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 21 March 2026.

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

 6 months to
21 Mar 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 399 317 290
Rank change year-on-year -82 -27 +21
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 225 210 334
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.51% 0.72% 0.75%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.56% 0.77% 0.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 170 135 238
10th Percentile £150 £150 £125
25th Percentile £155 £175 £143
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £195 £200 £200
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% - -1.32%
75th Percentile £230 £238 £225
90th Percentile £275 £269 £300
UK excluding London median daily rate £175 £200 £203
% change year-on-year -12.50% -1.23% +1.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 36 16 27
10th Percentile £16.25 £17.40 £16.70
25th Percentile £19.54 £21.25 £19.48
Median hourly rate £19.91 £23.00 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.43% +9.52% +5.00%
75th Percentile £21.46 £30.17 £27.86
90th Percentile £22.59 £33.84 £30.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.91 £23.00 £20.00
% change year-on-year -13.43% +15.00% +6.67%

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 40,298 27,260 41,112
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.93% 92.94% 92.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,195 17,769 26,943
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £410 £406 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -4.37%
75th Percentile £613 £630 £638
90th Percentile £721 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £475 £487
% change year-on-year +1.32% -2.46% -2.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,491 893 2,499
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.25 £12.92
25th Percentile £19.25 £21.05 £16.25
Median hourly rate £36.00 £33.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% +1.54% -23.53%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £76.58 £76.25 £71.77
UK excluding London median hourly rate £36.00 £32.50 £32.50
% change year-on-year +10.77% - -18.75%

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 21 March 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 21 March 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 21 March 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 -73 210 £195 -2.50% 23
UK excluding London -64 176 £175 -12.50% 23
London -59 47 £207 +3.25% 9
Midlands -40 38 £175 -12.50%
East of England -4 34 £195 -2.50% 1
North of England -64 34 £175 -10.26% 5
East Midlands -8 29 £175 -10.83%
South West -32 28 £210 -6.67% 3
South East -52 27 £172 -12.05% 10
North West -26 16 £175 -9.68% 4
Work from Home -23 14 £163 -46.28% 2
Yorkshire -49 13 £230 +2.22% 1
Wales 0 10 £160 -
West Midlands -65 9 £145 -27.50%
Scotland -4 5 £213 +38.17% 5
North East -19 5 £175 +12.90%

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

For the 6 months to 21 March 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.

1 127 (56.44%) Windows
2 98 (43.56%) Microsoft 365
3 96 (42.67%) Microsoft
4 80 (35.56%) Customer Service
5 76 (33.78%) Active Directory
6 69 (30.67%) Security Cleared
7 68 (30.22%) SC Cleared
8 64 (28.44%) Windows 10
9 47 (20.89%) Microsoft Office
10 42 (18.67%) Mac OS
11 37 (16.44%) Android
11 37 (16.44%) Azure
11 37 (16.44%) Microsoft Intune
12 35 (15.56%) Cisco
13 33 (14.67%) Apple
13 33 (14.67%) HP
13 33 (14.67%) ITIL
14 32 (14.22%) Wireless
15 31 (13.78%) Business Intelligence
15 31 (13.78%) Digital Marketing
15 31 (13.78%) Programme Management
15 31 (13.78%) SAP
16 30 (13.33%) Dell
17 29 (12.89%) Problem-Solving
18 28 (12.44%) SLA
19 27 (12.00%) Migration
19 27 (12.00%) SCCM
20 26 (11.56%) Service Delivery
21 22 (9.78%) SharePoint
22 21 (9.33%) Continuous Improvement

