Overtime, bank shifts, agency work and a second job — do they count?

Yes, extra income counts. Overtime, bank shifts, agency work, a second job — lenders use all of it, and the rules that apply to you are the rules that apply to everyone else doing the same work.

That last point is worth being clear about, because it is the one people on a visa most often assume runs against them. It does not. A lender is looking at how steady the income is, not at who is earning it.

What does vary is how much of it a lender counts. That is the thing worth knowing before you apply.

Why lenders treat extra income carefully

A basic salary is a number in a contract. Overtime is not — it can stop. So lenders ask how reliable it has been, and use a proportion of it rather than all of it.

You will see this written as lenders counting "50% of overtime" or "100% of regular additional hours". It is not a rule handed down from anywhere. Each lender sets its own, and they are genuinely different from one another.

For someone doing a lot of bank shifts, the difference between a lender counting half of it and one counting all of it can be the difference between the flat you want and the one you settle for.

What lenders look at

• How long you have been earning it. Three months is sometimes enough. Six is common. A year makes almost any lender comfortable.
• How steady it is. Similar amounts every month is the strongest case. Three big months and three empty ones is the hardest.
• Whether it is on your payslips. Income that runs through payroll with tax paid on it is far easier to use than anything that does not.
• How it is described. "Additional hours" and "enhancement" are usually treated more generously than "bonus" or "commission", because the first two look like more of your normal job.

Bank shifts in the NHS

If you are on a Health and Care Worker visa doing bank shifts, this is likely to be the biggest single thing affecting how much you can borrow, and it is worth getting right.

Bank work shows on your payslips and goes through payroll, which is the good position to be in. Most lenders will use it. How much they use comes back to how regular it looks over the last six to twelve months.

One practical point: if your bank shifts are paid by the same trust as your main job, they often appear on the same payslip, which makes them straightforward to evidence. If they come through a separate bank or agency, expect to supply that employer's payslips as well.

Agency work

Agency work counts too. Lenders will generally want to see a longer history for it — twelve months is a common ask — and they will want to see it running continuously rather than in bursts.

If you have moved from agency work into a permanent contract, that is a good moment to apply rather than a complication. Some lenders will use the new salary from the start date.

A second job

A second job is usually fine, and the questions are the ones you would expect: how long you have had it, whether the hours are sustainable alongside the first, and whether it is taxed properly.

If the second job is self-employed, that is a different conversation — most lenders want two years of accounts or tax returns for self-employed income. Worth raising early, because it changes which lenders are worth approaching.

What to do

Keep your payslips. All of them, from every employer, for the last twelve months. This is the whole evidence base and people throw it away.

Do not drop your extra hours just before applying. Some lenders average the recent months, so a quiet quarter right before an application is the worst possible timing.

Add it up properly before you assume. People routinely undercount what they earn because they think of their basic salary as their income. If a third of what you take home comes from additional hours, that third is worth real borrowing with the right lender.

Bring twelve months of payslips to your first call and we can work out what each lender would actually use — the spread is usually wider than people expect. Your first 30-minute call is free.