1st Line Support Job Trends

First Line Support
UK

The median First Line Support salary in the UK is £26,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 4 January 2026.

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

6 months to
4 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 364 511 441
Rank change year-on-year +147 -70 +161
Permanent jobs requiring a 1st Line Support 307 209 292
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.52% 0.38% 0.55%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.57% 0.41% 0.58%
Number of salaries quoted 257 100 270
10th Percentile £23,725 £21,963 £21,000
25th Percentile £24,500 £23,000 £22,275
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £26,000 £26,000 £25,000
Median % change year-on-year - +4.00% -
75th Percentile £28,000 £28,750 £27,438
90th Percentile £30,000 £32,098 £33,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £26,000 £26,000 £24,000
% change year-on-year - +8.33% -2.04%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies. 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 with a recognized job title 53,448 50,590 50,228
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.53% 92.97% 95.23%
Number of salaries quoted 32,896 26,513 38,772
10th Percentile £28,500 £33,125 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £44,738 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £59,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +1.69% -1.67%
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,000 £77,500
90th Percentile £93,750 £97,500 £97,261
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -4.76%

1st Line Support
Job Vacancy Trend

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.

1st Line Support job vacancy trend in the UK

1st Line Support
Salary Trend

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

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

1st Line Support
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing 1st Line Support over the 6 months to 4 January 2026.

Salary histogram for 1st Line Support in the UK

1st Line Support
Top 16 Job Locations

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 over the 6 months to 4 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
England +174 284 £26,250 +0.96% 50
UK excluding London +122 274 £26,000 - 53
North of England +42 66 £25,750 +5.10% 12
South East +50 59 £26,625 +2.40% 20
Work from Home +58 46 £26,475 +1.83% 6
Midlands +28 46 £26,000 -1.89% 7
South West +43 45 £25,768 -4.56% 5
Yorkshire +18 40 £25,750 +7.29% 6
East of England +22 36 £26,000 - 4
East Midlands +18 35 £26,250 +0.96%
London +76 31 £28,750 -8.73% 6
North West +39 24 £25,500 -2.39% 5
Scotland +16 19 £25,000 - 2
West Midlands +20 11 £26,000 -1.89% 7
Wales +4 3 £26,000 - 3
North East -4 2 £25,300 -8.00% 1

1st Line Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 4 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 featuring 1st Line Support in the job title.

1 195 (63.52%) Microsoft
2 175 (57.00%) Customer Service
3 147 (47.88%) Microsoft 365
3 147 (47.88%) Windows
4 114 (37.13%) Problem-Solving
5 104 (33.88%) Active Directory
6 57 (18.57%) Microsoft Office
7 53 (17.26%) Windows Server
8 52 (16.94%) Azure
9 50 (16.29%) SharePoint
10 47 (15.31%) Firewall
11 46 (14.98%) Mac OS
12 44 (14.33%) ITSM
13 40 (13.03%) Remote Monitoring and Management
14 38 (12.38%) SLA
15 37 (12.05%) Apple
15 37 (12.05%) ITIL
15 37 (12.05%) Microsoft Exchange
15 37 (12.05%) Microsoft Intune
16 36 (11.73%) Entra ID
17 35 (11.40%) Windows 10
18 26 (8.47%) Microsoft Excel
19 25 (8.14%) DNS
20 24 (7.82%) DHCP
20 24 (7.82%) VoIP
20 24 (7.82%) WAN
21 22 (7.17%) LAN
21 22 (7.17%) Service Management
22 21 (6.84%) Cybersecurity
22 21 (6.84%) Mathematics

