1st/2nd Line Support Job Trends

1st/2nd Line Support
UK

The median 1st/2nd Line Support salary in the UK is £31,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 23 September 2026.

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

6 months to
23 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 630 603 693
Rank change year-on-year -27 +90 -77
Permanent jobs requiring a 1st/2nd Line Support 178 67 86
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.15% 0.14% 0.11%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.16% 0.15% 0.12%
Number of salaries quoted 161 67 68
10th Percentile £27,500 £26,500 £24,700
25th Percentile £28,896 £27,000 £26,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £31,500 £31,000 £34,000
Median % change year-on-year +1.61% -8.82% +6.25%
75th Percentile £35,000 £34,063 £40,000
90th Percentile £37,500 £38,000 £57,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £31,500 £31,000 £30,000
% change year-on-year +1.61% +3.33% -

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 108,680 43,895 71,874
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.13% 89.63% 95.29%
Number of salaries quoted 74,405 25,767 42,756
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,750 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,250 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.73% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £75,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +15.79% -5.00% -4.76%

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 23 September 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 23 September 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 -22 171 £31,500 +0.80% 23
UK excluding London -49 148 £31,500 +1.61% 18
North of England -25 42 £30,000 -14.29% 4
East of England -7 38 £35,000 +25.00% 2
South East -24 38 £30,000 -4.76% 9
North West -1 32 £31,500 -3.82% 2
London -43 26 £34,500 -1.43% 6
Midlands -60 26 £29,500 -1.67% 2
Work from Home -46 23 £33,500 +24.07% 2
East Midlands -33 16 £31,000 -4.62% 1
Yorkshire -33 10 £30,000 -14.29% 2
West Midlands -43 10 £29,500 +9.26% 1
Scotland - 3 £27,000 -
South West -82 1 £35,000 +12.90% 1

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

For the 6 months to 23 September 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.

1 125 (70.22%) Microsoft 365
2 103 (57.87%) Windows
3 98 (55.06%) Microsoft
4 69 (38.76%) Problem-Solving
5 64 (35.96%) Active Directory
5 64 (35.96%) Customer Service
6 62 (34.83%) Microsoft Exchange
7 47 (26.40%) SharePoint
8 46 (25.84%) Entra ID
9 30 (16.85%) Firewall
10 28 (15.73%) Azure
10 28 (15.73%) Degree
10 28 (15.73%) Windows 10
11 26 (14.61%) Wi-Fi
12 24 (13.48%) DHCP
12 24 (13.48%) DNS
12 24 (13.48%) Microsoft Intune
13 22 (12.36%) Service Delivery
14 21 (11.80%) Mac OS
14 21 (11.80%) Microsoft Office
15 19 (10.67%) ITSM
15 19 (10.67%) TCP/IP
15 19 (10.67%) VPN
16 18 (10.11%) Computer Science
16 18 (10.11%) ServiceNow
17 17 (9.55%) Microsoft Certification
17 17 (9.55%) Windows Server
18 16 (8.99%) A+ Certification
19 14 (7.87%) Asset Management
19 14 (7.87%) Incident Management

