Crisis in Care: Who Cares?/Who Pays?

'Crisis in Care' looks at the deepening crisis faced by the care system that supports older and disabled people across the country by following one local authority over 10 months - Somerset County Council. It spends nearly half its budget on adult social care. Like many local authorities, it is juggling rising demand for help against tightening finances.The films follow the council as it fights to balance its books.

Rogan Productions together with BBC Social Affairs Correspondent, Alison Holt, were granted exclusive access to see first-hand the difficulties faced by Somerset’s Director of Adult Social Services, his team of social workers and local politicians. The programmes show the impact of the financial squeeze on vulnerable people and the harsh truth of what that means for those needing care. From a young mother with severe arthritis, desperate for more help, to a 60-year-old man with learning disabilities who needs expensive, specialist support. What happens when the council closes a dementia day centre? It means a daughter now worries about where her elderly mother goes for care. These and other personal stories are at the heart of both programmes.

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