (9.89%) Mac OS
4 17 (9.34%) Apple iOS
5 13 (7.14%) Android
6 7 (3.85%) Windows 7
7 6 (3.30%) Windows Server
8 4 (2.20%) Windows 8
9 1 (0.55%) Linux
9 1 (0.55%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 58 (31.87%) Customer Service
2 36 (19.78%) Problem-Solving
3 26 (14.29%) ITIL
4 25 (13.74%) Migration
5 20 (10.99%) Service Delivery
6 19 (10.44%) Continuous Improvement
7 17 (9.34%) Asset Management
8 13 (7.14%) ITSM
8 13 (7.14%) Logistics
9 11 (6.04%) Time Management
10 10 (5.49%) Disaster Recovery
11 9 (4.95%) BCP
11 9 (4.95%) Incident Management
11 9 (4.95%) Inventory Management
11 9 (4.95%) Project Delivery
11 9 (4.95%) Service Management
11 9 (4.95%) User Experience
12 8 (4.40%) Data Migration
12 8 (4.40%) Root Cause Analysis
13 7 (3.85%) Business Continuity Planning
Programming Languages
1 12 (6.59%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.55%) Python
Qualifications
1 30 (16.48%) SC Cleared
1 30 (16.48%) Security Cleared
2 11 (6.04%) Degree
3 8 (4.40%) A+ Certification
4 6 (3.30%) ITIL Certification
5 3 (1.65%) Computer Science Degree
6 1 (0.55%) DV Cleared
6 1 (0.55%) Microsoft Certification
6 1 (0.55%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (9.34%) SLA
System Software
1 67 (36.81%) Active Directory
2 3 (1.65%) Firmware
3 2 (1.10%) Virtual Desktop
3 2 (1.10%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.55%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 36 (19.78%) Microsoft Intune
2 26 (14.29%) SCCM
3 2 (1.10%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (0.55%) WSUS
Vendors
1 89 (48.90%) Microsoft
2 14 (7.69%) ServiceNow
3 10 (5.49%) Apple
3 10 (5.49%) HP
4 8 (4.40%) Starlink
5 7 (3.85%) McAfee
6 6 (3.30%) Cisco
6 6 (3.30%) Dell
7 5 (2.75%) Google
8 3 (1.65%) Bloomberg
8 3 (1.65%) Citrix
8 3 (1.65%) SAP
9 2 (1.10%) Remedy
9 2 (1.10%) Salesforce
9 2 (1.10%) VMware
10 1 (0.55%) Altiris
10 1 (0.55%) Barracuda Networks
10 1 (0.55%) CrowdStrike
10 1 (0.55%) Nexthink
10 1 (0.55%) Veeam