Desktop Support Contract Job Trends

Desktop Support
UK

The median Desktop Support daily rate in the UK is £178, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 4 March 2026.

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

6 months to
4 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 363 316 299
Rank change year-on-year -47 -17 +23
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 237 211 330
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.56% 0.70% 0.75%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.61% 0.76% 0.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 173 135 233
10th Percentile £150 £150 £124
25th Percentile £156 £175 £143
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £178 £200 £200
Median % change year-on-year -10.94% - -
75th Percentile £230 £238 £220
90th Percentile £275 £261 £277
UK excluding London median daily rate £175 £200 £203
% change year-on-year -12.50% -1.23% +1.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 16 25
10th Percentile £16.25 £17.40 £16.55
25th Percentile £19.54 £21.25 £18.95
Median hourly rate £20.18 £23.00 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year -12.26% +9.52% +14.29%
75th Percentile £21.46 £27.94 £30.00
90th Percentile £31.40 £30.68 £31.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.91 £23.00 £20.25
% change year-on-year -13.43% +13.58% +17.39%

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 38,703 27,889 41,142
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.84% 92.83% 92.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,288 17,682 27,029
10th Percentile £310 £288 £275
25th Percentile £409 £406 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £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 2,374 845 2,408
10th Percentile £14.64 £16.25 £13.05
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.46 £16.25
Median hourly rate £33.50 £34.00 £34.00
Median % change year-on-year -1.47% - -16.05%
75th Percentile £64.00 £64.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.40 £71.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £32.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year - -7.14% -10.88%

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 4 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 4 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 4 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 -49 222 £195 -4.88% 21
UK excluding London -52 186 £175 -12.50% 16
London -54 49 £201 +0.25% 8
Midlands -34 42 £175 -14.63%
North of England -47 40 £175 -14.63% 6
East of England -3 34 £195 -4.88%
South West -26 32 £250 +11.11% 5
East Midlands -3 30 £175 -17.65%
South East -44 25 £172 -12.05% 5
North West -34 18 £175 -15.66% 3
Work from Home -12 15 £163 -41.18% 3
Yorkshire -56 13 £221 -0.56% 3
West Midlands -55 12 £175 -12.50%
Wales +2 10 £160 -
North East -9 9 £175 +12.90% 1
Scotland -5 5 £166 +10.50%

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

For the 6 months to 4 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.

1 142 (59.92%) Windows
2 105 (44.30%) Microsoft 365
3 94 (39.66%) Microsoft
4 83 (35.02%) Customer Service
5 82 (34.60%) Active Directory
6 77 (32.49%) Windows 10
7 72 (30.38%) Security Cleared
8 71 (29.96%) SC Cleared
9 54 (22.78%) Microsoft Office
10 43 (18.14%) Mac OS
11 40 (16.88%) Azure
12 39 (16.46%) Android
13 37 (15.61%) ITIL
13 37 (15.61%) Microsoft Intune
14 36 (15.19%) Cisco
15 34 (14.35%) SLA
15 34 (14.35%) Wireless
16 33 (13.92%) HP
17 32 (13.50%) Apple
18 31 (13.08%) Business Intelligence
18 31 (13.08%) Digital Marketing
18 31 (13.08%) Programme Management
18 31 (13.08%) SAP
19 30 (12.66%) Dell
19 30 (12.66%) SCCM
20 27 (11.39%) Migration
20 27 (11.39%) Problem-Solving
20 27 (11.39%) Service Delivery
20 27 (11.39%) ServiceNow
21 25 (10.55%) SharePoint

