London's historic icon will switch off for four months to allow £40 million worth of repairs to take place.
In a report presented to the Commons Finance committee, repairs to fix the nine-foot hands of the clock would take a year if they stopped working.
A quick fix could cost £4 million, but authors of the report have said this could lead to £40 million being spent in the long run.
Around £7 million was already been proposed to make repairs to the Palace of Westminster earlier this year.
It has been 31 years since the clock stopped
According to the Sunday Times, experts claimed "the clock has chronic problems with the bearing of the hands and the pendulum.
"Either could become acute at any time, causing the clock to stop."
It has been 31 years since the clock stopped, when repairs saw the ticking cease for 26 days during a 9 month repairing process.
If the report's advice is put into place, it will be longest Big Ben has ever been silent over its 156-year life span.
A Parliamentary spokesman said: "No decisions on works, timescales or costs have been agreed."
