IT Support Contract Job Trends

IT Support
UK

The median IT Support daily rate in the UK is £179, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 28 January 2026.

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

6 months to
28 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 147 262 188
Rank change year-on-year +115 -74 +54
Contract jobs requiring an IT Support 722 291 556
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.88% 0.93% 1.26%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.06% 1.00% 1.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 382 144 341
10th Percentile £134 £150 £132
25th Percentile £154 £178 £153
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £179 £200 £200
Median % change year-on-year -10.63% - +8.11%
75th Percentile £214 £248 £243
90th Percentile £288 £309 £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 181 39 102
10th Percentile £12.60 £16.50 £11.50
25th Percentile £15.50 £18.35 £12.92
Median hourly rate £18.70 £23.59 £17.83
Median % change year-on-year -20.73% +32.29% +0.63%
75th Percentile £21.00 £24.18 £23.00
90th Percentile £23.75 £34.00 £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 35,104 29,073 41,093
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.45% 92.88% 93.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,171 17,758 27,208
10th Percentile £300 £291 £275
25th Percentile £405 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £615 £638 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £477 £495
% change year-on-year -0.42% -3.64% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,077 858 2,114
10th Percentile £14.38 £15.98 £13.29
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.25 £17.23
Median hourly rate £29.60 £32.50 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year -8.92% -13.33% +7.14%
75th Percentile £61.18 £62.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £70.00 £74.53 £73.93
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £30.98 £40.00
% change year-on-year -11.23% -22.56% +33.33%

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 28 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 28 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 28 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 +110 647 £185 -7.50% 366
UK excluding London +81 594 £175 -9.09% 364
North of England +58 174 £175 -14.63% 76
London +12 115 £198 -12.22% 65
South East +42 112 £188 -6.25% 120
East of England +49 105 £203 +12.50% 47
North West +38 91 £175 -5.41% 29
Midlands -22 77 £175 -2.78% 64
Work from Home +1 73 £190 -19.15% 76
South West -1 61 £160 -17.95% 37
Yorkshire -5 54 £190 -18.10% 38
East Midlands -12 48 £200 +14.00% 34
Scotland +34 39 £225 +18.42% 20
North East +11 29 £120 - 14
West Midlands -31 29 £172 -9.47% 30
Wales +2 18 £160 -17.95% 8
Northern Ireland -3 8 - - 2

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

For the 6 months to 28 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.

1 355 (49.17%) Windows
2 314 (43.49%) Microsoft
3 285 (39.47%) Microsoft 365
4 257 (35.60%) Customer Service
5 197 (27.29%) Active Directory
6 144 (19.94%) Windows 10
7 132 (18.28%) Problem-Solving
8 128 (17.73%) ITIL
9 123 (17.04%) Security Cleared
10 112 (15.51%) SC Cleared
11 107 (14.82%) Microsoft Office
12 83 (11.50%) Asset Management
13 80 (11.08%) ServiceNow
14 79 (10.94%) SLA
15 74 (10.25%) Android
16 67 (9.28%) Azure
17 65 (9.00%) Degree
17 65 (9.00%) ITSM
18 64 (8.86%) Microsoft Intune
19 63 (8.73%) Mac OS
20 59 (8.17%) Time Management
21 54 (7.48%) Business Intelligence
22 53 (7.34%) Cisco
23 50 (6.93%) SCCM
23 50 (6.93%) Service Delivery
24 49 (6.79%) Apple
25 48 (6.65%) SharePoint
26 45 (6.23%) SAP
26 45 (6.23%) Service Management
27 44 (6.09%) Entra ID

