Ministers have ordered a further inquiry into the future of the council tax after a 15-month review concluded that options for its reform needed further work.

The move, which will ensure the politically sensitive subject remains undecided until after the next general election, prompted complaints from opposition MPs that the government was ducking the issue.

Richard Wilson, senior policy officer at Help the Aged said: "Whilst ministers prevaricate over how to reform council tax in the long term, pensioners are being forced into poverty by tax bills they cannot afford.

"The government’s own figures show the poorest pensioners pay £770 million too much council tax a year, because the rebates they are owed never reach them.