do i need to see a financial advisor/moegtage advisor?

[spingey]

Im a single mum currently on IS. Both children will be at school.in September so Im hoping to get a ft job.
I would like to get myself in a position to be able to buy our own home but whilst on IS I have accumulated quite a lot of debt(about 4k,). I have a plan to clear this and once done I can begin saving for a deposit on a house.
How long will I have to have been working before I can apply for a mortgage and how much will I be able to get?
I have totted up some numbers and think once Im working I should be able to put £400 a month towards paying off debt and then into savings.

How much you can borrow is determined by your salary, and any debts you still have outstanding. The bigger deposit you can save, the better the mortgage deals will be that you are offered.

Regarding how long you need to have been working, as long as you're an employee (not self-employed) then as long as you're on a permanent contract you can in theory apply from day one, in reality it will be fine to apply as soon as your deposit is saved!!

Debts outstanding make a massive difference to what you can borrow; as an example when I was first looking to buy my home I had 10% deposit being given from my dad saved, with my debts of £15k I could borrow around £50,000. Without the debts I could have borrowed around £80,000.

Thats why I want to pay the debts off first, the interest on the debt is far higher than I could ever get on saving for the deposit so it makes sense to pay the debt off first.
Thats good to know about the mortgage, I thought they might have wanted me to be working a certain amount of time before they would consider lending me any money.
I live in the south west so the house prices are stupidly high, we will probably be able to afford a garage but still I kinda like to know where I stand as all of these things go over my head.