On 17th November, PA Pool founder Katy Etherington was interviewed by The Guardian regarding the challenges faced by disabled people without EU workers. Katy has been contributing to the discussions over the lack of carers available for work, post Brexit, having contributed to another Guardian article recently and having been interviewed on the subject by [...]

You might remember our competition back in September where we offered you the opportunity to win a year’s subscription to PA Pool, as part of a future advertising campaign. Well, the results are in, and the winners are… Martyn Sibley, Ross Hovey and Baroness Jane Campbell. Martyn, Ross and Jane will each receive a year's [...]

PA Pool Founder, Katy Etherington, has been contributing to the discussions over the lack of carers available for work, post Brexit. According to an extensive report published by Skills for Care in October, highlighting the need for significant reform of the social care workforce, an estimated 70,000 care users employ around 100,000 live-in carers and [...]

Returning to school for a new term can be thrilling for some and daunting for others. But if your child or teenager has any disabilities, it can be especially difficult! Thankfully, there are a range tools and gadgets, even clothes available now to make life just a little bit easier. This article from Disability Horizons [...]

Be featured in our innovative advertising campaign and WIN a year’s subscription to PA Pool We are all acutely aware of the impact Brexit and Covid has had on the number of PAs looking for work and the fact that it’s getting harder to recruit. So we at PA Pool are trying to do something [...]

Please see below details of a new survey on social care and loss of freedom of movement. It’s really important that as many PA Users complete the survey as possible as the lack of European PAs (Personal Care Assistants) is already having a major impact on the care industry. On Friday, Katy participated in a [...]

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has been commissioned by the government to undertake a review of adult social care and the impact the ending of ‘freedom of movement’ has had because of Brexit. As a result, the MAC would like to hear from anyone who has relevant knowledge, experience or expertise to help inform its [...]

Prevention is obviously better than a cure, but however prepared we endeavour to be, it can still be a constant worry at the back of our minds. PA Pool operates a report system where members can alert us if such a situation happens and based on this, I can thankfully say PA’s ‘walking out’ on [...]

No upfront fees Access member profiles of over 14,000 PAs and 4,500 PA Users Search specific criteria based on your needs Communicate securely via the messaging system to protect your privacy “When it’s good it’s fantastic, when it’s bad it’s horrid” – for Katy Etherington, the mastermind behind the interactive personal care assistant recruitment and [...]

The rise in assistive technology over the global lockdowns has left a positive legacy for those who are disabled and housebound… It’s not often you’d think that something good could come out of a global pandemic, but for disabled and housebound people, the developments made in assistive technology to help businesses as their staff worked [...]

This year, the theme for Mental Health Awareness week is ‘Nature’. Hosted by the Mental Health Foundation, it is now in its 21st year and runs from 10-16 May, and people from across the country will be celebrating the mental health benefits of being around nature in their local community in a range of digital [...]

Katy Etherington, founder of the not-for-profit website for disabled people and personal care assistants, PA Pool, has won the London & South East England Prestige Awards – Private Care Specialists of the Year 2020/21. The PA Pool website, www.papool.co.uk, is for disabled or elderly people looking to employ a Personal Care Assistant (PA) or carer, [...]

PA Pool founder and director, Katy Etherington, was honoured to be invited to be a panellist in an online seminar for Discover! Creative Careers Week as part of National Careers Week between 1-5 March 2021. The live Q&A panels ran throughout the week, to allow young people to submit questions and have them answered by [...]

You only have one chance to make the right impression with a photo online – so make sure it’s the right one! Not many of us are lucky enough to have a professional photographer to hand when we need a headshot for an online profile. But there are some simple rules we can follow that [...]

Many disabled people have for as long as 30 years used PAs and Care Workers from the EU and EEA countries as well as from countries further afield. This has increased their choice and control over the care they receive and for many has been invaluable. One of the many negative outcomes of taking back [...]

Many of the personal care assistants looking after our members are originally from Europe – how will Brexit affect their employment rights? As the UK heads towards Brexit, the right to free movement ends at the end of 2020. This means that EU citizens will no longer be able to come to the UK to [...]