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 29 November 2025.

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

6 months to
29 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 401 318 251
Rank change year-on-year -83 -67 +51
Contract jobs requiring a Service Desk Analyst 184 265 460
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.51% 0.73% 1.00%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.56% 0.78% 1.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 74 140 275
10th Percentile £131 £127 £125
25th Percentile £140 £140 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £175 £189 £185
Median % change year-on-year -7.28% +2.03% +8.82%
75th Percentile £220 £210 £226
90th Percentile £281 £276 £261
UK excluding London median daily rate £170 £177 £173
% change year-on-year -3.68% +2.02% +8.13%
Number of hourly rates quoted 63 34 126
10th Percentile £13.80 £14.41 £13.31
25th Percentile £14.38 £15.51 £14.00
Median hourly rate £16.00 £17.47 £15.64
Median % change year-on-year -8.41% +11.74% +0.87%
75th Percentile £19.65 £21.39 £18.75
90th Percentile £23.72 £21.46 £20.56
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.00 £17.47 £15.62
% change year-on-year -8.41% +11.86% +0.76%

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 32,783 33,839 42,964
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.95% 92.83% 93.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,795 20,464 29,004
10th Percentile £281 £300 £290
25th Percentile £402 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £649
90th Percentile £725 £738 £740
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £494 £500
% change year-on-year -3.85% -1.20% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,905 1,235 1,530
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.22 £15.16
25th Percentile £17.89 £20.63 £19.08
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +48.33%
75th Percentile £57.50 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.50 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £33.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -23.79% -25.84% +78.00%

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 29 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 29 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 29 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
England -67 169 £175 -7.89% 45
UK excluding London -69 162 £170 -3.68% 51
East of England +11 61 £155 -40.38% 4
North of England -57 38 £163 +8.33% 11
Midlands -30 25 £132 -30.70% 5
Work from Home -35 25 £132 -15.36% 15
South East -20 22 £193 +2.67% 13
North West -27 22 £156 +5.93% 3
London -5 19 £275 +37.50% 10
East Midlands -6 13 £131 -30.97% 2
West Midlands -28 12 £250 +31.58% 2
Yorkshire -31 12 £156 +15.74% 8
Scotland -15 6 £190 -7.32%
South West -9 5 £213 +6.25% 7
North East -16 4 £180 +20.00%
Northern Ireland -2 3 - -
Wales -13 3 - - 12

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

For the 6 months to 29 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.

1 100 (54.35%) Customer Service
2 69 (37.50%) Active Directory
3 62 (33.70%) Microsoft
4 59 (32.07%) Windows
5 51 (27.72%) Microsoft 365
6 41 (22.28%) Problem-Solving
7 38 (20.65%) ITIL
8 36 (19.57%) Windows 10
9 28 (15.22%) ServiceNow
10 27 (14.67%) ITSM
10 27 (14.67%) Microsoft Exchange
11 24 (13.04%) Microsoft Office
12 19 (10.33%) Service Management
13 18 (9.78%) Security Cleared
14 13 (7.07%) DNS
14 13 (7.07%) Entra ID
14 13 (7.07%) SCCM
14 13 (7.07%) SLA
15 12 (6.52%) A+ Certification
15 12 (6.52%) Microsoft Intune
15 12 (6.52%) SC Cleared
15 12 (6.52%) Service Delivery
16 11 (5.98%) Azure
16 11 (5.98%) Incident Management
17 10 (5.43%) Continuous Improvement
17 10 (5.43%) Customer Experience
17 10 (5.43%) Microsoft Certification
18 9 (4.89%) Degree
18 9 (4.89%) Problem Management
18 9 (4.89%) TCP/IP

