jobfacts

IT support technician

IT user support technicians — SOC 2020 3132

IT user support technicians are responsible for providing technical support, advice and guidance for internal/external users of IT systems and applications, either directly or by telephone, e-mail or other network interaction.

Also calledHelp desk technicianIT service engineerService desk analystSupport specialistAnalystComputing officerand 71 more titles
Typical full-time pay£35,1002025 Provisional
People in the job135,000across the UK
Demand for workersCritical
New adverts a month9,000↓ 4.1%on last year · 12th of 412

Pay

ONS · ASHE 2025

Half of full-time IT support technicians earn between £29,200 and £44,700 a year.

What full-time IT support technicians earn, 2025
£35,100 typical£25,000lowest 10%£29,20025%£46,800top 20%n/ptop 10%
Middle half (£29,200–£44,700)n/p: top 10% not published by ONS
Show as table
Lowest 10% earn less than£25,000
Lowest 20% earn less than£27,700
25%£29,200
Median£35,100
75%£44,700
Top 20% earn more than£46,800
Top 10% earn more thanNot published
Typical pay by regionUK median £35,100
London£42,400
East of England!£37,300
Scotland£35,400
South East£35,300
West Midlands!£34,800
North West£34,200
East Midlands!£32,800
Wales£32,700
South West£31,800
Yorkshire and The Humber£31,400
North EastNot published by ONS–
!Small sample: treat with caution
Show as table
UK median, £35,100
London£42,400
East of England£37,300 (small sample)
Scotland£35,400
South East£35,300
West Midlands£34,800 (small sample)
North West£34,200
East Midlands£32,800 (small sample)
Wales£32,700
South West£31,800
Yorkshire and The Humber£31,400
North EastNot published by ONS
Typical pay over 3 years
  • 2023 £32,600
  • 2024 £33,000
  • 2025 Provisional£35,100
↑ 7.7% since 2023Provisional figures are revised when ONS publishes the next year’s survey.

Jobs and demand

ONS · Textkernel adverts · DfE

About 9,000 jobs for IT support technicians are advertised each month. The Department for Education rates demand for workers as critical.

New job adverts a month, Jan 2017 to Aug 2026
New advertsMonth not published by ONS (2 in all)
Show as table
Aug 20269,434
Jul 20269,378
Jun 2026Not published
May 20269,426
Apr 20269,084
Mar 2026Not published
Feb 20267,874
Jan 20269,384
Dec 20254,824
Nov 20259,968
Oct 202510,052
Sept 202510,129
Aug 20259,644
Jul 202510,328
Jun 202510,397
May 202511,442
Apr 20258,603
Mar 20259,879
Feb 20259,823
Jan 20259,198
Dec 20246,158
Nov 20248,427
Oct 20249,621
Sept 202410,112
Aug 202410,250
Jul 202410,735
Jun 202410,304
May 202411,368
Apr 202410,535
Mar 20248,856
Feb 20249,125
Jan 202410,849
Dec 20238,365
Nov 20238,468
Oct 20238,752
Sept 20238,905
Aug 202311,347
Jul 202311,652
Jun 202315,602
May 202315,054
Apr 202312,623
Mar 202314,809
Feb 202315,098
Jan 202317,946
Dec 202215,125
Nov 202218,423
Oct 202218,798
Sept 202217,865
Aug 202219,087
Jul 202218,118
Jun 202217,546
May 202220,850
Apr 202217,477
Mar 202220,141
Feb 202218,111
Jan 202219,370
Dec 202115,310
Nov 202117,689
Oct 202117,997
Sept 202117,068
Aug 202115,994
Jul 202117,419
Jun 202114,538
May 202115,642
Apr 202113,325
Mar 202117,340
Feb 20219,585
Jan 202110,638
Dec 20208,551
Nov 20209,167
Oct 202010,483
Sept 20209,145
Aug 20208,165
Jul 20207,606
Jun 20207,265
May 20206,385
Apr 20208,268
Mar 202014,720
Feb 202017,114
Jan 202016,063
Dec 201912,140
Nov 201914,755
Oct 201916,034
Sept 201915,172
Aug 201915,713
Jul 201920,197
Jun 201918,257
May 201916,174
Apr 201911,820
Mar 201914,099
Feb 201913,428
Jan 201914,103
Dec 201810,027
Nov 201812,983
Oct 201813,782
Sept 201814,529
Aug 201814,609
Jul 201813,751
Jun 201814,165
May 201813,287
Apr 201812,795
Mar 201813,636
Feb 201812,356
Jan 201814,500
Dec 20179,676
Nov 201712,367
Oct 201713,346
Sept 201711,807
Aug 201712,328
Jul 201711,631
Jun 201714,030
May 201714,927
Apr 201713,821
Mar 201715,929
Feb 201713,744
Jan 201715,473
Is there a shortage of IT support technicians?
Critical

