According to the specialist lender UK households spend around £4,000 per year on the self-employed, which includes £626 on lawyers, £587 on accountants and £323 on photographers.
Overall the self-employed workforce costs households £107.6bn per year.
Keith Street, head of Kensington, said: ‘Self-employed people are overlooked as key workers.
‘Whilst they may not perform crucial life-saving roles, they are essential to the smooth-running of many house-holds across the UK from accounting to cleaning or child care.
‘But they are being squeezed by a rapidly rising housing market and many mainstream lenders that use rigid automated systems to make their decisions.’
The self-employed workforce has doubled in the last 40 years, while recent data shows that 36% of the workforce has been in that position since 2009.
Street added: ‘Many self-employed people provide an individual service to their clients and it is often true that, when it comes to looking for a mortgage, their circumstances require a more individual approach as well.
‘We recommend they seek the guidance of a professional mortgage adviser, who can take the time to match their requirements with the right product and lender.
‘Specialist lenders like Kensington use experienced underwriters to make decisions, not just an automated system, so we can understand the individual income and circumstances of a self-employed person.’
