IT Support Contract Job Trends

IT Support
UK

The median IT Support daily rate in the UK is £185, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 31 January 2026.

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

6 months to
31 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 150 274 194
Rank change year-on-year +124 -80 +49
Contract jobs requiring an IT Support 734 289 570
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.89% 0.92% 1.27%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.07% 0.99% 1.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 391 142 350
10th Percentile £134 £150 £132
25th Percentile £154 £176 £153
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £185 £200 £200
Median % change year-on-year -7.50% - +8.11%
75th Percentile £216 £249 £244
90th Percentile £288 £311 £325
UK excluding London median daily rate £175 £193 £200
% change year-on-year -9.09% -3.75% +14.29%
Number of hourly rates quoted 183 38 108
10th Percentile £12.60 £16.38 £11.50
25th Percentile £15.50 £18.28 £12.88
Median hourly rate £18.50 £22.58 £17.83
Median % change year-on-year -18.07% +26.62% +0.63%
75th Percentile £21.00 £24.18 £23.00
90th Percentile £23.75 £34.13 £25.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.50 £22.00 £16.00
% change year-on-year -15.91% +37.50% -5.88%

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 35,445 29,208 41,662
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.48% 92.89% 93.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,347 17,858 27,594
10th Percentile £300 £296 £275
25th Percentile £405 £409 £411
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £719 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £479 £495
% change year-on-year -0.84% -3.23% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,112 858 2,186
10th Percentile £14.38 £15.91 £13.25
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.25 £17.00
Median hourly rate £29.60 £32.50 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year -8.92% -10.96% +4.29%
75th Percentile £61.18 £62.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £31.52 £38.00
% change year-on-year -12.75% -17.05% +26.67%

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 31 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 31 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 31 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 +120 657 £185 -7.50% 392
UK excluding London +88 604 £175 -9.09% 376
North of England +61 175 £175 -14.63% 81
London +7 117 £200 -11.11% 72
South East +36 112 £189 -5.63% 117
East of England +51 109 £203 +12.50% 55
North West +37 91 £175 -5.41% 31
Midlands -19 77 £175 - 62
Work from Home +14 72 £190 -19.15% 75
South West +3 64 £160 -17.95% 44
Yorkshire -3 53 £190 -18.10% 43
East Midlands -1 47 £200 +14.00% 35
Scotland +35 41 £213 +11.84% 17
North East +10 31 £125 - 12
West Midlands -36 30 £174 -8.68% 27
Wales +4 18 £160 -17.95% 8
Northern Ireland +1 8 - - 1

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

For the 6 months to 31 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.

1 359 (48.91%) Windows
2 321 (43.73%) Microsoft
3 294 (40.05%) Microsoft 365
4 260 (35.42%) Customer Service
5 201 (27.38%) Active Directory
6 142 (19.35%) Windows 10
7 132 (17.98%) Problem-Solving
8 128 (17.44%) ITIL
9 124 (16.89%) Security Cleared
10 112 (15.26%) SC Cleared
11 107 (14.58%) Microsoft Office
12 84 (11.44%) ServiceNow
13 83 (11.31%) Asset Management
14 80 (10.90%) SLA
15 75 (10.22%) Android
16 70 (9.54%) Azure
17 67 (9.13%) ITSM
17 67 (9.13%) Microsoft Intune
18 64 (8.72%) Degree
18 64 (8.72%) Mac OS
19 62 (8.45%) Time Management
20 54 (7.36%) Business Intelligence
21 52 (7.08%) Cisco
22 51 (6.95%) Wi-Fi
23 50 (6.81%) Apple
23 50 (6.81%) Service Delivery
23 50 (6.81%) SharePoint
24 49 (6.68%) SCCM
25 47 (6.40%) Entra ID
26 45 (6.13%) HP

