Social care practitioners have long been familiar with recruitment and retention problems laid bare by last week's hard-hitting National Audit Office (NAO) study – but what has changed lately is that the depth and geographic scope of the crisis has become unparalleled.

Despite the fact councils spend £15bn annually on adult care, not including the £2bn Better Care Fund cash, the NAO's report rightly highlights the care sector as Britain's unwitting ‘Cinderella service'.