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 21 December 2025.

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

6 months to
21 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 407 300 248
Rank change year-on-year -107 -52 +44
Contract jobs requiring a Service Desk Analyst 182 253 432
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.50% 0.75% 0.99%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.54% 0.80% 1.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 73 129 269
10th Percentile £131 £137 £125
25th Percentile £141 £150 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £175 £190 £181
Median % change year-on-year -7.89% +5.26% +6.18%
75th Percentile £219 £210 £223
90th Percentile £288 £259 £258
UK excluding London median daily rate £170 £178 £165
% change year-on-year -4.23% +7.58% +3.13%
Number of hourly rates quoted 66 36 116
10th Percentile £13.80 £14.22 £13.41
25th Percentile £14.38 £15.07 £14.03
Median hourly rate £16.00 £17.22 £15.62
Median % change year-on-year -7.08% +10.26% +0.76%
75th Percentile £20.44 £21.46 £18.75
90th Percentile £25.31 - £20.56
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.00 £17.22 £15.52
% change year-on-year -7.08% +10.99% +0.10%

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 33,430 31,506 40,926
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.01% 92.78% 93.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,135 19,373 27,542
10th Percentile £291 £300 £285
25th Percentile £404 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £618 £638 £640
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -2.56% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,981 981 1,444
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.53 £15.04
25th Percentile £18.00 £21.05 £19.11
Median hourly rate £25.15 £33.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -23.79% -26.67% +50.00%
75th Percentile £57.50 £62.56 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.71 £72.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £45.88
% change year-on-year -22.62% -29.16% +83.52%

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 21 December 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 21 December 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 21 December 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
England -73 168 £173 -9.21% 50
UK excluding London -66 161 £170 -4.23% 56
East of England +1 61 £155 -31.11% 6
North of England -66 33 £163 +8.33% 10
Midlands -28 25 £131 -30.97% 8
South East -33 25 £183 +0.27% 17
Work from Home -46 23 £132 -25.01% 11
London -25 18 £275 +39.24% 4
North West -44 18 £156 +4.17% 8
East Midlands -13 13 £131 -30.97% 5
West Midlands -28 12 £250 +31.58% 3
Yorkshire -48 10 £156 +15.74% 2
South West -28 7 £216 +8.13% 8
North East -14 5 £180 +20.00%
Scotland -14 5 £190 -7.32% 5
Wales -3 4 £145 +3.57% 3
Northern Ireland -8 2 - -

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

For the 6 months to 21 December 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 98 (53.85%) Customer Service
2 60 (32.97%) Active Directory
3 57 (31.32%) Windows
4 56 (30.77%) Microsoft
5 45 (24.73%) Microsoft 365
6 42 (23.08%) ITIL
7 41 (22.53%) Problem-Solving
8 30 (16.48%) Windows 10
9 26 (14.29%) ServiceNow
10 25 (13.74%) Security Cleared
11 24 (13.19%) Microsoft Office
12 23 (12.64%) ITSM
13 22 (12.09%) Microsoft Exchange
14 18 (9.89%) SC Cleared
15 17 (9.34%) Service Management
16 14 (7.69%) SCCM
16 14 (7.69%) SLA
17 13 (7.14%) DNS
17 13 (7.14%) VoIP
18 12 (6.59%) Incident Management
19 11 (6.04%) Android
19 11 (6.04%) Google
19 11 (6.04%) Google Workspace
19 11 (6.04%) Problem Management
20 10 (5.49%) Collaborative Working
20 10 (5.49%) Entra ID
20 10 (5.49%) Service Delivery
21 9 (4.95%) Apple iOS
21 9 (4.95%) Azure
21 9 (4.95%) Customer Experience

