IT Support Contract Job Trends

IT Support
UK

The median IT Support daily rate in the UK is £175, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 7 January 2026.

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

6 months to
7 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 153 260 201
Rank change year-on-year +107 -59 +49
Contract jobs requiring an IT Support 689 304 500
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.86% 0.94% 1.17%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.04% 1.02% 1.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 375 153 319
10th Percentile £134 £150 £126
25th Percentile £154 £170 £151
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £175 £195 £200
Median % change year-on-year -10.26% -2.50% +6.67%
75th Percentile £219 £238 £244
90th Percentile £288 £300 £338
UK excluding London median daily rate £175 £190 £200
% change year-on-year -7.89% -5.00% +14.29%
Number of hourly rates quoted 175 40 70
10th Percentile £12.60 £15.47 £12.25
25th Percentile £15.00 £18.20 £14.19
Median hourly rate £18.50 £23.70 £18.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.92% +31.64% +1.58%
75th Percentile £20.90 £24.18 £21.69
90th Percentile £23.75 £33.88 £24.78
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.50 £22.00 £17.72
% change year-on-year -15.91% +24.15% +7.39%

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 33,792 29,885 39,768
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.29% 92.67% 93.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,415 18,301 26,575
10th Percentile £300 £293 £281
25th Percentile £405 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £618 £638 £638
90th Percentile £719 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £480 £500
% change year-on-year -1.04% -4.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,959 924 1,607
10th Percentile £14.32 £15.56 £14.18
25th Percentile £18.25 £21.05 £19.06
Median hourly rate £26.78 £32.50 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -17.60% -26.97% +36.75%
75th Percentile £60.00 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.50 £73.75 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £31.50 £45.88
% change year-on-year -20.16% -31.34% +69.89%

IT Support
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'IT Support' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

IT Support job vacancy trend in the UK

IT Support
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for IT Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for IT Support job vacancies in the UK

IT Support
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing IT Support over the 6 months to 7 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for IT Support in the UK

IT Support
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for IT Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for IT Support job vacancies in the UK

IT Support
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing IT Support over the 6 months to 7 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for IT Support in the UK

IT 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 IT Support within the UK over the 6 months to 7 January 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 +105 616 £175 -10.26% 227
UK excluding London +68 557 £175 -7.89% 227
North of England +66 168 £175 -10.26% 62
South East +45 120 £180 -5.26% 62
London +18 116 £200 -11.11% 33
East of England +37 89 £215 +19.44% 24
North West +36 84 £175 +2.94% 34
Work from Home +21 74 £190 -14.61% 47
South West +18 64 £160 -17.95% 23
Midlands -37 57 £159 -9.00% 40
Yorkshire -3 55 £190 -18.10% 24
East Midlands -21 32 £158 -10.00% 18
Scotland +19 31 £225 +18.42% 12
North East +12 29 £120 - 6
West Midlands -36 25 £166 -2.65% 22
Wales +5 20 £160 -15.79% 9
Northern Ireland -5 9 - -

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

For the 6 months to 7 January 2026, IT 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 IT Support in the job title.

1 331 (48.04%) Windows
2 284 (41.22%) Microsoft
3 258 (37.45%) Microsoft 365
4 228 (33.09%) Customer Service
5 175 (25.40%) Active Directory
6 140 (20.32%) Windows 10
7 126 (18.29%) Problem-Solving
8 122 (17.71%) Security Cleared
9 118 (17.13%) ITIL
10 112 (16.26%) SC Cleared
11 108 (15.67%) Microsoft Office
12 78 (11.32%) Asset Management
12 78 (11.32%) ServiceNow
13 73 (10.60%) Android
14 72 (10.45%) SLA
15 64 (9.29%) Mac OS
16 62 (9.00%) Degree
17 60 (8.71%) Azure
17 60 (8.71%) ITSM
18 59 (8.56%) Business Intelligence
19 57 (8.27%) Microsoft Intune
20 53 (7.69%) Cisco
21 51 (7.40%) Service Delivery
21 51 (7.40%) SharePoint
22 50 (7.26%) Apple
23 49 (7.11%) SAP
24 47 (6.82%) Time Management
25 45 (6.53%) Programme Management
26 44 (6.39%) Digital Marketing
27 43 (6.24%) SCCM

