2nd Line Support Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Second Line Support
UK > UK excluding London

The median Second Line Support salary in the UK excluding London is £31,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 13 January 2026.

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

6 months to
13 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 160 323 252
Rank change year-on-year +163 -71 +83
Permanent jobs requiring a 2nd Line Support 530 270 393
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 1.26% 0.75% 1.13%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.39% 0.81% 1.19%
Number of salaries quoted 491 176 359
10th Percentile £27,000 £26,750 £25,200
25th Percentile £29,000 £29,750 £26,401
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £31,500 £32,500 £30,000
Median % change year-on-year -3.08% +8.33% -
75th Percentile £35,000 £35,250 £33,750
90th Percentile £38,750 £40,000 £38,250
UK median annual salary £32,000 £33,500 £32,000
% change year-on-year -4.48% +4.69% +1.59%

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 38,179 33,328 33,027
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.48% 92.91% 95.32%
Number of salaries quoted 23,318 16,178 25,075
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,250 £27,500
25th Percentile £35,000 £40,000 £36,563
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -5.66%
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%

2nd Line Support
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring '2nd Line Support' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

2nd Line Support job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

2nd Line Support
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution trend for 2nd Line Support job vacancies in the UK excluding London.

Salary distribution trend for 2nd Line Support job vacancies in the UK excluding London

2nd Line Support
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing 2nd Line Support in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 13 January 2026.

Salary histogram for 2nd Line Support in the UK excluding London

2nd 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 2nd Line Support within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 13 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 +74 165 £32,750 -2.24% 21
Midlands +111 143 £30,500 -6.15% 9
North of England +84 97 £30,000 - 10
East Midlands +49 87 £30,000 -4.76% 3
South West +45 63 £31,500 -5.97% 5
Yorkshire +29 52 £29,000 -1.69% 5
West Midlands +62 51 £31,500 -6.67% 6
North West +47 43 £30,000 -4.76% 3
East of England +14 40 £33,500 +4.69% 11
Scotland +9 22 £30,000 - 11
North East +5 2 £26,000 -13.33% 2
2nd Line Support
UK

2nd Line Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London

For the 6 months to 13 January 2026, 2nd 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 2nd Line Support in the job title.

1 264 (49.81%) Windows
2 237 (44.72%) Microsoft 365
3 233 (43.96%) Microsoft
4 185 (34.91%) Active Directory
5 176 (33.21%) Problem-Solving
6 163 (30.75%) Customer Service
7 138 (26.04%) Windows Server
8 137 (25.85%) Azure
9 118 (22.26%) Firewall
10 112 (21.13%) DNS
11 111 (20.94%) Mentoring
12 106 (20.00%) DHCP
13 102 (19.25%) SLA
14 88 (16.60%) Continuous Improvement
14 88 (16.60%) Windows 10
15 87 (16.42%) VPN
16 85 (16.04%) Entra ID
17 80 (15.09%) Microsoft Intune
18 78 (14.72%) ITIL
19 74 (13.96%) SQL
20 67 (12.64%) SharePoint
20 67 (12.64%) TCP/IP
21 64 (12.08%) Microsoft Exchange
22 61 (11.51%) VMware
23 58 (10.94%) Hyper-V
23 58 (10.94%) VLAN
24 55 (10.38%) Microsoft Office
25 52 (9.81%) Security Cleared
26 51 (9.62%) SC Cleared
27 50 (9.43%) Remote Desktop

