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The General Social Care Council and Commission for Social Care Inspection insist they are unlikely to be affected by a halving of arm's-length public bodies announced by the Department of Health.

Both the CSCI and GSCC are included in a list of 42 ALPBs to be included in a review. The DoH aims to save £500m by cutting the number funded by 50 per cent and cutting staff by a quarter by 2007-8.

It follows an earlier review of ALPBs which concluded there was too much duplication. The savings will be channelled into front-line services, health secretary John Reid said.

GSCC chief executive Lynne Berry said she expected the council's "vital" work to continue. CSCI chair Denise Platt said the inspectorate had already rationalised the services of its three predecessor organisations.