IT 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 51 (7.40%) SharePoint
2 30 (4.35%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.29%) Confluence
4 1 (0.15%) HCL Notes
4 1 (0.15%) IIS
4 1 (0.15%) Mule
4 1 (0.15%) Tomcat
Applications
1 108 (15.67%) Microsoft Office
2 31 (4.50%) Spreadsheet
3 25 (3.63%) Microsoft Excel
4 5 (0.73%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.15%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.15%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 6 (0.87%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.29%) assyst
3 1 (0.15%) BondVision
3 1 (0.15%) Kondor
3 1 (0.15%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 258 (37.45%) Microsoft 365
2 60 (8.71%) Azure
3 42 (6.10%) Entra ID
4 30 (4.35%) Google Workspace
5 17 (2.47%) OneDrive
6 12 (1.74%) SaaS
7 6 (0.87%) Power Platform
8 3 (0.44%) Slack
9 1 (0.15%) Adobe Creative Cloud
9 1 (0.15%) AWS
9 1 (0.15%) Dynamics 365
9 1 (0.15%) GCP
9 1 (0.15%) GitHub
9 1 (0.15%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 42 (6.10%) DNS
2 35 (5.08%) VPN
3 32 (4.64%) DHCP
3 32 (4.64%) Wi-Fi
4 31 (4.50%) Wireless
5 30 (4.35%) TCP/IP
6 24 (3.48%) Firewall
7 20 (2.90%) LAN
8 15 (2.18%) Network Security
9 14 (2.03%) WAN
10 11 (1.60%) Cisco IOS
11 10 (1.45%) Skype
12 9 (1.31%) Unified Communications
13 7 (1.02%) PABX
13 7 (1.02%) Remote Desktop
14 6 (0.87%) Internet
15 4 (0.58%) IP Telephony
15 4 (0.58%) VLAN
15 4 (0.58%) VoIP
16 2 (0.29%) DMZ
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.58%) Oracle Reports
2 3 (0.44%) Relational Database
3 2 (0.29%) MySQL
3 2 (0.29%) RDBMS
4 1 (0.15%) Electronic Patient Records
4 1 (0.15%) Power BI
4 1 (0.15%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 7 (1.02%) JIRA
2 1 (0.15%) Hudson
2 1 (0.15%) Jenkins
2 1 (0.15%) Sonatype Nexus
2 1 (0.15%) Tricentis qTest
General
1 331 (48.04%) Social Skills
2 81 (11.76%) Finance
2 81 (11.76%) Manufacturing
3 68 (9.87%) Organisational Skills
4 55 (7.98%) Public Sector
5 45 (6.53%) Marketing
6 44 (6.39%) Electronics
6 44 (6.39%) Telecoms
7 20 (2.90%) Analytical Skills
8 19 (2.76%) Banking
9 16 (2.32%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 8 (1.16%) Investment Banking
10 8 (1.16%) Law
10 8 (1.16%) Pharmaceutical
11 7 (1.02%) Financial Institution
12 6 (0.87%) Aerospace
13 5 (0.73%) Front Office
13 5 (0.73%) Legal
14 3 (0.44%) Retail
15 2 (0.29%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.29%) Middleware
1 2 (0.29%) Web Services
2 1 (0.15%) JSON
2 1 (0.15%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 43 (6.24%) Onboarding
2 29 (4.21%) Data Centre
3 26 (3.77%) Driving Licence
4 25 (3.63%) Enterprise Software
5 22 (3.19%) Self-Motivation
6 18 (2.61%) Video Conferencing
7 17 (2.47%) Management Information System
8 14 (2.03%) Smartphone
9 12 (1.74%) NHS
10 8 (1.16%) BYOD
10 8 (1.16%) Mobile App
11 7 (1.02%) Blackberry
11 7 (1.02%) Life Science
12 6 (0.87%) Team-Oriented Environment
13 5 (0.73%) iPhone
13 5 (0.73%) Low-Code
14 4 (0.58%) Legacy Systems
