This inspection took place on 25 and 28 April 2016 and was announced.

Autism Care Community Services (Milton Keynes) provides support and personal care to people with autism and learning disabilities who live in their own homes, in order for them to maintain their independence. People were supported to maintain tenancies and in some cases share housing with other people also using the service.

At the time of our inspection the provider confirmed they were providing personal care to 11 people.

There was a registered manager in post. There was also a service manager, who would be going through process of becoming the new registered manager. 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.

Staff had a good understanding of keeping people safe from harm and the safeguarding procedures that should be followed.Staff were confident that any concerns they had reported to management would be followed up correctly. People had risk assessments in place to enable them to be as independent as possible. Staff supported people to achieve daily tasks in a safe and positive way.

Staffing levels were adequate to meet people's current needs. We saw that enough staff were working throughout the service to cover the needs of the people being supported. The correct ratio of staff to people was being met according to assessed needs.

The staff recruitment procedures ensured that appropriate pre-employment checks were carried out to ensure only suitable staff worked at the service.

Staff induction training and on-going training was provided to ensure they had the skills, knowledge and support they needed to perform their roles.

We saw that medicines were stored and administered safely and on time.

Staff were well supported by the service manager and senior team, and had supervisions and opportunities to feedback to the management frequently.

People's consent was gained before any care was provided and the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 were met.

People were able to choose the food and drink they wanted. Staff supported people to shop for, prepare and cook meals as they required. People were supported to access health appointments and have input from other health professionals as required.

Staff treated people with kindness, dignity and respect and spent time getting to know them and their specific needs and wishes.

People were involved in their own care planning and were able to contribute to the way in which they were supported. Family members were involved in people’s support and care planning when people themselves were not able to be.

The service had a complaints procedure in place to ensure that people and their families were able to provide feedback about their care and to help the service make improvements where required. The people we spoke with knew how to use it.

Quality monitoring systems and processes were used effectively to drive improvement and identify where action was needed.