Today's Comprehensive Spending Review is very much a mixed bag.

RADAR welcomes the increase in funding for Social Care; we feel sure that, despite the relaxing of ring fencing rules, local authorities will wish to spend the entirety of this additional grant on social care and nothing but social care.

We also welcome the investment in the Universal Credit and Work Programme. The expansion of Personal Budgets to children in education is also a welcome step.  We also applaud the Coalition Government's intention to protect Disabled Facilities Grants.

However, we remain gravely concerned that the overall cuts to the benefits bill and to local authority spending will impact disproportionately on disabled people. Equality Impact Assessments are useful tools to ensure that this can be at the very least mitigated, and will be of great benefit if used positively by local authorities within their budgeting process.

We are also deeply concerned by the 1 year time limit on Employment and Support Allowance. With large numbers of public sector jobs disappearing, an inevitable time lag before the private sector can make good the losses to any extent, and many disabled people facing longer and more arduous struggles to find work, due to a variety of reasons including inadequate support, unwilling employers and a dearth of suitable jobs, this measure could have a negative and disproportionate impact on disabled people seeking work.

There is a promise to protect "severely disabled people"; this sounds good in theory, but the definition of severe disability will inevitably lead to more assessments, appeals and red tape at the very time when less of this is needed - many millions of tax payers' pounds are being spent on fruitless and traumatic multiple assessments.. Creating yet another "hierarchy of impairment" is not helpful.  We think no disabled person, who will find it harder to identify, apply for and secure new employment, should be subject to this time limit.

Liz Sayce, Chief Executive of RADAR, said:

"The headlines released by the Chancellor today contain both welcome measures and issues of real concern for disabled people.  Action on social care budgets, disabled facilities grants and educational personal budgets are to be welcomed." 

"We remain deeply concerned about what might emerge from the detail of both ESA changes and estimates made about savings accrued from welfare reform.  Disabled people must not be pushed further into poverty by these proposals or be fruitlessly assessed countless times, wasting tax payers money in the process." 

"We also have significant concerns about what the Chancellor had to say on the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance for disabled people staying in care.  As all these measures get fleshed out, we will be keeping a keen eye on the detail at both national and local level and we will be challenging spending reviews that we consider unfair to disabled people".