1st/2nd Line Support Job Trends

1st/2nd Line Support
UK

The median 1st/2nd Line Support salary in the UK is £30,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 12 July 2026.

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

6 months to
12 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 576 609 743
Rank change year-on-year +33 +134 -26
Permanent jobs requiring a 1st/2nd Line Support 186 75 141
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.19% 0.15% 0.14%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.20% 0.17% 0.15%
Number of salaries quoted 172 75 123
10th Percentile £26,525 £25,600 £24,500
25th Percentile £28,250 £26,500 £26,625
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £30,500 £31,000 £30,000
Median % change year-on-year -1.61% +3.33% -
75th Percentile £35,000 £34,313 £34,500
90th Percentile £37,500 £40,000 £40,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £30,000 £31,000 £28,500
% change year-on-year -3.23% +8.77% -

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 92,938 44,220 95,860
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.19% 89.85% 94.73%
Number of salaries quoted 63,745 26,085 68,515
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,750 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £38,000 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year - +4.76% -12.50%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -5.66%

1st/2nd Line Support
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring '1st/2nd Line Support' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

1st/2nd Line Support job vacancy trend in the UK

1st/2nd Line Support
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for 1st/2nd Line Support job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for 1st/2nd Line Support job vacancies in the UK

1st/2nd Line Support
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing 1st/2nd Line Support over the 6 months to 12 July 2026.

Salary histogram for 1st/2nd Line Support in the UK

1st/2nd Line Support
Top 14 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing 1st/2nd Line Support within the UK over the 6 months to 12 July 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 +41 170 £30,000 -4.76% 9
UK excluding London +24 152 £30,000 -3.23% 7
North of England +21 46 £30,000 -11.44%
South East 0 41 £30,000 -4.76% 1
North West +18 32 £29,750 -9.16%
London +4 30 £35,000 -2.78% 2
East of England +4 27 £32,500 +16.07% 3
Midlands -36 22 £28,500 +5.56% 3
Yorkshire -20 14 £30,000 -14.29%
West Midlands -19 13 £28,500 +5.56% 1
Work from Home -22 12 £29,250 +8.33%
Scotland - 12 £32,250 -
East Midlands -32 9 £26,000 -20.00% 2
South West -56 4 £32,000 +3.23%

1st/2nd Line Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 12 July 2026, 1st/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 featuring 1st/2nd Line Support in the job title.

1 129 (69.35%) Microsoft 365
2 110 (59.14%) Microsoft
3 109 (58.60%) Windows
4 79 (42.47%) Active Directory
5 72 (38.71%) Problem-Solving
6 69 (37.10%) Customer Service
7 47 (25.27%) Microsoft Exchange
8 40 (21.51%) Wi-Fi
9 39 (20.97%) Microsoft Office
9 39 (20.97%) SharePoint
10 35 (18.82%) Windows 10
11 34 (18.28%) Firewall
12 33 (17.74%) Entra ID
12 33 (17.74%) Service Delivery
13 30 (16.13%) DHCP
13 30 (16.13%) DNS
14 29 (15.59%) VPN
15 28 (15.05%) Windows Server
16 25 (13.44%) SLA
17 24 (12.90%) Degree
17 24 (12.90%) ITIL
17 24 (12.90%) ITSM
18 22 (11.83%) Microsoft Intune
19 21 (11.29%) TCP/IP
20 19 (10.22%) Apple iOS
20 19 (10.22%) Problem Management
21 18 (9.68%) Incident Management
21 18 (9.68%) PowerShell
22 17 (9.14%) Asset Management
22 17 (9.14%) Mac OS