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 48 (6.65%) SharePoint
2 31 (4.29%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.14%) Confluence
3 1 (0.14%) HCL Notes
Applications
1 107 (14.82%) Microsoft Office
2 37 (5.12%) Spreadsheet
3 24 (3.32%) Microsoft Excel
4 5 (0.69%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 5 (0.69%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.14%) assyst
2 1 (0.14%) Kondor
2 1 (0.14%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 285 (39.47%) Microsoft 365
2 67 (9.28%) Azure
3 44 (6.09%) Entra ID
4 32 (4.43%) Google Workspace
5 20 (2.77%) OneDrive
6 14 (1.94%) SaaS
7 5 (0.69%) Power Platform
8 2 (0.28%) Slack
9 1 (0.14%) Adobe Creative Cloud
9 1 (0.14%) Azure DevOps
9 1 (0.14%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 42 (5.82%) Wi-Fi
2 41 (5.68%) VPN
3 40 (5.54%) DNS
4 35 (4.85%) DHCP
5 33 (4.57%) Wireless
6 29 (4.02%) TCP/IP
7 26 (3.60%) Firewall
8 24 (3.32%) LAN
9 18 (2.49%) WAN
10 15 (2.08%) Network Security
11 11 (1.52%) Cisco IOS
12 10 (1.39%) Skype
13 9 (1.25%) Unified Communications
14 7 (0.97%) PABX
14 7 (0.97%) VLAN
15 6 (0.83%) VoIP
16 5 (0.69%) Internet
16 5 (0.69%) Remote Desktop
17 3 (0.42%) DMZ
17 3 (0.42%) IP Telephony
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 15 (2.08%) JIRA
2 3 (0.42%) Chocolatey
3 1 (0.14%) Hudson
3 1 (0.14%) Tricentis qTest
General
1 353 (48.89%) Social Skills
2 81 (11.22%) Manufacturing
3 73 (10.11%) Finance
4 71 (9.83%) Organisational Skills
5 50 (6.93%) Public Sector
6 43 (5.96%) Telecoms
7 41 (5.68%) Marketing
8 40 (5.54%) Electronics
9 25 (3.46%) Analytical Skills
10 17 (2.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 16 (2.22%) Banking
12 8 (1.11%) Law
12 8 (1.11%) Pharmaceutical
13 7 (0.97%) Investment Banking
14 6 (0.83%) Aerospace
15 5 (0.69%) Documentation Skills
15 5 (0.69%) Financial Institution
15 5 (0.69%) Front Office
16 3 (0.42%) Legal
17 2 (0.28%) Local Government
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.28%) Middleware
1 2 (0.28%) Web Services
1 2 (0.28%) 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 53 (7.34%) Onboarding
2 28 (3.88%) Driving Licence
2 28 (3.88%) Enterprise Software
3 27 (3.74%) Data Centre
4 23 (3.19%) Self-Motivation
5 19 (2.63%) Video Conferencing
6 17 (2.35%) Management Information System
7 14 (1.94%) Smartphone
8 13 (1.80%) NHS
9 8 (1.11%) Mobile App
9 8 (1.11%) Virtual Team
10 7 (0.97%) Life Science
11 6 (0.83%) BYOD
11 6 (0.83%) Team-Oriented Environment
12 5 (0.69%) Blackberry
12 5 (0.69%) iPhone
12 5 (0.69%) Legacy Systems
12 5 (0.69%) Low-Code
13 3 (0.42%) Operational Technology
13 3 (0.42%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 355 (49.17%) Windows
2 144 (19.94%) Windows 10
3 74 (10.25%) Android
4 63 (8.73%) Mac OS
5 40 (5.54%) Apple iOS
6 34 (4.71%) Linux
7 26 (3.60%) Windows Server
8 12 (1.66%) Windows Server 2016
9 10 (1.39%) Windows Server 2019
10 9 (1.25%) Windows 7
11 5 (0.69%) Windows 8
12 3 (0.42%) Mac OS X
12 3 (0.42%) Windows Server 2003
13 2 (0.28%) Unix
13 2 (0.28%) Windows Server 2012
14 1 (0.14%) AIX
Processes & Methodologies
1 257 (35.60%) Customer Service
2 132 (18.28%) Problem-Solving
3 128 (17.73%) ITIL
4 83 (11.50%) Asset Management
5 65 (9.00%) ITSM
6 59 (8.17%) Time Management
7 54 (7.48%) Business Intelligence
8 50 (6.93%) Service Delivery
9 45 (6.23%) Service Management
10 41 (5.68%) Programme Management
11 40 (5.54%) Digital Marketing
12 39 (5.40%) Cybersecurity
13 36 (4.99%) Migration
14 34 (4.71%) Continuous Improvement
15 30 (4.16%) User Experience
16 28 (3.88%) Problem Management
17 26 (3.60%) Computer Science
18 24 (3.32%) Incident Management
19 22 (3.05%) Workflow
20 21 (2.91%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 15 (2.08%) PowerShell
2 4 (0.55%) SQL
3 2 (0.28%) Python
4 1 (0.14%) C#
4 1 (0.14%) Java
4 1 (0.14%) JavaScript
4 1 (0.14%) Perl
4 1 (0.14%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 123 (17.04%) Security Cleared
2 112 (15.51%) SC Cleared
3 65 (9.00%) Degree
4 28 (3.88%) A+ Certification
5 18 (2.49%) Microsoft Certification
6 14 (1.94%) Computer Science Degree
7 10 (1.39%) ITIL Certification
8 8 (1.11%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 8 (1.11%) MCP
9 6 (0.83%) DV Cleared
9 6 (0.83%) HND
10 5 (0.69%) MCDST
11 4 (0.55%) DBS Check
11 4 (0.55%) HNC
12 3 (0.42%) CCNA
12 3 (0.42%) Cisco Certification
12 3 (0.42%) Network+ Certification
13 2 (0.28%) ACTC
13 2 (0.28%) BPSS Clearance
13 2 (0.28%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 79 (10.94%) SLA
2 5 (0.69%) PMO
3 4 (0.55%) Cyber Essentials
3 4 (0.55%) GDPR
4 1 (0.14%) Actionable Recommendations
System Software
1 197 (27.29%) Active Directory
2 11 (1.52%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (0.55%) Hyper-V
3 4 (0.55%) Virtual Desktop
4 3 (0.42%) Firmware
5 2 (0.28%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.14%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.14%) VMware Workstation
6 1 (0.14%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 64 (8.86%) Microsoft Intune
2 50 (6.93%) SCCM
3 19 (2.63%) Jamf Pro
4 5 (0.69%) ServiceCenter
5 3 (0.42%) WSUS
6 2 (0.28%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 1 (0.14%) FortiGate
7 1 (0.14%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 314 (43.49%) Microsoft
2 80 (11.08%) ServiceNow
3 53 (7.34%) Cisco
4 49 (6.79%) Apple
5 45 (6.23%) SAP
6 44 (6.09%) HP
7 38 (5.26%) Dell
8 18 (2.49%) Google
9 15 (2.08%) VMware
10 9 (1.25%) Citrix
11 7 (0.97%) Datto
11 7 (0.97%) SOTI
12 6 (0.83%) Autodesk
12 6 (0.83%) Bloomberg
12 6 (0.83%) Mitel
12 6 (0.83%) Remedy
13 5 (0.69%) iManage
13 5 (0.69%) Palo Alto
13 5 (0.69%) Reuters
14 4 (0.55%) Oracle