1st Line Support Contracts

First Line Support
UK

The median First Line Support daily rate in the UK is £146 according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months to 1 June 2024.

The first table below provides contractor rate benchmarking and summary statistics including a comparison to same period in the previous 2 years.

 6 months to
1 Jun 2024		 Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 417 469 517
Rank change year-on-year +52 +48 +1
Contract jobs requiring a 1st Line Support 158 220 361
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.37% 0.39% 0.41%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.40% 0.41% 0.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 66 150 227
10th Percentile £110 £122 £115
25th Percentile £125 £131 £128
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £146 £153 £150
Median % change year-on-year -4.58% +1.83% +13.21%
75th Percentile £169 £188 £188
90th Percentile £179 £246 £230
UK excluding London median daily rate £150 £151 £150
% change year-on-year -0.33% +0.33% +13.21%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 25 64
10th Percentile £13.94 £13.40 £12.33
25th Percentile £14.19 £15.21 £14.00
Median hourly rate £16.50 £18.50 £16.25
Median % change year-on-year -10.81% +13.85% +35.42%
75th Percentile £17.25 £20.00 £18.56
90th Percentile £18.16 £21.67 £20.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.08 £17.00 £16.25
% change year-on-year -5.41% +4.62% +35.42%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
UK

The following table is for comparison with the above and includes summary statistics for all contract 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 contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 39,969 53,015 83,520
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.83% 94.58% 95.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,870 37,031 58,844
10th Percentile £280 £313 £315
25th Percentile £409 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £540 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.78% +2.86% +7.69%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £638
90th Percentile £750 £750 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £500 £475
% change year-on-year -2.50% +5.26% +10.21%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,841 1,476 1,963
10th Percentile £12.86 £14.25 £12.50
25th Percentile £16.30 £19.06 £15.90
Median hourly rate £37.50 £45.00 £24.50
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% +83.67% +12.28%
75th Percentile £61.60 £65.75 £49.33
90th Percentile £73.75 £76.13 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £42.50 £20.00
% change year-on-year -5.88% +112.50% +5.26%

1st Line Support
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings that featured 1st Line Support in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for 1st Line Support in the UK

1st Line Support
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing 1st Line Support.

Daily rate trend for 1st Line Support in the UK

1st Line Support
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing 1st Line Support.

Hourly rate trend for 1st Line Support in the UK

1st Line Support
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing 1st Line Support over the 6 months to 1 June 2024.

Hourly rate histogram for 1st Line Support in the UK

1st Line Support
Top 17 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing 1st Line Support within the UK over the 6 months to 1 June 2024. 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
Contract
IT Job Ads		 Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months		 Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Live
Jobs
England +21 139 £145 -3.67% 84
UK excluding London +19 126 £150 -0.33% 81
South East +18 46 £163 +16.07% 28
London +54 31 £145 -6.45% 11
Midlands +30 27 £150 +7.14% 22
Work from Home +90 22 £140 -20.00% 16
North of England +3 21 £140 -17.04% 12
West Midlands +16 20 £150 -3.23% 7
Scotland +44 17 £163 -35.00% 6
Yorkshire +8 13 £135 -10.15% 2
South West -5 8 - - 6
East Midlands +17 7 £130 +1.96% 15
North West +10 7 £145 -37.63% 8
East of England -5 5 £104 -35.90% 6
Wales +18 1 - -
Northern Ireland +2 1 - - 3
North East - 1 £180 - 2

1st Line Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities

For the 6 months to 1 June 2024, 1st Line Support contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring 1st Line Support in the job title.

1 64 (40.51%) Microsoft
2 60 (37.97%) Windows
3 48 (30.38%) Customer Service
4 47 (29.75%) Social Skills
5 46 (29.11%) Microsoft 365
5 46 (29.11%) Active Directory
6 43 (27.22%) ITIL
7 31 (19.62%) Problem-Solving
7 31 (19.62%) SLA
8 30 (18.99%) Windows 10
9 25 (15.82%) Microsoft Office
9 25 (15.82%) Security Cleared
10 24 (15.19%) Service Delivery
11 15 (9.49%) Degree
11 15 (9.49%) Windows 7
12 14 (8.86%) Wi-Fi
13 13 (8.23%) Public Sector
14 12 (7.59%) SC Cleared
14 12 (7.59%) ServiceNow
15 11 (6.96%) Analytical Skills
15 11 (6.96%) Apple
16 10 (6.33%) Organisational Skills
16 10 (6.33%) Proactive Monitoring
17 9 (5.70%) Decision-Making
17 9 (5.70%) Presentation Skills
17 9 (5.70%) Azure
17 9 (5.70%) Service Management
17 9 (5.70%) SQL
17 9 (5.70%) Retail
18 8 (5.06%) Time Management

