Desktop Support Contract Job Trends

Desktop Support
UK

The median Desktop Support daily rate in the UK is £175, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 26 February 2026.

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

6 months to
26 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 384 325 302
Rank change year-on-year -59 -23 +14
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 233 211 327
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.56% 0.69% 0.75%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.61% 0.74% 0.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 169 134 234
10th Percentile £150 £150 £126
25th Percentile £156 £174 £143
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £175 £200 £200
Median % change year-on-year -12.50% - -
75th Percentile £230 £238 £223
90th Percentile £278 £263 £285
UK excluding London median daily rate £175 £200 £200
% change year-on-year -12.50% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 17 22
10th Percentile £16.25 £17.55 £17.19
25th Percentile £19.54 £21.25 £19.44
Median hourly rate £20.18 £23.00 £24.18
Median % change year-on-year -12.26% -4.87% +28.95%
75th Percentile £21.46 £27.25 £30.19
90th Percentile £31.40 £30.68 £31.38
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.91 £23.00 £20.50
% change year-on-year -13.43% +12.20% +18.84%

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 38,045 28,496 40,781
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.80% 92.87% 93.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,894 17,862 26,852
10th Percentile £309 £293 £275
25th Percentile £408 £406 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £721 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +1.32% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,319 828 2,327
10th Percentile £14.61 £16.43 £13.15
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.50 £16.30
Median hourly rate £33.17 £35.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -5.23% - -10.26%
75th Percentile £63.75 £64.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £74.68 £75.00 £71.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.00 £32.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year -4.62% -7.14% -2.78%

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 26 February 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 26 February 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 26 February 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 -59 219 £195 -4.88% 28
UK excluding London -49 180 £175 -12.50% 26
London -33 51 £201 +0.25% 5
Midlands -26 42 £175 -14.63% 2
North of England -52 38 £175 -15.66% 10
East of England +4 34 £195 -7.14% 2
East Midlands -2 30 £175 -17.65% 2
South West -23 30 £250 +11.11% 6
South East -47 25 £172 -12.05% 6
North West -25 18 £175 -16.17% 4
Work from Home -10 15 £163 -46.28% 3
West Midlands -50 12 £175 -12.50%
Wales +2 10 £160 -
North East -8 10 £175 +12.90% 1
Yorkshire -62 10 £213 -4.49% 6
Scotland -3 4 £166 +10.50% 1

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

For the 6 months to 26 February 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.

1 139 (59.66%) Windows
2 106 (45.49%) Microsoft 365
3 90 (38.63%) Microsoft
4 82 (35.19%) Active Directory
4 82 (35.19%) Customer Service
5 76 (32.62%) Windows 10
6 71 (30.47%) Security Cleared
7 70 (30.04%) SC Cleared
8 54 (23.18%) Microsoft Office
9 43 (18.45%) Mac OS
10 39 (16.74%) Android
10 39 (16.74%) Azure
11 36 (15.45%) Cisco
12 35 (15.02%) ITIL
12 35 (15.02%) Microsoft Intune
13 34 (14.59%) Wireless
14 33 (14.16%) HP
14 33 (14.16%) SLA
15 31 (13.30%) Apple
15 31 (13.30%) Business Intelligence
15 31 (13.30%) Digital Marketing
15 31 (13.30%) Programme Management
15 31 (13.30%) SAP
15 31 (13.30%) SCCM
16 30 (12.88%) Dell
17 27 (11.59%) Migration
17 27 (11.59%) Service Delivery
17 27 (11.59%) ServiceNow
18 25 (10.73%) Microsoft Exchange
19 24 (10.30%) Problem-Solving