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 62 (34.83%) Microsoft Exchange
2 47 (26.40%) SharePoint
3 3 (1.69%) Confluence
4 1 (0.56%) WordPress
Applications
1 21 (11.80%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (3.37%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 4 (2.25%) NetSuite
1 4 (2.25%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 125 (70.22%) Microsoft 365
2 46 (25.84%) Entra ID
3 28 (15.73%) Azure
4 12 (6.74%) OneDrive
5 6 (3.37%) Power Platform
6 3 (1.69%) Dynamics 365
6 3 (1.69%) Google Workspace
6 3 (1.69%) PowerApps
6 3 (1.69%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 30 (16.85%) Firewall
2 26 (14.61%) Wi-Fi
3 24 (13.48%) DHCP
3 24 (13.48%) DNS
4 19 (10.67%) TCP/IP
4 19 (10.67%) VPN
5 9 (5.06%) VLAN
6 5 (2.81%) LAN
6 5 (2.81%) WAN
6 5 (2.81%) Wireless
7 2 (1.12%) Broadband
7 2 (1.12%) Internet
7 2 (1.12%) IP Telephony
7 2 (1.12%) WLAN
8 1 (0.56%) Peer-to-Peer Networking
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.69%) Relational Database
2 2 (1.12%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 4 (2.25%) JIRA
2 1 (0.56%) Carbide.c++
General
1 86 (48.31%) Social Skills
2 21 (11.80%) Legal
3 20 (11.24%) Analytical Skills
4 14 (7.87%) Organisational Skills
5 7 (3.93%) Retail
5 7 (3.93%) Telecoms
6 4 (2.25%) Advertising
6 4 (2.25%) Documentation Skills
6 4 (2.25%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 3 (1.69%) Automotive
7 3 (1.69%) Electronics
7 3 (1.69%) Finance
7 3 (1.69%) Publishing
8 1 (0.56%) Aerospace
8 1 (0.56%) Back Office
8 1 (0.56%) Law
8 1 (0.56%) Manufacturing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (4.49%) REST
1 8 (4.49%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 24 (13.48%) Driving Licence
2 15 (8.43%) Onboarding
3 10 (5.62%) CMDB
3 10 (5.62%) Self-Motivation
4 5 (2.81%) EPoS
5 3 (1.69%) FMCG
6 2 (1.12%) Enterprise Software
6 2 (1.12%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 103 (57.87%) Windows
2 28 (15.73%) Windows 10
3 21 (11.80%) Mac OS
4 17 (9.55%) Windows Server
5 12 (6.74%) Apple iOS
6 10 (5.62%) Android
7 2 (1.12%) Linux
7 2 (1.12%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 69 (38.76%) Problem-Solving
2 64 (35.96%) Customer Service
3 22 (12.36%) Service Delivery
4 19 (10.67%) ITSM
5 18 (10.11%) Computer Science
6 14 (7.87%) Asset Management
6 14 (7.87%) Incident Management
6 14 (7.87%) ITIL
7 13 (7.30%) Knowledge Management
8 10 (5.62%) Analytics
9 9 (5.06%) Identity Management
9 9 (5.06%) Problem Management
10 8 (4.49%) Root Cause Analysis
11 7 (3.93%) Collaborative Culture
11 7 (3.93%) Cybersecurity
12 6 (3.37%) Logistics
13 5 (2.81%) Collaborative Working
13 5 (2.81%) Patch Management
13 5 (2.81%) Remote Monitoring and Management
13 5 (2.81%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 10 (5.62%) JavaScript
2 5 (2.81%) PowerShell
3 4 (2.25%) SQL
4 3 (1.69%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 28 (15.73%) Degree
2 17 (9.55%) Microsoft Certification
3 16 (8.99%) A+ Certification
4 2 (1.12%) Computer Science Degree
5 1 (0.56%) DBS Check
5 1 (0.56%) Microsoft Certified Professional
5 1 (0.56%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (7.30%) SLA
2 5 (2.81%) GDPR
3 3 (1.69%) QA
System Software
1 64 (35.96%) Active Directory
2 8 (4.49%) Hyper-V
3 6 (3.37%) Firmware
4 5 (2.81%) VMware Infrastructure
5 3 (1.69%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.56%) Terminal Server
Systems Management
1 24 (13.48%) Microsoft Intune
2 9 (5.06%) Autotask
3 3 (1.69%) Jamf Pro
3 3 (1.69%) SCCM
Vendors
1 98 (55.06%) Microsoft
2 18 (10.11%) ServiceNow
3 6 (3.37%) Freshdesk
4 5 (2.81%) Apple
4 5 (2.81%) VMware
5 3 (1.69%) Google
5 3 (1.69%) Palo Alto
5 3 (1.69%) Qualys
6 2 (1.12%) Acronis
6 2 (1.12%) Veeam
7 1 (0.56%) Sage