Service Desk Analyst Contract Job Trends

Service Desk Analyst
UK

The median Service Desk Analyst daily rate in the UK is £170, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 26 January 2026.

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

6 months to
26 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 400 310 254
Rank change year-on-year -90 -56 +34
Contract jobs requiring a Service Desk Analyst 190 238 427
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.50% 0.76% 0.96%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.55% 0.82% 1.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 74 124 246
10th Percentile £130 £139 £126
25th Percentile £138 £150 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £170 £186 £178
Median % change year-on-year -8.72% +4.63% +1.71%
75th Percentile £210 £210 £223
90th Percentile £293 £250 £270
UK excluding London median daily rate £165 £177 £168
% change year-on-year -6.78% +5.36% +3.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 35 133
10th Percentile £13.80 £14.01 £13.41
25th Percentile £14.38 £14.99 £14.14
Median hourly rate £16.00 £17.50 £15.31
Median % change year-on-year -8.57% +14.30% -1.23%
75th Percentile £20.75 £21.46 £18.75
90th Percentile £26.11 £23.58 £21.46
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.00 £17.47 £15.00
% change year-on-year -8.41% +16.47% -3.23%

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 34,502 29,046 41,229
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.46% 92.85% 93.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,791 17,729 27,311
10th Percentile £300 £291 £275
25th Percentile £406 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £618 £638 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £478 £480 £495
% change year-on-year -0.52% -3.03% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,057 865 2,093
10th Percentile £14.41 £15.95 £13.29
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.25 £17.25
Median hourly rate £28.88 £32.50 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year -11.14% -13.33% +8.49%
75th Percentile £61.18 £62.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £70.00 £74.26 £73.95
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £31.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year -12.70% -21.25% +33.33%

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 26 January 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 26 January 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 26 January 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 -67 172 £165 -6.78% 82
England -106 172 £170 -10.53% 73
East of England +6 62 £155 -31.11% 12
North of England -76 34 £169 +12.50% 18
Work from Home -40 27 £131 -25.58% 22
South East -40 27 £175 -1.41% 28
Midlands -35 25 £131 -30.97% 13
North West -34 20 £150 -9.09% 8
East Midlands -16 16 £131 -30.97% 5
London -34 15 £280 +47.37% 8
Scotland +1 10 £190 +31.94% 4
South West -32 10 £194 -3.13% 5
Yorkshire -47 10 £181 +34.26% 8
West Midlands -38 9 £130 -31.58% 8
Wales -4 4 £145 +3.57% 5
North East -25 4 £188 +25.00% 2
Northern Ireland -4 1 - -

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

For the 6 months to 26 January 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.

1 107 (56.32%) Customer Service
2 62 (32.63%) Windows
3 60 (31.58%) Microsoft
4 59 (31.05%) Active Directory
5 51 (26.84%) Microsoft 365
6 46 (24.21%) Problem-Solving
7 45 (23.68%) ITIL
8 34 (17.89%) Security Cleared
9 33 (17.37%) Windows 10
10 30 (15.79%) SC Cleared
11 28 (14.74%) Microsoft Exchange
11 28 (14.74%) ServiceNow
12 21 (11.05%) ITSM
13 20 (10.53%) Microsoft Office
14 18 (9.47%) Service Management
15 17 (8.95%) SLA
16 14 (7.37%) Google
16 14 (7.37%) Google Workspace
17 13 (6.84%) Android
17 13 (6.84%) Entra ID
17 13 (6.84%) Microsoft Intune
17 13 (6.84%) SCCM
18 12 (6.32%) Apple iOS
18 12 (6.32%) Azure
18 12 (6.32%) Collaborative Working
18 12 (6.32%) DNS
18 12 (6.32%) Service Delivery
19 11 (5.79%) Incident Management
19 11 (5.79%) Problem Management
19 11 (5.79%) VoIP

