Service Desk Analyst Contract Job Trends

Service Desk Analyst
UK

The median Service Desk Analyst daily rate in the UK is £175, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 5 December 2025.

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

6 months to
5 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 392 322 248
Rank change year-on-year -70 -74 +45
Contract jobs requiring a Service Desk Analyst 188 262 448
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.52% 0.73% 1.00%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.57% 0.78% 1.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 77 136 268
10th Percentile £130 £130 £125
25th Percentile £140 £142 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £175 £189 £186
Median % change year-on-year -7.28% +1.34% +9.56%
75th Percentile £219 £210 £226
90th Percentile £274 £268 £263
UK excluding London median daily rate £168 £177 £173
% change year-on-year -5.10% +2.02% +8.13%
Number of hourly rates quoted 65 35 125
10th Percentile £13.80 £14.18 £13.31
25th Percentile £14.38 £15.30 £14.00
Median hourly rate £16.00 £17.00 £15.62
Median % change year-on-year -5.88% +8.87% +0.74%
75th Percentile £19.50 £21.32 £18.75
90th Percentile £23.68 £21.46 £20.56
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.00 £17.00 £15.42
% change year-on-year -5.88% +10.28% -0.55%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 33,199 33,522 42,042
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.96% 92.79% 93.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,096 20,434 28,329
10th Percentile £285 £300 £294
25th Percentile £402 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £645
90th Percentile £723 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £495 £500
% change year-on-year -4.04% -1.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,922 1,156 1,511
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.42 £15.16
25th Percentile £17.97 £20.75 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.00
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -20.45% +39.68%
75th Percentile £57.50 £64.20 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.00 £73.66 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -22.62% -26.97% +78.00%

Service Desk Analyst
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Service Desk Analyst job vacancy trend in the UK

Service Desk Analyst
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Service Desk Analyst job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Service Desk Analyst job vacancies in the UK

Service Desk Analyst
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Service Desk Analyst over the 6 months to 5 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Service Desk Analyst in the UK

Service Desk Analyst
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Service Desk Analyst job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Service Desk Analyst job vacancies in the UK

Service Desk Analyst
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Service Desk Analyst over the 6 months to 5 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Service Desk Analyst in the UK

Service Desk Analyst
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 Service Desk Analyst within the UK over the 6 months to 5 December 2025. 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 -73 173 £173 -9.21% 64
UK excluding London -73 166 £168 -5.10% 75
East of England +8 60 £155 - 6
North of England -56 38 £163 +8.33% 19
Midlands -25 26 £132 -30.70% 6
South East -28 25 £185 -1.33% 22
Work from Home -34 25 £132 -18.62% 14
North West -22 23 £150 +1.69% 12
London -22 19 £275 +37.50% 6
East Midlands -6 14 £131 -30.97% 4
West Midlands -30 12 £250 +31.58% 2
Yorkshire -33 11 £156 +15.74% 7
Scotland -12 6 £190 -7.32%
South West -23 6 £213 +6.25% 10
Wales -14 4 £145 +11.54% 13
North East -15 4 £180 +20.00%
Northern Ireland -3 2 - -

Service Desk Analyst Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 5 December 2025, Service Desk Analyst 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 Service Desk Analyst in the job title.

1 100 (53.19%) Customer Service
2 68 (36.17%) Active Directory
3 63 (33.51%) Microsoft
4 59 (31.38%) Windows
5 51 (27.13%) Microsoft 365
6 41 (21.81%) Problem-Solving
7 39 (20.74%) ITIL
8 36 (19.15%) Windows 10
9 29 (15.43%) ServiceNow
10 27 (14.36%) ITSM
11 26 (13.83%) Microsoft Exchange
12 24 (12.77%) Microsoft Office
13 20 (10.64%) Security Cleared
14 19 (10.11%) Service Management
15 14 (7.45%) SC Cleared
15 14 (7.45%) SCCM
16 13 (6.91%) DNS
16 13 (6.91%) Service Delivery
16 13 (6.91%) SLA
17 12 (6.38%) A+ Certification
17 12 (6.38%) Entra ID
17 12 (6.38%) Incident Management
18 11 (5.85%) Azure
18 11 (5.85%) Microsoft Intune
19 10 (5.32%) Continuous Improvement
19 10 (5.32%) Customer Experience
19 10 (5.32%) Microsoft Certification
20 9 (4.79%) Degree
20 9 (4.79%) Problem Management
21 8 (4.26%) Active Listening