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 27 (14.67%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (3.26%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.17%) HCL Notes
4 2 (1.09%) Exchange Server 2013
5 1 (0.54%) Confluence
Applications
1 24 (13.04%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (2.72%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (2.72%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 5 (2.72%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (1.09%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.54%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 51 (27.72%) Microsoft 365
2 13 (7.07%) Entra ID
3 11 (5.98%) Azure
4 6 (3.26%) Google Workspace
5 3 (1.63%) GCP
6 2 (1.09%) Power Platform
7 1 (0.54%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 13 (7.07%) DNS
2 9 (4.89%) TCP/IP
3 8 (4.35%) DHCP
3 8 (4.35%) VoIP
4 6 (3.26%) VPN
4 6 (3.26%) Wi-Fi
5 2 (1.09%) Broadband
5 2 (1.09%) Internet
5 2 (1.09%) LAN
5 2 (1.09%) Network Security
5 2 (1.09%) Remote Desktop
5 2 (1.09%) SAN
6 1 (0.54%) Skype
6 1 (0.54%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.54%) DTS
1 1 (0.54%) Looker
Development Applications
1 5 (2.72%) JIRA
General
1 80 (43.48%) Social Skills
2 20 (10.87%) Romanian Language
3 15 (8.15%) Public Sector
4 12 (6.52%) Polish Language
5 10 (5.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 10 (5.43%) Manufacturing
5 10 (5.43%) Organisational Skills
5 10 (5.43%) Retail
6 7 (3.80%) Analytical Skills
7 6 (3.26%) Local Government
8 4 (2.17%) Finance
8 4 (2.17%) Legal
8 4 (2.17%) Military
8 4 (2.17%) Spanish Language
9 2 (1.09%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (1.09%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.54%) Advertising
10 1 (0.54%) French Language
10 1 (0.54%) Lithuanian Language
10 1 (0.54%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.54%) EDI
Miscellaneous
1 8 (4.35%) Management Information System
2 7 (3.80%) NHS
2 7 (3.80%) Video Conferencing
3 6 (3.26%) Onboarding
4 5 (2.72%) Self-Motivation
4 5 (2.72%) Smartphone
5 4 (2.17%) Data Centre
5 4 (2.17%) Enterprise Software
6 2 (1.09%) CMDB
6 2 (1.09%) Smartcard
6 2 (1.09%) Virtual Team
7 1 (0.54%) Blackberry
7 1 (0.54%) BYOD
7 1 (0.54%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 59 (32.07%) Windows
2 36 (19.57%) Windows 10
3 5 (2.72%) Android
4 4 (2.17%) Apple iOS
5 3 (1.63%) Mac OS
6 2 (1.09%) Mac OS X
6 2 (1.09%) Windows 7
6 2 (1.09%) Windows Server
6 2 (1.09%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 100 (54.35%) Customer Service
2 41 (22.28%) Problem-Solving
3 38 (20.65%) ITIL
4 27 (14.67%) ITSM
5 19 (10.33%) Service Management
6 12 (6.52%) Service Delivery
7 11 (5.98%) Incident Management
8 10 (5.43%) Continuous Improvement
8 10 (5.43%) Customer Experience
9 9 (4.89%) Problem Management
10 8 (4.35%) Active Listening
10 8 (4.35%) Digital Strategy
11 7 (3.80%) Migration
12 5 (2.72%) Collaborative Working
12 5 (2.72%) Process Improvement
13 4 (2.17%) Mathematics
13 4 (2.17%) Proactive Monitoring
14 3 (1.63%) Cybersecurity
14 3 (1.63%) Data Protection
14 3 (1.63%) Kalman Filter
Programming Languages
1 3 (1.63%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 18 (9.78%) Security Cleared
2 12 (6.52%) A+ Certification
2 12 (6.52%) SC Cleared
3 10 (5.43%) Microsoft Certification
4 9 (4.89%) Degree
5 8 (4.35%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 7 (3.80%) DV Cleared
7 4 (2.17%) ITIL Certification
8 3 (1.63%) MCSA
9 2 (1.09%) HNC
9 2 (1.09%) HND
10 1 (0.54%) BPSS Clearance
10 1 (0.54%) CIPD
10 1 (0.54%) NVQ Level 3
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (7.07%) SLA
System Software
1 69 (37.50%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.54%) VMware Infrastructure
2 1 (0.54%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 13 (7.07%) SCCM
2 12 (6.52%) Microsoft Intune
3 1 (0.54%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 62 (33.70%) Microsoft
2 28 (15.22%) ServiceNow
3 6 (3.26%) Google
4 5 (2.72%) Citrix
5 4 (2.17%) Lotus
5 4 (2.17%) Remedy
6 3 (1.63%) Apple
6 3 (1.63%) Cisco
7 2 (1.09%) Altiris
7 2 (1.09%) Barracuda Networks
7 2 (1.09%) Dell
8 1 (0.54%) Bomgar
8 1 (0.54%) Capita
8 1 (0.54%) Ivanti
8 1 (0.54%) VMware