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 9 October 2026.

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

6 months to
9 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 482 310 333
Rank change year-on-year -172 +23 -35
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 206 265 243
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.38% 0.80% 0.64%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.41% 0.88% 0.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 123 169 155
10th Percentile £140 £150 £135
25th Percentile £170 £163 £165
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £210 £213 £205
Median % change year-on-year -1.18% +3.66% +2.50%
75th Percentile £240 £250 £235
90th Percentile £286 £278 £269
UK excluding London median daily rate £210 £215 £205
% change year-on-year -2.33% +4.88% +2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 43 18
10th Percentile £13.70 £13.75 £18.13
25th Percentile £17.25 £15.12 £22.71
Median hourly rate £22.00 £25.00 £24.18
Median % change year-on-year -12.00% +3.39% +22.43%
75th Percentile £23.50 £31.40 £27.19
90th Percentile £23.75 £33.75 £33.85
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.00 £25.15 £24.18
% change year-on-year -16.50% +4.01% +36.61%

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 50,176 30,117 35,319
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.07% 90.80% 93.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,458 18,999 21,350
10th Percentile £325 £275 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -0.94%
75th Percentile £638 £623 £638
90th Percentile £738 £725 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £494
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.85% -1.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4,042 1,639 1,491
10th Percentile £14.32 £13.75 £14.85
25th Percentile £19.36 £17.30 £20.30
Median hourly rate £41.71 £25.15 £41.57
Median % change year-on-year +65.84% -39.49% -6.60%
75th Percentile £67.50 £50.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £79.00 £68.00 £74.44
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.71 £25.00 £42.96
% change year-on-year +66.84% -41.80% -3.47%

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 9 October 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 9 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Top 15 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 9 October 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 -152 181 £210 -2.33% 53
UK excluding London -139 129 £210 -2.33% 21
London -91 74 £225 +9.09% 35
North of England -77 35 £235 +11.90% 2
North West -49 27 £235 +11.90% 2
South East -68 27 £180 -16.28% 4
Scotland -19 18 £163 +8.70% 1
Midlands -50 18 £218 +27.19% 7
South West -65 16 £225 -4.26% 3
West Midlands -48 13 £210 +20.00% 3
East of England -25 12 £190 -13.64% 3
Work from Home -63 10 £226 -9.50% 10
Yorkshire -39 8 £240 +2.13%
East Midlands -22 5 £250 +58.73% 4
Northern Ireland +6 4 - - 1

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

For the 6 months to 9 October 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.

1 147 (71.36%) Windows
2 94 (45.63%) Microsoft
3 92 (44.66%) Microsoft 365
4 79 (38.35%) Active Directory
5 67 (32.52%) ITIL
6 63 (30.58%) Customer Service
7 56 (27.18%) ITSM
8 44 (21.36%) Windows 10
9 41 (19.90%) SCCM
10 37 (17.96%) ServiceNow
11 36 (17.48%) Security Cleared
11 36 (17.48%) Service Management
12 35 (16.99%) Microsoft Intune
13 32 (15.53%) Service Delivery
14 31 (15.05%) SC Cleared
15 27 (13.11%) SharePoint
16 26 (12.62%) Degree
16 26 (12.62%) SLA
16 26 (12.62%) VPN
17 25 (12.14%) Problem-Solving
18 24 (11.65%) Azure
19 23 (11.17%) Asset Management
20 22 (10.68%) Citrix
20 22 (10.68%) Entra ID
21 21 (10.19%) Android
21 21 (10.19%) Mac OS
21 21 (10.19%) Migration
21 21 (10.19%) Virtual Desktop
22 20 (9.71%) Apple iOS
22 20 (9.71%) PowerShell

