A DETERMINED Greenock mum says she feels 'proud of herself' for securing a job after being stuck on the hated Universal Credit - and hopes her story will inspire others to 'never give up'.

Margaret Vincent said she struggled to make ends meet and suffered several knock backs when applying for jobs.

The 43-year-old never gave up hope and thanks to support from her work coach at Greenock job centre, she has secured a job at Home Bargains in Greenock.

She told the Tele: "The message I want to put out there is, don't lose hope - keep going.

"You will get there in the end."

Margaret, who has a grown-up son, found herself on Universal Credit after separating from her husband.

She said: "I was with him for a long time so I had to learn how to do everything for myself again.

"I had to learn how to budget as being on Universal Credit was a struggle.

"Before I got the job I was getting downhearted because I felt like every time I applied for a job they looked at my CV and wouldn't give me a chance because it was blank apart from the volunteer work and work experience."

But Margaret's perseverance eventually paid off.

She added: "When Home Bargains gave me a chance, I felt elated.

"I feel a lot more confident now.

"Having a job makes me feel proud of myself and everyone who knows me is proud of me, especially my son."

Margaret said the support she received from Hannah Grech, a work coach at the job centre, was second to none.

She said: "I can't praise Hannah enough.

"She helped me to build my confidence and gave me all the pointers for my CV and for all the training courses.

"She spoke to me like a human being whereas some people look down on you when you don't have a job.

"So I can't thank Hannah enough."

Hannah, who works at the Job Centre in Greenock, said Margaret embraced every opportunity she was offered.

She said: "Because of the lack of experience that she has, Margaret was trying absolutely everything to get a job but she wasn't getting past that application stage.

"So I made sure that her CV was up to scratch and every time a course came up she would go on it.

"She also did a two week placement at B&M and I saw her confidence grow so much."