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 2 April 2026.

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

6 months to
2 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 448 473 423
Rank change year-on-year +25 -50 +267
Permanent jobs requiring a 3rd Line Support 227 132 429
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.32% 0.36% 0.55%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.35% 0.40% 0.58%
Number of salaries quoted 212 125 401
10th Percentile £35,000 £35,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £37,500 £37,500 £34,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £42,500 £40,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.88% +6.25% -4.19%
75th Percentile £51,500 £52,500 £47,500
90th Percentile £58,750 £68,750 £55,696
UK median annual salary £45,000 £43,500 £40,000
% change year-on-year +3.45% +8.75% -4.76%

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 65,304 32,867 74,074
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.19% 89.91% 94.38%
Number of salaries quoted 42,937 21,128 57,819
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £43,000 £38,734
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -8.71%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £91,946
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -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 2 April 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 2 April 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 +39 94 £45,000 +5.88% 9
North of England -42 48 £42,500 +7.59% 13
London +16 47 £45,000 -25.00% 4
Yorkshire -17 40 £45,000 +24.14% 9
East of England -16 19 £47,000 +17.50%
Midlands -54 15 £32,500 -35.00% 2
East Midlands -48 12 £32,500 -50.00% 1
South West -45 5 £45,000 +12.50% 5
North East -25 4 £40,000 +11.11% 3
North West -35 4 £38,000 -10.59% 2
West Midlands -36 3 £45,000 -10.00% 1
3rd Line Support
UK

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

For the 6 months to 2 April 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.

1 134 (59.03%) Microsoft
2 114 (50.22%) Azure
3 109 (48.02%) Microsoft 365
3 109 (48.02%) Windows
4 108 (47.58%) Active Directory
5 92 (40.53%) Microsoft Exchange
6 68 (29.96%) Windows Server
7 63 (27.75%) Entra ID
8 60 (26.43%) DNS
9 56 (24.67%) SharePoint
10 55 (24.23%) PowerShell
11 53 (23.35%) Microsoft Intune
12 52 (22.91%) VMware
13 48 (21.15%) DHCP
14 46 (20.26%) Hyper-V
15 43 (18.94%) Problem-Solving
16 42 (18.50%) Customer Service
16 42 (18.50%) Firewall
17 40 (17.62%) Security Cleared
18 37 (16.30%) Incident Management
19 32 (14.10%) VPN
20 31 (13.66%) ITIL
20 31 (13.66%) SC Cleared
21 29 (12.78%) SQL
21 29 (12.78%) VLAN
22 28 (12.33%) DV Cleared
23 27 (11.89%) Infrastructure Engineering
23 27 (11.89%) Workflow
24 26 (11.45%) Oracle
24 26 (11.45%) SLA