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 25 (10.73%) Microsoft Exchange
2 23 (9.87%) SharePoint
Applications
1 54 (23.18%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (6.44%) Microsoft Excel
2 15 (6.44%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.86%) assyst
2 1 (0.43%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 106 (45.49%) Microsoft 365
2 39 (16.74%) Azure
3 15 (6.44%) OneDrive
4 12 (5.15%) Entra ID
5 4 (1.72%) Google Ads
5 4 (1.72%) Slack
6 3 (1.29%) Google Workspace
7 1 (0.43%) Google Drive
Communications & Networking
1 34 (14.59%) Wireless
2 18 (7.73%) VPN
3 13 (5.58%) PABX
4 11 (4.72%) DNS
5 9 (3.86%) DHCP
5 9 (3.86%) TCP/IP
6 8 (3.43%) Cisco IOS
6 8 (3.43%) Skype
7 3 (1.29%) Softphone
7 3 (1.29%) Structured Cabling
7 3 (1.29%) Wi-Fi
8 2 (0.86%) Firewall
8 2 (0.86%) LAN
8 2 (0.86%) Telepresence
8 2 (0.86%) Unified Communications
9 1 (0.43%) IPv4
9 1 (0.43%) Network Security
9 1 (0.43%) VLAN
9 1 (0.43%) VoIP
9 1 (0.43%) WAN
Development Applications
1 4 (1.72%) JIRA
General
1 98 (42.06%) Social Skills
2 56 (24.03%) Finance
3 35 (15.02%) Public Sector
4 34 (14.59%) Telecoms
5 31 (13.30%) Electronics
5 31 (13.30%) Manufacturing
5 31 (13.30%) Marketing
6 23 (9.87%) Analytical Skills
7 9 (3.86%) Retail
8 7 (3.00%) Aerospace
8 7 (3.00%) Banking
9 6 (2.58%) Documentation Skills
9 6 (2.58%) Law
10 5 (2.15%) Organisational Skills
11 3 (1.29%) Pharmaceutical
12 2 (0.86%) Investment Banking
12 2 (0.86%) Legal
13 1 (0.43%) Financial Institution
13 1 (0.43%) Front Office
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.43%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 29 (12.45%) Smartphone
2 27 (11.59%) Self-Motivation
3 25 (10.73%) Data Centre
4 13 (5.58%) Onboarding
5 10 (4.29%) Mobile App
6 8 (3.43%) Hybrid Cloud
6 8 (3.43%) Management Information System
7 6 (2.58%) Video Conferencing
8 5 (2.15%) Enterprise Software
8 5 (2.15%) Virtual Team
9 3 (1.29%) Hedge funds
9 3 (1.29%) iPad
9 3 (1.29%) iPhone
10 2 (0.86%) Driving Licence
10 2 (0.86%) Tandem
11 1 (0.43%) Analytical Mindset
11 1 (0.43%) Augmented Reality
11 1 (0.43%) Data Protection Act
11 1 (0.43%) Legacy Systems
11 1 (0.43%) Virtual Reality
Operating Systems
1 139 (59.66%) Windows
2 76 (32.62%) Windows 10
3 43 (18.45%) Mac OS
4 39 (16.74%) Android
5 18 (7.73%) Apple iOS
6 10 (4.29%) Windows Server
7 6 (2.58%) Windows 7
8 4 (1.72%) Windows 8
9 1 (0.43%) Linux
9 1 (0.43%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.43%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 82 (35.19%) Customer Service
2 35 (15.02%) ITIL
3 31 (13.30%) Business Intelligence
3 31 (13.30%) Digital Marketing
3 31 (13.30%) Programme Management
4 27 (11.59%) Migration
4 27 (11.59%) Service Delivery
5 24 (10.30%) Problem-Solving
5 24 (10.30%) Service Management
6 19 (8.15%) Continuous Improvement
7 18 (7.73%) ITSM
7 18 (7.73%) Time Management
8 14 (6.01%) Asset Management
8 14 (6.01%) Incident Management
8 14 (6.01%) Logistics
9 13 (5.58%) Inventory Management
10 12 (5.15%) Mobile Device Management
10 12 (5.15%) Workflow
11 11 (4.72%) Computer Science
11 11 (4.72%) Patch Management
Programming Languages
1 18 (7.73%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.43%) Python
Qualifications
1 71 (30.47%) Security Cleared
2 70 (30.04%) SC Cleared
3 16 (6.87%) Degree
4 11 (4.72%) ITIL Certification
5 6 (2.58%) A+ Certification
6 3 (1.29%) Computer Science Degree
6 3 (1.29%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 2 (0.86%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (14.16%) SLA
2 7 (3.00%) GDPR
3 2 (0.86%) QA
System Software
1 82 (35.19%) Active Directory
2 10 (4.29%) Virtual Desktop
3 5 (2.15%) Firmware
4 1 (0.43%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.43%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.43%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 35 (15.02%) Microsoft Intune
2 31 (13.30%) SCCM
3 2 (0.86%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 90 (38.63%) Microsoft
2 36 (15.45%) Cisco
3 33 (14.16%) HP
4 31 (13.30%) Apple
4 31 (13.30%) SAP
5 30 (12.88%) Dell
6 27 (11.59%) ServiceNow
7 5 (2.15%) McAfee
7 5 (2.15%) Remedy
8 4 (1.72%) Google
9 3 (1.29%) Bloomberg
9 3 (1.29%) Starlink
10 2 (0.86%) Salesforce
11 1 (0.43%) Altiris
11 1 (0.43%) Barracuda Networks
11 1 (0.43%) Citrix
11 1 (0.43%) CrowdStrike
11 1 (0.43%) SolarWinds
11 1 (0.43%) Veeam
11 1 (0.43%) VMware