The first six chapters of this book are concerned to confront interpretations of evidence and new developments in social theory which support the claim that the time of state welfare is past. The rest of the book considers how arguments about human need and moral hazard may be used to establish a secure moral foundation for a citizenship right to welfare. Ideally the community should provide relief for hardship and supply the basic needs of those of its members, who are incapable to doing so themselves. The problem is that in a mass society the extensive provision of services that such an objective entails provides opportunities for the ingenious, unscrupulous and work-shy to manipulate and mulct the system for illegitimate ends. The book discusses what steps the state may take to resist such false claims upon its beneficence and so ensure the appropriate provision of assistance to its necessitious citizens.