Service Desk Analyst Contract Job Trends

Service Desk Analyst
UK

The median Service Desk Analyst daily rate in the UK is £200, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 14 October 2026.

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

6 months to
14 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 489 380 304
Rank change year-on-year -109 -76 -44
Contract jobs requiring a Service Desk Analyst 201 179 269
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.36% 0.54% 0.72%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.40% 0.59% 0.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 112 64 143
10th Percentile £120 £130 £127
25th Percentile £150 £149 £140
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £179 £190
Median % change year-on-year +11.89% -5.92% +2.70%
75th Percentile £238 £220 £219
90th Percentile £293 £288 £275
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £175 £175
% change year-on-year +14.29% - -0.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 67 40
10th Percentile £12.99 £13.80 £14.16
25th Percentile £14.36 £14.38 £15.50
Median hourly rate £15.81 £16.00 £17.22
Median % change year-on-year -1.19% -7.08% +10.26%
75th Percentile £21.35 £18.88 £18.80
90th Percentile £25.84 £23.53 £22.11
UK excluding London median hourly rate £15.81 £16.00 £17.22
% change year-on-year -1.19% -7.08% +10.28%

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 50,840 30,143 34,861
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.99% 90.86% 93.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,838 19,043 21,029
10th Percentile £325 £275 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -
75th Percentile £638 £623 £638
90th Percentile £737 £725 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4,127 1,648 1,435
10th Percentile £14.36 £13.75 £15.00
25th Percentile £19.50 £17.30 £20.30
Median hourly rate £41.71 £25.15 £41.27
Median % change year-on-year +65.84% -39.05% -8.30%
75th Percentile £67.50 £50.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £68.08 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.71 £25.00 £42.50
% change year-on-year +66.84% -41.18% -4.49%

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 14 October 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 14 October 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 14 October 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
England -107 176 £200 +11.89% 53
UK excluding London -91 170 £200 +14.29% 55
North of England -51 59 £175 +3.70% 16
North West -26 48 £175 +7.69% 9
Work from Home -39 48 £150 -16.67% 18
South East -50 33 £244 +33.56% 8
East of England -52 30 £161 -15.13% 6
South West -17 25 £200 -11.11% 10
London -102 19 £215 -13.13% 6
Midlands -54 15 £136 -10.31% 6
Scotland -22 12 £275 +111.54% 7
West Midlands -47 10 £140 -44.00% 1
Yorkshire -36 7 £220 +35.38% 5
East Midlands -19 5 £131 -0.44% 5
North East -42 4 £200 +11.11% 2
Wales -14 1 £150 - 3

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

For the 6 months to 14 October 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 82 (40.80%) Windows
2 77 (38.31%) Customer Service
3 75 (37.31%) Microsoft 365
4 73 (36.32%) Microsoft
5 64 (31.84%) Active Directory
6 53 (26.37%) ITIL
7 47 (23.38%) Problem-Solving
8 42 (20.90%) ServiceNow
9 38 (18.91%) Security Cleared
10 37 (18.41%) ITSM
11 32 (15.92%) SC Cleared
12 26 (12.94%) Windows 10
13 25 (12.44%) Microsoft Office
14 24 (11.94%) SLA
15 22 (10.95%) Azure
16 21 (10.45%) Continuous Improvement
16 21 (10.45%) Service Management
17 18 (8.96%) Service Delivery
18 17 (8.46%) Incident Management
19 16 (7.96%) Entra ID
19 16 (7.96%) SharePoint
20 15 (7.46%) macOS
21 14 (6.97%) Collaborative Working
21 14 (6.97%) VPN
22 13 (6.47%) Customer Experience
23 11 (5.47%) Android
24 10 (4.98%) OneDrive
25 9 (4.48%) DHCP
25 9 (4.48%) DNS
25 9 (4.48%) Microsoft Exchange