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 92 (40.53%) Microsoft Exchange
2 56 (24.67%) SharePoint
3 21 (9.25%) Exchange Server 2003
4 4 (1.76%) Exchange Server 2007
4 4 (1.76%) Exchange Server 2010
4 4 (1.76%) Exchange Server 2013
5 1 (0.44%) Confluence
Applications
1 10 (4.41%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 11 (4.85%) Unit4 Business World
2 3 (1.32%) Oracle EBS
3 2 (0.88%) NetSuite
4 1 (0.44%) Fidessa
Cloud Services
1 114 (50.22%) Azure
2 109 (48.02%) Microsoft 365
3 63 (27.75%) Entra ID
4 20 (8.81%) SaaS
5 17 (7.49%) Mimecast
6 11 (4.85%) Boomi
6 11 (4.85%) iPaaS
6 11 (4.85%) Workato
7 5 (2.20%) Google Workspace
7 5 (2.20%) Power Platform
8 4 (1.76%) AWS
8 4 (1.76%) OneDrive
9 1 (0.44%) Amazon S3
9 1 (0.44%) Cloud Computing
9 1 (0.44%) GCP
9 1 (0.44%) Google Docs
9 1 (0.44%) IaaS
9 1 (0.44%) n8n
9 1 (0.44%) PaaS
9 1 (0.44%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 60 (26.43%) DNS
2 48 (21.15%) DHCP
3 42 (18.50%) Firewall
4 32 (14.10%) VPN
5 29 (12.78%) VLAN
6 19 (8.37%) TCP/IP
7 15 (6.61%) Wireless
8 13 (5.73%) SAN
9 11 (4.85%) VoIP
10 7 (3.08%) LAN
10 7 (3.08%) Wi-Fi
11 6 (2.64%) SMTP
11 6 (2.64%) WAN
12 5 (2.20%) EIGRP
12 5 (2.20%) IMAP
12 5 (2.20%) Intrusion Detection
12 5 (2.20%) Network Security
12 5 (2.20%) OSPF
12 5 (2.20%) POP3
12 5 (2.20%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (9.69%) Oracle Database
1 22 (9.69%) Oracle Database 10g
2 9 (3.96%) SQL Server
3 5 (2.20%) Power BI
4 3 (1.32%) Amazon RDS
4 3 (1.32%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 17 (7.49%) JIRA
General
1 59 (25.99%) Social Skills
2 22 (9.69%) Legal
3 14 (6.17%) Finance
4 12 (5.29%) Analytical Skills
4 12 (5.29%) Organisational Skills
5 8 (3.52%) Law
5 8 (3.52%) Manufacturing
6 5 (2.20%) Documentation Skills
7 4 (1.76%) Retail
8 3 (1.32%) Advertising
8 3 (1.32%) Marketing
8 3 (1.32%) Telecoms
9 2 (0.88%) Banking
10 1 (0.44%) Public Sector
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (4.85%) Web Services
2 1 (0.44%) FIX Protocol
Miscellaneous
1 18 (7.93%) Onboarding
2 16 (7.05%) Self-Motivation
3 15 (6.61%) Driving Licence
4 7 (3.08%) PKI
5 6 (2.64%) Replication
6 4 (1.76%) IoT
7 3 (1.32%) CMDB
7 3 (1.32%) Cyber Threat
7 3 (1.32%) Web Conferencing
8 1 (0.44%) Blockchain
8 1 (0.44%) Eurex
8 1 (0.44%) FMCG
8 1 (0.44%) Low-Code
8 1 (0.44%) Management Information System
8 1 (0.44%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 109 (48.02%) Windows
2 68 (29.96%) Windows Server
3 24 (10.57%) Windows Server 2008
4 23 (10.13%) Solaris
4 23 (10.13%) Unix
5 22 (9.69%) HPUX
6 21 (9.25%) Windows Server 2003
7 20 (8.81%) Windows 7
8 15 (6.61%) Linux
9 11 (4.85%) Mac OS
9 11 (4.85%) Windows Server 2016
10 10 (4.41%) Apple iOS
11 9 (3.96%) Android
11 9 (3.96%) Windows 10
12 7 (3.08%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 7 (3.08%) Windows Server 2012
13 4 (1.76%) Windows Server 2019
14 1 (0.44%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 43 (18.94%) Problem-Solving
2 42 (18.50%) Customer Service
3 37 (16.30%) Incident Management
4 31 (13.66%) ITIL
5 27 (11.89%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 27 (11.89%) Workflow
6 24 (10.57%) Identity Management
7 17 (7.49%) Change Management
7 17 (7.49%) Cybersecurity
7 17 (7.49%) Disaster Recovery
7 17 (7.49%) Technical Leadership
8 14 (6.17%) ERP
8 14 (6.17%) ITSM
8 14 (6.17%) Mentoring
8 14 (6.17%) Project Delivery
9 13 (5.73%) Service Delivery
10 12 (5.29%) Migration
10 12 (5.29%) Stakeholder Management
11 11 (4.85%) Requirements Gathering
11 11 (4.85%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 55 (24.23%) PowerShell
2 29 (12.78%) SQL
3 20 (8.81%) Perl
4 14 (6.17%) R
5 3 (1.32%) C
5 3 (1.32%) Java
5 3 (1.32%) PHP
5 3 (1.32%) Python
6 2 (0.88%) Bash
7 1 (0.44%) Google Apps Script
Qualifications
1 40 (17.62%) Security Cleared
2 31 (13.66%) SC Cleared
3 28 (12.33%) DV Cleared
4 14 (6.17%) DBS Check
4 14 (6.17%) Microsoft Certification
5 11 (4.85%) Degree
6 7 (3.08%) CCNA
6 7 (3.08%) Cisco Certification
7 5 (2.20%) CCNP
7 5 (2.20%) HND
8 3 (1.32%) Azure Certification
9 1 (0.44%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (11.45%) SLA
2 15 (6.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 8 (3.52%) Cyber Essentials
3 8 (3.52%) GDPR
4 1 (0.44%) NIST
System Software
1 108 (47.58%) Active Directory
2 46 (20.26%) Hyper-V
3 23 (10.13%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (3.08%) vSphere
5 3 (1.32%) Firmware
5 3 (1.32%) Microsoft Virtual Server
5 3 (1.32%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (1.32%) Virtual Servers
6 1 (0.44%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.44%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 53 (23.35%) Microsoft Intune
2 19 (8.37%) Jamf Pro
3 9 (3.96%) Backup Exec
4 7 (3.08%) WSUS
5 5 (2.20%) FortiGate
6 2 (0.88%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.88%) Terraform
7 1 (0.44%) Ansible
7 1 (0.44%) Autotask
7 1 (0.44%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 134 (59.03%) Microsoft
2 52 (22.91%) VMware
3 26 (11.45%) Oracle
4 17 (7.49%) Apple
5 15 (6.61%) Veeam
6 14 (6.17%) CrowdStrike
7 12 (5.29%) Cisco
8 11 (4.85%) Logitech
8 11 (4.85%) Yealink
9 7 (3.08%) HP
9 7 (3.08%) McAfee
9 7 (3.08%) Samsung
10 6 (2.64%) ConnectWise
10 6 (2.64%) SolarWinds
11 5 (2.20%) Google
11 5 (2.20%) Meraki
12 4 (1.76%) Dell
13 3 (1.32%) Draytek
13 3 (1.32%) Fortinet
13 3 (1.32%) IFS