New figures have shown that almost one third of people who have sought help with their debt problems have been told that there is no “appropriate” action they can take to tackle their financial situation.

The research from the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) has released the figures after reviewing calls made to their free debt advice helpline and said that 30,446 people (32% of those surveyed) who had received debt advice were told that there was no “appropriate” debt solution for their financial problems.

According to the debt charity the only advisable course of action would be to increase their earnings, which the CCCS acknowledged as being near impossible for most households.

The charity said that the main causes were not severe debts from big loans or credit cards, but rather a slight increase in their outgoing costs, while their incomes remained static. The main causes of increased outgoings vs. Incoming earnings include redundancy, a freeze in wages or an additional cost such as having a child.

The CCCS said that 9.8% of callers were advised to pick bankruptcy, but only those with high, unsecured debts, while 4.8% of callers were recommended to take out debt relief orders in the first half of the year with 27.2% advised to enter a debt management plan, a reduction from 40% in 2007.

Further research from the Office of National Statistics has also revealed that one in five households in the UK have no adult who is currently employed. This makes up 5.4million people who live in households without a working adult, with a large increase of 26,000 from last year.