1st Line Support Job Trends in the UK excluding London

First Line Support
UK > UK excluding London

The median First Line Support salary in the UK excluding London is £26,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 14 January 2026.

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

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 261 383 343
Rank change year-on-year +122 -40 +86
Permanent jobs requiring a 1st Line Support 274 187 245
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 0.65% 0.52% 0.71%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.71% 0.56% 0.74%
Number of salaries quoted 231 83 233
10th Percentile £23,500 £22,100 £21,000
25th Percentile £24,500 £23,000 £22,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £26,000 £26,000 £24,000
Median % change year-on-year - +8.33% -4.00%
75th Percentile £27,688 £28,375 £27,000
90th Percentile £30,000 £30,200 £28,750
UK median annual salary £26,250 £26,000 £25,000
% change year-on-year +0.96% +4.00% -

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK excluding London

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in the UK excluding London. 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 the UK excluding London with a recognized job title 38,388 33,377 32,893
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.52% 92.91% 95.32%
Number of salaries quoted 23,454 16,215 24,936
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,250 £27,500
25th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £36,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,609 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.96% +5.22% -5.25%
75th Percentile £65,000 £68,750 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £82,500 £78,750
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -4.17%

1st Line Support
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring '1st Line Support' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

1st Line Support job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

1st Line Support
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution trend for 1st Line Support job vacancies in the UK excluding London.

Salary distribution trend for 1st Line Support job vacancies in the UK excluding London

1st Line Support
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing 1st Line Support in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 14 January 2026.

Salary histogram for 1st Line Support in the UK excluding London

1st Line Support
Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing 1st Line Support within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 14 January 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 +72 67 £27,250 +4.81% 23
North of England +25 62 £25,750 +5.10% 21
Midlands +32 47 £26,125 -3.24% 5
South West +40 41 £25,768 -2.76% 4
Yorkshire +10 38 £25,750 +7.29% 6
East of England +23 35 £26,000 - 6
East Midlands +9 34 £26,250 -0.94% 2
North West +29 24 £25,500 -2.39% 13
Scotland +22 18 £25,000 - 1
West Midlands +15 13 £26,000 -7.14% 3
Wales +7 4 £26,000 - 2
1st Line Support
UK

1st Line Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London

For the 6 months to 14 January 2026, 1st 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 UK excluding London region featuring 1st Line Support in the job title.

1 165 (60.22%) Microsoft
2 160 (58.39%) Customer Service
3 124 (45.26%) Microsoft 365
4 122 (44.53%) Windows
5 104 (37.96%) Problem-Solving
6 90 (32.85%) Active Directory
7 52 (18.98%) Firewall
8 47 (17.15%) Azure
8 47 (17.15%) Microsoft Office
9 43 (15.69%) SharePoint
10 42 (15.33%) Windows Server
11 40 (14.60%) ITSM
12 38 (13.87%) Mac OS
13 37 (13.50%) Remote Monitoring and Management
14 36 (13.14%) SLA
15 33 (12.04%) Entra ID
15 33 (12.04%) Microsoft Intune
16 28 (10.22%) Windows 10
17 27 (9.85%) Microsoft Exchange
18 26 (9.49%) Apple
19 25 (9.12%) Microsoft Excel
20 24 (8.76%) Wi-Fi
21 22 (8.03%) DNS
21 22 (8.03%) ITIL
21 22 (8.03%) Service Management
22 21 (7.66%) DHCP
23 20 (7.30%) Mathematics
24 18 (6.57%) WAN
25 17 (6.20%) CRM
25 17 (6.20%) Customer Experience

