The executive has pledged to target anti-social behaviour

The sanction has been proposed by the UK Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

Although benefits are a policy area reserved to Westminster, tackling anti-social behaviour falls within the responsibilities of Holyrood.

The housing group, Shelter, argues that such moves would undermine anti-homelessness measures in Scotland and would aggravate the situation by heaping debt on top of other problems.

Shelter said the DWP consultation document made it clear that the option of docking benefit would be at the discretion of Scottish ministers.

EXECUTIVE PROPOSALS Extending the availability of electronic tagging of children Extending anti-social behaviour orders to children aged between 12 and 15 Introducing community reparation orders Introducing parenting orders which require parents to act in the best interests of their children Fixed penalty notices for some anti-social behaviour More powers for councils to tackle noisy neighbours and deal with landlords who do not tackle anti-social behaviour by their tenants Stiffer penalties for litter, fly-tipping, graffiti and abandoned cars

"Anti-social behaviour is a serious issue which must be tackled, but docking housing benefit is not the solution," said Liz Nicholson, director of Shelter Scotland.

"It would only be targeted at low-income tenants, ignoring the fact that better-off people who are not tenants can also cause problems.

"It could result in an entire family being penalised for the actions of only one person. At worst it would result in rent arrears piling up, leading to eviction, with the family or person coming back to be housed as homeless."

She said Shelter had previously praised Scottish ministers for being prepared to develop the most progressive homelessness legislation in Europe.

"Ministers must continue to be bold in rejecting an ill thought-out proposal from Whitehall that will undermine that work," she said.

A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said there were no firm plans from Westminster yet and it was too early for it to form a view.