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 50 (6.81%) SharePoint
2 31 (4.22%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.41%) Confluence
4 1 (0.14%) HCL Notes
Applications
1 107 (14.58%) Microsoft Office
2 38 (5.18%) Spreadsheet
3 24 (3.27%) Microsoft Excel
4 5 (0.68%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 5 (0.68%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.14%) assyst
2 1 (0.14%) Kondor
2 1 (0.14%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 294 (40.05%) Microsoft 365
2 70 (9.54%) Azure
3 47 (6.40%) Entra ID
4 32 (4.36%) Google Workspace
5 24 (3.27%) OneDrive
6 16 (2.18%) SaaS
7 7 (0.95%) Power Platform
8 2 (0.27%) Azure DevOps
8 2 (0.27%) PaaS
8 2 (0.27%) PowerApps
8 2 (0.27%) Slack
9 1 (0.14%) Adobe Creative Cloud
9 1 (0.14%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 51 (6.95%) Wi-Fi
2 45 (6.13%) VPN
3 44 (5.99%) DNS
4 39 (5.31%) DHCP
5 33 (4.50%) Wireless
6 30 (4.09%) LAN
6 30 (4.09%) TCP/IP
7 26 (3.54%) Firewall
8 21 (2.86%) WAN
9 15 (2.04%) Network Security
10 11 (1.50%) Cisco IOS
10 11 (1.50%) Unified Communications
11 10 (1.36%) Skype
12 8 (1.09%) VLAN
13 7 (0.95%) PABX
13 7 (0.95%) VoIP
14 5 (0.68%) Internet
14 5 (0.68%) Remote Desktop
15 4 (0.54%) WLAN
16 3 (0.41%) DMZ
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.14%) Electronic Patient Records
1 1 (0.14%) MySQL
1 1 (0.14%) Oracle Database
1 1 (0.14%) Oracle Reports
1 1 (0.14%) RDBMS
1 1 (0.14%) Relational Database
1 1 (0.14%) SQL Server
1 1 (0.14%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 20 (2.72%) JIRA
2 3 (0.41%) Chocolatey
3 1 (0.14%) Hudson
3 1 (0.14%) Tricentis qTest
General
1 362 (49.32%) Social Skills
2 83 (11.31%) Manufacturing
3 73 (9.95%) Organisational Skills
4 72 (9.81%) Finance
5 50 (6.81%) Public Sector
6 43 (5.86%) Telecoms
7 41 (5.59%) Marketing
8 40 (5.45%) Electronics
9 26 (3.54%) Analytical Skills
10 17 (2.32%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 16 (2.18%) Banking
12 8 (1.09%) Law
12 8 (1.09%) Pharmaceutical
13 7 (0.95%) Investment Banking
14 6 (0.82%) Aerospace
15 5 (0.68%) Documentation Skills
15 5 (0.68%) Financial Institution
15 5 (0.68%) Front Office
16 3 (0.41%) Legal
17 2 (0.27%) Publishing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.27%) Microsoft Graph
1 2 (0.27%) Middleware
1 2 (0.27%) Web Services
1 2 (0.27%) X-Windows
2 1 (0.14%) .NET
2 1 (0.14%) .NET Core
2 1 (0.14%) .NET Framework
2 1 (0.14%) CSS
2 1 (0.14%) HTML
2 1 (0.14%) React
Miscellaneous
1 56 (7.63%) Onboarding
2 29 (3.95%) Data Centre
3 28 (3.81%) Driving Licence
3 28 (3.81%) Enterprise Software
4 24 (3.27%) Self-Motivation
5 20 (2.72%) Video Conferencing
6 15 (2.04%) Management Information System
7 14 (1.91%) Smartphone
8 13 (1.77%) NHS
9 9 (1.23%) Virtual Team
10 8 (1.09%) Mobile App
11 7 (0.95%) Life Science
12 6 (0.82%) Team-Oriented Environment
13 5 (0.68%) BYOD
13 5 (0.68%) iPhone
13 5 (0.68%) Legacy Systems
13 5 (0.68%) Low-Code
14 4 (0.54%) Blackberry
15 3 (0.41%) Manufacturing Execution System
