Almost seven and a half million people are still struggling to pay bills and other commitments showing the UK cost of living squeeze has not fully abated, the UK financial regulator has found.
As a response, the Financial Conduct Authority said changes brought in to force lenders to support borrowers in difficulty, which were introduced during the pandemic, will now be made permanent.
The research from the FCA shows the number of those finding it hard to deal with finances is down from 10.9 million at the start of last year, but not by as much as may have been hoped, with food prices still rising and interest rates still elevated.
At the start of 2020, before the cost of living in the UK became acknowledged at crisis levels due to the rising cost of energy bills, food and other inflation, the number stood at 5.8 million.
More than five million people fell behind or missed at least one bill in the six months to January, according to the FCA, which urged people who are worried about keeping up with their mortgage payments to talk to their lender about potential options or visit the moneyhelper.org website. This was down from 6.6 million people a year earlier.
Over the whole year, 2.7 million adults sought help from a lender, got debt advice or received support from a charity due to financial difficulties.
Those at most risk of financial difficulty are renters, single adults with children, adults from a minority ethnic background and people living in the north-east of England, the FCA found.
The watchdog said it has reminded financial firms they must support their customers and work with them to manage payment difficulties, with a crackdown on companies gleaning almost £60 million in compensation for 270,000 customers.
As well as making the pandemic changes permanent, it said there will also be other "targeted changes" to improve outcomes for consumers.