1st Line Support Job Trends

First Line Support
UK

The median First Line Support salary in the UK is £26,700 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 11 March 2026.

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

6 months to
11 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 374 469 408
Rank change year-on-year +95 -61 +162
Permanent jobs requiring a 1st Line Support 333 196 514
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.46% 0.45% 0.61%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.50% 0.49% 0.65%
Number of salaries quoted 287 129 489
10th Percentile £24,125 £22,500 £21,000
25th Percentile £25,375 £24,000 £22,489
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £26,700 £26,000 £25,000
Median % change year-on-year +2.69% +4.00% -
75th Percentile £28,750 £28,750 £28,250
90th Percentile £30,000 £34,000 £32,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £26,450 £26,000 £24,500
% change year-on-year +1.73% +6.12% -2.00%

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 66,980 39,779 79,178
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 91.76% 90.72% 94.60%
Number of salaries quoted 42,499 22,997 60,965
10th Percentile £30,000 £32,000 £28,500
25th Percentile £39,000 £43,750 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -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 11 March 2026.

Salary histogram for 1st Line Support in the UK

1st Line Support
Top 15 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 11 March 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 +75 312 £26,750 +2.88% 53
UK excluding London +71 288 £26,450 +1.73% 52
South East +40 93 £27,000 +3.85% 16
North of England +5 73 £26,250 +7.14% 17
Midlands 0 42 £26,000 - 8
London +34 40 £28,500 -10.94% 8
Yorkshire -7 39 £26,500 -5.36% 1
Work from Home -7 37 £26,500 +1.92% 11
North West +8 34 £26,000 +6.67% 13
South West +5 33 £26,500 +1.92% 3
East of England -19 30 £27,000 +3.85% 3
East Midlands -27 23 £26,625 +2.40% 4
West Midlands +4 19 £26,000 -7.14% 4
Scotland -8 9 £25,600 +6.67% 3
Wales -1 8 £24,250 - 1

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

For the 6 months to 11 March 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.

1 204 (61.26%) Microsoft
2 165 (49.55%) Customer Service
3 159 (47.75%) Microsoft 365
4 157 (47.15%) Windows
5 117 (35.14%) Problem-Solving
6 103 (30.93%) Active Directory
7 67 (20.12%) Microsoft Office
8 48 (14.41%) ITIL
8 48 (14.41%) Windows Server
9 47 (14.11%) Firewall
9 47 (14.11%) Windows 10
10 45 (13.51%) SharePoint
11 42 (12.61%) SLA
12 40 (12.01%) Microsoft Exchange
13 38 (11.41%) Azure
14 36 (10.81%) ITSM
15 33 (9.91%) Remote Monitoring and Management
16 29 (8.71%) Degree
16 29 (8.71%) Microsoft Excel
17 28 (8.41%) Apple
17 28 (8.41%) DNS
18 27 (8.11%) DHCP
18 27 (8.11%) WAN
19 25 (7.51%) Mac OS
20 23 (6.91%) Entra ID
20 23 (6.91%) Wi-Fi
21 21 (6.31%) Process Improvement
22 20 (6.01%) Continuous Improvement
22 20 (6.01%) Mathematics
22 20 (6.01%) Microsoft Intune

