Desktop Support Contracts

Desktop Support
UK

The median Desktop Support daily rate in the UK is £205, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 5 July 2025.

The table below provides contractor rate benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

 6 months to
5 Jul 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 316 307 293
Rank change year-on-year -9 -14 +57
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 245 299 490
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.77% 0.69% 0.87%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.84% 0.74% 0.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 138 209 359
10th Percentile £150 £126 £140
25th Percentile £170 £144 £170
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £205 £200 £204
Median % change year-on-year +2.50% -1.96% +7.37%
75th Percentile £238 £225 £250
90th Percentile £278 £271 £303
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £200 £204
% change year-on-year - -1.96% +7.37%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 36 35
10th Percentile £13.75 £16.63 £15.21
25th Percentile £14.43 £18.13 £17.00
Median hourly rate £17.30 £21.00 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year -17.62% -16.00% +25.00%
75th Percentile £27.70 £27.44 £25.71
90th Percentile £33.75 £30.88 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.75 £23.75 £17.46
% change year-on-year - +36.03% -8.11%

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 29,261 40,308 53,403
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.00% 92.99% 94.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,659 25,937 37,084
10th Percentile £287 £285 £313
25th Percentile £400 £410 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +1.42%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £494 £500
% change year-on-year -3.85% -1.20% +4.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,318 2,814 1,558
10th Percentile £13.75 £12.86 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.44 £16.65 £19.00
Median hourly rate £26.39 £38.50 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year -31.47% -10.47% +70.13%
75th Percentile £55.25 £63.31 £65.00
90th Percentile £72.90 £74.00 £77.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £40.00 £39.55
% change year-on-year -37.13% +1.14% +96.47%

Desktop Support
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings that featured Desktop Support in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Desktop Support.

Daily rate trend for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 5 July 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Desktop Support.

Hourly rate trend for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 5 July 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Top 17 Contract 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 5 July 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 +13 211 £210 +5.00% 167
UK excluding London +44 178 £200 - 98
South West +63 56 £225 +18.42% 16
London -28 55 £222 +16.58% 73
North of England +20 41 £195 +6.85% 22
South East +22 34 £210 +2.44% 33
North West +9 19 £165 +17.86% 7
Midlands +15 17 £171 +3.64% 13
East of England +19 13 £200 +3.90% 6
Yorkshire +10 12 £235 +18.99% 12
Scotland -12 12 £200 - 3
West Midlands +11 11 £192 +21.59% 10
North East +3 10 £175 -7.89% 3
Work from Home +13 9 £250 +31.58% 23
Wales +8 6 £168 +24.07% 5
East Midlands +6 6 £171 -37.82% 3
Northern Ireland -11 5 £165 +17.86%

Desktop Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities

For the 6 months to 5 July 2025, Desktop Support contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Desktop Support in the job title.

1 148 (60.41%) Social Skills
2 140 (57.14%) Microsoft
3 126 (51.43%) Windows
4 96 (39.18%) Customer Service
5 88 (35.92%) Active Directory
6 82 (33.47%) Microsoft 365
7 79 (32.24%) Security Cleared
8 74 (30.20%) ITIL
9 73 (29.80%) SC Cleared
10 57 (23.27%) ServiceNow
11 54 (22.04%) Windows 10
12 52 (21.22%) Finance
13 51 (20.82%) Problem-Solving
14 43 (17.55%) ITSM
14 43 (17.55%) Microsoft Office
15 37 (15.10%) Microsoft Exchange
15 37 (15.10%) Degree
16 36 (14.69%) Driving Licence
17 34 (13.88%) Microsoft Intune
17 34 (13.88%) SCCM
18 33 (13.47%) Analytical Skills
19 32 (13.06%) Citrix
20 30 (12.24%) VPN
20 30 (12.24%) SLA
21 28 (11.43%) Service Management
22 26 (10.61%) Dell
23 25 (10.20%) Public Sector
24 24 (9.80%) HP
24 24 (9.80%) Time Management
25 22 (8.98%) Workflow

