What 'contract' covers
This module is about T4 employees on a fixed-term contract or working through a staffing agency — still receiving a T4 and standard payroll deductions, but with an employment end date rather than an open-ended role. A borrower operating as an incorporated contractor, invoicing a client through their own personal corporation, is a different file entirely and belongs to Course 03, Self-Employed & Incorporated Borrowers.
The core question is continuance
A contract employee's current pay is usually easy to document; the harder question is whether the income continues past the contract's end date. A one-year contract ending three months after closing is a materially different file from an open-ended contract, or a fixed-term role in an industry where renewal is close to automatic.
Documents that build the case
The employment or contract agreement itself, showing the term dates and rate; a history of prior renewals with the same employer, if one exists, since a pattern of repeated renewals is strong evidence the relationship will continue; and, where available, a letter from the employer speaking to the likelihood of renewal or extension.
Gaps between contracts
Some fields — education, healthcare locums, seasonal trades, project-based professional services — routinely have short gaps between one contract ending and the next beginning, and a lender familiar with the field will read a normal, brief gap differently from an unexplained six-month absence. Context matters here more than a rigid gap-length rule.
A new contract with no track record
A borrower on their first contract, with no renewal history at this employer, is the weakest version of this file — it's the tenure problem from the intro module again, applied to contract work specifically. A longer employment history in the same field, even across different employers, helps offset a short track record with the current one.
