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 13 September 2026.

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

6 months to
13 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 571 401 561
Rank change year-on-year -170 +160 -28
Permanent jobs requiring a 3rd Line Support 176 261 203
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.18% 0.60% 0.29%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.19% 0.67% 0.31%
Number of salaries quoted 150 252 178
10th Percentile £32,250 £35,000 £31,425
25th Percentile £37,500 £36,750 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £42,500 £40,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.88% +6.25% -2.44%
75th Percentile £55,000 £48,750 £48,563
90th Percentile £58,750 £57,500 £55,000
UK median annual salary £45,000 £42,500 £40,000
% change year-on-year +5.88% +6.25% -2.44%

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 93,631 39,211 65,564
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.51% 90.38% 95.21%
Number of salaries quoted 66,209 23,560 40,564
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,300 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,300 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.82% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £75,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £93,750
UK median annual salary £58,500 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +6.36% - -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 13 September 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 13 September 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 -79 45 £52,500 +30.43% 12
North of England -44 37 £35,000 -15.66% 6
London -64 30 £55,000 +10.00% 5
Midlands -76 28 £41,750 +8.44% 9
South West -69 23 £46,250 +8.82% 4
North West -11 18 £31,500 -20.75% 4
East Midlands -43 14 £40,000 -4.19% 3
West Midlands -49 14 £45,000 +20.00% 6
East of England -47 13 £36,500 -20.65% 1
North East -49 12 £40,000 - 2
Yorkshire -47 7 £47,500 -
3rd Line Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 13 September 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.

1 113 (64.20%) Microsoft
2 88 (50.00%) Microsoft 365
3 80 (45.45%) Active Directory
3 80 (45.45%) Azure
4 75 (42.61%) Windows
5 69 (39.20%) Entra ID
6 66 (37.50%) Microsoft Exchange
7 60 (34.09%) Firewall
8 57 (32.39%) SharePoint
9 48 (27.27%) Microsoft Intune
10 45 (25.57%) Windows Server
11 40 (22.73%) Mentoring
12 37 (21.02%) SaaS
13 35 (19.89%) DNS
13 35 (19.89%) Problem-Solving
14 32 (18.18%) DHCP
14 32 (18.18%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 32 (18.18%) VLAN
14 32 (18.18%) VMware
14 32 (18.18%) VMware Infrastructure
15 27 (15.34%) Cisco
15 27 (15.34%) Hyper-V
16 26 (14.77%) Degree
16 26 (14.77%) VPN
17 25 (14.20%) Cybersecurity
18 24 (13.64%) Project Delivery
18 24 (13.64%) Wireless
19 23 (13.07%) SQL
20 21 (11.93%) Change Management
20 21 (11.93%) Linux

