Worried for the future

[OohMrDarcy]

I am starting to panic more and more about getting older.

I'm 36 years old - single parent for 2.5years

I rent a 3 bed house in a reasonably expensive area (not London)
I earn decent money (£35k ish)
I pay into a work pension - but only for approximately 5 years - between mine and my employers contributions approx £450 a month goes in... I have 24k in there I think.
I have zero savings
plenty of debt from moving/ separation from exH.

I panic that I'll never be able to retire
I panic that I'll never be rent / mortgage free
I panic that if made redundant the kids and I would be fucked (though worked there 13 years so would get a good payout).

I literally don't know where to start - I'm trying to pay off the debt, and focusing on spending less etc, but I know I'll never be able to save 30k ish for a deposit etc even once its paid off.

If anyone has literally anything that could help me start to see my way out of this I'd massively appreciate it!

Your pensions contributions sound quite reasonable and you are still young.
Could you try to save a decent deposit and think about a shared ownership scheme rather than trying to push yourself buying on your own? It might be more realistic.

I'd be up for that but I don't have any spare cash to save for a deposit. Like I said I have debt, so am concentrating on trying to pay that off first - though I seem to be in an endless circle there...

Its really frustrating to know that I can afford a mortgage, but because of my history with my ex , I'll probably never own my own home.

I'd like to think worst case scenario, I can buy a flat and rent it out until the kids have moved out, but realistically its probably never going to happen for me now