People are increasingly more likely to experience different debt-related problems, one expert claims.

A spokeswoman for the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) says the areas which need debt management are fuel debt, council debt and mortgage arrears.

"What is concerning us is that we know that a lot of our clients have a substantial amount of consumer credit debt," she continues.

The expert believes there is also an increase in day-to-day debt problems, including those relating to household bills, which may be partly due to people finding it hard to come by credit.

"We have seen a change where credit isn’t so easily available," the CAB spokeswoman adds, with the situation made worse by people losing their jobs or having their hours cut.

A recent CAB report found 43 per cent of its debt clients in 2008 were in fuel poverty because they spent in excess of ten per cent of their income on fuel.

It also discovered two-thirds of the homeowners with mortgage or secured loans arrears were in priority need for re-housing and one in ten clients had ten credit debts or more.