Elizabeth Finn Care, which has given out £13 million in direct grants during the past five years, blamed the increasing numbers of people who are struggling to make ends meet on soaring living costs.

The group said people were facing a "quadruple whammy" of rising food, petrol and utility bills, combined with higher mortgage repayments as a result of the credit crunch and people coming to the end of short-term fixed rate deals.

It said the combination of these pressures was pushing increasing numbers of people over the edge.

Bryan Clover, director of casework at Elizabeth Finn Care said: "As a charity, we're acutely aware that the modern world, with its rising mortgage rates, increasing utility bills and rising food and fuels costs, can cause major problems for some people.

"Combine this with individual personal problems, such as family breakdown or ill-health, and the overall effect can be devastating."

The group also said that many nurses and teachers faced poverty in retirement and financial insecurity if they were unable to work. It said 40% of the people it helped came from either a nursing or teaching background, although it put some of this down to the professions being well informed about the charity and its work.

It said around half the people from these professions who contacted it for help faced poverty after having to unexpectedly stop working, while half simply could not make ends meet during retirement.

But the group said the plight of former nurses and teachers was going unnoticed by the general public, with just 2% of people saying they thought teachers were likely to fall into poverty, while only 9% thought nurses were likely to do so.

Instead 68% of those questioned thought people without qualifications were more likely to fall into poverty than those who had them.