A STEEP fall in the number of Merseyside families on the brink of losing their homes was hailed as proof that a government action plan was finally working.

County courts reported 785 possession orders against householders unable to pay their mortgage bills between July and September – but that was a 23% fall on a year earlier.

The decline in seizure orders was even sharper in Liverpool (33%) and there were also big falls in Halton (47%), Warrington (39%) and Cheshire West and Chester (26%).

Meanwhile, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) slashed its forecast for the number of homes expected to be repossessed this year, from 65,000 to 48,000.

Ministers seized on the figures as evidence that a package of measures – including an agreement with lenders to pursue repossession only as a “last resort” – were bearing fruit.

John Healey, the housing minister, said: “Our support has helped over 300,000 families so far during the recession.

“We have tightened the rules, so repossession is always the last resort and lenders have to consider all options to keep borrowers in their homes.”

But the Conservatives pointed to different figures, revealing that just 13 families across the North West have been helped under the flagship “mortgage rescue scheme” – despite 1,631 expressions of interest.

The initiative was intended to allow recession-hit homeowners to switch and become a housing association tenant at an affordable rent, or sell a share of their property to cut their mortgage bills.

Grant Shapps, the Tory housing spokesman, said: “It’s time the government stopped trying to grab quick headlines and actually brought in policies to help vulnerable families across the country.”