There has been a clear shift underway in the UK’s employment landscape for a long time. Gone are the days when the ‘typical’ borrower was someone with a single income from a full-time, permanent job.
Today, advisers are encountering a new kind of borrower. One who might run a small business, combine PAYE with freelance contracts, or rely on variable earnings from consultancy or side hustles. Far from being outliers, these customers are growing in number. The modern workforce has changed, and the mortgage market has needed to change with it.
This evolution in employment patterns is something we at Hinckley & Rugby have not only recognised but actively embraced. Earlier this year, we wrote about how important it is to adapt to diverse income streams, and now, just a few months on, there’s even more evidence that this is becoming one of the defining trends for brokers and lenders alike.
Advisers are not just seeing one or two of these types of cases; they are seeing them regularly. These borrowers are a new kind of mainstream, not ultra-vanilla perhaps, but very much representative of what income tends to look like in 2025. From limited company directors and sole traders to self-employed professionals in their first few years of trading, these borrowers now represent a large share of real-life mortgage demand.
The figures speak for themselves. According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, there were 4.4 million self-employed workers in the UK as of early 2025, up from 4.2 million just a few months earlier.
More tellingly, research from Rest Less and other sources shows that nearly one in four UK adults now earn some form of income outside of their main employment, whether from side hustles, freelance work, or secondary jobs. A 2025 survey by McWallace highlighted that side hustling is up by over 20% year-on-year, with more than 460,000 people now earning through additional income streams.
All of this poses a fundamental question for the mortgage market: if income is income, as long as it's legal and provable, why do some in the market continue to treat ‘non-standard’ income types with such caution?
That’s exactly the point we want to make: If income is regular and legal, why not consider it? And it’s the question that more brokers are now asking on behalf of their clients, particularly when they can still hit a wall trying to place cases for highly creditworthy clients who just happen to fall outside, what is deemed, the traditional mould.
However we believe that adapting to this new world of income diversity is essential, not just for us, but for the mortgage market as a whole. We should all be acutely aware by now that this is not a passing phase. The way people earn has changed, and it’s time lenders recognised that and responded with genuine underwriting flexibility.
That’s why our approach centres around manual underwriting and personal case assessment. We know real life doesn’t fit into tick-box criteria. People’s careers can be non-linear, their income can vary month to month, and many combine multiple sources to build a stable financial life. Our job, and that of the adviser, is to understand that full picture, not dismiss it because it doesn’t fit a pre-set mould.
And that philosophy is embedded in our product range. Our residential mortgages are tailored to reflect these realities. We lend to self-employed borrowers with just one year’s accounts. We look at contractors, freelancers, those with variable bonus or commission income, and yes, those with side hustles. We consider complex income structures and combine sources of income, where appropriate, to help more people access the mortgage finance they need.
We feel like this puts us well in the mix as the go-to lender for the modern workforce. That means being known as a lender who truly gets it, who understands income doesn’t always arrive in one predictable monthly pay-slip, and that being self-employed or earning through a variety of contracts doesn’t make you a higher risk. In many cases, these borrowers are some of the most financially-resilient demographics in the market.
But we understand that recognition alone isn’t enough, it needs to be backed up by action, by criteria, by underwriting, and by the way we work with brokers. That’s what should set us apart. Taking time to look at the full story, utilising our underwriters, not algorithms, and empowering them to make sensible, case-by-case decisions. That’s why brokers tell us we’re their first port of call for these kinds of clients.
The need for this kind of flexibility is only going to grow. Lending to self-employed mortgage borrowers is forecast to grow by 67% in the next five years, from £20.9bn in 2023 to £34.8bn by 2029. That kind of growth doesn’t come from a niche segment, it comes from a fundamental shift in the makeup of the market. And advisers who are prepared to embrace this change, and partner with lenders who do the same, will be well placed to serve a growing and valuable customer base.
