Employing a PA (Personal Care Assistant) can be a great way to get the support you need to maintain your independence and live your life to the fullest. Here are some tips to help you get the best experience from employing a PA: Be clear about your needs: Before you start looking for a PA, [...]

The role a PA (Personal Care Assistant), is to help your employer live a fulfilling and independent life. Here are some tips to help you provide the best experience for you and your employer: Build a good relationship: One of the most important things you can do is to build a strong relationship with your [...]

To bring you an additional level of assurance, PA Pool has partnered with Curam Care, one of the UK's largest online care platforms with over 7,000 approved and vetted carers nationwide. We're excited to announce a new feature on the PA Pool website that allows PA members to specify if they are Curam Care approved [...]

Last month, Rebecca Lewis, the Fundraising Manager for SMAUK (Spinal Muscular Atrophy UK) approached PA Pool’s founder, Katy Etherington, about a photoshoot they were organising. The charity specifically wanted some images of someone with SMA living life, living with a PA, and showing different types of equipment in order to update their marketing and social [...]

PA Pool hopes there is light at the end of the tunnel after a high court ruling led to a campaign for compensation for disabled people who have been financially disadvantaged by Universal Credit. The original case was brought by two disabled men, who took the Department for Work and Pension (DWP) to court after [...]

The University of Leeds is looking for people to help with a research project about pressure ulcer prevention. You don’t need to know anything about pressure ulcers or research to take part. They are interested in what is important to individuals and how people care for themselves (or others) day-to-day. They would like to hear [...]

At PA Pool, we are delighted to partner with Curam to provide a back-up solution for emergency care requirements.   Curam is a website and app that connects trusted and vetted carers with clients in need of care. Choice is at the heart of Curam. By directly connecting carers with clients, Curam enables people to take [...]

On Tuesday 8 November MPs debated the idea of a temporary recovery visa for industries experiencing labour and skills shortages. This was a Westminster Hall debate, led by Tim Farron MP which you can view via one of the links below: Watch the debate Read a transcript of the debate Whilst the government have put [...]

Earlier this month, PA Pool Founder Katy Etherington, was invited to take part in BBC’s Access All podcast with Nikki Fox and Emma Tracey, Baroness Jane Campbell and Anna Severwright, to talk about the ongoing PA shortage. You’ll also hear from comedian and author Rosie Jones! The episode is entitled: ‘Wet wipes and dry shampoo [...]

We recently posed a series of questions to PA Pool Founder Katy Etherington about her experiences employing a PA (Personal Assistant/Carer). If you’re not already familiar with PA Pool, it’s a dedicated website for disabled people looking to employ a PA and PAs looking for work. PA Pool is a market leader in its field, [...]

We've been really busy these past few months having moved to new web developers which we hope will mean that future updates will happen more quickly, and you’ll start seeing more and more improvements to the website. PA Pool is constantly developing and maintaining content to meet the needs of our members. In particular, we [...]

MPs on the Women and Equalities Select Committee have launched a new inquiry into how the Government’s National Disability Strategy is working, and how the Strategy might develop in the future. They would like to hear the views and experiences of the public and interested groups as part of their inquiry, and they especially want [...]

Data provided by PA Pool highlights high rate of non-UK workers in the sector in the latest report on adult social care… PA Pool has been mentioned in the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) report on adult social care recently, after it provided data highlighting the high rate of carers from outside of the UK. Our [...]

Pathfinders Neuromuscular Alliance is excited to announce their new PA Training Programme funded by Skills for Care. Adapted from the virtual conferences, the core training course is available on their website and will be available anytime, to anyone, for free. Composed of 13 video modules with accompanying quizzes and designed to raise awareness and support [...]

Before Brexit, a third of care workers came from Europe. As the UK split from Europe, carers were not included on the ‘skilled workers’ list, instantly vacating around 113,000 care posts. The vision was for these to be filled by training British nationals, but chronic staff shortages are impacting care provision. The Migration Advisory Committee’s [...]

The role of a Personal (Care) Assistant or PA for short is very different from other social care jobs. It’s not the same a being a ‘carer’, #ItsNotJustCare, it’s about enabling someone to live their life as they choose and be as independent as possible. As a PA you work directly with one or more [...]