3rd Line Support Job Trends in England

Third Line Support
UK > England

The median Third Line Support salary in England is £42,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 14 December 2025.

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

6 months to
14 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 372 561 404
Rank change year-on-year +189 -157 +314
Permanent jobs requiring a 3rd Line Support 258 138 261
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.51% 0.26% 0.59%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.56% 0.28% 0.63%
Number of salaries quoted 242 118 239
10th Percentile £34,000 £32,675 £32,400
25th Percentile £36,250 £36,250 £35,200
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £42,500 £42,500
Median % change year-on-year - - -1.16%
75th Percentile £49,688 £53,625 £53,750
90th Percentile £58,750 £67,250 £65,000
UK median annual salary £42,500 £42,500 £42,500
% change year-on-year - - -0.58%

All Permanent IT Job Vacancies
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 45,987 49,051 41,744
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.31% 93.74% 95.09%
Number of salaries quoted 28,714 26,856 32,612
10th Percentile £28,500 £32,750 £31,872
25th Percentile £36,250 £44,000 £43,226
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £80,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £100,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £59,430 £60,000
% change year-on-year -7.45% -0.95% -

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 14 December 2025.

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 14 December 2025. 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 +99 110 £41,500 -2.35% 9
London +84 43 £42,500 -10.53% 6
East of England +44 32 £47,000 +17.50% 6
North of England +28 30 £40,500 +12.50% 22
Midlands +42 27 £44,000 -1.86% 6
Yorkshire +18 21 £42,500 +21.43% 13
East Midlands +18 19 £45,000 +12.50% 4
South West +23 17 £48,500 +14.12% 3
North West +30 9 £40,500 +1.25% 7
West Midlands +25 8 £44,000 -2.04% 2
3rd Line Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 14 December 2025, 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.

