The Cambridge Building Society has announced the launch of two new self-employed mortgage products to help workers who have started a business during the pandemic.

Both products, two-year mortgages that are also available for remortgages and additional borrowing, can be accessed by those who have started a business but only hold one year of financial records.

According to data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), there were more than five million self-employed people in the UK at the end of 2019, making up just over 15% of the nation’s working population. These figures were up from 3.2 million self-employed workers and 12% of the population in 2000.

Around 3% of self-employed people have started working for themselves since April 2019, and The Cambridge suggested that more have done so as a result of changes in working patterns brought on by the pandemic.

“We saw anecdotal evidence of the self-employed being hit hard by the COVID crisis,” the society’s underwriting manager, Liam Flaherty, commented.

“The self-employed appear to have experienced a greater drop in earnings, compared to employed workers. As experts in homes and housing, being a responsible lender and a support to local communities, we felt we needed to offer products that made it easier for this group to access funds for a home.

“I am not aware of other lenders offering this type of mortgage, and know that it will enable more people to access funds.”

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