Help Desk Engineer Contract Job Trends

Help Desk Engineer
UK

As of 8 February 2026, there is not enough information available from job vacancies posted within the last 6 months to determine the median Help Desk Engineer daily rate in the UK.

6 months to
8 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 600 522 591
Rank change year-on-year -78 +69 +136
Contract jobs requiring a Help Desk Engineer 2 5 16
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.005% 0.016% 0.035%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.006% 0.017% 0.038%
Number of daily rates quoted 0 3 14
10th Percentile - - £93
25th Percentile - £143 £145
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) - £145 £161
Median % change year-on-year - -10.08% -76.11%
75th Percentile - £174 £185
90th Percentile - £190 £196
UK excluding London median daily rate - £145 £161
% change year-on-year - -10.08% +7.86%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 0 2
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - £16.25
Median hourly rate - - £17.50
75th Percentile - - £18.75
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate - - £17.50
% change year-on-year - - +29.63%

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides 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 35,791 28,902 42,066
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.50% 92.95% 93.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,561 17,719 27,795
10th Percentile £300 £291 £275
25th Percentile £405 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £719 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £476 £490
% change year-on-year -0.21% -2.86% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,176 840 2,312
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.89 £13.15
25th Percentile £18.57 £21.25 £16.67
Median hourly rate £30.00 £33.77 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -11.16% -3.51% -
75th Percentile £61.31 £63.38 £61.51
90th Percentile £71.99 £75.00 £72.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.50 £32.13 £35.95
% change year-on-year -11.30% -10.63% +8.94%

Help Desk Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Help Desk Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Help Desk Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Help Desk Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Help Desk Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Help Desk Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Help Desk Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Help Desk Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Help Desk Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Help Desk Engineer
Top 2 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Help Desk Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 8 February 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
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
London -31 2 - - 3
England -73 2 - - 7

Help Desk Engineer Skill Set
Top 19 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 8 February 2026, Help Desk Engineer contract 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 contract job ads featuring Help Desk Engineer in the job title.

1 2 (100.00%) Agile
1 2 (100.00%) Bloomberg
1 2 (100.00%) Citrix
1 2 (100.00%) DMZ
1 2 (100.00%) Firewall
1 2 (100.00%) Google Workspace
1 2 (100.00%) ION Trading
1 2 (100.00%) ITIL
1 2 (100.00%) Microsoft
1 2 (100.00%) Microsoft 365
1 2 (100.00%) PowerShell
1 2 (100.00%) Problem-Solving
1 2 (100.00%) Reuters
1 2 (100.00%) SCCM
1 2 (100.00%) Service Management
1 2 (100.00%) TCP/IP
1 2 (100.00%) VPN
1 2 (100.00%) Windows
1 2 (100.00%) WSUS

Help Desk Engineer 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:

Cloud Services
1 2 (100.00%) Google Workspace
1 2 (100.00%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 2 (100.00%) DMZ
1 2 (100.00%) Firewall
1 2 (100.00%) TCP/IP
1 2 (100.00%) VPN
General
1 2 (100.00%) Banking
1 2 (100.00%) Finance
1 2 (100.00%) Front Office
1 2 (100.00%) Investment Banking
1 2 (100.00%) Social Skills
Operating Systems
1 2 (100.00%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 2 (100.00%) Agile
1 2 (100.00%) ITIL
1 2 (100.00%) Problem-Solving
1 2 (100.00%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 2 (100.00%) PowerShell
Systems Management
1 2 (100.00%) SCCM
1 2 (100.00%) WSUS
Vendors
1 2 (100.00%) Bloomberg
1 2 (100.00%) Citrix
1 2 (100.00%) ION Trading
1 2 (100.00%) Microsoft
1 2 (100.00%) Reuters