Service Desk Analyst Contract Job Trends

Service Desk Analyst
UK

The median Service Desk Analyst daily rate in the UK is £176, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 1 November 2025.

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

6 months to
1 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 386 305 258
Rank change year-on-year -81 -47 +52
Contract jobs requiring a Service Desk Analyst 183 270 462
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.53% 0.74% 0.98%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.59% 0.79% 1.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 72 143 272
10th Percentile £131 £127 £124
25th Percentile £141 £140 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £176 £190 £188
Median % change year-on-year -7.24% +1.33% +13.64%
75th Percentile £219 £220 £230
90th Percentile £285 £286 £258
UK excluding London median daily rate £165 £179 £175
% change year-on-year -7.69% +2.14% +9.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 66 35 130
10th Percentile £13.80 £14.41 £13.25
25th Percentile £14.38 £15.51 £13.41
Median hourly rate £16.00 £17.50 £15.65
Median % change year-on-year -8.57% +11.82% +0.97%
75th Percentile £19.50 £18.95 £18.75
90th Percentile £23.54 £28.75 £20.56
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.00 £17.50 £15.65
% change year-on-year -8.57% +11.82% +0.97%

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 31,208 33,969 44,256
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.91% 92.87% 93.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 19,768 20,497 30,170
10th Percentile £279 £300 £300
25th Percentile £401 £412 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £738 £744
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -3.06% -2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,754 1,295 1,536
10th Percentile £14.00 £15.08 £14.89
25th Percentile £17.50 £20.27 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £38.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -33.82% -15.56% +62.28%
75th Percentile £51.02 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £69.65 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.13 £37.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -32.99% -15.73% +89.36%

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 1 November 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 1 November 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 1 November 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
UK excluding London -62 160 £165 -7.69% 63
England -76 160 £175 -9.68% 71
East of England +7 50 £155 -29.55% 11
North of England -52 38 £163 +8.33% 15
Work from Home -34 28 £175 +7.69% 24
Midlands -20 23 £132 -30.40% 17
South East -18 22 £183 -6.41% 16
North West -20 22 £163 -12.16% 4
London -19 19 £275 +37.50% 8
Scotland -17 13 £190 +4.97%
West Midlands -31 13 £250 +31.58% 7
Yorkshire -34 11 £150 +11.11% 7
East Midlands -9 10 £131 -22.84% 10
South West -8 8 £194 -3.13% 5
North East -17 5 £180 +20.00% 5
Northern Ireland -6 3 - -
Wales -11 3 - -

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

For the 6 months to 1 November 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.

1 105 (57.38%) Customer Service
2 71 (38.80%) Active Directory
3 65 (35.52%) Microsoft
4 64 (34.97%) Windows
5 56 (30.60%) Microsoft 365
6 45 (24.59%) Problem-Solving
7 40 (21.86%) ITIL
8 38 (20.77%) Windows 10
9 29 (15.85%) Microsoft Exchange
10 28 (15.30%) ServiceNow
11 26 (14.21%) Security Cleared
12 25 (13.66%) ITSM
13 24 (13.11%) Microsoft Office
14 21 (11.48%) Service Management
15 20 (10.93%) SC Cleared
16 17 (9.29%) Service Delivery
17 15 (8.20%) Incident Management
18 14 (7.65%) A+ Certification
18 14 (7.65%) SLA
19 13 (7.10%) Entra ID
20 12 (6.56%) Azure
20 12 (6.56%) Microsoft Intune
21 11 (6.01%) DNS
21 11 (6.01%) Microsoft Certification
21 11 (6.01%) SCCM
22 9 (4.92%) Continuous Improvement
22 9 (4.92%) Customer Experience
22 9 (4.92%) Degree
23 8 (4.37%) Active Listening
23 8 (4.37%) ITIL Foundation Certificate

