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 20 February 2026.

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

 6 months to
20 Feb 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 407 306 247
Rank change year-on-year -101 -59 +36
Contract jobs requiring a Service Desk Analyst 193 236 423
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.47% 0.77% 0.95%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.52% 0.82% 1.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 73 123 206
10th Percentile £131 £139 £124
25th Percentile £150 £146 £140
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £175 £188 £173
Median % change year-on-year -6.67% +8.38% -1.14%
75th Percentile £220 £210 £200
90th Percentile £328 £250 £282
UK excluding London median daily rate £175 £180 £165
% change year-on-year -2.78% +9.09% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 59 36 168
10th Percentile £13.80 £14.01 £13.16
25th Percentile £14.38 £14.99 £14.15
Median hourly rate £16.00 £17.50 £14.91
Median % change year-on-year -8.57% +17.41% -3.84%
75th Percentile £19.10 £21.46 £18.00
90th Percentile £23.61 £23.23 £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 37,463 28,656 41,321
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.73% 92.90% 93.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,513 17,815 27,174
10th Percentile £305 £290 £275
25th Percentile £406 £406 £410
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 £480 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +1.05% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,286 832 2,325
10th Percentile £14.61 £16.23 £13.15
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.41 £16.50
Median hourly rate £31.36 £33.25 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -5.70% -5.00% -10.26%
75th Percentile £63.69 £63.75 £60.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.00 £32.00 £35.50
% change year-on-year -6.25% -9.86% -0.84%

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 20 February 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 20 February 2026.

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 20 February 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 -81 175 £175 -2.78% 70
England -128 172 £175 -7.89% 64
East of England -5 61 £173 -23.33% 10
North of England -94 32 £175 +16.67% 21
South East -36 26 £173 -13.75% 25
Work from Home -53 26 £131 -26.62% 21
Midlands -41 25 £131 -30.97% 4
North West -43 18 £150 -9.09% 12
East Midlands -15 17 £131 -30.97% 2
London -73 16 £250 +31.58% 7
South West -28 14 £305 +52.50% 6
Scotland 0 13 £190 +23.98% 4
Yorkshire -67 10 £181 +34.26% 6
West Midlands -46 8 £130 -31.58% 2
Wales -1 5 £148 +5.36% 3
North East -24 4 £188 - 3
Northern Ireland -1 1 - - 1

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

For the 6 months to 20 February 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.

1 104 (53.89%) Customer Service
2 61 (31.61%) Microsoft
2 61 (31.61%) Windows
3 60 (31.09%) Active Directory
4 51 (26.42%) ITIL
4 51 (26.42%) Microsoft 365
5 46 (23.83%) Problem-Solving
6 36 (18.65%) Security Cleared
7 29 (15.03%) SC Cleared
8 28 (14.51%) Windows 10
9 26 (13.47%) ITSM
10 24 (12.44%) Microsoft Exchange
11 23 (11.92%) ServiceNow
12 21 (10.88%) Microsoft Office
12 21 (10.88%) Service Management
13 15 (7.77%) Google
13 15 (7.77%) Google Workspace
14 14 (7.25%) Android
15 13 (6.74%) Apple iOS
15 13 (6.74%) Azure
15 13 (6.74%) Microsoft Intune
15 13 (6.74%) Service Delivery
15 13 (6.74%) SLA
15 13 (6.74%) VoIP
16 12 (6.22%) Collaborative Working
16 12 (6.22%) DNS
16 12 (6.22%) Mac OS
16 12 (6.22%) SCCM
17 11 (5.70%) Incident Management
17 11 (5.70%) ITIL Certification