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 16 (7.96%) SharePoint
2 9 (4.48%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.50%) Mattermost
Applications
1 25 (12.44%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (2.49%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (2.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (1.49%) Acrobat
Business Applications
1 7 (3.48%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 75 (37.31%) Microsoft 365
2 22 (10.95%) Azure
3 16 (7.96%) Entra ID
4 10 (4.98%) OneDrive
5 8 (3.98%) Google Workspace
6 6 (2.99%) GCP
7 5 (2.49%) Mimecast
8 3 (1.49%) Cloud Computing
8 3 (1.49%) IaaS
9 2 (1.00%) Azure Sentinel
10 1 (0.50%) AWS
10 1 (0.50%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 14 (6.97%) VPN
2 9 (4.48%) DHCP
2 9 (4.48%) DNS
3 7 (3.48%) VoIP
4 5 (2.49%) TCP/IP
5 4 (1.99%) Remote Desktop
6 3 (1.49%) Unified Communications
6 3 (1.49%) Wireless
7 1 (0.50%) Cisco ASA
7 1 (0.50%) LAN
7 1 (0.50%) NAS
7 1 (0.50%) SAN
7 1 (0.50%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.50%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 6 (2.99%) JIRA
General
1 67 (33.33%) Social Skills
2 16 (7.96%) Analytical Skills
2 16 (7.96%) Legal
3 10 (4.98%) Finance
3 10 (4.98%) Organisational Skills
3 10 (4.98%) Public Sector
4 7 (3.48%) Banking
5 6 (2.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 6 (2.99%) Military
6 3 (1.49%) Advertising
6 3 (1.49%) Law
6 3 (1.49%) Spanish Language
7 2 (1.00%) German Language
7 2 (1.00%) Italian Language
7 2 (1.00%) Manufacturing
7 2 (1.00%) Retail
8 1 (0.50%) Dutch Language
8 1 (0.50%) Hungarian Language
8 1 (0.50%) Police
8 1 (0.50%) Romanian Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.50%) LDAP
Miscellaneous
1 17 (8.46%) Onboarding
2 9 (4.48%) Enterprise Software
2 9 (4.48%) Smartphone
3 6 (2.99%) Management Information System
4 5 (2.49%) Data Protection Act
4 5 (2.49%) NHS
5 3 (1.49%) Analytical Mindset
5 3 (1.49%) Blackberry
5 3 (1.49%) Driving Licence
6 2 (1.00%) CMDB
6 2 (1.00%) Data Centre
7 1 (0.50%) Chip and PIN
7 1 (0.50%) e-Health
7 1 (0.50%) Self-Motivation
7 1 (0.50%) Smartcard
7 1 (0.50%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 82 (40.80%) Windows
2 26 (12.94%) Windows 10
3 15 (7.46%) macOS
4 11 (5.47%) Android
5 8 (3.98%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.50%) Windows Server
6 1 (0.50%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 77 (38.31%) Customer Service
2 53 (26.37%) ITIL
3 47 (23.38%) Problem-Solving
4 37 (18.41%) ITSM
5 21 (10.45%) Continuous Improvement
5 21 (10.45%) Service Management
6 18 (8.96%) Service Delivery
7 17 (8.46%) Incident Management
8 14 (6.97%) Collaborative Working
9 13 (6.47%) Customer Experience
10 6 (2.99%) Workflow
11 5 (2.49%) Change Management
11 5 (2.49%) Data Protection
11 5 (2.49%) Ticket Management
11 5 (2.49%) User Experience
12 4 (1.99%) CRM
12 4 (1.99%) Proactive Monitoring
12 4 (1.99%) Process Improvement
13 3 (1.49%) Knowledge Management
13 3 (1.49%) Mobile Device Management
Programming Languages
1 2 (1.00%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 38 (18.91%) Security Cleared
2 32 (15.92%) SC Cleared
3 8 (3.98%) Degree
3 8 (3.98%) ITIL Certification
4 5 (2.49%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
5 4 (1.99%) A+ Certification
5 4 (1.99%) Microsoft Certification
6 3 (1.49%) BPSS Clearance
7 2 (1.00%) DV Cleared
7 2 (1.00%) MCSE
8 1 (0.50%) CTC Cleared
8 1 (0.50%) DBS Check
8 1 (0.50%) HNC
8 1 (0.50%) MCSA
8 1 (0.50%) Microsoft Certified Professional
8 1 (0.50%) MOS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (11.94%) SLA
2 1 (0.50%) Data Quality
System Software
1 64 (31.84%) Active Directory
2 4 (1.99%) BitLocker
2 4 (1.99%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (1.49%) Virtual Desktop
4 1 (0.50%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 7 (3.48%) SCCM
2 6 (2.99%) Microsoft Intune
3 1 (0.50%) Dell DRAC
3 1 (0.50%) Jamf Pro
3 1 (0.50%) Single Sign-On
3 1 (0.50%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 73 (36.32%) Microsoft
2 42 (20.90%) ServiceNow
3 9 (4.48%) Remedy
4 8 (3.98%) Google
5 7 (3.48%) Cisco
5 7 (3.48%) iManage
6 6 (2.99%) VMware
7 5 (2.49%) Citrix
7 5 (2.49%) Sophos
8 4 (1.99%) Dell
8 4 (1.99%) Freshdesk
9 3 (1.49%) Adobe
9 3 (1.49%) Intapp
9 3 (1.49%) Litera
10 1 (0.50%) Apple
10 1 (0.50%) Avaya
10 1 (0.50%) HP
10 1 (0.50%) Mitel
10 1 (0.50%) Polycom
10 1 (0.50%) SAP