2nd 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 67 (12.64%) SharePoint
2 64 (12.08%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (1.70%) IIS
4 6 (1.13%) Exchange Server 2013
5 4 (0.75%) Confluence
6 1 (0.19%) Exchange Server 2007
6 1 (0.19%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 55 (10.38%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (2.26%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (1.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.75%) CATIA
5 1 (0.19%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 5 (0.94%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.38%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 237 (44.72%) Microsoft 365
2 137 (25.85%) Azure
3 85 (16.04%) Entra ID
4 41 (7.74%) SaaS
5 21 (3.96%) OneDrive
6 12 (2.26%) Google Workspace
7 11 (2.08%) AWS
8 3 (0.57%) Amazon EC2
8 3 (0.57%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 2 (0.38%) Azure Sentinel
10 1 (0.19%) Mimecast
10 1 (0.19%) Power Automate
10 1 (0.19%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 118 (22.26%) Firewall
2 112 (21.13%) DNS
3 106 (20.00%) DHCP
4 87 (16.42%) VPN
5 67 (12.64%) TCP/IP
6 58 (10.94%) VLAN
7 50 (9.43%) Remote Desktop
8 49 (9.25%) WAN
9 47 (8.87%) LAN
10 37 (6.98%) Wi-Fi
11 28 (5.28%) Wireless
12 19 (3.58%) VoIP
13 8 (1.51%) PBX
13 8 (1.51%) Unified Communications
14 7 (1.32%) IPsec
15 6 (1.13%) DECT
15 6 (1.13%) DSL
15 6 (1.13%) Wireshark
16 5 (0.94%) Internet
16 5 (0.94%) Kerberos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (3.58%) SQL Server
2 11 (2.08%) Amazon RDS
3 3 (0.57%) MySQL
3 3 (0.57%) Oracle Database
4 1 (0.19%) FileMaker
4 1 (0.19%) Power BI
4 1 (0.19%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 18 (3.40%) JIRA
General
1 254 (47.92%) Social Skills
2 58 (10.94%) Retail
3 53 (10.00%) Analytical Skills
4 52 (9.81%) Law
5 49 (9.25%) Marketing
6 27 (5.09%) Telecoms
7 22 (4.15%) Organisational Skills
8 19 (3.58%) Manufacturing
9 14 (2.64%) Legal
10 13 (2.45%) Advertising
11 11 (2.08%) Finance
12 6 (1.13%) Public Sector
13 5 (0.94%) Pharmaceutical
14 4 (0.75%) Dutch Language
14 4 (0.75%) Electronics
14 4 (0.75%) French Language
14 4 (0.75%) Games
14 4 (0.75%) German Language
14 4 (0.75%) Spanish Language
15 3 (0.57%) Back Office
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (0.94%) LDAP
2 3 (0.57%) Middleware
3 2 (0.38%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 103 (19.43%) Driving Licence
2 60 (11.32%) Onboarding
3 14 (2.64%) Self-Motivation
4 12 (2.26%) Data Centre
5 8 (1.51%) EPoS
6 6 (1.13%) Web Conferencing
7 5 (0.94%) IoT
7 5 (0.94%) PKI
8 4 (0.75%) Client/Server
8 4 (0.75%) Clustering
8 4 (0.75%) Management Information System
9 3 (0.57%) iSeries
9 3 (0.57%) Linux Command Line
10 2 (0.38%) Cyber Threat
10 2 (0.38%) Data Protection Act
10 2 (0.38%) Enterprise Software
10 2 (0.38%) Low-Code
10 2 (0.38%) NHS
11 1 (0.19%) Fat Client
11 1 (0.19%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 264 (49.81%) Windows
2 138 (26.04%) Windows Server
3 88 (16.60%) Windows 10
4 32 (6.04%) Windows Server 2019
5 28 (5.28%) Android
6 26 (4.91%) Apple iOS
6 26 (4.91%) Mac OS
7 24 (4.53%) Linux
8 14 (2.64%) Windows Server 2016
9 6 (1.13%) Windows 7
9 6 (1.13%) Windows 8
10 3 (0.57%) AIX
10 3 (0.57%) Unix
11 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 176 (33.21%) Problem-Solving
2 163 (30.75%) Customer Service
3 111 (20.94%) Mentoring
4 88 (16.60%) Continuous Improvement
5 78 (14.72%) ITIL
6 47 (8.87%) CRM
7 46 (8.68%) Service Delivery
8 44 (8.30%) Logistics
9 42 (7.92%) ERP
10 40 (7.55%) Root Cause Analysis
11 39 (7.36%) Analytical Thinking
12 37 (6.98%) Data Privacy
12 37 (6.98%) E-Commerce
13 36 (6.79%) Mobile Device Management
14 34 (6.42%) ITSM
15 31 (5.85%) Cybersecurity
15 31 (5.85%) Incident Management
16 24 (4.53%) Patch Management
16 24 (4.53%) Service Management
17 23 (4.34%) Remote Monitoring and Management
Programming Languages
1 74 (13.96%) SQL
2 37 (6.98%) C#
3 25 (4.72%) PowerShell
4 5 (0.94%) VB
5 4 (0.75%) Bicep
5 4 (0.75%) T-SQL
6 1 (0.19%) Python
Qualifications
1 52 (9.81%) Security Cleared
2 51 (9.62%) SC Cleared
3 31 (5.85%) Microsoft Certification
4 23 (4.34%) Degree
4 23 (4.34%) MCP
5 12 (2.26%) Azure Certification
5 12 (2.26%) MCSE
6 11 (2.08%) CCNA
6 11 (2.08%) Cisco Certification
6 11 (2.08%) MCSA
7 10 (1.89%) CCA
7 10 (1.89%) Citrix Certification
8 9 (1.70%) Network+ Certification
9 8 (1.51%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 7 (1.32%) MCITP
11 6 (1.13%) A+ Certification
11 6 (1.13%) BPSS Clearance
11 6 (1.13%) Computer Science Degree
12 4 (0.75%) ACMT
12 4 (0.75%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 102 (19.25%) SLA
2 34 (6.42%) QA
3 21 (3.96%) GDPR
4 20 (3.77%) Cyber Essentials
5 11 (2.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 4 (0.75%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 4 (0.75%) NIST
7 3 (0.57%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 185 (34.91%) Active Directory
2 58 (10.94%) Hyper-V
3 42 (7.92%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (1.70%) Virtual Desktop
5 5 (0.94%) BitLocker
5 5 (0.94%) Firmware
5 5 (0.94%) Virtual Machines
6 4 (0.75%) Docker
6 4 (0.75%) VMware ESXi
6 4 (0.75%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 80 (15.09%) Microsoft Intune
2 20 (3.77%) SCCM
3 19 (3.58%) Jamf Pro
4 9 (1.70%) Autotask
5 5 (0.94%) WSUS
6 4 (0.75%) Kubernetes
6 4 (0.75%) MaaS360
6 4 (0.75%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.57%) FortiGate
7 3 (0.57%) Netcool
8 2 (0.38%) PaperCut
9 1 (0.19%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 1 (0.19%) AirWatch
9 1 (0.19%) EMC NetWorker
Vendors
1 233 (43.96%) Microsoft
2 61 (11.51%) VMware
3 44 (8.30%) Apple
4 34 (6.42%) Cisco
5 19 (3.58%) Samsung
6 15 (2.83%) Meraki
7 14 (2.64%) Datto
7 14 (2.64%) Sophos
8 13 (2.45%) Citrix
9 11 (2.08%) Veeam
10 8 (1.51%) Google
10 8 (1.51%) SolarWinds
11 7 (1.32%) Adobe
11 7 (1.32%) Oracle
12 6 (1.13%) ConnectWise
12 6 (1.13%) McAfee
12 6 (1.13%) ServiceNow
13 5 (0.94%) Fortinet
13 5 (0.94%) HP
14 4 (0.75%) SAP