Support Engineer Contract Job Trends
Support Engineer
UK
The median Support Engineer daily rate in the UK is £240, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 31 October 2026.
The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.
| 6 months to 31 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 190 | 118 | 133 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -72 | +15 | -48 |
| Contract Support Engineer jobs | 861 | 812 | 689 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 1.58% | 2.37% | 1.88% |
| As % of the Job Titles category | 1.72% | 2.60% | 2.03% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 560 | 552 | 462 |
| 10th Percentile | £163 | £158 | £150 |
| 25th Percentile | £190 | £188 | £188 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £240 | £225 | £240 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +6.67% | -6.25% | -2.04% |
| 75th Percentile | £400 | £338 | £350 |
| 90th Percentile | £540 | £537 | £536 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £235 | £225 | £225 |
| % change year-on-year | +4.44% | - | +4.65% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 41 | 98 | 46 |
| 10th Percentile | £15.24 | £16.95 | £16.61 |
| 25th Percentile | £18.50 | £19.84 | £18.94 |
| Median hourly rate | £22.50 | £25.15 | £23.59 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -10.54% | +6.61% | +23.77% |
| 75th Percentile | £26.00 | £30.81 | £26.50 |
| 90th Percentile | £55.50 | £67.84 | £56.50 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £22.00 | £24.00 | £23.59 |
| % change year-on-year | -8.33% | +1.74% | +22.16% |
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 31 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract job adverts in the UK matching a recognised job title | 49,938 | 31,221 | 33,983 |
| % of contract job adverts matching a recognised job title | 91.64% | 90.95% | 92.91% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 29,355 | 19,779 | 20,508 |
| 10th Percentile | £328 | £279 | £300 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £401 | £412 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £638 | £619 | £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 | 4,233 | 1,754 | 1,296 |
| 10th Percentile | £14.22 | £14.00 | £15.08 |
| 25th Percentile | £18.50 | £17.50 | £20.28 |
| Median hourly rate | £40.00 | £25.15 | £38.14 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +59.05% | -34.05% | -15.26% |
| 75th Percentile | £68.00 | £51.02 | £65.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £81.25 | £69.65 | £73.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £40.00 | £25.13 | £37.50 |
| % change year-on-year | +59.19% | -32.99% | -15.73% |
Support Engineer Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract Support Engineer job postings relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.
Support Engineer Daily Rate Trend
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Support Engineer job vacancies in the UK.
Support Engineer Daily Rate Histogram
Daily rate distribution for Support Engineer jobs over the 6 months to 31 October 2026.
Support Engineer Hourly Rate Trend
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Support Engineer job vacancies in the UK.
Support Engineer Hourly Rate Histogram
Hourly rate distribution for Support Engineer jobs over the 6 months to 31 October 2026.
Support Engineer Top 18 Contract Job Locations
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in Support Engineer jobs within the UK over the 6 months to 31 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 | -78 | 730 | £240 | +5.49% | 197 |
| UK excluding London | -55 | 553 | £235 | +4.44% | 182 |
| London | -32 | 274 | £273 | +9.00% | 26 |
| South East | -64 | 148 | £275 | +15.67% | 47 |
| North of England | -36 | 125 | £200 | - | 42 |
| North West | +2 | 92 | £200 | +5.26% | 23 |
| East of England | +15 | 86 | £200 | -9.09% | 34 |
| Work from Home | -79 | 85 | £425 | +54.55% | 46 |
| Scotland | +35 | 79 | £250 | +11.11% | 5 |
| Midlands | -71 | 67 | £250 | - | 30 |
| West Midlands | -61 | 47 | £225 | -11.76% | 15 |
| South West | -79 | 36 | £338 | +35.00% | 32 |
| Yorkshire | -40 | 28 | £225 | +7.14% | 10 |
| East Midlands | -8 | 20 | £285 | +52.00% | 15 |
| Northern Ireland | +9 | 10 | - | - | 1 |
| Wales | -25 | 6 | £390 | +83.53% | 2 |
| North East | -38 | 6 | £295 | +178.30% | 11 |
| Channel Islands | - | 1 | £550 | - |
Support Engineer Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities
For the 6 months to 31 October 2026, Support Engineer 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 Support Engineer job ads.
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Windows | 62.1% | 535 |
| 2 | Microsoft | 51.3% | 442 |
| 3 | Active Directory | 47.4% | 408 |
| 4 | Microsoft 365 | 43.7% | 376 |
| 5 | Customer Service | 27.5% | 237 |
| 6 | Problem-Solving | 25.2% | 217 |
| 7 | Windows 10 | 22.8% | 196 |
| 8 | ITIL | 21.5% | 185 |
| 9 | Security Cleared | 20.6% | 177 |
| 10 | ITSM | 17.1% | 147 |
| 11 | Entra ID | 17.0% | 146 |
| 12 | Azure | 16.4% | 141 |
| 13 | Microsoft Intune | 15.1% | 130 |
| 14 | ServiceNow | 14.8% | 127 |
| 15 | PowerShell | 13.8% | 119 |
| 16 | SharePoint | 13.1% | 113 |
| 17 | DNS | 12.3% | 106 |
| 18 | Windows Server | 10.5% | 90 |
| 19 | SC Cleared | 10.3% | 89 |
| 19 | VPN | 10.3% | 89 |
| 21 | Microsoft Exchange | 9.9% | 85 |
| 22 | Continuous Improvement | 9.2% | 79 |
| 23 | Asset Management | 8.9% | 77 |
| 23 | Service Management | 8.9% | 77 |
| 25 | DV Cleared | 8.8% | 76 |
| 25 | Service Delivery | 8.8% | 76 |
| 27 | Root Cause Analysis | 8.7% | 75 |
| 28 | Linux | 8.6% | 74 |
| 29 | VMware | 8.4% | 72 |
| 30 | macOS | 8.2% | 71 |
Support Engineer 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.
Job Titles
| Rank | Job Title | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IT Support Engineer | 40.9% | 352 |
| 2 | Desktop Support | 16.5% | 142 |
| 3 | Desktop Support Engineer | 14.5% | 125 |
| 4 | 2nd Line Support Engineer | 9.5% | 82 |
| 5 | Cloud Engineer | 5.6% | 48 |
| 6 | Applications Support Engineer | 5.2% | 45 |
| 7 | Technical Support Engineer | 4.8% | 41 |
| 8 | 3rd Line Support Engineer | 4.5% | 39 |
| 9 | 1st Line Support Engineer | 3.8% | 33 |
| 9 | Infrastructure Support Engineer | 3.8% | 33 |
| 11 | 1st/2nd Line Support Engineer | 3.5% | 30 |
| 12 | 2nd Line Desktop Support Engineer | 2.3% | 20 |
| 13 | Windows Support Engineer | 2.1% | 18 |
| 14 | Deskside Support Engineer | 2.0% | 17 |
| 14 | Senior Support Engineer | 2.0% | 17 |
| 16 | Field Support Engineer | 1.7% | 15 |
| 17 | 3rd Line Infrastructure Engineer | 1.6% | 14 |
| 17 | 3rd Line Infrastructure Support | 1.6% | 14 |
| 17 | Microsoft Engineer | 1.6% | 14 |
| 17 | Network Support Engineer | 1.6% | 14 |