BRITAIN'S jobless could be asked to sweep streets, help out in community centers or mow lawns at public parks in return for their welfare check under plans to toughen the country's benefits regime, government ministers said yesterday.

Under planned reforms, the long-term unemployed would be ordered to regularly carry out four weeks of unpaid work to remain eligible for a 65 pounds (US$105) per week welfare payment.

Those who refuse to take placements - which would include manual labor tasks like garbage collection and gardening - would temporarily lose their benefits.

"What we are talking about here is people who have not been used to working having both the opportunity, and perhaps more of a push as well, to experience the workplace from time to time," Foreign Secretary William Hague told BBC television.

Prime Minister David Cameron is axing 18 billion pounds (US$29 billion) from the country's welfare bill. Britain has about 5 million people claiming unemployment benefits.