Desktop Support Contracts

The median contractor rate for a Desktop Support was £175 per day in advertised job vacancies during the 3 months to 24 June 2017.

The first table below provides contractor rate benchmarking and summary statistics including a comparison to same period in the previous 2 years.

Note that daily and hourly rates are treated separately in these statistics. When calculating contractor rate percentiles, daily rates are never derived from quoted hourly rates or vice versa.

Desktop Support UK
Location	3 months to 24 Jun 2017	Same period 2016	Same period 2015
Rank	228	220	161
Rank change year-on-year	-8	-59
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support	480	618	830
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK	1.04%	1.15%	1.48%
As % of the Job Titles category	1.10%	1.21%	1.56%
Number of daily rates quoted	258	318	358
Median daily rate	£175	£180	£175
Median daily rate % change year-on-year	-2.77%	+2.85%
90% offered a daily rate of more than	£113	£110	£113
10% offered a daily rate of more than	£425	£387	£350
UK excluding London median daily rate	£160	£175	£175
% change year-on-year	-8.30%	-0.28%
Number of hourly rates quoted	111	118	274
Median hourly rate	£14.50	£15.00	£15.50
Median hourly rate % change year-on-year	-3.33%	-3.22%
90% offered a hourly rate of more than	£11.00	£11.85	£11.70
10% offered a hourly rate of more than	£19.50	£21.65	£20.19
UK excluding London median hourly rate	£14.00	£15.00	£15.00
% change year-on-year	-6.66%	-

The next table is for comparison with the above and includes summary statistics for all job roles in contract job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title. As such, the figures in the first row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract IT Job Roles UK
Contract job vacancies with a job title containing a recognized job role	43829	51011	53185
As % of all contract IT job vacancies advertised in the UK	94.75%	94.87%	94.80%
Number of daily rates quoted	28353	33254	33375
Median daily rate	£438	£425	£400
Median daily rate % change year-on-year	+2.94%	+6.25%
90% offered a daily rate of more than	£275	£260	£245
10% offered a daily rate of more than	£600	£600	£570
UK excluding London median daily rate	£400	£400	£370
% change year-on-year	-	+8.10%
Number of hourly rates quoted	1353	1511	2053
Median hourly rate	£18.00	£17.50	£16.50
Median hourly rate % change year-on-year	+2.85%	+6.06%
90% offered a hourly rate of more than	£11.50	£11.00	£11.00
10% offered a hourly rate of more than	£47.50	£44.00	£40.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate	£17.50	£17.48	£16.00
% change year-on-year	+0.14%	+9.21%

Desktop Support
Job Vacancy Trend

The job posting trend of jobs advertised that featured Desktop Support in the job title.

Job vacancy trend for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

This chart provides the 3-month moving average for daily rates quoted in contract jobs citing Desktop Support.

Contractor daily rate trend for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Contractor Daily Rate Histogram

The daily rate distribution of IT jobs citing Desktop Support over the 3 months to 24 June 2017.

Contractor daily rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

This chart provides the 3-month moving average for contractor hourly rates quoted in IT jobs citing Desktop Support.

Contractor hourly rate trend for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Contractor Hourly Rate Histogram

The hourly rate distribution of IT jobs citing Desktop Support over the 3 months to 24 June 2017.

Contractor hourly rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Top 30 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 3 months to 24 June 2017. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 3 month period last year.

