Local authorities face increasingly difficult choices when it comes to allocating funding as budgets are cut and central funding reduced.

But the current review of how much support the vulnerable and elderly will get in their homes in the Bradford district leaves something of an unpleasant taste in the mouth.

There are apparently levels of need when it comes to receiving this care, going from low to moderate to substantial and then finally to critical. These labels in themselves seem fundamentally wrong – surely the only criteria that should be applied is, does someone need help or not?

Bradford is now considering changing its eligibility criteria so that those with moderate needs do not get the home help they currently receive, a move that would see 2,000 people affected, 1,290 of them aged 65 or over.

That would save £1.57m for the Council, but it would also impact severely on the lives of some of the most vulnerable members of our society.

Other councils have already changed their criteria along these lines, but that does not mean Bradford should simply follow.

This newspaper’s With Respect campaign has long championed the importance of allowing our elderly to have the dignity they deserve. These changes could have a significant effect on vulnerable pensioners as well as others who need care at home.

On this occasion, the Council really does need to look at another way of making these savings. And central government must also play its role in ensuring the most vulnerable members of our society, the ones least able to raise a voice in protest, are protected from these savage cuts.