As yet another review is launched, a single council is offering an alternative to rationing support for the most needy

Florence Mahon spent a decade running around after peers at the House of Lords. As head housekeeper, she was responsible for problems such as cleaning up messes or sorting out broken lamps, until ill-health forced her to retire in her 50s.

Her eyes gleam a little as she talks about which of their lordships she liked and which ones she didn’t. “I didn’t want to go,” she says. “I hate being retired.”