Published 2026-07-13 · Contractor Mortgage Guide

Agency worker and zero-hours contract mortgages

Quick answer: Agency work and zero-hours contracts don't mean an automatic decline, but the lending panel narrows sharply and the rules vary more here than almost anywhere else in contractor lending. Some lenders apply a straightforward track-record test; others restrict acceptance to a specific list of occupations (NHS bank nurses, supply teachers, care workers); at least one lender declines zero-hours outright while running an unusually generous route for a single occupation. Read the per-lender detail below before assuming any general "contractor-friendly" reputation covers this kind of income.

Why agency and zero-hours income gets treated differently

A day-rate contractor has a single current contract with a stated rate and end date. Agency workers and zero-hours employees often don't have that — hours can vary week to week, there may be no guaranteed minimum, and the "employer" on the payslip might be an agency rather than the organisation the work is actually performed for. Lenders respond to that unpredictability in one of two ways: either a track-record test (show a consistent pattern over enough months, and it counts like ordinary employed income), or a restricted-occupation approach (only certain roles — typically NHS bank staff, supply teachers, care workers and similar — are accepted at all, usually at a reduced percentage of income).

This guide covers agency workers, zero-hours contracts, NHS bank staff and supply/agency teachers specifically. If your income comes from invoiced locum sessions as a doctor, dentist or other clinical professional rather than a zero-hours payroll arrangement, the rules are different — see our locum doctor and medical contractor mortgages guide instead, since some lenders on this panel treat locum work as its own category rather than folding it into zero-hours policy.

Verified per-lender treatment

• Barclays has the best-documented NHS bank route on the panel: NHS Bank Staff income is accepted at 100%, evidenced by three months' payslips (five consecutive if paid weekly) plus a corresponding bank statement. Barclays also accepts fixed-term contract income at 100% (most recent 12-month contract plus three months' payslips), and lists agency income generally as an accepted stream at up to 100% for strong credit profiles. Its zero-hours wording is looser — "acceptable if clear evidence of stable, required-level income" — without a fixed minimum number of months stated in that section.
• NatWest has an explicit NHS-bank rule that turns on how the income is used: if NHS bank work is in addition to your main NHS employment, it's treated as overtime; if it's your only income source, it's treated as ordinary zero-hours contractor income instead. NatWest's published criteria are internally inconsistent on the general zero-hours minimum — one part references three months, another references twelve — so treat "confirm the exact minimum with the lender" as the honest position rather than quoting either figure with confidence. For agency income specifically (PAYE contract workers via agency, fixed-term or umbrella), NatWest wants one year's employment verification plus a minimum three-month forward contract, evidenced by two six-month contracts, four three-month contracts, or the latest 12 consecutive payslips.
• Virgin Money groups zero-hours, fixed-term and agency contracts under one policy: acceptable with a two-year track record in the same line of work (VERIFIED). If your current role is under a year old, your income must match your previous employment level; genuinely seasonal or short-term temporary work isn't accepted at all.
• Accord accepts zero-hours income at 60% of earnings with a 12-month sustainable history, but only within a restricted occupation list: NHS bank nurses, care workers, supermarket workers, HGV drivers, firefighters, Armed Forces reserves and supply teachers. Agency work isn't documented as a separate category outside this occupation list. Accord's locum policy (60% of variable income, six-month history) is separate again and explicitly excludes bank nursing, which has to go through the zero-hours route above.
• Coventry Building Society runs a similar restricted-occupation approach: NHS nurses/locums, non-NHS nurses, care workers, supermarket workers, retained firefighters and Armed Forces reservists, with 12 months' continuous employment and consistent earnings documentation. Notably, supply teachers are not on Coventry's list — a gap worth knowing about if you're comparing it against Accord, which does include them.
• Halifax accepts zero-hours income if you've been employed for more than 12 months, with proof of all income over that period. Agency income (its "fixed/short-term or agency" category, where tax is deducted by the employer) is assessed from the latest month's payslip on a 46-week-year basis. No dedicated NHS-bank carve-out is documented.
• Skipton groups locum medical professionals, supply teachers, agency workers and zero-hours contracts together under one policy: minimum 12 months' experience in the same field, the latest 12 months' contracting history, and income taken as the lower of the annualised YTD payslip figure or your P60. There's no separately more favourable carve-out for supply teachers or locums within this group — everyone gets the same 12-month treatment.
• Kensington takes the most discretionary approach on zero-hours: "each case reviewed on its own merits" considering employment type, tenure and credit profile, with no fixed rule stated. For agency work specifically, it wants 12 months' consecutive employment history with the same agency, and lists agency income as an accepted stream at up to 100% for strong credit profiles. Kensington also has a separate "essential public sector employees" list (NHS clinicians, police, firefighters, armed forces, teachers/lecturers) that looks like a distinct affordability consideration rather than a zero-hours or bank-work carve-out — worth asking about directly rather than assuming it applies to bank or agency income specifically.
• Nationwide requires a minimum 12 months with the same employer for temporary employment and zero-hours contracts generally, with a named exception for NHS bank nurses, locums and supply teachers: 12 months' history, but not necessarily with the same trust or school. The important caveat that applies across all of these on Nationwide's policy: this income cannot be your primary income source — you need higher secondary income alongside it. That's a materially more restrictive condition than most of the rest of the panel.
• Metro Bank is the most restrictive lender on zero-hours: **"Contractors
  • Zero Hours: Not accepted"** on its published criteria, full stop. It does, however, run an unusually specific supply-teacher route: accepted if over three years, with income taken as the average of the last three years. That's a longer bar than any other lender's supply-teacher treatment, but it's a real route where its general zero-hours policy is a flat decline.
• Santander accepts zero-hours contracts with the latest monthly payslip, 12 months' continuous income evidence and employer confirmation of an ongoing arrangement; fixed-term contracts are treated similarly. No distinct "agency" category or NHS-bank carve-out is documented.
• Leeds Building Society shows a positive verdict for agency income in its underlying data, but the published criteria we reviewed don't include supporting detail — no stated months of history, no occupation restrictions. Treat Leeds as "accepts agency income in principle, specific terms unconfirmed" rather than assuming it matches any other lender's policy, and confirm directly before relying on it.