Location	Rank Change on Same Period Last Year	Matching Contract IT Job Ads	Median Daily Rate Last 3 Months	Median Daily Rate % Change on Same Period Last Year	Live Job Vacancies
England	-13	433	£175	-2.77%	77
London	-25	162	£200	+11.11%	33
South East	+11	78	£150	-1.63%	12
East of England	-3	51	£165	+26.92%	12
South West	+3	41	£200	+1.91%	4
North West	+11	31	£231	-8.41%	5
City of London	+2	30	£313	+38.88%	8
Scotland	+57	28	£151	-5.93%
Hampshire	+25	27	£188	+55.60%	2
Manchester	+15	22	£375	+108.33%	3
Yorkshire	+20	20	£125	-	5
West Midlands	+7	20	£150	+15.38%	3
Cambridgeshire	+7	20	£200	+73.91%	5
Berkshire	+18	16	£138	-8.33%	1
East Midlands	-7	16	£128	-43.33%	3
Oxfordshire	-3	15	£150	+11.11%	4
West Yorkshire	+25	14	£220	+76.00%	5
Hertfordshire	-5	14	£259	+17.61%	3
North East	+26	12	£172	-34.16%
Cambridge	+9	12	£200	+66.66%	3
Gloucestershire	+8	11	£140	-8.94%
Wiltshire	+8	11	£300	-47.82%
Oxford	0	10	£153	+12.96%	3
Somerset	-1	10	£175	-6.66%
Leeds	+20	9	£225	+80.00%	3
Southampton	+12	9	£145	-
Aberdeen	+3	9	£151	+20.40%
Wales	-17	9	£155	+12.72%	1
Reading	+12	8	£150	+20.00%
Glasgow	+4	8	£200	+33.33%

Desktop Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring IT Skills

For the 6 months to 24 June 2017, Desktop Support contract jobs required the following IT skills in order of popularity. The figures indicate the number co-occurrences and its proportion to all contract ads featuring Desktop Support in the job title.

1	610 (67.03%)	Windows
2	348 (38.24%)	Windows 7
3	345 (37.91%)	Active Directory
4	339 (37.25%)	Microsoft
5	241 (26.48%)	Microsoft Office
6	169 (18.57%)	SCCM
7	150 (16.48%)	Windows 10
8	148 (16.26%)	ITIL
9	134 (14.73%)	Office 365
10	130 (14.29%)	Citrix
11	117 (12.86%)	Finance
12	114 (12.53%)	Migration
13	108 (11.87%)	Security Cleared
14	80 (8.79%)	SC Cleared
14	80 (8.79%)	Blackberry

14	80 (8.79%)	Windows XP
15	74 (8.13%)	Windows Server
16	73 (8.02%)	LAN
16	73 (8.02%)	Microsoft Certification
17	72 (7.91%)	VMware
18	69 (7.58%)	Apple
19	68 (7.47%)	Windows 8
20	59 (6.48%)	Time Management
21	58 (6.37%)	MS Exchange
22	57 (6.26%)	TCP/IP
23	56 (6.15%)	DNS
23	56 (6.15%)	HP
24	55 (6.04%)	Banking
25	53 (5.82%)	Analytical Skills
26	50 (5.49%)	DHCP

Desktop Support Skill Set
Co-occurring IT Skills by Category

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

Application Platforms
Applications
Business Applications
Cloud Services
Communications & Networking
Database & Business Intelligence
Development Applications
General
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
Miscellaneous
Operating Systems
Processes & Methodologies
Programming Languages
Qualifications
Quality Assurance & Compliance
System Software
Systems Management
Vendors

Application Platforms
1	58 (6.37%)	MS Exchange
2	23 (2.53%)	Blackberry Enterprise Server
2	23 (2.53%)	IBM Notes
3	22 (2.42%)	Skype for Business
4	19 (2.09%)	SharePoint
5	14 (1.54%)	Exchange Server 2010
6	10 (1.10%)	Exchange Server 2007
7	6 (0.66%)	Exchange Server 2003
7	6 (0.66%)	IIS
8	5 (0.55%)	Exchange Server 2013
9	3 (0.33%)	Apache
9	3 (0.33%)	CMS
10	2 (0.22%)	GroupWise
10	2 (0.22%)	SharePoint 2010
11	1 (0.11%)	Apache Spark
11	1 (0.11%)	SharePoint Server

