A SINGLE mum from Andover faces a daily battle for survival as she struggles with thousands of pounds of debt on an income of just £116 a month.

Jessica Young, aged 28, lives with her two daughters in a flat in Acre Court. Because she is named on a joint mortgage with her ex-husband, she has slipped through the benefits safety net and cannot receive income support.

The only money she receives is £116.60 child benefit every four weeks. Despite spending most of her time writing letters and phoning people about her situation, she feels invisible.

She said: "It baffles me how I can be in this situation. I can't get income support or tax credits, and I can't get maintenance payments as the children stay at their dad's three nights a week. If I got a job I'm not entitled to childcare costs and we can't even get free school meals."

Mrs Young's problems started when she split with her husband just months after jointly buying a house - where they had lived for several years - through the right-to-buy scheme.

After living in a crisis centre with her children for eight months, she was re-housed in a flat, but the same mortgage problem means she cannot live there rent-free and has to pay £13 each week.

"I'm not paying toward the mortgage and I've been trying to sign my name off it for 18 months," she said.

She has asked for advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau and solicitors, but because the circumstances are so rare even they don't know what to do.

"I worry about losing this flat but mainly I think about getting the children's packed lunches for the following day, that worries me the most."