The inspection took place on 1 and 7 September and was announced.

The service provides care and support to people with a learning disability living in their own homes. The numbers of people using the service can fluctuate but at the time of our inspection, there were about 44 people receiving support. Support varied from 24-hour assistance with all personal care, to a few hours each week to support people with social activities.

There was a registered manager in post as required. 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.

Risks to people's safety were assessed and guidance provided for staff about how they should manage these to promote people's safety. Staff were aware of specific individual risks and the way they needed to support people. There were enough staff to meet people's needs. Staff understood the importance of their role in contributing to protecting people from the risk of harm or abuse and of reporting any concerns they had. Recruitment practices contributed to people's safety.

There were some gaps in training where staff had not completed updates or their Care Certificate within the provider's expected timescales. The registered manager accepted that there was a need to follow this up more robustly to fully assure themselves that staff were competent and their knowledge was up to date. However, staff were supported in their roles and could raise any queries they had about people's welfare. Staff understood the importance of supporting people in a way that enabled them to make decisions and took into account their capacity to do so. Further work was needed to ensure the rights of people, who did not understand risks to their welfare and received high levels of supervision, were protected.

People were supported to have enough to eat and drink to meet their needs, where this was a part of their care package. Staff monitored people who may be at risk of not eating or drinking enough so that they could intervene or seek advice if necessary. They also supported people to make healthy choices about their diets. If people needed advice about this or other aspects of their health, staff supported them to make and attend appointments to promote their health and wellbeing.

Staff supported people in a kind and caring way, and had developed warm and compassionate relationships with people. They supported people to make choices about their care and took into account the way that people could communicate their views. Staff treated people with respect and in a way that promoted their dignity, privacy and independence.

People received care that took into account their individual preferences and needs and was focused on meeting these. Staff responded flexibly when people's needs changed. Where people or their representatives had concerns or complaints about the care they received, they could be confident the management team would take these seriously and resolve them where possible.

The service was led in a way that encouraged people using and working in it to express their views and make suggestions for improvement. People's relatives were also consulted for their views. The registered manager used the information obtained to assess and evaluate the risks to the service, what they did well and where there were opportunities for improvement. The way the service was running and the role and involvement of the management team, contributed to good teamwork and high staff morale.