15 3 (0.44%) Manufacturing Execution System
15 3 (0.44%) SCADA
15 3 (0.44%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 331 (48.04%) Windows
2 140 (20.32%) Windows 10
3 73 (10.60%) Android
4 64 (9.29%) Mac OS
5 42 (6.10%) Apple iOS
6 33 (4.79%) Linux
7 28 (4.06%) Windows Server
8 17 (2.47%) Windows Server 2016
9 9 (1.31%) Windows Server 2019
10 8 (1.16%) Windows 7
11 6 (0.87%) Windows Server 2003
12 5 (0.73%) Windows Server 2012
13 4 (0.58%) AIX
14 3 (0.44%) Mac OS X
14 3 (0.44%) Unix
15 2 (0.29%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 228 (33.09%) Customer Service
2 126 (18.29%) Problem-Solving
3 118 (17.13%) ITIL
4 78 (11.32%) Asset Management
5 60 (8.71%) ITSM
6 59 (8.56%) Business Intelligence
7 51 (7.40%) Service Delivery
8 47 (6.82%) Time Management
9 45 (6.53%) Programme Management
10 44 (6.39%) Digital Marketing
11 43 (6.24%) Service Management
12 35 (5.08%) Cybersecurity
13 30 (4.35%) Continuous Improvement
13 30 (4.35%) Migration
14 28 (4.06%) Problem Management
15 24 (3.48%) Computer Science
15 24 (3.48%) User Experience
16 22 (3.19%) Change Management
16 22 (3.19%) Incident Management
17 21 (3.05%) Workflow
Programming Languages
1 12 (1.74%) PowerShell
2 6 (0.87%) SQL
3 3 (0.44%) Java
4 2 (0.29%) JavaScript
4 2 (0.29%) Perl
4 2 (0.29%) Python
Qualifications
1 122 (17.71%) Security Cleared
2 112 (16.26%) SC Cleared
3 62 (9.00%) Degree
4 26 (3.77%) A+ Certification
5 15 (2.18%) Microsoft Certification
6 11 (1.60%) Computer Science Degree
7 10 (1.45%) ITIL Certification
8 8 (1.16%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 8 (1.16%) MCP
9 6 (0.87%) HND
10 5 (0.73%) DV Cleared
10 5 (0.73%) MCDST
11 4 (0.58%) DBS Check
11 4 (0.58%) HNC
12 2 (0.29%) ACSP
12 2 (0.29%) ACTC
12 2 (0.29%) BPSS Clearance
12 2 (0.29%) MCSE
13 1 (0.15%) PMI Certification
13 1 (0.15%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 72 (10.45%) SLA
2 7 (1.02%) GDPR
3 5 (0.73%) PMO
4 4 (0.58%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.15%) QA
System Software
1 175 (25.40%) Active Directory
2 11 (1.60%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (0.87%) Hyper-V
4 4 (0.58%) Terminal Services
4 4 (0.58%) Virtual Desktop
5 3 (0.44%) Firmware
6 2 (0.29%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.15%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.15%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 57 (8.27%) Microsoft Intune
2 43 (6.24%) SCCM
3 19 (2.76%) Jamf Pro
4 2 (0.29%) Control-M
4 2 (0.29%) ServiceCenter
4 2 (0.29%) WSUS
5 1 (0.15%) Autotask
5 1 (0.15%) FortiGate
5 1 (0.15%) Kubernetes
5 1 (0.15%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 284 (41.22%) Microsoft
2 78 (11.32%) ServiceNow
3 53 (7.69%) Cisco
4 50 (7.26%) Apple
5 49 (7.11%) SAP
6 38 (5.52%) HP
7 35 (5.08%) Dell
8 18 (2.61%) Google
9 14 (2.03%) VMware
10 13 (1.89%) Citrix
11 7 (1.02%) Datto
11 7 (1.02%) Oracle
11 7 (1.02%) Remedy
11 7 (1.02%) SOTI
12 6 (0.87%) Autodesk
12 6 (0.87%) Bloomberg
12 6 (0.87%) Mitel
13 5 (0.73%) iManage
13 5 (0.73%) Palo Alto
14 4 (0.58%) Barracuda Networks