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 2 April 2026.

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

6 months to
2 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 448 327 253
Rank change year-on-year -121 -74 +50
Contract jobs requiring a Service Desk Analyst 184 201 417
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.41% 0.69% 0.94%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.45% 0.74% 1.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 76 108 190
10th Percentile £131 £140 £125
25th Percentile £143 £150 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £175 £190 £173
Median % change year-on-year -7.89% +9.83% -3.89%
75th Percentile £221 £230 £200
90th Percentile £316 £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 43 40 183
10th Percentile £14.38 £14.02 £12.86
25th Percentile £15.11 £14.99 £14.16
Median hourly rate £16.00 £18.13 £15.31
Median % change year-on-year -11.72% +18.39% -1.23%
75th Percentile £21.50 £21.46 £20.00
90th Percentile £26.11 £24.69 £21.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.00 £17.75 £14.80
% change year-on-year -9.86% +19.93% -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 41,235 26,984 41,032
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.11% 92.84% 92.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,697 17,742 26,885
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.80% -1.00% -3.67%
75th Percentile £613 £629 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £485 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +2.11% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,576 945 2,527
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.07 £12.86
25th Percentile £19.75 £20.85 £16.25
Median hourly rate £38.63 £32.50 £32.90
Median % change year-on-year +18.86% -1.20% -25.00%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £76.25 £71.87
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £31.76 £33.00
% change year-on-year +25.94% -3.76% -21.25%

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 2 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 2 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 2 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 -98 161 £170 -10.53% 48
England -133 158 £175 -7.89% 49
East of England -23 41 £190 -15.56% 7
Work from Home -43 33 £131 -26.10% 9
North of England -92 31 £150 - 19
South East -53 27 £170 -15.00% 8
Midlands -53 27 £131 -30.97% 3
East Midlands -22 20 £131 -30.97%
London -77 20 £230 +21.05% 6
North West -46 19 £150 -4.76% 14
Scotland +11 17 £190 +4.97% 2
South West -31 14 £305 +52.50% 8
Yorkshire -61 8 £175 +29.63% 4
West Midlands -64 7 £190 - 3
Wales -6 6 £148 +5.36% 1
North East -20 4 £188 -16.67% 1

