Some hard-pressed homeowners will be able to reduce monthly mortgage payments for up to two years after lenders representing what officials said was more than 80% of the market agreed to offer support.
Details of the institutions signed up - not all of whom have taken up a Government guarantee to cover defaults on deferred payments - will be announced to MPs by Housing Minister Margaret Beckett later today.
One recent survey showed as many as 35% of people were worried to some degree about losing their homes and the Government has faced criticism for delays in implementing the scheme, first announced in December.
Unemployment surged over the two million mark last month and official figures tomorrow are set to show another big rise, with experts predicting the total will pass three million next year.
Chancellor Alistair Darling, who will join colleagues at a Cabinet meeting this morning as he puts the finishing touches to tomorrow's Budget, told Labour MPs last night that support for jobs would feature prominently.
The Homeowners Mortgage Support (HMS) scheme is designed to offer "breathing space" to households who have seen their income cut because of losing a job or being forced to cut working hours as the recession bites.
Any reduction will have to be made up once the period is over.
It was unclear last night how many lenders offering help were doing so as part of the Government scheme - with a guarantee backed by the taxpayer - and how many were offering "comparable arrangements".
But officials insisted both would offer "a similar level of support" and those on individual schemes would be offered the kind of "independent money advice" that would be a requirement for the state-backed one.
The HMS provisions are restricted to owner occupiers who bought properties before December last year, owe less than £400,000 on the mortgage and have savings of less than £16,000.
They must also have a regular household income, have not missed any payments for five months and be able to pay at least 30% of the total interest payment due every month.
The scheme, which received European Commission approval under state aid rules yesterday, has already been criticised following claims that it may help only 6,000 people, while concerns have also been expressed that it will simply defer a 'repossessions spike' until 2011.
Mr Darling addressed the private weekly meeting of Labour MPs and peers in Parliament last night, telling them his Budget would focus on jobs and looking to the future of the economy.
The Chancellor was warned by the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) yesterday that his plans to raise taxes for top earners would probably generate only a third of the £1.6billion that he is expecting.
Mr Darling is widely expected to announce a further £10 billion in Whitehall efficiency savings - on top of the £5 billion already pencilled in - as he attempts to get the public finances back on track.
But voters appeared to have lost faith in his handling of the economy as a new opinion poll showed the Tories had moved into a 10-point lead (35% to 45%) on the key issue.
It is a significant reverse for Mr Darling and Prime Minister Gordon Brown who enjoyed a seven-point lead over counterparts George Osborne and David Cameron on the same indicator at the start of last year.
Speaking to the BBC, Mrs Beckett insisted the scheme was not a "payment holiday" and would offer temporary help to hard-pressed home-owners.
She said: "The idea is to try and help people who haven't lost everything and who aren't going to be eligible, if they are unfortunate enough to have their house repossossed, to be rehoused under homeless legislation, but whom nevertheless are having difficulties.
"Maybe one of them has lost their job but not both, maybe it is just that they have lost their overtime, but one way or another they are struggling with the mortgage payments that they could meet before."
She added: "Hopefully this difficulty is somewhat temporary. This is not a payment holiday, people do need to go on paying as much as they can from their mortgage.
"The really crucial thing is to talk to their lender as soon as possible and to get independent financial advice."
Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps said: "Gordon Brown claimed that hard-pressed home owners would get mortgage help back in December, but since that time over 28,000 families have lost their homes.
"It's outrageous to announce schemes which promise immediate help, yet take five months to put in place. Brown should apologise to those whose hopes were raised, only to have them dashed by ministers' inactivity."
