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 8 August 2026.

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

6 months to
8 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 611 622 718
Rank change year-on-year +11 +96 -41
Permanent jobs requiring a 1st/2nd Line Support 176 72 101
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.17% 0.15% 0.12%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.18% 0.16% 0.13%
Number of salaries quoted 159 72 84
10th Percentile £26,750 - £26,000
25th Percentile £28,500 £26,500 £27,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £31,500 £31,000 £31,500
Median % change year-on-year +1.61% -1.59% +5.00%
75th Percentile £35,000 £33,750 £36,750
90th Percentile £37,500 £37,950 £40,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £31,250 £31,000 £30,000
% change year-on-year +0.81% +3.33% +1.69%

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 99,002 44,694 78,791
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.08% 90.02% 94.96%
Number of salaries quoted 67,676 26,534 53,124
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £72,450
90th Percentile £96,250 £95,000 £91,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £49,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +7.14% -2.00% -6.79%

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 8 August 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 8 August 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 -6 167 £31,500 +1.61% 11
UK excluding London -15 141 £31,250 +0.81% 9
North of England -13 40 £30,000 -11.44% 1
East of England +5 37 £35,000 +25.00% 5
South East -15 34 £30,000 -4.76% 3
London -15 31 £35,000 - 3
North West +22 28 £30,750 -6.11% 1
Midlands -33 23 £28,500 +5.56%
Work from Home -40 17 £31,500 +16.67% 2
East Midlands -20 15 £26,000 -20.00%
Yorkshire -28 12 £30,000 -14.29%
West Midlands -30 8 £28,750 +6.48%
Scotland - 5 £27,000 -
South West -72 2 £34,500 +11.29%

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

For the 6 months to 8 August 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 (71.02%) Microsoft 365
2 104 (59.09%) Windows
3 103 (58.52%) Microsoft
4 73 (41.48%) Active Directory
5 65 (36.93%) Customer Service
5 65 (36.93%) Problem-Solving
6 59 (33.52%) Microsoft Exchange
7 44 (25.00%) SharePoint
8 41 (23.30%) Entra ID
9 35 (19.89%) Microsoft Office
10 34 (19.32%) Wi-Fi
11 31 (17.61%) Firewall
11 31 (17.61%) Windows 10
12 28 (15.91%) Degree
13 26 (14.77%) Azure
13 26 (14.77%) DHCP
13 26 (14.77%) DNS
13 26 (14.77%) ITSM
14 25 (14.20%) Microsoft Intune
14 25 (14.20%) Service Delivery
15 24 (13.64%) ITIL
16 23 (13.07%) Windows Server
17 22 (12.50%) SLA
17 22 (12.50%) VPN
18 19 (10.80%) TCP/IP
19 18 (10.23%) Problem Management
20 17 (9.66%) Asset Management
20 17 (9.66%) Incident Management
20 17 (9.66%) Mac OS
20 17 (9.66%) Microsoft Certification

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 59 (33.52%) Microsoft Exchange
2 44 (25.00%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.57%) WordPress
Applications
1 35 (19.89%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (3.41%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 2 (1.14%) Dynamics NAV
Cloud Services
1 125 (71.02%) Microsoft 365
2 41 (23.30%) Entra ID
3 26 (14.77%) Azure
4 14 (7.95%) OneDrive
5 10 (5.68%) Power Platform
6 7 (3.98%) PowerApps
7 3 (1.70%) Dynamics 365
7 3 (1.70%) SaaS
8 2 (1.14%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 34 (19.32%) Wi-Fi
2 31 (17.61%) Firewall
3 26 (14.77%) DHCP
3 26 (14.77%) DNS
4 22 (12.50%) VPN
5 19 (10.80%) TCP/IP
6 11 (6.25%) VLAN
7 8 (4.55%) LAN
8 6 (3.41%) Wireless
9 5 (2.84%) ADSL
9 5 (2.84%) WAN
10 3 (1.70%) Broadband
10 3 (1.70%) IP Telephony
11 2 (1.14%) Internet
11 2 (1.14%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.57%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 1 (0.57%) Carbide.c++
General
1 78 (44.32%) Social Skills
2 18 (10.23%) Legal
3 13 (7.39%) Analytical Skills
4 11 (6.25%) Telecoms
5 8 (4.55%) Retail
6 7 (3.98%) Documentation Skills
6 7 (3.98%) Finance
7 4 (2.27%) Electronics
8 3 (1.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 2 (1.14%) Manufacturing
9 2 (1.14%) Organisational Skills
10 1 (0.57%) Aerospace
10 1 (0.57%) Back Office
10 1 (0.57%) Law
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (4.55%) REST
1 8 (4.55%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 23 (13.07%) Driving Licence
2 19 (10.80%) Onboarding
3 11 (6.25%) Self-Motivation
4 8 (4.55%) CMDB
5 5 (2.84%) EPoS
6 3 (1.70%) Wiki
Operating Systems
1 104 (59.09%) Windows
2 31 (17.61%) Windows 10
3 23 (13.07%) Windows Server
4 17 (9.66%) Mac OS
5 14 (7.95%) Apple iOS
6 11 (6.25%) Android
7 6 (3.41%) Linux
8 3 (1.70%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 65 (36.93%) Customer Service
1 65 (36.93%) Problem-Solving
2 26 (14.77%) ITSM
3 25 (14.20%) Service Delivery
4 24 (13.64%) ITIL
5 18 (10.23%) Problem Management
6 17 (9.66%) Asset Management
6 17 (9.66%) Incident Management
7 16 (9.09%) Computer Science
8 15 (8.52%) Knowledge Management
9 12 (6.82%) Change Management
10 9 (5.11%) Identity Management
11 8 (4.55%) Analytics
11 8 (4.55%) Root Cause Analysis
12 7 (3.98%) Application Packaging
12 7 (3.98%) Cybersecurity
12 7 (3.98%) Project Management
12 7 (3.98%) Service Management
12 7 (3.98%) Vulnerability Management
13 5 (2.84%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 13 (7.39%) PowerShell
2 12 (6.82%) JavaScript
3 4 (2.27%) Python
3 4 (2.27%) SQL
Qualifications
1 28 (15.91%) Degree
2 17 (9.66%) Microsoft Certification
3 16 (9.09%) A+ Certification
4 1 (0.57%) Microsoft Certified Professional
4 1 (0.57%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (12.50%) SLA
2 1 (0.57%) GDPR
System Software
1 73 (41.48%) Active Directory
2 10 (5.68%) Hyper-V
3 6 (3.41%) Firmware
3 6 (3.41%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (1.70%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.57%) Terminal Server
Systems Management
1 25 (14.20%) Microsoft Intune
2 10 (5.68%) SCCM
3 9 (5.11%) Autotask
4 3 (1.70%) Jamf Pro
4 3 (1.70%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 103 (58.52%) Microsoft
2 15 (8.52%) ServiceNow
3 7 (3.98%) Palo Alto
3 7 (3.98%) Qualys
4 6 (3.41%) Freshdesk
4 6 (3.41%) VMware
5 3 (1.70%) Acronis
5 3 (1.70%) SolarWinds
5 3 (1.70%) Veeam
6 2 (1.14%) Google
7 1 (0.57%) Sage