The Department for Education rates demand as not high, elevated or critical, using five indicators. This is its 2025 assessment; in 2024 it was elevated.

  • Visas grantedAbove usual
  • Online job advertsWell above usual
  • Wage growthAbove usual
  • Pay against similar jobsUsual
  • Hours workedAbove usual
Vacancies hard to fill because of skills
13%against 27% for all jobs
Broader groupFigure for information technology technicians, which includes IT support technicians. DfE Employer Skills Survey 2024.
Where the most jobs are advertisedadverts a quarter
London4,445
Manchester686
Birmingham572
Leeds501
Bristol, City of442
Glasgow City435
City of Edinburgh316
Liverpool290
Nottingham273
Belfast265
London is published as one area. Averages leave out quarters ONS withheld.
Where IT support technicians are most concentratedShare of local job adverts, compared with the UK.

Recruitment from abroad. 47 sponsored work visas were granted for this job from July 2025 to June 2026, most to people from India, Germany, Pakistan, ranking it 143rd of 313. Home Office

Who does it

ONS · Annual Population Survey · April 2025 to March 2026
Age of IT support technicians
n/p
36%
22%
20%
9%!
n/p
!Small sample: treat with cautionn/p: too few in the survey to publish
Show as table
16–24Not published
25–3436%
35–4422%
45–5420%
55–649% (small sample)
65+Not published
Highest qualification
Degree or equivalent47%
Higher education below degree9.3%
A levels or equivalent34%
GCSEs or equivalent9%
Other qualifications!1.3%
No qualifications–
Not published
!Small sample: treat with caution
Show as table
Degree or equivalent47%
Higher education below degree9.3%
A levels or equivalent34%
GCSEs or equivalent9%
Other qualifications1.3% (small sample)
No qualificationsNot published

Main employers: computer consultancy activities (19%), computer programming activities (13%), general public administration activities (7.5%), activities of professional membership organisations (2.9%).

How to get in

Hold a degree
47%
as their highest qualification
Apprenticeships
3
from level 3
Apprenticeships take
15 months to 2 years
typically
T Levels
1
college courses for 16 to 19 year olds

Routes in

You can get into this job through:

University

You could do a foundation degree, higher national diploma or degree in:

  • computer science
  • network engineering
  • network security
  • software engineering
  • business information systems
Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • 1 or 2 A levels, or equivalent, for a foundation degree or higher national diploma
  • 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree

College

You could take a college course that may help you to get a trainee technician job with an organisation.

Useful subjects include:

  • computing
  • IT support
  • ICT systems and principles
  • T level in Digital Support and Security
Entry requirements

Entry requirements for these courses vary.

  • 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths for a T Level

Apprenticeship

You could apply for a place on a Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship, such as:

  • IT Solutions Technician
  • Digital Support Technician
  • Information Communications Technician
  • Cyber Security Technician
Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • no specific qualifications or experience to apply for a foundation apprenticeship
  • 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship
More about this route
Foundation apprenticeship

You may be able to start in a junior or assistant role by doing a Hardware, Network and Infrastructure Level 2, or Software and Data Level 2, Foundation Apprenticeship.

