This inspection visit took place on 5 January 2017. The service was given short advance notice in accordance with the Care Quality Commission’s current procedures for inspecting domiciliary care services. This was the service’s first inspection since it registered a new location with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in January 2015.

Stepping Forward Support is a service that provides personal care and support to people who maintain a tenancy in supported living accommodation. A supported living service is one where people live in their own home and receive care and support in order to promote their independence. People have tenancy agreements with a landlord and receive their care and support from the domiciliary care agency. The service supports people with mental health, physical disabilities and learning disabilities in the community or as part of supported living.

There was a registered manager in place. 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.

At the time of the inspection the service provided personal care, including 24 hour support, to two people in supported living accommodation. This included assistance or prompting with washing, dressing, toileting, medicines, and eating and drinking. The service also provided other forms of support such as shopping and assistance to access the community. There were two other people who lived in another supported living accommodation, however they were independent and did not require support with personal care.

People were safe and staff knew what actions to take to protect them from abuse. The registered manager had systems in place to record safeguarding concerns, accidents and incidents and take necessary action as required. However, the safeguarding procedures had not been updated for some time. The registered manager was made aware of the need to update the information so that contact details were accurate and agreed to take immediate action to address this.

People received care from a consistent staff team who were recruited safely, supported and trained. Support workers understood the need to obtain consent when providing care. People and/or their representatives, where appropriate, were involved in making decisions about their care and support arrangements. As a result people received care and support which was planned and delivered to meet their specific needs. Support workers listened to people and acted on what they said.

Staff who had worked at the agency for some time said they had received training in a range of subjects relevant to the needs of the people they supported. They told us, “We have regular updates and the training helps us understand service user’s needs.” Training records showed staff training was monitored to highlight when updates were required, for example safeguarding training had recently been updated for all staff.

New employees undertook an induction programme which prepared them for their role.

The staff team were supported by the service manager through daily communication and regular supervision to support their personal learning and development needs.

The service had recently referred two people for a mental capacity assessment. This process ensured that, where people did not have the capacity to make certain decisions appropriate arrangements are made to make sure any decisions are made in the person’s best interest. The service had referred the assessment to the local authority who had the legal responsibility under court of protection.

Staff knew the people they were supporting and provided a personalised service. Care plans were in place detailing how people needed to be supported. The service had risk assessment procedures in place.