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 30 November 2025.

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

6 months to
30 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 359 570 410
Rank change year-on-year +211 -160 +320
Permanent jobs requiring a 3rd Line Support 265 145 267
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.56% 0.25% 0.59%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.62% 0.26% 0.62%
Number of salaries quoted 252 121 243
10th Percentile £34,000 £32,500 £32,500
25th Percentile £36,250 £36,250 £35,200
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £42,500 £42,000 £42,000
Median % change year-on-year +1.19% - -2.33%
75th Percentile £48,750 £54,000 £52,500
90th Percentile £58,750 £65,000 £65,000
UK median annual salary £42,500 £42,000 £42,500
% change year-on-year +1.19% -1.18% -1.16%

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 42,617 55,189 43,365
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.67% 94.12% 95.20%
Number of salaries quoted 27,464 30,846 33,811
10th Percentile £28,250 £32,500 £32,000
25th Percentile £36,250 £42,500 £43,746
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £58,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.17% -3.33% -
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £80,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £95,000 £100,000
UK median annual salary £54,855 £57,500 £60,000
% change year-on-year -4.60% -4.17% -

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 30 November 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 30 November 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 +115 113 £41,500 -1.19% 18
London +76 40 £42,500 -10.53% 7
East of England +60 38 £47,500 +18.75% 6
Midlands +69 30 £44,000 -1.68% 4
North of England +43 27 £40,500 +14.89% 9
East Midlands +46 22 £38,500 -3.75% 1
South West +38 17 £48,500 +14.12% 4
Yorkshire +25 17 £47,500 +35.71% 9
North West +44 10 £40,250 +7.33%
West Midlands +49 8 £44,000 -1.86% 3
3rd Line Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 30 November 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.

