United Support Services in Roche rated outstanding by CQC

A supported living service tucked away in the mid-Cornwall village of Roche has just had its first ever inspection, and come away with the top mark going. The Care Quality Commission has rated United Support Services outstanding overall, on the strength of what inspectors watched happen behind ordinary front doors across two days in July.

A rare first-time rating

United Support Services supports adults with a learning disability and autistic people in their own homes, the kind of tailored, personalised setup where people live independently rather than in a care home. CQC’s inspectors spent 27 and 28 July 2026 assessing the service against its right support, right care, right culture guidance, the framework used to judge whether autistic people and people with a learning disability get the respect, equality, dignity, choice, independence and community access that most people simply take for granted.

The care service came out with outstanding ratings for how safe, effective and well-led it is, and good ratings for how caring and responsive it is. It’s the first assessment United Support Services has had since registering with CQC, and inspectors scored the individual key questions at 88% (Safe), 88% (Effective), 80% (Caring), 82% (Responsive) and 89% (Well-led). CQC’s full report for the service is due to be published on its website in the coming days.

What inspectors found

• Staff used tailored tools such as pictures, objects of reference and easy read information to help people understand what was happening and take part in decisions about their own care.
• Leaders analysed data and incidents to spot patterns early, which helped staff adapt their approach and led to a significant fall in the number of times people became distressed.
• The service helped people move from more restrictive settings into their own homes, planning transitions carefully so people kept the relationships and routines that mattered to them.
• Leaders arranged for people to keep working with staff they already knew and trusted when they moved between services.
• Leaders worked with health professionals to reduce people’s reliance on medicines used to manage behaviour, only using them as a last resort and reviewing their effectiveness regularly.
• Staff completed specialist training, including in learning disability and autism awareness, which helped them understand and respond to people’s individual needs.

“Leaders and staff should be extremely proud”

📷Credit: Google Maps

Stefan Kallee, CQC’s deputy director of adult social care in Cornwall, led the inspection team. He said the culture built by leaders at the service was the thing that stood out most.

“During our inspection, it was clear that United Support Services put delivering person-centred care at the heart of everything it did. Leaders had built a culture where staff felt trusted and empowered, and this filtered through into the way they supported people every day,” Stefan said.

He pointed to individual changes inspectors saw first-hand. “Many of the people supported by the service had previously lived in settings where their choices were limited, which had left them frustrated and, at times, distressed. Since receiving support from United Support Services, staff had taken the time to understand what mattered to each person and had gradually built the trust needed to give them more control over their daily lives.”

One example he gave was someone who had never taken part in their own food shopping before, and now manages the whole process themselves, from choosing items to putting them away and everything in between. Another had been unable to leave home safely, and is now going out into the community with confidence. People who’d previously found health appointments too frightening to face are now attending regular check-ups.

“One person showed inspectors around their home which they were very proud of, highlighting the level of comfort they felt in their own space,” Stefan said. “Leaders and staff at United Support Services should be extremely proud of what they’ve achieved.”

The full CQC assessment goes into more detail on how that trust was built, including how staff worked with a behavioural analyst to gradually lift restrictions without causing distress, and how the registered manager described the approach to learning from mistakes: “We and staff need to be honest then we can learn from it, if they’re dishonest we can’t.”