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 5 June 2026.

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

6 months to
5 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 470 295 308
Rank change year-on-year -175 +13 -9
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 178 240 300
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.36% 0.83% 0.70%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.39% 0.90% 0.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 139 137 212
10th Percentile £144 £153 £125
25th Percentile £163 £175 £143
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £210 £200
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -
75th Percentile £234 £250 £219
90th Percentile £272 £279 £269
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £205 £200
% change year-on-year -2.68% +2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 34 32
10th Percentile £19.45 £13.75 £16.33
25th Percentile £19.91 £15.51 £18.10
Median hourly rate £22.00 £17.72 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year +24.19% -15.64% -10.64%
75th Percentile £24.50 £28.98 £26.03
90th Percentile £28.05 £33.75 £30.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.00 £22.50 £19.14
% change year-on-year -2.22% +17.59% +2.05%

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 45,342 26,733 39,846
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.33% 92.39% 92.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,608 17,258 25,745
10th Percentile £325 £287 £280
25th Percentile £413 £404 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £501 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.40% -4.67% -2.78%
75th Percentile £619 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,029 1,088 2,850
10th Percentile £15.05 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.69 £17.87 £16.30
Median hourly rate £43.69 £28.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +56.04% -25.33% -16.67%
75th Percentile £67.50 £58.75 £61.60
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -37.13% -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 5 June 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 5 June 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 5 June 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 -147 162 £200 -4.76% 20
UK excluding London -146 129 £200 -2.68% 16
London -72 45 £213 -5.56% 8
Midlands -41 27 £200 -6.12%
North of England -93 25 £230 +17.95% 11
South East -77 24 £163 -20.73% 3
South West -60 21 £210 -7.69%
East Midlands -11 19 £200 +1.66%
East of England -24 19 £195 -4.88% 1
Work from Home -31 16 £171 -31.50% 1
North West -41 14 £188 +4.17% 7
Scotland -8 12 £213 +6.25% 1
Yorkshire -52 11 £230 -2.13% 2
West Midlands -58 8 £150 -31.82%
Northern Ireland 0 1 £175 +11.11%
Wales -22 1 - -

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

For the 6 months to 5 June 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.