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 27 (13.11%) SharePoint
2 14 (6.80%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.49%) Confluence
3 1 (0.49%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 14 (6.80%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.49%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 3 (1.46%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.49%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 92 (44.66%) Microsoft 365
2 24 (11.65%) Azure
3 22 (10.68%) Entra ID
4 19 (9.22%) OneDrive
5 7 (3.40%) SaaS
6 2 (0.97%) Slack
7 1 (0.49%) Mimecast
7 1 (0.49%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 26 (12.62%) VPN
2 14 (6.80%) TCP/IP
3 13 (6.31%) DHCP
4 12 (5.83%) DNS
4 12 (5.83%) Wireless
5 11 (5.34%) LAN
6 8 (3.88%) Wi-Fi
7 4 (1.94%) Value-Added Service
8 3 (1.46%) Internet
8 3 (1.46%) Network Security
9 2 (0.97%) Cisco IOS
9 2 (0.97%) Firewall
9 2 (0.97%) WAN
9 2 (0.97%) WebEx
10 1 (0.49%) NAS
10 1 (0.49%) Remote Desktop
10 1 (0.49%) SD-WAN
10 1 (0.49%) Skype
10 1 (0.49%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.49%) Amazon RDS
1 1 (0.49%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 4 (1.94%) JIRA
General
1 86 (41.75%) Social Skills
2 42 (20.39%) Finance
3 21 (10.19%) Banking
4 19 (9.22%) Organisational Skills
5 14 (6.80%) Financial Institution
6 13 (6.31%) Investment Banking
7 12 (5.83%) Legal
8 11 (5.34%) Telecoms
9 10 (4.85%) Spanish Language
10 6 (2.91%) Analytical Skills
10 6 (2.91%) Front Office
11 4 (1.94%) Law
11 4 (1.94%) Public Sector
12 3 (1.46%) Manufacturing
13 2 (0.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 1 (0.49%) Documentation Skills
14 1 (0.49%) Pharmaceutical
14 1 (0.49%) Presentation Skills
14 1 (0.49%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (3.40%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 48 (23.30%) Onboarding
2 18 (8.74%) Driving Licence
3 16 (7.77%) Video Conferencing
4 14 (6.80%) Hedge funds
5 11 (5.34%) Smartphone
6 8 (3.88%) Management Information System
7 4 (1.94%) Mobile App
8 3 (1.46%) CMDB
8 3 (1.46%) iPhone
9 2 (0.97%) Augmented Reality
9 2 (0.97%) BYOD
9 2 (0.97%) Mobile Computing
9 2 (0.97%) NHS
9 2 (0.97%) Virtual Reality
10 1 (0.49%) Blackberry
10 1 (0.49%) Data Centre
10 1 (0.49%) Data Protection Act
10 1 (0.49%) Enterprise Software
10 1 (0.49%) iPad
10 1 (0.49%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 147 (71.36%) Windows
2 44 (21.36%) Windows 10
3 21 (10.19%) Android
3 21 (10.19%) Mac OS
4 20 (9.71%) Apple iOS
5 4 (1.94%) Linux
5 4 (1.94%) Windows 7
5 4 (1.94%) Windows Server
6 3 (1.46%) Windows XP
7 1 (0.49%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 67 (32.52%) ITIL
2 63 (30.58%) Customer Service
3 56 (27.18%) ITSM
4 36 (17.48%) Service Management
5 32 (15.53%) Service Delivery
6 25 (12.14%) Problem-Solving
7 23 (11.17%) Asset Management
8 21 (10.19%) Migration
9 13 (6.31%) Continuous Improvement
9 13 (6.31%) Incident Management
10 11 (5.34%) Break/Fix
11 10 (4.85%) Data Protection
11 10 (4.85%) Inventory Management
12 9 (4.37%) Mobile Device Management
12 9 (4.37%) User Experience
13 8 (3.88%) Change Management
13 8 (3.88%) Problem Management
13 8 (3.88%) Software Deployment
14 6 (2.91%) AI
14 6 (2.91%) Knowledge Management
Programming Languages
1 20 (9.71%) PowerShell
2 3 (1.46%) Python
2 3 (1.46%) SQL
2 3 (1.46%) VBScript
3 1 (0.49%) Bash
Qualifications
1 36 (17.48%) Security Cleared
2 31 (15.05%) SC Cleared
3 26 (12.62%) Degree
4 13 (6.31%) A+ Certification
5 6 (2.91%) Microsoft Certification
6 5 (2.43%) BPSS Clearance
7 4 (1.94%) Computer Science Degree
7 4 (1.94%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 3 (1.46%) DV Cleared
8 3 (1.46%) ITIL Certification
8 3 (1.46%) Network+ Certification
9 2 (0.97%) Microsoft Certified Professional
10 1 (0.49%) CCNP
10 1 (0.49%) Cisco Certification
10 1 (0.49%) CTC Cleared
10 1 (0.49%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (12.62%) SLA
System Software
1 79 (38.35%) Active Directory
2 21 (10.19%) Virtual Desktop
3 10 (4.85%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (1.46%) BitLocker
4 3 (1.46%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.97%) Firmware
6 1 (0.49%) vSphere
6 1 (0.49%) zsh
Systems Management
1 41 (19.90%) SCCM
2 35 (16.99%) Microsoft Intune
3 4 (1.94%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (0.49%) WSUS
Vendors
1 94 (45.63%) Microsoft
2 37 (17.96%) ServiceNow
3 22 (10.68%) Citrix
4 10 (4.85%) Apple
4 10 (4.85%) VMware
5 7 (3.40%) Cisco
6 6 (2.91%) Adobe
6 6 (2.91%) HP
7 5 (2.43%) McAfee
7 5 (2.43%) Samsung
7 5 (2.43%) Tanium
8 4 (1.94%) Autodesk
8 4 (1.94%) Bloomberg
8 4 (1.94%) Symantec
9 3 (1.46%) BeyondTrust
9 3 (1.46%) Dell
9 3 (1.46%) Meraki
9 3 (1.46%) Remedy
10 2 (0.97%) Google
11 1 (0.49%) Veeam