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 8 April 2026.

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

6 months to
8 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 443 337 246
Rank change year-on-year -106 -91 +57
Contract jobs requiring a Service Desk Analyst 185 194 417
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.40% 0.66% 0.95%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.44% 0.72% 1.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 78 104 187
10th Percentile £131 £140 £124
25th Percentile £139 £150 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £175 £190 £173
Median % change year-on-year -7.89% +9.83% -3.89%
75th Percentile £220 £238 £204
90th Percentile £315 £288 £288
UK excluding London median daily rate £170 £190 £173
% change year-on-year -10.53% +9.83% +8.13%
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 42 186
10th Percentile £14.38 £14.07 £12.86
25th Percentile £15.25 £14.99 £14.16
Median hourly rate £16.50 £17.75 £15.31
Median % change year-on-year -7.04% +15.94% -1.23%
75th Percentile £22.00 £21.46 £20.00
90th Percentile £26.11 £24.64 £21.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.00 £17.50 £14.80
% change year-on-year -8.57% +18.24% -4.52%

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 42,201 27,101 40,725
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.25% 92.74% 92.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,267 17,830 26,650
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £630 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +2.63% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,670 965 2,551
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.99 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.00 £20.26 £16.25
Median hourly rate £40.00 £31.76 £34.21
Median % change year-on-year +25.94% -7.16% -23.98%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £76.25 £71.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.68 £30.62 £35.00
% change year-on-year +36.14% -12.53% -17.38%

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 8 April 2026.

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 8 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Service Desk Analyst in the UK

Service Desk Analyst
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 Service Desk Analyst within the UK over the 6 months to 8 April 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
UK excluding London -93 162 £170 -10.53% 48
England -128 158 £175 -7.89% 49
East of England -25 39 £190 -15.56% 7
Work from Home -40 34 £131 -25.05% 9
North of England -79 32 £150 -4.76% 19
South East -42 28 £173 -13.75% 8
Midlands -51 28 £131 -30.97% 3
East Midlands -17 21 £131 -30.97%
North West -42 20 £150 -4.76% 14
London -84 20 £230 +17.95% 6
Scotland +9 18 £190 +4.97% 2
South West -37 13 £305 +52.50% 8
Yorkshire -55 8 £175 +33.80% 4
West Midlands -66 7 £190 - 3
Wales -6 6 £148 +5.36% 1
North East -20 4 £188 -31.19% 1

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

For the 6 months to 8 April 2026, 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 92 (49.73%) Customer Service
2 69 (37.30%) Windows
3 66 (35.68%) Microsoft
4 63 (34.05%) Active Directory
5 55 (29.73%) ITIL
6 49 (26.49%) Microsoft 365
7 46 (24.86%) Problem-Solving
8 39 (21.08%) Security Cleared
9 33 (17.84%) SC Cleared
10 30 (16.22%) Windows 10
11 27 (14.59%) Microsoft Exchange
12 26 (14.05%) ITSM
13 20 (10.81%) ServiceNow
14 19 (10.27%) Android
14 19 (10.27%) Service Management
15 18 (9.73%) Google
15 18 (9.73%) Google Workspace
15 18 (9.73%) Microsoft Office
16 17 (9.19%) Apple iOS
17 15 (8.11%) Mac OS
17 15 (8.11%) VoIP
18 13 (7.03%) Collaborative Working
18 13 (7.03%) ITIL Certification
18 13 (7.03%) SLA
19 12 (6.49%) Azure
19 12 (6.49%) Digital Strategy
19 12 (6.49%) GCP
20 11 (5.95%) Customer Experience
20 11 (5.95%) DNS
21 9 (4.86%) Incident Management

