Chancellor George Osborne's third Budget contained little good news for people with learning disabilities, and will have heightened worries over benefits for many. First, the good news: the personal tax allowance limit has been raised to £9,205 from April 2013, which in real terms amounts to £170 more a year for a basic rate taxpayer. For some people with learning disabilities in work, it will mean they have more in their pay packet - although many are only part-time so are already below the tax threshold. The same applies to family carers, who are also often on low wages. But this will benefit everyone who does not pay 40% tax. Osborne did confirm that a white paper on social care is forthcoming, which was already public knowledge. However, frustratingly, he didn't confirm when it would be published or hint at what the content would be. The white paper has long been slated for 'spring', but as we all know with Government papers, 'spring' could be any time between now and about September. There was also no announcement on the possibility of extra funding for social care. Earlier this month a group of charities and service providers wrote an open letter calling for more funding for social care, warning that without it reform will fail. But this call seems to have been ignored. Perhaps that particular rabbit is being kept in the hat until the white paper is published, although I doubt that. It looks like social care will have to carry on trying to do more with less and deal with reform - and all its attendant costs - as well. Worryingly, Osborne announced that that if reductions in departmental spending continue as they have further welfare savings of £10 billion more will need to be made by 2016. I take this to mean that benefits will be squeezed, which could mean eligibility criteria for sickness benefits such as disability living allowance/personal independence payment (PIP) being ramped up. The eligibility criteria for PIP, which is due to be introduced next year, is still to be decided, and this announcement makes me wonder if they may be tougher than originally thought. However, this is just speculation. The Treasury said to the BBC it is "very early days", and the chancellor's remarks just "set out the scale of the challenge", so they don't know how the further savings will be made either. But whatever happens, it means that worries over benefits and future reform and provision of social care services will continue.