3rd Line Support Job Trends in England

Third Line Support
UK > England

The median Third Line Support salary in England is £45,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 3 March 2026.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 421 521 425
Rank change year-on-year +100 -96 +288
Permanent jobs requiring a 3rd Line Support 235 123 390
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.38% 0.30% 0.56%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.41% 0.33% 0.59%
Number of salaries quoted 220 110 366
10th Percentile £34,750 £36,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £37,500 £37,688 £34,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £45,000 £40,000
Median % change year-on-year - +12.50% -4.76%
75th Percentile £50,000 £54,750 £47,438
90th Percentile £58,750 £76,250 £56,875
UK median annual salary £45,000 £45,750 £40,000
% change year-on-year -1.64% +14.38% -4.76%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
England

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in England. 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 permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in England with a recognized job title 57,125 37,282 65,883
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 91.57% 90.98% 94.52%
Number of salaries quoted 36,979 20,645 52,340
10th Percentile £29,750 £32,500 £28,750
25th Percentile £38,750 £45,000 £39,268
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -9.84%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £93,750
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -8.33%

3rd Line Support
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring '3rd Line Support' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in England.

3rd Line Support job vacancy trend in England

3rd Line Support
Salary Trend in England

Salary distribution trend for 3rd Line Support job vacancies in England.

Salary distribution trend for 3rd Line Support job vacancies in England

3rd Line Support
Salary Histogram in England

Salary distribution for jobs citing 3rd Line Support in England over the 6 months to 3 March 2026.

Salary histogram for 3rd Line Support in England

3rd Line Support
Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing 3rd Line Support within the England region over the 6 months to 3 March 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
South East +58 103 £42,500 -10.53% 17
North of England -12 45 £45,000 +20.00% 5
Yorkshire 0 40 £45,000 +20.00% 3
London +40 38 £45,000 -13.46% 9
Midlands -15 25 £37,500 -25.00% 2
East Midlands -14 23 £37,500 -42.31% 2
East of England +17 22 £47,000 +17.50% 2
North West -4 5 £40,500 +1.25%
South West -24 3 £45,000 -2.17% 3
West Midlands +5 2 £41,000 -18.00%
3rd Line Support
UK

3rd Line Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England

For the 6 months to 3 March 2026, 3rd Line Support 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 permanent job ads across the England region featuring 3rd Line Support in the job title.

1 136 (57.87%) Microsoft
2 123 (52.34%) Windows
3 115 (48.94%) Azure
4 111 (47.23%) Active Directory
5 109 (46.38%) Microsoft 365
6 85 (36.17%) Microsoft Exchange
7 77 (32.77%) Windows Server
8 59 (25.11%) DNS
9 57 (24.26%) Entra ID
10 56 (23.83%) Customer Service
11 55 (23.40%) Hyper-V
11 55 (23.40%) PowerShell
12 51 (21.70%) VMware
13 49 (20.85%) DHCP
13 49 (20.85%) Firewall
14 45 (19.15%) Microsoft Intune
14 45 (19.15%) Security Cleared
15 42 (17.87%) SharePoint
16 41 (17.45%) Problem-Solving
17 37 (15.74%) VPN
18 36 (15.32%) SC Cleared
19 34 (14.47%) SQL
20 32 (13.62%) Incident Management
20 32 (13.62%) VLAN
21 31 (13.19%) Mentoring
22 30 (12.77%) DV Cleared
22 30 (12.77%) SLA
23 29 (12.34%) ITIL
24 28 (11.91%) TCP/IP
25 27 (11.49%) Oracle

