Will the bank use my new salary after a promotion?

Generally, yes, if the new salary is your ongoing base. The bank will want a payslip at the new rate or a contract or letter from your employer confirming it.

What if my higher duties role becomes permanent?

Then it's effectively a promotion. A letter from your employer confirming the role and salary are permanent and ongoing is what the bank will generally want to see.

Should I wait to apply until my promotion shows on payslips?

Not always. An employer letter confirming the new base can often do the job, but how much weight it carries varies by lender, so it's worth checking first.

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I've started a higher paying or higher duties role. Will the bank count my new income?

Bayley Clarke · Mortgage broker on the road · Last checked 11 November 2026 · 2 min read

The short answer

There are two parts to that question. A higher paying role means you've been promoted onto a new base, and the bank will generally use that new income ongoing. Higher duties is different.

Higher duties is usually you filling in for someone else, and there's a premise it may stop and drop you back to your original base. So the bank will want to know whether it's permanent and ongoing, and a lot of the time it isn't.

The 90 second version, filmed from the driver's seat. The rest of this page is the detail underneath it.

A promotion onto a higher base

If you've been promoted and your new salary is your base going forward, that's the income the bank generally works with. What it wants to see is the paperwork that proves it: a payslip showing the new rate, or a contract or letter from your employer confirming the new salary.

If the promotion only just happened and there's barely a payslip at the new rate yet, the employer letter carries more weight. Same goes if the new role came with a change of employer, which is a slightly different conversation about how long you've been in the job.

Higher duties and acting roles

Higher duties is generally you stepping up while someone is on extended leave, or until they hire someone for that role. Your payslip might show the higher pay right now, but the bank looks at it and asks a simple question: is this still going to be here in a year?

Because the honest answer is often no, a number of banks treat higher duties, acting and secondment pay as temporary and leave it out of the assessment. They'll work off your substantive base instead. Where the higher duties have become permanent, a letter from your employer saying so changes the conversation.

The honest bit: know which one you're on

People get caught assuming the number on this month's payslip is the number the bank will use. If it's higher duties, it might not be, and finding that out after you've made an offer is the worst time.

So be careful with your higher duties. If you're not sure how your role will be read, send me the payslip and the letter and I'll work it out before you start looking.

Not sure how your new pay will be counted?

A 30 minute call. We go through your payslips and employment letter, which income a bank is likely to use, and what that does to your borrowing.

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Yes, generally. Most lenders accept income on probation, especially with industry experience.