Under new government plans, Benefit claimants could be forced to pick up litter and clean graffiti. The Welfare Green Paper is expected to include proposals to encourage those who have been unemployed for over 2 years to work full-time for the community.

James Purnell, the Work and Pensions secretary, believes the plan would “transform lives”.

The Conservatives have agreed to support the plans, as they said they have suggested them in the past. The move will apply to 4.5 million people on benefit, but is expected to impact those on Jobseekers Allowance most. The plans would involve claimants having to carry out four weeks’ community work, if they have been unemployed for more than a year.

After two years, they will be ordered to work full-time. Incapacity Benefit claimants will all move to the new Employment Support Allowance by 2013, which ministers hope will be regarded as a temporary benefit for all but the most disabled people. Drug addicts are also being targeted, with the government expecting them to declare their problem and embark on treatment in return for benefits.

Any Labour backbench opposition is likely to be neutralised by the Conservatives support for the proposals. The Liberal Democrats have welcomed some elements of the Green Paper, but have not yet confirmed their support.

Frank Field, the former welfare reform minister, said that he doubts the program will make any difference. “The key fault in the old system is being brought into the new system, and that is if you can get through the employment capacity test… you’ll get onto a higher rate of benefit,” he said.

Mr Field said that there should be a single rate of benefit for people of working age who were unable to work. They should be funded via the Disability Living Allowance, not benefits, he said.

“The whole emphasis here, naturally, will be for people not to get jobs but to get onto the higher rate of benefit,” he added.

On Sunday, Mr Purnell said the welfare reforms being proposed were “revolutionary”.

Referring to incapacity benefit he said: “The worst thing about the old system was, people were given no help at all. We will be using the benefits that we would have spent if people had stayed on the benefit… to get them back into health and back into work.”

He added that people who did not take up the offer of support would lose benefits. He also said the government’s target was to get one million people off incapacity benefit by 2015.

In February David Freud, government welfare advisor, suggested that less than a third of the 2.7m people claiming the benefit were doing so legitimately.

Conservative leader David Cameron said: “What [Mr Purnell] has done is very much taken the ideas we came up with in January, that are very clearly thought through and involve tough choices.”