1 190 (71.70%) Windows
2 185 (69.81%) Microsoft
3 145 (54.72%) Microsoft 365
4 142 (53.58%) Azure
5 135 (50.94%) Windows Server
6 127 (47.92%) Active Directory
7 90 (33.96%) Microsoft Exchange
8 88 (33.21%) Hyper-V
9 87 (32.83%) PowerShell
10 81 (30.57%) Firewall
11 79 (29.81%) VMware
12 74 (27.92%) DNS
13 69 (26.04%) DHCP
13 69 (26.04%) Microsoft Intune
14 53 (20.00%) Problem-Solving
15 52 (19.62%) Customer Service
16 51 (19.25%) Entra ID
17 48 (18.11%) VMware Infrastructure
18 47 (17.74%) Security Cleared
19 46 (17.36%) Mentoring
20 44 (16.60%) SC Cleared
21 42 (15.85%) SLA
22 40 (15.09%) ITIL
23 38 (14.34%) LAN
23 38 (14.34%) WAN
24 37 (13.96%) VLAN
25 33 (12.45%) Incident Management
25 33 (12.45%) VPN
26 32 (12.08%) TCP/IP
27 30 (11.32%) 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 90 (33.96%) Microsoft Exchange
2 28 (10.57%) SharePoint
3 22 (8.30%) Exchange Server 2003
4 16 (6.04%) IIS
5 9 (3.40%) Exchange Server 2013
6 1 (0.38%) Confluence
Applications
1 13 (4.91%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.38%) Fidessa
Cloud Services
1 145 (54.72%) Microsoft 365
2 142 (53.58%) Azure
3 51 (19.25%) Entra ID
4 20 (7.55%) AWS
5 18 (6.79%) IaaS
6 14 (5.28%) SaaS
7 13 (4.91%) PaaS
8 12 (4.53%) Power Platform
9 6 (2.26%) Power Automate
9 6 (2.26%) PowerApps
10 5 (1.89%) Azure Sentinel
10 5 (1.89%) Mimecast
10 5 (1.89%) Serverless
11 2 (0.75%) Google Workspace
12 1 (0.38%) Azure App Service
12 1 (0.38%) Cloud Computing
12 1 (0.38%) Dynamics 365
12 1 (0.38%) GCP
12 1 (0.38%) Nutanix
12 1 (0.38%) Zapier
Communications & Networking
1 81 (30.57%) Firewall
2 74 (27.92%) DNS
3 69 (26.04%) DHCP
4 38 (14.34%) LAN
4 38 (14.34%) WAN
5 37 (13.96%) VLAN
6 33 (12.45%) VPN
7 32 (12.08%) TCP/IP
8 21 (7.92%) Internet
8 21 (7.92%) Wi-Fi
9 20 (7.55%) SAN
10 18 (6.79%) VoIP
11 17 (6.42%) Wireless
12 11 (4.15%) Kerberos
13 9 (3.40%) Network Security
14 7 (2.64%) Wireshark
15 6 (2.26%) Cisco IOS
16 5 (1.89%) SMTP
16 5 (1.89%) SSL
16 5 (1.89%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (8.68%) Oracle Database
1 23 (8.68%) Oracle Database 10g
2 11 (4.15%) SQL Server
3 5 (1.89%) Amazon RDS
3 5 (1.89%) Power BI
4 3 (1.13%) PostgreSQL
5 1 (0.38%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 2 (0.75%) JIRA
General
1 112 (42.26%) Social Skills
2 22 (8.30%) Law
3 14 (5.28%) Manufacturing
4 13 (4.91%) Marketing
5 11 (4.15%) Automotive
6 10 (3.77%) Analytical Skills
6 10 (3.77%) Telecoms
7 8 (3.02%) Billing
7 8 (3.02%) Documentation Skills
7 8 (3.02%) Finance
8 7 (2.64%) Electronics
8 7 (2.64%) Public Sector
9 3 (1.13%) Retail
10 2 (0.75%) Advertising
11 1 (0.38%) Banking
11 1 (0.38%) Games
11 1 (0.38%) Legal
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (4.15%) LDAP
2 3 (1.13%) FreeSWITCH
2 3 (1.13%) Node.js
3 1 (0.38%) FIX Protocol
3 1 (0.38%) SAML
3 1 (0.38%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 29 (10.94%) Onboarding
2 19 (7.17%) Self-Motivation
3 13 (4.91%) PKI
4 11 (4.15%) Driving Licence
5 10 (3.77%) Replication
6 8 (3.02%) Management Information System
7 6 (2.26%) Clustering
7 6 (2.26%) Hybrid Cloud
8 5 (1.89%) Data Centre
9 3 (1.13%) Web Conferencing
10 1 (0.38%) Blockchain
10 1 (0.38%) BYOD
10 1 (0.38%) Enterprise Storage
10 1 (0.38%) Eurex
10 1 (0.38%) FMCG
10 1 (0.38%) IoT
10 1 (0.38%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 190 (71.70%) Windows
2 135 (50.94%) Windows Server
3 25 (9.43%) Unix
3 25 (9.43%) Windows 10
4 24 (9.06%) Solaris
5 23 (8.68%) HPUX
5 23 (8.68%) Windows Server 2019
6 22 (8.30%) Windows Server 2003
7 21 (7.92%) Windows 7
7 21 (7.92%) Windows Server 2008
8 18 (6.79%) Apple iOS
9 17 (6.42%) Android
10 15 (5.66%) Linux
11 14 (5.28%) Windows Server 2016
12 13 (4.91%) Mac OS
13 1 (0.38%) Ubuntu
13 1 (0.38%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 53 (20.00%) Problem-Solving
2 52 (19.62%) Customer Service
3 46 (17.36%) Mentoring
4 40 (15.09%) ITIL
5 33 (12.45%) Incident Management
6 27 (10.19%) Migration
7 21 (7.92%) Continuous Improvement
8 20 (7.55%) Coaching
8 20 (7.55%) Cybersecurity
9 18 (6.79%) Mobile Device Management
10 17 (6.42%) Business Continuity
10 17 (6.42%) Data Loss Prevention
11 14 (5.28%) Business Intelligence
11 14 (5.28%) Information Security
11 14 (5.28%) Network Monitoring
11 14 (5.28%) Service Delivery
12 13 (4.91%) Network Management
12 13 (4.91%) Remote Monitoring and Management
13 12 (4.53%) Knowledge Transfer
13 12 (4.53%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 87 (32.83%) PowerShell
2 21 (7.92%) Perl
3 14 (5.28%) SQL
4 11 (4.15%) VB
5 3 (1.13%) C
5 3 (1.13%) Java
5 3 (1.13%) PHP
6 1 (0.38%) Bash
6 1 (0.38%) Python
Qualifications
1 47 (17.74%) Security Cleared
2 44 (16.60%) SC Cleared
3 24 (9.06%) DV Cleared
4 16 (6.04%) Microsoft Certification
5 15 (5.66%) Cisco Certification
5 15 (5.66%) Degree
6 12 (4.53%) CCNA
7 10 (3.77%) Azure Certification
8 9 (3.40%) DBS Check
9 7 (2.64%) CCNP
10 5 (1.89%) ACMT
10 5 (1.89%) HND
10 5 (1.89%) MCP
10 5 (1.89%) MCTS
10 5 (1.89%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 3 (1.13%) Computer Science Degree
11 3 (1.13%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 2 (0.75%) ITIL Certification
13 1 (0.38%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (15.85%) SLA
2 19 (7.17%) Cyber Essentials
3 10 (3.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 9 (3.40%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (0.38%) NIST
System Software
1 127 (47.92%) Active Directory
2 88 (33.21%) Hyper-V
3 48 (18.11%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (2.26%) Virtual Machines
5 5 (1.89%) Docker
5 5 (1.89%) VMware ESXi
6 3 (1.13%) Firmware
7 1 (0.38%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.38%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.38%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 69 (26.04%) Microsoft Intune
2 19 (7.17%) SCCM
3 18 (6.79%) Autotask
4 13 (4.91%) Jamf Pro
5 11 (4.15%) WSUS
6 10 (3.77%) Backup Exec
7 7 (2.64%) vCenter Server
8 5 (1.89%) FortiGate
8 5 (1.89%) Kubernetes
9 1 (0.38%) Avamar
9 1 (0.38%) Grafana
9 1 (0.38%) Microsoft Clustering
9 1 (0.38%) NetBackup
9 1 (0.38%) Prometheus
9 1 (0.38%) Puppet
9 1 (0.38%) SCOM
9 1 (0.38%) WhatsUp Gold
Vendors
1 185 (69.81%) Microsoft
2 79 (29.81%) VMware
3 30 (11.32%) Oracle
4 28 (10.57%) Cisco
5 25 (9.43%) Veeam
6 18 (6.79%) Apple
7 13 (4.91%) Sophos
8 12 (4.53%) HP
9 11 (4.15%) Datto
10 9 (3.40%) arcserve
11 8 (3.02%) SAP
11 8 (3.02%) Ubiquiti
12 7 (2.64%) Samsung
13 6 (2.26%) SolarWinds
14 5 (1.89%) Barracuda Networks
14 5 (1.89%) Dell
14 5 (1.89%) Meraki
14 5 (1.89%) Salesforce
14 5 (1.89%) SonicWALL
15 3 (1.13%) Aruba