In the biggest welfare shake-up since the Thatcher era, the coalition government has announced plans to address under occupancy in larger council homes.

Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan-Smith has unveiled a strategy that could see thousands of elderly people moved from their council property to make way for families. Co-inciding with plans to move the unemployed to areas where they are needed, the government's welfare plans are generating a media storm.

Current council house legislation means that couples can remain in their family homes for life. However, with an ever increasing social housing waiting list putting further strain on those in social housing jobs, pensioners could be asked to move to smaller properties.

With an estimated 500,000 people in the UK living in ''underused'' homes, the government hopes that moving families into such homes and downsizing lone parents or the elderly into smaller residences, will lessen the burden on housing services and reduce waiting lists.

Iain Duncan Smith commented on the dramatic changes to welfare in The Telegraph, saying: ''We have tons of elderly people living in houses which they cannot run and we've got queues of desperate people with families who are living in one and two-bedroom houses and flats.''