This is The Guardian.

Hi, it's John Harris here.

The Politics Weekly team is taking a bit of a break this week.

So instead, what you're about to hear is an episode we recorded earlier in the year,

when we spent a day with a care worker to

understand what it's like in the front line of England's social care crisis. For me,

it was a revelatory experience. It really showed me a part of the kind of social landscape

that doesn't get nearly enough attention and doesn't intrude on politics nearly enough.

I'll be back on Thursday the 4th of September and Pippa and Kieran will be with you the week before.

England's adult social care system is on the brink. An ageing population, a massive funding squeeze and a recruitment crisis have all left this essential service at breaking point.

Social care sector will break and will maybe sustain for a matter of months before people

close down and there will be no social care.

This week we're on the road in Greater Manchester to get an idea of what a day in the life

of a care worker looks like and look at the fragile state of adult social care.

People do not want to go to work for £12 an hour

and do the job that we're doing when you can go to Tesco

and get exactly the same.

For years and years, governments have postponed and ignored the need for serious reform.

And given that Labour now seems focused on the benefit system and an NHS shake-up,

a sustainable future for social care looks more distant than ever.

Ahead of Rachel Reeve's spring financial statement next week,

is it now too late to save the vital support care workers bring to millions of lives?

...