1st Line Support Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 50 (16.29%) SharePoint
2 37 (12.05%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (1.63%) WordPress
4 1 (0.33%) Exchange Server 2010
4 1 (0.33%) Exchange Server 2013
Applications
1 57 (18.57%) Microsoft Office
2 26 (8.47%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 7 (2.28%) Dynamics CRM
2 6 (1.95%) Exchequer
Cloud Services
1 147 (47.88%) Microsoft 365
2 52 (16.94%) Azure
3 36 (11.73%) Entra ID
4 21 (6.84%) OneDrive
5 9 (2.93%) SaaS
6 7 (2.28%) Google Workspace
6 7 (2.28%) Power Platform
7 4 (1.30%) AWS
8 3 (0.98%) Power Automate
9 1 (0.33%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 47 (15.31%) Firewall
2 25 (8.14%) DNS
3 24 (7.82%) DHCP
3 24 (7.82%) VoIP
3 24 (7.82%) WAN
4 22 (7.17%) LAN
5 21 (6.84%) Wi-Fi
6 13 (4.23%) TCP/IP
7 10 (3.26%) VPN
8 4 (1.30%) Internet
8 4 (1.30%) VLAN
9 3 (0.98%) 5G
9 3 (0.98%) SD-WAN
9 3 (0.98%) Wireless
10 1 (0.33%) Broadband
10 1 (0.33%) Cisco IOS
10 1 (0.33%) Mobile Broadband
10 1 (0.33%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (4.56%) SQL Server
2 6 (1.95%) Power BI
3 2 (0.65%) Geospatial Data
3 2 (0.65%) GIS
3 2 (0.65%) QGIS
General
1 170 (55.37%) Social Skills
2 26 (8.47%) Analytical Skills
3 20 (6.51%) Law
3 20 (6.51%) Retail
4 17 (5.54%) Organisational Skills
5 16 (5.21%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 14 (4.56%) Manufacturing
7 13 (4.23%) Legal
7 13 (4.23%) Public Sector
8 9 (2.93%) Finance
9 8 (2.61%) Telecoms
10 6 (1.95%) Advertising
10 6 (1.95%) Electronics
10 6 (1.95%) Games
11 5 (1.63%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (1.63%) Pharmaceutical
12 3 (0.98%) Marketing
12 3 (0.98%) Presentation Skills
13 2 (0.65%) French Language
13 2 (0.65%) German Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (2.28%) .NET
2 5 (1.63%) CSS
2 5 (1.63%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 86 (28.01%) Driving Licence
2 18 (5.86%) Onboarding
3 15 (4.89%) Self-Motivation
4 13 (4.23%) Management Information System
5 10 (3.26%) e-Learning
6 8 (2.61%) Hybrid Cloud
7 7 (2.28%) iPad
7 7 (2.28%) NHS
8 6 (1.95%) CCTV
8 6 (1.95%) EPoS
8 6 (1.95%) Fat Client
8 6 (1.95%) Thin Client
9 4 (1.30%) Mobile App
10 3 (0.98%) IoT
10 3 (0.98%) LIMS
11 1 (0.33%) BYOD
11 1 (0.33%) Video Conferencing
11 1 (0.33%) Wiki
Operating Systems
1 147 (47.88%) Windows
2 53 (17.26%) Windows Server
3 46 (14.98%) Mac OS
4 35 (11.40%) Windows 10
5 13 (4.23%) Android
6 11 (3.58%) Windows Server 2019
7 7 (2.28%) Linux
8 4 (1.30%) Unix
8 4 (1.30%) Windows 7
9 3 (0.98%) Windows 8
10 2 (0.65%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.33%) Apple iOS
11 1 (0.33%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.33%) Windows Mobile
11 1 (0.33%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 175 (57.00%) Customer Service
2 114 (37.13%) Problem-Solving
3 44 (14.33%) ITSM
4 40 (13.03%) Remote Monitoring and Management
5 37 (12.05%) ITIL
6 22 (7.17%) Service Management
7 21 (6.84%) Cybersecurity
7 21 (6.84%) Mathematics
8 17 (5.54%) Customer Experience
9 16 (5.21%) CRM
9 16 (5.21%) Time Management
10 15 (4.89%) Process Improvement
11 14 (4.56%) Customer-Centricity
12 13 (4.23%) Migration
13 11 (3.58%) Preventative Maintenance
14 10 (3.26%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 10 (3.26%) User Experience
15 9 (2.93%) Continuous Improvement
15 9 (2.93%) Customer-Centric Approach
15 9 (2.93%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 17 (5.54%) SQL
2 10 (3.26%) PowerShell
2 10 (3.26%) T-SQL
3 5 (1.63%) JavaScript
3 5 (1.63%) PHP
4 1 (0.33%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 16 (5.21%) Degree
2 15 (4.89%) Microsoft Certification
3 8 (2.61%) A+ Certification
4 7 (2.28%) Security Cleared
5 4 (1.30%) CCNA
5 4 (1.30%) Cisco Certification
5 4 (1.30%) DBS Check
5 4 (1.30%) SC Cleared
6 3 (0.98%) ECDL
6 3 (0.98%) MCP
7 2 (0.65%) Master's Degree
7 2 (0.65%) MCDST
7 2 (0.65%) MCSA
8 1 (0.33%) City & Guilds
8 1 (0.33%) DV Cleared
8 1 (0.33%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 38 (12.38%) SLA
2 8 (2.61%) GDPR
3 7 (2.28%) QA
System Software
1 104 (33.88%) Active Directory
2 13 (4.23%) VMware Infrastructure
3 12 (3.91%) Hyper-V
4 11 (3.58%) Virtual Desktop
5 3 (0.98%) VMware Workstation
6 1 (0.33%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.33%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 37 (12.05%) Microsoft Intune
2 6 (1.95%) PaperCut
2 6 (1.95%) SCCM
3 3 (0.98%) Autotask
Vendors
1 195 (63.52%) Microsoft
2 37 (12.05%) Apple
3 15 (4.89%) Progress
4 13 (4.23%) Datto
4 13 (4.23%) VMware
5 11 (3.58%) SAP
6 8 (2.61%) Google
6 8 (2.61%) Sophos
7 7 (2.28%) Freshdesk
7 7 (2.28%) Meraki
8 6 (1.95%) Acronis
8 6 (1.95%) Cisco
8 6 (1.95%) Dell KACE
9 4 (1.30%) ESET
9 4 (1.30%) Zoho
10 3 (0.98%) Ruckus Wireless
11 2 (0.65%) Hitachi
11 2 (0.65%) ServiceNow
12 1 (0.33%) Mitel
12 1 (0.33%) Remedy