This inspection took place on 19 April and 02 May 2018 and was announced.

This service provides personal care and support to adults living in ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live 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. This supported living service meets the needs of people who have mental health needs, a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder and people who have a physical disability. Not everybody using the service received the Regulated activity of personal care. At the time of this inspection there were ten people receiving personal care. The service is run from an office in Rochester in Kent.

A registered manager was employed at the service and they were present during the inspection. 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.

We observed safe care. Staff had received training about protecting people from abuse and showed a good understanding of what their roles and responsibilities were in preventing abuse. People told us they felt safe with staff. Information was shared with people who used the service in different formats such as pictures and one to one conversations about how to raise concerns and protect themselves from potential abuse and bullying.

Staff assessed and treated people as individuals so that they understood how they planned people’s care to maintain their safety, health and wellbeing and choices. Risks were assessed within the service, both to individual people and for the wider risk from the environment people lived in. Actions to minimise risks were recorded.

Incidents and accidents were recorded and checked by the registered manager to see what steps could be taken to prevent these happening again. Staff understood the steps they should take to minimise risks when they were identified. The provider’s health and safety policies and management plans were implemented by staff to protect people from harm.

Staff were trained about the safe management of people with behaviours that may harm themselves or others.

The registered manager involved people in planning their care by assessing their needs based on a person centred approach. We observed and people described a service that was welcoming and friendly. Staff provided friendly compassionate care and support. People were encouraged to get involved in how their care was planned and delivered. People could involve relatives or others who were important to them when they chose the care they wanted.

The person centred care plans developed to assist staff to meet people’s needs told people’s life story, recorded who the important relatives and friends were in people’s lives and explained what lifestyle choices people had made. Care planning told staff what people could do independently, what skills people wanted to develop and what staff needed to help people to do.

People were often asked if they were happy with the care they received. The provider offered an inclusive service. The culture of the service was underpinned by nationally recognised standards called REACH. (The eleven REACH standards set out what people should expect, as equal citizens, from their staff team or agency offering them support.) The service also had policies about Equality, Diversity and Human Rights. People, their relatives and health care professionals had the opportunity to share their views about the service either face-to-face, or by using formal feedback forms.

The registered manager had experience of managing supported living services. The registered manager spent