Service Desk Analyst 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 26 (13.83%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (3.72%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.13%) HCL Notes
4 2 (1.06%) Exchange Server 2013
5 1 (0.53%) Confluence
Applications
1 24 (12.77%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (2.66%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (2.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 5 (2.66%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (1.06%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.53%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 51 (27.13%) Microsoft 365
2 12 (6.38%) Entra ID
3 11 (5.85%) Azure
4 6 (3.19%) Google Workspace
5 3 (1.60%) GCP
6 2 (1.06%) Power Platform
7 1 (0.53%) Cloud Computing
7 1 (0.53%) Mimecast
7 1 (0.53%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 13 (6.91%) DNS
2 8 (4.26%) DHCP
2 8 (4.26%) TCP/IP
2 8 (4.26%) VoIP
3 6 (3.19%) Wi-Fi
4 5 (2.66%) VPN
5 2 (1.06%) Broadband
5 2 (1.06%) Internet
5 2 (1.06%) LAN
5 2 (1.06%) Network Security
5 2 (1.06%) Remote Desktop
5 2 (1.06%) SAN
6 1 (0.53%) Skype
6 1 (0.53%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.53%) DTS
1 1 (0.53%) Looker
Development Applications
1 5 (2.66%) JIRA
General
1 79 (42.02%) Social Skills
2 20 (10.64%) Romanian Language
3 15 (7.98%) Public Sector
4 12 (6.38%) Polish Language
5 10 (5.32%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 10 (5.32%) Manufacturing
5 10 (5.32%) Organisational Skills
5 10 (5.32%) Retail
6 7 (3.72%) Analytical Skills
7 6 (3.19%) Local Government
8 4 (2.13%) Finance
8 4 (2.13%) Legal
8 4 (2.13%) Military
8 4 (2.13%) Spanish Language
9 2 (1.06%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (1.06%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.53%) Advertising
10 1 (0.53%) Banking
10 1 (0.53%) French Language
10 1 (0.53%) Lithuanian Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.53%) EDI
Miscellaneous
1 9 (4.79%) Management Information System
2 7 (3.72%) NHS
2 7 (3.72%) Video Conferencing
3 6 (3.19%) Onboarding
4 5 (2.66%) Self-Motivation
4 5 (2.66%) Smartphone
5 4 (2.13%) Data Centre
5 4 (2.13%) Enterprise Software
6 2 (1.06%) CMDB
6 2 (1.06%) Smartcard
6 2 (1.06%) Virtual Team
7 1 (0.53%) Blackberry
7 1 (0.53%) BYOD
7 1 (0.53%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 59 (31.38%) Windows
2 36 (19.15%) Windows 10
3 5 (2.66%) Android
4 4 (2.13%) Apple iOS
5 3 (1.60%) Mac OS
6 2 (1.06%) Mac OS X
6 2 (1.06%) Windows Server
6 2 (1.06%) Windows Server 2012
7 1 (0.53%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 100 (53.19%) Customer Service
2 41 (21.81%) Problem-Solving
3 39 (20.74%) ITIL
4 27 (14.36%) ITSM
5 19 (10.11%) Service Management
6 13 (6.91%) Service Delivery
7 12 (6.38%) Incident Management
8 10 (5.32%) Continuous Improvement
8 10 (5.32%) Customer Experience
9 9 (4.79%) Problem Management
10 8 (4.26%) Active Listening
10 8 (4.26%) Digital Strategy
10 8 (4.26%) Migration
11 5 (2.66%) Collaborative Working
11 5 (2.66%) Process Improvement
12 4 (2.13%) Mathematics
12 4 (2.13%) Proactive Monitoring
13 3 (1.60%) Data Protection
13 3 (1.60%) Knowledge Management
13 3 (1.60%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 3 (1.60%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 20 (10.64%) Security Cleared
2 14 (7.45%) SC Cleared
3 12 (6.38%) A+ Certification
4 10 (5.32%) Microsoft Certification
5 9 (4.79%) Degree
6 8 (4.26%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 7 (3.72%) DV Cleared
8 4 (2.13%) ITIL Certification
9 3 (1.60%) MCSA
10 2 (1.06%) HNC
10 2 (1.06%) HND
11 1 (0.53%) BPSS Clearance
11 1 (0.53%) CIPD
11 1 (0.53%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (6.91%) SLA
System Software
1 68 (36.17%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.53%) VMware Infrastructure
2 1 (0.53%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 14 (7.45%) SCCM
2 11 (5.85%) Microsoft Intune
3 1 (0.53%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 63 (33.51%) Microsoft
2 29 (15.43%) ServiceNow
3 6 (3.19%) Citrix
3 6 (3.19%) Google
4 4 (2.13%) Lotus
4 4 (2.13%) Remedy
5 3 (1.60%) Apple
5 3 (1.60%) Cisco
6 2 (1.06%) Altiris
6 2 (1.06%) Barracuda Networks
6 2 (1.06%) Dell
7 1 (0.53%) Bomgar
7 1 (0.53%) Ivanti
7 1 (0.53%) Sophos
7 1 (0.53%) VMware