"We were receiving more and more enquiries from contractors employed on ‘day rate’ contracts and they’d often be receiving much higher incomes."
In 2018, Skipton started to engage with broker partners who specialised in this area, to provide insight and feedback to help shape a new approach which meets their contractor clients’ mortgage needs.
Skipton partnered with contractor specialist broker, CMME, to establish how it could work closer to provide mortgage finance for anyone employed as a contractor.
Andrew Cutmore, Skipton’s south coast business development manager, said: “We’ve always been happy to consider customers employed on a zero hours contract or via an agency especially where we can see they’ve got a history of earnings. However, we were receiving more and more enquiries from contractors employed on ‘day rate’ contracts and they’d often be receiving much higher incomes.
“We identified our existing lending approach didn’t really cater for these enquiries. We therefore engaged with specialist brokers in this sector and asked for their input into how we could work closer to provide mortgage finance.
“Since the launch of its new lending criteria for contractors, Skipton has seen a spike in enquiries and, in the vast majority of cases, is now able to support these clients with their home-buying aspirations or remortgage plans."
John Scrivens, Skipton’s regional manager for intermediary relationships, added: “Skipton Intermediaries is committed to delivering a high level of customer service by listening to its broker partners and acting upon their feedback. The introduction of this new policy for professional contractors is just one of the many things Skipton has launched to demonstrate their commitment to their broker partners.“
