Step by Step Supporting Independence Ltd has been successfully operating as a Registered Domiciliary Care Agency for 23 years. We continue to support people with a range of disabilities to live as independently as they can in their own homes, within the Dawlish area. This includes service users with Learning Disability, Physical Disability and Mental Health conditions/syndromes. We are now supporting 36 service users in total, all of whom live in Dawlish and Dawlish Warren. We have one vacancy for which we have a recent referral. We anticipate he will move in soon.
We continue our on-going relationship with Harbuck Housing Ltd, the company that provides and maintains the homes of most of our service users. With their help and advice on housing, our service users have the security of very well managed and maintained homes. Harbuck responds quickly to all emergencies and all maintenance matters. Some service users are supported by other local landlords including Sanctuary Housing.

This year we have moved with the times and gone ‘paperless’, by introducing a system called Care Control. This is a tablet-based app, which holds our support plans and risk assessments. Staff use the Care Control system to complete daily support records. We contacted all families/advocates and service users to explain this, and advised that this information can be accessed by key parties and explained on request.

The Workshop
In February this year, Step by Step acquired Swan Enterprise, a company with a 30 years history of operating a workshop for service users. This workshop specialises in crafting small garden accessories, including planters, bird boxes and tables.
We have developed a self-contained, purpose-built facility situated within the grounds of Sarum. Beyond the workshop, clients can utilise a large polytunnel and vegetable plots to cultivate organic produce.
Roy Grant continues to manage the workshop and our aim is to expand this service and, ideally, encourage some of our female participants to engage in horticulture. This newly established workshop welcomes both Step by Step clients and anyone else suitable who expresses an interest.

We have not received a CQC (Care Quality Commission) inspection this year. Our service retains its ‘Good’ rating and we wait to hear from CQC in the near future. We are closely monitoring changes to the inspection system which are ongoing (inspections are now called assessments).

Staff Team
3 Company Directors (Janet Buckingham, Debra Watkins and Katie Mockridge)
1 Registered Manager (Gary Bowld)
1 Deputy Manager (Kirsty Poole, soon to join Gary as Registered Manager)
4 House Co-ordinators (Leah Moffat, Aaron Konetsky, Lynn Morris and Tadhg Graham-Ahearne)
3 Team Leaders (Lindsey Mockridge, Jodie Coombes and Lauren Castle)
Full-Time Staff Team
Part-Time Staff Team

There are some minor changes to our management team to announce, but they don’t represent any significant difference to how the company has been functioning for some time.
Katie Mockridge is continuing as a Company Director but is taking a step back from the daily running of the company. She will still be very much involved and will be continuing to perform key financial and organisational tasks.

Gary Bowld (BSc, MSc) will remain in place as Registered Manager, managing the daily running of the company, including completing all staff scheduling. Gary holds both a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Psychology, and has the Registered Managers Award. Gary is a trained NVQ assessor and is also part of the on-call and supervision team.

Kirsty Poole is awaiting registration with CQC to join Gary in the Registered Manager role. Kirsty will work with Gary managing the daily running of the company. She will still be responsible for the delivery of all staff training, the majority of which is provided ‘in house’. Kirsty has the Level 3 award in Education and Training, the NVQ level 3 and 4 in Business Management, and an NVQ 5 in Leadership and Management in Adult care. Kirsty is also responsible for administration for Harbuck Housing which is based at the Step by Step office. Kirsty holds an NVQ in ‘Housing and Property Letting’. Kirsty is also part of the supervision team.

Lynn Morris, Aaron Konetsky, Tadhg Graham-Ahearne and Leah Moffat are our House-Co-ordinators. They all work directly with our service users and have additional responsibilities for supervising and supporting support staff, liaising with families and advocates, the smooth running of service users’ homes and general administration.

Lynn Morris has an NVQ3 in Health and Social Care, and an NVQ 4 in Team Leading and Management. Lynn has responsibility for monitoring all financial transactions and bank statements and is the co-ordinator at Sarum. Lynn is also part of the on-call and supervision team.

Aaron Konetsky is currently working towards his NVQ level 4 in Health and Social Care and is very soon to be completed. Aaron is co-ordinator of the Shutterton Lane property and also delivers staff training. He has the PTLLS (Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector) qualification. Aaron is also part of the on-call and supervision team and has additional responsibilities for House and Fire Risk Assessments. Aaron has also played a key role in the implementation and monitoring of the Care Control System.

Tadhg Graham-Ahearne has his NVQ3 qualification in Health and Social Care and is Co-ordinator at Stockton Hill. Tadhg has joint responsibility with Lynn for monitoring financial transactions and bank statements. Tadhg is also part of the on-call and supervision team.

Leah Moffat has NVQ3 in Health and Social Care and is part of the supervision and on-call team. Leah is co-ordinator at Barton Villas and the Pink House. Leah also takes part in delivering staff training, and she has the PTTLS teaching qualification and the Train the Trainer qualification in Manual Handling.

Lindsey Storer, Jodie Coombes and Lauren Castle are Team Leaders.
Our Team Leaders work directly with service users but also have responsibility for supervising and supporting staff, ensuring service users homes run smoothly, liaising with families and advocates and general administration.

Jodie Coombes has NVQ 3 in Health and Social Care and is part of the supervision and on-call team. Jodie is also co-ordinator at the Turquoise House.

Lindsey Storer is nearing completion of her NVQ4 in Health and Social Care, and is part of the supervision and on-call team. Lindsey is currently on maternity leave.