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 27 (14.59%) Microsoft Exchange
2 8 (4.32%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.16%) Mattermost
4 2 (1.08%) HCL Notes
5 1 (0.54%) Exchange Server 2013
Applications
1 18 (9.73%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (3.24%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (2.16%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.54%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.54%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 4 (2.16%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.54%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 49 (26.49%) Microsoft 365
2 18 (9.73%) Google Workspace
3 12 (6.49%) Azure
3 12 (6.49%) GCP
4 8 (4.32%) Entra ID
5 2 (1.08%) OneDrive
5 2 (1.08%) Power Platform
6 1 (0.54%) AWS
6 1 (0.54%) Cloud Computing
6 1 (0.54%) Mimecast
6 1 (0.54%) OCI
6 1 (0.54%) Rubrik
6 1 (0.54%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 15 (8.11%) VoIP
2 11 (5.95%) DNS
3 7 (3.78%) DHCP
4 6 (3.24%) Wi-Fi
5 4 (2.16%) Broadband
5 4 (2.16%) TCP/IP
6 3 (1.62%) VPN
7 2 (1.08%) LAN
7 2 (1.08%) Remote Desktop
8 1 (0.54%) Internet
8 1 (0.54%) NAS
8 1 (0.54%) Network Security
8 1 (0.54%) SAN
8 1 (0.54%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.54%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 4 (2.16%) JIRA
General
1 63 (34.05%) Social Skills
2 17 (9.19%) Public Sector
3 15 (8.11%) Romanian Language
4 9 (4.86%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 8 (4.32%) Military
6 7 (3.78%) Organisational Skills
7 6 (3.24%) Analytical Skills
7 6 (3.24%) Law
7 6 (3.24%) Manufacturing
7 6 (3.24%) Retail
8 4 (2.16%) Finance
8 4 (2.16%) Local Government
9 3 (1.62%) Documentation Skills
9 3 (1.62%) Legal
9 3 (1.62%) Telecoms
10 2 (1.08%) Banking
10 2 (1.08%) Polish Language
10 2 (1.08%) Presentation Skills
11 1 (0.54%) Dutch Language
11 1 (0.54%) Investment Banking
Miscellaneous
1 12 (6.49%) Smartphone
2 9 (4.86%) Onboarding
3 8 (4.32%) Management Information System
4 6 (3.24%) Enterprise Software
5 5 (2.70%) Video Conferencing
6 4 (2.16%) Self-Motivation
7 3 (1.62%) Data Centre
8 2 (1.08%) CMDB
9 1 (0.54%) Data Protection Act
9 1 (0.54%) NHS
9 1 (0.54%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 69 (37.30%) Windows
2 30 (16.22%) Windows 10
3 19 (10.27%) Android
4 17 (9.19%) Apple iOS
5 15 (8.11%) Mac OS
6 2 (1.08%) Windows Server
7 1 (0.54%) Mac OS X
7 1 (0.54%) Unix
7 1 (0.54%) Windows 7
7 1 (0.54%) Windows Server 2012
7 1 (0.54%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 92 (49.73%) Customer Service
2 55 (29.73%) ITIL
3 46 (24.86%) Problem-Solving
4 26 (14.05%) ITSM
5 19 (10.27%) Service Management
6 13 (7.03%) Collaborative Working
7 12 (6.49%) Digital Strategy
8 11 (5.95%) Customer Experience
9 9 (4.86%) Incident Management
9 9 (4.86%) Problem Management
9 9 (4.86%) Process Improvement
9 9 (4.86%) Service Delivery
10 7 (3.78%) Active Listening
10 7 (3.78%) Cybersecurity
10 7 (3.78%) Migration
11 6 (3.24%) Agile
11 6 (3.24%) Continuous Improvement
11 6 (3.24%) DevOps
11 6 (3.24%) User Experience
12 5 (2.70%) Data Protection
Programming Languages
1 2 (1.08%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 39 (21.08%) Security Cleared
2 33 (17.84%) SC Cleared
3 13 (7.03%) ITIL Certification
4 6 (3.24%) DV Cleared
5 5 (2.70%) Degree
6 4 (2.16%) A+ Certification
6 4 (2.16%) Microsoft Certification
7 3 (1.62%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 3 (1.62%) Microsoft Certified Professional
8 2 (1.08%) MCSA
9 1 (0.54%) BPSS Clearance
9 1 (0.54%) DBS Check
9 1 (0.54%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (7.03%) SLA
2 2 (1.08%) GDPR
3 1 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 63 (34.05%) Active Directory
2 3 (1.62%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (0.54%) Hyper-V
3 1 (0.54%) VMware ESXi
3 1 (0.54%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 9 (4.86%) Microsoft Intune
2 8 (4.32%) SCCM
3 1 (0.54%) Jamf Pro
3 1 (0.54%) NetBackup
3 1 (0.54%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 66 (35.68%) Microsoft
2 20 (10.81%) ServiceNow
3 18 (9.73%) Google
4 7 (3.78%) Citrix
5 5 (2.70%) Remedy
6 4 (2.16%) Apple
7 3 (1.62%) VMware
8 2 (1.08%) Lotus
9 1 (0.54%) Altiris
9 1 (0.54%) Bomgar
9 1 (0.54%) Commvault
9 1 (0.54%) Fortinet
9 1 (0.54%) Sophos
9 1 (0.54%) Zerto