The long-term jobless will be forced to pick up litter, make meals for the elderly or work for a charity under plans to get people back to work, the chancellor will announce today.

During his keynote speech on the economy George Osborne will set out how unemployed people will have to work for their benefits as part of a new £300m 'Help to Work' scheme.

It comes on the second day of the Conservative Party conference where it was disclosed that state-backed mortgages to help increase home ownership would be introduced three months earlier than planned and tax breaks for married couples worth up to £200 a year would be brought in from 2015, in a trade off with their coalition partners who want all infant children to get free schools meals.

In a move to look tough on welfare Mr Osborne will say that from April those who have been out of work for a long time will either have to do full-time community work or look for work at the job centre each day in return for payments.

He will say that those with 'underlying' reasons why they are not able to work such as mental health issues or illiteracy will be forced to undergo a course to 'tackle' the issues.

The chancellor will say: 'By the time Labour left office, five million people were on out of work benefits. What a waste of life and talent.

'A generation of people recycled through the job centres…collecting their dole cheques year in year out, and no one seemed to notice.'

Mr Osborne will say that long-term unemployed will 'put something back into their community' including making meals for the elderly, clearing up litter and working for a local charity.