Lauren Castle has NVQ3 in Health and Social Care and is part of the supervision and on-call team. Lauren is co-ordinator of the Orange House.

We hold a senior team meeting every Friday morning, where we discuss staff and service-user issues and any other company management matters that have arisen during the week.

NVQ training and Mandatory Care Training continue for all employees as per CQC regulations.
We provide the Care Certificate, as well as most Mandatory Training. This includes Manual Handling, Medication, Safeguarding Adults, Infection Control, Break-Away Techniques, Fire Safety and Health and Safety Training. We shall continue to use external accredited providers for First Aid Training as well as for additional training. We have added Oliver McGowan Training to our training program recently. This is Mandatory Training around working with Learning Disability and Autism. This training is online followed up by a day’s training with the externally accredited Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training.
We continually develop our in-house training pack to cover all our service user conditions and update information as necessary. This includes Fragile X Syndrome, Schizophrenia, Learning Disabilities, Personality Disorder, Downs Syndrome, Brain Injury, Cerebral Palsy, Autism and Asperger’s syndrome.
We are currently fully staffed. We do not and have never used Agency Staff. All over-time needs are met by our own staff team.

Service Users
We continue to operate a main team of staff who support those service users that have high support needs. We also operate a peripheral team of staff who support our service users that are more independent. For all our service users the focus is on enabling them to be as independent as they can be in their own homes.

This year, one new service user has commenced with us He’s a semi-independent man from Teignmouth who is now living at Barton Villas with a low level of support. He came to us in July and has settled in well.

We had to say goodbye to a much loved service user this year. An older gentle-man whose care needs escalated to a level where (despite our staff’s best efforts). His needs could no longer safely be met in supported living. We supported him to move to a local care home where he could get the care and support and supervision he needs. He is very happy in the care home as he spends his days watching trains go by and he is an avid train spotter.

Service user holidays have included a cruise, the Calvert Trust, a Newquay holiday park, and a B and B break in Cornwall. We also supported with a holiday to Mexico. We have provided support for service users to attend many events of individual interest including car shows, music gigs, and theatre productions.

We continue to engage with other services to ensure good outcomes for service users, including social workers, occupational therapists, GP’s and the IATT team (for supporting with challenging behaviours). We have worked with Social Services to obtain additional support hours to meet needs, and advocate for service users at reviews to ensure support levels are maintained as much as possible. We have also used the services of Vocal Advocacy to support our service users’ best interests.

We support our service users to access a variety of other local services for day activities, including; The Workshop, Dawlish Gardens Trust and Rattenbury Farm.

We have supported our service users to access full benefit entitlements. We have also needed to support our service users very closely with budgeting as many are now making more significant financial contributions towards their care to Devon County Council. Some service users who do not have financial capacity have also been supported to access third party financial appointees to monitor their finances. This year some service users have been supported to set up ‘Money-Carer’ as an independent financial appointee. This is operated online and has been very successful so far. Service users have also been supported to make the switch from Employment Support Allowance to Universal Credit.

The Cabin
Service users are still welcome to visit The Cabin in the grounds of Sarum. Service users are encouraged to visit to have a coffee and a chat with other service users, or indeed to chat through any issues with Gary or Kirsty. We continue to use The Cabin for events including parties at Christmas and service-user birthdays. We also use The Cabin for staff training and we have made the large training room into a Staff Hub. This contains key information that staff need to be aware of such as policies and procedures, as well as a staff photo-board.

Events
We will be holding a Christmas meal at the Langstone Cliff hotel for service users in December. We will also be holding a Christmas party for service users and their families at the cabin.

Quality Assurance
We are again extremely proud of the service we provide and received some very positive feedback when we conducted our Quality Assurance Questionnaires in September 2025.

Feedback from family members/advocates

‘ I believe my son’s choices and decisions are always respected’

‘ Best thing we ever did, changing to Step by Step’

‘The management team have shown the strengths and approach needed to run the company well’

‘ The team work really hard to accommodate everybody’s needs…always at the end of the phone’.

‘…. has a good relationship with all his staff’.

‘(Management are)….extremely good, always patient and approachable’.

‘Step by Step appears to be run extremely professionally, I wish all care establishments were run like this’.

Plans for the future
Katie, Gary and Kirsty and the rest of the management team will continue working in the interests of our service users to ensure that they lead full lives and become as independent as possible.
As an organisation we aim;

• To bring in paperless recording for both medication and finances, via the Care Control System.
• To consolidate our service and retain our small and friendly feel, where managers are aware of all service user issues. This has been key to our success and it’s an approach we are committed to maintaining.
• To support our service users to retain their support levels as much as possible through ensuring that all care needs are thoroughly evidenced and recorded and independent advocacy is called in to assist as necessary.
• To continue to support our existing service users to maintain their quality of life, and physical and mental health.
• To continue to support our service users to engage in meaningful day activities, including paid work where possible.
  *To engage with Devon County Council around any new developments in commissioning / monitoring care.
• To bring in increased levels of quality assurance through surveys to staff and outside agencies such as social workers and other professionals we have worked with.
• To keep up with changes to CQC and the assessment system.
  *To continue to use Money Carer as an independent appointee for those who lack financial capacity and refer others to take up its services with our support.
• We anticipate a detailed assessment from CQC soon.
  We would like to thank everybody for your continued support.
  Once again, our skilled and caring team have enabled our service users to continue to receive high quality support and positive outcomes.

Janet Buckingham
Debra Watkins
Katie Mockridge
Company Directors.