2nd Line Support Contracts

Second Line Support
UK

The median Second Line Support daily rate in the UK is £219, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 9 January 2025.

The table below provides contractor rate benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

 6 months to
9 Jan 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 375 311 344
Rank change year-on-year -64 +33 +38
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Support 158 310 512
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.49% 0.73% 0.73%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.53% 0.78% 0.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 113 212 355
10th Percentile £158 £133 £150
25th Percentile £188 £164 £169
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £219 £200 £225
Median % change year-on-year +9.50% -11.11% +18.42%
75th Percentile £273 £238 £265
90th Percentile £408 £288 £323
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £200 £200
% change year-on-year +0.13% -0.13% +8.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 22 58
10th Percentile £21.03 £17.72 £15.68
25th Percentile £22.50 £17.73 £18.03
Median hourly rate £23.99 £19.31 £21.75
Median % change year-on-year +24.24% -11.22% +25.18%
75th Percentile £29.00 £22.09 £25.00
90th Percentile £41.25 £24.90 £29.31
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.84 £19.04 £20.00
% change year-on-year +35.75% -4.83% +23.08%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 29,595 39,603 66,171
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.63% 93.31% 94.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,111 26,429 46,114
10th Percentile £291 £281 £313
25th Percentile £408 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% +6.80%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £479 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -4.15% - +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 900 1,622 1,602
10th Percentile £15.52 £14.18 £13.41
25th Percentile £21.05 £19.06 £17.30
Median hourly rate £32.50 £44.50 £33.00
Median % change year-on-year -26.97% +34.85% +57.14%
75th Percentile £62.24 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £73.75 £76.53 £72.91
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.50 £45.11 £27.00
% change year-on-year -30.16% +67.04% +50.01%

2nd Line Support
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings that featured 2nd Line Support in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for 2nd Line Support in the UK

2nd Line Support
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing 2nd Line Support.

Daily rate trend for 2nd Line Support in the UK

2nd Line Support
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing 2nd Line Support over the 6 months to 9 January 2025.

Daily rate histogram for 2nd Line Support in the UK

2nd Line Support
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing 2nd Line Support.

Hourly rate trend for 2nd Line Support in the UK

2nd Line Support
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing 2nd Line Support over the 6 months to 9 January 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for 2nd Line Support in the UK

2nd Line Support
Top 16 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing 2nd Line Support within the UK over the 6 months to 9 January 2025. 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 -71 134 £225 +12.50% 95
UK excluding London -50 104 £200 +0.13% 83
London +4 53 £250 +23.46% 13
Work from Home +52 26 £250 +25.31% 32
North of England +1 24 £195 -1.27% 24
South East -5 21 £229 +14.66% 25
Midlands -16 20 £205 +2.50% 13
North West +21 18 £188 - 12
Scotland +30 15 £190 +11.93% 1
West Midlands -10 15 £210 +5.00% 6
South West +4 14 £219 +12.31% 9
Yorkshire +9 6 £195 -12.85% 6
Wales +1 6 £200 +42.86% 2
East Midlands +4 5 £200 -3.61% 7
East of England +9 2 £225 +18.42% 12
Northern Ireland - 2 - -

2nd Line Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities

For the 6 months to 9 January 2025, 2nd 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 2nd Line Support in the job title.

1 110 (69.62%) Windows
2 91 (57.59%) Microsoft 365
3 82 (51.90%) Microsoft
4 68 (43.04%) Active Directory
5 67 (42.41%) Windows 10
6 46 (29.11%) Social Skills
7 39 (24.68%) Azure
8 35 (22.15%) Customer Service
9 34 (21.52%) ITIL
10 33 (20.89%) Microsoft Office
10 33 (20.89%) Microsoft Exchange
11 32 (20.25%) Problem-Solving
12 29 (18.35%) SCCM
13 28 (17.72%) Microsoft Intune
14 26 (16.46%) Finance
15 24 (15.19%) Public Sector
16 23 (14.56%) VPN
16 23 (14.56%) SharePoint
17 22 (13.92%) Security Cleared
18 20 (12.66%) OneDrive
18 20 (12.66%) Service Management
19 19 (12.03%) Citrix
20 18 (11.39%) Video Conferencing
20 18 (11.39%) SC Cleared
20 18 (11.39%) VMware
21 17 (10.76%) VMware Infrastructure
21 17 (10.76%) Analytical Skills
21 17 (10.76%) ServiceNow
22 16 (10.13%) Firewall
22 16 (10.13%) SLA