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

For the 6 months to 2 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 (50.00%) Customer Service
2 67 (36.41%) Windows
3 63 (34.24%) Microsoft
4 60 (32.61%) Active Directory
5 54 (29.35%) ITIL
6 48 (26.09%) Microsoft 365
7 46 (25.00%) Problem-Solving
8 40 (21.74%) Security Cleared
9 33 (17.93%) SC Cleared
10 29 (15.76%) Windows 10
11 27 (14.67%) ITSM
12 26 (14.13%) Microsoft Exchange
13 21 (11.41%) ServiceNow
14 20 (10.87%) Service Management
15 19 (10.33%) Android
15 19 (10.33%) Microsoft Office
16 18 (9.78%) Google
16 18 (9.78%) Google Workspace
17 17 (9.24%) Apple iOS
18 15 (8.15%) Mac OS
18 15 (8.15%) VoIP
19 13 (7.07%) Collaborative Working
19 13 (7.07%) ITIL Certification
19 13 (7.07%) SLA
20 12 (6.52%) Azure
20 12 (6.52%) GCP
21 11 (5.98%) Customer Experience
21 11 (5.98%) Digital Strategy
21 11 (5.98%) DNS
22 10 (5.43%) 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 26 (14.13%) Microsoft Exchange
2 8 (4.35%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.17%) Mattermost
4 2 (1.09%) HCL Notes
5 1 (0.54%) Exchange Server 2013
Applications
1 19 (10.33%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (3.26%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (2.17%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.54%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.54%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 5 (2.72%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.54%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 48 (26.09%) Microsoft 365
2 18 (9.78%) Google Workspace
3 12 (6.52%) Azure
3 12 (6.52%) GCP
4 8 (4.35%) Entra ID
5 2 (1.09%) OneDrive
5 2 (1.09%) 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 (8.15%) VoIP
2 11 (5.98%) DNS
3 7 (3.80%) DHCP
4 6 (3.26%) Wi-Fi
5 4 (2.17%) Broadband
5 4 (2.17%) TCP/IP
6 3 (1.63%) VPN
7 2 (1.09%) LAN
7 2 (1.09%) 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 (2.17%) JIRA
General
1 64 (34.78%) Social Skills
2 17 (9.24%) Public Sector
3 16 (8.70%) Romanian Language
4 8 (4.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 8 (4.35%) Military
5 7 (3.80%) Organisational Skills
6 6 (3.26%) Analytical Skills
6 6 (3.26%) Law
6 6 (3.26%) Manufacturing
6 6 (3.26%) Retail
7 4 (2.17%) Finance
7 4 (2.17%) Local Government
8 3 (1.63%) Documentation Skills
8 3 (1.63%) Telecoms
9 2 (1.09%) Banking
9 2 (1.09%) Legal
9 2 (1.09%) Polish Language
9 2 (1.09%) Presentation Skills
10 1 (0.54%) Dutch Language
10 1 (0.54%) Investment Banking
Miscellaneous
1 12 (6.52%) Smartphone
2 9 (4.89%) Management Information System
2 9 (4.89%) Onboarding
3 6 (3.26%) Enterprise Software
4 5 (2.72%) Video Conferencing
5 4 (2.17%) Self-Motivation
6 3 (1.63%) Data Centre
7 2 (1.09%) CMDB
8 1 (0.54%) Data Protection Act
8 1 (0.54%) NHS
8 1 (0.54%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 67 (36.41%) Windows
2 29 (15.76%) Windows 10
3 19 (10.33%) Android
4 17 (9.24%) Apple iOS
5 15 (8.15%) Mac OS
6 2 (1.09%) 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 (50.00%) Customer Service
2 54 (29.35%) ITIL
3 46 (25.00%) Problem-Solving
4 27 (14.67%) ITSM
5 20 (10.87%) Service Management
6 13 (7.07%) Collaborative Working
7 11 (5.98%) Customer Experience
7 11 (5.98%) Digital Strategy
8 10 (5.43%) Incident Management
8 10 (5.43%) Service Delivery
9 9 (4.89%) Problem Management
9 9 (4.89%) Process Improvement
10 7 (3.80%) Active Listening
10 7 (3.80%) Cybersecurity
11 6 (3.26%) Agile
11 6 (3.26%) Continuous Improvement
11 6 (3.26%) DevOps
11 6 (3.26%) Migration
11 6 (3.26%) User Experience
12 5 (2.72%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 2 (1.09%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 40 (21.74%) Security Cleared
2 33 (17.93%) SC Cleared
3 13 (7.07%) ITIL Certification
4 7 (3.80%) DV Cleared
5 6 (3.26%) Degree
6 4 (2.17%) A+ Certification
6 4 (2.17%) Microsoft Certification
7 3 (1.63%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 3 (1.63%) Microsoft Certified Professional
8 2 (1.09%) 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 (7.07%) SLA
2 2 (1.09%) GDPR
3 1 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 60 (32.61%) Active Directory
2 2 (1.09%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (0.54%) VMware ESXi
3 1 (0.54%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 9 (4.89%) Microsoft Intune
2 8 (4.35%) SCCM
3 1 (0.54%) Jamf Pro
3 1 (0.54%) NetBackup
3 1 (0.54%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 63 (34.24%) Microsoft
2 21 (11.41%) ServiceNow
3 18 (9.78%) Google
4 7 (3.80%) Citrix
5 6 (3.26%) Remedy
6 4 (2.17%) Apple
7 2 (1.09%) Lotus
7 2 (1.09%) VMware
8 1 (0.54%) Altiris
8 1 (0.54%) Bomgar
8 1 (0.54%) Commvault
8 1 (0.54%) Fortinet
8 1 (0.54%) Sophos
8 1 (0.54%) Zerto