The inspection was carried out on 11 April 2017 when we visited the service and we also spoke with relatives and professionals on 24 April 2017 via telephone. At the time of our inspection the service was providing support to three young people. The service had not been formally rated by the Care Quality Commission as it was previously registered as a service for children and was regulated by Ofsted. The registered provider chose to register River Cottage as a service for adults when the young people reached adulthood to ensure they had continuity of support.

The service provides accommodation and support for young adults who have behavioural needs and learning disabilities.

There was a very high level of confidence in the leadership and management of the service expressed by relatives, staff and other professionals. The registered manager demonstrated passion and commitment to people, strong values and a desire to learn about and implement best practice throughout the service. Staff were motivated and proud of the work they did and spoke passionately and positively about people and their achievements. The service had developed and sustained effective links with organisations that helped people living at River Cottage to gain a level of independence and confidence that people’s families and social workers did not think possible.

The registered manager and staff team demonstrated passion and commitment to providing the best possible care and opportunities for people and we were told of the excellent progress people had made since living at River Cottage. One social worker told us, “It’s great to see my client back in education and to see they are becoming more responsible and independent in the home and the community.”

The service provided amazing care and support to people to enable them to live fulfilled and meaningful lives. Staff were skilled at ensuring people were safe whilst encouraging them to stretch their potential and achieve as much independence as possible. We saw that the service had developed its own education opportunities through the Duke of Edinburgh (DoE) award scheme so trained staff could enable people not only to learn new skills both individually and as a team but also to gain a nationally recognised award. The focus the service had developed through the DoE scheme and through the relationships it had developed with further education services showed that young people previously excluded from education were enabled to access and achieve their potential.

The service placed a strong emphasis on person centred care. Support plans ensured staff had all the guidance and information they needed to enable them to provide individualised care and support. People and their family members were consulted and involved in assessments and reviews. People's individual communication needs were understood and all information was provided in a format appropriate for them, which meant they could participate fully in the running of the service. One social worker told us, “The staff really understand people’s needs and are very focused on providing a person centred approach.”

The registered manager used effective systems to continually monitor the quality of the service and had ongoing plans for improving the service people received. The registered provider gathered information about the quality of their service from a variety of sources including people who used the service, their family and friends and external agencies. This was used to enable the registered provider to identify where improvement was needed and to implement and sustain continuous improvement in the service. Thorough investigations had been carried out in response to safeguarding incidents and these had also been appropriately reported to CQC by the provider. Comprehensive audits were carried out by the management team to ensure the appropriate improvements took place within the home.

People were kept safe and free from harm. They were encouraged to