In its third quarter performance results, the service said it received more than 300,000 customer contacts each week in the months between April and December 2013.

It said it had provided more budgeting guidance to people than ever before, with 5,600 completions of its Budget Planner tool every week during Q3, up from 4,500 in Q2.

Its partners provided more than 3,000 free debt advice sessions a week to people in England and Wales, adding to the 125,000 sessions that were provided in the year to date.

The MAS embarked on a ‘primarily digital’ strategy from 2012/13 but the contacts were spread across the online platform, over the phone, through web chat and face-to-face advice sessions.