Out of Hours IT Support Retainer
When something critical breaks outside helpdesk hours, our retainer puts a real engineer on the phone, not a voicemail.
Certified & Accredited
What is the Out of Hours Retainer?
Our helpdesk runs Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:30pm, which suits most businesses. But some systems can't wait until the morning. A failed backup on a Saturday, a server outage on a bank holiday, a security alert at 11pm, these need a real response, not a Monday-morning ticket.
The LeapIT out-of-hours retainer gives you guaranteed access to an on-call engineer outside core hours. You pay a fixed monthly retainer for the cover, then a defined call-out rate only if you actually need us. It's there when you need it, costs almost nothing when you don't.
It pairs naturally with our IT support, cyber security, and proactive maintenance services, your 24/7 monitoring is already in place; the retainer is what lets us act on what it finds.
What's Covered
The retainer covers genuine emergencies: production system outages, suspected security incidents, ransomware indicators, failed backups affecting business-critical data, and major connectivity loss. Issues are triaged by priority and acted on accordingly, critical incidents get a response in minutes, lower-priority issues are scheduled into the next working day.
For known high-risk windows, month-end processing, year-end accounts, major releases, planned migrations, we can extend cover on a project basis. If you'd rather have full 24/7 cover as standard, we can build that into a custom IT support agreement.
Who It's For
The retainer suits businesses that operate beyond office hours, depend on systems that can't be offline overnight, or work in regulated sectors where security incidents need immediate attention. We see strong demand from law firms, financial services, and manufacturers running shift patterns.
If you're not sure whether you need it, we'll be honest, many businesses don't. We'd rather you spend the budget on better proactive maintenance than pay for cover you'll never use.
What's Included
After-Hours Cover
Engineer availability outside core helpdesk hours, including evenings and weekends.
Emergency Response
Real engineers, real phone numbers, no automated systems or voicemail loops.
Priority Escalation
Incidents triaged and escalated based on business impact, not first-come-first-served.
Defined Response Targets
Clear, priority-based response targets agreed up front, no ambiguity at 2am.
Integrated with Monitoring
Works hand-in-hand with our 24/7 proactive monitoring so we already know what's happening before you call.
Predictable Cost
Fixed monthly retainer plus a defined call-out rate, no surprise invoices after a bad night.
Out of Hours IT Support Retainer, FAQs
Not quite. Our standard helpdesk runs Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:30pm. The retainer adds emergency cover outside those hours. If you need full 24/7 staffed helpdesk cover, we can scope that as a custom agreement.
Production system outages, suspected security incidents, ransomware indicators, failed backups on critical data, and major connectivity loss. Non-urgent requests (password resets, new starter setups, software questions) wait for the next working day.
Response targets are priority-based and agreed in your service schedule. Critical incidents are acted on in minutes; lower-priority items are queued appropriately. We don't make blanket '15-minute SLA' claims because they're rarely meaningful in practice.
Monitoring tells us when something's wrong out of hours, the retainer is what lets us do something about it before Monday morning. The two are designed to work together.
Cover for When Things Go Wrong at 2am
Talk to us about an out-of-hours retainer sized for your business, we'll be straight about whether you actually need it.