The Clydesdale exclusion — read this before assuming Clydesdale fits

⚠️ Clydesdale is a source of a common misconception worth correcting directly. Its published criteria accept zero-hours contract income with a 12-month history — not two years, and not grouped with agency income the way some other lenders do it. Separately, and explicitly, Clydesdale does not accept agency or temp income at all: its criteria mark temp/agency income as excluded, distinct from its zero-hours acceptance. In other words, Clydesdale will consider your zero-hours employment income on a 12-month basis, but if your income comes from an agency placement specifically, that route is closed at Clydesdale regardless of your history. Don't read "Clydesdale accepts zero-hours" as "Clydesdale accepts agency work" — on its own published criteria, those are two different answers.

What this means in practice

Track record and the percentage of income actually used both vary sharply across this panel — from Barclays' 100% NHS bank treatment down to Accord's and Coventry's 60% restricted-occupation routes, down further to Metro's outright zero-hours decline. Agency and zero-hours income isn't an automatic decline anywhere on this list except Metro's general zero-hours policy, but which lender you approach first genuinely changes both whether you're accepted and how much of your income counts. Our contract-type checker filters the panel by your actual contract type, and the fuller lender criteria tables carry the sourced detail behind every verdict above, including where we've flagged something as unconfirmed rather than guessed.

Verified against published lender intermediary criteria as of 13 July 2026. Leeds Building Society's agency-income terms and NatWest's exact zero-hours history minimum are not fully resolved in published criteria and are flagged above as needing direct confirmation; Clydesdale's zero-hours history is 12 months (not two years) and explicitly excludes agency/temp income — stated above to correct a common assumption. Criteria change frequently. Information, not advice — confirm the current position directly with the lender or a whole-of-market broker before applying.