Applications
1	241 (26.48%)	Microsoft Office
2	10 (1.10%)	Microsoft Excel
3	6 (0.66%)	Microsoft PowerPoint
4	2 (0.22%)	Adobe Creative Suite
4	2 (0.22%)	AutoCAD
5	1 (0.11%)	MS Visio
5	1 (0.11%)	OmniGraffle
5	1 (0.11%)	Shockwave

Business Applications
1	16 (1.76%)	Remedy ITSM
2	10 (1.10%)	Eikon
3	3 (0.33%)	Dynamics CRM
4	2 (0.22%)	Dynamics GP
4	2 (0.22%)	SAP Oil and Gas
5	1 (0.11%)	ION MarketView
5	1 (0.11%)	thinkFolio

Cloud Services
1	134 (14.73%)	Office 365
2	14 (1.54%)	OneDrive
3	5 (0.55%)	G Suite
4	4 (0.44%)	Microsoft Azure
5	3 (0.33%)	Amazon AWS
6	2 (0.22%)	Mimecast
7	1 (0.11%)	Dynamics 365
7	1 (0.11%)	Yammer

Communications & Networking
1	73 (8.02%)	LAN
2	57 (6.26%)	TCP/IP
3	56 (6.15%)	DNS
4	50 (5.49%)	DHCP
5	46 (5.05%)	VPN
6	33 (3.63%)	WAN
7	26 (2.86%)	Internet
8	22 (2.42%)	Wireless
9	21 (2.31%)	Remote Desktop
9	21 (2.31%)	VoIP
10	17 (1.87%)	Skype
11	15 (1.65%)	Firewall
12	11 (1.21%)	Cisco IOS
13	9 (0.99%)	Network Security
13	9 (0.99%)	Wi-Fi
14	8 (0.88%)	3G
15	6 (0.66%)	VLAN
16	5 (0.55%)	Ethernet
16	5 (0.55%)	IP Telephony
17	4 (0.44%)	WLAN

Database & Business Intelligence
1	17 (1.87%)	SQL Server
2	3 (0.33%)	NoSQL
2	3 (0.33%)	SQL Server 2005
3	2 (0.22%)	MySQL
3	2 (0.22%)	SQL Server 2000
4	1 (0.11%)	Big Data
4	1 (0.11%)	Blockchain
4	1 (0.11%)	Hadoop
4	1 (0.11%)	Oracle Database
4	1 (0.11%)	QlikView
4	1 (0.11%)	Spotfire

Development Applications
1	10 (1.10%)	MSI
2	4 (0.44%)	InstallShield
3	3 (0.33%)	Visual Studio
4	2 (0.22%)	AccuRev
4	2 (0.22%)	AdminStudio
4	2 (0.22%)	JIRA
5	1 (0.11%)	Axure RP
5	1 (0.11%)	Eclipse
5	1 (0.11%)	Git (software)
5	1 (0.11%)	Robot Framework
5	1 (0.11%)	Subversion
5	1 (0.11%)	Team Foundation Server

General
1	117 (12.86%)	Finance
2	55 (6.04%)	Banking
3	19 (2.09%)	Legal
4	17 (1.87%)	Retail
5	16 (1.76%)	Telecoms
6	11 (1.21%)	Investment Banking
7	10 (1.10%)	Back Office
8	8 (0.88%)	Front Office
9	7 (0.77%)	Local Government
9	7 (0.77%)	Retail Banking
10	6 (0.66%)	Electronics
10	6 (0.66%)	Law
11	5 (0.55%)	Pharmaceutical
11	5 (0.55%)	Publishing
12	4 (0.44%)	Manufacturing
12	4 (0.44%)	Marketing
13	3 (0.33%)	Financial Institution
14	2 (0.22%)	Advertising
14	2 (0.22%)	Corporate Banking
14	2 (0.22%)	Games

Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1	23 (2.53%)	.NET
2	18 (1.98%)	WPF
3	10 (1.10%)	WCF
4	5 (0.55%)	XMPP
5	3 (0.33%)	LINQ
5	3 (0.33%)	WinForms
6	2 (0.22%)	.NET Framework
6	2 (0.22%)	802.1X
6	2 (0.22%)	Middleware
6	2 (0.22%)	Software Packaging
6	2 (0.22%)	WAP
7	1 (0.11%)	AngularJS
7	1 (0.11%)	D3.js
7	1 (0.11%)	Flash
7	1 (0.11%)	Java SE
7	1 (0.11%)	Natural Language Processing
7	1 (0.11%)	RESTful
7	1 (0.11%)	Web Services

Miscellaneous
1	80 (8.79%)	Blackberry
2	53 (5.82%)	Analytical Skills
3	48 (5.27%)	Smartphone
4	29 (3.19%)	Video Conferencing
5	25 (2.75%)	iPhone
6	24 (2.64%)	Fat Client
6	24 (2.64%)	Thin Client
7	19 (2.09%)	iPad
8	17 (1.87%)	Driving Licence
9	15 (1.65%)	Management Information System
10	12 (1.32%)	Data Centre
11	11 (1.21%)	CMDB
12	9 (0.99%)	BYOD
12	9 (0.99%)	Client/Server
12	9 (0.99%)	NHS
13	8 (0.88%)	Handset
14	6 (0.66%)	PDA
14	6 (0.66%)	Virtual Team
15	4 (0.44%)	CESG
15	4 (0.44%)	PKI

Operating Systems
1	610 (67.03%)	Windows
2	348 (38.24%)	Windows 7
3	150 (16.48%)	Windows 10
4	80 (8.79%)	Windows XP
5	74 (8.13%)	Windows Server
6	68 (7.47%)	Windows 8
7	45 (4.95%)	Android
8	44 (4.84%)	Windows Server 2008
9	43 (4.73%)	Apple iOS
10	33 (3.63%)	Windows Server 2012
11	23 (2.53%)	Windows Server 2003
12	22 (2.42%)	Mac OS X
13	21 (2.31%)	Mac OS
14	11 (1.21%)	Linux
15	9 (0.99%)	Windows Mobile
16	8 (0.88%)	Windows Vista
17	5 (0.55%)	Ubuntu
17	5 (0.55%)	Unix
18	2 (0.22%)	NetWare
18	2 (0.22%)	Windows 2000

Processes & Methodologies
1	148 (16.26%)	ITIL
2	114 (12.53%)	Migration
3	59 (6.48%)	Time Management
4	35 (3.85%)	Data Migration
4	35 (3.85%)	Service Management
5	30 (3.30%)	Incident Management
6	29 (3.19%)	Asset Management
7	24 (2.64%)	Break/Fix
8	23 (2.53%)	Service Delivery
9	22 (2.42%)	Mobile Device Management
10	21 (2.31%)	Project Management
11	19 (2.09%)	Stakeholder Management
12	17 (1.87%)	Configuration Management
13	15 (1.65%)	Application Packaging
13	15 (1.65%)	ITIL V3
14	13 (1.43%)	PRINCE2
14	13 (1.43%)	Software Distribution
15	12 (1.32%)	Problem Management
16	11 (1.21%)	Agile Software Development
16	11 (1.21%)	Line Management

Programming Languages
1	34 (3.74%)	SQL
2	19 (2.09%)	C#
3	17 (1.87%)	PowerShell
4	10 (1.10%)	C
5	9 (0.99%)	VBScript
6	7 (0.77%)	Java
7	3 (0.33%)	C++
7	3 (0.33%)	VB
8	2 (0.22%)	Bash Shell
8	2 (0.22%)	Perl
8	2 (0.22%)	Python
9	1 (0.11%)	Korn
9	1 (0.11%)	R
9	1 (0.11%)	Scala
9	1 (0.11%)	VB.NET
9	1 (0.11%)	VBA
9	1 (0.11%)	XAML

