ISTQB Foundation Certification Contract Job Trends in the South West

ISTQB-BCS Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) formerly ISEB Foundation
England > South West

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the South West with a requirement for ISTQB Foundation Certification qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 20 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 128 - 144
Rank change year-on-year - - +33
Contract jobs citing ISTQB Foundation Certification 2 0 4
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 0.086% - 0.14%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.15% - 0.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 2 0 1
10th Percentile £296 - -
25th Percentile £301 - £438
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £323 - £525
75th Percentile £356 - £613
90th Percentile £367 - -
England median daily rate £429 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -22.05% - +28.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 0 3
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - £23.43
Median hourly rate - - £23.86
75th Percentile - - £34.64
90th Percentile - - £40.86
England median hourly rate - - £32.50

All Academic and Professional Certifications
South West

ISTQB Foundation Certification falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in the South West.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 1,306 1,124 1,644
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 55.98% 53.27% 55.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 826 704 1,024
10th Percentile £275 £338 £371
25th Percentile £450 £460 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £575
Median % change year-on-year - -4.35% +1.77%
75th Percentile £688 £663 £675
90th Percentile £738 £750 £729
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 175 84 170
10th Percentile £17.69 £35.00 £35.70
25th Percentile £20.82 £58.94 £50.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £65.50 £61.95
Median % change year-on-year -61.60% +5.74% -4.70%
75th Percentile £63.75 £70.50 £77.75
90th Percentile £73.75 £75.00 £83.40
England median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £52.50
% change year-on-year -45.54% -12.04% +16.67%

ISTQB Foundation Certification
Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing ISTQB Foundation Certification relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West.

ISTQB Foundation Certification job vacancy trend in the South West

ISTQB Foundation Certification
Daily Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing ISTQB Foundation Certification.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing ISTQB Foundation Certification

ISTQB Foundation Certification
Hourly Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing ISTQB Foundation Certification.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing ISTQB Foundation Certification

ISTQB Foundation Certification
Contract Job Locations in the South West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing ISTQB Foundation Certification within the South West region over the 6 months to 20 December 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
Bristol - 2 £323 - 2
ISTQB Foundation Certification
England

ISTQB Foundation Certification
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South West 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:

Applications
1 2 (100.00%) Microsoft Excel
1 2 (100.00%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 2 (100.00%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 2 (100.00%) DNS
1 2 (100.00%) LAN
1 2 (100.00%) VoIP
1 2 (100.00%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (100.00%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 2 (100.00%) JIRA
General
1 2 (100.00%) Documentation Skills
1 2 (100.00%) Public Sector
1 2 (100.00%) Social Skills
Job Titles
1 2 (100.00%) Analyst
1 2 (100.00%) Lead
1 2 (100.00%) Lead Test Analyst
1 2 (100.00%) Test Analyst
1 2 (100.00%) Test Leader
Operating Systems
1 2 (100.00%) Android
1 2 (100.00%) Apple iOS
1 2 (100.00%) Mac OS
1 2 (100.00%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 2 (100.00%) Acceptance Criteria
1 2 (100.00%) Business Intelligence
1 2 (100.00%) Data Analysis
1 2 (100.00%) Smoke Testing
1 2 (100.00%) Test Scripting
1 2 (100.00%) Use Case
1 2 (100.00%) User Acceptance Testing
2 1 (50.00%) Decision-Making
Qualifications
1 2 (100.00%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (100.00%) Accessibility