The lender said that it would accept applications from self-employed borrowers who had received an SEISS grant as long as it was not in the last three months.

In an update to its criteria it added that brokers will no longer need to complete a mandatory self-employed application submission sheet and the self-employed triage team will not have to complete an affordability check.

The lender continued that it would use an average of the last two years or the most recent year’s income, whichever was lower, and look at the last three months’ business bank statements to assess its ability to sustain a declared level of income.

NatWest previously said that it would not accept applications from customers who have applied for an SEISS grant on or after 14 July 2020 but said that it would unveil a new criteria change in August.

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Brokers speaking to Mortgage Solutions have also expressed dissatisfaction with the options available to self-employed borrowers over the past year.

However, lenders have started to soften their criteria, with HSBC announcing earlier this week that it would no longer ask self-employed applicants to provide bank statement from the first three months of 2020.

Santander and Bluestone Mortgages have also announced that they would not look at accounts for the 2020/21 financial year.