2nd 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 33 (20.89%) Microsoft Exchange
2 23 (14.56%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.63%) Apache
3 1 (0.63%) Exchange Server 2003
3 1 (0.63%) Exchange Server 2007
3 1 (0.63%) Exchange Server 2010
3 1 (0.63%) Tomcat
3 1 (0.63%) WebSphere
Applications
1 33 (20.89%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.90%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.90%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 5 (3.16%) assyst
2 1 (0.63%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 91 (57.59%) Microsoft 365
2 39 (24.68%) Azure
3 20 (12.66%) OneDrive
4 13 (8.23%) Entra ID
5 4 (2.53%) AWS
6 3 (1.90%) Google Workspace
6 3 (1.90%) WhatsApp
6 3 (1.90%) Yammer
7 2 (1.27%) Asana
7 2 (1.27%) Slack
8 1 (0.63%) GCP
8 1 (0.63%) GitHub
8 1 (0.63%) Power Platform
8 1 (0.63%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 23 (14.56%) VPN
2 16 (10.13%) Firewall
3 11 (6.96%) DNS
3 11 (6.96%) TCP/IP
4 10 (6.33%) DHCP
5 7 (4.43%) WAN
5 7 (4.43%) Wi-Fi
6 6 (3.80%) Remote Desktop
7 5 (3.16%) VoIP
8 4 (2.53%) LAN
8 4 (2.53%) VLAN
8 4 (2.53%) Wireless
8 4 (2.53%) WLAN
9 3 (1.90%) IPsec
9 3 (1.90%) SAN
9 3 (1.90%) WebEx
10 2 (1.27%) BGP
10 2 (1.27%) MPLS
11 1 (0.63%) Internet
11 1 (0.63%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (1.27%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.63%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.63%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 3 (1.90%) JIRA
1 3 (1.90%) MSI
General
1 46 (29.11%) Social Skills
2 26 (16.46%) Finance
3 24 (15.19%) Public Sector
4 17 (10.76%) Analytical Skills
5 9 (5.70%) Banking
5 9 (5.70%) Telecoms
6 8 (5.06%) Electronics
6 8 (5.06%) Manufacturing
6 8 (5.06%) Marketing
7 7 (4.43%) Back Office
8 5 (3.16%) Presentation Skills
9 3 (1.90%) Law
9 3 (1.90%) Legal
9 3 (1.90%) Organisational Skills
10 1 (0.63%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (0.63%) Financial Institution
10 1 (0.63%) French Language
10 1 (0.63%) Front Office
10 1 (0.63%) Local Government
10 1 (0.63%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.90%) Software Packaging
2 2 (1.27%) LDAP
Miscellaneous
1 18 (11.39%) Video Conferencing
2 7 (4.43%) Onboarding
3 6 (3.80%) Management Information System
4 5 (3.16%) Data Centre
4 5 (3.16%) Driving Licence
5 4 (2.53%) BYOD
5 4 (2.53%) iPhone
6 3 (1.90%) CCTV
6 3 (1.90%) Educational Technology
6 3 (1.90%) iPad
6 3 (1.90%) NHS
6 3 (1.90%) Self-Motivation
6 3 (1.90%) Smartphone
7 2 (1.27%) Data Protection Act
7 2 (1.27%) PKI
7 2 (1.27%) Replication
8 1 (0.63%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 110 (69.62%) Windows
2 67 (42.41%) Windows 10
3 10 (6.33%) Apple iOS
3 10 (6.33%) Windows Server
4 6 (3.80%) Mac OS
4 6 (3.80%) Windows Server 2016
5 5 (3.16%) Android
6 4 (2.53%) Linux
6 4 (2.53%) Windows 7
6 4 (2.53%) Windows Server 2012
