After many complaints & (a few) resignations a meeting was held between crew-planning & the pilots in LGW which has resulted in NAS "trialing" 5/4 in LGW base for Nov/Dec. Hopefully, it will work out OK & the rest of the contract bases will get the "core" roster pattern too.
Otherwise it is 12 OFF/mth variable. Most of the time it is OK, apart from LGW (previously) 2 off is rare & normally commuting is OK (depending on where your base/home are located, obviously.) The Canaries are a long way for anyone, even mainland Spain is a pain, HEL suits the Scandies (apart from the cost of living in Finland ) & LGW & the Spanish (mainland) bases are fairly OK to anywhere.
Commuting is a pain in the hole of course, but, what to do, unless you can go to, & stay at, one base long-term, which has not been the "contract pilot" experience in NAS thus far.