People need to change their attitudes to debt now, according to a debt advice charity.

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service suggested that people with financial troubles should start the year with the intention of improving the state of their finances, including trouble with debt.

Frances Walker from the charity added that people that had borrowed money on their credit cards should try to pay more than the minimum payment in order to get the debt cleared.

Recent figures published by Credit Action found that by the start of this year the average household debt was £1,400 billion.

Ms Walker said: "A lot of people are going to have to be finding more money for their mortgages next year, as people come off fixed-rate mortgages they may have to find more money.

"There is the question of interest rate changes and the utility bill price increases too."

She added that people should also be aware of spending unnecessarily in the post-festive sales.