A few particular character references would help to clarify your question here, but as I've served a little bit of time in one Dickens' houses/museums and no-ones responded yet I'll jump in.

Many of Dickens characters fitted quite closely to the archetypes of people in his life, especially father and mother figures and anyone in the tragic heroine mould. Characters like Mr Micawber heavily reflect Dickens' father who was a clerk in the Navy Offices in Portsmouth and frankly a bit of a Del Boy, and a bit of a gambler. John Dickens job caused the family to relocate several times before ending up in Camden, and swiftly being put in Marshalsea debtors prison as they had been living well beyond their means (Charles escaped being sent to the prison but was sent to work in a Blacking factory labelling bottles to pay for his families upkeep while there - he was about 12). It was only a lucky inheritance that released the family from debtors prison. There are several letters from the family's time in London, held at 48 Doughty St I think, from John, and indeed Charles to family friends and acquaintances effectively begging for money - they seemed to "need shoes repaired" a lot! For some reason Dickens seemed to see and paint his father as a loveable rouge type and supported him the rest of his life, while... well look at some of the older female characters in Dickens' work, especially the mothers...

This of course isn't to say that this kind of behaviour was not part of the culture of Victorian bureaucracy, I can't speak to the wider subject, only that Dickens' characters are so close to his real life experiences and personal relationships that I'm surprised no-one slapped him (especially Hans Christian Anderson - Uriah Heep).

I'd highly recommend Nigel Slater and Lucinda Hawksley (who is actually a descendant of Dickens) if you're interested in reading up more on the man himself.