2nd Line Support Contracts

Second Line Support
UK

The median Second Line Support daily rate in the UK is £200, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 12 June 2024.

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

 6 months to
12 Jun 2024		 Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 377 363 339
Rank change year-on-year -14 -24 +158
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Support 213 372 671
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.49% 0.67% 0.77%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.53% 0.71% 0.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 165 257 454
10th Percentile £150 £163 £145
25th Percentile £175 £181 £159
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £200 £190
Median % change year-on-year - +5.26% +10.14%
75th Percentile £238 £270 £240
90th Percentile £300 £333 £297
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £200 £180
% change year-on-year -0.12% +11.25% +10.77%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 24 92
10th Percentile £14.27 £15.95 £15.25
25th Percentile £17.19 £17.44 £16.25
Median hourly rate £17.61 £20.00 £21.50
Median % change year-on-year -11.95% -6.98% +22.86%
75th Percentile £21.05 £25.18 £23.91
90th Percentile £23.99 £27.40 £28.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.50 £19.00 £18.00
% change year-on-year -7.89% +5.56% +20.00%

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 40,557 52,491 83,111
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.86% 94.51% 95.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,070 36,644 58,616
10th Percentile £280 £313 £318
25th Percentile £408 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £538 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.42% +2.48% +6.06%
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% +8.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,936 1,486 1,938
10th Percentile £12.86 £14.25 £12.75
25th Percentile £16.30 £19.42 £15.90
Median hourly rate £37.50 £45.00 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% +80.00% +16.28%
75th Percentile £61.81 £65.75 £50.00
90th Percentile £73.75 £77.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £42.08 £20.00
% change year-on-year -4.94% +110.39% +7.82%

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 12 June 2024.

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
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 2nd Line Support within the UK over the 6 months to 12 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 -23 201 £200 -1.96% 95
UK excluding London -53 151 £200 -0.12% 90
London +35 61 £198 -1.50% 12
Midlands +41 59 £200 -11.11% 8
West Midlands +43 42 £200 +14.29% 4
North of England +1 27 £190 -5.00% 23
Work from Home +60 26 £220 +7.84% 32
South East -47 25 £205 -2.38% 27
South West -17 20 £190 -16.48% 12
East Midlands +7 17 £210 -35.38% 4
Yorkshire +13 15 £190 -2.56% 11
North West 0 10 £200 - 9
East of England -15 9 £225 +20.00% 13
Scotland +42 8 £195 +4.00% 6
North East +9 2 £195 +36.84% 3
Northern Ireland -2 2 £145 -
Wales +15 1 £135 -32.50% 4

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

For the 6 months to 12 June 2024, 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.

1 135 (63.38%) Windows
2 115 (53.99%) Microsoft
3 100 (46.95%) Active Directory
4 97 (45.54%) Microsoft 365
5 82 (38.50%) Social Skills
6 67 (31.46%) Windows 10
7 63 (29.58%) Microsoft Office
8 47 (22.07%) SCCM
9 44 (20.66%) Customer Service
10 38 (17.84%) Azure
11 34 (15.96%) Microsoft Intune
12 32 (15.02%) Problem-Solving
13 31 (14.55%) Microsoft Exchange
14 30 (14.08%) WAN
15 29 (13.62%) Security Cleared
16 28 (13.15%) VPN
16 28 (13.15%) ITIL
17 25 (11.74%) Degree
18 23 (10.80%) TCP/IP
19 22 (10.33%) VMware
19 22 (10.33%) Analytical Skills
20 20 (9.39%) SLA
21 19 (8.92%) DNS
21 19 (8.92%) SC Cleared
21 19 (8.92%) Windows Server
22 18 (8.45%) VMware Infrastructure
22 18 (8.45%) LAN
22 18 (8.45%) Apple
23 17 (7.98%) Firewall
23 17 (7.98%) Wi-Fi

