A YOUNG mum who cries herself to sleep at night considered handing over her children to social services after the government wrongfully stopped her from receiving benefits.

The single mum-of-two, from Barrow, has struggled for the past seven weeks after her child tax credits were stopped by Concentrix - a US firm hired by HMRC to identify fraudulent tax credit claims.

They claim that she is having a relationship with a woman - which has been vehemently denied by the 25-year-old.

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After previously being entitled to £115 a week, she now only receives £138 in child benefits to cover the whole month. This left her contemplating whether or not she could provide for her children.

She said: "It gets me absolutely nowhere. I pay my rent, top up my electricity, buy essential food and then it is pretty much gone. Me and my children are having to cuddle in bed to keep warm because I can't afford to pay the gas or electricity and I have had to use foodbanks.

"I go to bed crying because I think I'm a failure of a mother who can't provide for her children and, in the last couple of weeks, I have been contemplating giving them to social services."

The 25-year-old, who has mental health problems herself, thinks that although her eldest is only six years old, he still suffers from the debt which she finds herself in.

She added: "He has been quite stressed at times, saying that we haven't got any crisps and I have to explain to him that we don't have any money. He thinks I can go to the bank and just get more and I have been more snappy with him because he doesn't understand.

"He only sees the money that is in my purse and he doesn't understand that that can only be for essentials. Although he's only young, I'm convinced that living on the breadline has had an impact on him and I wish I knew what he was thinking so I could help him."

To provide a distraction from life at home, the mum wants to see more free services provided for children in the Furness area.

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She added: "Further on down the line I think this situation could affect him and I think if there were more free activities or youth clubs to take his mind away from the home situation, it would help him massively.

"I don't care if I don't eat but my kids have got to. If it weren't for my children, I wouldn't be here - they have given me a purpose in life."

Concentrix won a £75m contract to try to save the government more than £1bn in incorrect or fraudulent tax credit payments in May last year.

However, after being accused of incorrectly withdrawing tax credits from hundreds of claimants, their contract will not be renewed after it expires in May 2017.