Accord Mortgages is cutting the number of years’ evidence required from those who are self-employed from three years to two years.

Nicola Alvarez, corporate account manager, proposition development, said: “We know the UK workforce is evolving and with one in seven people currently self-employed, it was clear we had to update our policies to reflect the changing employment trends and differing types of borrowers.

“At Accord, we’ve always adopted a common sense approach to underwriting and review applications on a case by case basis to ensure income is sustainable and we can lend where it make sense to do so, but with these latest improvements, brokers can be confident in exactly what is required to ensure their cases go through as smoothly as possible.

“Moving from three to two years’ evidence, along with our offering for fixed term and day rate contractors, means we’re now able to support a much broader range of customers.”