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Although modern society likes to define the family in strict sociological terms as mum, dad and two children, this nuclear description is in opposition to contemporary social circumstances as well as being socially unreal.

The family as a social unit extends beyond the nuclear family and encrypted in that formation are wider responsibilities and duties.

This is a wordy and roundabout way of saying that there is a moral case for grown up children to look after their ageing parents, or at the very least bear some of the responsibility for the cost of the local state taking on that burden.

Of course, there is an understandable argument that after a lifetime of paying national insurance people are entitled to state support, but this is unsustainable.

At the very least this issue should be part of the conversation we are having about pensions and the future of the family.