A CONSULTATION which aims to detail how cuts in social care funding will affect Darlington's most vulnerable citizens has been labelled ineffective and misleading.

Gordon Pybus, chairman of Darlington Association on Disability, spoke of his concerns at Darlington Borough Council's cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening.

The council is examining all its services to identify how best to save £19.9m in the wake of central government cuts to its grant.

As part of this process, the cabinet requested a review of how the council decides who is eligible to receive support from adult social care, and a review of how the council works out how much people can afford to pay towards the support.

"Many people were left out of this review and a full disability impact assessment needs to be done, " said Mr Pybus. "The disabled are being hit twice by the cuts.

"We are taking every cut that the council has to make to individuals, then we are being hit again.

"People were told in the consultation they would not be affected by any of the changes, but your policy says otherwise, " he told councillors.

Mr Pybus also said that the report, which recommended that any decisions on the social care budget be deferred until December, contained a number of "red herrings".

"It says that people may be entitled to a reablement service. But this is nothing more than a red herring. "The service is not for those who are disabled but rather for people who find themselves in hospital. The service is to help them adapt back to life when they are discharged."

Councillor Veronica Copeland, cabinet member for adult social care and housing, said that officers had done a very thorough job and said that all individuals who could be affected by the changes were given a say.

"The fact we are deferring our decision on this matter shows we are taking the impacts of the changes very seriously.

"We have heard some extremely moving stories through the consultation process, and if Gordon Pybus can highlight any people who he feels have not had a fair say, then we would be happy to speak with them."

The recommendations of the report were passed by cabinet and the issue will be looked at again in December.