You can apply for a foundation apprenticeship if you're aged 16 to 21.

If you're aged 22 to 24, you can apply if you:

  • have an education, health and care (EHC) plan
  • are in care or have been in care
  • are in prison or have been in prison

Work your way up

You could start as a trainee technician with an organisation and study for IT support qualifications while you work. You'll usually need some IT skills and knowledge to get a trainee job. Customer service skills are also important.

Registration and professional bodies

Career tips

You may find it helpful to get some industry standard training for IT support and administrator roles. This can be done through organisations like:

  • CompTia A+
  • Microsoft Learn
Further information

You can find out more about careers in IT from techskills and The Chartered Institute for IT.

Routes in are from the National Careers Service job profile for it support technician. Contains public sector information from the National Careers Service licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Apprenticeships

3 for this job

© Skills England 2025. This information is licensed under the Open Government Licence https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Other qualifications

QualificationTypeLevel
Hardware, network and infrastructure foundation apprenticeshipFoundation apprenticeship2
Software and data foundation apprenticeshipFoundation apprenticeship2
Digital Support and SecurityT Level3

The work

ONS · ESCO · O*NET

Typical tasks

  • provides technical support to IT users
  • advises users on how to resolve hardware and software problems
  • installs and upgrades hardware, cables, operating systems and/or appropriate software
  • facilitates user access to systems
  • refers more complex or intractable problems to appropriate IT professionals
  • researches possible solutions in user guides, technical manuals and other documents
  • maintains a log of work in progress, calls received, actions taken and problems detected
  • reports on commonly occurring queries to detect underlying problems

Skills

  • create solutions to problems
  • keep up to date on product knowledge
  • manage schedule of tasks
  • communicate with customers
  • educate on data confidentiality
  • prioritise requests
  • provide customer follow-up services
  • provide ICT support
  • provide technical documentation
  • solve ICT system problems
  • use access control software
  • use customer relationship management software
  • use ICT ticketing system

Knowledge

  • characteristics of products
  • characteristics of services
  • ICT networking hardware
  • ICT system user requirements
  • procurement of ICT network equipment
  • product comprehension
  • ABAP
  • AJAX

Suits people who like

  • Organising and following procedures
  • Practical, hands-on work

Outlook

DfE · Skills Imperative 2035
Broader groupThese projections are for science, engineering and technology associate professionals, a group of 11 jobs that includes IT support technicians.
Change in jobs, 2020 to 2035↓ 4.9%about 34,000 fewer jobs
Workers needed by 2035228,000including people replacing those who retire or leave

Sources

Pay
ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2025 provisional
People in the job, who does it
ONS, Annual Population Survey, April 2025 to March 2026
Job adverts
ONS, online job adverts (Textkernel), to Aug 2026
Demand, skill shortages
Department for Education and Skills England, Occupations in demand and the Employer Skills Survey
Outlook
The Skills Imperative 2035 (2024), NFER/Nuffield/DfE/IER/CE
Routes in
National Careers Service job profiles
Apprenticeships, qualifications
Skills England occupational maps
Skills, interests
ESCO classification of the European Commission; O*NET data, U.S. Department of Labor (CC BY 4.0, modified)
Visas
Home Office, immigration system statistics

Figures as of 10 October 2026.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Occupations in demand and the Employer Skills Survey: Department for Education and Skills England. Immigration system statistics: Home Office. Contains public sector information from the National Careers Service licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

© Skills England 2025. This information is licensed under the Open Government Licence https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Source: The Skills Imperative 2035 (2024), NFER/Nuffield/DfE/IER/CE.

This service uses the ESCO classification of the European Commission.

This service includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. This service has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. CC BY 4.0 licence.

jobfacts is independent. It is not part of, affiliated with or endorsed by the Office for National Statistics, the Department for Education, Skills England, the National Careers Service, the Home Office, the European Commission or the U.S. Department of Labor.