diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 46c4c727..c323fb1f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/).
 - Now defaults to 3.4.9 for Tailwind CSS version.
 - Now defaults to 1.46.0 for Playwright version.
 - Now defaults to v2024.8.27 for `django-twc-ui` version.
+- Instead of using a dictionary of settings specific to tests with `django.test.utils.override_settings`, there is now a dedicated `tests/settings.py` that imports the project's main `settings.py` and overrides with test specific ones. When trying to use `django-q2` and `pytest-xdist`, there seems to be a bug between the two when also using `override_settings`. The override for sync mode in q2 does not seem to be respected. This has led to inconsistent behavior when testing parts of the project that use `async_task` from q2 to offload tasks to the background, e.g. sending email via an `async_task` and not being able to check the `mailoutbox`.
 
 ### Fixed
 
diff --git a/src/django_twc_project/pyproject.toml.jinja b/src/django_twc_project/pyproject.toml.jinja
index cb1da8bc..143468e5 100644
--- a/src/django_twc_project/pyproject.toml.jinja
+++ b/src/django_twc_project/pyproject.toml.jinja
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ module = [
 ignore_missing_model_attributes = true
 
 [tool.pytest.ini_options]
-DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE = "{{ module_name }}.settings"
+DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE = "tests.settings"
 addopts = "--reuse-db -n auto --dist loadfile --cov={{ module_name }} --cov-report= --cov-config=pyproject.toml"
 norecursedirs = ".* bin build dist *.egg htmlcov logs node_modules static templates venv"
 python_files = "tests.py test_*.py *_tests.py"
diff --git a/src/django_twc_project/tests/conftest.py b/src/django_twc_project/tests/conftest.py
index 291294ac..d0bf72bb 100644
--- a/src/django_twc_project/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/src/django_twc_project/tests/conftest.py
@@ -1,45 +1,11 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import logging
+import os
 
-import pytest
-from django.test.utils import override_settings
-
-pytest_plugins = []  # type: ignore
+pytest_plugins = []
 
 
 def pytest_configure(config):
     logging.disable(logging.CRITICAL)
-
-
-TEST_SETTINGS = {
-    "DEBUG": False,
-    "CACHES": {
-        "default": {
-            "BACKEND": "django.core.cache.backends.dummy.DummyCache",
-        }
-    },
-    "EMAIL_BACKEND": "django.core.mail.backends.locmem.EmailBackend",
-    "LOGGING_CONFIG": None,
-    "PASSWORD_HASHERS": [
-        "django.contrib.auth.hashers.MD5PasswordHasher",
-    ],
-    "Q_CLUSTER": {
-        "sync": True,
-    },
-    "STORAGES": {
-        "default": {
-            "BACKEND": "django.core.files.storage.InMemoryStorage",
-        },
-        "staticfiles": {
-            "BACKEND": "django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.StaticFilesStorage",
-        },
-    },
-    "WHITENOISE_AUTOREFRESH": True,
-}
-
-
-@pytest.fixture(autouse=True, scope="session")
-def use_test_settings():
-    with override_settings(**TEST_SETTINGS):
-        yield
+    os.environ["DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE"] = "tests.settings"
diff --git a/src/django_twc_project/tests/settings.py.jinja b/src/django_twc_project/tests/settings.py.jinja
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1466f257
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/django_twc_project/tests/settings.py.jinja
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from django.conf import settings
+
+from {{ module_name }}.settings import *  # noqa: F403
+
+DEBUG = False
+
+CACHES = {
+    "default": {
+        "BACKEND": "django.core.cache.backends.dummy.DummyCache",
+    }
+}
+
+EMAIL_BACKEND = "django.core.mail.backends.locmem.EmailBackend"
+
+LOGGING_CONFIG = None
+
+PASSWORD_HASHERS = [
+    "django.contrib.auth.hashers.MD5PasswordHasher",
+]
+
+Q_CLUSTER = settings.Q_CLUSTER | {"sync": True}
+
+STORAGES = {
+    "default": {
+        "BACKEND": "django.core.files.storage.InMemoryStorage",
+    },
+    "staticfiles": {
+        "BACKEND": "django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.StaticFilesStorage",
+    },
+}
+
+WHITENOISE_AUTOREFRESH = True