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 (10.55%) SharePoint
2 24 (10.13%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 54 (22.78%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (6.33%) Microsoft Excel
2 15 (6.33%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.42%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.84%) assyst
2 1 (0.42%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 105 (44.30%) Microsoft 365
2 40 (16.88%) Azure
3 15 (6.33%) OneDrive
4 12 (5.06%) Entra ID
5 4 (1.69%) Google Ads
5 4 (1.69%) Google Workspace
5 4 (1.69%) Slack
6 1 (0.42%) Google Drive
Communications & Networking
1 34 (14.35%) Wireless
2 20 (8.44%) VPN
3 13 (5.49%) PABX
4 11 (4.64%) DNS
5 9 (3.80%) DHCP
5 9 (3.80%) TCP/IP
6 8 (3.38%) Cisco IOS
6 8 (3.38%) Skype
7 3 (1.27%) Softphone
7 3 (1.27%) Structured Cabling
8 2 (0.84%) Firewall
8 2 (0.84%) LAN
8 2 (0.84%) Telepresence
8 2 (0.84%) Unified Communications
8 2 (0.84%) Wi-Fi
9 1 (0.42%) IPv4
9 1 (0.42%) Network Security
9 1 (0.42%) VLAN
9 1 (0.42%) VoIP
9 1 (0.42%) WAN
Development Applications
1 4 (1.69%) JIRA
General
1 97 (40.93%) Social Skills
2 54 (22.78%) Finance
3 36 (15.19%) Public Sector
4 34 (14.35%) Telecoms
5 31 (13.08%) Electronics
5 31 (13.08%) Manufacturing
5 31 (13.08%) Marketing
6 23 (9.70%) Analytical Skills
7 9 (3.80%) Retail
8 7 (2.95%) Aerospace
9 6 (2.53%) Banking
9 6 (2.53%) Documentation Skills
9 6 (2.53%) Law
10 5 (2.11%) Organisational Skills
11 3 (1.27%) Pharmaceutical
12 2 (0.84%) Investment Banking
12 2 (0.84%) Legal
13 1 (0.42%) Financial Institution
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.42%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 30 (12.66%) Self-Motivation
1 30 (12.66%) Smartphone
2 25 (10.55%) Data Centre
3 12 (5.06%) Onboarding
4 10 (4.22%) Mobile App
5 8 (3.38%) Hybrid Cloud
5 8 (3.38%) Management Information System
6 6 (2.53%) Video Conferencing
7 5 (2.11%) Enterprise Software
7 5 (2.11%) iPad
7 5 (2.11%) iPhone
7 5 (2.11%) Virtual Team
8 3 (1.27%) Hedge funds
9 2 (0.84%) Driving Licence
9 2 (0.84%) Tandem
10 1 (0.42%) Analytical Mindset
10 1 (0.42%) Augmented Reality
10 1 (0.42%) BYOD
10 1 (0.42%) Data Protection Act
10 1 (0.42%) Virtual Reality
Operating Systems
1 142 (59.92%) Windows
2 77 (32.49%) Windows 10
3 43 (18.14%) Mac OS
4 39 (16.46%) Android
5 17 (7.17%) Apple iOS
6 10 (4.22%) Windows Server
7 6 (2.53%) Windows 7
8 4 (1.69%) Windows 8
9 1 (0.42%) Linux
9 1 (0.42%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.42%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 83 (35.02%) Customer Service
2 37 (15.61%) ITIL
3 31 (13.08%) Business Intelligence
3 31 (13.08%) Digital Marketing
3 31 (13.08%) Programme Management
4 27 (11.39%) Migration
4 27 (11.39%) Problem-Solving
4 27 (11.39%) Service Delivery
5 23 (9.70%) Service Management
6 20 (8.44%) Time Management
7 19 (8.02%) Continuous Improvement
8 18 (7.59%) ITSM
9 15 (6.33%) Asset Management
9 15 (6.33%) Logistics
10 14 (5.91%) Incident Management
10 14 (5.91%) Inventory Management
11 12 (5.06%) Workflow
12 11 (4.64%) Computer Science
13 10 (4.22%) Infrastructure Management
13 10 (4.22%) Mobile Device Management
Programming Languages
1 17 (7.17%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.42%) Python
Qualifications
1 72 (30.38%) Security Cleared
2 71 (29.96%) SC Cleared
3 16 (6.75%) Degree
4 13 (5.49%) ITIL Certification
5 6 (2.53%) A+ Certification
6 3 (1.27%) Computer Science Degree
6 3 (1.27%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 2 (0.84%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (14.35%) SLA
2 7 (2.95%) GDPR
3 2 (0.84%) QA
System Software
1 82 (34.60%) Active Directory
2 8 (3.38%) Virtual Desktop
3 5 (2.11%) Firmware
4 1 (0.42%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.42%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.42%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 37 (15.61%) Microsoft Intune
2 30 (12.66%) SCCM
3 2 (0.84%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 94 (39.66%) Microsoft
2 36 (15.19%) Cisco
3 33 (13.92%) HP
4 32 (13.50%) Apple
5 31 (13.08%) SAP
6 30 (12.66%) Dell
7 27 (11.39%) ServiceNow
8 7 (2.95%) McAfee
9 6 (2.53%) Starlink
10 5 (2.11%) Google
10 5 (2.11%) Remedy
11 3 (1.27%) Bloomberg
12 2 (0.84%) Salesforce
13 1 (0.42%) Altiris
13 1 (0.42%) Barracuda Networks
13 1 (0.42%) Citrix
13 1 (0.42%) CrowdStrike
13 1 (0.42%) SolarWinds
13 1 (0.42%) Veeam
13 1 (0.42%) VMware