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 22 (9.78%) SharePoint
2 15 (6.67%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 47 (20.89%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (6.22%) Spreadsheet
3 10 (4.44%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.44%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.89%) assyst
2 1 (0.44%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 98 (43.56%) Microsoft 365
2 37 (16.44%) Azure
3 14 (6.22%) Entra ID
4 7 (3.11%) OneDrive
5 4 (1.78%) Google Ads
5 4 (1.78%) Google Workspace
5 4 (1.78%) Slack
6 2 (0.89%) Microsoft Copilot
7 1 (0.44%) Google Drive
7 1 (0.44%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 32 (14.22%) Wireless
2 21 (9.33%) VPN
3 11 (4.89%) DNS
4 9 (4.00%) DHCP
4 9 (4.00%) Skype
4 9 (4.00%) TCP/IP
5 8 (3.56%) Cisco IOS
5 8 (3.56%) PABX
6 4 (1.78%) Wi-Fi
7 3 (1.33%) Softphone
8 2 (0.89%) Firewall
8 2 (0.89%) LAN
9 1 (0.44%) IPv4
9 1 (0.44%) Network Security
9 1 (0.44%) Telepresence
9 1 (0.44%) Unified Communications
9 1 (0.44%) VoIP
Development Applications
1 4 (1.78%) JIRA
General
1 84 (37.33%) Social Skills
2 45 (20.00%) Finance
3 38 (16.89%) Public Sector
4 34 (15.11%) Telecoms
5 32 (14.22%) Manufacturing
6 31 (13.78%) Electronics
6 31 (13.78%) Marketing
7 18 (8.00%) Analytical Skills
8 9 (4.00%) Retail
9 7 (3.11%) Organisational Skills
10 6 (2.67%) Law
11 5 (2.22%) Aerospace
12 4 (1.78%) Banking
12 4 (1.78%) Documentation Skills
13 2 (0.89%) Legal
13 2 (0.89%) Local Government
13 2 (0.89%) Pharmaceutical
14 1 (0.44%) Financial Institution
14 1 (0.44%) Investment Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.44%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 28 (12.44%) Self-Motivation
2 25 (11.11%) Data Centre
2 25 (11.11%) Smartphone
3 12 (5.33%) Onboarding
4 10 (4.44%) Mobile App
5 8 (3.56%) Hybrid Cloud
5 8 (3.56%) Management Information System
6 6 (2.67%) iPhone
7 5 (2.22%) Enterprise Software
7 5 (2.22%) iPad
7 5 (2.22%) Video Conferencing
7 5 (2.22%) Virtual Team
8 3 (1.33%) Hedge funds
9 2 (0.89%) Driving Licence
9 2 (0.89%) Tandem
10 1 (0.44%) Analytical Mindset
10 1 (0.44%) Augmented Reality
10 1 (0.44%) Data Protection Act
10 1 (0.44%) Virtual Reality
Operating Systems
1 127 (56.44%) Windows
2 64 (28.44%) Windows 10
3 42 (18.67%) Mac OS
4 37 (16.44%) Android
5 11 (4.89%) Windows Server
6 10 (4.44%) Apple iOS
7 6 (2.67%) Windows 7
8 4 (1.78%) Windows 8
9 1 (0.44%) Linux
9 1 (0.44%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (35.56%) Customer Service
2 33 (14.67%) ITIL
3 31 (13.78%) Business Intelligence
3 31 (13.78%) Digital Marketing
3 31 (13.78%) Programme Management
4 29 (12.89%) Problem-Solving
5 27 (12.00%) Migration
6 26 (11.56%) Service Delivery
7 21 (9.33%) Continuous Improvement
8 20 (8.89%) Time Management
9 17 (7.56%) Asset Management
10 16 (7.11%) Logistics
11 13 (5.78%) Incident Management
11 13 (5.78%) ITSM
12 10 (4.44%) Computer Science
12 10 (4.44%) Inventory Management
13 9 (4.00%) Infrastructure Management
13 9 (4.00%) Project Delivery
13 9 (4.00%) Service Management
14 8 (3.56%) Data Migration
Programming Languages
1 13 (5.78%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.44%) Python
Qualifications
1 69 (30.67%) Security Cleared
2 68 (30.22%) SC Cleared
3 14 (6.22%) Degree
4 13 (5.78%) ITIL Certification
5 8 (3.56%) A+ Certification
6 3 (1.33%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 2 (0.89%) Computer Science Degree
7 2 (0.89%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (12.44%) SLA
2 4 (1.78%) GDPR
3 2 (0.89%) QA
System Software
1 76 (33.78%) Active Directory
2 5 (2.22%) Firmware
3 1 (0.44%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 37 (16.44%) Microsoft Intune
2 27 (12.00%) SCCM
3 2 (0.89%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 96 (42.67%) Microsoft
2 35 (15.56%) Cisco
3 33 (14.67%) Apple
3 33 (14.67%) HP
4 31 (13.78%) SAP
5 30 (13.33%) Dell
6 21 (9.33%) ServiceNow
7 9 (4.00%) McAfee
8 8 (3.56%) Starlink
9 5 (2.22%) Google
10 4 (1.78%) Remedy
11 3 (1.33%) Bloomberg
12 2 (0.89%) Salesforce
13 1 (0.44%) Altiris
13 1 (0.44%) Barracuda Networks
13 1 (0.44%) Citrix
13 1 (0.44%) CrowdStrike
13 1 (0.44%) Nexthink
13 1 (0.44%) SolarWinds
13 1 (0.44%) Veeam
27 Desktop Support jobs Nationwide