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 28 October 2026.

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

6 months to
28 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 509 405 309
Rank change year-on-year -104 -96 -60
Contract Service Desk Analyst jobs 201 178 274
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.37% 0.52% 0.75%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.40% 0.58% 0.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 113 65 146
10th Percentile £120 £130 £127
25th Percentile £150 £148 £140
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £178 £190
Median % change year-on-year +12.68% -6.58% +1.33%
75th Percentile £238 £220 £220
90th Percentile £288 £288 £284
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £165 £177
% change year-on-year +21.21% -6.78% +1.14%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 69 36
10th Percentile £13.25 £13.80 £14.41
25th Percentile £14.36 £14.38 £15.52
Median hourly rate £15.81 £16.00 £17.47
Median % change year-on-year -1.19% -8.41% +11.63%
75th Percentile £17.21 £19.33 £18.95
90th Percentile £21.35 £23.52 £28.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £15.81 £16.00 £17.47
% change year-on-year -1.19% -8.41% +11.74%

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job adverts matching a recognised job title. The table also shows what proportion of all contract IT job adverts they make up.

6 months to
28 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Contract job adverts in the UK matching a recognised job title 50,268 30,832 34,004
% of contract job adverts matching a recognised job title 91.70% 90.90% 92.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,614 19,499 20,503
10th Percentile £325 £280 £300
25th Percentile £425 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -
75th Percentile £638 £620 £638
90th Percentile £738 £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 4,176 1,712 1,309
10th Percentile £14.22 £13.84 £15.06
25th Percentile £18.75 £17.30 £20.30
Median hourly rate £41.00 £25.15 £39.50
Median % change year-on-year +63.02% -36.33% -12.22%
75th Percentile £68.00 £50.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £81.25 £69.43 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £25.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year +60.00% -37.50% -10.11%

Service Desk Analyst Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract Service Desk Analyst job postings 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 Service Desk Analyst jobs over the 6 months to 28 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 for Service Desk Analyst jobs over the 6 months to 28 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 Service Desk Analyst jobs within the UK over the 6 months to 28 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
Job Ads
Past 6 Months
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -123 174 £200 +12.68% 31
UK excluding London -79 168 £200 +21.21% 34
North of England -50 59 £175 +7.69% 7
North West -22 48 £169 +3.85% 4
Work from Home -47 47 £150 -14.29% 9
South East -46 32 £250 +35.14% 4
East of England -36 30 £161 -15.13% 6
South West -25 22 £180 -7.10% 9
London -86 20 £215 -21.82% 1
Midlands -45 15 £140 +5.80% 4
Scotland -19 14 £275 +111.54% 2
West Midlands -39 10 £140 -44.00% 1
Yorkshire -33 8 £215 +37.60% 1
East Midlands -18 5 £118 -9.97% 3
North East -39 3 £200 +11.11% 2
Wales -11 1 £150 - 2

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

For the 6 months to 28 October 2026, Service Desk Analyst contract job ads cited 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 Service Desk Analyst job ads.

RankSkillShareJob Ads
1Windows42.8%86
2Customer Service40.3%81
3Microsoft 36538.8%78
4Microsoft36.8%74
5Active Directory31.8%64
6ITIL27.4%55
7Problem-Solving23.9%48
8ServiceNow20.9%42
9ITSM19.4%39
9Security Cleared19.4%39
11SC Cleared16.9%34
12Windows 1011.9%24
13Azure10.9%22
13Microsoft Office10.9%22
13SLA10.9%22
16Service Management10.4%21
17Continuous Improvement10.0%20
18Entra ID8.5%17
18Service Delivery8.5%17
20Incident Management8.0%16
20macOS8.0%16
20SharePoint8.0%16
23Collaborative Working7.5%15
24VPN7.0%14
25Customer Experience6.5%13
26Android5.0%10
26OneDrive5.0%10
28Apple iOS4.5%9
28Google4.5%9
28Google Workspace4.5%9

Service Desk Analyst Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.