A family of 14 are living in a four-bedroom house after a single mum-of-six says she was evicted from her home when her housing benefit was slashed - to 50P a week.

Patricia Newman, 33, and her six children have had to move into her mother's home - already occupied by seven other members of her family.

Patricia, whose six children are aged between 13 and one, said the controversial benefit cap made it impossible for her to pay her rent and her bills, and feed the whole family.

But the kids' grandmother Dorothy says her daughter and grandchildren really need their own home - as the youngsters bed down in her living room each night.

Dorothy, of Mersey Road in Cheltenham, Glos., also shares her home with her two adult sons and their collective four children, over whom she has guardianship.

The grandmother-of-ten said: "Patricia and the children really need rehousing - the children need their own home with their mother.

"I have guardianship of four kids and it is hard work having that many children here.

"I am out looking after my mother who is seriously ill with heart problems among other illnesses. All day I do the jobs that she needs doing.

"Then I come home and I need to do it all again. You can't come home and relax."

Patricia says she was evicted from her social housing in Firgrove Walk - four miles from her mother's home - after she had her youngest child, and her housing benefits were reassessed.

She says the government benefits calculator took into account the combined benefits that she was already receiving, and then considered the amount of money coming into the household in other forms of benefits.

This was considered enough for Patricia to be able to pay her rent, she claims.

But Patricia, mum to Kian, 13, Charlie, six, Cody, five, Poppy, three, Lexi, two, and Kenny, one, said that, with just 50p a week in housing benefits, covering all her costs was impossible.

"When I had my youngest, they reassessed my benefits and told me that I was only going to be awarded 50p per week for housing benefit," she said.

"The rest would have to come out of my tax credits and income support. At the end of the day, I don't have the money to pay all of that rent.

"Now we are living with my mother, and it is very stressful and very overcrowded. My mother is now the guardian to four kids, and my brothers are living there as well."

Patricia's mother volunteered to pay the rent for her, and for the rent to come out of her bank account each week - but they claim that the housing association refused this idea.

Patricia added: "Cheltenham Borough Homes seemed to deem the eviction as me making myself voluntarily homeless - but that was not the case.

"I went to a meeting at Cheltenham Borough Council and I was waiting for them to tell me what they could do to help us.

"I waited weeks and in the end my social worker told me that the council was not going to do anything."

She says her children are finding it difficult to sleep in their grandmother's living room, and she is feeling increasingly down as time goes on.

"My eldest son’s father died when he was one, and the other children’s fathers just don’t bother with their kids," she said.

"I have tried to get help from the MP and councillors, but no one seems to help us."

Chief executive Paul Stephenson at Cheltenham Borough Homes: "We continue to work closely with the family and their support workers to resolve this ongoing situation."