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 45 (13.51%) SharePoint
2 40 (12.01%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.60%) IIS
4 1 (0.30%) WordPress
Applications
1 67 (20.12%) Microsoft Office
2 29 (8.71%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (1.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 4 (1.20%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (0.90%) Dynamics NAV
2 3 (0.90%) Exchequer
Cloud Services
1 159 (47.75%) Microsoft 365
2 38 (11.41%) Azure
3 23 (6.91%) Entra ID
4 19 (5.71%) OneDrive
5 14 (4.20%) Google Workspace
5 14 (4.20%) SaaS
6 5 (1.50%) AWS
7 3 (0.90%) Dynamics 365
7 3 (0.90%) Power Automate
7 3 (0.90%) Power Platform
8 1 (0.30%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 47 (14.11%) Firewall
2 28 (8.41%) DNS
3 27 (8.11%) DHCP
3 27 (8.11%) WAN
4 23 (6.91%) Wi-Fi
5 18 (5.41%) LAN
6 15 (4.50%) VoIP
7 13 (3.90%) TCP/IP
8 10 (3.00%) SD-WAN
8 10 (3.00%) VPN
9 4 (1.20%) Remote Desktop
9 4 (1.20%) Wireless
10 3 (0.90%) 5G
10 3 (0.90%) Internet
11 1 (0.30%) Cisco IOS
11 1 (0.30%) Unified Communications
11 1 (0.30%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (3.60%) SQL Server
2 3 (0.90%) Power BI
General
1 169 (50.75%) Social Skills
2 32 (9.61%) Organisational Skills
3 20 (6.01%) Finance
3 20 (6.01%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 16 (4.80%) Manufacturing
5 15 (4.50%) Analytical Skills
6 9 (2.70%) Games
6 9 (2.70%) Law
6 9 (2.70%) Legal
6 9 (2.70%) Public Sector
6 9 (2.70%) Retail
7 5 (1.50%) Marketing
7 5 (1.50%) Pharmaceutical
7 5 (1.50%) Social Housing
7 5 (1.50%) Telecoms
8 4 (1.20%) Advertising
8 4 (1.20%) Automotive
8 4 (1.20%) Documentation Skills
9 3 (0.90%) Presentation Skills
10 2 (0.60%) French Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (1.20%) .NET
2 1 (0.30%) CSS
2 1 (0.30%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 53 (15.92%) Driving Licence
2 32 (9.61%) Onboarding
3 17 (5.11%) Management Information System
4 12 (3.60%) Self-Motivation
5 9 (2.70%) Fat Client
5 9 (2.70%) Thin Client
6 8 (2.40%) Hybrid Cloud
7 7 (2.10%) NHS
8 5 (1.50%) EPoS
8 5 (1.50%) Mobile App
9 4 (1.20%) iPad
10 3 (0.90%) CCTV
10 3 (0.90%) IoT
10 3 (0.90%) LIMS
11 2 (0.60%) Data Protection Act
12 1 (0.30%) e-Learning
12 1 (0.30%) Replication
12 1 (0.30%) Wiki
Operating Systems
1 157 (47.15%) Windows
2 48 (14.41%) Windows Server
3 47 (14.11%) Windows 10
4 25 (7.51%) Mac OS
5 16 (4.80%) Android
6 10 (3.00%) Windows 7
6 10 (3.00%) Windows 8
7 5 (1.50%) Windows Server 2019
8 4 (1.20%) Linux
8 4 (1.20%) Unix
9 1 (0.30%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 165 (49.55%) Customer Service
2 117 (35.14%) Problem-Solving
3 48 (14.41%) ITIL
4 36 (10.81%) ITSM
5 33 (9.91%) Remote Monitoring and Management
6 21 (6.31%) Process Improvement
7 20 (6.01%) Continuous Improvement
7 20 (6.01%) Mathematics
8 19 (5.71%) Service Management
8 19 (5.71%) Time Management
9 17 (5.11%) Cybersecurity
10 16 (4.80%) Customer Experience
11 14 (4.20%) CRM
12 12 (3.60%) AI
13 11 (3.30%) Asset Management
13 11 (3.30%) Mentoring
14 10 (3.00%) Customer-Centricity
14 10 (3.00%) Information Security
14 10 (3.00%) Proactive Maintenance
15 9 (2.70%) Line Management
Programming Languages
1 15 (4.50%) SQL
2 11 (3.30%) PowerShell
3 7 (2.10%) T-SQL
4 5 (1.50%) JavaScript
5 4 (1.20%) Python
6 1 (0.30%) PHP
6 1 (0.30%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 29 (8.71%) Degree
2 13 (3.90%) A+ Certification
3 12 (3.60%) Microsoft Certification
3 12 (3.60%) Security Cleared
4 5 (1.50%) CCNA
4 5 (1.50%) Cisco Certification
5 4 (1.20%) DBS Check
5 4 (1.20%) SC Cleared
6 3 (0.90%) ECDL
6 3 (0.90%) Microsoft Certified Professional
7 2 (0.60%) MCDST
7 2 (0.60%) MCSA
8 1 (0.30%) City & Guilds
8 1 (0.30%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (12.61%) SLA
2 7 (2.10%) QA
3 4 (1.20%) GDPR
4 2 (0.60%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (0.60%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
System Software
1 103 (30.93%) Active Directory
2 14 (4.20%) Hyper-V
2 14 (4.20%) VMware Infrastructure
3 10 (3.00%) VMware Workstation
4 3 (0.90%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.30%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.30%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 20 (6.01%) Microsoft Intune
2 15 (4.50%) Autotask
3 10 (3.00%) SCCM
4 3 (0.90%) PaperCut
Vendors
1 204 (61.26%) Microsoft
2 28 (8.41%) Apple
3 15 (4.50%) Google
4 14 (4.20%) Datto
4 14 (4.20%) VMware
5 10 (3.00%) ESET
6 9 (2.70%) Acronis
7 8 (2.40%) Freshdesk
8 6 (1.80%) Progress
8 6 (1.80%) Sophos
9 5 (1.50%) ServiceNow
9 5 (1.50%) WatchGuard
9 5 (1.50%) Zoho
10 3 (0.90%) Dell KACE
10 3 (0.90%) Meraki
10 3 (0.90%) Ruckus Wireless
11 2 (0.60%) Cisco
11 2 (0.60%) SAP
12 1 (0.30%) Becrypt
12 1 (0.30%) Veeam