1 178 (68.99%) Windows
2 173 (67.05%) Microsoft
3 134 (51.94%) Microsoft 365
4 130 (50.39%) Azure
5 126 (48.84%) Active Directory
6 124 (48.06%) Windows Server
7 84 (32.56%) Microsoft Exchange
8 79 (30.62%) Firewall
8 79 (30.62%) Hyper-V
9 78 (30.23%) PowerShell
10 76 (29.46%) VMware
11 73 (28.29%) DNS
12 70 (27.13%) DHCP
13 65 (25.19%) Microsoft Intune
14 54 (20.93%) Customer Service
14 54 (20.93%) Problem-Solving
15 50 (19.38%) Entra ID
16 46 (17.83%) Security Cleared
17 45 (17.44%) Mentoring
18 44 (17.05%) VMware Infrastructure
19 43 (16.67%) SC Cleared
20 42 (16.28%) SLA
21 36 (13.95%) LAN
21 36 (13.95%) VLAN
21 36 (13.95%) VPN
21 36 (13.95%) WAN
22 34 (13.18%) ITIL
23 32 (12.40%) Incident Management
23 32 (12.40%) TCP/IP
24 30 (11.63%) 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 84 (32.56%) Microsoft Exchange
2 25 (9.69%) SharePoint
3 22 (8.53%) Exchange Server 2003
4 16 (6.20%) IIS
5 7 (2.71%) Exchange Server 2013
6 1 (0.39%) Confluence
Applications
1 12 (4.65%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.39%) Fidessa
1 1 (0.39%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 134 (51.94%) Microsoft 365
2 130 (50.39%) Azure
3 50 (19.38%) Entra ID
4 20 (7.75%) AWS
5 17 (6.59%) IaaS
6 14 (5.43%) SaaS
7 12 (4.65%) PaaS
7 12 (4.65%) Power Platform
8 6 (2.33%) Power Automate
8 6 (2.33%) PowerApps
9 5 (1.94%) Mimecast
9 5 (1.94%) Serverless
10 3 (1.16%) Azure Sentinel
10 3 (1.16%) Google Workspace
11 1 (0.39%) Amazon S3
11 1 (0.39%) Azure App Service
11 1 (0.39%) Cloud Computing
11 1 (0.39%) Dynamics 365
11 1 (0.39%) n8n
11 1 (0.39%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 79 (30.62%) Firewall
2 73 (28.29%) DNS
3 70 (27.13%) DHCP
4 36 (13.95%) LAN
4 36 (13.95%) VLAN
4 36 (13.95%) VPN
4 36 (13.95%) WAN
5 32 (12.40%) TCP/IP
6 19 (7.36%) Wi-Fi
6 19 (7.36%) Wireless
7 18 (6.98%) Internet
7 18 (6.98%) VoIP
8 15 (5.81%) SAN
9 11 (4.26%) Kerberos
10 10 (3.88%) Network Security
11 8 (3.10%) Wireshark
12 6 (2.33%) Cisco IOS
12 6 (2.33%) SMTP
12 6 (2.33%) Unified Communications
13 5 (1.94%) POP3
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (8.91%) Oracle Database
1 23 (8.91%) Oracle Database 10g
2 11 (4.26%) SQL Server
3 6 (2.33%) Amazon RDS
4 5 (1.94%) Power BI
5 3 (1.16%) PostgreSQL
6 1 (0.39%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 2 (0.78%) JIRA
General
1 106 (41.09%) Social Skills
2 22 (8.53%) Law
3 14 (5.43%) Manufacturing
4 12 (4.65%) Marketing
5 11 (4.26%) Automotive
6 9 (3.49%) Analytical Skills
6 9 (3.49%) Telecoms
7 7 (2.71%) Documentation Skills
7 7 (2.71%) Finance
8 6 (2.33%) Electronics
8 6 (2.33%) Public Sector
9 5 (1.94%) Billing
10 4 (1.55%) Retail
11 3 (1.16%) Advertising
12 1 (0.39%) Banking
12 1 (0.39%) Games
12 1 (0.39%) Legal
12 1 (0.39%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (4.26%) LDAP
2 3 (1.16%) FreeSWITCH
2 3 (1.16%) Node.js
3 1 (0.39%) FIX Protocol
3 1 (0.39%) SAML
3 1 (0.39%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 31 (12.02%) Onboarding
2 17 (6.59%) Self-Motivation
3 13 (5.04%) PKI
4 9 (3.49%) Driving Licence
4 9 (3.49%) Replication
5 8 (3.10%) Management Information System
6 6 (2.33%) Clustering
6 6 (2.33%) Hybrid Cloud
7 5 (1.94%) Data Centre
8 3 (1.16%) Web Conferencing
9 2 (0.78%) IoT
10 1 (0.39%) Blockchain
10 1 (0.39%) BYOD
10 1 (0.39%) Cyber Threat
10 1 (0.39%) Enterprise Storage
10 1 (0.39%) Eurex
10 1 (0.39%) FMCG
10 1 (0.39%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 178 (68.99%) Windows
2 124 (48.06%) Windows Server
3 25 (9.69%) Unix
3 25 (9.69%) Windows 10
4 24 (9.30%) Solaris
5 23 (8.91%) HPUX
6 22 (8.53%) Windows Server 2003
7 21 (8.14%) Windows 7
7 21 (8.14%) Windows Server 2008
8 18 (6.98%) Apple iOS
8 18 (6.98%) Windows Server 2019
9 17 (6.59%) Android
10 16 (6.20%) Linux
10 16 (6.20%) Windows Server 2016
11 13 (5.04%) Mac OS
12 2 (0.78%) Windows Server 2012
13 1 (0.39%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 54 (20.93%) Customer Service
1 54 (20.93%) Problem-Solving
2 45 (17.44%) Mentoring
3 34 (13.18%) ITIL
4 32 (12.40%) Incident Management
5 22 (8.53%) Cybersecurity
6 21 (8.14%) Continuous Improvement
6 21 (8.14%) Migration
7 18 (6.98%) Coaching
7 18 (6.98%) Mobile Device Management
8 17 (6.59%) Data Loss Prevention
9 15 (5.81%) Business Continuity
9 15 (5.81%) Network Monitoring
10 14 (5.43%) Disaster Recovery
10 14 (5.43%) Project Delivery
11 13 (5.04%) Network Management
12 12 (4.65%) Business Intelligence
12 12 (4.65%) Information Security
12 12 (4.65%) Logistics
12 12 (4.65%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 78 (30.23%) PowerShell
2 21 (8.14%) Perl
3 17 (6.59%) SQL
4 11 (4.26%) VB
5 3 (1.16%) C
5 3 (1.16%) Java
5 3 (1.16%) PHP
6 1 (0.39%) Bash
6 1 (0.39%) Python
Qualifications
1 46 (17.83%) Security Cleared
2 43 (16.67%) SC Cleared
3 24 (9.30%) DV Cleared
4 17 (6.59%) Microsoft Certification
5 15 (5.81%) Degree
6 13 (5.04%) Cisco Certification
7 12 (4.65%) DBS Check
8 10 (3.88%) CCNA
9 9 (3.49%) Azure Certification
10 8 (3.10%) CCNP
11 5 (1.94%) ACMT
11 5 (1.94%) HND
11 5 (1.94%) MCP
11 5 (1.94%) MCTS
11 5 (1.94%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 3 (1.16%) Computer Science Degree
12 3 (1.16%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 2 (0.78%) ITIL Certification
14 1 (0.39%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (16.28%) SLA
2 15 (5.81%) Cyber Essentials
3 8 (3.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 7 (2.71%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (0.39%) NIST
System Software
1 126 (48.84%) Active Directory
2 79 (30.62%) Hyper-V
3 44 (17.05%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (2.33%) Virtual Machines
5 5 (1.94%) Docker
5 5 (1.94%) VMware ESXi
6 4 (1.55%) Firmware
7 1 (0.39%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.39%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.39%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 65 (25.19%) Microsoft Intune
2 15 (5.81%) Autotask
3 14 (5.43%) SCCM
4 13 (5.04%) Jamf Pro
5 11 (4.26%) WSUS
6 7 (2.71%) vCenter Server
7 5 (1.94%) FortiGate
7 5 (1.94%) Kubernetes
8 4 (1.55%) Backup Exec
9 1 (0.39%) Avamar
9 1 (0.39%) Grafana
9 1 (0.39%) Microsoft Clustering
9 1 (0.39%) NetBackup
9 1 (0.39%) Prometheus
9 1 (0.39%) Puppet
9 1 (0.39%) SCOM
9 1 (0.39%) WhatsUp Gold
Vendors
1 173 (67.05%) Microsoft
2 76 (29.46%) VMware
3 30 (11.63%) Oracle
4 25 (9.69%) Cisco
5 21 (8.14%) Veeam
6 18 (6.98%) Apple
7 13 (5.04%) Sophos
8 9 (3.49%) HP
9 7 (2.71%) arcserve
9 7 (2.71%) Datto
9 7 (2.71%) Samsung
9 7 (2.71%) SAP
9 7 (2.71%) SolarWinds
9 7 (2.71%) Ubiquiti
10 5 (1.94%) Barracuda Networks
10 5 (1.94%) Dell
10 5 (1.94%) Meraki
10 5 (1.94%) Salesforce
10 5 (1.94%) SonicWALL
11 4 (1.55%) ConnectWise