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 [...]

Here at PA Pool we can only offer high standards of care and support because of our committed, compassionate PA members. However, we still need more people like you to join us. The government is running a national campaign to attract people with the right values and attitude to come and work in our sector. [...]

In this article founder of PA Pool, Katy Etherington, considers the pros and cons of using an agency to provide your personal care assistance versus employing your own PAs via PA Pool. Some people decide to employ an agency first to help them get started. When they feel more comfortable and confident with the process, [...]

We appreciate the efforts the Government are taking to increase recruitment of social care and make it a more attractive career option but, by the same token, we don’t think the Government fully understands the situation of people like our founder Katy and many other PA Users who employ 24-hour live-in Personal Assistants to support [...]

We would really appreciate your help with trying to get the Government to do something about the current care shortage which is reaching crisis point. You may have seen PA Pool Founder, Katy Etherington, in the media recently talking about it. It’s becoming a truly desperate situation, and something urgently needs to be done about [...]