SEVERAL families in Cumbria are already experiencing a reduction in state benefits due to the lowering of the benefits cap (from £26,000 to £20,000 in our area).

Many more will suffer a further reduction with the roll out of Universal Credit and the continued temporary freeze in working age benefit levels. This will likely cause acute hardship.

At the same time we have a crisis in the provision of adequate social care. With an ever aging population, this will become an even more acute problem.

Indeed, this demographic trend means we need more extra care housing. The county council has estimated we need to build 2,000 more extra care houses in Cumbria by 2025 to meet the expected demand. Some of these will have to be built with public subsidy.

And of course we all want to see our wonderful NHS fully funded so it can continue to provide excellent service free at the point of contact. Unfortunately, recent evidence shows that the system is under severe strain.

It is perhaps therefore a good time to ask ourselves what the state should provide from the public purse, and to whom?

The traditional approach has been to base state support on need.

The problem with that approach is that "need" has to be continuously reassessed. Otherwise "need" can become 'entitlement'.

For example, pensioners were at one time a group in clear financial need. However, conditions have changed for this group. After household and dependent costs, the IFS calculated that the average income of a pension household is now higher than the average income of a working age household.

Dementia sufferers provide another example of a change in "need". They were few in number 30 years ago, now there are 850,000 dementia sufferers in the UK. The forecast is that by 2051 we will have two million.

But we do not treat advanced dementia like any other illness. We apply a means test to its care. If you suffer from it, you have to contribute towards the cost of residential care - unless you do not have the means do so.

As a nation we are probably not willing to pay for all that we might like to provide: a strong NHS, great social care, residential dementia care, a real safety net for those who cannot earn enough, decent low cost housing and a great education system all the way to age 21.

So we have to make choices.

Are we ready to make them, or will we soldier on with a system that grew out of "needs" that may no longer be proportionate to the payments?

At the same time as making tough choices, we also have to demand a fair deal from employers. Can it be right that many employers pay wages that are below what is needed to live on? Thus the state provides supplements. Readers may not be aware that around 30 million people in the UK, (approximately half the population) receive at least one social security benefit. Many of these recipients are in work. It is great that we are increasing the minimum wage, but will it be enough?

The government will have some big decisions, which will affect you and your children. You can influence the choices that are made. Tell your elected representatives what you think.

Giles Archibald

Leader of South Lakeland District Council