I would advise you to keep at it.Several years ago I felt the same and ended up trying my hand at one or two things after being made redundant but the bottom line is that you just can't make the money.
An un-licenced fella can expect to earn at least 25K-30K in the right job and if you make the effort to get the licence's and approvals afterward's [even if you have to invest a few thousand pounds of your own money in a type course] then earnings of 45-50K are not unreasonable.
This sort of money is just not available to an inexperienced person trying a new career unless you are very lucky.It's alright to take an enjoyable new job that pays poorly,but at the end of the day it's the readies in the bank that counts.Good Luck and don't give up.