Test Planning Contract Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Test Planning
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the Thames Valley requiring Test Planning skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 3 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 143 100 123
Rank change year-on-year -43 +23 +14
Contract jobs citing Test Planning 10 16 4
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 0.33% 0.94% 0.18%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.41% 1.04% 0.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 8 15 3
10th Percentile £441 £292 £415
25th Percentile £475 - £451
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £325 £525
Median % change year-on-year +61.54% -38.10% +26.51%
75th Percentile £541 £400 £582
90th Percentile £588 £533 £609
South East median daily rate £475 £375 £400
% change year-on-year +26.67% -6.25% -

All Process & Methodology Skills
Thames Valley

Test Planning falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the Thames Valley.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 2,463 1,544 1,866
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 81.26% 90.88% 85.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,498 951 1,047
10th Percentile £331 £256 £295
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £493 £510
Median % change year-on-year +6.60% -3.43% -2.72%
75th Percentile £610 £588 £625
90th Percentile £716 £650 £675
South East median daily rate £525 £500 £510
% change year-on-year +5.00% -1.96% -2.86%
Number of hourly rates quoted 278 104 80
10th Percentile £13.23 £14.60 £18.68
25th Percentile £16.10 £15.59 £29.44
Median hourly rate £52.50 £25.15 £58.43
Median % change year-on-year +108.75% -56.96% +14.46%
75th Percentile £83.72 £42.67 £65.04
90th Percentile £101.85 £79.25 £76.47
South East median hourly rate £47.54 £22.19 £58.38
% change year-on-year +114.24% -61.99% +9.11%

Test Planning
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Test Planning relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

Test Planning job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

Test Planning
Daily Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Test Planning.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Test Planning

Test Planning
Daily Rate Histogram in the Thames Valley

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Test Planning in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 3 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Test Planning in the Thames Valley

Test Planning
Hourly Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Test Planning.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Test Planning

Test Planning
Contract Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Test Planning within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 3 October 2026. 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
Berkshire -22 7 £525 +10.53% 3
Buckinghamshire -34 3 £375 +15.38%
Test Planning
South East

Test Planning
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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:

Application Platforms
1 1 (10.00%) Confluence
Applications
1 1 (10.00%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 1 (10.00%) Azure
1 1 (10.00%) Azure DevOps
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (10.00%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 3 (30.00%) JIRA
2 1 (10.00%) tSQLt
General
1 4 (40.00%) Social Skills
2 2 (20.00%) Retail
3 1 (10.00%) Analytical Skills
3 1 (10.00%) Documentation Skills
3 1 (10.00%) Finance
3 1 (10.00%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 3 (30.00%) Test Manager
2 2 (20.00%) Analyst
2 2 (20.00%) Infrastructure Manager
2 2 (20.00%) Infrastructure Test Manager
2 2 (20.00%) Network Infrastructure Manager
2 2 (20.00%) Senior
2 2 (20.00%) Testing Manager
3 1 (10.00%) Business Analyst
3 1 (10.00%) Consultant
3 1 (10.00%) Lead
3 1 (10.00%) QA Engineer
3 1 (10.00%) Security Analyst
3 1 (10.00%) Senior Consultant
3 1 (10.00%) Senior QA Engineer
3 1 (10.00%) Software Assurance Consultant
3 1 (10.00%) Software Consultant
3 1 (10.00%) Telecoms Analyst
3 1 (10.00%) Telecoms Business Analyst
3 1 (10.00%) Test Analyst
3 1 (10.00%) Test Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (20.00%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 3 (30.00%) Data Centre
2 1 (10.00%) IVR
Processes & Methodologies
1 8 (80.00%) End-to-End Testing
2 7 (70.00%) Test Strategy
3 4 (40.00%) Defect Management
4 3 (30.00%) Change Management
4 3 (30.00%) Data Migration
4 3 (30.00%) Migration
4 3 (30.00%) Scenario Testing
4 3 (30.00%) User Acceptance Testing
4 3 (30.00%) Validation
5 2 (20.00%) Business Continuity
5 2 (20.00%) Data Security
5 2 (20.00%) Data Validation
5 2 (20.00%) Deadline-Driven
5 2 (20.00%) DevOps
5 2 (20.00%) Project Delivery
5 2 (20.00%) Regression Testing
5 2 (20.00%) System Integration Testing
5 2 (20.00%) Test Automation
6 1 (10.00%) API Testing
6 1 (10.00%) Performance Metrics
Programming Languages
1 1 (10.00%) SQL
1 1 (10.00%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 3 (30.00%) Security Cleared
2 2 (20.00%) SC Cleared
3 1 (10.00%) CISA
3 1 (10.00%) CISSP
3 1 (10.00%) CREST Certified
3 1 (10.00%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (50.00%) QA
Vendors
1 2 (20.00%) Oracle
2 1 (10.00%) SAP
2 1 (10.00%) ServiceNow