"The most vulnerable people in our society" could "suffer" if disability allowances are cut in a move to "scrape meat off the bones" of Oxfordshire's adult social care budget, a scrutiny committee has heard.
Oxfordshire County Council is consulting on cuts and new charges which could impact more than 6,800 adults supported by social care.
Proposals involve a reduction in allowances that support disabled people with expenses such as increased heating costs, additional laundry, specialist clothing, and equipment needs.
This would happen by cutting Disability Related Expenditure (DRE) - a percentage of benefits for living costs left to people after paying for social care.
Currently, people in Oxfordshire are able to keep 35 per cent of their disability benefits, as DRE.
The council is proposing to cut this, leaving people with 25 per cent of their benefits for the living allowance.
At the same time, it would introduce a £10-a-day fee for transport and increase the cost to use independent living technology by more than 50 per cent.
"This is one of my worst days I've ever had as a councillor", said a former Oxfordshire adult social care boss, Jenny Hannaby (Lib Dem), who now sits on the people overview and scrutiny committee where the consultation was discussed on Thursday, June 4.
When she was the cabinet member, she had set the Disability Related Expenditure at 35 per cent and said this was "because people weren't managing" without it.
She questioned how the decision to cut 10 per cent came about.
Council officers explained this followed research into other councils, which saw most had DRE at around 25 per cent or below.
They said people who cannot cope with the cuts will be able to apply for individual assessments to up their allowance.
The current cabinet member for adult social care, Rebekah Fletcher, said she wished she did not have to introduce the plan, but it was due to "real financial pressure" for the council.
She said: "Demand is constantly rising and our funding is being taken away."
Asked about previous cuts made in 2023, Ms Fletcher stated: "So we've already been through a process where we trimmed the fat, we are now at a point where we need to scrape meat off the bones, like that's where we are, that is what the funding is."
According to conservative councillor Lee Evans, these cuts would impact 0.4 per cent of the adult social care £330 million budget.
He was worried that the changes would have a disproportionate impact compared to the savings.
It could save around £500,000 in the remainder of the 2026/27 financial year and £1.2 million per full year.
This has been tabled, in part, to address an over £5 million council budget gap.
Ms Hannaby questioned whether there was 0.4 per cent of waste that could be found elsewhere to "avoid the people who would be hit by these changes suffering from them".
Previously, the plans were described as "monstrous" by an 88-year-old former lord mayor who described them as "screwing the old people".
A consultation is open until June 21.
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