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 [...]

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 [...]