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 28 (14.74%) Microsoft Exchange
2 7 (3.68%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.11%) HCL Notes
4 2 (1.05%) Exchange Server 2013
Applications
1 20 (10.53%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (3.16%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (2.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 5 (2.63%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (1.05%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.53%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 51 (26.84%) Microsoft 365
2 14 (7.37%) Google Workspace
3 13 (6.84%) Entra ID
4 12 (6.32%) Azure
5 9 (4.74%) GCP
6 3 (1.58%) Power Platform
7 1 (0.53%) Cloud Computing
7 1 (0.53%) Mimecast
7 1 (0.53%) OneDrive
7 1 (0.53%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 12 (6.32%) DNS
2 11 (5.79%) VoIP
3 7 (3.68%) DHCP
3 7 (3.68%) TCP/IP
4 6 (3.16%) Wi-Fi
5 4 (2.11%) VPN
6 3 (1.58%) Broadband
7 2 (1.05%) Internet
7 2 (1.05%) Network Security
7 2 (1.05%) Remote Desktop
8 1 (0.53%) LAN
8 1 (0.53%) SAN
8 1 (0.53%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.53%) Looker
1 1 (0.53%) Power BI
General
1 80 (42.11%) Social Skills
2 20 (10.53%) Romanian Language
3 18 (9.47%) Public Sector
4 12 (6.32%) Polish Language
5 10 (5.26%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 6 (3.16%) Analytical Skills
6 6 (3.16%) Local Government
6 6 (3.16%) Manufacturing
6 6 (3.16%) Military
7 5 (2.63%) Finance
7 5 (2.63%) Organisational Skills
8 4 (2.11%) Legal
8 4 (2.11%) Retail
9 2 (1.05%) Banking
9 2 (1.05%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (1.05%) Law
9 2 (1.05%) Spanish Language
10 1 (0.53%) Advertising
10 1 (0.53%) French Language
10 1 (0.53%) Pharmaceutical
Miscellaneous
1 10 (5.26%) Management Information System
1 10 (5.26%) Onboarding
1 10 (5.26%) Smartphone
2 7 (3.68%) Enterprise Software
3 4 (2.11%) Data Centre
3 4 (2.11%) Self-Motivation
4 3 (1.58%) Video Conferencing
5 2 (1.05%) CMDB
5 2 (1.05%) Virtual Team
6 1 (0.53%) Blackberry
6 1 (0.53%) BYOD
6 1 (0.53%) Data Protection Act
6 1 (0.53%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 62 (32.63%) Windows
2 33 (17.37%) Windows 10
3 13 (6.84%) Android
4 12 (6.32%) Apple iOS
5 10 (5.26%) Mac OS
6 2 (1.05%) Windows Server
6 2 (1.05%) Windows Server 2012
7 1 (0.53%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 107 (56.32%) Customer Service
2 46 (24.21%) Problem-Solving
3 45 (23.68%) ITIL
4 21 (11.05%) ITSM
5 18 (9.47%) Service Management
6 12 (6.32%) Collaborative Working
6 12 (6.32%) Service Delivery
7 11 (5.79%) Incident Management
7 11 (5.79%) Problem Management
8 10 (5.26%) Continuous Improvement
9 9 (4.74%) Digital Strategy
10 8 (4.21%) Process Improvement
11 6 (3.16%) Customer Experience
11 6 (3.16%) User Experience
12 5 (2.63%) Active Listening
13 4 (2.11%) Customer Engagement
13 4 (2.11%) Cybersecurity
13 4 (2.11%) Mathematics
13 4 (2.11%) Proactive Monitoring
13 4 (2.11%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 1 (0.53%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 34 (17.89%) Security Cleared
2 30 (15.79%) SC Cleared
3 10 (5.26%) ITIL Certification
4 9 (4.74%) Degree
5 8 (4.21%) Microsoft Certification
6 6 (3.16%) A+ Certification
7 5 (2.63%) DV Cleared
7 5 (2.63%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 3 (1.58%) MCSA
9 2 (1.05%) HNC
9 2 (1.05%) HND
10 1 (0.53%) BPSS Clearance
10 1 (0.53%) MCP
10 1 (0.53%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (8.95%) SLA
2 1 (0.53%) GDPR
2 1 (0.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 59 (31.05%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.53%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 13 (6.84%) Microsoft Intune
1 13 (6.84%) SCCM
2 1 (0.53%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 60 (31.58%) Microsoft
2 28 (14.74%) ServiceNow
3 14 (7.37%) Google
4 6 (3.16%) Citrix
5 4 (2.11%) Lotus
6 3 (1.58%) Apple
7 2 (1.05%) Remedy
8 1 (0.53%) Altiris
8 1 (0.53%) Barracuda Networks
8 1 (0.53%) Bomgar
8 1 (0.53%) Dell
8 1 (0.53%) Fortinet
8 1 (0.53%) Ivanti
8 1 (0.53%) Sophos
8 1 (0.53%) VMware