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 66 (37.50%) Microsoft Exchange
2 57 (32.39%) SharePoint
3 3 (1.70%) Exchange Server 2007
3 3 (1.70%) Exchange Server 2010
3 3 (1.70%) Exchange Server 2013
4 1 (0.57%) Confluence
Applications
1 3 (1.70%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 5 (2.84%) Fidessa
2 3 (1.70%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.57%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 88 (50.00%) Microsoft 365
2 80 (45.45%) Azure
3 69 (39.20%) Entra ID
4 37 (21.02%) SaaS
5 14 (7.95%) Mimecast
6 10 (5.68%) Google Workspace
7 5 (2.84%) AWS
7 5 (2.84%) OneDrive
8 4 (2.27%) Power Automate
9 3 (1.70%) Power Platform
10 2 (1.14%) Azure Stack
11 1 (0.57%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 60 (34.09%) Firewall
2 35 (19.89%) DNS
3 32 (18.18%) DHCP
3 32 (18.18%) VLAN
4 26 (14.77%) VPN
5 24 (13.64%) Wireless
6 21 (11.93%) TCP/IP
7 14 (7.95%) LAN
7 14 (7.95%) WAN
8 12 (6.82%) Wi-Fi
9 8 (4.55%) Network Security
10 7 (3.98%) SD-WAN
11 6 (3.41%) VoIP
12 5 (2.84%) FIX Connectivity
13 4 (2.27%) DMZ
13 4 (2.27%) Wireshark
14 3 (1.70%) ICMP
14 3 (1.70%) Remote Desktop
14 3 (1.70%) SAN
15 1 (0.57%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (6.82%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 18 (10.23%) JIRA
2 1 (0.57%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 69 (39.20%) Social Skills
2 18 (10.23%) Legal
3 11 (6.25%) Analytical Skills
4 9 (5.11%) Finance
5 8 (4.55%) Documentation Skills
6 5 (2.84%) Banking
6 5 (2.84%) Manufacturing
7 3 (1.70%) Organisational Skills
7 3 (1.70%) Telecoms
8 2 (1.14%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 1 (0.57%) Law
9 1 (0.57%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (5.68%) .NET
2 5 (2.84%) FIX Protocol
3 3 (1.70%) Web Services
4 1 (0.57%) Terraform
Miscellaneous
1 18 (10.23%) Onboarding
2 13 (7.39%) Self-Motivation
3 12 (6.82%) Driving Licence
4 11 (6.25%) Video Conferencing
5 7 (3.98%) Enterprise Software
6 5 (2.84%) Eurex
7 4 (2.27%) Cyber Threat
8 1 (0.57%) Clustering
8 1 (0.57%) Hybrid Cloud
8 1 (0.57%) iPhone
8 1 (0.57%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 75 (42.61%) Windows
2 45 (25.57%) Windows Server
3 21 (11.93%) Linux
4 12 (6.82%) Windows Server 2012
4 12 (6.82%) Windows Server 2016
5 10 (5.68%) Mac OS
6 8 (4.55%) Windows Server 2019
7 5 (2.84%) CentOS
7 5 (2.84%) Rocky
7 5 (2.84%) Solaris
7 5 (2.84%) Ubuntu
7 5 (2.84%) Unix
8 3 (1.70%) Windows Server 2008
9 2 (1.14%) Android
9 2 (1.14%) Apple iOS
9 2 (1.14%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.57%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 40 (22.73%) Mentoring
2 35 (19.89%) Problem-Solving
3 32 (18.18%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 25 (14.20%) Cybersecurity
5 24 (13.64%) Project Delivery
6 21 (11.93%) Change Management
6 21 (11.93%) Technical Leadership
7 19 (10.80%) Continuous Improvement
7 19 (10.80%) Disaster Recovery
8 18 (10.23%) Incident Management
8 18 (10.23%) ITIL
9 17 (9.66%) Identity Management
10 15 (8.52%) Customer Service
11 14 (7.95%) Business Continuity
11 14 (7.95%) Remote Monitoring and Management
11 14 (7.95%) Server Management
12 13 (7.39%) ITSM
12 13 (7.39%) Root Cause Analysis
12 13 (7.39%) Workflow
13 10 (5.68%) Email Migration
Programming Languages
1 23 (13.07%) SQL
2 16 (9.09%) PowerShell
3 13 (7.39%) R
4 10 (5.68%) C#
5 7 (3.98%) Bash
5 7 (3.98%) Python
5 7 (3.98%) T-SQL
6 5 (2.84%) JavaScript
6 5 (2.84%) Perl
6 5 (2.84%) Ruby
7 4 (2.27%) COBOL
7 4 (2.27%) Java
Qualifications
1 26 (14.77%) Degree
2 16 (9.09%) CCNA
2 16 (9.09%) Cisco Certification
2 16 (9.09%) Microsoft Certification
3 13 (7.39%) Azure Certification
4 4 (2.27%) AWS Certification
4 4 (2.27%) MCSA
4 4 (2.27%) Microsoft Certified Professional
5 3 (1.70%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (9.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 14 (7.95%) Cyber Essentials
3 3 (1.70%) SLA
4 2 (1.14%) PCI DSS
5 1 (0.57%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
System Software
1 80 (45.45%) Active Directory
2 32 (18.18%) VMware Infrastructure
3 27 (15.34%) Hyper-V
4 7 (3.98%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (1.70%) Firmware
6 1 (0.57%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 48 (27.27%) Microsoft Intune
2 14 (7.95%) Autotask
3 11 (6.25%) Jamf Pro
4 4 (2.27%) Iperf
5 1 (0.57%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 113 (64.20%) Microsoft
2 32 (18.18%) VMware
3 27 (15.34%) Cisco
4 18 (10.23%) SonicWALL
5 15 (8.52%) Fortinet
6 13 (7.39%) CrowdStrike
6 13 (7.39%) HP
6 13 (7.39%) Meraki
7 10 (5.68%) Aruba
7 10 (5.68%) Datto
7 10 (5.68%) Google
7 10 (5.68%) Ubiquiti
8 8 (4.55%) Sophos
8 8 (4.55%) Veeam
9 7 (3.98%) Palo Alto
10 5 (2.84%) Bloomberg
10 5 (2.84%) Reuters
10 5 (2.84%) ServiceNow
10 5 (2.84%) Trayport
10 5 (2.84%) WatchGuard