1st/2nd Line Support Job Trends

1st/2nd Line Support
UK

The median 1st/2nd Line Support salary in the UK is £30,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 21 March 2026.

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

6 months to
21 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 510 578 658
Rank change year-on-year +68 +80 +172
Permanent jobs requiring a 1st/2nd Line Support 189 59 195
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.25% 0.14% 0.23%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.27% 0.15% 0.24%
Number of salaries quoted 181 57 179
10th Percentile £26,000 £25,000 £23,400
25th Percentile £27,000 £26,500 £26,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £30,000 £32,500 £30,000
Median % change year-on-year -7.69% +8.33% -
75th Percentile £33,750 £38,000 £34,750
90th Percentile £40,000 £45,000 £42,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £30,000 £30,000 £28,000
% change year-on-year - +7.14% -

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 69,843 38,164 81,143
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 91.98% 90.31% 94.62%
Number of salaries quoted 44,555 23,016 61,790
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £28,500
25th Percentile £39,000 £43,408 £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 £91,263
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £54,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -7.41% +8.00% -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 21 March 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 21 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 +93 171 £30,000 -10.45% 24
UK excluding London +99 167 £30,000 - 23
North of England -3 53 £29,000 +0.87% 3
South East +19 44 £30,000 -4.76% 9
Midlands +12 38 £28,000 +3.70% 4
Work from Home +34 33 £30,000 +11.11% 3
North West +14 33 £29,500 -9.58% 3
East Midlands -22 27 £30,000 -4.76% 1
London -9 22 £35,000 -7.89% 1
Yorkshire -22 20 £26,000 +13.04%
Scotland +1 18 £32,250 +21.70%
West Midlands +5 11 £28,000 +3.70% 3
East of England -5 9 £40,000 +33.33% 7
South West - 5 £30,000 - 2

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

For the 6 months to 21 March 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 92 (48.68%) Windows
2 85 (44.97%) Microsoft
3 84 (44.44%) Microsoft 365
4 76 (40.21%) Customer Service
5 71 (37.57%) Problem-Solving
6 47 (24.87%) Active Directory
7 44 (23.28%) Continuous Improvement
8 38 (20.11%) Mentoring
9 36 (19.05%) SQL
9 36 (19.05%) Windows 10
10 30 (15.87%) ERP
11 29 (15.34%) VPN
12 28 (14.81%) ITIL
12 28 (14.81%) Microsoft Office
13 25 (13.23%) SaaS
14 24 (12.70%) Analytical Thinking
14 24 (12.70%) C#
14 24 (12.70%) CRM
14 24 (12.70%) Data Privacy
14 24 (12.70%) E-Commerce
14 24 (12.70%) Logistics
14 24 (12.70%) QA
14 24 (12.70%) Remote Desktop
14 24 (12.70%) Root Cause Analysis
15 23 (12.17%) SLA
16 21 (11.11%) ITSM
17 20 (10.58%) Windows Server
18 19 (10.05%) Wi-Fi
19 16 (8.47%) Service Delivery
20 15 (7.94%) Firewall

