So-called "pay to stay" plans to end subsidised rents for high-earning council home tenants could be brought in gradually to ensure families are not hit with an immediate and unaffordable increase, the Housing Minister has indicated.

Brandon Lewis said the proposal to make households earning more than £40,000 in London or £30,000 elsewhere pay market rent could be tapered, stressing it had always been the Government's position.

He spoke after an MP highlighted a Local Government Association (LGA) study which warned that almost 60,000 households would not be able to afford to pay rents at the market rate or take advantage of the right to buy and so would be forced out of their homes.

During communities and local government questions, Mr Lewis said: "As we said, through the process of the Housing and Planing Bill both on the floor of the House and actually at committee stage, that we would be looking at tapering to bring this in.

"We are working with the sector itself.

"But it is absolutely right that we come up with a deal that is also fair for taxpayers to make sure that as people earn more and can afford to pay towards their home that they do do so in a way that always makes sure that it will always pay to work."

He was answering Labour's Daniel Zeichner (Cambridge), who asked : "The Local Government Association is predicting that the Government's pay to stay proposals will lead to some 60,000 council tenants leaving their homes.

"At the same time councils are saying they don't know how much their tenants earn.

"Can you explain to councils how and why they should be asking their tenants how much they earn?"