1 126 (70.79%) Windows
2 86 (48.31%) Microsoft
3 73 (41.01%) Active Directory
4 70 (39.33%) Microsoft 365
5 47 (26.40%) Customer Service
5 47 (26.40%) Windows 10
6 40 (22.47%) Microsoft Intune
7 38 (21.35%) Azure
7 38 (21.35%) Problem-Solving
8 27 (15.17%) Security Cleared
9 26 (14.61%) SharePoint
10 25 (14.04%) ITIL
10 25 (14.04%) SC Cleared
10 25 (14.04%) SCCM
11 22 (12.36%) Asset Management
12 20 (11.24%) Entra ID
12 20 (11.24%) Mac OS
12 20 (11.24%) Migration
13 18 (10.11%) Apple
13 18 (10.11%) Apple iOS
13 18 (10.11%) VPN
14 17 (9.55%) SLA
15 15 (8.43%) Continuous Improvement
15 15 (8.43%) Degree
15 15 (8.43%) ITSM
15 15 (8.43%) ServiceNow
16 14 (7.87%) Android
16 14 (7.87%) Service Management
17 13 (7.30%) Microsoft Office
17 13 (7.30%) 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 26 (14.61%) SharePoint
2 12 (6.74%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 13 (7.30%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.69%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.56%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 3 (1.69%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.56%) assyst
Cloud Services
1 70 (39.33%) Microsoft 365
2 38 (21.35%) Azure
3 20 (11.24%) Entra ID
4 4 (2.25%) Google Ads
4 4 (2.25%) Google Workspace
4 4 (2.25%) OneDrive
4 4 (2.25%) Slack
5 2 (1.12%) Microsoft Copilot
6 1 (0.56%) Google Drive
6 1 (0.56%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 18 (10.11%) VPN
2 11 (6.18%) DNS
2 11 (6.18%) Wireless
3 10 (5.62%) DHCP
3 10 (5.62%) TCP/IP
4 5 (2.81%) Wi-Fi
5 3 (1.69%) Firewall
6 2 (1.12%) LAN
7 1 (0.56%) Cisco IOS
7 1 (0.56%) IPv4
7 1 (0.56%) Remote Desktop
7 1 (0.56%) Skype
7 1 (0.56%) Softphone
7 1 (0.56%) Telepresence
7 1 (0.56%) Unified Communications
7 1 (0.56%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.56%) Amazon RDS
1 1 (0.56%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 6 (3.37%) JIRA
General
1 64 (35.96%) Social Skills
2 21 (11.80%) Finance
3 13 (7.30%) Analytical Skills
4 9 (5.06%) Banking
5 8 (4.49%) Organisational Skills
6 6 (3.37%) Investment Banking
6 6 (3.37%) Law
7 5 (2.81%) Financial Institution
7 5 (2.81%) Spanish Language
8 3 (1.69%) Pharmaceutical
8 3 (1.69%) Public Sector
9 2 (1.12%) Legal
9 2 (1.12%) Local Government
9 2 (1.12%) Manufacturing
9 2 (1.12%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.56%) Aerospace
10 1 (0.56%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (0.56%) Front Office
10 1 (0.56%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (2.81%) Software Packaging
2 1 (0.56%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 22 (12.36%) Onboarding
2 19 (10.67%) Smartphone
3 10 (5.62%) Self-Motivation
4 8 (4.49%) iPhone
5 7 (3.93%) Hybrid Cloud
6 6 (3.37%) Hedge funds
7 5 (2.81%) Driving Licence
7 5 (2.81%) Enterprise Software
7 5 (2.81%) Video Conferencing
8 3 (1.69%) Augmented Reality
8 3 (1.69%) Data Protection Act
8 3 (1.69%) iPad
8 3 (1.69%) Virtual Reality
9 2 (1.12%) Virtual Team
10 1 (0.56%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 126 (70.79%) Windows
2 47 (26.40%) Windows 10
3 20 (11.24%) Mac OS
4 18 (10.11%) Apple iOS
5 14 (7.87%) Android
6 10 (5.62%) Windows 7
7 5 (2.81%) Windows Server
8 4 (2.25%) Windows 8
8 4 (2.25%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 47 (26.40%) Customer Service
2 38 (21.35%) Problem-Solving
3 25 (14.04%) ITIL
4 22 (12.36%) Asset Management
5 20 (11.24%) Migration
6 15 (8.43%) Continuous Improvement
6 15 (8.43%) ITSM
7 14 (7.87%) Service Management
8 12 (6.74%) Service Delivery
9 10 (5.62%) Logistics
9 10 (5.62%) Mobile Device Management
10 9 (5.06%) Business Continuity
10 9 (5.06%) Incident Management
10 9 (5.06%) Project Delivery
10 9 (5.06%) User Experience
11 8 (4.49%) Change Management
11 8 (4.49%) Disaster Recovery
11 8 (4.49%) Inventory Management
11 8 (4.49%) Root Cause Analysis
12 7 (3.93%) BCP
Programming Languages
1 13 (7.30%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.56%) Bash
2 1 (0.56%) Python
Qualifications
1 27 (15.17%) Security Cleared
2 25 (14.04%) SC Cleared
3 15 (8.43%) Degree
4 8 (4.49%) A+ Certification
5 3 (1.69%) Computer Science Degree
5 3 (1.69%) ITIL Certification
6 2 (1.12%) DV Cleared
7 1 (0.56%) Microsoft Certification
7 1 (0.56%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (9.55%) SLA
System Software
1 73 (41.01%) Active Directory
2 6 (3.37%) Virtual Desktop
3 3 (1.69%) Firmware
4 2 (1.12%) BitLocker
4 2 (1.12%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.56%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.56%) zsh
Systems Management
1 40 (22.47%) Microsoft Intune
2 25 (14.04%) SCCM
3 6 (3.37%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (0.56%) WSUS
Vendors
1 86 (48.31%) Microsoft
2 18 (10.11%) Apple
3 15 (8.43%) ServiceNow
4 11 (6.18%) HP
5 8 (4.49%) Starlink
6 7 (3.93%) McAfee
7 6 (3.37%) Citrix
8 5 (2.81%) Dell
8 5 (2.81%) Google
9 4 (2.25%) Bloomberg
9 4 (2.25%) Remedy
10 2 (1.12%) Cisco
10 2 (1.12%) Salesforce
10 2 (1.12%) VMware
11 1 (0.56%) Adobe
11 1 (0.56%) Barracuda Networks
11 1 (0.56%) BMC
11 1 (0.56%) MobileIron
11 1 (0.56%) SolarWinds
11 1 (0.56%) Veeam