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 24 (12.44%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (3.63%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.07%) Mattermost
4 3 (1.55%) HCL Notes
5 1 (0.52%) Exchange Server 2013
Applications
1 21 (10.88%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (3.11%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (2.07%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (1.55%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (3.11%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.52%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 51 (26.42%) Microsoft 365
2 15 (7.77%) Google Workspace
3 13 (6.74%) Azure
4 10 (5.18%) Entra ID
4 10 (5.18%) GCP
5 3 (1.55%) Power Platform
6 1 (0.52%) Cloud Computing
6 1 (0.52%) Mimecast
6 1 (0.52%) OCI
6 1 (0.52%) OneDrive
6 1 (0.52%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 13 (6.74%) VoIP
2 12 (6.22%) DNS
3 8 (4.15%) DHCP
4 7 (3.63%) TCP/IP
4 7 (3.63%) Wi-Fi
5 4 (2.07%) VPN
6 3 (1.55%) Broadband
7 2 (1.04%) Internet
7 2 (1.04%) LAN
7 2 (1.04%) Remote Desktop
7 2 (1.04%) SAN
8 1 (0.52%) NAS
8 1 (0.52%) Network Security
8 1 (0.52%) Skype
8 1 (0.52%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.52%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 4 (2.07%) JIRA
General
1 87 (45.08%) Social Skills
2 21 (10.88%) Romanian Language
3 16 (8.29%) Public Sector
4 11 (5.70%) Polish Language
5 8 (4.15%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 7 (3.63%) Military
7 6 (3.11%) Analytical Skills
7 6 (3.11%) Organisational Skills
8 5 (2.59%) Law
8 5 (2.59%) Manufacturing
8 5 (2.59%) Retail
9 4 (2.07%) Finance
9 4 (2.07%) Legal
9 4 (2.07%) Local Government
10 3 (1.55%) Banking
11 2 (1.04%) Documentation Skills
11 2 (1.04%) Presentation Skills
11 2 (1.04%) Spanish Language
11 2 (1.04%) Telecoms
12 1 (0.52%) Pharmaceutical
Miscellaneous
1 11 (5.70%) Management Information System
1 11 (5.70%) Smartphone
2 9 (4.66%) Onboarding
3 6 (3.11%) Enterprise Software
4 5 (2.59%) Video Conferencing
5 4 (2.07%) Data Centre
5 4 (2.07%) Self-Motivation
6 2 (1.04%) CMDB
7 1 (0.52%) Blackberry
7 1 (0.52%) BYOD
7 1 (0.52%) Data Protection Act
7 1 (0.52%) NHS
7 1 (0.52%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 61 (31.61%) Windows
2 28 (14.51%) Windows 10
3 14 (7.25%) Android
4 13 (6.74%) Apple iOS
5 12 (6.22%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.52%) Mac OS X
6 1 (0.52%) Unix
6 1 (0.52%) Windows 7
6 1 (0.52%) Windows Server
6 1 (0.52%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 104 (53.89%) Customer Service
2 51 (26.42%) ITIL
3 46 (23.83%) Problem-Solving
4 26 (13.47%) ITSM
5 21 (10.88%) Service Management
6 13 (6.74%) Service Delivery
7 12 (6.22%) Collaborative Working
8 11 (5.70%) Incident Management
9 9 (4.66%) Problem Management
10 8 (4.15%) Customer Experience
10 8 (4.15%) Digital Strategy
11 7 (3.63%) Continuous Improvement
11 7 (3.63%) Process Improvement
12 6 (3.11%) Active Listening
12 6 (3.11%) Agile
12 6 (3.11%) Configuration Management
12 6 (3.11%) Cybersecurity
12 6 (3.11%) DevOps
12 6 (3.11%) Migration
12 6 (3.11%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 1 (0.52%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 36 (18.65%) Security Cleared
2 29 (15.03%) SC Cleared
3 11 (5.70%) ITIL Certification
4 7 (3.63%) Degree
4 7 (3.63%) DV Cleared
4 7 (3.63%) Microsoft Certification
5 6 (3.11%) A+ Certification
6 4 (2.07%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 3 (1.55%) MCSA
8 2 (1.04%) Microsoft Certified Professional
9 1 (0.52%) BPSS Clearance
9 1 (0.52%) DBS Check
9 1 (0.52%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (6.74%) SLA
2 2 (1.04%) GDPR
3 1 (0.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 60 (31.09%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.52%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 13 (6.74%) Microsoft Intune
2 12 (6.22%) SCCM
3 1 (0.52%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 61 (31.61%) Microsoft
2 23 (11.92%) ServiceNow
3 15 (7.77%) Google
4 7 (3.63%) Citrix
4 7 (3.63%) Remedy
5 3 (1.55%) Apple
5 3 (1.55%) Lotus
6 1 (0.52%) Altiris
6 1 (0.52%) Barracuda Networks
6 1 (0.52%) Bomgar
6 1 (0.52%) Dell
6 1 (0.52%) Fortinet
6 1 (0.52%) Sophos
6 1 (0.52%) VMware
74 Service Desk Analyst jobs Nationwide