Hartlepool carer quits job after winning £10,000 a month for 30 years with National Lottery

A carer for children with disabilities has won £10,000 every month for the next 30 years after hitting the lottery jackpot.

Joanne Jobson, from Hartlepool, in County Durham, plans to spend her “life-changing” winnings on a new home and holidays across the world.

In February, carer Ms Jobson discovered she had landed the National Lottery’s Set For Life top prize when she woke up after a night shift to a message on her phone from the company.

The 51-year-old, who has been living with her mother while saving to buy her own home and has worked as a carer for 17 years, initially did not believe she had won.

“I logged onto my account and couldn’t believe what I was reading, I had to re-read the message several times as I thought it was telling me what ‘I could win’, not what I had ‘actually won’,” she said. “I jumped out of bed and went to tell my mum.“

"I remember just saying to mum ‘I think I might have won a lot of money!’ and showing her my phone … mum was convinced it was a scam.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think when I played that I’d actually win – I didn’t think things like this happened to real people like me, but I’m proof they really do!”

Ms Jobson searched the winning Set For Life numbers on Google for that date, 22 February, to find they matched her own – which were 16, 17, 19, 23, 38 and Life Ball 5.

After “checking and checking again” she called the National Lottery claim line, who confirmed she had won but as it was late on a Friday she was told she would receive a call from their winner services team the following Monday.

Despite the prospect of a new life ahead, Ms Jobson got ready for another night shift.

“I needed to get to work and didn’t want to let my colleagues down so as if on autopilot, I got ready for my shift,” she said.

“Once I got to work I couldn’t help but tell the team what had happened - it ended up being quite a lively shift after that as everyone was so happy and excited for me. Even then, I was still reluctant to let myself believe that it was actually real.”

Ms Jobson said she was unable to sleep on the Saturday until the win was confirmed, so she worked another night shift that evening.

“By Sunday I was exhausted and I finally said to my mum that perhaps it was time to hand in my notice,” she said.

When she told her two older sisters about her win, Ms Jobson said they both cried.

“It was very emotional for us all … I think that was the moment when it finally sank in for me too that I really had won,” she said.

Ms Jobson now plans to take her family on holidays to locations including Barbados and the Maldives, or “may even go on a world cruise”, and is already house hunting to buy her own home.

“I’ve been living with my mum trying to save for my own place but was still some way off from making that move happen – it’s amazing I can now make that dream a reality,” Ms Jobson said.

“At 51, this win literally changes everything for me, I now have peace of mind knowing I’m financially secure until I’m 81," she continued.

"I’m going from working nights and saving hard to being able to buy things when I want and plan holidays I could only have dreamt of before. I still can’t believe that I’ve won, it’s absolutely life-changing for me.”

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