This inspection took place onsite 23 and 25 April 2018 and was announced. We also spoke with relatives and professionals up to 14 May 2018. The service had been inspected previously on 4 and 5 October 2016 and was found to be in breach of a regulation. The registered provider had immediately resolved this matter and implemented systems to ensure this did not happen again.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes with physical disabilities, learning disabilities, and behaviours that challenge, especially autism. This service also provides care and support to people living in a ‘supported living’ setting, so that they can live in their own home as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

Not everyone using Active Social Care Limited receives a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of the inspection the service supported 104 adults and 84 children. 19 adults and four children required support with ‘personal care’. Five people were provided with care and support in a ‘supported living’ setting.

There was a well-established registered manager in post who was also the director of the company. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People and their relatives told us they felt completely safe and comfortable with staff who visited their home. Robust policies and procedures were in place to assist staff to safeguard people from harm and abuse and the staff we spoke with understood their responsibilities with regards to protecting people.

Risk assessments were extremely detailed to ensure staff supported people to remain safe. These were frequently reviewed and updated as people's needs changed. Staff were confident about how to react and what actions they would take in an emergency situation. Behavioural support plans were exceptional in their detail, ensuring restrictions were kept to a minimum and the risks around behaviours which challenged could be managed. The service recognised the risks around using medicines to manage behaviours that challenged and were actively seeking measures to minimise this. Systems were in place to manage medicines administered in people's own homes and audits were undertaken regularly to ensure staff were meeting the required standard of practice.

Staff had an excellent working knowledge of the key requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. All staff demonstrated a commitment to promoting the rights and choices of people who used the service and ensured people's human and legal rights were respected. Feedback from professionals confirmed staff at the service excelled in their understanding of the Act, and were truly committed to the purpose of the legislation to protect people’s rights and freedoms. Decision specific assessments were in place and staff encouraged people to be involved in decisions about them in their best interests.

Values based recruitment practices ensured staff with the right skills were employed. There was a proactive support and appraisal system for staff, which recognised that continuous development of skills, competence and knowledge was integral to ensuring high quality care and support. Staff were supported through individual supervision. Unannounced observational checks of staff performance were carried out at regular interv

This inspection took place on 4 and 5 October 2016 and was announced. We announced the inspection because the provider is a domiciliary care service and we wanted to be sure there would be someone at the provider’s office to speak with us. A previous inspection of the service was undertaken in November 2013 when we found no breaches of regulations.

Active Social Care Limited provides a variety of services to support adults and children with disabilities in the Bradford, Kirklees and Calderdale area. Support is given to people with physical disabilities, learning disabilities, and behaviours that challenge, especially autism. In addition to supporting people in their own homes the provider offers services through day centres. Day centre services are not regulated by the CQC. Active Social Care Limited is the main provider for children’s services in Kirklees and Calderdale. Children’s services are monitored and inspected by OFSTED. At the time of the inspection the registered manager told us they were delivering around 3,000 personal care hours a week to approximately 26 individuals, some of whom had 24 hours care packages.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in place, who was also a director of the provider company. Our records showed she had been formally registered with the Commission since October 2010. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People and relatives told us they felt safe when receiving care and that they trusted the care staff. Staff told us they had received training in relation to safeguarding adults and would report any concerns. The provider had failed to identify one incident as a potentially serious safeguarding matter and had not reported the matter to the local authority. Extensive processes were in place to recruit staff and to carry out checks to ensure they were suitably experienced to support people.

People and relatives felt involved in determining their staff team. People’s care was delivered through the provision of individual teams. People and relatives said they had consistent team members for support and there were no instances where support was not provided. Staff told us there were enough staff to deliver care.

The provider had in place plans to deal with emergency situations through the use of an on call out of hours system, manned by senior staff. People’s care needs had been risk assessed to ensure those most vulnerable would receive prioritised support in the event of adverse weather.

Medicines were well managed and appropriately supported. Extensive details of the various medicines people were taking were available and medicine administration records were clear and well kept. Checks were undertaken on medicines administration.

People told us they felt well supported by staff. The provider had a detailed system in place to ensure that all staff had completed a detailed induction process, linked to the Care Certificate, before they were allowed to support people on their own. Checks were made to ensure appropriate training had been completed and updated and all care staff were automatically enrolled on level 2 of the care diploma once they had successfully completed their induction. Senior staff had also completed all the elements of the Care Certificate. Staff told us they could request additional training at any time and external or specialist advice was available to train staff in exceptional practices. Records showed staff received regular and detailed supervision. Annual appraisals or reviews were also undertaken and covered a range of work related issues. The manager was aware of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and worked with local authority staff to assess i

In this report we have been asked by the provider to refer to people using the service as clients.

On the day of our visit there were 50 clients receiving personal care from the service. During the visit we spoke with the registered manager, who was also one of the company directors, the area manager, in-house training officer (who also had a child cared for by the service), three support workers, a volunteer on work experience (who had also been a client of the service), the communications and policy officer (who also worked as a support worker) and the monitoring and development manager

The manager told us the service had recently inspected by Ofsted and that they had a day centre at Newsome and a soft play gym in Halifax, both of which were registered with Ofsted.

The manager explained that there were a variety of services offered by Active, depending on each client’s needs. These included:-

• Respite services during the day

• Short breaks

• School holidays and after school service seven days a week.

• Domiciliary care

• Supported living

• Sitting service, including nights

• Taking people out in the community

• Organised trips

They told us the adults using the service were mostly young and middle aged; there were very few elderly adults.

Feedback from clients and families using the service included:-

“People turn up on time, I’m very happy with the service it all works well.”

“Active has made it possible for me to live with my brother and sister; I was not happy where I was living before.”

“The service enables me to get a full night’s sleep.”

“I trust them to provide a good service.”

We did not speak with anyone using the service on this occasion as we saw feedback forms from September 2012 that people using the service had completed. These are some of their comments:

“Staff follow my person centred plan and all are very helpful and aim to please.”

“The service is working well. It makes a big difference. I’d be in a home without it.”

“The care provided is very good. Staff are always polite and very helpful. If I have a problem it is sorted out as soon as possible.”

“They support clients brilliantly and match staff to clients fabulously.”

“They provide top quality support and are always very helpful.”

“They provide regular carers and that counts for a lot.”

“I cannot fault any of the staff they have really made a difference for the better and really do care about my relative.”

“They provide good cares and work to solve problems.”

“The standard of care is much higher than other agencies, the staff try harder.”

“Staff respect people and understand cultural expectations. They provide a high standard of care.”

“It’s working well at the moment, it makes a difference and allows us to have a life.”

“Carers provide high quality care and are always on the ball. I am pleased with the service I get.”

“I am highly satisfied with the service, my relative’s communication and independence skills are improving.”