3rd Line Support Job Trends in England

Third Line Support
UK > England

The median Third Line Support salary in England is £46,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 1 October 2026.

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

6 months to
1 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 581 405 550
Rank change year-on-year -176 +145 -41
Permanent jobs requiring a 3rd Line Support 179 249 187
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.17% 0.58% 0.28%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.19% 0.64% 0.29%
Number of salaries quoted 148 243 158
10th Percentile £32,250 £34,200 £31,850
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,500 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £46,000 £42,500 £40,000
Median % change year-on-year +8.24% +6.25% -2.44%
75th Percentile £53,750 £48,750 £48,750
90th Percentile £58,750 £57,000 £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 96,512 39,065 63,578
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.96% 90.52% 95.21%
Number of salaries quoted 67,878 23,017 36,945
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,750
25th Percentile £41,000 £36,250 £41,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £75,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £95,000
UK median annual salary £59,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +7.27% - -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 1 October 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 1 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
Matching
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
North of England -55 39 £35,000 -13.58% 12
South East -108 39 £47,500 +15.85% 13
South West -63 31 £47,500 -2.06% 6
Midlands -61 30 £41,750 +8.44% 15
London -79 25 £55,000 +12.82% 9
North West -22 18 £31,500 -21.25% 6
East Midlands -45 15 £40,000 +3.90% 6
East of England -45 15 £37,000 -21.28% 2
West Midlands -51 15 £45,000 +2.27% 9
North East - 14 £40,000 - 2
Yorkshire -37 7 £47,500 - 4
3rd Line Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 1 October 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.

1 109 (60.89%) Microsoft
2 79 (44.13%) Microsoft 365
3 76 (42.46%) Active Directory
3 76 (42.46%) Windows
4 72 (40.22%) Azure
5 64 (35.75%) Entra ID
6 62 (34.64%) Firewall
7 56 (31.28%) Microsoft Exchange
8 51 (28.49%) SharePoint
9 47 (26.26%) Windows Server
10 44 (24.58%) Mentoring
11 41 (22.91%) Problem-Solving
12 39 (21.79%) Microsoft Intune
13 38 (21.23%) DNS
13 38 (21.23%) VMware
13 38 (21.23%) VMware Infrastructure
14 36 (20.11%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 35 (19.55%) VLAN
16 34 (18.99%) DHCP
17 30 (16.76%) Hyper-V
17 30 (16.76%) VPN
18 28 (15.64%) Cisco
18 28 (15.64%) SaaS
18 28 (15.64%) Wireless
19 27 (15.08%) Degree
20 24 (13.41%) Cybersecurity
20 24 (13.41%) TCP/IP
21 23 (12.85%) SQL
21 23 (12.85%) Technical Leadership
22 21 (11.73%) Disaster Recovery

