A mortgage on a zero-hours contract.

How lenders read zero-hours income

Most want a track record: a period of working on the contract, evidenced by payslips and often your P60s. They then typically average what you have earned over that period rather than taking your best months. How long a record they want, and how they average it, differs from lender to lender.

Some lenders will not use zero-hours income at all. Others treat it much like any other variable pay. An application to the wrong one is a decline that did not need to happen.

What helps

Time with the same employer. Consistent hours, even if they move around. Payslips that match what reaches your bank account. And a second, steadier income in the household, if there is one, because it changes the shape of the case.

What makes it harder

A recent change of employer, a long gap with no shifts, or hours that fell sharply in the months before you apply. And, as with any variable income, something on your credit file on top, because the two together narrow the field more than either alone.

Agency work, bank shifts and second jobs

Zero-hours work rarely comes alone. Care workers, nurses on bank shifts, drivers and hospitality staff often hold two or three arrangements at once, sometimes through an agency. Lenders look at each source separately: how long you have had it, how steady it has been, and whether it could reasonably carry on. A second job held for years can count for more than a first job started last spring.

Agency work brings one extra wrinkle. The agency, not the place you work, is usually your employer on paper, so a move between sites can look like continuous employment or like a series of new jobs depending on how the payslips read. Worth checking before an underwriter does.

When the hours dropped for a reason

Maternity leave, illness, a quiet season. A dip with a clear cause and a recovery afterwards is explainable, and some lenders will listen. A dip with no explanation, right before you apply, is the version that causes trouble.

What to gather

Payslips covering as long a period as you have, your P60s, bank statements showing the pay arriving, and your contract. If you also do agency work or have a second job, the same for that.