20,717 of the people seeking help from debt charity Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) in the first six months of this year have been in arrears, with 43,540 last year and 30,291 in 2009.

The figures show that over half of these clients in arrears are female, over half single and over half are between the ages of 40 and 59, and two-thirds on low incomes.

The share of CCCS clients in arrears on their mortgages who are female is rising. In 2009, 51.7% of these clients were female, rising to 52.7% in 2010. It has risen further, with 53.7% of the charity’s clients in arrears for the first six months of 2011 being female.

53.5% of CCCS clients in arrears for the first six months of this year are between the ages of 40 and 59. This is a rise from 52.8% in 2010 and 50.9% in 2009.

A further trend emerges when the incomes of CCCS clients in arrears is looked at with the largest proportion consistently in the income group earning between £10,000 and £20,000 a year. For the first six months of 2011, 42.2% of CCCS clients in arrears earned between £10,000 and £20,000, the second largest share (28%) is those earning below £10,000, and the third (20.6%) is those earning between £20,000 and £30,000. Only 5.9% earned between £30,000 and £39,000 and 2.3% earned over £40,000.

Marital status is the one factor that seems to be changing with 50.7% of CCCS clients in arrears in 2009 being married, going down to 48.5% in 2010. Now only 44.8% of these clients are married.

Delroy Corinaldi, CCCS external affairs director said: “While people of all ages and backgrounds can find themselves struggling to pay their mortgage