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 56 (31.28%) Microsoft Exchange
2 51 (28.49%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.56%) Confluence
Business Applications
1 5 (2.79%) Fidessa
2 3 (1.68%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.56%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 79 (44.13%) Microsoft 365
2 72 (40.22%) Azure
3 64 (35.75%) Entra ID
4 28 (15.64%) SaaS
5 9 (5.03%) Google Workspace
5 9 (5.03%) Mimecast
6 4 (2.23%) AWS
6 4 (2.23%) Power Automate
7 3 (1.68%) Power Platform
8 2 (1.12%) Azure Stack
8 2 (1.12%) OneDrive
9 1 (0.56%) Dynamics 365
9 1 (0.56%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 62 (34.64%) Firewall
2 38 (21.23%) DNS
3 35 (19.55%) VLAN
4 34 (18.99%) DHCP
5 30 (16.76%) VPN
6 28 (15.64%) Wireless
7 24 (13.41%) TCP/IP
8 15 (8.38%) LAN
8 15 (8.38%) WAN
9 9 (5.03%) Wi-Fi
10 8 (4.47%) Network Security
10 8 (4.47%) SD-WAN
11 6 (3.35%) VoIP
12 5 (2.79%) FIX Connectivity
13 4 (2.23%) DMZ
13 4 (2.23%) Wireshark
14 3 (1.68%) ICMP
14 3 (1.68%) Remote Desktop
14 3 (1.68%) SAN
15 1 (0.56%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (9.50%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 13 (7.26%) JIRA
2 1 (0.56%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 76 (42.46%) Social Skills
2 13 (7.26%) Legal
3 12 (6.70%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (5.59%) Documentation Skills
5 8 (4.47%) Finance
6 5 (2.79%) Banking
6 5 (2.79%) Manufacturing
7 3 (1.68%) Telecoms
8 2 (1.12%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 1 (0.56%) Law
9 1 (0.56%) Presentation Skills
9 1 (0.56%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (5.59%) .NET
2 5 (2.79%) FIX Protocol
3 3 (1.68%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 18 (10.06%) Onboarding
2 12 (6.70%) Driving Licence
3 10 (5.59%) Self-Motivation
3 10 (5.59%) Video Conferencing
4 7 (3.91%) Enterprise Software
5 5 (2.79%) Eurex
6 4 (2.23%) Cyber Threat
7 1 (0.56%) Clustering
7 1 (0.56%) CMDB
7 1 (0.56%) Hybrid Cloud
7 1 (0.56%) iPhone
7 1 (0.56%) Management Information System
7 1 (0.56%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 76 (42.46%) Windows
2 47 (26.26%) Windows Server
3 17 (9.50%) Linux
4 9 (5.03%) Mac OS
4 9 (5.03%) Windows Server 2012
4 9 (5.03%) Windows Server 2016
5 8 (4.47%) Windows Server 2019
6 5 (2.79%) CentOS
6 5 (2.79%) Rocky
6 5 (2.79%) Solaris
6 5 (2.79%) Ubuntu
6 5 (2.79%) Unix
7 2 (1.12%) Android
7 2 (1.12%) Apple iOS
7 2 (1.12%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.56%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 44 (24.58%) Mentoring
2 41 (22.91%) Problem-Solving
3 36 (20.11%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 24 (13.41%) Cybersecurity
5 23 (12.85%) Technical Leadership
6 21 (11.73%) Disaster Recovery
6 21 (11.73%) Project Delivery
7 18 (10.06%) Root Cause Analysis
8 16 (8.94%) Continuous Improvement
9 15 (8.38%) ITIL
10 14 (7.82%) Business Continuity
10 14 (7.82%) Change Management
10 14 (7.82%) Customer Service
10 14 (7.82%) ITSM
10 14 (7.82%) Remote Monitoring and Management
11 13 (7.26%) Incident Management
11 13 (7.26%) Server Management
12 11 (6.15%) Identity Management
12 11 (6.15%) Proactive Maintenance
13 10 (5.59%) Cloud Security
Programming Languages
1 23 (12.85%) SQL
2 15 (8.38%) PowerShell
3 10 (5.59%) C#
4 8 (4.47%) R
5 7 (3.91%) Bash
5 7 (3.91%) Python
5 7 (3.91%) T-SQL
6 5 (2.79%) JavaScript
6 5 (2.79%) Perl
6 5 (2.79%) Ruby
7 4 (2.23%) COBOL
7 4 (2.23%) Java
Qualifications
1 27 (15.08%) Degree
2 16 (8.94%) CCNA
2 16 (8.94%) Cisco Certification
2 16 (8.94%) Microsoft Certification
3 13 (7.26%) Azure Certification
4 4 (2.23%) AWS Certification
4 4 (2.23%) MCSA
4 4 (2.23%) Microsoft Certified Professional
5 3 (1.68%) CCNP
6 1 (0.56%) DBS Check
6 1 (0.56%) SC Cleared
6 1 (0.56%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (7.82%) Cyber Essentials
2 11 (6.15%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 4 (2.23%) SLA
4 3 (1.68%) PCI DSS
5 1 (0.56%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
System Software
1 76 (42.46%) Active Directory
2 38 (21.23%) VMware Infrastructure
3 30 (16.76%) Hyper-V
4 9 (5.03%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (1.68%) Firmware
6 1 (0.56%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.56%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 39 (21.79%) Microsoft Intune
2 14 (7.82%) Autotask
3 9 (5.03%) Jamf Pro
4 4 (2.23%) Iperf
5 1 (0.56%) Nessus
5 1 (0.56%) SCCM
5 1 (0.56%) WSUS
Vendors
1 109 (60.89%) Microsoft
2 38 (21.23%) VMware
3 28 (15.64%) Cisco
4 17 (9.50%) Fortinet
4 17 (9.50%) SonicWALL
5 12 (6.70%) Meraki
6 10 (5.59%) Datto
6 10 (5.59%) Sophos
6 10 (5.59%) Veeam
7 9 (5.03%) Aruba
7 9 (5.03%) Google
7 9 (5.03%) HP
7 9 (5.03%) Palo Alto
7 9 (5.03%) Ubiquiti
8 8 (4.47%) CrowdStrike
8 8 (4.47%) WatchGuard
9 5 (2.79%) CQG
9 5 (2.79%) ION Trading
9 5 (2.79%) Patsystems
9 5 (2.79%) Reuters