Croydon Council is offering some of its tenants a whopping £10,000 for every spare room they give up - because not enough were tempted by its initial offer of £2,000.

The huge incentive increase for people to give up large council homes came to light after an elderly couple were paid £20,000 for moving from a four bedroom home to a two bedroom bungalow.

The council upped its offer which was originally drawn up to solve a housing shortage last year. The council said the original scheme was not attracting enough families living in larger homes so the incentive was upped by £8,000 for every bedroom for those living in homes with more than four.

People living in council properties with less than four rooms will still be offered £2,000 for every room they give up.

The Enhanced Special Transfer Payment scheme sparked fury among taxpayers, who questioned whether council tenants should benefit financially from properties they do not own.

Last week Ronald and Jennifer Huggett were presented with a cheque for £20,000 after they moved from Purley to Lacey Green in Cousldon.

The couple, who have been council tenants for more than 40 years, were told about the scheme only after they had decided to take the Coulsdon house.

Former warehouse manager Mr Huggett, 72, said: "We had been trying to move from the Purley house for some time as my wife is disabled and then they offered us this new house.

"We had a look at the house and then we were told about the money. We were very surprised that the council would give families this much money.

"We didn't do it for the money, that was a windfall quite honestly."

This week a council spokesman said: "The scheme makes financial sense to the council because it is an effective way of releasing family sized homes at a significantly lower cost than the investment required to build new larger homes."