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 24 March 2026.

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

6 months to
24 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 423 317 249
Rank change year-on-year -106 -68 +68
Contract jobs requiring a Service Desk Analyst 186 213 426
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.42% 0.73% 0.96%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.46% 0.79% 1.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 77 116 200
10th Percentile £131 £140 £125
25th Percentile £150 £150 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £175 £190 £173
Median % change year-on-year -7.89% +9.83% -3.89%
75th Percentile £225 £225 £200
90th Percentile £323 £274 £288
UK excluding London median daily rate £173 £188 £173
% change year-on-year -8.00% +8.38% +8.13%
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 40 182
10th Percentile £14.38 £14.02 £12.86
25th Percentile £14.83 £14.99 £14.16
Median hourly rate £16.00 £18.13 £14.81
Median % change year-on-year -11.72% +22.38% -4.39%
75th Percentile £21.00 £21.46 £19.23
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% -2.92%

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 40,297 27,081 41,111
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.96% 92.96% 92.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,161 17,787 26,923
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £411 £406 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -4.37%
75th Percentile £613 £630 £638
90th Percentile £724 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +1.32% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,500 900 2,514
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.20 £12.88
25th Percentile £19.34 £21.00 £16.25
Median hourly rate £36.70 £32.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +12.92% - -24.42%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.73 £60.00
90th Percentile £76.58 £76.34 £71.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £36.71 £32.50 £32.50
% change year-on-year +12.94% - -21.53%

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 24 March 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 24 March 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 24 March 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 -94 164 £173 -8.00% 44
England -137 162 £175 -7.89% 46
East of England -15 45 £190 -15.56% 7
Work from Home -56 31 £131 -27.13% 9
North of England -94 30 £150 - 16
South East -48 29 £173 -13.75% 9
Midlands -59 25 £131 -30.97% 3
London -74 20 £230 +21.05% 6
East Midlands -21 19 £131 -30.97%
North West -47 19 £150 - 11
Scotland +4 15 £190 +22.19% 2
South West -37 15 £305 +52.50% 7
Wales -4 7 £148 +5.36%
Yorkshire -66 7 £175 +29.63% 4
West Midlands -64 6 £160 -15.79% 3
North East -24 4 £188 -16.67% 1

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

For the 6 months to 24 March 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 (49.46%) Customer Service
2 65 (34.95%) Windows
3 64 (34.41%) Microsoft
4 61 (32.80%) Active Directory
5 53 (28.49%) ITIL
6 50 (26.88%) Microsoft 365
7 43 (23.12%) Problem-Solving
8 39 (20.97%) Security Cleared
9 31 (16.67%) SC Cleared
10 30 (16.13%) Windows 10
11 27 (14.52%) ITSM
12 25 (13.44%) Microsoft Exchange
13 22 (11.83%) ServiceNow
14 21 (11.29%) Service Management
15 20 (10.75%) Microsoft Office
16 16 (8.60%) Android
16 16 (8.60%) Google
16 16 (8.60%) Google Workspace
17 14 (7.53%) Apple iOS
18 13 (6.99%) Azure
18 13 (6.99%) SLA
18 13 (6.99%) VoIP
19 12 (6.45%) Mac OS
19 12 (6.45%) Service Delivery
20 11 (5.91%) Collaborative Working
20 11 (5.91%) DNS
20 11 (5.91%) Incident Management
20 11 (5.91%) ITIL Certification
20 11 (5.91%) Microsoft Intune
20 11 (5.91%) SCCM

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 25 (13.44%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (3.76%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.15%) Mattermost
4 2 (1.08%) HCL Notes
5 1 (0.54%) Exchange Server 2013
Applications
1 20 (10.75%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (3.76%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (2.69%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.54%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (3.23%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.54%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 50 (26.88%) Microsoft 365
2 16 (8.60%) Google Workspace
3 13 (6.99%) Azure
4 10 (5.38%) GCP
5 7 (3.76%) Entra ID
6 3 (1.61%) Power Platform
7 1 (0.54%) AWS
7 1 (0.54%) Cloud Computing
7 1 (0.54%) Mimecast
7 1 (0.54%) OCI
7 1 (0.54%) OneDrive
7 1 (0.54%) Rubrik
7 1 (0.54%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 13 (6.99%) VoIP
2 11 (5.91%) DNS
3 7 (3.76%) DHCP
3 7 (3.76%) Wi-Fi
4 4 (2.15%) Broadband
4 4 (2.15%) TCP/IP
5 3 (1.61%) VPN
6 2 (1.08%) LAN
6 2 (1.08%) Remote Desktop
7 1 (0.54%) Internet
7 1 (0.54%) NAS
7 1 (0.54%) Network Security
7 1 (0.54%) SAN
7 1 (0.54%) Skype
7 1 (0.54%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.54%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 4 (2.15%) JIRA
General
1 72 (38.71%) Social Skills
2 17 (9.14%) Romanian Language
3 15 (8.06%) Public Sector
4 8 (4.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 7 (3.76%) Military
5 7 (3.76%) Organisational Skills
6 6 (3.23%) Analytical Skills
6 6 (3.23%) Law
6 6 (3.23%) Manufacturing
6 6 (3.23%) Retail
7 4 (2.15%) Finance
7 4 (2.15%) Local Government
7 4 (2.15%) Polish Language
8 3 (1.61%) Documentation Skills
8 3 (1.61%) Telecoms
9 2 (1.08%) Banking
9 2 (1.08%) Legal
9 2 (1.08%) Presentation Skills
10 1 (0.54%) Dutch Language
10 1 (0.54%) Pharmaceutical
Miscellaneous
1 10 (5.38%) Management Information System
1 10 (5.38%) Smartphone
2 9 (4.84%) Onboarding
3 6 (3.23%) Enterprise Software
3 6 (3.23%) Video Conferencing
4 4 (2.15%) Self-Motivation
5 3 (1.61%) Data Centre
6 2 (1.08%) CMDB
7 1 (0.54%) Data Protection Act
7 1 (0.54%) NHS
7 1 (0.54%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 65 (34.95%) Windows
2 30 (16.13%) Windows 10
3 16 (8.60%) Android
4 14 (7.53%) Apple iOS
5 12 (6.45%) 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 (49.46%) Customer Service
2 53 (28.49%) ITIL
3 43 (23.12%) Problem-Solving
4 27 (14.52%) ITSM
5 21 (11.29%) Service Management
6 12 (6.45%) Service Delivery
7 11 (5.91%) Collaborative Working
7 11 (5.91%) Incident Management
8 10 (5.38%) Customer Experience
8 10 (5.38%) Digital Strategy
9 9 (4.84%) Problem Management
10 8 (4.30%) Process Improvement
11 7 (3.76%) Active Listening
11 7 (3.76%) Cybersecurity
11 7 (3.76%) User Experience
12 6 (3.23%) Agile
12 6 (3.23%) Continuous Improvement
12 6 (3.23%) DevOps
12 6 (3.23%) Migration
13 5 (2.69%) CRM
Programming Languages
1 2 (1.08%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 39 (20.97%) Security Cleared
2 31 (16.67%) SC Cleared
3 11 (5.91%) ITIL Certification
4 8 (4.30%) DV Cleared
5 7 (3.76%) Degree
6 6 (3.23%) Microsoft Certification
7 5 (2.69%) A+ Certification
8 3 (1.61%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 3 (1.61%) MCSA
8 3 (1.61%) Microsoft Certified Professional
9 1 (0.54%) BPSS Clearance
9 1 (0.54%) DBS Check
9 1 (0.54%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (6.99%) SLA
2 2 (1.08%) GDPR
3 1 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 61 (32.80%) Active Directory
2 2 (1.08%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (0.54%) VMware ESXi
3 1 (0.54%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 11 (5.91%) Microsoft Intune
1 11 (5.91%) SCCM
2 1 (0.54%) Jamf Pro
2 1 (0.54%) NetBackup
2 1 (0.54%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 64 (34.41%) Microsoft
2 22 (11.83%) ServiceNow
3 16 (8.60%) Google
4 8 (4.30%) Citrix
5 7 (3.76%) Remedy
6 4 (2.15%) Apple
7 2 (1.08%) Lotus
7 2 (1.08%) 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