Qualifications
1	108 (11.87%)	Security Cleared
2	80 (8.79%)	SC Cleared
3	73 (8.02%)	Microsoft Certification
4	34 (3.74%)	MCSE
5	29 (3.19%)	MCP
6	22 (2.42%)	Degree
7	17 (1.87%)	MCSA
8	15 (1.65%)	A+ Certification
8	15 (1.65%)	ITIL Certification
9	14 (1.54%)	DBS Check
10	13 (1.43%)	DV Cleared
10	13 (1.43%)	MCDST
11	9 (0.99%)	BPSS Clearance
12	8 (0.88%)	MCTS
13	7 (0.77%)	MCITP
13	7 (0.77%)	PMI Certification
14	6 (0.66%)	PMP
15	5 (0.55%)	Network+ Certification
16	4 (0.44%)	PRINCE2 Certification
17	3 (0.33%)	Cisco Certification

Quality Assurance & Compliance
1	45 (4.95%)	SLA
2	11 (1.21%)	Disclosure Scotland
3	4 (0.44%)	PMO
3	4 (0.44%)	QA
4	1 (0.11%)	ISO/IEC 20000
4	1 (0.11%)	Sarbanes-Oxley

System Software
1	345 (37.91%)	Active Directory
2	44 (4.84%)	VMware Infrastructure
3	34 (3.74%)	Microsoft App-V
4	24 (2.64%)	XenApp
5	17 (1.87%)	XenDesktop
6	15 (1.65%)	Virtual Desktop
7	14 (1.54%)	Hyper-V
8	9 (0.99%)	Virtual Machines
9	8 (0.88%)	BitLocker
10	6 (0.66%)	VMware ESXi
11	5 (0.55%)	Virtual Servers
11	5 (0.55%)	vSphere
12	3 (0.33%)	Firmware
12	3 (0.33%)	Xen
13	2 (0.22%)	Citrix Presentation Server
13	2 (0.22%)	Microsoft Virtual Server
13	2 (0.22%)	Terminal Server
13	2 (0.22%)	Terminal Services

Systems Management
1	169 (18.57%)	SCCM
2	14 (1.54%)	Norton AntiVirus
2	14 (1.54%)	WSUS
3	12 (1.32%)	Microsoft Intune
4	9 (0.99%)	SCOM
5	7 (0.77%)	Symantec Endpoint Protection
6	6 (0.66%)	Systems Management Server (SMS)
7	4 (0.44%)	AirWatch
8	3 (0.33%)	Tivoli
8	3 (0.33%)	Tivoli Storage Manager
8	3 (0.33%)	XenMobile
9	2 (0.22%)	SafeCom
9	2 (0.22%)	SCOrch
9	2 (0.22%)	SCSM
10	1 (0.11%)	AppDNA
10	1 (0.11%)	Cisco CUCM
10	1 (0.11%)	DameWare
10	1 (0.11%)	McAfee ePO
10	1 (0.11%)	Microsoft Clustering
10	1 (0.11%)	vCenter Server

Vendors
1	339 (37.25%)	Microsoft
2	130 (14.29%)	Citrix
3	72 (7.91%)	VMware
4	69 (7.58%)	Apple
5	56 (6.15%)	HP
6	41 (4.51%)	Cisco
7	33 (3.63%)	Remedy
8	32 (3.52%)	Dell
9	25 (2.75%)	ServiceNow
10	23 (2.53%)	Lotus
11	20 (2.20%)	Symantec
12	18 (1.98%)	Bloomberg
13	15 (1.65%)	Reuters
14	13 (1.43%)	BMC
15	12 (1.32%)	Google
16	11 (1.21%)	Altiris
16	11 (1.21%)	Avaya
16	11 (1.21%)	Sophos
17	9 (0.99%)	SolarWinds
18	8 (0.88%)	Wyse