1st Line Support Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 6 (3.80%) SharePoint
2 4 (2.53%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.63%) Site Server
Applications
1 25 (15.82%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.90%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.63%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.63%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 46 (29.11%) Microsoft 365
2 9 (5.70%) Azure
3 8 (5.06%) Entra ID
3 8 (5.06%) WhatsApp
4 6 (3.80%) OneDrive
5 1 (0.63%) AWS
5 1 (0.63%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 14 (8.86%) Wi-Fi
2 7 (4.43%) LAN
3 5 (3.16%) Remote Desktop
4 3 (1.90%) DHCP
4 3 (1.90%) DNS
4 3 (1.90%) VPN
5 2 (1.27%) WAN
6 1 (0.63%) Firewall
6 1 (0.63%) NAS
6 1 (0.63%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.63%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 2 (1.27%) JIRA
2 1 (0.63%) Hudson
General
1 47 (29.75%) Social Skills
2 13 (8.23%) Public Sector
3 11 (6.96%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (6.33%) Organisational Skills
5 9 (5.70%) Presentation Skills
5 9 (5.70%) Retail
6 7 (4.43%) Finance
7 4 (2.53%) Telecoms
8 2 (1.27%) Advertising
8 2 (1.27%) Banking
8 2 (1.27%) Electronics
8 2 (1.27%) Front Office
8 2 (1.27%) German Language
8 2 (1.27%) Manufacturing
8 2 (1.27%) Marketing
8 2 (1.27%) Pharmaceutical
9 1 (0.63%) Back Office
9 1 (0.63%) Dutch Language
9 1 (0.63%) Spanish Language
9 1 (0.63%) Swedish Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (1.27%) FIX Protocol
2 1 (0.63%) .NET
2 1 (0.63%) Middleware
2 1 (0.63%) XML
2 1 (0.63%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 6 (3.80%) Digital Signage
2 4 (2.53%) Onboarding
3 3 (1.90%) Data Centre
3 3 (1.90%) iPhone
3 3 (1.90%) NHS
4 2 (1.27%) Smartphone
5 1 (0.63%) Blackberry
5 1 (0.63%) BYOD
5 1 (0.63%) Client/Server
5 1 (0.63%) Driving Licence
5 1 (0.63%) EPoS
5 1 (0.63%) iPad
5 1 (0.63%) Photography
5 1 (0.63%) PKI
5 1 (0.63%) SCADA
5 1 (0.63%) Self-Motivation
5 1 (0.63%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 60 (37.97%) Windows
2 30 (18.99%) Windows 10
3 15 (9.49%) Windows 7
4 8 (5.06%) Apple iOS
5 7 (4.43%) Mac OS
6 3 (1.90%) Android
6 3 (1.90%) Mac OS X
6 3 (1.90%) Windows Server
6 3 (1.90%) Windows Server 2008
7 2 (1.27%) Linux
8 1 (0.63%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 48 (30.38%) Customer Service
2 43 (27.22%) ITIL
3 31 (19.62%) Problem-Solving
4 24 (15.19%) Service Delivery
5 10 (6.33%) Proactive Monitoring
6 9 (5.70%) Decision-Making
6 9 (5.70%) Service Management
7 8 (5.06%) CRM
7 8 (5.06%) Time Management
8 5 (3.16%) Mobile Device Management
9 4 (2.53%) Customer Requirements
9 4 (2.53%) Multi-Factor Authentication
9 4 (2.53%) Proactive Maintenance
9 4 (2.53%) User Experience
10 3 (1.90%) Customer Experience
10 3 (1.90%) ITSM
10 3 (1.90%) Problem Management
10 3 (1.90%) Stakeholder Management
11 2 (1.27%) Asset Management
11 2 (1.27%) Information Security
Programming Languages
1 9 (5.70%) SQL
2 1 (0.63%) C#
2 1 (0.63%) Java
2 1 (0.63%) VB
Qualifications
1 25 (15.82%) Security Cleared
2 15 (9.49%) Degree
3 12 (7.59%) SC Cleared
4 4 (2.53%) Cisco Certification
4 4 (2.53%) HNC
5 3 (1.90%) CCNA
6 2 (1.27%) DBS Check
6 2 (1.27%) ITIL Certification
6 2 (1.27%) Microsoft Certification
7 1 (0.63%) A+ Certification
7 1 (0.63%) AWS Certification
7 1 (0.63%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 1 (0.63%) MCP
7 1 (0.63%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (19.62%) SLA
2 1 (0.63%) Data Quality
2 1 (0.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 1 (0.63%) QA
System Software
1 46 (29.11%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.63%) VMware Infrastructure
2 1 (0.63%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 6 (3.80%) Microsoft Intune
2 1 (0.63%) SCCM
2 1 (0.63%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
2 1 (0.63%) WSUS
Vendors
1 64 (40.51%) Microsoft
2 12 (7.59%) ServiceNow
3 11 (6.96%) Apple
4 5 (3.16%) Cisco
5 4 (2.53%) Dell
6 3 (1.90%) Citrix
6 3 (1.90%) Juniper
6 3 (1.90%) SAP
7 2 (1.27%) Bomgar
7 2 (1.27%) iManage
8 1 (0.63%) BMC
8 1 (0.63%) CA
8 1 (0.63%) Mitel
8 1 (0.63%) Progress
8 1 (0.63%) Remedy
8 1 (0.63%) VMware
94 1st Line Support jobs Nationwide