The cabinet has agreed to stop reducing the welfare benefits of some parents who share their homes with their adult children.

Currently, parents who have a live-in child over the age of 21 face lower welfare payments because they form an official household with their offspring.

But Carola Schouten, the new minister for poverty strategy, is planning to boost the age limit to 27 because the shortage of housing for youngsters is forcing more to remain in the parental home.

Almost 430,000 people in the Netherlands are currently claiming welfare benefits (bijstand).

Single people are entitled to around €1,200 per month in welfare benefits but this is reduced by a fixed percentage the more adults live together as a family unit.