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Arrears and reposessions figures have been flying from all directions in recent months. Despite debates surrounding the headlines one fact is clear: an increasing number of people are falling behind in their mortgage repayments and losing their homes.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders released figures in August that showed repossessions in the UK had risen by 48 per cent in the last year.

Statisitics from the CML pointed out there were 18,900 repossessions in the last six months to June, compared with 12,800 in the same period in 2007. This figure represented 0.16 per cent of all loans.

The Ministry of Justice also produced figures that showed mortgage repossession orders made in the second quarter of 2008 were 24 per cent more than the same period a year ago, and 4 per cent greater than in the first quarter of 2008.

Inevitably these figures raise questions of whether lenders are doing enough to help borrowers who find themselves in financial trouble.

Last month the FSA said repossession should be the last resort if a customer was having trouble repaying their home loan.

It states from the onset of lenders being aware of a customer being in financial difficulty the lender should offer them options that are "realistic and appropriate" to the customer's circumstances with the aim of enabling them to stay in their home, where feasible.

This includes making a suitable plan to repay the arrears, offering reduced payment or a payment holiday or changing the repayment type.

The City watchdog considers bad practice to be when the lender focuses on collecting the arrears rather than having the flexibility to offer alternative options to the struggling borrower.

David Holmes, corporate affairs manager for Accord Mortgages, said: "If a borrower misses their first payment we make contact by telephone to establish if there are any specific problems since completion.

"We have a number of telephone counsellors who maintain regular contact with borrowers experiencing difficulties and we find this regular contact is the best way to help such cases.

"The most important thing to do if anyone thinks they may have difficulty making their regular payment is to make contact with their lender. Most lenders will try to come to some arrangement to maintain a regular payment that is affordable to the borrower.

"At Accord and Yorkshire Building Society we tell borrowers if they maintain the agreed reduced payment we will not attempt to repossess and are prepared to wait until the borrower's circumstances improve to reassess their payments.

"It is important to establish the difference between the cannot pay borrowers and the will not payers. With the former repossession is the last option when all other means are exhausted."

James Thorpe, senior media relations manager for HSBC, said despite the doom and gloom in the housing market the lender had repossessed 30 per cent fewer houses in the first half of 2008 compared with the same time last year.

He said: "Customers who fall into arrears give themselves many more options the sooner they talk to us. Loans can be rescheduled, interest deferred and repayments reduced.

"HSBC will put borrowers in touch with independent debt advice services so they can feel reassured that the advice they are getting is genuinely best for them. These processes make sure repossession is the absolute last resort and all avenues to keep families in their own home have been explored."

While both arrears and repossessions are on the increase, industry bodies have pointed out the vast majority of the UK's borrowers continue to pay their mortgages in full each month and are expected to continue to do so.

Despite recent criticism of arrears handling by the FSA, bodies representing lenders have assured they are doing what they can to ensure customers are getting a fair deal when it comes to arrears handing.

Peter Williams, executive director of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association, said he believed lenders were working hard to keep borrowers in their homes.

This included helping borrowers to reschedule loans and payments, assisting moves and securing advice in order to help customers stay in their homes.

Mr Williams said: "Possessions only occur as a last resort – mainly to save a borrower from piling up more debt by going heavily into arrears while simultaneously sliding into negative equity.

"Lenders are already working hard to keep borrowers in their homes until circumstances improve by rescheduling loans and payments, assisting moves and offering advice. But sometimes, unfortunately, repossessions are the best solution for everyone involved."

The CML is helping lenders embed the FSA's arrears management requirements into their systems, processes and staff training.

One example of this is the CML's e-learning training course, which is launching this autumn.

Michael Coogan, director general of the CML, said: "It is inevitable that more borrowers' coping strategies will come under pressure in current conditions than in the unusually benign years of the last decade.

"That is why lenders, the government and the advice sector are working closely together to minimise the impact on borrowers.

"No one wants to see a household lose their home, and repossession typically leads to a loss for the lender as well. The focus of lenders' arrears management policies today is on seeking realistic alternatives that balance the interests of customer and lender."