Desktop Support Contract Job Trends

Desktop Support
UK

The median Desktop Support daily rate in the UK is £195, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 20 April 2026.

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

 6 months to
20 Apr 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 430 311 296
Rank change year-on-year -119 -15 +10
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 193 224 334
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.42% 0.76% 0.76%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.45% 0.82% 0.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 146 135 241
10th Percentile £150 £150 £123
25th Percentile £156 £175 £143
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £195 £200 £200
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% - -
75th Percentile £220 £241 £225
90th Percentile £245 £276 £300
UK excluding London median daily rate £175 £200 £200
% change year-on-year -12.50% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 24 31
10th Percentile £16.25 £14.62 £16.25
25th Percentile £19.54 £17.30 £18.60
Median hourly rate £20.05 £22.75 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year -11.89% +8.33% -5.08%
75th Percentile £21.46 £24.78 £26.36
90th Percentile £23.88 £30.68 £30.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.91 £23.00 £20.00
% change year-on-year -13.43% +15.00% +3.23%

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 42,677 27,265 40,508
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.26% 92.61% 92.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,446 17,875 26,447
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.91% -1.90% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £748
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £493
% change year-on-year +2.63% -3.65% -1.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,718 997 2,615
10th Percentile £14.96 £14.50 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.35 £19.00 £16.25
Median hourly rate £41.94 £30.45 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +37.73% -13.00% -22.22%
75th Percentile £65.60 £63.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.65 £75.35 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.00 £29.53 £36.50
% change year-on-year +45.64% -19.11% -14.12%

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 20 April 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 20 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Top 17 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 20 April 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 -137 173 £195 -4.88% 23
UK excluding London -108 153 £175 -12.50% 16
London -61 38 £213 +6.25% 7
Midlands -52 32 £200 -0.25% 2
East of England -19 30 £195 -10.34% 1
South East -57 25 £172 -12.05% 2
North of England -76 25 £225 +15.38% 10
East Midlands -10 24 £200 +1.66%
South West -49 21 £210 -6.67% 1
Work from Home -28 14 £163 -41.18% 5
Yorkshire -57 12 £230 +2.22% 2
North West -50 11 £225 +8.43% 8
Wales -2 10 £160 -
Scotland -7 9 £213 +34.84%
West Midlands -67 8 £140 -30.00% 2
North East -25 2 £175 +12.90% 1
Northern Ireland -5 1 £175 +16.67%

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

For the 6 months to 20 April 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 (61.14%) Windows
2 90 (46.63%) Microsoft
3 72 (37.31%) Active Directory
4 70 (36.27%) Customer Service
5 69 (35.75%) Microsoft 365
6 53 (27.46%) Windows 10
7 39 (20.21%) SC Cleared
7 39 (20.21%) Security Cleared
8 36 (18.65%) Azure
8 36 (18.65%) Microsoft Intune
9 31 (16.06%) ITIL
10 30 (15.54%) Problem-Solving
11 26 (13.47%) Migration
12 25 (12.95%) Mac OS
12 25 (12.95%) Microsoft Office
13 23 (11.92%) SCCM
14 22 (11.40%) Service Delivery
14 22 (11.40%) SLA
15 21 (10.88%) Continuous Improvement
15 21 (10.88%) SharePoint
16 19 (9.84%) Android
17 17 (8.81%) Asset Management
17 17 (8.81%) Cisco
17 17 (8.81%) Logistics
18 16 (8.29%) Degree
18 16 (8.29%) ServiceNow
19 15 (7.77%) Apple
19 15 (7.77%) Microsoft Exchange
19 15 (7.77%) Time Management
19 15 (7.77%) VPN