1st/2nd 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 47 (25.27%) Microsoft Exchange
2 39 (20.97%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.54%) WordPress
Applications
1 39 (20.97%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.15%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (2.69%) Dynamics NAV
Cloud Services
1 129 (69.35%) Microsoft 365
2 33 (17.74%) Entra ID
3 16 (8.60%) Azure
4 12 (6.45%) OneDrive
5 11 (5.91%) Power Platform
6 8 (4.30%) PowerApps
7 3 (1.61%) Dynamics 365
7 3 (1.61%) SaaS
8 2 (1.08%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 40 (21.51%) Wi-Fi
2 34 (18.28%) Firewall
3 30 (16.13%) DHCP
3 30 (16.13%) DNS
4 29 (15.59%) VPN
5 21 (11.29%) TCP/IP
6 17 (9.14%) VLAN
7 12 (6.45%) LAN
8 6 (3.23%) WAN
8 6 (3.23%) Wireless
9 5 (2.69%) ADSL
10 3 (1.61%) Broadband
10 3 (1.61%) IP Telephony
11 2 (1.08%) Internet
11 2 (1.08%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (2.69%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 1 (0.54%) Carbide.c++
General
1 75 (40.32%) Social Skills
2 17 (9.14%) Telecoms
3 12 (6.45%) Retail
4 11 (5.91%) Legal
5 8 (4.30%) Documentation Skills
5 8 (4.30%) Finance
6 7 (3.76%) Analytical Skills
7 4 (2.15%) Electronics
8 2 (1.08%) Back Office
8 2 (1.08%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 2 (1.08%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.54%) Advertising
9 1 (0.54%) Aerospace
9 1 (0.54%) Law
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (2.15%) REST
1 4 (2.15%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 29 (15.59%) Driving Licence
2 19 (10.22%) Onboarding
3 7 (3.76%) Self-Motivation
4 6 (3.23%) EPoS
5 4 (2.15%) CMDB
5 4 (2.15%) Wiki
Operating Systems
1 109 (58.60%) Windows
2 35 (18.82%) Windows 10
3 28 (15.05%) Windows Server
4 19 (10.22%) Apple iOS
5 17 (9.14%) Mac OS
6 16 (8.60%) Android
7 7 (3.76%) Linux
8 3 (1.61%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 72 (38.71%) Problem-Solving
2 69 (37.10%) Customer Service
3 33 (17.74%) Service Delivery
4 24 (12.90%) ITIL
4 24 (12.90%) ITSM
5 19 (10.22%) Problem Management
6 18 (9.68%) Incident Management
7 17 (9.14%) Asset Management
8 16 (8.60%) Computer Science
9 13 (6.99%) Change Management
10 12 (6.45%) Knowledge Management
11 10 (5.38%) Service Management
12 9 (4.84%) Identity Management
13 8 (4.30%) Application Packaging
13 8 (4.30%) Continuous Improvement
13 8 (4.30%) Cybersecurity
13 8 (4.30%) ERP
13 8 (4.30%) Project Management
13 8 (4.30%) Vulnerability Management
14 7 (3.76%) Cloud Security
Programming Languages
1 18 (9.68%) PowerShell
2 8 (4.30%) JavaScript
3 7 (3.76%) SQL
4 4 (2.15%) Python
5 3 (1.61%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 24 (12.90%) Degree
2 17 (9.14%) Microsoft Certification
3 16 (8.60%) A+ Certification
4 1 (0.54%) Microsoft Certified Professional
4 1 (0.54%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (13.44%) SLA
2 1 (0.54%) GDPR
System Software
1 79 (42.47%) Active Directory
2 12 (6.45%) Hyper-V
3 8 (4.30%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (3.23%) Firmware
5 3 (1.61%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.54%) Terminal Server
Systems Management
1 22 (11.83%) Microsoft Intune
2 13 (6.99%) SCCM
3 9 (4.84%) Autotask
4 4 (2.15%) ZABBIX
5 1 (0.54%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 110 (59.14%) Microsoft
2 12 (6.45%) ServiceNow
3 8 (4.30%) Palo Alto
3 8 (4.30%) Qualys
3 8 (4.30%) VMware
4 6 (3.23%) Freshdesk
5 4 (2.15%) SolarWinds
6 3 (1.61%) Acronis
6 3 (1.61%) Veeam
7 2 (1.08%) Google
8 1 (0.54%) Sage