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 29 (15.85%) Microsoft Exchange
2 5 (2.73%) Exchange Server 2013
2 5 (2.73%) HCL Notes
3 3 (1.64%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.55%) Confluence
Applications
1 24 (13.11%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (3.83%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (3.83%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 5 (2.73%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (1.09%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.55%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 56 (30.60%) Microsoft 365
2 13 (7.10%) Entra ID
3 12 (6.56%) Azure
4 2 (1.09%) Power Platform
5 1 (0.55%) GCP
5 1 (0.55%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 11 (6.01%) DNS
2 8 (4.37%) TCP/IP
3 7 (3.83%) DHCP
3 7 (3.83%) Wi-Fi
4 6 (3.28%) VoIP
4 6 (3.28%) VPN
5 3 (1.64%) Remote Desktop
6 2 (1.09%) Internet
6 2 (1.09%) LAN
6 2 (1.09%) SAN
6 2 (1.09%) WAN
7 1 (0.55%) Broadband
7 1 (0.55%) Network Security
7 1 (0.55%) Skype
7 1 (0.55%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.55%) DTS
1 1 (0.55%) Looker
Development Applications
1 5 (2.73%) JIRA
General
1 87 (47.54%) Social Skills
2 21 (11.48%) Public Sector
3 12 (6.56%) Polish Language
4 11 (6.01%) Retail
4 11 (6.01%) Romanian Language
5 10 (5.46%) Analytical Skills
5 10 (5.46%) Manufacturing
5 10 (5.46%) Organisational Skills
6 9 (4.92%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 5 (2.73%) Finance
7 5 (2.73%) Local Government
8 4 (2.19%) Legal
8 4 (2.19%) Military
8 4 (2.19%) Spanish Language
9 3 (1.64%) Telecoms
10 2 (1.09%) Banking
11 1 (0.55%) Advertising
11 1 (0.55%) Fire and Rescue
11 1 (0.55%) French Language
11 1 (0.55%) Police
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (1.09%) EDI
Miscellaneous
1 8 (4.37%) Management Information System
2 7 (3.83%) NHS
2 7 (3.83%) Self-Motivation
2 7 (3.83%) Video Conferencing
3 5 (2.73%) Data Centre
3 5 (2.73%) Enterprise Software
3 5 (2.73%) Onboarding
4 3 (1.64%) Smartphone
5 2 (1.09%) Smartcard
6 1 (0.55%) Blackberry
6 1 (0.55%) BYOD
6 1 (0.55%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 64 (34.97%) Windows
2 38 (20.77%) Windows 10
3 8 (4.37%) Windows Server
4 5 (2.73%) Windows Server 2012
5 3 (1.64%) Android
5 3 (1.64%) Windows 7
6 2 (1.09%) Mac OS X
7 1 (0.55%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.55%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 105 (57.38%) Customer Service
2 45 (24.59%) Problem-Solving
3 40 (21.86%) ITIL
4 25 (13.66%) ITSM
5 21 (11.48%) Service Management
6 17 (9.29%) Service Delivery
7 15 (8.20%) Incident Management
8 9 (4.92%) Continuous Improvement
8 9 (4.92%) Customer Experience
9 8 (4.37%) Active Listening
10 7 (3.83%) Digital Strategy
11 5 (2.73%) Mathematics
11 5 (2.73%) Migration
11 5 (2.73%) Proactive Monitoring
11 5 (2.73%) Problem Management
11 5 (2.73%) User Experience
12 3 (1.64%) Agile
12 3 (1.64%) Asset Management
12 3 (1.64%) CRM
12 3 (1.64%) Kalman Filter
Programming Languages
1 3 (1.64%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.55%) SQL
Qualifications
1 26 (14.21%) Security Cleared
2 20 (10.93%) SC Cleared
3 14 (7.65%) A+ Certification
4 11 (6.01%) Microsoft Certification
5 9 (4.92%) Degree
6 8 (4.37%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 7 (3.83%) DV Cleared
8 4 (2.19%) MCSA
9 2 (1.09%) CIPD
9 2 (1.09%) HNC
9 2 (1.09%) HND
9 2 (1.09%) ITIL Certification
10 1 (0.55%) BPSS Clearance
10 1 (0.55%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (7.65%) SLA
System Software
1 71 (38.80%) Active Directory
2 2 (1.09%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (0.55%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 12 (6.56%) Microsoft Intune
2 11 (6.01%) SCCM
Vendors
1 65 (35.52%) Microsoft
2 28 (15.30%) ServiceNow
3 7 (3.83%) Citrix
4 5 (2.73%) Lotus
5 4 (2.19%) Remedy
6 3 (1.64%) Cisco
7 2 (1.09%) Altiris
7 2 (1.09%) Apple
7 2 (1.09%) Barracuda Networks
7 2 (1.09%) Dell
7 2 (1.09%) VMware
8 1 (0.55%) Bomgar
8 1 (0.55%) Capita
8 1 (0.55%) Google
8 1 (0.55%) Ivanti