A Shelter survey of working adults who pay rent or a mortgage found that, with little or no savings to fall back on, 3.8 million families could be just one pay cheque away from losing their home.

The research also found that more than a third of families would not be able to make their next rent or mortgage payment if they were to lose their job this month.

Mirroring Shelter’s research are the latest government figures on savings, which reveal that 15 million working age adults in the UK have no savings at all.

Liz Clare, a Shelter helpline adviser, said: “This research highlights how millions of us now find ourselves living on a financial knife-edge – month to month, paycheque to paycheque. Every day we see how just one piece of bad luck, like a sudden job loss or illness, could put the family home at risk.

“Sky-high housing costs and stagnating wages mean most of us don’t have enough money in the bank to rely on for long enough to get back on our feet.”

Campbell Robb, Shelter’s chief executive, said: “No matter how hard ordinary families work, in today’s ‘knife-edge nation’ a drop in income can all too quickly put their home at serious risk. If you lose your job finding another one is hard enough, but without a stable place to live it’s almost impossible.

“The government must make sure the safety net is strong enough to stop families falling through the gaps, and going through the nightmare of losing their homes.”