This inspection took place on the 2 and 6 August 2018 and was announced by giving the provider 48 hours' notice. We gave notice of this inspection to ensure the staff we needed to speak with were available.

Havant Branch is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older and younger adults, including people living with dementia, physical disabilities and sensory impairments. Not everyone using Havant Branch receives the 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 our inspection the service was supporting 14 people.

A registered manager was in place who was also the owner of this service. We have referred to them as the registered manager throughout this report. 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 the registered manager and staff were exceptionally caring. People felt respected and valued by staff who provided kind and compassionate care, often going 'above and beyond' people's expectations. Staff demonstrated care for each other and for the people they supported. The registered manager led by example and promoted a strong person-centred culture and staff shared the registered manager's passion for providing a high-quality service for people.

People were promised they would never be cared for by a stranger and new staff were always introduced prior to supporting people by familiar staff or the registered manager. This was important to people and helped to build effective and trusting relationships between people and staff. People and their relatives told us they felt valued by staff who respected their privacy and dignity and these principles were central to the service ethos. Staff were sensitive to people's lifestyle choices in their own homes.

The registered manager provided an exceptional and distinctive level of leadership which placed people's experience at the heart of the service. People and their relatives and staff spoke highly of the registered manager and Staff described the registered manager as "Motivational, passionate and a cut above the rest."

There was a strong framework of accountability and people were consistently involved in developing and evaluating the service they received. Staff performance was monitored through regular spot checks and observed supervisions. People were asked for their feedback at reviews and by an annual satisfaction survey. Action was taken in response to people's feedback and when staff performance required improvement.

There was a strong emphasis on continuous learning and a culture of driving continuous improvements through training, incidents and feedback . The registered manager promoted an open and transparent culture so staff were confident to raise issues which allowed learning to take place.

People and their relatives told us the service provided was safe. Risks to people from abuse were identified and acted on to keep people safe. There was a culture of learning at the service which meant that when things went wrong this was used as an opportunity to drive continuous improvements to the service people received.

People were supported by staff who understood and followed plans to provide safe care that minimised risks to people's health and wellbeing. There were sufficient competent staff to care for people and they provided a consistent and reliable service. People knew which staff were coming at what time and confirmed that staff