Plans to cut the pensions of elderly people who live with their adult children have again been delayed and should be dropped altogether, Labour MP John Kerstens told website nu.nl.

The government wants to reduce the benefits paid to adults who share a home because they also share costs, such as the rent and electricity bills. This would apply, for example, to parents who are jobless and who live with adult children who are also out of work.

However, critics say, it will discourage families from taking in elderly relatives because in some cases they will lose hundreds of euros a month.

The government had hoped to introduce the measure from July 2016 but that has now been delayed until January 2018, junior social affairs minister Jetta Klijnsma told parliament on Thursday.

‘We should be stimulating caring for relatives, not making it more difficult,’ Kerstens told the website.