Can I use NHS overtime or shift allowances as part of my income?

Yes, absolutely. The key here is track record and consistency. Lenders get a little worried if you earned £500 this month but last month you earned £50.

If you keep that at £250 every month for three to six months, that gives them the confidence to use that income – and potentially use more of it. It might not be guaranteed, but it looks very consistent, which is what they want.

Will lenders accept income from multiple NHS trusts?

Yes. You’ve got to be careful because some lenders will treat this as a second job and only use 50% of the income. But it’s quite common in the NHS to have multiple payslips each month from different NHS trusts.

Generally speaking, the basic salary on both of those payslips will be fine. Any variable elements may be treated differently. I often see people with a permanent role at one NHS trust and who are also locuming on a PAYE basis at a second NHS trust. That’s not a guaranteed income.

It fluctuates and so those same rules apply – they’ll still use it but maybe not all of it. With pay from different NHS trusts we can get most lenders to use all of that income.

How does working part time in the NHS affect my mortgage eligibility?

There’s no difference at all. You’re employed, simple as that. Affordability is slightly different. Obviously, if you’re working half the week on half the salary, that’s what will be brought forward for affordability. You’ll end up with a lower borrowing figure.

If you’re a doctor whose full-time salary is £100,000 and you’re on £50,000 it’s not going to really make much difference. But if you’re a nurse with full time pay of £40,000, that’s going to become £20,000. As incomes become lower, more of your income is used for day-to-day expenditure.

You might hear lenders saying they will lend you 5.5 times your income, but if you’re on £20,000 that won’t happen. Such a big proportion of your income will be being spent on your utilities and your food etc that there’s not much left to meet mortgage payments.

Basically, the full amount of your guaranteed income is used whether you’re full or part-time. But if you’re on a lower income it will affect how much you eventually can borrow – and that’s true in any profession.

How much can I borrow as an NHS PAYE employee?

I always give the same answer: how long is a piece of string? Affordability has a number of elements to it. One is the deposit you have. Smaller deposits means higher interest rates because of the risk to the lender. Higher interest rates means higher mortgage payments, so you can’t borrow as much.

The second point is your age. If you can get a 30 or 35 year mortgage, you’re going to get a bigger mortgage than if you’re 55 years old and can only get a 15 year term. The payments are higher, so you can’t get the same multiples on your income.

Finally, the other variable is your outgoings. Although most lenders don’t delve into details about how much you spend on your shopping and where you go on holiday, they will look at your credit commitments. They will look at any credit cards not cleared in full, how many children you’ve got, school fees and childcare costs.

Your outgoings can pull back the amount they will lend. Somebody going for a 30-year mortgage with no credit commitments and a reasonable deposit would potentially get five times their income.

Under certain key worker schemes, or for a doctor – or indeed under some First Time Buyer schemes – it’s possible to get to 5.5 or even six times your income. It will be an individual assessment in each case.

What deposit do I need as an NHS PAYE worker?

There’s no difference in deposit from any other profession, but generally the minimum deposit is 5%. Some schemes might let you get away with less than that, but they’re not particularly common.

5% is the real minimum, but a 10% deposit is always better. Also, if you’re looking at a mortgage of more than £500,000, the number of lenders that accept a 5% deposit dramatically reduces. Above that figure, 10% starts to become the norm.

The more deposit you have, obviously the lower your mortgage and lower your payments. You’ll also get a lower interest rate, because it’s all risk related.

Can I get a mortgage with a poor credit history while working in the NHS on PAYE?

Yes. Again, being a PAYE worker shows the lender more stability of income. I would suggest that somebody with the same credit issue who is self-employed might find it more difficult. Being on PAYE does help.

As ever, it all depends on the severity and circumstances behind that bad credit. If it was one missed credit card payment four years ago, it won’t make any difference at all. If you’re three months behind on your credit card, that makes a huge difference.

Lots of factors affect this. The idea is to hopefully get you a mortgage with a high street lender to start with, but as that severity ramps up, we may find ourselves moving into the lesser known lenders.

With these, you will pay a higher interest rate but still get that mortgage. The idea is to use that as a stepping stone, get onto the mortgage ladder, clear your credit and push those problems further into the past – or possibly off your profile altogether. Next time round, you can hopefully get back in with a high street lender for the best rates.

Can I use the key worker mortgage scheme as an NHS employee on PAYE? And are there other schemes, NHS discounts or cashback offers?

The key worker mortgage scheme is certainly for nurses, although there are income ceilings on that. Junior doctors might fit, but other doctors tend to fall outside of it.

Lenders are becoming more innovative, though, and the benefits under some of those schemes now come through to professionals or First Time Buyers anyway. So you don’t necessarily have to access those schemes for those incentives.

Benefits may include slightly better interest rates, but we see that less frequently. It’s more common to see increased cashback or higher lending multipliers.

A nurse on £40,000 in a key worker scheme might be able to borrow more than a postman on £40,000 – so the schemes are helpful, but I wouldn’t say they will make a world of difference. All lending decisions still come down to what a lender thinks is affordable – plus their need to make a profit.

You may also find that particular new build developments are open to key workers, which can result in cheaper property prices. We have to be careful with those, because often the property deeds state they can only be sold to other key workers – certainly for a limited time.

The number of lenders for those developments is more restricted, but it might mean that you can get a bigger, better property. As long as you live in it for a certain amount of time, it becomes a ‘normal’ property after that and will be readily saleable [all information correct at the time of recording in July 2025].

What documents do NHS PAYE staff need when applying for a mortgage?

Normally it’s three months’ payslips, but be prepared to provide more if there are any variable elements to that pay, locum work or agency work. Sometimes I’ve been asked for six or even 12 months’ records – it depends on the lender. Some lenders will ask for a P60.

Something that can be an issue in the NHS is where you have a new role, and lenders sometimes ask for contracts. I know that the HR departments of NHS Trusts are a bit hit and miss. Some are on the ball, while with others you can be working in the job for six months before you see a contract.

If you’re moving to a new role, apply pressure to get that signed contract with a confirmed start date and salary, so it’s ready for your mortgage application.

How can I strengthen my mortgage application as an NHS employee on PAYE?

We talked about consistency of income earlier. Agency staff sometimes have to send a bill to the agency – and you need to do that regularly. Lenders don’t like it if you don’t bill for a week and the next bill is twice the size. They will see that as a gap in work followed by a sudden increase. Get that income as consistent as possible – that’s what lenders like.

Lenders are also quite clever. They will notice if you’ve majorly ramped up your overtime or your agency work in the last three months to try and maximise your mortgage. They want to make sure that would be sustainable going forward.

If you’ve got a cracking income because you’ve worked 80 hour weeks, you’ll burn out if you keep doing that. So just bear in mind that lenders will probably pick that up. They often look at six or 12 month averages to check that’s not happening.

How can a broker help me with my NHS PAYE mortgage?

The NHS is almost unique in PAYE terms because we’re short of nurses and doctors. We as brokers understand that, but lenders don’t always. A broker can present your case in a way that a lender starts to grasp that point.

If you’re wanting to borrow four times your base salary, that’s no problem. But if we need to look at those variable elements of your pay, or you’re starting a new job rotation within the next three months, that’s where a broker’s going to help you.

That’s outside the norm for a lender, and your chances of getting that through are rather hit and miss without our help.

YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP WITH YOUR MORTGAGE REPAYMENTS.