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 15 (7.94%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (3.17%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.53%) Confluence
Applications
1 28 (14.81%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (2.65%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (2.65%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 5 (2.65%) Dynamics NAV
Cloud Services
1 84 (44.44%) Microsoft 365
2 25 (13.23%) SaaS
3 9 (4.76%) Azure
3 9 (4.76%) Entra ID
4 6 (3.17%) Power Platform
5 5 (2.65%) PowerApps
6 2 (1.06%) OneDrive
7 1 (0.53%) Mimecast
7 1 (0.53%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 29 (15.34%) VPN
2 24 (12.70%) Remote Desktop
3 19 (10.05%) Wi-Fi
4 15 (7.94%) Firewall
4 15 (7.94%) LAN
4 15 (7.94%) TCP/IP
5 14 (7.41%) DHCP
5 14 (7.41%) DNS
5 14 (7.41%) VLAN
6 9 (4.76%) WAN
7 5 (2.65%) ADSL
8 2 (1.06%) WLAN
9 1 (0.53%) BGP
9 1 (0.53%) Broadband
9 1 (0.53%) IP Telephony
9 1 (0.53%) OSPF
9 1 (0.53%) Peer-to-Peer Networking
9 1 (0.53%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (7.41%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.53%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 2 (1.06%) JIRA
General
1 90 (47.62%) Social Skills
2 41 (21.69%) Retail
3 25 (13.23%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (5.29%) Telecoms
5 8 (4.23%) Advertising
5 8 (4.23%) Manufacturing
6 6 (3.17%) Finance
7 5 (2.65%) Documentation Skills
7 5 (2.65%) Pharmaceutical
8 3 (1.59%) Back Office
9 2 (1.06%) Front Office
10 1 (0.53%) Banking
10 1 (0.53%) Legal
Miscellaneous
1 33 (17.46%) Driving Licence
2 29 (15.34%) Onboarding
3 8 (4.23%) EPoS
4 7 (3.70%) Self-Motivation
5 4 (2.12%) Wiki
6 1 (0.53%) Hedge funds
6 1 (0.53%) Video Conferencing
6 1 (0.53%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 92 (48.68%) Windows
2 36 (19.05%) Windows 10
3 20 (10.58%) Windows Server
4 12 (6.35%) Mac OS
5 10 (5.29%) Apple iOS
6 9 (4.76%) Android
7 5 (2.65%) Linux
8 2 (1.06%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.53%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 76 (40.21%) Customer Service
2 71 (37.57%) Problem-Solving
3 44 (23.28%) Continuous Improvement
4 38 (20.11%) Mentoring
5 30 (15.87%) ERP
6 28 (14.81%) ITIL
7 24 (12.70%) Analytical Thinking
7 24 (12.70%) CRM
7 24 (12.70%) Data Privacy
7 24 (12.70%) E-Commerce
7 24 (12.70%) Logistics
7 24 (12.70%) Root Cause Analysis
8 21 (11.11%) ITSM
9 16 (8.47%) Service Delivery
10 13 (6.88%) Asset Management
11 10 (5.29%) Change Management
11 10 (5.29%) Cybersecurity
11 10 (5.29%) Mobile Device Management
11 10 (5.29%) Problem Management
11 10 (5.29%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 36 (19.05%) SQL
2 24 (12.70%) C#
3 15 (7.94%) PowerShell
4 7 (3.70%) T-SQL
5 4 (2.12%) JavaScript
5 4 (2.12%) Python
Qualifications
1 10 (5.29%) Microsoft Certified Professional
2 9 (4.76%) Degree
3 4 (2.12%) A+ Certification
3 4 (2.12%) Microsoft Certification
4 1 (0.53%) CCNA
4 1 (0.53%) CCNP
4 1 (0.53%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (12.70%) QA
2 23 (12.17%) SLA
3 6 (3.17%) Cyber Essentials
4 5 (2.65%) GDPR
5 1 (0.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 47 (24.87%) Active Directory
2 4 (2.12%) Hyper-V
3 3 (1.59%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 15 (7.94%) Microsoft Intune
2 11 (5.82%) SCCM
3 4 (2.12%) ZABBIX
4 1 (0.53%) FortiGate
Vendors
1 85 (44.97%) Microsoft
2 10 (5.29%) Apple
3 8 (4.23%) ServiceNow
4 5 (2.65%) Palo Alto
4 5 (2.65%) Qualys
5 4 (2.12%) SolarWinds
6 3 (1.59%) Freshdesk
6 3 (1.59%) VMware
7 2 (1.06%) Cisco
7 2 (1.06%) HP
8 1 (0.53%) Acronis
8 1 (0.53%) Facebook
8 1 (0.53%) Fortinet
8 1 (0.53%) Google
8 1 (0.53%) LogicMonitor
8 1 (0.53%) Meraki
8 1 (0.53%) Okta
8 1 (0.53%) Veeam
8 1 (0.53%) Zscaler