SUPER mum Mandy Scott has won a national award for her approach to mixing business with family life.

Mandy Scott, 34, from Castleside, near Consett, County Durham, has been named Single Mum of the Year by That's Life! magazine.

The competition was designed to provide inspiration to other single working mothers.

Ms Scott was selected for her approach to running a family-friendly business while bringing up her five-year-old daughter, Ashley.

Her flag-making company, AA Flags, in Consett, has a turnover of £500,000 and employs other mothers who work child-friendly hours.

She said: "Struggling to juggle my own working hours so I could look after Ashley made me realise how many other mums are in the same situation.

"I decided my staff could leave early to collect their children from school and, if it suited them, work evenings when their partners were around to look after the kids.

"Families must come first, and employers should try to make that possible."

Ms Scott started her business with £500 scraped together by her father. She would work all night sewing flags and all day ringing potential customers.

Four years into her career she feared all her efforts had been in vain, when she fell pregnant.

But the birth of Ashley gave her the determination to succeed at work.

Ms Scott's company was initially based in a large Victorian house, employing eight people. She and Ashley lived in a flat on the top floor.

She would often sit working with her baby on her lap or fit in work while Ashley was asleep.

When she realised how many other mothers were also trying to juggle work with looking after children she would agree to let them bring their children into work when they did overtime or during the holidays and let them start early so they could pick their children up from school.

The policy led to a higher production rate and the company took on an increasing amount of orders - and more mothers. Last year, she was named North-East Woman Entrepreneur of the Year.

Ms Scott was nominated for the award by one of her employees, mother-of-two Hilary Ramshaw.

Ms Ramshaw said: "It's the greatest accolade any mother could have and Mandy certainly deserves it. She makes life for working mums much, much easier."

* Watch out for Ms Scott's full story in The Northern Echo next week.