15 3 (0.41%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 359 (48.91%) Windows
2 142 (19.35%) Windows 10
3 75 (10.22%) Android
4 64 (8.72%) Mac OS
5 41 (5.59%) Apple iOS
6 34 (4.63%) Linux
7 27 (3.68%) Windows Server
8 12 (1.63%) Windows Server 2016
9 10 (1.36%) Windows Server 2019
10 9 (1.23%) Windows 7
11 5 (0.68%) Windows 8
12 3 (0.41%) Mac OS X
12 3 (0.41%) Windows Server 2003
13 2 (0.27%) Unix
13 2 (0.27%) Windows Server 2012
14 1 (0.14%) AIX
Processes & Methodologies
1 260 (35.42%) Customer Service
2 132 (17.98%) Problem-Solving
3 128 (17.44%) ITIL
4 83 (11.31%) Asset Management
5 67 (9.13%) ITSM
6 62 (8.45%) Time Management
7 54 (7.36%) Business Intelligence
8 50 (6.81%) Service Delivery
9 45 (6.13%) Service Management
10 41 (5.59%) Programme Management
11 40 (5.45%) Digital Marketing
12 39 (5.31%) Cybersecurity
13 36 (4.90%) Migration
14 35 (4.77%) Continuous Improvement
15 30 (4.09%) User Experience
16 27 (3.68%) Problem Management
17 25 (3.41%) Computer Science
17 25 (3.41%) Incident Management
18 22 (3.00%) Workflow
19 21 (2.86%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 18 (2.45%) PowerShell
2 5 (0.68%) SQL
3 4 (0.54%) Python
4 2 (0.27%) C#
5 1 (0.14%) Java
5 1 (0.14%) JavaScript
5 1 (0.14%) Perl
5 1 (0.14%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 124 (16.89%) Security Cleared
2 112 (15.26%) SC Cleared
3 64 (8.72%) Degree
4 26 (3.54%) A+ Certification
5 18 (2.45%) Microsoft Certification
6 13 (1.77%) Computer Science Degree
7 10 (1.36%) ITIL Certification
8 8 (1.09%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 8 (1.09%) Microsoft Certified Professional
9 7 (0.95%) DV Cleared
10 6 (0.82%) HND
11 5 (0.68%) MCDST
12 4 (0.54%) DBS Check
12 4 (0.54%) HNC
13 3 (0.41%) CCNA
13 3 (0.41%) Cisco Certification
13 3 (0.41%) Network+ Certification
14 2 (0.27%) ACSP
14 2 (0.27%) ACTC
14 2 (0.27%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 80 (10.90%) SLA
2 5 (0.68%) PMO
3 4 (0.54%) Cyber Essentials
3 4 (0.54%) GDPR
4 1 (0.14%) Actionable Recommendations
System Software
1 201 (27.38%) Active Directory
2 11 (1.50%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (0.54%) Hyper-V
3 4 (0.54%) Virtual Desktop
4 3 (0.41%) Firmware
5 2 (0.27%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.14%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.14%) VMware Workstation
6 1 (0.14%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 67 (9.13%) Microsoft Intune
2 49 (6.68%) SCCM
3 21 (2.86%) Jamf Pro
4 6 (0.82%) ServiceCenter
5 3 (0.41%) WSUS
6 2 (0.27%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 1 (0.14%) FortiGate
7 1 (0.14%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 321 (43.73%) Microsoft
2 84 (11.44%) ServiceNow
3 52 (7.08%) Cisco
4 50 (6.81%) Apple
5 45 (6.13%) HP
5 45 (6.13%) SAP
6 39 (5.31%) Dell
7 18 (2.45%) Google
8 15 (2.04%) VMware
9 9 (1.23%) Citrix
10 7 (0.95%) SOTI
11 6 (0.82%) Autodesk
11 6 (0.82%) Datto
11 6 (0.82%) Mitel
11 6 (0.82%) Remedy
12 5 (0.68%) Bloomberg
12 5 (0.68%) iManage
12 5 (0.68%) Palo Alto
13 4 (0.54%) Barracuda Networks
13 4 (0.54%) Oracle