3rd Line Support Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 85 (36.17%) Microsoft Exchange
2 42 (17.87%) SharePoint
3 22 (9.36%) Exchange Server 2003
4 1 (0.43%) Confluence
Applications
1 6 (2.55%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 11 (4.68%) Unit4 Business World
2 3 (1.28%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.43%) Fidessa
3 1 (0.43%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 115 (48.94%) Azure
2 109 (46.38%) Microsoft 365
3 57 (24.26%) Entra ID
4 11 (4.68%) Boomi
4 11 (4.68%) iPaaS
4 11 (4.68%) Workato
5 10 (4.26%) Mimecast
6 9 (3.83%) SaaS
7 6 (2.55%) IaaS
8 5 (2.13%) Power Platform
9 4 (1.70%) Google Workspace
10 3 (1.28%) AWS
11 1 (0.43%) Amazon S3
11 1 (0.43%) Cloud Computing
11 1 (0.43%) GCP
11 1 (0.43%) Google Docs
11 1 (0.43%) n8n
11 1 (0.43%) PaaS
11 1 (0.43%) Power Automate
11 1 (0.43%) Zapier
Communications & Networking
1 59 (25.11%) DNS
2 49 (20.85%) DHCP
2 49 (20.85%) Firewall
3 37 (15.74%) VPN
4 32 (13.62%) VLAN
5 28 (11.91%) TCP/IP
6 15 (6.38%) Wireless
7 14 (5.96%) SAN
8 10 (4.26%) VoIP
9 7 (2.98%) LAN
10 6 (2.55%) SMTP
10 6 (2.55%) WAN
11 5 (2.13%) EIGRP
11 5 (2.13%) IMAP
11 5 (2.13%) Intrusion Detection
11 5 (2.13%) Network Security
11 5 (2.13%) OSPF
11 5 (2.13%) POP3
11 5 (2.13%) SSL
11 5 (2.13%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (9.79%) Oracle Database
1 23 (9.79%) Oracle Database 10g
2 9 (3.83%) SQL Server
3 5 (2.13%) Power BI
4 3 (1.28%) Amazon RDS
4 3 (1.28%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 10 (4.26%) JIRA
General
1 72 (30.64%) Social Skills
2 14 (5.96%) Legal
3 13 (5.53%) Finance
4 12 (5.11%) Analytical Skills
5 11 (4.68%) Law
6 8 (3.40%) Manufacturing
6 8 (3.40%) Organisational Skills
7 7 (2.98%) Automotive
8 6 (2.55%) Marketing
9 5 (2.13%) Documentation Skills
10 4 (1.70%) Retail
11 3 (1.28%) Advertising
11 3 (1.28%) Telecoms
12 2 (0.85%) Banking
13 1 (0.43%) Public Sector
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (4.68%) Web Services
2 1 (0.43%) FIX Protocol
Miscellaneous
1 29 (12.34%) Onboarding
2 18 (7.66%) Self-Motivation
3 12 (5.11%) Driving Licence
4 8 (3.40%) PKI
5 6 (2.55%) Management Information System
5 6 (2.55%) Replication
6 4 (1.70%) IoT
7 3 (1.28%) CMDB
7 3 (1.28%) Cyber Threat
7 3 (1.28%) Web Conferencing
8 1 (0.43%) Blockchain
8 1 (0.43%) Eurex
8 1 (0.43%) FMCG
8 1 (0.43%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 123 (52.34%) Windows
2 77 (32.77%) Windows Server
3 24 (10.21%) Solaris
3 24 (10.21%) Unix
4 23 (9.79%) HPUX
5 22 (9.36%) Windows Server 2003
6 21 (8.94%) Windows 7
6 21 (8.94%) Windows Server 2008
7 13 (5.53%) Apple iOS
8 12 (5.11%) Android
9 11 (4.68%) Linux
10 9 (3.83%) Mac OS
11 8 (3.40%) Windows 10
12 7 (2.98%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
13 6 (2.55%) Windows Server 2016
14 4 (1.70%) Windows Server 2019
15 2 (0.85%) Windows Server 2012
16 1 (0.43%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 56 (23.83%) Customer Service
2 41 (17.45%) Problem-Solving
3 32 (13.62%) Incident Management
4 31 (13.19%) Mentoring
5 29 (12.34%) ITIL
6 25 (10.64%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 22 (9.36%) Cybersecurity
8 20 (8.51%) Workflow
9 19 (8.09%) Disaster Recovery
10 18 (7.66%) Mobile Device Management
11 17 (7.23%) Service Delivery
12 15 (6.38%) Identity Management
12 15 (6.38%) ITSM
13 13 (5.53%) Coaching
13 13 (5.53%) ERP
13 13 (5.53%) Logistics
14 12 (5.11%) Migration
14 12 (5.11%) Network Monitoring
14 12 (5.11%) Zero Trust
15 11 (4.68%) Requirements Gathering
Programming Languages
1 55 (23.40%) PowerShell
2 34 (14.47%) SQL
3 21 (8.94%) Perl
4 7 (2.98%) R
5 3 (1.28%) C
5 3 (1.28%) Java
5 3 (1.28%) PHP
5 3 (1.28%) Python
6 2 (0.85%) Bash
7 1 (0.43%) Google Apps Script
Qualifications
1 45 (19.15%) Security Cleared
2 36 (15.32%) SC Cleared
3 30 (12.77%) DV Cleared
4 19 (8.09%) DBS Check
5 15 (6.38%) Degree
6 13 (5.53%) Microsoft Certification
7 12 (5.11%) CCNA
7 12 (5.11%) Cisco Certification
8 5 (2.13%) Azure Certification
8 5 (2.13%) CCNP
8 5 (2.13%) HND
9 1 (0.43%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (12.77%) SLA
2 8 (3.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 7 (2.98%) Cyber Essentials
3 7 (2.98%) GDPR
4 1 (0.43%) NIST
System Software
1 111 (47.23%) Active Directory
2 55 (23.40%) Hyper-V
3 21 (8.94%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (2.98%) vSphere
5 5 (2.13%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (1.28%) Firmware
6 3 (1.28%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 3 (1.28%) Virtual Servers
7 1 (0.43%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.43%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 45 (19.15%) Microsoft Intune
2 19 (8.09%) Jamf Pro
3 9 (3.83%) Backup Exec
4 7 (2.98%) WSUS
5 5 (2.13%) Autotask
5 5 (2.13%) FortiGate
6 2 (0.85%) vCenter Server
7 1 (0.43%) Ansible
7 1 (0.43%) Avamar
7 1 (0.43%) SCCM
7 1 (0.43%) SCOM
7 1 (0.43%) Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.43%) Terraform
Vendors
1 136 (57.87%) Microsoft
2 51 (21.70%) VMware
3 27 (11.49%) Oracle
4 19 (8.09%) Apple
5 14 (5.96%) Veeam
6 11 (4.68%) Cisco
7 10 (4.26%) Logitech
7 10 (4.26%) Yealink
8 7 (2.98%) CrowdStrike
8 7 (2.98%) McAfee
8 7 (2.98%) Samsung
9 6 (2.55%) ConnectWise
9 6 (2.55%) SolarWinds
10 4 (1.70%) Google
10 4 (1.70%) Meraki
11 3 (1.28%) Draytek
11 3 (1.28%) Fortinet
11 3 (1.28%) HP
11 3 (1.28%) IFS
12 1 (0.43%) EMC