3rd Line Support Job Trends in England

Third Line Support
UK > England

The median Third Line Support salary in England is £45,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 22 September 2026.

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

6 months to
22 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 586 402 541
Rank change year-on-year -184 +139 -7
Permanent jobs requiring a 3rd Line Support 176 250 195
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.17% 0.58% 0.29%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.18% 0.65% 0.30%
Number of salaries quoted 146 243 167
10th Percentile £32,250 £35,000 £31,500
25th Percentile £38,688 £36,750 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,500 £42,500 £40,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.06% +6.25% -2.44%
75th Percentile £55,000 £48,750 £47,750
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 95,479 38,667 64,407
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.24% 90.37% 95.22%
Number of salaries quoted 67,230 23,165 38,631
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,875 £36,250 £40,000
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 £93,750
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 22 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 22 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 -84 43 £52,500 +26.51% 13
North of England -52 37 £35,000 -13.58% 4
Midlands -63 29 £42,500 -3.41% 4
London -87 28 £55,000 +10.00% 5
South West -73 24 £47,500 -2.06% 4
North West -32 17 £31,500 -20.75% 3
East of England -43 15 £37,000 -21.28% 2
West Midlands -55 15 £45,000 +2.27% 2
East Midlands -40 14 £40,000 -4.19% 2
North East - 13 £40,000 - 1
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 22 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 84 (47.73%) Microsoft 365
3 79 (44.89%) Active Directory
4 76 (43.18%) Azure
5 75 (42.61%) Windows
6 67 (38.07%) Entra ID
7 63 (35.80%) Microsoft Exchange
8 60 (34.09%) Firewall
9 57 (32.39%) SharePoint
10 45 (25.57%) Windows Server
11 44 (25.00%) Microsoft Intune
12 42 (23.86%) Mentoring
13 38 (21.59%) Problem-Solving
14 36 (20.45%) DNS
15 35 (19.89%) Infrastructure Engineering
16 34 (19.32%) DHCP
16 34 (19.32%) SaaS
16 34 (19.32%) VLAN
16 34 (19.32%) VMware
16 34 (19.32%) VMware Infrastructure
17 28 (15.91%) Cisco
18 27 (15.34%) Hyper-V
18 27 (15.34%) VPN
19 26 (14.77%) Degree
19 26 (14.77%) Wireless
20 25 (14.20%) Cybersecurity
21 23 (13.07%) Project Delivery
21 23 (13.07%) SQL
21 23 (13.07%) Technical Leadership
22 22 (12.50%) TCP/IP

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 63 (35.80%) Microsoft Exchange
2 57 (32.39%) SharePoint
3 2 (1.14%) Exchange Server 2007
3 2 (1.14%) Exchange Server 2010
3 2 (1.14%) Exchange Server 2013
4 1 (0.57%) Confluence
Applications
1 2 (1.14%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 5 (2.84%) Fidessa
2 3 (1.70%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.57%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 84 (47.73%) Microsoft 365
2 76 (43.18%) Azure
3 67 (38.07%) Entra ID
4 34 (19.32%) SaaS
5 13 (7.39%) Mimecast
6 10 (5.68%) Google Workspace
7 5 (2.84%) AWS
8 4 (2.27%) 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 36 (20.45%) DNS
3 34 (19.32%) DHCP
3 34 (19.32%) VLAN
4 27 (15.34%) VPN
5 26 (14.77%) Wireless
6 22 (12.50%) TCP/IP
7 14 (7.95%) LAN
7 14 (7.95%) WAN
8 11 (6.25%) 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 14 (7.95%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 17 (9.66%) JIRA
2 1 (0.57%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 72 (40.91%) Social Skills
2 17 (9.66%) Legal
3 11 (6.25%) Analytical Skills
4 9 (5.11%) Documentation Skills
4 9 (5.11%) Finance
5 5 (2.84%) Banking
5 5 (2.84%) Manufacturing
6 3 (1.70%) Telecoms
7 2 (1.14%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 2 (1.14%) Organisational Skills
8 1 (0.57%) Law
8 1 (0.57%) Presentation Skills
8 1 (0.57%) Retail
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 12 (6.82%) Self-Motivation
3 11 (6.25%) Driving Licence
3 11 (6.25%) Video Conferencing
4 7 (3.98%) Enterprise Software
5 5 (2.84%) Eurex
6 4 (2.27%) Cyber Threat
7 1 (0.57%) Clustering
7 1 (0.57%) CMDB
7 1 (0.57%) Hybrid Cloud
7 1 (0.57%) iPhone
7 1 (0.57%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 75 (42.61%) Windows
2 45 (25.57%) Windows Server
3 19 (10.80%) Linux
4 11 (6.25%) Windows Server 2012
4 11 (6.25%) 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 2 (1.14%) Android
8 2 (1.14%) Apple iOS
8 2 (1.14%) Windows 10
8 2 (1.14%) Windows Server 2008
9 1 (0.57%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 42 (23.86%) Mentoring
2 38 (21.59%) Problem-Solving
3 35 (19.89%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 25 (14.20%) Cybersecurity
5 23 (13.07%) Project Delivery
5 23 (13.07%) Technical Leadership
6 20 (11.36%) Disaster Recovery
7 19 (10.80%) Change Management
8 17 (9.66%) Incident Management
9 16 (9.09%) Continuous Improvement
9 16 (9.09%) Identity Management
9 16 (9.09%) ITIL
10 14 (7.95%) Business Continuity
10 14 (7.95%) Customer Service
10 14 (7.95%) ITSM
10 14 (7.95%) Remote Monitoring and Management
10 14 (7.95%) Root Cause Analysis
10 14 (7.95%) Server Management
11 12 (6.82%) Workflow
12 10 (5.68%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 23 (13.07%) SQL
2 15 (8.52%) PowerShell
3 12 (6.82%) 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
6 1 (0.57%) SC Cleared
6 1 (0.57%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (8.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 14 (7.95%) Cyber Essentials
3 3 (1.70%) PCI DSS
3 3 (1.70%) SLA
4 1 (0.57%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
System Software
1 79 (44.89%) Active Directory
2 34 (19.32%) VMware Infrastructure
3 27 (15.34%) Hyper-V
4 8 (4.55%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (1.70%) Firmware
6 1 (0.57%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.57%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 44 (25.00%) Microsoft Intune
2 14 (7.95%) Autotask
3 11 (6.25%) Jamf Pro
4 4 (2.27%) Iperf
5 1 (0.57%) Nessus
5 1 (0.57%) SCCM
5 1 (0.57%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (0.57%) WSUS
Vendors
1 113 (64.20%) Microsoft
2 34 (19.32%) VMware
3 28 (15.91%) Cisco
4 18 (10.23%) SonicWALL
5 16 (9.09%) Fortinet
6 13 (7.39%) Meraki
7 12 (6.82%) CrowdStrike
7 12 (6.82%) HP
8 10 (5.68%) Aruba
8 10 (5.68%) Datto
8 10 (5.68%) Google
8 10 (5.68%) Ubiquiti
9 9 (5.11%) Sophos
9 9 (5.11%) Veeam
10 8 (4.55%) Palo Alto
11 6 (3.41%) WatchGuard
12 5 (2.84%) Bloomberg
12 5 (2.84%) Reuters
12 5 (2.84%) ServiceNow
12 5 (2.84%) Trayport