It looks like there will be a shake-up of council home rents in the future, with the likelihood being they'll increase, possibly significantly.

The Department of Social care has a range of ideas; including making rents means tested, or pegging them to private sector levels, with those who need help being given tax or social security credits.

At the moment these are merely proposals, which have been sent out to local authorities for them to discuss and provide feedback to the department.

Douglas Council's Public Health and Housing Committee chairman Colin Cain says the difference between the rents in the two sectors is apparently the reason for Social Care's proposals: