Will your gap or contract length rule you out?
Getting your day rate annualised is only half the battle — every day-rate lender also sets rules about how big a gap between contracts it will tolerate, how much time has to be left on your current contract, and how many months of contracting history you need. These rules are independent of your income, and catch otherwise-strong contractors out. Enter your situation and see, lender by lender, based on published criteria (verified 2026-07-13).
This is an information tool, not advice: it doesn't give a recommendation, a decision in principle, or a guarantee any lender will lend to you.
Worked example: an 8-week gap since your last contract
8 weeks between contracts, 6 months left on the current one, 24 months' total contracting history.
3 of 13 lenders' published timeline rules would accept your situation.
Skipton:doesn't hard-decline this — it pro-rates instead. An 8-week gap uses 38 weeks in the annualisation rather than the usual 46, so your assessed income shrinks but the application isn't ruled out. Accord: meets accord's published gap (~8wk), time-left and history rules. its time-left and history figures are secondary-sourced this session — confirm directly.
Change the inputs below to model your own numbers.
Same contractor, no gap at all
0 weeks since the last contract, 12 months left on the current one, 24 months' history — otherwise identical.
9 of 13 lenders' published timeline rules would accept your situation.
Closing the gap to zero roughly triples the pass rate (3 → 9 of 13) — several lenders that flagged "at risk" purely on the 8-week gap above clear that hurdle immediately once there's no break between contracts, with time-left and history unchanged.
Change the inputs below to model your own numbers.