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 31 (14.55%) Microsoft Exchange
2 16 (7.51%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.47%) Exchange Server 2013
Applications
1 63 (29.58%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (3.76%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (1.41%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.94%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 1 (0.47%) assyst
Cloud Services
1 97 (45.54%) Microsoft 365
2 38 (17.84%) Azure
3 12 (5.63%) OneDrive
4 4 (1.88%) Asana
4 4 (1.88%) Entra ID
4 4 (1.88%) Slack
4 4 (1.88%) WhatsApp
5 3 (1.41%) AWS
6 2 (0.94%) Google Workspace
6 2 (0.94%) Power Platform
7 1 (0.47%) Dynamics 365
7 1 (0.47%) Yammer
Communications & Networking
1 30 (14.08%) WAN
2 28 (13.15%) VPN
3 23 (10.80%) TCP/IP
4 19 (8.92%) DNS
5 18 (8.45%) LAN
6 17 (7.98%) Firewall
6 17 (7.98%) Wi-Fi
7 15 (7.04%) VLAN
8 13 (6.10%) BGP
8 13 (6.10%) IPsec
8 13 (6.10%) MPLS
9 12 (5.63%) VoIP
10 8 (3.76%) DHCP
10 8 (3.76%) SD-WAN
10 8 (3.76%) Wireless
11 7 (3.29%) Remote Desktop
12 4 (1.88%) Internet
13 3 (1.41%) Ethernet
13 3 (1.41%) Junos
13 3 (1.41%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.94%) Power BI
2 1 (0.47%) DTS
Development Applications
1 10 (4.69%) JIRA
General
1 82 (38.50%) Social Skills
2 22 (10.33%) Analytical Skills
3 17 (7.98%) Public Sector
4 16 (7.51%) Finance
5 10 (4.69%) Documentation Skills
6 8 (3.76%) Manufacturing
6 8 (3.76%) Marketing
6 8 (3.76%) Organisational Skills
6 8 (3.76%) Telecoms
7 7 (3.29%) Banking
8 5 (2.35%) Law
8 5 (2.35%) Pharmaceutical
9 4 (1.88%) French Language
9 4 (1.88%) Legal
10 3 (1.41%) Advertising
11 2 (0.94%) Automotive
11 2 (0.94%) Electronics
11 2 (0.94%) Financial Institution
11 2 (0.94%) Local Government
12 1 (0.47%) German Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.41%) Middleware
1 3 (1.41%) XMPP
2 1 (0.47%) .NET
2 1 (0.47%) CSS
2 1 (0.47%) Rendezvous
2 1 (0.47%) TIBCO EMS
2 1 (0.47%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 13 (6.10%) PKI
2 12 (5.63%) Driving Licence
3 9 (4.23%) Self-Motivation
4 8 (3.76%) Clustering
4 8 (3.76%) iPad
5 7 (3.29%) Management Information System
6 5 (2.35%) Onboarding
6 5 (2.35%) Video Conferencing
7 4 (1.88%) Smartphone
8 3 (1.41%) Enterprise Software
8 3 (1.41%) iPhone
8 3 (1.41%) NHS
9 2 (0.94%) Chip and PIN
9 2 (0.94%) Data Centre
9 2 (0.94%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 2 (0.94%) PDA
9 2 (0.94%) Virtual Team
10 1 (0.47%) Digital Signage
10 1 (0.47%) Photography
10 1 (0.47%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 135 (63.38%) Windows
2 67 (31.46%) Windows 10
3 19 (8.92%) Windows Server
4 14 (6.57%) Mac OS
5 13 (6.10%) Windows Server 2012
5 13 (6.10%) Windows Server 2019
6 9 (4.23%) Android
6 9 (4.23%) Linux
6 9 (4.23%) Windows Server 2016
7 8 (3.76%) Apple iOS
8 5 (2.35%) Windows 7
9 3 (1.41%) Windows Server 2008
10 2 (0.94%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.47%) OpenVMS
11 1 (0.47%) Unix
11 1 (0.47%) VMS
11 1 (0.47%) Windows Vista
Processes & Methodologies
1 44 (20.66%) Customer Service
2 32 (15.02%) Problem-Solving
3 28 (13.15%) ITIL
4 16 (7.51%) Mobile Device Management
5 13 (6.10%) Asset Management
5 13 (6.10%) Service Delivery
6 11 (5.16%) Incident Management
7 10 (4.69%) Cybersecurity
8 9 (4.23%) Proactive Monitoring
8 9 (4.23%) Service Management
9 8 (3.76%) Decision-Making
10 7 (3.29%) PRINCE2
10 7 (3.29%) Ticket Management
11 6 (2.82%) ITSM
11 6 (2.82%) Migration
11 6 (2.82%) Quality Management
12 5 (2.35%) Collaborative Working
12 5 (2.35%) Investment Management
12 5 (2.35%) Project Management
12 5 (2.35%) Security Monitoring
Programming Languages
1 13 (6.10%) PowerShell
2 4 (1.88%) JavaScript
2 4 (1.88%) Python
3 2 (0.94%) SQL
Qualifications
1 29 (13.62%) Security Cleared
2 25 (11.74%) Degree
3 19 (8.92%) SC Cleared
4 10 (4.69%) Microsoft Certification
5 6 (2.82%) A+ Certification
6 5 (2.35%) CCNA
6 5 (2.35%) Cisco Certification
6 5 (2.35%) DV Cleared
6 5 (2.35%) MCSA
7 4 (1.88%) DBS Check
7 4 (1.88%) MCSE
8 3 (1.41%) MCP
9 2 (0.94%) ITIL Certification
9 2 (0.94%) MCITP
10 1 (0.47%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
10 1 (0.47%) CISA
10 1 (0.47%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (9.39%) SLA
2 5 (2.35%) ISO 9000
3 2 (0.94%) Disclosure Scotland
System Software
1 100 (46.95%) Active Directory
2 18 (8.45%) VMware Infrastructure
3 9 (4.23%) Hyper-V
4 4 (1.88%) vSphere
5 2 (0.94%) Terminal Services
5 2 (0.94%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.47%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 47 (22.07%) SCCM
2 34 (15.96%) Microsoft Intune
3 9 (4.23%) Autotask
3 9 (4.23%) Jamf Pro
4 8 (3.76%) Failover Clustering
5 4 (1.88%) Nessus
5 4 (1.88%) WSUS
6 3 (1.41%) AppManager
7 1 (0.47%) ITRS Geneos
7 1 (0.47%) PaperCut
7 1 (0.47%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 115 (53.99%) Microsoft
2 22 (10.33%) VMware
3 18 (8.45%) Apple
4 16 (7.51%) Cisco
5 13 (6.10%) Juniper
6 11 (5.16%) ServiceNow
7 6 (2.82%) Datto
8 5 (2.35%) Citrix
8 5 (2.35%) Dell
9 4 (1.88%) Avaya
9 4 (1.88%) Fujitsu
9 4 (1.88%) Palo Alto
9 4 (1.88%) Qualys
9 4 (1.88%) Zscaler
10 3 (1.41%) Ivanti
10 3 (1.41%) NetApp
10 3 (1.41%) Remedy
10 3 (1.41%) SAP
11 2 (0.94%) BT
11 2 (0.94%) HP
106 2nd Line Support jobs Nationwide