A mum-of-two says she's been forced to walk 13 miles to and from work thanks to cruel Universal Credit delays.
Kirsty Minott, 31, couldn't afford bus fares after returning from maternity leave meant her housing benefit and council tax reduction were stopped.
Waiting for her Universal Credit to be processed, Kirsty and her children, aged four and two weeks are left with just £2.60 per week for food.
The poverty-stricken mum has to walk to her work in Morrisons in Morpeth, Northumberland, the Newcastle Chronicle reports .
She said: "I had to walk to work last week and I am probably going to have to do that again this week.
"I am working until 8pm at night, which means I am walking back late.
"It takes me an hour and a half. I normally get the bus. It is £6.80 but I do those hours because it is the only time I can get child care.
"If I have to walk, I have to walk. I am going to try and get bus fare but who do I ask?
"It is an extra hour and a half there and back, it is an extra three hours that I have to make sure someone can look after [my children]."
Kirsty said problems with her benefits started when there was an issue with her returning to work after maternity leave.
She said: "I claim, at the moment, working tax credit, child tax credit, child benefit and was claiming housing benefit and council tax reduction.
"I went on maternity and I told them and came off maternity, I know I told them and it didn't translate and they cancelled my housing benefit and council tax relief.
"So, they can't reinstate it but I don't have the money to pay for those two things - it has to come out of the money I earn.
"I was told if you're housing benefit is cancelled they won't reinstate it and you have to go onto Universal Credit."
After filing the initial claim, Kirsty said she was told by the Department for Work and Pensions there was an error.
She said: "I'm having to reapply and I got told I had done it wrong. I didn't get an explanation about what I had done wrong.
"I have £2.60 at the moment, I don't get paid for two weeks. I'm in arrears for rent and council tax."
Kirsty, who is getting support from Northumberland Citizens Advice, has had to turn to her local food bank for help after coming into financial difficulty.
She said: "If I don't have a house, I'll be homeless.
"I've had to the food bank four times this year already. That was because I went off on the sick. This year has not been brilliant for me."
She added: "Universal Credit, it's not helpful. The people you talk to, if you get to talk to someone because they always have to redirect you to a website, are not helpful or you feel like they don't want to talk.
"It costs money to call people and you don't have any money. Even 0800 numbers when you are on a mobile costs you money. The people who it is hurting are the people like me.
"I'm not begging, I'm just trying to get by. I don't drink, I don't do drugs I don't go out partying."
"I know once I go onto Universal Credit, I don't know how I'm going to get off. It is month by month, even if I get a job they will calculate that off.
"I understand the politics, I understand the reasoning. I think nobody actually thought this is going to hurt people. It is hurting me."
Kirsty has turned to her mum and grandmother for support, but borrowing money when she doesn't know when she'll receive Universal Credit is difficult.
She said: "You don't know if it five weeks you have to wait and it turns out to be six weeks, or then seven weeks. In that time I still have to feed my kids, my daughter is still going to school in September.