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 22 (12.09%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (3.85%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.20%) HCL Notes
4 1 (0.55%) Exchange Server 2013
Applications
1 24 (13.19%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (2.75%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (2.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 5 (2.75%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (1.10%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.55%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 45 (24.73%) Microsoft 365
2 11 (6.04%) Google Workspace
3 10 (5.49%) Entra ID
4 9 (4.95%) Azure
5 7 (3.85%) GCP
6 2 (1.10%) Power Platform
7 1 (0.55%) Cloud Computing
7 1 (0.55%) Mimecast
7 1 (0.55%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 13 (7.14%) DNS
1 13 (7.14%) VoIP
2 8 (4.40%) DHCP
3 7 (3.85%) TCP/IP
4 6 (3.30%) Wi-Fi
5 4 (2.20%) Broadband
5 4 (2.20%) VPN
6 2 (1.10%) Internet
6 2 (1.10%) LAN
6 2 (1.10%) Network Security
6 2 (1.10%) Remote Desktop
7 1 (0.55%) SAN
7 1 (0.55%) Skype
7 1 (0.55%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.55%) DTS
1 1 (0.55%) Looker
Development Applications
1 1 (0.55%) JIRA
General
1 75 (41.21%) Social Skills
2 20 (10.99%) Romanian Language
3 13 (7.14%) Public Sector
4 12 (6.59%) Polish Language
5 10 (5.49%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 10 (5.49%) Manufacturing
5 10 (5.49%) Organisational Skills
5 10 (5.49%) Retail
6 7 (3.85%) Local Government
7 6 (3.30%) Analytical Skills
8 5 (2.75%) Military
9 4 (2.20%) Finance
9 4 (2.20%) Legal
9 4 (2.20%) Spanish Language
10 2 (1.10%) Documentation Skills
10 2 (1.10%) Telecoms
11 1 (0.55%) Advertising
11 1 (0.55%) Banking
11 1 (0.55%) French Language
11 1 (0.55%) Lithuanian Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.55%) EDI
Miscellaneous
1 11 (6.04%) Management Information System
2 8 (4.40%) Smartphone
3 7 (3.85%) Video Conferencing
4 6 (3.30%) Onboarding
5 5 (2.75%) NHS
6 4 (2.20%) Data Centre
6 4 (2.20%) Enterprise Software
6 4 (2.20%) Self-Motivation
7 2 (1.10%) CMDB
7 2 (1.10%) Smartcard
7 2 (1.10%) Virtual Team
8 1 (0.55%) Blackberry
8 1 (0.55%) BYOD
8 1 (0.55%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 57 (31.32%) Windows
2 30 (16.48%) Windows 10
3 11 (6.04%) Android
4 9 (4.95%) Apple iOS
5 8 (4.40%) Mac OS
6 2 (1.10%) Mac OS X
7 1 (0.55%) Windows Server
7 1 (0.55%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 98 (53.85%) Customer Service
2 42 (23.08%) ITIL
3 41 (22.53%) Problem-Solving
4 23 (12.64%) ITSM
5 17 (9.34%) Service Management
6 12 (6.59%) Incident Management
7 11 (6.04%) Problem Management
8 10 (5.49%) Collaborative Working
8 10 (5.49%) Service Delivery
9 9 (4.95%) Customer Experience
10 8 (4.40%) Active Listening
11 7 (3.85%) Continuous Improvement
11 7 (3.85%) Digital Strategy
12 6 (3.30%) Migration
13 5 (2.75%) Cybersecurity
13 5 (2.75%) Process Improvement
14 4 (2.20%) Mathematics
14 4 (2.20%) Proactive Monitoring
14 4 (2.20%) Root Cause Analysis
15 3 (1.65%) Configuration Management
Programming Languages
1 3 (1.65%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 25 (13.74%) Security Cleared
2 18 (9.89%) SC Cleared
3 9 (4.95%) Degree
4 8 (4.40%) A+ Certification
4 8 (4.40%) DV Cleared
4 8 (4.40%) ITIL Certification
4 8 (4.40%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
5 7 (3.85%) Microsoft Certification
6 3 (1.65%) MCSA
7 2 (1.10%) HNC
7 2 (1.10%) HND
8 1 (0.55%) BPSS Clearance
8 1 (0.55%) CIPD
8 1 (0.55%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (7.69%) SLA
System Software
1 60 (32.97%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.55%) VMware Infrastructure
2 1 (0.55%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 14 (7.69%) SCCM
2 9 (4.95%) Microsoft Intune
3 1 (0.55%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 56 (30.77%) Microsoft
2 26 (14.29%) ServiceNow
3 11 (6.04%) Google
4 6 (3.30%) Citrix
5 4 (2.20%) Lotus
6 3 (1.65%) Apple
6 3 (1.65%) Cisco
6 3 (1.65%) Remedy
7 2 (1.10%) Altiris
8 1 (0.55%) Barracuda Networks
8 1 (0.55%) Bomgar
8 1 (0.55%) Dell
8 1 (0.55%) Ivanti
8 1 (0.55%) Sophos
8 1 (0.55%) VMware