A PARTIALLY sighted Andover mother who is struggling to make ends meet could lose her home after a tax credit blunder.

Faye Ranieri who works from her King George Road home, looks after her disabled husband and three children. She relies upon monthly tax credits of about £800 to pay the bills and feed her family.

But landlord Testway Housing has now threateneded court proceedings for failing to pay her rent - a bill she cannot pay without the tax credits.

Faye, aged 38, has been out of pocket since January when the monthly payments stopped after she told the Tax Credit Helpline that she and her husband Roberto had been reunited following a temporary separation.

She asked the helpline for her single claim to be changed to a joint one.

After many phone calls to the helpline, manual payments were set up at the end of March although there was still no sign of any cash.

"It's horrible, we rely on this payment," said Faye, who suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome - a disorder which has given her a life expectancy of just 48 years.

Finally after more phone calls and an appointment, she was given an interim £50 by the tax office on Friday.

Meanwhile Testway initially gave them an Easter Sunday deadline to pay the rent and the arrears, or face court action.

"We physically cannot pay the rent by Testway's deadline. I don't know what to do," said Faye on Tuesday.

"Roberto and I are trying to get our marriage back on track but all this stress isn't helping.

"Our children are picking up on the tension and the youngest, Isis, is pulling her hair out, literally."

On Wednesday Faye returned to Andover Tax Office where she was given £349 to cover food and bills.

On the same day Faye received a phone call from Testway Housing saying they would be arranging a support worker to visit them.

Testway also extended the payment deadline to 24 April, giving Faye the opportunity to contact them if no tax credits have been received by 23 April.

"We have a firm but fair policy with rent arrears," said Debbie Pike, director of housing services at Testway.

For the full story see Friday's Andover Advertiser