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 21 (10.88%) SharePoint
2 15 (7.77%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 25 (12.95%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (5.70%) Spreadsheet
3 2 (1.04%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (1.04%) assyst
2 1 (0.52%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 69 (35.75%) Microsoft 365
2 36 (18.65%) Azure
3 13 (6.74%) Entra ID
4 4 (2.07%) Google Ads
4 4 (2.07%) Google Workspace
4 4 (2.07%) OneDrive
4 4 (2.07%) Slack
5 2 (1.04%) Microsoft Copilot
6 1 (0.52%) Google Drive
6 1 (0.52%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 15 (7.77%) VPN
2 12 (6.22%) Wireless
3 9 (4.66%) Cisco IOS
3 9 (4.66%) DNS
3 9 (4.66%) Skype
4 8 (4.15%) TCP/IP
5 7 (3.63%) DHCP
6 4 (2.07%) Wi-Fi
7 3 (1.55%) Softphone
8 2 (1.04%) Firewall
8 2 (1.04%) LAN
9 1 (0.52%) IPv4
9 1 (0.52%) Remote Desktop
9 1 (0.52%) Telepresence
9 1 (0.52%) Unified Communications
9 1 (0.52%) VoIP
Development Applications
1 4 (2.07%) JIRA
General
1 68 (35.23%) Social Skills
2 23 (11.92%) Finance
3 19 (9.84%) Analytical Skills
4 16 (8.29%) Public Sector
4 16 (8.29%) Telecoms
5 13 (6.74%) Manufacturing
6 12 (6.22%) Electronics
6 12 (6.22%) Marketing
7 9 (4.66%) Retail
8 6 (3.11%) Law
9 5 (2.59%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (1.55%) Banking
11 2 (1.04%) Legal
11 2 (1.04%) Local Government
11 2 (1.04%) Pharmaceutical
12 1 (0.52%) Aerospace
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.52%) Software Packaging
1 1 (0.52%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 19 (9.84%) Self-Motivation
2 18 (9.33%) Smartphone
3 11 (5.70%) Onboarding
4 9 (4.66%) Mobile App
5 8 (4.15%) Hybrid Cloud
5 8 (4.15%) Management Information System
6 6 (3.11%) Data Centre
6 6 (3.11%) iPhone
7 5 (2.59%) Enterprise Software
8 3 (1.55%) iPad
9 2 (1.04%) Data Protection Act
9 2 (1.04%) Hedge funds
9 2 (1.04%) Video Conferencing
9 2 (1.04%) Virtual Team
10 1 (0.52%) Analytical Mindset
10 1 (0.52%) Augmented Reality
10 1 (0.52%) Driving Licence
10 1 (0.52%) Tandem
10 1 (0.52%) Virtual Reality
Operating Systems
1 118 (61.14%) Windows
2 53 (27.46%) Windows 10
3 25 (12.95%) Mac OS
4 19 (9.84%) Android
5 12 (6.22%) Apple iOS
6 9 (4.66%) Windows Server
7 7 (3.63%) Windows 7
8 4 (2.07%) Windows 8
9 1 (0.52%) Linux
9 1 (0.52%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 70 (36.27%) Customer Service
2 31 (16.06%) ITIL
3 30 (15.54%) Problem-Solving
4 26 (13.47%) Migration
5 22 (11.40%) Service Delivery
6 21 (10.88%) Continuous Improvement
7 17 (8.81%) Asset Management
7 17 (8.81%) Logistics
8 15 (7.77%) Time Management
9 13 (6.74%) Incident Management
10 12 (6.22%) Business Intelligence
10 12 (6.22%) Digital Marketing
10 12 (6.22%) Programme Management
11 11 (5.70%) Computer Science
12 10 (5.18%) ITSM
12 10 (5.18%) Service Management
13 9 (4.66%) Infrastructure Management
13 9 (4.66%) Inventory Management
13 9 (4.66%) Project Delivery
14 8 (4.15%) Software Licensing
Programming Languages
1 12 (6.22%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.52%) Python
Qualifications
1 39 (20.21%) SC Cleared
1 39 (20.21%) Security Cleared
2 16 (8.29%) Degree
3 11 (5.70%) ITIL Certification
4 9 (4.66%) A+ Certification
5 3 (1.55%) Microsoft Certification
6 2 (1.04%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.52%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (11.40%) SLA
2 1 (0.52%) QA
System Software
1 72 (37.31%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.07%) Firmware
3 2 (1.04%) Virtual Desktop
4 1 (0.52%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 36 (18.65%) Microsoft Intune
2 23 (11.92%) SCCM
3 2 (1.04%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 90 (46.63%) Microsoft
2 17 (8.81%) Cisco
3 16 (8.29%) ServiceNow
4 15 (7.77%) Apple
5 14 (7.25%) HP
6 12 (6.22%) SAP
7 11 (5.70%) Dell
8 8 (4.15%) Starlink
9 7 (3.63%) McAfee
10 5 (2.59%) Google
11 4 (2.07%) Remedy
12 3 (1.55%) Bloomberg
13 2 (1.04%) Citrix
13 2 (1.04%) Salesforce
14 1 (0.52%) Altiris
14 1 (0.52%) Barracuda Networks
14 1 (0.52%) CrowdStrike
14 1 (0.52%) SolarWinds
14 1 (0.52%) Veeam
14 1 (0.52%) VMware
24 Desktop Support jobs Nationwide