Abstract Informal caregivers of people living with dementia commonly experience carer burden. Providing support to a person living with dementia can reduce this. The effects of providing social care support to someone living with dementia on carer burden have been mixed. This study examined the relationship between carer burden in dementia and social care from the perspective of both informal caregivers and social care workers. Interviews were conducted with informal caregivers of people living with dementia and social care workers, including homecare workers, and occupational therapists involved in the delivery of social care services to people living with dementia. We included 15 informal caregivers and 7 social care workers. A secondary inductive thematic analysis identified the following four interlinking themes: (1) When caregiving takes its toll, (2) the difficulty of navigating social care, (3) (un)met expectations of social care and (4) burden migration to social care workers. Whilst social care can reduce burden, it strongly depends on whether informal caregivers had positive or negative experiences in accessing and using social care. The social care system in the UK should foster positive experiences for caregivers. Social care could be a potential aspect of multi-domain interventions to reduce the carer burden in dementia. | 178
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