Desktop Support Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 37 (15.10%) Microsoft Exchange
2 12 (4.90%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.82%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 43 (17.55%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (5.71%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (2.45%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (2.45%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.41%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 4 (1.63%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.41%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 82 (33.47%) Microsoft 365
2 19 (7.76%) Azure
3 7 (2.86%) Entra ID
4 6 (2.45%) OneDrive
5 2 (0.82%) Google Workspace
6 1 (0.41%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 30 (12.24%) VPN
2 15 (6.12%) Remote Desktop
3 13 (5.31%) LAN
4 9 (3.67%) DHCP
5 8 (3.27%) DNS
5 8 (3.27%) Structured Cabling
5 8 (3.27%) WAN
6 7 (2.86%) Wi-Fi
7 6 (2.45%) TCP/IP
8 5 (2.04%) Firewall
9 4 (1.63%) VoIP
10 3 (1.22%) WebEx
10 3 (1.22%) Wireless
11 2 (0.82%) Internet
11 2 (0.82%) Skype
11 2 (0.82%) Telepresence
11 2 (0.82%) Unified Communications
11 2 (0.82%) VLAN
12 1 (0.41%) NetScaler
12 1 (0.41%) RFID
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.41%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 2 (0.82%) JIRA
General
1 148 (60.41%) Social Skills
2 52 (21.22%) Finance
3 33 (13.47%) Analytical Skills
4 25 (10.20%) Public Sector
5 20 (8.16%) Manufacturing
6 16 (6.53%) Telecoms
7 15 (6.12%) Electronics
7 15 (6.12%) Marketing
8 8 (3.27%) Documentation Skills
9 7 (2.86%) Banking
9 7 (2.86%) Legal
10 5 (2.04%) Presentation Skills
11 4 (1.63%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (1.22%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 3 (1.22%) Investment Banking
13 2 (0.82%) Front Office
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.41%) FIX Protocol
1 1 (0.41%) X-Windows
Miscellaneous
1 36 (14.69%) Driving Licence
2 14 (5.71%) iPhone
3 11 (4.49%) iPad
4 10 (4.08%) Smartphone
5 6 (2.45%) NHS
5 6 (2.45%) Self-Motivation
6 5 (2.04%) CMDB
6 5 (2.04%) Management Information System
6 5 (2.04%) Video Conferencing
7 2 (0.82%) Data Centre
7 2 (0.82%) Data Protection Act
7 2 (0.82%) Enterprise Software
8 1 (0.41%) Fat Client
8 1 (0.41%) Hedge funds
8 1 (0.41%) Life Science
8 1 (0.41%) Mobile App
8 1 (0.41%) Operational Technology
8 1 (0.41%) Product Ownership
8 1 (0.41%) Reinsurance
8 1 (0.41%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 126 (51.43%) Windows
2 54 (22.04%) Windows 10
3 15 (6.12%) Mac OS
4 10 (4.08%) Apple iOS
5 7 (2.86%) Windows 8
5 7 (2.86%) Windows Server
5 7 (2.86%) Windows XP
6 6 (2.45%) Linux
6 6 (2.45%) Windows Server 2016
7 5 (2.04%) Android
7 5 (2.04%) Windows Server 2003
7 5 (2.04%) Windows Server 2008
7 5 (2.04%) Windows Server 2012
8 3 (1.22%) Mac OS X
8 3 (1.22%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 96 (39.18%) Customer Service
2 74 (30.20%) ITIL
3 51 (20.82%) Problem-Solving
4 43 (17.55%) ITSM
5 28 (11.43%) Service Management
6 24 (9.80%) Time Management
7 22 (8.98%) Workflow
8 20 (8.16%) Asset Management
8 20 (8.16%) Service Delivery
9 17 (6.94%) Collaborative Working
9 17 (6.94%) Customer Experience
9 17 (6.94%) Migration
9 17 (6.94%) Root Cause Analysis
10 16 (6.53%) Business Intelligence
10 16 (6.53%) Inventory Management
10 16 (6.53%) Mathematics
11 15 (6.12%) Digital Marketing
11 15 (6.12%) Programme Management
12 14 (5.71%) Patch Management
12 14 (5.71%) Workflow Management
Programming Languages
1 15 (6.12%) PowerShell
2 3 (1.22%) SQL
3 1 (0.41%) Python
Qualifications
1 79 (32.24%) Security Cleared
2 73 (29.80%) SC Cleared
3 37 (15.10%) Degree
4 20 (8.16%) Microsoft Certification
5 16 (6.53%) Dell Certification
6 14 (5.71%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 11 (4.49%) ITIL Certification
8 4 (1.63%) A+ Certification
9 2 (0.82%) Computer Science Degree
9 2 (0.82%) DBS Check
9 2 (0.82%) DV Cleared
9 2 (0.82%) MCP
10 1 (0.41%) BPSS Clearance
10 1 (0.41%) CCNA
10 1 (0.41%) Cisco Certification
10 1 (0.41%) CISSP
10 1 (0.41%) CompTIA Security+
10 1 (0.41%) GIAC
10 1 (0.41%) MCSA
10 1 (0.41%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (12.24%) SLA
2 13 (5.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 10 (4.08%) QA
4 1 (0.41%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.41%) GxP
System Software
1 88 (35.92%) Active Directory
2 11 (4.49%) BitLocker
3 4 (1.63%) Virtual Desktop
4 3 (1.22%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.82%) vSphere
5 2 (0.82%) XenApp
6 1 (0.41%) Firmware
6 1 (0.41%) Xen
Systems Management
1 34 (13.88%) Microsoft Intune
1 34 (13.88%) SCCM
2 2 (0.82%) AppManager
2 2 (0.82%) McAfee ePO
2 2 (0.82%) Norton AntiVirus
3 1 (0.41%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 140 (57.14%) Microsoft
2 57 (23.27%) ServiceNow
3 32 (13.06%) Citrix
4 26 (10.61%) Dell
5 24 (9.80%) HP
6 15 (6.12%) SAP
7 12 (4.90%) Apple
8 8 (3.27%) Cisco
8 8 (3.27%) McAfee
9 7 (2.86%) Canon
10 5 (2.04%) VMware
10 5 (2.04%) Wyse
11 4 (1.63%) Remedy
12 3 (1.22%) Bloomberg
12 3 (1.22%) Google
12 3 (1.22%) Sage
12 3 (1.22%) Spiceworks
13 2 (0.82%) Aerohive Networks
13 2 (0.82%) AVG
13 2 (0.82%) GFI Software
176 Desktop Support jobs Nationwide