AT a time when local councils are deciding how they are going to make massive savings to their budgets, I am urging them not to forget how vital social care support is for people with a learning disability.

Everyday activities such as washing, eating and dressing, as well as using transport, going to work or buying food can become impossible for people if essential support is cut.

Without the lifeline provided by social care services, many people are at risk of reaching a crisis situation.

The Government has committed itself to fairness, dignity and respect for people with disabilities and has promised additional funding for social care – they have also stated that there is no need to cut support for social care.

Any decision by our local council to cut frontline services would be a direct betrayal of the promises made to some of the most at risk people in our society.

On February 1, I will be supporting the Learning Disability Coalition’s campaign to Protect the Frontline to make sure that our local councillors remember how essential social care support is to people with learning disabilities as they set their budgets for 2011/12.

Mohga Kamal-Yanni, Oxford