1st Line Support Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 43 (15.69%) SharePoint
2 27 (9.85%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (1.82%) WordPress
Applications
1 47 (17.15%) Microsoft Office
2 25 (9.12%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 7 (2.55%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.73%) Dynamics NAV
Cloud Services
1 124 (45.26%) Microsoft 365
2 47 (17.15%) Azure
3 33 (12.04%) Entra ID
4 13 (4.74%) OneDrive
5 7 (2.55%) Power Platform
6 6 (2.19%) SaaS
7 5 (1.82%) AWS
8 3 (1.09%) Google Workspace
8 3 (1.09%) Power Automate
9 2 (0.73%) Dynamics 365
10 1 (0.36%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 52 (18.98%) Firewall
2 24 (8.76%) Wi-Fi
3 22 (8.03%) DNS
4 21 (7.66%) DHCP
5 18 (6.57%) WAN
6 16 (5.84%) LAN
7 13 (4.74%) VoIP
8 8 (2.92%) VPN
9 7 (2.55%) TCP/IP
10 4 (1.46%) Internet
10 4 (1.46%) VLAN
11 3 (1.09%) 5G
11 3 (1.09%) SD-WAN
11 3 (1.09%) Wireless
12 1 (0.36%) Broadband
12 1 (0.36%) Cisco IOS
12 1 (0.36%) Mobile Broadband
12 1 (0.36%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (5.47%) SQL Server
2 6 (2.19%) Power BI
General
1 139 (50.73%) Social Skills
2 25 (9.12%) Analytical Skills
3 19 (6.93%) Law
3 19 (6.93%) Retail
4 18 (6.57%) Organisational Skills
5 13 (4.74%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 12 (4.38%) Legal
6 12 (4.38%) Manufacturing
6 12 (4.38%) Public Sector
7 8 (2.92%) Telecoms
8 6 (2.19%) Electronics
8 6 (2.19%) Finance
9 5 (1.82%) Documentation Skills
9 5 (1.82%) Pharmaceutical
10 4 (1.46%) Advertising
11 3 (1.09%) Marketing
11 3 (1.09%) Presentation Skills
12 2 (0.73%) French Language
13 1 (0.36%) Back Office
13 1 (0.36%) Police
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (2.55%) .NET
2 5 (1.82%) CSS
2 5 (1.82%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 81 (29.56%) Driving Licence
2 16 (5.84%) Management Information System
3 14 (5.11%) Self-Motivation
4 11 (4.01%) Onboarding
5 10 (3.65%) e-Learning
6 8 (2.92%) Hybrid Cloud
7 7 (2.55%) iPad
7 7 (2.55%) NHS
8 6 (2.19%) EPoS
9 5 (1.82%) Mobile App
10 3 (1.09%) IoT
10 3 (1.09%) LIMS
11 1 (0.36%) BYOD
Operating Systems
1 122 (44.53%) Windows
2 42 (15.33%) Windows Server
3 38 (13.87%) Mac OS
4 28 (10.22%) Windows 10
5 11 (4.01%) Windows Server 2019
6 8 (2.92%) Android
7 5 (1.82%) Linux
8 4 (1.46%) Unix
9 3 (1.09%) Windows 7
9 3 (1.09%) Windows 8
10 1 (0.36%) Apple iOS
10 1 (0.36%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.36%) Windows Mobile
10 1 (0.36%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 160 (58.39%) Customer Service
2 104 (37.96%) Problem-Solving
3 40 (14.60%) ITSM
4 37 (13.50%) Remote Monitoring and Management
5 22 (8.03%) ITIL
5 22 (8.03%) Service Management
6 20 (7.30%) Mathematics
7 17 (6.20%) CRM
7 17 (6.20%) Customer Experience
8 15 (5.47%) Cybersecurity
9 12 (4.38%) Customer-Centricity
9 12 (4.38%) Migration
10 11 (4.01%) Preventative Maintenance
10 11 (4.01%) Process Improvement
10 11 (4.01%) Time Management
11 10 (3.65%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 10 (3.65%) User Experience
12 9 (3.28%) Asset Management
13 8 (2.92%) Business Intelligence
13 8 (2.92%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 17 (6.20%) SQL
2 10 (3.65%) PowerShell
2 10 (3.65%) T-SQL
3 5 (1.82%) JavaScript
3 5 (1.82%) PHP
4 1 (0.36%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 13 (4.74%) Degree
2 9 (3.28%) Security Cleared
3 8 (2.92%) Microsoft Certification
4 4 (1.46%) SC Cleared
5 3 (1.09%) ECDL
5 3 (1.09%) MCP
6 2 (0.73%) CCNA
6 2 (0.73%) Cisco Certification
6 2 (0.73%) DBS Check
6 2 (0.73%) Master's Degree
6 2 (0.73%) MCDST
7 1 (0.36%) A+ Certification
7 1 (0.36%) City & Guilds
7 1 (0.36%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (13.14%) SLA
2 8 (2.92%) GDPR
3 7 (2.55%) QA
System Software
1 90 (32.85%) Active Directory
2 11 (4.01%) Virtual Desktop
3 10 (3.65%) Hyper-V
3 10 (3.65%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (1.09%) VMware Workstation
5 1 (0.36%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.36%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 33 (12.04%) Microsoft Intune
2 4 (1.46%) SCCM
3 3 (1.09%) Autotask
Vendors
1 165 (60.22%) Microsoft
2 26 (9.49%) Apple
3 14 (5.11%) Progress
4 11 (4.01%) SAP
5 10 (3.65%) VMware
6 8 (2.92%) Freshdesk
7 7 (2.55%) Datto
7 7 (2.55%) Meraki
8 6 (2.19%) Cisco
9 5 (1.82%) Zoho
10 4 (1.46%) ESET
10 4 (1.46%) Google
10 4 (1.46%) WatchGuard
11 3 (1.09%) Ruckus Wireless
12 2 (0.73%) Sophos
13 1 (0.36%) Citrix
13 1 (0.36%) Mitel
13 1 (0.36%) Remedy
13 1 (0.36%) ServiceNow