The country's social care market is at risk of another Southern Cross-style financial meltdown, due to a lack of government oversight and shrinking council budgets, an influential group of MPs has warned.

The public accounts committee's (PAC) report on care markets, released today, found neither the Department of Health (DoH) nor local authorities monitor the financial health of large-scale providers - even though some carry huge debts, close to £1bn in the case of Four Seasons Health Care.