7 3 (1.90%) Unix
7 3 (1.90%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (1.27%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.63%) CentOS
9 1 (0.63%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.63%) Windows Server 2003
9 1 (0.63%) Windows Server 2008
9 1 (0.63%) Windows Vista
9 1 (0.63%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 35 (22.15%) Customer Service
2 34 (21.52%) ITIL
3 32 (20.25%) Problem-Solving
4 20 (12.66%) Service Management
5 15 (9.49%) ITSM
6 14 (8.86%) Incident Management
7 13 (8.23%) Service Delivery
8 10 (6.33%) Asset Management
9 9 (5.70%) Business Intelligence
10 8 (5.06%) Cybersecurity
10 8 (5.06%) Digital Marketing
10 8 (5.06%) Mobile Device Management
10 8 (5.06%) Programme Management
11 7 (4.43%) Migration
12 6 (3.80%) Patch Management
12 6 (3.80%) Root Cause Analysis
13 5 (3.16%) Computer Science
13 5 (3.16%) Customer Requirements
13 5 (3.16%) Software Deployment
13 5 (3.16%) Ticket Management
Programming Languages
1 8 (5.06%) PowerShell
2 7 (4.43%) SQL
3 3 (1.90%) Shell Script
4 2 (1.27%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 22 (13.92%) Security Cleared
2 18 (11.39%) SC Cleared
3 13 (8.23%) Degree
4 9 (5.70%) A+ Certification
5 8 (5.06%) DBS Check
5 8 (5.06%) DV Cleared
6 7 (4.43%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 6 (3.80%) Microsoft Certification
7 6 (3.80%) Network+ Certification
8 3 (1.90%) BPSS Clearance
8 3 (1.90%) MCP
9 1 (0.63%) CCNA
9 1 (0.63%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (0.63%) Citrix Certification
9 1 (0.63%) IBM Certification
9 1 (0.63%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (10.13%) SLA
2 2 (1.27%) Disclosure Scotland
3 1 (0.63%) Cyber Essentials
System Software
1 68 (43.04%) Active Directory
2 17 (10.76%) VMware Infrastructure
3 10 (6.33%) Hyper-V
4 5 (3.16%) Virtual Desktop
5 3 (1.90%) Microsoft App-V
5 3 (1.90%) Terminal Services
5 3 (1.90%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (1.90%) VMware Workstation
6 1 (0.63%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.63%) IAG
6 1 (0.63%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.63%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 29 (18.35%) SCCM
2 28 (17.72%) Microsoft Intune
3 4 (2.53%) Jamf Pro
4 3 (1.90%) AppManager
4 3 (1.90%) Control-M
5 2 (1.27%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
6 1 (0.63%) Nessus
6 1 (0.63%) PaperCut
6 1 (0.63%) Puppet
6 1 (0.63%) Sysprep
6 1 (0.63%) WSUS
Vendors
1 82 (51.90%) Microsoft
2 19 (12.03%) Citrix
3 18 (11.39%) VMware
4 17 (10.76%) ServiceNow
5 9 (5.70%) SAP
6 8 (5.06%) Cisco
7 7 (4.43%) Apple
8 6 (3.80%) HP
9 5 (3.16%) Dell
10 4 (2.53%) Fortinet
10 4 (2.53%) Google
11 3 (1.90%) Avaya
11 3 (1.90%) CrowdStrike
11 3 (1.90%) EMC
11 3 (1.90%) Ivanti
11 3 (1.90%) Juniper
11 3 (1.90%) Oracle
12 2 (1.27%) Intapp
12 2 (1.27%) Logitech
12 2 (1.27%) Zscaler
103 2nd Line Support jobs Nationwide