Clydesdale Bank — part of the Virgin Money group — runs a contractor proposition built on breadth: contractors from any sector considered, inside or outside IR35, across umbrella, limited company and self‑employed payment structures, with underwriting flexibility inherited from its long professional‑lending heritage.
Clydesdale's contractor policy applies without sector carve-outs and across the payment structures — the day-rate limited company contractor, the umbrella worker on an evidenced assignment rate, the inside IR35 engagement on its gross value, the self-employed hybrid.
The combination of sector-blindness and structure-breadth means the unusual configuration is assessed on the same logic as the common one.
Inside IR35 and umbrella contractors run on evidenced gross rates with the standard packaging discipline — schedules and confirmations from the outset. Clydesdale’s structure-breadth makes it a regular presence in the inside IR35 comparison, where the gross-value lenders form a shorter list than contractors assume.
Within the Virgin Money group (itself now part of Nationwide), Clydesdale’s criteria personality adds a third door to the group’s contractor offer — alongside Nationwide’s mainstream appetite and Virgin’s higher-earner flexibility. Cases are checked across the group’s doors before leaving it, as brand-level criteria differ usefully.
Pricing competes in the flexible-mainstream band with a broad product range across purchase and remortgage. Files follow the standard contractor packaging with structure-specific rate evidence; the underwriting fluency rewards the coherent income story, particularly on multi-source and professional-contractor hybrids.
Process runs through the same broker channel as the wider group, so turnaround tracks Clydesdale’s own service levels rather than a separate contractor unit’s. Straightforward files clear on the packaged evidence; multi-source or hybrid cases that don’t self-explain on the schedules get referred for a manual look.
Clydesdale's professional lending heritage brings strong underwriting experience to complex contractor income, including multi-source earnings, sessional work and varied career paths.
Underwriting experience with doctors, dentists and other professionals supports complex contractor cases.
Yes — the policy applies without sector carve-outs, across limited company, umbrella and self-employed structures, inside or outside IR35. The unusual configuration is read on the same logic as the common one.
Inside IR35 engagements run on evidenced gross contract value with the standard packaging — schedules and confirmations from the outset. Clydesdale’s structure-breadth keeps it on the inside IR35 shortlist, which is shorter than contractors generally assume.
Underwriting fluency in non-standard income shapes — sessional, multi-source, trajectory-dependent — built lending to medics and professionals, now reading contractor income. Qualifying professionals can stack the professional products with contractor assessment.
Clydesdale sits within the Virgin Money group, itself part of Nationwide — three brands, three criteria personalities, three doors. We check cases across all of them before leaving the group, as the appetites differ usefully.
Standard contractor packaging with structure-specific rate evidence: contract or assignment schedule, work history, bank statements, identity and deposit documents. Multi-source and hybrid incomes reward the coherent narrative the underwriting fluency is built to read.
Outside IR35 day-rate income is annualised on the day rate multiplied by contracted days per week and a standard 48-week year — no minimum contract term beyond the current schedule is imposed where the work history evidences continuity. Gaps between contracts are read against the pattern, not penalised in isolation.