How to explain a gap on your CV, in one honest line

6 minute read · Updated 2026-09-01

Employers are far less interested in gaps than people fear, and far more interested in whether you are straight about them. A gap you explain in one line is a non event. A gap you hide by fudging dates is a reason to reject you when it comes out, and it usually comes out at reference stage.

Where to put it

In the work history, in the right chronological place, with dates, exactly like a job:

Apr 2024 to Jan 2025 · Career break · Full time carer for a family member. Kept my Class 1 licence and Driver CPC current throughout.

Two lines. In sequence. No apology, no explanation of the medical details, and one detail showing you kept yourself employable.

Wording for the common ones

Redundancy. "Role made redundant when the site closed." Redundancy is about the job, not you, and every employer knows it.
Caring. "Full time carer for a family member." You do not owe anybody the diagnosis.
Ill health. "Time away for a health matter, now fully resolved." You are not obliged to say more, and an employer who presses for detail before an offer is on shaky ground.
Redundancy then a long search. "Seeking the right role, and completed [course] during that time." Add anything you actually did: a forklift ticket, a CSCS card, an OpenLearn course, volunteering.
A business that did not work. "Self employed, [trade], 2023 to 2025." Running something teaches things employers value. Say what you did, not that it failed.
Travel. "Travelled through [region]." One line. It is fine.
Prison. If the sentence is spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 you do not have to disclose it for most jobs, and an employer generally cannot ask. If it is unspent, or the role needs a DBS check, be straightforward, keep it brief, and lead with what you have done since. Charities including Nacro publish free, specific guidance on how to word it, and many employers here have hired through those schemes.

What not to do

Do not stretch dates to cover a gap. Employment dates get checked, and a false one is a lie on the application rather than a gap in it.
Do not use years only to hide months. "2023 to 2025" against "Mar 2023 to Jan 2025" is a well known trick and recruiters read it as one.
Do not over explain. Three sentences about why you left a job in 2021 makes it look like the most important thing about you.
Do not apologise. "Unfortunately I was unable to find work" invites sympathy where you want confidence.

At interview

Have one calm sentence ready and then move forward: "I was caring for my mother full time for nine months. She is settled now, I kept my licence current, and I am ready to be back in a cab five days a week." Say it, stop, and let the next question come. Practising it once out loud is the difference between sounding settled and sounding caught out.

More on this in CV after a career break or redundancy, and see common interview questions for the rest of the conversation.